Chapter 673: Sclerotium and Residue

"Oh?"

Rod looked in surprise at Miss Lu Ka, the Moon Goddess, curled up against the tree trunk.

He'd almost forgotten about the matter of the 【Despair Mycelium】.

The gnawing within the sclerotium was very advanced; it even mentioned the matter of souls.

But beings like deities generally fused themselves with their domain of authority to a certain degree, thereby achieving the goal of immortality.

Whether he actually possessed a soul was hard to say.

"Whether or not, we'll know once we try. Extract it."

Though Lu Ka on the ground still looked at Rod with fear in her eyes.

But as her pale pupils rolled about, she subtly cast her gaze past him toward the succubus Young Lady and the elf Young Lady, no one knew what she was thinking.

However, the moment Rod's words fell.

Her whole body shuddered, and within her stiff, hard-to-control puppet body, a sudden sensation of being drawn out welled up.

Looking down, she found the wooden-textured surface of her arm covered by a layer of fuzzy mycelial network.

Grey-green mold spread from the cracks at her elbow, knuckles, wrist, and other joints, rapidly wrapping her like a spider web.

Milky-white fungal tendrils crawled out, trembling faintly with a breath-like weak airflow.

"How— ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"

The words of confusion had not yet left Lu Ka's mouth when a wretched, horrifying scream burst forth from her lips.

At the same time.

The moldy mycelium and tendrils danced in the wind, cheering and leaping toward Rod.

Streams of green spiritual energy drilled out from Lu Ka's body, flowing into Rod's palm, slowly but steadily gathering into a solid form.

And Lu Ka.

Her entire puppet body seemed lifted by that drawn-out green airflow, suspended off the ground, her waist and back arched backward as she screamed miserably.

Lady Kali's face changed: "Are you mad! Don't use spiritual energy in the Twilight Hills! The Goddess of Magic's prohibition!"

"No matter, no matter, I'm an old acquaintance of Mystra's."

"What nonsense are you spouting!"

The elf Young Lady hurriedly prepared to cast a spell, but when she looked up.

The Weave canopy in the sky was calm as still water, showing no sign whatsoever of triggering that terrifying goddess's prohibition.

"Hm?"

It failed? Because of the forest's cover?

Lady Kali denied it instantly; she didn't believe the Goddess of Magic's prohibition could be fooled so easily.

After a moment's hesitation, she sketched out a wisp of deep-blue aether on her snow-white palm.

The clouds churned in an instant, and violent magical Lei Ting flickered and rumbled within, suppressed.

But that was all.

Like a teacher's warning to a student, much thunder but little rain.

She wasn't tactless, nor did she intend to test this Goddess of Magic's bottom line, so she immediately dispersed the aether energy in her hand.

"How could the prohibition actively suppress itself?"

The elf Young Lady was utterly bewildered, "But why? Do you truly know Lady Mystra?"

"Of course, Mystra even has to call me daddy. When have I ever lied to you?"

Tally, who had her arm looped through Rod's, leaned her face over: "Just now that zombie dead flesh was still talking to me through the 【Far Whisper Chain】 and—"

Rod once again pinched her cheeks, forcibly muting her.

Tally was startled, then angrily tapped his arm lightly: "Eek! Stinky Master, don't scare me like that suddenly! Tally almost couldn't hold it in!"

Hold what in?

Rod glanced at her little belly, immediately fell silent, and did not ask.

I say, why have you been walking so leisurely.

"Don't talk nonsense! Show some respect, that is a deity!"

Lady Kali admonished him seriously, "I understand, it must be that you inadvertently assisted Lady Mystra during your battle with Asmodeus, so she favors you slightly. Don't get cocky, human; the patience of deities is limited, do not grow arrogant through favor."

No one believes the truth.

Rod shrugged and stopped arguing.

As they spoke.

The green spiritual energy airflow had already stopped flowing; a heavy object had fully taken shape in his palm.

The sclerotium's surface was uneven, wrapped in a layer of dark-brown hard shell, with sticky black juice seeping from the cracked fissures, like congealed asphalt.

Crack!

The cracks of the sclerotium suddenly opened and closed, and black mycelium crawled out from within, curling and writhing into a pill-like mycelial pellet as if it were a living thing.

But the sclerotium's energy had not dissipated with that.

In other words, two things!

【Sclerotium: Greatly raises the consumer's energy tier!】

【Authority Residue: The filtered authority impurities that may cause contamination. Consuming it can enhance mastery of any domain, but one may suffer contamination from the original domain's authority (Moon Domain).】

"Residue, huh."

Rod took out the 【Great Cultivator's Pruning Shears】.

【Effects: Impurity Removal, Toxin, Edge Break, Owner Recognition, Defense Break, Bleed, Paralysis, Air Blade】

Impurity Removal!

The mycelium pill immediately grew restless!

Pulsing to some invisible rhythm, it produced a mass of black-red plasma.

Thus, the mycelium pill turned pure snow-white.

【Exclusion Successful!】

【Primordial Authority: Impurities of the Authority filtered out; upon ingestion, it enhances mastery of any domain!】

Simple and straightforward.

Rod swallowed it and, without hesitation, chose to enhance his Plague Domain.

【Part of the 'Plague Domain' authority has been strengthened】

【Domain Skill Acquired: Putrid Fly Swarm】

【Details: Release a swarm of putrid flies to damage enemies; all putrid flies are one-life entities and can be detonated at will.】

Not bad, not bad.

Another offensive domain skill.

He glanced at Miss Lu Ka, who lay paralyzed on the ground with pupils dilated like dead fish.

Her aura plummeted once more, returning to roughly 1%, her Qi flowing as thin as a thread.

He immediately smiled.

Drain a bit every once in a while; perfect.

Rod tossed the sclerotium to Lady Kali: "A gift for you."

"I don't need it."

The Young Lady had been surprised, but the moment she saw Rod offering something again, her face went cold.

The elf race's advancement is naturally slow; three months have passed since reaching the seventh tier.

Even though Rod occasionally fed her some nutrients, she is now only at the mid-stage of the seventh tier.

Yet she remains proud and old-fashioned, always unwilling to accept Rod's gifts.

"Take it. The situation on the continent is unstable; we all need to strengthen our power as soon as possible."

Lady Kali pondered for a moment, her delicate brows furrowed tightly, clearly struggling internally.

Rod was already used to this of hers and smiled:

"Just consider it something you bought from me. Or consider it the spellcasting fee for your help these past days; you can't just work without getting paid, can you?"

"I am not working for you; I am doing it for the Wind Wall Forest."

The Young Lady said stiffly.

At the same time, she stopped resisting and accepted the sclerotium.

"I will give you the corresponding Jin Along based on its usage effect."

"Anything works; Jin Along isn't necessary."

Rod raised an eyebrow at her, the implication far too obvious.

Lady Kali stiffly turned her head away; the long ears over her hair turned slightly pink. She ignored Rod, snorted, turned around, and returned to the Fan Hui Mo Fa treehouse.

(End of this chapter)