Brain bloom

Even if a book is updated before 6 a.m. the next day, it's still counted as the previous day. So... what is yesterday to you is today to me.

……

Also, let me explain the previous 100,000 recommendation votes campaign.

The lottery rules are as follows: I will collect everyone's IDs and assign them numbers. Then, I will draw the winners one by one in the reader group. There are over two hundred people in the reader group, so they can supervise the process to ensure fairness.

A guy in the group made a bot program that can be used for lotteries, so I'll be doing it in the group later.

The winners will be announced after the draw, and then I'll send them a private message to ask for their addresses (I won't send them any razor blades). If the prize isn't what you want, you can exchange it for an equivalent cash reward with me... Well, I think it will all be exchanged for cash rewards eventually, right?

……

And one more thing.

The main character and Yuan actually have illustrations, in Chapter 7 and Chapter 65 respectively.

The main character's video was initially released, but unexpectedly received a lot of negative reviews, so I deleted it and all the related posts, pretending it never happened. But later, feeling bad about the money I had spent, I reluctantly re-uploaded it.

Perhaps for this reason, some readers didn't see it...

The artist in question is quite expensive, but their style doesn't align with mainstream anime and manga tastes, resulting in a lot of negative reviews.

Let me think about it more carefully, and figure out how to handle it if I need to draw it in the future...

……

As for the side stories related to the investigation, I'll write them when the plot progresses appropriately. The first side story, tentatively, will focus on the main character's family, who have the most members. Ugh, it's been so long since I've written about the male lead; I feel like I'll probably write something terrible.

Volume 1 #247: Never Fading

[Level 1 - Guide to Summoning Souls by Naming - Copying]

This was the first time Mori had met the spirit of the traveler, but its frail appearance surprised her.

But she also figured it out: those strangely shaped things that died tragically under the Pope's skull were the so-called "Guardians".

Based solely on this name, coupled with the pile of coffins here, Sen Shi, with his clever little brain, could guess some of the inside story. Just like a dungeon must have some plot as its background, this was probably the background story.

"What are they guarding?" Mori stared at the twelve coffins. "These coffins?"

Nine terrifying guardians, protecting their former king... it's a cliché, but it makes sense. This is Mori's speculation.

"Correct."

“Inside…”

"Please...don't touch it—" the little boy's soul, a resident of the ruins, said in a trembling voice.

Suddenly, Mori felt a little unhappy and a thought popped into her head. She reminded her, "Go touch it, it'll be so much fun," but Mori remained clear-headed and suppressed this irresponsible idea.

Several questions arose as a result.

The four seasons.

The first time, probably also at this ruin, was when the companion, Yu Lian, on the other side, expressed fear of the Four Seasons when she saw Mori. But at the time, Mori didn't take it seriously, assuming it was just afraid of being plucked.

After all, it's just a flower, very delicate, without even a few thorns.

But after that, similar situations gradually arose, with occasional individuals expressing fear of the Four Seasons. For example, the books in the library of the Demon Realm, and... what Fernanda mentioned before.

"Um, are the Four Seasons People really that terrifying?" Mori asked.

The sound wasn't loud, but it reverberated clearly throughout the room.

No one responded.

It was as if she had asked a terrible, inappropriate, and embarrassing question. Kesen couldn't understand why this was happening; even humans, who were so afraid of the Evil Mist, had gone against the Flower Kingdom and still managed to win…

In her long-held impression, the Four Seasons were not that terrifying.

Upon hearing the term "Four Seasons One," the little boy named Teng, clutching Erwu, hid even further away. Besides Erwu, he also held a piece of paper with something written on it in his hand, occasionally glancing at Senshi out of the corner of his eye, and then, seeing that Senshi was also glaring at him, he looked like he was about to cry.

What exactly did Shiki do? Mori wondered.

A few seconds later, this deathly silence was refuted by Fernanda as a matter of course.

"Those who know why the four seasons are so terrifying will naturally always remember that fear."

"I've never seen humans afraid of it..."

"Humans are terrifying, but not enough. War? It's just the courage of the ignorant." Although her eyes were closed, her fingertips pointed precisely at the little boy. "And the traveling souls... this somewhat pathetic race has lived for quite a long time, and this fear is still well preserved."

"Okay, what did we do when it was still dark?"

"How should I put it..."

Fernanda seemed to want to open her eyes, but with a sorrowful expression, she sat down on the coffin next to her and, in a nostalgic tone, recalled what seemed to be a very distant era.

"At that time, you hoped to find a way to make the flowers never wither, and you succeeded."

"That's it?"

"But the process was terrifying; no one of you who's a bit older will forget it. Especially... what did you guys say, wanting a pretty big garden? Haha... Don't make me say it again, really."

"A flower that never fades...?"

Those who are well-versed in plants and blessed by the four seasons of nature can indeed accomplish such a thing.

For example, the flowers that bloom from the soul can never wither, remaining vibrant as a crown to adorn every fair-skinned, beautiful, kind, and gentle Four Seasons Person... This was Mori Toki's previous impression of the Four Seasons Person.

It seems there might be some rather cruel stories behind this.

While Sen was lost in contemplation, Fernanda had already begun to get down to business. Unlike Sen, who used the guise of "eliminating the Evil Mist and protecting peace" to actually level up, Fernanda was at least half genuinely there to eliminate the Evil Mist.

"Little one, recall all the evil mist, or I will destroy you, the source."

"No."

"Then you will lose a young soul, is that alright? You won't be able to get new members."

"so what."

Teng's attitude was completely different from his attitude towards Sen, and perhaps this is what angered Fernanda.

"You're not very well-behaved."

Fernanda's words became fervent, carrying a substantial threat.

She slowly unfurled her coiled dragon wings, which were covered with dazzling magical structures. All the advanced offensive magic spells that had existed since the beginning of this world were contained within them—one of the keys to her world-conquering power.

But the little boy's attitude became much tougher. He stood up from the corner, hugging the cute little ball of mist that looked like a marshmallow.

"Threatening me won't work."

“Threat? Do you know how many Evil Mist outflows I’ve destroyed throughout history? You understand, every outflow… has a feeder of the Evil Mist—your fellow human.”

"So that's how it is..." Mori quickly wrote it down.

Fernandado said a few words—

"Throughout history, people have always disappeared from the world quietly, and it's all the work of these guys. They torment the human soul and body to squeeze out more malice, to imitate the primal evil—that is, the evil mist that is being raised."

Upon hearing this, Sen felt a wave of nausea. That's how tens of thousands of innocent souls came to be.

The inhabitants of the underworld are probably the real villains of this world. They secretly capture humans to feed the Evil Mist, train divine slaves to dig their way through life... and likely, they'll do even more horrible things.

But what made Mori's face turn even more ashen was something else: "The Four Seasons One also did this?"

"How could that be? Why would the Four Seasons torment human souls? In history, you raised the Evil Mist because it was a byproduct of some souls failing during the Winged Cloud Festival. Since the Evil Mist had nowhere to go, you simply kept it as a plaything."

"Oh." For some reason, Mori felt very relieved.

“In the past… that demigod created Silvermoon City,” Teng suddenly murmured, giving Fernanda a confident smile, “to seal everything here. But now, the city has moved away.”

"Which demigod?" She seemed to know nothing about it either.

"The soul of travel, what are you going to do?"

"Although the Four Seasons Ones cannot be eliminated, it is still enough to hold out against the Evil Dragon for a while until the Evil Mist absorbs enough nutrients to return."

Even Mori realized that a battle was about to break out.

Since this is a ruin sealed away by a demigod using a city, there's probably something troublesome inside. And now, the opportunity has arrived. This resident is clearly trying to awaken something.

"Hold on to Eeron for a while? Ha." Fernanda seemed completely unfazed, but was actually quite intrigued.

Volume 1, Chapter 248: You Must Give Me Money

"So, how are you going to fight me? With that cloud of evil mist? It is indeed somewhat powerful, but not enough. Or with the summoning contract you hold in your hand? Is that the weapon you rely on?"

"Yes, that's it!"

Sen Shi was calm; she knew Fernanda's power better than anyone else.

This isn't something you can fight off by summoning some random Tom, Dick, or Harry. Even though this is deep within the ruins, and the Evil Dragon can't revert to its true dragon form, the outcome remains the same. The enemy will be torn to pieces; that's the only possible result.

In Senshi's limited understanding of this vast world, perhaps only the ancient Demon King, Yuan, could stand against her; maybe Melia and Daniel together could too. And then there's... the dandelion that picks the dandelion?

In short, she relaxed and began to study the ruins.

There are a few more doors in this place, and there might be some small monsters or something inside? Sen Shi's experience isn't too far off, so if there are more monsters, he can take care of a few.

But by the door, she saw bloodstains so dried they looked like paint. And chunks of flesh mixed with dust and dirt… Of course, with such a massive population here, it was impossible for it not to have enormous, well-equipped facilities.

Mori gave up the idea of ​​going in.

"Your failure to eliminate me immediately is a sign of your foolishness." Teng was still confronting Fernanda.

"Even if I were to attack you, it would be too late. You used the summoning scroll in your hand before we even got in, didn't you? That was when the Four Seasons Warrior tore the Guardian apart."

Senshi blushed, realizing that it might be Teng who had seen the whole thing through his eyes.

Teng's face turned pale once again, even though he was a transparent soul. But then a slight smile appeared on his face, as if victory was assured.

"I will win."

"You want to use summoned creatures to buy time so that Evil Mist can come back after it's had its fill, right?"

"To...the four seasons."

"Those ominous mists probably won't be coming back."

"Yes, it will." His voice sounded more like a prayer.