In Mushroom Garden No. 3.
With fewer demons around, Little Black finally dared to leave her little nest with peace of mind, no longer worried about anyone coveting her shiny treasures.
At this moment, she was sitting on the ground hugging her tail, earnestly watching two people engaged in combat not far away.
Norris wasn't piloting his Jida, and his opponent was the vampire Louisa.
Relying on his agile form, Norris constantly changed directions as he attacked Louisa, occasionally using [Air Step] to change direction mid-air, but all his attacks were blocked by Louisa's ever-changing blood whip.
While fighting, Louisa continued pointing out Norris's problems: "That jump of yours serves no purpose except letting you use Air Step—your intention is too obvious. When facing an opponent with rich combat experience, even if they don't understand your ability, seeing you jump like that will put them on guard!"
"Your Air Step isn't some powerful talent. If you want to catch opponents off guard, you need to use it more cautiously and hide your intentions much deeper."
Another whip strike sent Norris flying back, and Louisa's eyes narrowed slightly.
[Petrification Ray LV4]
*Crack—*
However, Norris possessed [Magic Resistance LV6], so the effect wasn't ideal—only a single scale cracked off, without substantially affecting his movement.
But feeling the abnormality in his knee, Norris instinctively looked down.
The next second, the blood whip wrapped around Norris's neck, bringing this sparring session to an end.
"In battle, don't fear getting injured. Defeating the enemy faster is the best protection for yourself. Moreover... actually, flight ability is what pairs best with this skill..."
As she spoke, Louisa hooked up Norris's chin and then bit down on his neck.
Norris didn't resist—this was the agreed-upon payment.
Little Black nearby pouted and violently threw a scale that was half-petrified and no longer shiny onto the ground. Today was yet another day without harvesting any shiny treasures.
Meanwhile, in the fifth-layer swamp, a certain blue mushroom who had watched the entire process nodded its cap repeatedly.
Louisa truly deserved to be a vampire who had risen to the rank of viscount. Her analysis was systematic and methodical—even Lin Jun felt he had learned a great deal.
Once he mastered these techniques, combined with his powerful micro-management abilities, having a Knight Puffshroom solo-kill a sword saint wouldn't be impossible in the future!
Lin Jun's combat awareness +1.
...
On the demon side, the atmosphere within the tribe was different from usual.
When Shou commanded the tribespeople to carry that Grub to the black stone house "Cradle," all the demons put down whatever they were doing.
As if answering a silent summons, they spontaneously gathered in the open area near the Cradle.
They didn't make noise, just stood or crouched silently, but without exception, their gazes were fixed on that tightly closed, heavy stone door.
All the demons eagerly anticipated the birth of a new tribesperson.
The gradual decline of the Stone Fort Dungeon had made tribal life increasingly difficult, and one sign of this was the decreasing frequency of birth ceremonies, until finally, for over half a year, no new tribespeople had been born at all.
And now, this long-awaited birth ceremony seemed to herald that the tribe was beginning to improve again—it held extraordinary significance!
Inside the black stone house, Starfire took a deep breath and carefully inspected the formation at his feet, ensuring no accidents would occur.
Previously, the elder had always presided over birth ceremonies while he merely assisted from the side. Although he knew the process by heart, this was his first time personally presiding, especially for such a momentous occasion—he couldn't afford to be careless.
Fortunately, everything was normal.
Starfire emerged carrying a stone bowl and a file, approaching Shou.
Shou took the file, pulled open his clothes, and scraped some powder from the crystallized deposits on his magic core into the stone bowl.
Then Starfire moved to the next person...
This was the "dust offering" portion of the ceremony, representing the close connection between the newborn tribesperson and everyone in the tribe—a step with more symbolic meaning than practical effect.
After making a full round, Lin Jun, who was secretly observing, was nearly bored to death.
What came next was the main event.
At Starfire's instruction, several demons placed the Grub onto a sub-formation that extended from the Cradle.
As the warriors worked together to break open the Grub's tough hide, accompanied by the creature's dying struggles, the formation beneath it immediately blazed with light!
The Grub's life force was continuously drained away. It wanted to escape, but the warriors held it down firmly.
Inside the stone house, Starfire guided the formation with both hands as streams of life energy, condensed to near-physical form, gathered in his palms.
Following the example of the former elder, Starfire separately extracted the deep blue light mist representing [Cold Resistance].
He first channeled all the remaining life energy into the Cradle. Within the Cradle, the broken magic core and powder fragments continuously shattered and reformed, finally condensing into a complete, brand-new magic core.
Life energy surged into the magic core, and with the magic core as the center, flesh and blood gradually grew outward.
After a full two hours, a naked, teenage-looking demon appeared beside the Cradle.
A new tribesperson had been born, but one final step remained—inscribing the magic patterns!
This was a step that could only be completed at the moment of birth. A demon without magic patterns was incomplete.
If this were within the Empire, such an incomplete demon might still have a chance at survival, but in the Far North, without the [Cold Resistance] pattern inscribed, death was certain.
So Starfire showed no signs of relaxation. He guided the deep blue life energy he had previously extracted with both hands, following the demon's natural pattern lines, beginning to inscribe the magic patterns.
Just at this most critical moment, something went wrong!
*Sizzle—!*
The formation's radiance suddenly flickered violently several times, then abruptly stalled, growing dimmer and dimmer.
Insufficient magic power? Why?!
This formation had always operated by absorbing the ambient magical energy underground. He had checked—the formation was clearly fine!
No time to think further. He accelerated the magic pattern inscription.
The formation was still barely maintaining its function.
As long as he was fast enough, before the formation completely dimmed...
...
The magical light that had never been extinguished within the stone house suddenly vanished. Shou, standing closest, was the first to notice the change, and an ominous premonition coiled around his heart.
Shou wanted to go in and see what was happening, but feared that suddenly barging in might make things worse.
In the end, he could only force himself to remain in place, anxiously waiting for the result.
Soon, even the other tribespeople standing farther away noticed something was wrong, and the sound of discussion grew louder.
Amid all the demons' concerns, Starfire staggered out.
Starfire's face was now pale as paper, his steps unsteady, as if he had exhausted all his strength just to support his body, or as if he were struggling to wake from a nightmare. His hands pressed against the cold stone doorframe to barely keep from collapsing.
Those eyes that had always been focused and calm were now filled with confusion and deep, heavy pain.
Shou had already guessed the answer, but still asked with difficulty: "What happened? The new tribesperson..."
Starfire closed his eyes in pain, and when he reopened them, they contained an insurmountable regret: "The formation... the magic power supply was interrupted, the magic patterns... couldn't be completed... Chieftain, I screwed up!"
"How... could this happen..."
Failure to complete the inscription was even worse than failing to birth a new tribesperson!
Because it meant everyone would have to watch helplessly as a newborn tribesperson froze to death!
Undoubtedly, this failure would severely damage the confidence that the tribespeople had finally managed to rebuild recently.
But as the tribal leader, Shou couldn't show any wavering!
Shou closed his eyes and took a deep breath: "Starfire, you figure out exactly what caused the magic power interruption. I'll... go reassure the tribespeople..."
Just then, a voice that shouldn't have appeared here suddenly rang in Shou's mind:
"Ahem... well... sorry to interrupt, but over here... I might be able to help..."
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