Chapter 125: Alien World

Luo En tidied his clothes and walked slowly toward the reception room.

The moment he pushed the door open, his gaze paused slightly before returning to normal.

Trish was clearly dressed up today:

A light green silk dress outlined her increasingly tall figure, with dense silver thread embroidery on the hem depicting patterns of forests and stars.

Her long brown hair was fixed at the back of her head with a silver tree-leaf hair accessory, with a few stray hairs hanging naturally by her ears, making that clear and beautiful face even more moving.

"Luo En!" Seeing him enter, Trish smiled somewhat embarrassedly, biting her lips, which were tinted with a tender red color.

"Long time no see, Trish."

Luo En noticed the leopard woman standing respectfully half a step behind her, nodded slightly in greeting, and then looked at Trish:

"It's been such a long time; I thought you had forgotten about your fellow countryman."

His tone was half-teasing and half-complaining, but clearly, he wasn't truly angry.

A flash of guilt crossed Trish's face, and she bit her lower lip:

"I..." She was momentarily speechless, then took a deep breath:

"I've been too busy lately, with too many things to handle, so I haven't been able to visit you in person."

Luo En waved his hand to indicate she needn't worry too much, and guided the two to sit down.

Liyue consciously retreated to the side, maintaining her duty as a guard, her beast pupils constantly scanning the surrounding environment vigilantly.

Ailan served tea silently; Trish was clearly surprised by the tree spirit's human-like actions when she thanked her, but soon focused back on the conversation.

"I heard you've entered the candidate wizard sequence, and as a mid-level apprentice at that."

Trish sipped her tea, her tone mixed with sincere admiration and a hint of complexity:

"I have to say, your progress speed is truly astonishing."

Luo En picked up his teacup, observing this fellow countryman of his without a trace:

"Thanks to you, the potion orders you introduced provided a stable source of income, allowing me to focus on improvements in other areas."

"Mutual benefit." Trish smiled slightly: "Your potions have also helped me quite a bit..."

She stopped suddenly, seemingly thinking about how to continue this topic.

"How have you been lately?" Luo En raised an eyebrow, showing just the right amount of curiosity.

Trish hesitated for a moment, then continued:

"I've been cooperating with Tutor Corinna to complete a bloodline excitation experiment; this is the main reason why I've been so busy during this time."

His interest was instantly ignited, but on the surface, he maintained a leisurely posture:

"Bloodline excitation experiment? Sounds interesting, tell me about it."

As a 【Bloodline Knight】 who had just completed the bloodline activation ritual, and also possessing three consciousness cores available for filling with the Chimera bloodline, any information related to bloodlines was extremely important to him.

"Yes." Trish nodded, a flash of pride in her eyes:

"Tutor Corinna is helping me activate the Forest Elf bloodline within me. Although it's still in the preliminary stage and the results aren't too significant yet, there have already been some obvious changes."

She said, subconsciously reaching out to touch her ear tips; this small action led Luo En's gaze to notice her ears:

They were no longer completely rounded human ear shapes, but the tips were beginning to show the sharp shape characteristic of elves.

Her eyes were also beginning to show a clear emerald green tone, shimmering like gemstones under the school's unique magic crystal light.

Luo En stared fixedly at these changes, a surge of intense curiosity and reverie rising in his heart.

Trish noticed his gaze; not only did she not dodge, but she raised her chin slightly with a hint of showing off:

"How is it? Isn't it magical?"

"It is indeed magical." Luo En nodded in acknowledgment, then asked:

"Besides the changes in appearance, are there any substantial ability improvements?"

Trish's eyes

She stood up and walked toward a row of potted plants by the window:

"Of course there is, let me show you."

The young girl's slender fingers gently touched one of the newly sprouted seedlings; she closed her eyes, her expression becoming exceptionally focused.

A few seconds later, a glimmer of fluorescent green light extended from her fingertips to the seedling.

The plant then began to grow at a speed visible to the naked eye; the tender green stem shot up, new leaves unfurled, and even a few pale pink flower buds emerged.

"Natural Affinity—one of the signature abilities of the Forest Elves."

Trish withdrew her hand, her face filled with unconcealable pride, but she immediately became somewhat discouraged:

"However, at the moment I can only affect small plants, like herbs and flowers. I'm still a long way from being able to affect adult trees."

"This is already quite remarkable."

Luo En praised her sincerely, especially considering the potential value of this ability for cultivating potion materials:

"In the future, the quality of the potion materials you grow will surely be a cut above those on the market."

As they were speaking, a slight rustling sound caught their attention.

They turned their heads toward the source of the sound in unison:

Ailan was walking slowly from the sun-drenched courtyard, her vines swaying gently at a peculiar frequency, as if responding to some silent call.

"Master." Ailan's leaves danced, forming words:

"I feel a strange sense of closeness... but at the same time, an instinctive fear."

Trish widened her eyes, clearly feeling incredibly surprised by a tree spirit that could write.

But this surprise lasted only for a moment, and was immediately replaced by intense curiosity.

She couldn't help but move closer to Ailan, her gaze as if she were looking at a rare treasure:

"This is... a tree spirit with atavistic activation? Luo En, you actually possess such an assistant!"

She approached Ailan cautiously, as if treating some extremely precious work of art, her gaze filled with envy:

"She is in a state of active excitation, and her morphological changes have clearly reached a quite deep stage."

There was a trace of unconcealable jealousy in Trish's voice:

"You are truly lucky; tree spirits that can self-activate deep bloodlines through atavism are almost impossible to find."

Luo En chuckled inwardly; he was indeed very "lucky," but the source of this luck was the seventy magic stone fragments from the Blake Alien Exchange, not some heaven-sent miracle.

"You seem to know a lot about tree spirits?" Luo En raised an eyebrow.

"Forest Elves and tree spirits are companion races."

Trish's expression suddenly became soft, as if she were talking about a distant family history:

"In ancient times, tree spirits were revered by the Forest Elves as 'Guardians of the Forest' and were their closest allies."

She reached out, wanting to touch Ailan's vines, but hesitated, seemingly worried about offending this peculiar existence.

Luo En nodded gently: "It's alright."

Having received her master's permission, Ailan leaned slightly toward Trish, allowing her to stroke her vines.

This movement was like a plant naturally leaning toward the sunlight, revealing an almost instinctive closeness.

"Amazing... truly amazing." Trish muttered to herself:

"Judging from her bloodline activity and morphological transformation, her bloodline potential far exceeds that of ordinary tree spirits and may originate from a relatively pure ancient bloodline. You really struck gold, Luo En."

"Back to your bloodline activation." He steered the conversation back on track:

"What method did Mentor Corinna use? A special ritual? Or some kind of potion?"

At the mention of this, Trish's eyes lit up again:

"She gave me a special meditation method, specifically designed to complement the Forest Elf bloodline already within me."

She paused, her voice lowering slightly:

"Actually, her goal is not just to activate the ordinary Forest Elf bloodline, but to hope that I can transition to a higher level—the Moon Elf bloodline."

When she said the words "Moon Elf," Trish's eyes shimmered with incomparable longing, like a middle-school student talking about a dream university.

"Moon Elf?" Luo En raised an eyebrow; this term had appeared a few times in the various ancient texts he had consulted, but they were all vague.

"The royal family that guards the Tree of Life."

Trish explained, her tone filled with reverence:

"More powerful than ordinary Forest Elves, they master the mysteries of life and moonlight and were once one of the most revered races in ancient times."

The longing in her eyes when mentioning the Moon Elves was exactly the same as the desire in Andre's eyes when Luo En had talked about the Solar Flame Dragon.

Clearly, for those who possess a trace of special bloodline, the tracing and enhancement of that bloodline is an instinctive desire.

"However." Trish's expression became complex, her brows furrowed slightly:

"The mental pressure brought by this special meditation method is quite significant, much greater than that for users of ordinary advanced meditation methods..."

A trace of vigilance flashed in Luo En's eyes, and Trish continued:

"That's why I've been having Liyue come to buy various types of mental protection potions."

Having said this, she smiled somewhat embarrassedly:

"Recently, I heard that you can brew special potions to suppress mental pollution, so I wanted to visit even more."

Luo En breathed a sigh of relief inwardly; it seemed the other party was just acting out of normal need and had not discovered his long-standing secret.

He responded nonchalantly:

"Hmm, I have indeed been researching relevant formulas recently, but the effect is limited; it can only temporarily alleviate the problem and cannot fundamentally solve the pollution issue."

Ailan had already brought new tea and snacks for the two of them at some point and retreated to the side silently.

"So." Luo En sipped his tea and asked tentatively:

"Relying solely on meditation methods and potion assistance, what is the effect of the bloodline activation?"

Trish's expression suddenly became complex, containing expectation, disappointment, and a trace of unwillingness:

"To be honest, the progress is much slower than expected."

She sighed slightly: "Mentor Corinna believes that a more powerful catalytic environment is needed to truly break through the shackles of the bloodline."

Trish hesitated for a moment, as if considering whether to share the next part of the information, then finally looked up and met Luo En's eyes:

"Have you heard of the 'Bloodline Altar'?"

An unfamiliar and mysterious term.

Although Luo En had consulted a large amount of material in the "Compendium of Extraordinary Bloodlines," he had never heard of this term.

He shook his head slowly: "No, what is that?"

Trish looked left and right to ensure that only the two of them were in the room (Ailan and Liyue didn't count as people), then leaned forward, her voice lowering involuntarily:

"This is a secret that only those who have entered the candidate wizard sequence are qualified to know. Considering your current status and position, I think I can tell you."

Luo En's curiosity was completely piqued; he also leaned forward slightly and glanced at the apprentice badge locked in the containment box in the distance to ensure they weren't being monitored.

"Do you know why the Crystal Spire chose to establish the Black Mist School in this remote jungle?" Trish asked.

"Because the extraordinary resources here are relatively abundant?"

Luo En guessed based on the information he had collected: "And it's relatively remote, making it easy to maintain secrecy?"

"That's only part of the reason." Trish shook her head:

"The main reason is that there exists a rift here leading to an interdimensional crevice, which connects to a mysterious place known as the 'Bloodline Altar'."

Luo En's pupils constricted—another world!

As a transmigrator, his understanding of this concept far exceeded that of ordinary people.

If there really were a stable interdimensional rift in the Black Mist Jungle, it would be an extremely precious resource and opportunity.

(End of chapter)