"Meow."
Ariella jumped onto the blanket and curled up against Hastur's chest. It raised its little eyes and revealed a flattering, cat-like smile.
There was no helping it. The number of dried fish it had collected over the past two days had plummeted, and it had also been strictly ordered to control its diet. It could only do its best to curry favor with the master who held the power over its dried fish.
Hastur rubbed his aching brow and the corners of his eyes, then reached out and stroked Ariella's little head for a while before getting out of bed.
After going to the washroom to freshen up, Hastur came back out and was surprised to find that Sharon had finally emerged from the cabinet today. She even looked to be in quite a good mood.
Hastur invited her to have breakfast together, and she did not refuse. Ariella also ingratiatingly approached Sharon and let her hold it.
In the dining hall on the first floor, Hastur and Sharon enjoyed seven or eight exquisite breakfast dishes, while Ariella ate a specially prepared small meat patty made from various nutritious types of meat.
Ariella's eyes immediately lit up, and its gloomy mood over the lack of dried fish was instantly overwhelmed.
On this return trip to Backlund, Hastur had brought three more chefs with him specifically to prepare all kinds of delicious food.
After breakfast, Hastur and Sharon, who had rarely finished her acting, took Ariella along for a stroll in the garden outside.
Hastur also took the opportunity to tell Sharon about the latest situation regarding Maric and the Temperance faction.
Sharon merely listened in silence. After Hastur finished speaking, she finally said softly, "I want to go to the Southern Continent."
Hastur instinctively frowned slightly. The various forces in the Southern Continent were entangled with one another, and the situation was extremely chaotic. It was best to stay away for the time being.
"I received word that the members of the Indulgence faction have already left the Southern Continent. It's time to return and rebuild the true Rose School."
Sharon rarely spoke at such length, continuing, "My teacher once helped her father establish the Highland Kingdom. The kingdom needs help now."
Hearing this, Hastur finally spoke. "Is this what your teacher wants?"
Sharon shook her head. "It's what I want to do."
"It's too dangerous."
"I know."
Sharon and Hastur looked at each other, then fell into a brief silence.
Hastur's tone softened a little. "I don't want you to go take such a risk."
"This is something I must do." There was not much emotion visible in Sharon's calm eyes, but her words were extremely firm.
"I'll have Mrs. Lisa accompany you."
"You need her help more than I do." Sharon took out the Fate Charm and whispered, "I have this. It's enough."
Hastur was about to say something when Sharon smiled faintly. "Trust me."
Faced with this, Hastur could only nod and agree to let Sharon venture into the Southern Continent.
Sharon had probably already made up her mind about this trip to the Southern Continent when she left Backlund back then.
She was now familiar with all the abilities of the Marionettist pathway. A demigod could indeed change many things.
"Meow…"
Ariella reluctantly nestled in Sharon's arms. It was not until Sharon said she would bring back some dried fish from the Southern Continent that its mood improved considerably.
Sharon was the sort of person who left as soon as she made up her mind. That afternoon, she boarded a ferry bound for the Southern Continent.
Watching Sharon leave, Hastur sighed softly and stroked Ariella's head. "Little thing, it'll be even harder for you to get dried fish from now on."
"Meow?"
Ariella nearly bristled. If it even lost its dried fish, wouldn't it suddenly have to face double the sadness?
Just as Hastur was planning to take Ariella for a walk along the seaside, he heard Mr. A's urgent prayer for help, one after another, extremely hurried.
…
The Sea of Ruins.
Golden seawater surged without pause, raising waves higher than the last.
A small boat led the way, with the Future following closely behind at a slow pace.
Everything had originally been going smoothly until the mushrooms Frank had painstakingly cultivated aboard the Future underwent a grotesque mutation.
After hearing Hastur's praise yesterday, Frank had fanatically begun studying his mushroom hybridization techniques.
He figured that they had already ventured deep into the Sea of Ruins and would certainly be unable to leave anytime soon. The food supplies aboard the ship might become insufficient, so he wanted to develop a fish-meat mushroom that could reproduce in soil.
That way, the crew could enjoy the deliciousness of mushrooms while also eating fish. The two flavors would complement each other, while providing a balanced combination of meat and vegetables.
His idea was good, and the process also went smoothly. He successfully planted a mushroom inside the belly of a fish, then dug a suitably sized hole in the soil contained in an empty wooden barrel, planted the fish head-first, and watered it with some golden seawater taken from the sea.
He spent half a day and finally cultivated Fish-Shaped Mushroom No. 1. After making further improvements, he subsequently cultivated Fish-Shaped Mushroom No. 2 and Fish-Shaped Mushroom No. 3.
But just when everything was going smoothly, Fish-Shaped Mushroom No. 3 began growing crazily. They no longer needed to absorb nutrients from the soil. The moment they touched the ground, a huge mushroom colony would sprout.
Moreover, the mushrooms grew larger with the wind, as if they could directly absorb sufficient nutrients from the air.
At first, Frank was still somewhat delighted, because this meant that all the crew members could enjoy a new food that combined nutrition and flavor.
But when these mushrooms grew to half the size of an adult human, they actually grew a pair of legs!
They could walk upright, and wherever they went, more little mushrooms would sprout. Sometimes, they would open their mouths and spit out an entire patch of mushrooms.
Before long, the mushrooms became dissatisfied with remaining inside the cultivation cabin and began expanding their territory outward.
When Cattleya discovered them, she was so furious that she nearly slapped Frank unconscious.
Fish heads, mushroom bodies, human legs. Some had three legs, some had four, and some even had black leg hair growing on their legs!
She really wanted to stuff every single one of these bizarre things into Frank's stomach!
Seeing the mushroom people continuing to reproduce, Cattleya immediately made the decision to burn them with fire.
But she had not expected that after the mushroom people were engulfed by the flames, they would produce a cloud of hallucinogenic pale-purple smoke. Combined with the illusions of the Sea of Ruins, it plunged the entire Future into danger.
Mr. A, who was on the small boat, had originally only been watching from afar, but the pale-purple smoke drifted over with the wind, and he was affected as well.
On top of that, some mushroom people that had been burned by the flames jumped into the sea, escaping the fire. They then climbed onto the small boat and began reproducing again.
Mr. A alone was completely incapable of dealing with all these mushroom people. Seeing that they were about to disturb the Lord's tranquility, he could only frantically pray to the Lord in his heart, begging for the Lord's descent.
But before he could await the Lord's descent, he was swallowed by the illusion first.
When Hastur descended, Mr. A had already disappeared from the small boat. Only a group of fish-shaped mushroom people remained, reproducing everywhere.
This Mushroom King truly lived up to his reputation.
The corner of Hastur's mouth twitched slightly. He drew forth a strand of purifying holy light belonging to the authority of the Eternal Blazing Sun with his fingertip and scattered it outward. Whole patches of mushroom people turned into countless points of light and disappeared.
After dealing with the mushroom people on the small boat, Hastur arrived at the Future as well. There was no sign of anyone aboard the ship anymore, leaving behind only a kingdom of mushroom people.
After purifying these bizarre mushrooms that were an eyesore, Hastur drew out a fragment of fate from the air.
The scene clearly showed the moment everyone had been swallowed by the illusion.
The Sea of Ruins was inherently difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion. Sometimes, an illusion was reality itself.
The fallen Ancient Sun God had left behind a chaotic authority here, powerful enough to make falsehood indistinguishable from truth.
Having understood this point, Hastur also stepped into the world of illusion.
On the azure-blue sea, seagulls flew against the sea breeze. Three suns hung high in the sky. One of the suns contained a single eye, while another was pulled through the sky by two heavenly horses seemingly cast from gold. Only one of the three suns was normal.
This was not the Black Monastery. It was more like a blended-together illusion.
Hastur searched around with his eyes and quickly found Mr. A's whereabouts.
At this moment, he was facing the one-eyed sun and worshiping it devoutly. Directly beneath the one-eyed sun stood a black mountain.
A shimmering passage connected Mr. A with that mountain.
When Hastur arrived, Mr. A raised one finger of his right hand and made a soft shushing gesture, indicating that Hastur could not speak.
After a while, he chuckled and lowered his voice foolishly. "Listen to me. The Lord is watching everything from His divine kingdom. As long as we offer up our devout faith, He will guide us to His divine kingdom."
Hastur listened silently. After he finished, Hastur grabbed Mr. A by the right shoulder and directly threw him out of the illusion.
After dealing with Mr. A, Hastur proceeded across the surface of the sea. Along the way, he encountered the crew members of the Future and gently stirred up a violent gust of wind, sweeping them out of the illusion.
After wandering around for a while, Hastur found Frank, who was still engrossed in researching new types of mushrooms.
This time, his research topic was: "On How to Hybridize Mushrooms and Jellyfish to Produce Bioluminescent Mushrooms."
His research had encountered a bottleneck. He had been frowning and pondering over it when Hastur approached and took a couple of looks.
"It's daytime right now. The fluorescence will only be obvious at night."
Frank suddenly slapped his thigh, revealing an expression of sudden realization.
"You can cultivate sun mushrooms, allowing the mushrooms to produce collectable sunlight like the sun."
"That's a very good suggestion. I'll try it right away."
Frank continued immersing himself in his research. Hastur did not disturb him, nor did he throw him out of the illusion. He might as well let him continue messing around here.
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T/N : Hello Everyone, LordIsland here!
I have stockpiled quite a few chapters, so will post bonus chapters based on power stones:
50 powerstones : 1 bonus chapter;
100 powerstones : 1 bonus chapter;
150 powerstones : 1 bonus chapter;
200 powerstones : 2 bonus chapter;
250 powerstones : 2 bonus chapter;
and 2 bonus chaps for every 50 powerstones more... no limit...
Everyone, give me your stones :)