In the elf royal city, on a terrace with an open view.
"I thought you'd finally gotten a clue and were planning to ask me out for a walk," Galadriel, daughter of the elf king who had once received the human delegation alongside Salian, looked at him as he came seeking help, a teasing smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "After all this, turns out you want me to help you babysit?"
"I'm not a kid," Airaven protested, but unfortunately neither of them paid her any attention.
Facing the teasing, Salian sighed helplessly. "Stop joking around. I can't beat the Sword Saint..."
Hearing this, the bright smile on Galadriel's face visibly collapsed rapidly, her eyes becoming dangerous.
Salian immediately coughed lightly, stiffly changing the subject, turning toward his sister Airaven who stood quietly to the side, his tone becoming serious: "Airaven, you know things haven't been peaceful outside lately. Stay close to Galadriel, don't run around the royal city, and definitely don't cause trouble, understand?"
"I told you, I'm not a kid!" Airaven clearly understood the general situation and didn't make a fuss, only looking at her brother with some worry. "This trip... will it be very dangerous?"
Before Salian could speak, Galadriel behind him jumped in first, using a relaxed tone to console: "Little Airaven, this time your brother is acting together with his teacher, Master Iros! With that archmage around, what danger could there be? Just relax!"
Hearing this, Airaven nodded obediently, seeming somewhat reassured.
But soon, as if remembering something, she lifted the Scout Puchi that had been lying on her head, holding it in both hands and presenting it to Salian: "Big brother! Take Little Ji with you!"
"???"
Now not only was Salian stunned, even Galadriel beside him showed a confused expression.
Seeing this, Airaven hastily explained: "Little Ji is really smart! It was the one who found and saved me back then! And... and the Divine Tree Dungeon is Little Ji's home! I already talked to it, it will help! It knows the paths and can help you identify dangers!"
Salian instinctively wanted to refuse, but when he met his sister's eyes full of stubbornness and deep concern, his heart ultimately softened.
He sighed and reached out to take that round Scout Puchi.
Mainly to put his sister's mind at ease. As for the Puchi, he'd just find a cage to keep it in, have someone look after it, and return it to Airaven when he got back.
Who knew that the moment he took the Puchi, the little guy twisted nimbly, easily escaping his not-very-forceful grip, climbed up his mage robe's sleeve in a few agile steps, and finally settled steadily on top of his head.
Salian's body instantly froze. For the first time in his life, he experienced the feeling of having something sitting on his head, and the smile on his face became extremely forced and unnatural.
Galadriel outright laughed.
In the end, topped with this strange Puchi, leaving this somewhat comical figure to his sister, under the gazes of elf guards along the way who tried hard to restrain themselves yet still couldn't hide their odd looks, he quickly left the royal city area.
The moment he walked outside the royal city's range, Salian reached up to remove the Puchi from his head.
However, the Scout Puchi beat him to it, extending a mycelial tendril to point in a direction!
At the same time, several other tendrils persistently and gently patted his cheeks and forehead, working hard to turn his head toward the direction it was pointing.
"What do you mean? You want to go that way?" Salian asked in surprise.
He originally intended to forcibly grab the Puchi down, but remembering what his sister had just said, and with time still early...
While mocking himself internally for doing such a foolish thing, he was somehow compelled to walk in the direction the Puchi indicated.
So when, under the Puchi's continuous guidance, he stopped by an ancient tree and actually dug out from the soil a flawless magic crystal refracting pure purple light, the composed expression he habitually wore could no longer be maintained.
"B-grade magic crystal?!"
A B-grade magic crystal wasn't extremely precious for an elf mage of Salian's level, and he couldn't understand why a magic crystal would be buried here.
But the fact that the Puchi could find it—that itself explained the problem!
He grabbed the Puchi from his head and held it before his eyes, looking it up and down incredulously: "You're actually good at long-range mana perception?!"
Salian wasn't connected to the fungal network and didn't have animal communication talents, so the Scout Puchi naturally couldn't answer him.
But he still examined it carefully, turning this constantly wriggling Puchi that wanted to return to its "throne" left and right, as if he'd discovered some incredible treasure, clicking his tongue in wonder: "Never would've thought... this little thing that girl brought back actually has this kind of ability?!"
He'd always thought it was just a stupid mushroom pet that kept running wild outside and was even a bit untameable.
Now it seemed, bringing this little guy along might not be... completely impossible?
He temporarily tucked the struggling Puchi under his arm, ignoring its attempts to climb back onto his head, and quickly walked toward his teacher Iros's residence.
The reason Lin Jun instigated Airaven to stuff the Puchi onto her brother was because he had his own schemes.
He mainly wanted to use this opportunity to join the excitement, personally observe the current state of the Divine Tree Dungeon, and maybe even pick up some good things the elves had overlooked.
He was excellent at picking up things!
More importantly, if he truly discovered some danger that even the elves hadn't noticed, Lin Jun could arrange things in advance, avoiding passive responses when the time came.
Setting aside other things, there was Riel at the magic potion shop, and Airaven—these two pets he'd raised for so long, he'd developed some feelings for them. If it wasn't too troublesome, he still had to try to protect them.
Ultimately, intelligence was the hard truth!
After all, given the heavily guarded state of the Divine Tree Dungeon right now, sending Dylan Two over there would be pure suicide—he'd definitely be turned into a sieve by elf arrows.
Thus, the Puchi was carried tucked under Salian's arm, traveling all the way through the scattered treehouses.
When Salian met his teacher Iros, the archmage's gaze was immediately drawn to the restlessly wriggling Puchi at his student's waist.
The magical radiance in Iros's eyes imperceptibly flashed and vanished, lingering thoughtfully on that round mushroom cap for two extra seconds, but ultimately he asked nothing, instead turning first to discuss the task details for this trip with Salian.
At the same time, Lin Jun skillfully pulled up Iros's panel, seeing the highest level he'd encountered so far!
[Level: LV87]
[Status: Detection Shield, Mental Protection, Insight, Trigger Shield...]
[Skills: mana storage LV10, mana manipulation LV10, nature magic LV10, fire magic LV10, abyss magic LV10, vitality abundance LV10, multiple wills LV10, toxin resistance LV10...]
Lin Jun saw several skills he'd never encountered before that seemed quite marvelous just from their names.
He also caught glimpses of some uncommon yet very familiar skills.
...
Wait, you're an elf archmage—why are you secretly messing with abyss magic?
(End of Chapter)A new batch of werewolves brought out from the tribe was lining up to receive Little Pig and Lin Jun's "naturalization baptism."
To be honest, for Little Pig, this job had long since gone from a mouthwatering perk to a purely routine task.
After tasting fine wines enhanced with tastiness LV8, going back to sucking the blood of these ordinary werewolves felt like a human swallowing a bowl of completely flavorless paste.
Calling it painful might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was definitely not something that could be called enjoyable by any means.
What's more, every time she bit into a werewolf's rough neck, her mouth would end up full of wolf fur. She'd spit for ages and still couldn't get it all out, really damaging her elegant image.
On the other side, Little Blue, who had just been crowned as the new wolf king, found Karen—the only one who hadn't come to watch his "head wolf challenge"—and boasted with considerable pride: "I'm the wolf king now, Karen!"
Karen was rubbing her sore arms. She'd just lost once again to Norris from the Jida crew in direct combat.
The boss had forbidden sneak attacks, but she couldn't beat Norris from the Jida crew in direct confrontation either. Karen was feeling irritated!
She glanced without enthusiasm at the smug Little Blue, and at the Marshal Puchi sitting calmly atop his head, then suddenly asked: "Oh, impressive. So let me ask you—who's bigger, you as wolf king, or the 'boss' sitting on top of your head?"
Little Blue froze, blurting out: "Uh... well, of course the boss is bigger!"
Karen immediately gave him a massive eye roll: "Then what kind of head wolf are you?!"
With that, she couldn't be bothered with Little Blue anymore. Irritated, she turned and walked away, leaving the new wolf king standing alone in a daze.
The Marshal Puchi atop Little Blue's head symbolically shifted its bottom left and right, which counted as patting the dog's head to comfort him.
However, Little Blue didn't feel too disappointed by this. He'd come to find Karen partly to show off his "new clothes" anyway.
His attention quickly shifted to another matter. He shook his head slightly and asked the boss on top of his head curiously:
"Boss, what does it feel like... sitting on top of my head?"
"Hm? Hmm..." Lin Jun controlled the Puchi to shift around, seemingly actually experiencing the sensation. "Just so-so. Too much fur, a bit slippery, not very stable. Way worse than Shòu's head."
"Then boss, why do you always like staying on my head?" Little Blue continued asking.
"Because you're the tallest!" Lin Jun answered.
Lin Jun loved the feeling of others looking up at him most of all!
...
Meanwhile, in the elven city of Ishildorin, in a small dwelling at the bottom level.
A scout Puchi fluttered its wings, having just flown up from Airaven's soft locks of hair. When it tried to land on Salian's seemingly more "high-class" head nearby, it was blocked by the latter's somewhat irritated wave of his hand.
Salian's brow was currently furrowed tight. He had absolutely no mind to deal with his sister's little pet. He was deeply worried about the increasingly severe situation at hand.
The biggest trouble the elves currently faced was undoubtedly the "Madness" contamination spreading continuously in the Divine Tree Dungeon. Although the royal guard captain had personally led large numbers of elite rangers deep inside to clear it out, the situation was far less optimistic than it appeared on the surface.
Mad monsters were indeed being continuously eliminated, and the elven positions were steadily advancing downward, as if the dungeon would be completely purged before long.
However, this was just a dangerous illusion.
The spread of "Madness" had never truly been contained at all.
In rear areas that had already been cleared, monsters would still suddenly go mad without warning from time to time, viciously attacking supply convoys or retreating wounded.
It was like a persistent affliction, as if it would never stop until every living creature in the dungeon was completely exterminated.
The elves still couldn't determine whether these mad monsters suddenly appearing in the rear were fish that had slipped through the net by hiding during previous sweeps, or poor creatures that had once been purified but relapsed again for unknown reasons.
This situation bred panic and extreme emotions. Some had even proposed the radical suggestion of "completely burning down the entire Divine Tree Dungeon."
This proposal was naturally rejected by the vast majority of rational elves, but it also reflected how many elves' mentalities were quietly changing.
Salian completely understood these emotions. Anyone who witnessed their comrades, friends, or even relatives being attacked by these seemingly unkillable mad monsters, suffering serious injuries or even death, would inevitably develop extreme and desperate thoughts.
Even he couldn't avoid it!
Just a few days ago, news had come that one of his friends had been infected.
Although the druids had done their utmost to purify him, witnessing his friend's bloodshot eyes and crazed roaring, Salian's heart was still filled with grief.
However, he was even more aware that this kind of extreme emotion was precisely the best breeding ground for "Madness"!
There had already been several cases of frontline rangers who had not come into close contact with infected individuals yet were mysteriously infected during intense combat.
Because of this, the guard captain had no choice but to divide the elven troops at the front line into several shifts, forcing them to rotate and rest to calm their emotions and relieve mental pressure.
Although this method reduced the influence of "Madness" on the elven forces to some degree, it also greatly slowed down the progress of the downward sweep.
What made Salian feel most uneasy was that even now, they still didn't know what the demons' true purpose was in spreading this "Madness"?
Initially, he thought this was the demons deliberately creating chaos in the elven rear to tie them down in order to increase pressure on the human front lines.
But according to the latest intelligence transmitted from the outside world, not only had the demons not strengthened their offensive on the eastern front recently, they were actually showing signs of lying low.
This was definitely not good news for the elves.
When demons expended such effort, they must have a scheme in mind.
Since their target didn't seem to be the humans, then the greatest possibility was that they were directly targeting the elves themselves!
Yet at this moment they knew nothing about the enemy's true intentions. This feeling of being passively beaten was suffocating.
At a time like this, only solving the problem as quickly as possible could give him a little peace of mind, but the strange and unpredictable transmission characteristics of "Madness" had them tied hand and foot...
On another front, because large numbers of spellcasters had been transferred to the dungeon front lines, the "Monitoring Array" project he was in charge of leading had to be temporarily shelved, meaning the radical faction's problems also couldn't be resolved for the time being.
Just yesterday, the elven king had directly ordered his teacher Iros to also proceed to the Divine Tree Dungeon to assist with cleanup work, and to investigate whether the dungeon itself had undergone some kind of unknown mutation.
Salian planned to apply to go along. His specialty in spatial detection magic might be able to help.
It's just... with the situation unstable both inside and outside the city, he really couldn't feel at ease leaving his sister, who wasn't good at socializing yet couldn't stay idle, alone at home.
After thinking for a long time, he finally decided to ask a colleague for help.
(End of Chapter)
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