Chapter 174: Chapter 172: Target—Heading to the Star Spirit Tree

Just like the previous few times, after Rose finished speaking, he vanished on the spot, conveniently blocking the surrounding people’s memories, making them forget his existence.

Although Phil was already accustomed to his ghostly appearances, and used to him "only letting her see," Rose still played it safe.

He even made minor blocks in Phil’s memory, like filtering out the words the mercenaries said to her when they grew impatient waiting — later Rose directly guided them with spiritual power, implanting suggestions to make them simply overlook his presence.

Every time he left, he added a block to prevent any unforeseen incidents.

After a few occurrences, Phil had already accepted the fact that she had been targeted by Evil God Ross.

At the same time, Rose laid down a suggestion to her, saying that her connection with him would deepen as the pollution intensified.

The girl showed fear, but she soon raised a question —

Why would Rose help her purify the pollution rather than wait for her to be corrupted and become his believer?

Rose couldn’t be bothered to make up a reason, he simply didn’t respond, leaving it for Phil to ponder on her own.

This time, upon hearing Rose directly say that if she allowed the pollution to erode her heart, she would become Rose’s follower, the girl’s eyes grew panicky.

This was in line with Rose’s expectations.

But the panic didn’t last long, Phil suddenly appeared relieved.

"Lord Rose is so gentle, becoming his follower might not be so bad... No, I’m the Holy Daughter, how could I think like that? Have I already become his follower?"

She realized through her monologue that her mindset shouldn’t be like this.

"The Holy Word says that Evil God Ross has the power to beguile people, and the gods warn everyone not to believe in his words, or they will succumb and become his believers... I don’t believe him, yet he appears alone to purify my pollution... Can I still escape?"

Rose’s mood was like doing sit-ups with her thoughts.

He was really worried Phil might suddenly "get it," and choose to embrace the pollution, truly becoming Abyss Princess.

Fortunately, she didn’t have this thought; instead, she considered it for a long time, then decided to go with the flow.

She even had a brazen thought arise —

"If I become his follower, I’ll definitely persuade him to turn to good."

Rose couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

This girl is even more naive than Hilia.

Is this the Holy Court’s Holy Daughter?

How interesting.

Speaking of which...

Rose thought of another issue.

Besides Hilia, the Holy Court’s Holy Daughters, the other two were also preparing to establish spiritual connections as a backup.

Why not just...

Turn all the Holy Daughters into "Evil God’s Holy Daughters"?

It’s not impossible.

Rose thought about it; currently, it wasn’t very clear what Doris’s and Encore’s weaknesses were.

"There’s no hurry for this kind of thing, stabilize Benovia and Phil first."

Rose maneuvered the magic puppet back to the school camp, heading to Hilia’s ward.

Inside the ward, only meditating Hilia was present, no one else.

Upon sensing the return of the magic puppet, Hilia opened her eyes, delightedly saying, "Mr. Rose, you’re back!"

Rose approached and patted Hilia’s head, emerged from the magic puppet, and had her put the puppet away.

Afterward, Rose asked, "After the trial ends, what are your plans?"

"Me?" Hilia thought for a moment, then looked up and said, "I’m planning to go back, to visit Vanessa Mama."

Rose was taken aback, then laughed, "Aren’t you afraid that once you go back, you’ll find evidence of that High Priest’s crimes, and send her to the Judgement Court?"

"How is that possible! Vanessa Mama is very kind, if she did what those High Priests did, how could Star Dust Divine Hall be so dilapidated."

Rose asked, "Where’s Star Ash Town?"

"In the southern part of the Ista Empire."

Hilia got out of bed, went outside the ward, looked towards the southwest, pointing to the faintly visible Star Spirit Tree, she said, "It’s right under the Star Spirit Tree, Star Ash Town is very close to Star Spirit Tree, its name comes from when Lord Rose burned down the Star Spirit Tree, and the ash covered the entire town to earn its name,"

"Oh? So, your hometown is close to the Star Spirit Tree?"

Hilia nodded, "Very close, the area around the Star Spirit Tree is a forbidden zone, inaccessible, Star Ash Town happens to be outside the forbidden zone, at the north end of the Star Spirit Tree."

Rose, thoughtfully, said, "When the Star Spirit Tree was burned, the ash spread should have been excellent fertilizer, why do you describe Star Ash Town as poor and backward?"

Hilia naturally replied, "Because the ash from the Star Spirit Tree is cursed, I’ve heard that plants growing from the ash contain a lot of pollution, they are magical materials, but they can’t be harvested or utilized.

"Before the end of the Era of Calamity, the people of Star Ash Town were all afflicted by the Star Spirit Curse, living very poorly, only after the end of the Era of Calamity did things slowly improve, besides being close to the Star Spirit Tree, there’s nothing there, the sunlight is often blocked by the Star Spirit Tree, it’s a place regular people wouldn’t want to develop."

Rose nodded, "I see, since you plan to go near the Star Spirit Tree, once there, try to get a bit close to it, I have some questions that need answering."

Hilia was cautious, "You don’t plan to burn the Star Spirit Tree again, do you?"

Rose tried hard not to laugh, "Do you think just anyone can burn the Star Spirit Tree? With your current strength, even given a thousand years, you couldn’t burn it."

"That’s good." Hilia sighed in relief.

"Besides, the reason I burned down the Star Spirit Tree then was that the Star Spirit Tree was severely overdrawn, causing pollution and the abyss to spread, leaving no choice but to burn it."

Rose didn’t reveal another reason.

In the game, burning the Star Spirit Tree was one of the many prerequisites for the divine war but only by burning the Star Spirit Tree could the ’Heaven’ difficulty be unlocked, allowing for a showdown with the Twelve Main Gods.

Why exactly burning the Star Spirit Tree triggered the divine war, Rose didn’t delve into the specific background story, so he could only surmise for now that because the Star Spirit Tree held too much importance to the gods, torching it enraged the gods, triggering the divine war.

The current Star Spirit Tree can’t be counted as the same one from before, there’s no need for Rose to burn it again.

As Hilia was conversing with Rose, the ward door was opened, and Benovia came in from outside.

She saw Hilia by the windowsill and said, "Hilia, because the ruins have already been conquered, the school has stopped the trial and plans to hold a trial closing ceremony the day after tomorrow, Abros sent me to ask if you’d like to give a speech on stage?"

Hilia repeatedly shook her head, "Forget it, let Doris do it, she might enjoy it, as for me, I’ll pass."

Benovia said, "But you were a major force in conquering the ruins, Doris says she won’t take credit for it, it’s all yours, if you don’t go, she won’t either."

"Silly Doris." Hilia frowned, "Whatever, I’m still not going."

Benovia smiled slightly, "That’s not possible, we’re an adventure team that conquered the ruins, one way or another, we need to be on stage, if you don’t go, we won’t either, the principal’s expression will definitely be interesting then."

Hilia rolled her eyes, "Even though I want to see the principal’s reaction, still, I’ll go, it’ll just be a formality, no problem."

"Good, then I’ll go inform Mr. Abros."

"Okay, thank you."