Find a Troubled Girl after leaving the Guild-Chapter 408 - 226: Beneath the Tree Roots (Part 2)

Chapter 408: Chapter 226: Beneath the Tree Roots (Part 2)

But now, this feeling of receiving unexpected rewards for helping strangers made her heart flutter, yet it was hard to express.

After Li Ang accepted the materials, Dorothy stared at the Dream Lantern Skin and asked, "Who do you plan to make equipment for?"

The other three also looked over, especially Zoe, who was glaring at Dorothy with gritted teeth.

Due to their experience in the Flashing Field, they also knew Li Ang’s plan was to defeat the Water Attribute Demons on Mengze Island, and then equip the team with Water Attribute equipment.

This piece of skin is very beautiful; creating dreamlike equipment is not difficult, which is also the reason for its price.

Li Ang did not directly answer the dangerous question, nor did he give them a chance to start quarreling: "There are many Water Attribute materials available on the island, and I’ll consider what to do once I have some of each."

He brushed them off, but the matter reminded him. He let the young girls browse Huan Ye’er City on their own after dinner, while he thought about how to spend his post-dinner time.

Hode really was a local tyrant. As soon as Li Ang asked if there was a place like a Weapon House to borrow a furnace, he immediately led Li Ang to the largest Weapon House in this lakeside town, and the tools were at his disposal.

Li Ang then sat down and focused on the Equipment Creation that he had put aside for a long time.

With Hode’s help, he exchanged materials from Transcendent Realm Demons for Low Tier ones and concentrated on crafting equipment, then processed them on-site for the Weapon House once made.

Combining the experience accumulated in the Dome Furnace Association, by the time he returned to the inn that night, his Equipment Creation specialty had officially reached a 4th Tier level.

At this level, there’s no need to consider the beneficial material combinations to create Transcendent Realm equipment. Using 4th Tier materials alone suffices to craft equipment effectively.

Though he had marveled many times before, he still silently praised the system’s power, which allowed him to mingle into the Dome Furnace Association at this level.

After retrieving the young girls and returning to the inn, he instructed them to rest early, as they were setting off to the island’s depths the next morning.

Lying in bed, Li Ang couldn’t fall asleep for a while and couldn’t help but think about Meluna and Meimei’s situation.

The strong feeling of familiarity when he saw Meimei couldn’t be faked. To say she had nothing to do with Li Ang was hard for him to acknowledge.

But Meluna, that woman, was full of mysteries as well. When Otto came over and posed a series of questions, Li Ang was left in a fog.

If Otto hadn’t personally said Meimei had parents in Huanwo Village, Li Ang might have even guessed whether she was the daughter of himself and Meluna.

With that woman’s unreliable nature, abandoning a child in her hometown and running off somewhere else seems entirely possible.

But this possibility was already ruled out.

Or perhaps like in certain stories, their village had some ability to reverse aging, achieving longevity with a trick, giving a kind of Heavenly Mountain Fairy vibe?

This wasn’t right either; if such were the case, Otto would have mentioned it himself.

Otto indeed hid something, but with no data, Li Ang couldn’t make any guesses.

He cleared these thoughts from his mind, prepared to drift into dreamland.

In a state between awake and asleep, he suddenly thought of a shocking revelation.

Although it wasn’t all that shocking, it was more like a frightening thought for him.

Given that two-hundred-year-old Otto had never met anyone in the village called Meluna his entire life.

Is it possible that she is older than Otto?

At this thought, Li Ang’s sleepiness vanished completely.

"No, it shouldn’t be possible. Besides the Elf Race, I’ve never heard of anyone not changing in appearance with age."

This hypothesis could indeed answer Otto’s questions, but Li Ang didn’t want to accept it.

It’s simply too strange...and everywhere, she’s obviously a youthful young girl.

Vigorously shaking his head, Li Ang plopped down on the pillow.

Early the next morning, Hode and his son waited at the inn’s entrance.

His son was handling their Water Flying Serpent, hitched to a grass sled, taking the Star Flower Travel Corps away from Huan Ye’er City.

Li Ang was surprised because Hode wasn’t exaggerating. Their Water Flying Serpent was indeed well-raised.

At first glance, you could see it was larger than the serpents of other sled drivers, with more streamlined and robust bodies, its scales bright and smooth, without any moss or parasitic plants or animals in the gaps.

The large serpent swam swiftly over the aquatic plants, dragging the grass sled across the wetlands quickly.

Li Ang noticed Zoe staring again at the flower on the Water Flying Serpent’s head.

He followed the young girl’s gaze; the serpent’s size had grown larger by a circle or two, and the flower bloomed more vigorously and brilliantly.

"Are you very interested in that?"

Zoe seemed puzzled, "I don’t know why, but I always feel it’s very... I can’t quite put it into words."

Could it be related to the Star Souls? Li Ang thought.

Before leaving Frost Heaven Island, Eden had explained several islands where the Star Souls resided that they needed to visit first.

Lupus Ancient Country, Mengze Island, Wotam Church Country, Makena Island Country, Thousand Tower City, and Dusk Night Island. Li Ang decided in his heart to visit these places quickly after building a ship in the City of the Ship’s Rudder, especially since ALulu had visited the Wotam Church Country before.

The Star Soul on Mengze Island here, Eden called the "Star Soul of the Creation Tree."

After departing from Frost Heaven Island and some thought, Li Ang felt that the lush vegetation of Mengze Island, especially the Shipbuilding Treasure Tree, might be related to that Star Soul.

The first three islands were visited first because there was communication with the Star Souls on them, but according to the overly full-figured Wolf Maiden, the timing of her so-called "recent exchanges" was extremely broad. She rarely left Frost Heaven Island to provoke a Magical Disaster, so they were neither aware of the specific situation on each island; Li Ang and Zoe had to find the Star Souls themselves.

Perhaps to remind Zoe or help himself think, Li Ang began introducing the flower atop the Water Flying Serpent’s head to the kitten.

Most residents of Mengze Island didn’t follow the widely spread religions; their customs included more of an original belief in all things spiritual. The peculiar branch with the red buds, locally called Igloo Branch, meant "Flower God’s Blessing."

When islanders saw a peculiar branch, they would start bowing, giving thanks, or even dancing to "please the Flower God." After sprinkling dew onto the branch and the surrounding soil, they would then harvest the branch.

"Harvesting" is because these branches grow out of thin air on other plants, a phenomenon very peculiar, but scholars from Thousand Tower City never managed to find a reason.

Moreover, most astonishingly, without conducting the Flower God’s gratitude ceremony, the Igloo Branches would have no effect when plucked, and they wouldn’t parasitize the demons, let alone make them obedient.

Even if transplanted elsewhere, they would bloom and immediately wither.

Only when used by the islanders can Igloo Branch control demons, and its effects work only on demons born on Mengze Island; they are useless against demons from elsewhere.

This is also why it deeply affected islanders’ lives but didn’t attract the covetous eyes of outsiders who would seek to plunder it.

It’s like a gift specially sent by the Flower God to the islanders, profoundly changing their lives, yet unable to be taken by outsiders.

"That really is odd."

After listening to the story of the Igloo Branch that Li Ang knew, Zoe commented as she pondered it.

Li Ang then glanced at Dorothy: "Can’t the Demon-Born Flower control plants? What do you think?"

Dorothy twirled her rainbow-colored hair with her fingers, stared intently at the red flower on the snake’s head for a moment: "I don’t understand. My first instinct is that it might not be a plant at all."

Is that so?

This time, if given a chance to see an Igloo Branch, Li Ang decided to open the system panel to see what information it provides.

They spent the morning on the grass sled, and by the time the midday sun brightly illuminated the cloud mist over Mengze Island, Li Ang and his team reached the center of the island.

"Dear benefactors, the grass sled can’t go any further," Hode’s son told the group.

"No worries, you can head back, thank you."

Departing, the young man headed back to Huan Ye’er, and near where Li Ang and the others landed, there were large ships and flat land specifically built to store timber. Cranes were built there to load lumber onto ships.

On the other side of the maintained pathway, grass sled drivers waited for adventurers who completed logging, so there was no worry about traffic.

The sled driver was mainly telling Li Ang and the others that from here on, they’d have to fight their own battles.

This was easily understood at a glance.

On the beautiful foggy lake, roots emerged from the water, tangled together. Near the shore, they resembled mangrove roots, but as they reached the lake’s center, the roots expanded proportionately, transforming into undulating mounds larger than houses.

To stand firm amongst these roots, where many animals and waterbirds resided, hiding various fish, snakes, and crustaceans, and battle the demons with similar habits, they had to reach the side of one of the great trees.

"Come on, it’s time for our trial," Li Ang said with a smile to the young girls.