Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

Inside the tent, a young girl knelt on the ground, holding a rusty brass bracelet, chanting incantations. Her eyes, hidden beneath the hood, slowly opened, and her amber eyes regained their lively sparkle.

The curtain was pulled open at that moment, and a young man with his luggage on his back strode forward. When he saw the girl's eyes, his originally solemn expression relaxed considerably.

"Are you praying again, Rosa? You're wasting your time."

Rosa wrapped the bracelet around her wrist, turned around, and began packing her bags.

“It wasn’t a wasted effort, Jeremiah, the gods do exist. Our ability to escape unscathed from the Crimson Demon must be a blessing from the gods. Otherwise, everyone would have died because of my mistake.” Rosa recalled the Crimson Monster from a few days ago, that ominous nightmare that haunted the land of Posuva. As their guide, she had led them to hell. During those days shrouded in blood, Rosa prayed in despair and guilt.

Jeremiah also recalled that tall, blood-red phantom, the tremor lingering between his fingers, and changed the subject.

"We have to leave, and...my father is approaching us..."

Sadness welled up in Rosa's eyes. She shouldered her pack, still wearing her travel coat. "Uncle Bradley, Jeremiah, you'll be our guide from now on."

Jeremiah frowned; his furrowed brows made him look ten years older, his youthful face now more mature and reliable. "Rosa, it was just a mistake. Everyone still trusts you. Don't listen to those rumors. You have more experience than I do; you're the best guide."

Rosa blinked, a smile unconsciously appearing on her lips. She grabbed Jeremiah's flustered hand and gently patted it.

“I’m not running away, Jeremiah. I just… I have an idea. I want to leave everyone and do something I can. Jeremiah, I need you to lead us. Wait for me to come back.”

"Where are you going?" The young man's voice rose slightly as his inner resistance made him ask.

“I want to go to the place mentioned in that parchment. Maybe I can get some help there, medicine or food that will be useful to us, or even a better future.”

"You're going to risk everything for a vague and unattainable goal, Rosa?" Jeremiah said with concern. "The former leader wouldn't let you do this. We all want you to be alright."

The two left the tent, revealing a desolate land. The people, pale and emaciated, wore blank expressions. The distant sky was shrouded in dust. Rosa's appearance drew everyone's attention. She smiled sweetly and softly said to Jeremiah, "I've never understood why everyone trusted my father and me so much, but I know I can't betray that trust. Uncle Bradley said Father was once royalty, and I used to think it was absurd. But now, I believe it's true, Jeremiah. It's a sense of mission; I want everyone to live better lives. Perhaps my bloodline can help my adventures. After all, Father said that Posuwa used to have magic."

Jeremiah released Rosa's hand, his smile somewhat forced.

"You won't let me go with you, right? I know I can't persuade you otherwise; I'm just an ordinary person."

“Everyone needs you more than I do, Jeremiah. Wait for me to come back, Mr. Second Best Guide.”

Jeremiah shook his head helplessly, waving the sensor bracelet on his right hand. "You'll always find us. I'll have someone pray for you until you come back safely."

Rosa watched his retreating figure and couldn't help but remind him, "Be careful. Your target is bigger than mine, so please be cautious."

Jeremiah glared at her. "You too."

……

Lyle was watching the Phantom's transformation performance. The Serpent danced in the courtyard with her children, her coiled body blossoming with flowers and fruits. The glossy parts were refined beeswax. The Serpent's enormous body did not disturb the meticulously manicured flowerbeds, for all the flowers joined her in forming surging waves. Dandelion seeds drifted down from the air, and bees and butterflies fluttered about to the music.

Lyle was gripped by self-doubt. He embraced the restless, hungry demon Nia, and communicated with the shadow beneath his feet.

"What was I doing just now?"

[Use the Child of the Unseen to teach the Phantom how to shapeshift and fight.]

“Ah, I remember now.” Lyle ignored the tentacles that were forcefully pushing against his cheek, maintaining a calm expression on his contorted face. Unable to deduce the Phantom's construction ritual, Lyle had to find alternative ways to enhance the race's power, such as having them try to master combat skills. Not harboring malice doesn't mean they can't hurt people; even an elephant taking a stroll can crush an ant. The Phantom race is not weak in terms of racial stats; their abilities are equivalent to weakened servants of the gods, the unseen children. Shapeshifting, combining, assimilating, and energy transfer are all quite excellent abilities, and with a little practice, they can generate powerful destructive force. Moreover, Lyle has ready-made teachers; the unseen children, dissected countless times, have been re-conscripted, and together with their hosts, they have designed a destructive technique called [Destruction Storm].

The formless element transforms into a free-floating basic unit, deforming and recombining within a certain range. The frequency of this deformation and recombination is comparable to the flapping speed of a hummingbird's wings. This high-speed separation and recombination inevitably picks up some other impurities. As a result, the formless element was noticeably larger after the dance, indicating it had overeaten and needed digestion. Like a large net that opens and closes repeatedly, it always manages to catch something.

"Oh dear, why are you eating people while you're dancing?" "How could you be so careless?" "Never mind, never mind, just be careful next time. It's okay, you're still a good kid, it was just a small mistake." Lyle had already prepared his words, and the wickedly smiling leader of the tribe had arranged how to comfort the phantoms who were hurting inside.

As a result, the Phantom Clan maintained a grand and perfect ball. Their movements were light and graceful. A storm raged in the center, and they precisely avoided every single insect. In a deliberately created meat grinder, blades and chunks of meat coexisted harmoniously. Lyle was somewhat stunned. "They can even dodge this? Are all of you Phantoms masters of skill?"

Lyle pinched Nia's nape and ripped off a unit of the Unseen Child's consciousness.

"You assured me that this Destruction Storm would be incredibly destructive. I was genuinely surprised that I was unharmed."

Even the invisible child felt wronged.

"Great Son of God, all I can say is that these deformed freaks are beyond redemption. They are not worthy to share in your glory. Protecting others has become their instinct, and this profound self-management has allowed them to evolve to a level that we cannot even comprehend. These incompetent beings will do anything to avoid harming others."

Lyle released Nia, who used all her tentacles like rollers to rush into the sea of ​​flowers to enjoy her nectar and fruit. The snake nimbly caught the frenzied giant octopus, flicked each tentacle to avoid flying insects, and hugged Nia like feeding a baby.

Lyle looked at the discarded, formless child consciousness unit, about the size of a teacup, in his hand, and came up with a new idea.

“The Phantoms’ skills are clearly far superior to your servants of the gods. Why don’t you learn from them how to remain unharmed?”

The invisible child showed resistance.

"That won't do. Eating is for accumulating power to evolve. It's a divinely granted instinct. If I don't harm people, I'm disobeying the divine decree, which means I should die. If I have to abandon even the instinct of assimilation, I might as well die."

Lyle released his grip, letting the Invisible Child lurk in his shadow, observing the commotion in the central courtyard, and smiled helplessly.

"There's no rush. Let's go back to Naslan first. We should at least show some appreciation to his mistress for getting Vol to give up those exiles."

The question then becomes: which lady of the house?

"Shut up, my other self."

Chapter 764 This is Paradise

Rosa parted the dense foliage overhead; this secluded forest in the southwest corner of Poswa slowed the girl's movements considerably. She wasn't annoyed; the shade overhead blocked the scorching sun, and the rare coolness made Rosa somewhat pleased. Rosa was familiar with this forest; it was one of the few stable food sources for the exiles, their staple food being the fruits of the plants. But they hadn't succumbed to their attachment to the forest, even though it was more suitable for survival than the barren Poswa.

The exiles couldn't afford to destroy their food source. The curse of the land had driven the malicious inhabitants mad; these demons, like sharks drawn by the scent of blood, relentlessly hunted the exiles, destroying everything in Posuwa with blood and fire. Once they had enough food, the exiles would leave the dense forest to avoid these villains annihilating this land of life. The lessons learned through blood and tears had made the exiles realize that on this land, there was no room for chance.

The desire to leave, to escape beyond this land, sustained every exile, driving them to wander through their homeland of Posuwa, searching for a possible future. Unfortunately, Posuwa was a vast basin, and the few easily defensible passes had been seized by the madmen, trapping the exiles in their own homes, where they slowly awaited their death.

"There will definitely be a bright future." Rosa silently encouraged herself, calming her inner turmoil. She had already entered the depths of the dense forest. The unfamiliar environment made the guide somewhat flustered, afraid of getting lost, because getting lost often brings misfortune.

Suddenly, Rosa felt her pack become heavier, and her chapped lips made her realize how far she had traveled. As she took out her water pouch to drink, her thoughts began to wander.

How are Jeremiah and the others? They shouldn't have trouble escaping the demon. Uncle Bradley… The real misfortune isn't a precarious existence, but the thought that your cherished family members, with whom you live and cherish day and night, will one day be corrupted and turn mad. In Poswa, malice is poison to exiles; the curse of the earth ignites the malice within. If it's anger, if it's hatred, you'll be brainwashed by the curse and turned into a crazed demon, harming your loved ones. Rosa remembers how Uncle Bradley was corrupted—it was a mistake by their guide. To save himself and Jeremiah from the demon, this smiling elder who watched Rosa grow up chose to rebel.

No one had the right to question this father; he rescued the children. His resistance to justice couldn't mask the malice inherent in the use of power. He was cursed and controlled, using demonic power to create chaos. The night Jeremiah wept, Rosa held him, watching the smile vanish completely from her childhood friend's face. Uncle Bradley was dead; only Jeremiah's nightmares would return.

Rosa thought of her father. She stroked the bracelet on her right hand, a magical device that her father had personally put on her. With it, the wearer of the bracelet could sense each other.

“No need to live in fear anymore, my daughter. As long as we can sense the location of those demons, we can avoid them in advance.” Rosa still remembered her father’s proud smile at that time.

“I’m scared, Father. Those bad guys have hurt so many people. They’re elusive. How are you going to put the bracelets on them?”

At that moment, her father simply smiled and held Rosa tightly.

"Silly boy."

The next morning, the first person Rosa saw was Uncle Bradley, who hugged her tightly and kept repeating, "He loves you very much."

From then on, the exiles sensed the demon's movements, and each guide wore a magical bracelet that allowed them to sense each other.

The tears that fell soaked the old parchment. Rosa hurriedly wiped away the water stains, but thankfully, her dry cuffs quickly absorbed the moisture.

"We've rested too long, it's time to get back on track." Although Rosa only stood there for a few seconds, she took out the blueprints and looked at them for more than ten seconds.

"We should be close to this location." Rosa looked around at the scenery, trying to find something unusual, but unfortunately, the surrounding scenery looked almost the same, and the green vegetation confused her sense of direction.

"Am I lost?" Rosa asked anxiously. She revealed her brass bracelet, took a few quick breaths to calm herself, and pressed the slightly rough, rusty bracelet to her lips. Rosa whispered softly.

"My God, please help me."

"Do you need help?" A light and comical voice appeared in Rosa's ear. Rosa was a little flustered because this voice did not match the majestic deity in her heart. She quickly suppressed the blasphemous voice in her heart and answered loudly with fear and trepidation.

“Yes, Your Majesty, your believer needs your help.” Rosa closed her eyes and prayed devoutly.

"Open your eyes, lost traveler. I am not a god, I am behind you."

Rosa turned around as instructed and saw a wall covered with ivy and moss, with curved cracks forming blurry human features.

The wall monster blinked and asked curiously, "What's your name, lovely girl?"

Rosa stood there stunned for a few seconds before her trembling lips moved, “The wall…the wall spoke, it’s…a monster!”

"It's magic!!!" The wall monster's even louder affirmation drowned out Rosa's panic, and the awkward scene of the two staring at each other was interrupted by the twitching branches.

"Don't bully girls, Wall Monster." The wooden branch scraped the moss off the Wall Monster's head, leaving him bald.

"My hair! I didn't bully her, I was just correcting her misunderstanding."

Watching the wall monster and the wooden creature interact, Rosa regained her composure and asked in a somewhat uncertain tone, "Is it really magic? Won't you eat me?"

"No, child. I am a wall monster, and as everyone knows, walls are for sheltering from the wind and rain. We are phantoms, and we guard our paradise."

"Phantom?" Rosa's eyes gradually lit up, and she jumped up excitedly, despite carrying a backpack as tall as herself. "Kind Phantom, please help me and everyone else! We need Phantom's help!"

The wall monster chose to split open, revealing the garden and buildings behind it.

"Of course, darling, please come in and sit down. You need to rest before you ask. You look a little weak and dehydrated."

Rosa stared blankly at the world behind the wall, somewhat hesitant. The paradise was beautiful, far more wonderful than the desolation of Posuwa. Rosa was worried about its authenticity, and more importantly, the dusty, exiled girl felt a sense of inferiority.

Mumu noticed the girl's hesitation. She had a good idea. She bent down, shook the branch, and a bright red apple rolled out of the amusement park and landed at Rosa's feet. Unable to resist the temptation of the sweet treat, Rosa picked up the ruby-like apple and began to eat. Then, Mumu rolled another apple, this time closer to the amusement park. Without hesitation, Rosa, like a rabbit lured by bait, was drawn into the park.

The branches of the tree embraced Rosa, who was standing very close to it.

"【Xi Ji】, there is a child here who needs to be washed, and Lyle just happened to leave."

“【Stonemason】Make her a place to rest.”

"[Snake], she still needs delicious food. And could you dress her up while you're at it?"

While Lyle was away, his entire tribe mobilized for the sake of others.

Chapter 765 Rosa's Plea for Help

Rosa's long, loose brown hair was damp with water droplets. She huddled up, the thin, velvety clothing offering no comfort. She clutched the straps of her backpack like a child holding its mother's hand. The oversized, dust-covered backpack was Rosa's identifier; only by holding it tightly could she remember that this meticulously groomed girl was also an exile. Sadly, even this symbol of exile was losing its unique character. The surface dust had been wiped away, revealing the tattered, yellowed leather. The stitches woven from straw fibers seemed to be reborn under the phantoms' control. A blush from washing lingered on Rosa's cheeks. She looked at the various phantoms gathering around her, her head hunched, hiding behind the backpack's shadow like a timid quail.

Rosa's actions caused the phantoms to exchange glances, the taller ones quietly retreating to give the girl and the snake enough space. A soft voice appeared among the children, and the enormous snake burrowed into the soil, leaving only a small, adorable head visible. Its arms emerged from the soil, and its broad leaves gently rubbed Rosa's head.

"Don't be afraid, dear guest. Despite our strange appearances, our hearts are just as soft as yours."

Perhaps the sound of the snake was misleading, or perhaps her tricks on Rosa were truly skillful. Rosa slowly relaxed, and the stars in her eyes gradually brightened.

"You'll help us, right? Um...you?"

“Phantom, that’s the name we share.” The Stonemason stood a short distance away, his sturdy rock frame making Rosa’s eyes widen. “I am the Stonemason, skilled in construction and maintenance. We will help you, little lady. But what do you want us to do?”

Rosa's courage grew with each response from the phantom. She opened her bag and crawled inside, rummaging through it. As Rosa searched, the snake covered the girl's raised skirt, scrutinizing its kin with sharp eyes.

"Found it!" The excited shout drew Phantom's attention back. Rosa unfurled a roll of parchment, revealing a rough, hand-drawn map to everyone. Encouraged by [The Serpent], she plucked a honey-scented blade of grass and began sketching markings on her map.

“I want to lead my people away from Poswa, away from the heart of the war. To the southeast, in this area, there’s a cliff with a drop of over twenty meters, stretching for hundreds of meters, with no shortcuts to climb. My people are bound by this wall, unable to leave. In fact, my people are currently being hunted; we want to survive, to escape to safety. Perhaps you could help us build a bridge so we can cross this formidable barrier. Please, we really need help.” Their constant wandering made large-scale construction impossible for the exiles, let alone the possibility of fulfilling their needs with existing technology. Rosa had originally sought help to escort her people to their next hiding place, but after seeing the phantom, she realized she could ask these magical creatures for a better solution: a permanent solution to their survival problem, to leave Poswa.

Rosa seemed to have a sudden thought. She hurriedly pulled the bracelet from her bosom and displayed it to the phantom. She thought to herself, everyone says that Poswa once had everything; perhaps this identity could be a good bargaining chip. Rosa straightened her back, trying her best to project the majesty of royalty.

“My name is Rosa Yershe, you may have heard of me,” Rosa reminded him, her slight embarrassment stemming from the phantom’s bewildered expression.