"Boss, give it to me straight—what are you trying to accomplish by cultivating a virtue holder?" The Puchi massaged Syrean's shoulders with its mycelial tentacles while carefully choosing its words. "I don't mean anything by it, I'm just worried I might accidentally do something... um, that would interfere with your plans, so I wanted to ask first."
However, what appeared on Syrean's face was genuine confusion.
He tilted his head slightly, emerald eyes looking directly at the Puchi: "What do you mean? Explain clearly."
"Huh?"
Lin Jun had assumed Vera was a sacrifice holder that Divine Tree had intentionally cultivated, but judging by this reaction... he wasn't?
There was nothing to hide, so Lin Jun explained that Vera had obtained [Sacrifice].
"To think... he obtained 'Sacrifice'..." Syrean repeated in a low voice. A trace of surprise first crossed his expression, then transformed into a kind of understanding tinged with regret. "No, if it's him, this is indeed possible."
Finally, he sighed softly: "Forget it. Perhaps this is his fate."
Lin Jun had no idea why Syrean was acting this way: "What's wrong? What's bad about obtaining a title?"
Syrean gave the Puchi an imperceptible glance: "There's no such thing as a free lunch. All power comes with a price."
"A price? It seems like just memory loss to me. If it can change your fate at a critical moment, isn't that a great deal!"
"What do you think death is?" Instead of answering directly, Syrean posed a question.
"Uh... the soul separating from the body?" Lin Jun answered based on his own observations.
"Memory is what fundamentally constitutes the existence of you, me, and him. Lose your memories, and you're no longer you, I'm no longer me—we're all just blank soul material. And people like Vera, once they gain power beyond the ordinary, will almost inevitably become involved in greater crises. How good can their ending be?"
Syrean sighed like someone who'd been through it all.
"Is that so?" Lin Jun thought of Wrath—only when completely burned away did that count as truly dead, right?
Though for ordinary people, losing their memories might indeed be equivalent to death.
Lin Jun also thought of the yellow book—it certainly considered souls more important than memories.
In any case, Lin Jun still felt in his heart that having the power to choose was better than being helpless when facing problems.
"Speaking of which, Boss," the Puchi sidled closer again, its mycelia swaying ingratiatingly, "are there other secrets hidden among these deadly sins and virtues?"
Lin Jun tried to extract more information. After all, besides [Greed], he also had [Wrath] in an inactive state.
Syrean patted his pants and stood up: "Since I know the location now, I won't delay."
He walked straight to the fissure Lin Jun had hidden, stepped into the Puchi Dungeon, and headed upward, as if he hadn't heard Lin Jun's last question.
Riddle-speaking old geezer!
I'll remember this grudge... hm?
Wait, speaking of which, it seems Vera has already... forgotten who this old guy is?
...
In the temporary camp, the campfire crackled softly.
"Vera, you really can't remember Syrean at all? He's the elf druid who was traveling with us!" Feiling asked once again.
Vera thought for a moment, but ultimately shook his head.
Feiyin added a description: "The one who's even prettier than sister."
With a perfect cross hold, Feiling expressionlessly dealt with her loose-lipped sister, then turned her concern to Vera.
"Vera, you haven't forgotten us, have you?"
"Uh... of course I remember." Vera answered quickly this time.
"Then do you remember when we were kids, how my mom mistook you for a girl and forced you into my floral dress..."
"Stop! Enough!" Vera quickly raised his hand to stop her, his ears turning red. "What are you remembering such nonsense for! I remember you two very clearly, but Syrean... who exactly is he?"
They still didn't know Vera had obtained [Sacrifice]. After all, not everyone was like Inanna with expensive magical instruments at home that could check one's status at any time.
After repeated fruitless discussion, they could only attribute the amnesia to head trauma for now and planned to find a professional healer to examine him when they returned to their rear base.
Pop!
A soft sound came from nearby as a round mushroom cap squeezed out from an inconspicuous hole in the ground.
At the sound, Vera and Feiling instantly became alert, their hands moving to their weapons.
But after seeing it was a Puchi, they relaxed again.
As long as you didn't attack them, Puchis were harmless—this was practically common knowledge among adventurers now.
At least, they'd never heard of precedents where wild Puchis harmed people without reason.
On the contrary, stories occasionally circulated of some critically injured, dying adventurer being casually sprinkled with spores by a passing Puchi and transformed into a Puchi master, thus barely escaping death.
Plus with the appearance of the Mushroom Tribe, no one would give a Puchi a hard time anymore.
Feiling remarked: "The fungal mat around here has been eaten up by those slimes. I didn't expect we'd still see a Puchi here."
The Puchi moved on its stubby legs and in a few steps reached Feiyin, who had just been "physically lulled to sleep" by her sister, and very naturally rubbed against her.
"Haha, that tickles! What is it?" Feiyin shivered awake and sat up, immediately coming face-to-face with a round, plump mushroom cap that filled almost her entire view.
She instinctively shrank back, but the Puchi pressed forward again.
Feiling and Vera on the side found it amusing and smiled as if watching a show.
"It seems to really like you," Feiling teased.
"But why? I'm not a Puchi master!" Feiyin was a bit flustered.
"Maybe it's one of the Mushroom Tribe?" Vera guessed.
"How could that be..."
But the Puchi's enthusiasm was truly hard to resist.
Helplessly, Feiyin pulled a small bottle of basic mana potion from her pouch and carefully poured a few drops onto the Puchi's cap. The Puchi happily rolled on the spot, looking completely satisfied.
And so, this scout Puchi successfully infiltrated the party through rolling cutely and acting adorable.
Foolish humans are always so easy to handle!
Of course, this was just a temporary measure. Lin Jun couldn't possibly expend attention on teasing humans for long. After a while, he'd have No. 5 come over.
But for now!
...
That night, Vera had a nightmare.
He dreamed of a strange elf whose face was breathtakingly beautiful but whose heart was as venomous as a serpent.
The elf sneered as he personally set fire to the mushrooms stored in the warehouse for winter. The flames reflected off his cruel and delighted profile while the villagers could only endure hunger in the cold winter.
He also issued predatory loans, forcing Anton's family to ruin, his wife and children separated.
He even secretly drugged the three of them, wanting to... wanting to...
Watching the smirking elf gradually closing in on him, Vera felt he was facing the greatest crisis of his life.
Vera jolted upright from his crude bedding, chest heaving violently, sweat soaking his back.
Silence surrounded him, only the steady, deep breathing of Feiling and Feiyin.
The Puchi that had infiltrated earlier was also quietly curled up by Feiyin's feet.
Vera covered his face and took several deep breaths before recovering.
He felt he must have really been hit on the head, otherwise why would he have such a terrifying dream?
Most of the dream's plot had already dissipated quickly like morning mist, but only that face—beautiful to the extreme yet detestable enough to make one's teeth itch—was deeply imprinted in his mind.
"It was just a nightmare... How could there be such an elf in this world..."
(End of Chapter)
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