Brain bloom

After closing the book, Mori also closed his eyes, hoping to overcome his unease by digesting the theory of magic—but it didn't work.

The author of this book, the magician, penned every word, and even the blank pages that followed, filled Mori with intense unease. It reminded her of a rumor she had heard—the tragic death of the eldest daughter of the Kuroneko family, who had been terrified after witnessing something beneath the earth.

Now that similar things are recorded in books, this is clearly not a good thing. If Moritoki is not mistaken, there must be some troublesome things hidden beneath the earth.

She first thought of the gaming era, so she closed her eyes and racked her brains, trying to find the answer to the question from her memories of her past life spanning more than ten years. Even if she couldn't find the answer, even the slightest clue could broaden her thinking.

However, she couldn't recall even the slightest thing related to the underground; with zero clues, she was at a loss.

With a soft sigh, Mori gazed at the soil covered by flowers and grass, instinctively thinking in the worst possible light.

Maybe there's a monster lurking beneath—the kind that can destroy the world? When a certain opportunity arises, it will burst forth from the depths of the earth and devour everything in the world... Anyway, that's how it's depicted in some comics, so who knows, there might be something similar in this world.

However, this was ultimately just a figment of her imagination. She had no way to uncover the truth of the matter, and it was none of her concern.

But an indescribable feeling was still urging her on, so she took out her travel notebook and wrote an extra task on the task list she had manually set up earlier: "If you have the chance, find out what's down there."

Fortunately, aside from her unease, she successfully obtained the magic she wanted.

Mori chased away the insects and birds that wanted to get close to the leaves and began testing the magic he had just learned.

Elemental restrictions were created to stabilize elements, but in the era of "Silent World," Mori accidentally discovered a hidden use for a skill: it could remove the restriction of elemental monolithism.

In other words, activating this spell allows one to operate without being bound by ordinary magical principles, freely manipulating all elemental attributes, which can lead to unknown effects. If luck is on your side, you might discover a powerful new spell in this direction, freeing you from being limited by the enemy's resources…

She's a hunter, and right now, the most worthwhile thing for her to try is low-level elemental arrow magic.

Sen Shi entered a state of elemental restriction, and suddenly felt that her senses were more acute. She first tried to create arrows of three elements at the same time, choosing fire, lightning, and ice, which are not compatible.

Due to elemental limitations, each type of magic arrow was less effective than the previous ones, yet the project was still successful.

There were no longer any issues of incompatibility between them. The elemental particles condensed from spiritual energy were constantly fusing together and developing in a direction that even Lian Sen himself was unaware of—this was a significant step.

She stared at her palm, where a slightly warm, bright light flickered, accompanied by a crackling sound.

It seemed to have failed? After a few seconds, the elemental arrow in his hand suddenly expanded, unable to maintain its shape, and its elemental structure became extremely unstable. Realizing his failure, Sen Shi immediately used all his strength to throw the explosive object into the sky.

"boom!"

Fireworks exploded in the sky during the day, their power exceptionally dazzling.

The countless elemental particles shimmered like stardust before disappearing.

"I really miss sunglasses."

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, which was still damp with fear, Morishi drank a bottle of energizing potion. While waiting for his mental energy to be replenished, he reflected on his earlier mistake—but the steps were correct, and the three elements were mixed in equal amounts.

"Wait a minute—wasn't that explosion a bit too powerful?"

Thinking of this, her thoughts took a turn, and she instantly realized that the explosive force might not have been a result of failure, but rather the correct answer.

An unstable explosive... Hmm, this looks promising.

She tried again, this time directly holding the Debt-Collecting Bow. Just as the arrow, formed from equal amounts of the three elements, was finished and still crackling, she used her skill to shoot it into the sky.

Perhaps this is the correct way to use it. Just like in the past, when different countries came up with novel small mushrooms, big mushrooms, and poisonous mushrooms, they would try to blow them up. Mori had the same mentality.

Sure enough, the arrow flew into the sky and exploded a few seconds later, the flash of the explosion still visible even from a great distance.

A few seconds is enough time to pierce through most enemies.

A smile spread across Mori's face, and even the leaves stood up happily.

These three-element magic arrows alone possess immense practicality. If equipped with these arrows, the Debt-Collecting Bow will no longer deal ordinary single-target damage, but rather a truly powerful area-of-effect attack—an elemental explosion!

If another enemy like the Love and Peace were to appear, Mori didn't even dare to imagine how much of the sea his arrows could evaporate, let alone the surrounding enemies.

Of course, there are still some problems to be solved. Currently, it consumes too much mental energy, and without replenishment, it can only be used twice. Due to this limitation, Mori Toki cannot experiment too much. He had originally wanted to try to create new advanced magic... but he had to give up.

But its potential for development is limitless.

After drinking the last bottle of energizing potion, she quietly waited for photosynthesis to bring her level to 25.

A few minutes later, Dandelion came over, holding a pretty watering can.

She strolled among the flowers, dappled sunlight filtering through her silver hair. She was still wearing the clothes Mori had made, but obediently refrained from wearing socks, which Mori felt was a slight imperfection, but there was nothing he could do about it.

But a slightly shy, flawless smile made up for everything.

"Mori, were they setting off fireworks just now?" she asked while watering the flowers and plants.

"It's a new spell, and it's quite powerful."

"...Can I study?"

"I need to study it first and remove all the unstable elements. I can't teach you something dangerous."

"That sounds powerful, and it looks like it'll be very interesting. I'm looking forward to it. By the way, those two slaves are all taken care of. If they dare to approach you, you have the right to kill them, and I support you in doing so."

"Wait, just because he got close to me, I killed him?" Mori once again experienced the extreme nature hidden within his princess.

"Maybe I'll deceive you, who's so naive, and then...do all sorts of...things." After whispering this, the dandelion added the last sentence in a voice not much louder than the fluttering of a butterfly's wings—"If that doesn't work, I can do it myself."

"Don't worry, I'm not interested in them! They're at least our new workforce..."

"That's good, as long as you don't fall for it."

"This means..."

"Um……"

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward, and for some reason, Mori's heart started beating faster and faster.

In her eyes, the dandelion now looks a bit strange. To continue using a previous analogy: a well-behaved child who wants to play mobile games and fit in with classmates, who gets a perfect score on the final exam after hard work, is now holding the test paper and planning to ask his parents for a new phone.

It was that kind of determined look with a hint of pride.

It seemed she was about to say something... Mori prepared for the worst in her mind: if Dandelion said, "I agree to marry you," should she accept? Her heart was pounding in her chest; her Four Seasons Instinct told her that things were not going well.

"—Huh? Why is there a hole here?" But Dandelion suddenly stopped, her expression not looking good.

Mori explained, "I dug this up before. Didn't you ask me to come here and get a bottle of wine for Yuan to take back as a gift to that ancient demon king?"

"Think carefully, and then tell me the exact answer... Is there a small red checkmark on the label of that bottle of wine?"

"Yes, there is one. What does that mean? Is it something you treasure and can't bear to give to others? Don't blame me, after all, I did it as you asked."

Dandelion's face turned deathly pale, like burnt soot.

Seeing her sudden change in reaction, Mori vaguely realized he might have messed up. But the hole was dug according to the spot Dandelion had suggested. Given her confused state at the time, it was understandable that she might have made a mistake.

Mori offered words of comfort:

"It's just a bottle of rare wine, let's just pretend we drank it privately. Don't be so upset, you did get that... the best grape variety in the world, right? There will be even better wines in the future."

"no……"

Dandelion just shook her head blankly, not daring to explain to Morishita what had happened—she knew very well that she had gotten the location wrong during her period of delirium. Then, what Morishita dug out and handed to Yuan was a bottle of wine laced with potent poison.

In fact, Mori wasn't wrong; this wine was indeed her treasured possession, otherwise she wouldn't have deliberately buried it in the soil of the backyard. But it wasn't because the taste was particularly good or the brewing process was particularly excellent—it was because it was particularly toxic.

"Mori, tell me properly, did you give that wine to Yuan?"

"It's been handed over."

"Hmm...hmm." The dandelion heard despair.

"Speaking of which, didn't she say she'd be here this morning? Why haven't we seen her yet? What should we say to her?" Sen Shi brought up the devilish deal Yuan Yuan proposed yesterday, "The right to participate in Yi Yun, in exchange for three uses of her services. This deal... you should make the decision."

"Oh……"

Dandelion was unable to answer Senshi's question because her heart was being battered by a raging storm.

What would happen if the ancient Demon King opened and drank that bottle of poisoned wine? Perhaps that's why Yuan didn't come to ask for an answer on time; maybe he was gathering his demon army, or maybe he was trying to appease the ancient Demon King's anger.

Oh no, the side we could have won over has now become our mortal enemy.

Left with no other choice, Dandelion decided to wait until the wish came true and then agree to the deal, hoping to gain some goodwill in return...

Volume 1 #090: A Fine Wine Worthy of Praise

Dandelion could only hope that the poisoned wine wouldn't work, or that the ancient devil king had high enough poison resistance. Just like its name suggests, it was a devil from hell—how wonderful it would be if it could use deadly poison as bathwater?

Even so, this bottle of poisoned wine could still be interpreted as a provocation.

When dandelions were learning about the world in their youth, they also learned some of the devil's habits from the teachings of the rose. They always sought equal exchanges and were unwilling to suffer even the slightest loss.

If anyone provokes the devil, the devil will surely retaliate fiercely.

"I hope it will like that bottle of wine..."

"Dandelion, I'd like to borrow your staff for a bit," Mori said, interrupting her reverie.

"Um……"

She reflexively took off her staff and handed it to Mori, then sadly took Fukufu away. She thought to herself that she should go salvage the treasures left behind by the ghost ship; that way, she might have more leverage when negotiating and making peace with the devil.

Such a large ghost ship must have left behind two boxes that are extremely valuable.

Watching the dejected Dandelion walk away, Mori didn't think much of it. He just felt that she had lost a bottle of the most precious wine, but wine could be brewed again next year.

After Dandelion left, Mori carefully took out the bag of thank-you gifts from the old lady of the cat family. These jewels all belonged to her, and she would be heartbroken if Dandelion took them.

Let photosynthesis accumulate experience for a while longer, and I'll smoothly reach the required level. Just in time, I can carve a magic scroll before heading to Silvermoon City and try my luck in the market. Who knows, I might come back with a few hundred more gold coins in my pocket.

If you ignore the letters engraved on it, everything will be fine—therefore, Sen Shi currently needs a fire-attribute magic gem to cast advanced fire-attribute magic for engraving.

The bag contained a variety of gems, and Senshi selected a red gem that was slightly larger than Fufu's.

[Unfinished Project: The Heart of Mount Byron]

According to the classification system of the game era, this gem is considered to be of good rarity. If it is inlaid in the staff "Gift of the Sea God", it can be used to obtain a fire attribute staff that is roughly equivalent to level 50.

However, that would require meticulous crafting. Mori only wanted it to fit into the staff, just enough to cut out the outline. That wasn't difficult; she had originally planned to make a set of small jewelry for herself, so naturally she bought the necessary tools for jewelry skills.

Start cutting—but it's a boring process.

Mori was distracted as he checked his attributes, trying to understand why, despite killing a bunch of skeletons and destroying the Love and Peace ship, his experience gain hadn't met expectations.

She checked her experience points first... normal. The experience points required to level up were the same as in the original game; the numbers hadn't increased.

As for her attributes, there was nothing strange about them. Puzzled, Mori continued investigating for a while, then suddenly noticed something odd. The experience points gained from photosynthesis were increasing very erratically, as if… some of them were flowing elsewhere.

Following this line of thought, she began to look for the reasons one by one.

At first, Mori thought the problem was with the vines above him. Perhaps strawberries need nutrients to grow, and experience is something like that? But no matter how much he pulled on the vines above him or questioned the leaves, he couldn't get the right answer.