The Jadeplume Terrorshroom, now standing upright, looked even more massive. With its keen senses, it quickly detected the two figures hiding beneath the trees.
"—Screeech!!"
It let out a shrill cry.
Discovering its territory had been invaded, fury surged within it. In a sudden charge, it spun around and swept its tail like a massive whip!
The pressure of the attack reached them before the blow itself.
Nolan immediately pulled Nilou into his arms and leapt backward with her.
The enormous tail feathers smashed straight through the trees where they had just stood, snapping trunks clean in half.
"Ahhh!"
Nilou cried out, instinctively clutching tight at Nolan's clothes.
The wind pressure alone blew her hat clean off, but Nolan, quick as lightning, snatched it from the air and pressed it gently back onto her head, securing it in place.
At the same time—
Translucent psychic threads stretched forth from midair, lashing around the Terrorshroom's tail feathers and legs.
In an instant, the beast was unable to move.
"SCREECH!!!"
The Jadeplume Terrorshroom struggled wildly, grass-element energy surging across its body to form explosive seeds, trying to shatter the bindings.
If their powers had been anywhere close, it might have had a chance.
But right now, its explosions couldn't even make the psychic threads quiver. Nolan simply summoned another thread and struck it hard across the head.
Bang!
A resounding crack echoed as the Terrorshroom's eyes rolled white. Its body wobbled, then collapsed unconscious to the ground.
[Defeated A Powerful Enemy. Obtained 72,186 Adventure EXP.]
The character panel flashed the message confirming its defeat.
Seeing their king brought low by a human, the surrounding Fungi howled in rage and rushed forward to save it.
Bang, bang, bang… A few heavy strikes later, they too were knocked out cold, granting only a trickle of additional experience.
Since both ordinary Fungi and Winged Fungi were now captured, it was perfect—he could bring them all back to Sumeru City for the Akademiya scholars to study.
Sumeru's alchemist as well as Sucrose, would no doubt be interested as well.
Right now, the "Akasha Interconnected Network" had already been running for some time, along with the newly launched "Akasha Forum." The earlier idea—that scholars of every nation could share and exchange research findings freely across distance—could now start taking shape in Sumeru.
It would be simple to create a group or an academic exchange section on the forum.
Sharing research with many minds would greatly accelerate progress.
Even someone like Sucrose, who wasn't good at socializing, could communicate with other scholars with ease. Compared to researching alone, this was far more effective.
Though Sucrose's research in bio-alchemy was already remarkable, and she could make progress by herself, one person's perspective was always limited.
Learning from more minds, exchanging insights, sharing results, and avoiding redundant experiments was equally important.
Unfortunately, for now the "Akasha Interconnected Network" could only cover Sumeru. The Great Dendro Archon still needed several more months to recover enough strength to support even part of the system(Wonderland Space).
So, if Sucrose wanted to connect with other scholars through the network, she would have to come to Sumeru.
Fortunately, with "Interstellar Travel," teleporting here was easy enough—so it was still rather convenient.
Nolan thought for a moment, then gently patted Nilou on the shoulder, signaling that she could let go of him now.
"It's over already…?"
Nilou turned her head and looked back. Seeing the Jadeplume Terrorshroom and the other Fungi sprawled unconscious on the ground, she finally let out a small sigh of relief.
[Nilou Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 300 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.9 (420/900).]
As the prompt popped up on his panel, Nolan couldn't help but feel pleased. She was almost at full affection level now.
He was looking forward to seeing what new affection skill Nilou's max level would bring.
"Mm." Nolan nodded, then said,
"Come on, let's go collect them and bring them back for the scholars to study."
Together, he and Nilou walked up to the downed monsters. He first marked them with "Command Seals," then stored them all away using Lumine's Authority.
Coming to the oasis and capturing a rare Jadeplume Terrorshroom was indeed quite a fruitful harvest.
It reminded him of the time he had defeated the Ruin Serpent in The Chasm. According to Ningguang, once it was given over to Liyue's scholars, their research had produced remarkable results.
They had gained a deeper understanding of leyline energy, and even managed to replicate the Ruin Serpent by incorporating the already-mature technology of steam engines.
Thus, the Steam Serpent was born—built for excavation. Though not as effective as the original Ruin Serpent, its efficiency was dozens, even hundreds of times greater than humans digging with shovels.
With the Jadeplume Terrorshroom no longer blocking their path, Nolan and Nilou reached the lake marked on the map without difficulty.
Even before drawing close, they could see the lake's surface from afar, glittering with dazzling golden sunlight.
By the water's edge, both monsters and ordinary animals were drinking. They kept wide distances from one another, seemingly wary of sudden ambushes.
When the two of them appeared unexpectedly, the ordinary animals spooked at once—scattering into the trees without even taking a sip of water.
The monsters, however, weren't so timid. They continued drinking calmly, ignoring the newcomers for now.
"Mr. Adventurer, could you take me up higher? I want to see the whole lake from above!"
The red-haired girl in her white dress looked up at him, her eyes shining with anticipation.
"Of course, no problem."
Nolan nodded slightly.
A small wind field formed beneath them, lifting the pair upward. Spreading their Wind Gliders, they easily soared into the air, gazing down upon the lake in its entirety.
"Hm? What's that?"
Nilou had been about to praise the beauty of the scene when her eyes caught something in the bushes ahead to the right—a group of figures crouched low, clearly lying in ambush.
"Mm?" Nolan noticed them too.
To avoid being discovered, he quickly unfolded a concealing barrier around the two of them, then extended his spiritual perception outward.
His spiritual energy was formless. Sweeping across the hidden figures, he counted twelve in total, none of whom noticed a thing.
Judging by their attire, they were almost certainly mercenaries of the Eremites.
All of them were fixated on the road ahead. Curious, Nolan extended his perception further.
Before long, he spotted a caravan making its way along the road toward the lake. Several pack beasts, laden with goods, were trudging forward.
Pack beasts were large animals capable of adapting to harsh environments, usually docile in nature. They were indispensable for transporting cargo—especially in desert regions.
Most likely, this was a trade caravan passing through the Abundant Oasis, stopping by the lake to let their beasts drink.
So then, the ones the Eremites were lying in wait for… must be this caravan?
Nolan mused silently to himself.
---
(End of Chapter)