I became a vampire princess and then a dragon girl?

"Are there any records about this Crystal City? For example, what other materials were produced in the past besides Moonlight Dew?"

With a light cough, Eve began to ask about the business.

"Yes, there are. According to records, besides Moonlight Dew, this place used to produce materials like Three-Life Leaves, Fallen Flower Branches, and Scarlet Wish Blossoms. But now, only Moonlight Dew remains. It's said that the holders of the Holy Weapons also visited here before heading off to defeat the Demon God, but since there's no actual record, there's still some debate. I'm currently trying to verify this in my free time."

As soon as this topic was brought up, Ashley's timidity disappeared without a trace, and he talked to Eve very actively.

It seems that she is also a girl who likes to study history.

Hmm...it's quite consistent with her personality. Since she's not good at dealing with strangers, immersing herself in the ocean of knowledge is also an option.

And the Sanshengye mentioned in the dream also appeared, so it seems that this is the place.

"There are many theories about the reasons for this place's decline, but the most widely accepted theory is the theory of time. It's said that for a period of time after the first Abyssal Tide erupted, it was still possible to produce all the materials here, but the quality declined slightly, and then it became what it is now. And then..."

After talking like a machine gun for a while, Ashley suddenly stopped talking, and her little face quickly turned red again. It seemed that she finally realized what she had just done.

"S-Sorry! I always get a little carried away when it comes to things related to history. I'm really sorry!"

"Wait--"

Before Eve could say anything, Ashley quickly stood up again, pretending to bow and apologize to Eve, but...

thump—

With a muffled sound, Ashley's head made direct contact with the table, shaking everything on the table.

Tsk tsk tsk, that hit was so hard, I can feel the pain just by hearing the sound.

But the chaos did not end there.

what--

Ashley was knocked back in a daze and tripped over the chair behind him, almost kicking over the table.

Fortunately, Eve reacted quickly and used magic to grab the table and the things on it in time, otherwise Ashley would have been covered in the soup.

"Woooo..."

With one hand covering his red forehead and the other hand rubbing his little butt which was sitting firmly on the ground, Ashley made a sound of grievance and it seemed that he had fallen quite hard.

Woohoo, there's trouble again, so why did Captain Bettys ask me to lead the guests? (crying).

Ah this...

Eve was also amazed by Ashley's series of moves on her. It turned out that she was not only shy, but also seemed a bit reckless and effeminate?

He bowed, fell down, and kicked the table in one go. If he hadn't interrupted the combo at the end, Ashley would probably have to go back to take a shower with vegetable soup all over her.

"Ugh…"

Shaking her head helplessly, Eve put the table back in its place with one hand, walked over, pulled up Ashley who was sitting on the ground, and started rubbing her head.

"Okay, okay, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt~"

"Uh...um..."

Eve, who was close by, saw that there were tears in the corners of Ashley's eyes, but he was just trying hard to hold them back.

After a long pause, Ashley finally put down his hand, wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, and then looked at Eve who was comforting him in front of him and almost scored a brace.

But this time Eve was close to her, so she pushed her back into the chair and stopped.

"Okay, don't be so nervous, just treat us as people you are familiar with."

"Um…"

Feeling Ashley's still quite stiff body, Eve said that she really had no other choice.

Forget it, let’s talk about something else to divert her attention.

"By the way, are all the places in this Crystal City accessible now?"

After a little thought, Eve decided to bring the topic back to history.

Because the areas where they are currently active are the small castle formed by moon-white crystals and the main castle formed by brilliant golden crystals, and they have never been to the areas of the other three colors of crystals.

"No, no, those places have now become a whole piece of crystal."

After shaking his head and talking about things related to this strange place, Ashley became obviously more serious.

"Even this small castle at the end is showing signs of crystallization. After each ritual, more crystals will form. Perhaps once the entire Crystal City is completely crystallized, this last bit of power will be completely lost. By then, even the outer shell might not be able to maintain itself."

Ashley seemed a little regretful when bringing up this topic. After all, this crystal city might just become an ordinary huge crystal in the future and sink to the bottom of Yueyang Lake.

“Although some people are trying to reverse or slow down the process, no one has made much progress.”

"Everyone?"

Eve asked a little follow-up question after hearing the interesting words in Ashley's words.

"Yes, yes, many people living in this Crystal City are also researchers of wonderlands. I, I am actually one of them..."

At the end, Ashley's voice was noticeably lower, and he seemed a little embarrassed.

Ah this...

It turns out that she is not only a history enthusiast, but also a researcher.

"So when you're not preparing for the ritual, you're studying this strange ruin?"

"Well, except for the few days before and after the full moon, everyone is basically studying the situation of this strange ruins."

At this moment, the door of the room they were in was suddenly pushed open, and an elf ran in hurriedly.

"Team Leader Ashley! I just discovered new changes in Wonderland!"

...Huh? Team leader? This shy and reckless girl?

Listening to the new elf calling Ashley, a string of ellipsis silently passed through Eve's mind.

No wonder she was called to lead the group. It turned out that she was the leader of the research team and was naturally very familiar with this strange relic.

"What happened? Tell me in detail."

The situation was completely different from when he faced Eve and the others. Ashley was obviously much more serious at this time and really looked like he was the team leader.

The contrast between the two was so great that Eve began to wonder if it was someone else who was speaking.

"Yes! We just discovered while preparing for the ceremony that the crystal clumps in some places have decreased!"

"Eh?! Really? Are you sure it's not a mistake?"

"Absolutely not! It's decreased a lot, almost to the amount of about ten years!"

"Okay! I'll go take a look right now!"

After saying that, Ashley Zhengxiang stood up, then she remembered Eve and her group who she had ignored. Her little face suddenly turned red again, and she instantly became shy again.

"Um, um, Miss Eve, can I go check it out?"

Shaking her head helplessly, Eve also stood up.

"Let's go and see together."

"Thank you so much!"

Excited, Ashley bowed to Eve again, and fortunately no trouble occurred this time.

The group left the room and, led by the elf girl, walked towards the place where the abnormality was discovered.

§164 Crystal Wall

After walking through the corridor for a while, the group, led by the elf girl, came to a corner of the moon-white castle. In front of them was a crystal agglomeration that had blocked the entire corridor. This was probably the crystallization phenomenon that Ashley had just mentioned.

Since many people are busy preparing for the ceremony, there are not many people gathered here now. Basically, only the elves who are responsible for the location nearby are watching.

Seeing Ashley coming, they all made way for her, and some even greeted her. They must be people she was familiar with.

Looking at the scene in front of her, Eve nodded slightly. It seemed that Ashley's status among the crowd was much higher than she thought.

"Team Leader, this is it. Look, the crystal wall has obviously retreated a bit."

As she spoke, the elf girl pointed to the mark on the ground.

At this time, the edge of the crystal agglomerate is already some distance away from the mark.

“I really retreated…”

Looking at the facts before her, Ashley couldn't help but ponder, even though her tone still held a hint of disbelief. She had just told Eve and the others that the crystallization process wouldn't regress or reverse, and now this had happened, the first of its kind in a thousand years. What was this? A slap in the face that came too quickly?

"Has anything special happened here before? Does the same phenomenon occur in other places?"

After thinking about it, Ashley decided to start the investigation with the basics.

"When the discovery was made, some people had already gone to check on the situation in other places. However, due to the ceremony, everyone was a little busy, so it may take some time before we know the situation."

"That's it..."

Ashley nodded and began to check the condition of the crystal wall in front of him. At this time, Eve also came over and asked curiously.

"Will there be any problems if we touch this crystal wall?"

"what!"

Accompanied by a small exclamation, it was not until Eve spoke that Ashley finally remembered Eve and her group who she had forgotten about, and quickly replied.

"No, it's okay. It won't have any impact. It will recover on its own. It's better to say that it can leave some impact."

Faced with these growing crystal walls, Ashley and her friends tried many methods, but none of them could leave a permanent mark on the crystal wall. Even if they managed to knock off a piece, it would recover bit by bit.

Moreover, these crystals will only have the property of being hard when they are a whole. The parts that are knocked off will be as brittle as ordinary crystals.

Although they would like to conduct more research, progress is slow due to difficulties in obtaining information.

"That's it, then I'll be relieved."

Eve nodded and brought a few people to the crystal wall and found an empty place to study it.

knock --

After tapping it lightly a few times, the crystal wall in front of me seemed to be quite solid from the feel I received. However, it would not be a problem for me to get a few pieces as souvenirs.

And Melchis was obviously very interested in these crystals.

"Eve, can we take a piece?"

"no problem."

Since Ashley had just said that they could do whatever they wanted, Eve naturally would not refuse Melissa's request.

Without choosing to use the holy sword or the air blade, Eve directly wrapped the blood-colored magic around her hand, and then used her palm as a knife. It was like inserting a piece of tofu. Without any hindrance, she cut straight into the hard crystal layer and began to cut. The elves watching on the side were confused.

What the hell, has this crystal wall become less solid?

Some people even tried to imitate Eve's actions, but ended up getting knocked so hard that they covered their hands and curled up in a ball, obviously in great pain.

"Hey~"

With a final pull, Eve steadily lifted out a huge crystal.

"Is this big enough?"

"Yeah! Eve is the best!"

Looking at the half-human-sized crystal block in front of her, Melchis nodded excitedly, and then she leaned over and kissed Eve gently.

"Okay, then if you want to make something, just tell me and I'll ask someone to polish it."

Feeling the slightly wet touch on her cheek, Eve reached out and rubbed Melchis's little head, then put away the crystal.

However, her ability to easily cut the crystal also attracted requests from the surrounding elves.

"Um... could you please cut a piece off for me too?"

"Me too..."

"And I…"

...The whole scene suddenly became chaotic.