Chapter 949: The Already Deceased Plant Elf Embryo
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 949: The Already Deceased Plant Elf Embryo
"These... are all plant essences?"
I spoke up, somewhat curious, and glanced sideways at Sister Bai.
Understanding my silent request, Sister Bai immediately shared all the information she had previously read regarding plant elves.
There was a vast amount of data, seemingly researched in great detail on purpose. It looked like Sister Bai had gone out of her way to investigate them once she learned of the existence of plant elves within the dungeon world.
Furthermore, the information hadn't come from the Witch Academy; after all, the academy's records on this subject weren't nearly this exhaustive.
"They're... they're friends!" Ling Yi corrected weakly from the side.
"My apologies~ I misspoke. They are Ling Yi's friends," I said, quickly comforting her.
"Xiao Han, can you... can you please not harvest her? She isn't plant essence, she isn't a resource, she's my friend..." At this moment, Ling Yi began to plead bitterly again. Having witnessed the darkness of the world, she naturally understood the terror of greed.
"I wasn't thinking that at all~ Since Ling Yi says she's a friend, how could I do such a thing to a friend?" I reached out, lifting Ling Yi up to soothe her.
"Thank... thank you, Xiao Han."
"Then, can you call me Sister Xiao Han?"
"Eh? But... but I should be older than you, shouldn't I? You should be calling me 'Sister'..."
Ling Yi seemed to have a strange, specific stubbornness about certain things.
One had to realize that even at the Witch Academy, many upperclassmen called me "Sister Xiao Han."
"How could that be? I'm clearly bigger than you~" I gestured with my left hand to emphasize the point.
"Ugh... fine then. You're a good person... Sister Xiao Han."
Ultimately, Ling Yi yielded on the matter of the title. As for whether she meant it sincerely, it didn't really matter.
"Ah~ I got the 'Good Person Card,' didn't I?" I let out a small smile, not taking it to heart.
While this object appeared to be a mass of plant essence concentrated to the absolute limit, I wasn't about to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs. Besides, I didn't particularly need plant essence at my current stage.
The data Sister Bai shared did mention plant essence, but never at this level of density.
Therefore, there could only be one other explanation: the gestation and birth of a plant elf!
This mass of plant essence had, to some extent, exceeded the limits of gestation. Furthermore, I couldn't detect any signs of life within it.
Given that Ling Yi likely wouldn't lie to me about this, the plant elf currently gestating... was almost certainly dead.
"Ling Yi~ Is this friend of yours still in the gestation stage?" I asked tentatively.
"Mhm! Yes! She's definitely still gestating! She's the companion I've seen who has gestated the longest and required the most plant essence! So, she must be incredibly powerful!" Ling Yi said with absolute confidence.
Her tone even carried a hint of pride as she spoke.
"How long... has it been gestating?"
"Um... I don't remember exactly. Anyway, it's been a long, long time. She was already gestating back when those hateful Wizards were still around!"
"When the Wizards were still around?" I repeated, slightly surprised.
That was indeed a very long time.
However, the gestation of a plant elf wasn't like a human's ten-month pregnancy. While the early stages of forming a plant embryo took a long time and required strict environmental conditions—sometimes years or even over a decade—once a certain limit was reached and the plant embryo solidified, the new plant elf would usually be born shortly after.
Furthermore, plant elf gestation wasn't fixed to a schedule; it depended on environmental conditions. At its fastest, a few weeks were enough; at its slowest, it might take a few months.
After all, given the physical size of a plant elf, they weren't destined for long gestation periods.
"Mhm! Those Wizards were so bad! When they were capturing our companions, they wouldn't even spare the gestating plant elves! This... this friend of mine was... was lucky enough to be left behind by the Wizards, and then I brought her here..."
"Left behind... by Wizards?"
Though I couldn't witness the scene with my own eyes, I could guess the general situation. I'm afraid that even back then, this plant elf was already dead.
What puzzled me, however, was that even a dead plant embryo was a source of incredibly dense plant essence. It shouldn't have been discarded.
Or... was it not discarded, but rather "stolen" by Ling Yi?
After all, the level of importance placed on something living versus something dead would be vastly different.
But clearly, now wasn't the time to press for answers. The truth and the process weren't important right now. What mattered was... the result.
This silly little plant elf had nurtured a dead plant embryo into such a dense mass of plant essence; one could only imagine the effort she had put in.
But life could never be born again from that plant essence, no matter how concentrated it was.
"Ling Yi~ Since she's your friend, let's take her to Lake Heart Island. That's where Sister Bai and I live, and it's where your home is now. It'll be more convenient that way, don't you think?" I proposed.
"Eh? But... but the plant power there isn't as dense as it is here, and..."
"As for the environment, I'll take care of it." Ling Yi's concerns were, naturally, non-issues for me.
As I reached out, condensing several runes and arranging them into a ritual framework, the dense plant power in the surroundings began to slowly gather.
This was a very simple method for me: a ritual array designed to aggregate specific transcendent energies. To me, it didn't even qualify as a spell; it was just a ritual structure used to achieve a specific effect. If I had to categorize it as a spell, it would be a typical "minor spell."
"Ah?! The plant essence is... it's all gathering?"
"That's right~ Once Ling Yi brings your friend over, I'll solidify this kind of array around the area. That way, you won't have to travel this far every time to take care of your friend~"
"Really... Really?! Thank you! Thank you, Xiao Han!"
"Hmm? What should you call me?"
"Ugh... Sister Xiao Han! Thank you, Sister Xiao Han!"
"Mhm~ That's more like it~" I said with a beaming smile.
Afterward, Ling Yi and I carefully tended to this "friend" and brought it from there to Lake Heart Island.
Upon returning, Ling Yi quickly discovered the energy-rich fruits beneath the Tree of Heya!
"Ah! Are these fruits... are they for me?"
"Mhm~ It's a pity, really. If Ling Yi had been here at the time, you could have caught them yourself."
"Thank you, Sister Xiao Han! You really are a great person! I shouldn't have doubted you!"
"Correction: I'm a Little Witch~ So I should be a 'Good Witch'!"
"Mhm! Sister Xiao Han is a good Little Witch!"
"?"
"It's 'Good Witch'~" I corrected her again.
"Oh, oh~ Sister Xiao Han is a good witch!" Ling Yi said as she began hauling all the fruits into her tree hollow.
"Aren't you going to eat one yourself, Ling Yi?"
"I'm going to save them. I'll share them with my friend once she comes out!"
"There's no need to be so frugal~ If your friend comes out, I'll prepare even more fruits for you!"
As I comforted Ling Yi, I began to solidify the ritual array beneath the Tree of Heya to guide and aggregate plant power.
Since this was a dungeon world, it wasn't appropriate to use the kind of ruthlessly efficient gathering arrays that would deplete the surroundings. I chose a gentler one that matched the natural cycle of the dungeon world.
While I was solidifying the array, Sister Bai came to my side and spoke to me in a voice only I could hear.
"Xiao Han, why are you going to such lengths?" Sister Bai asked curiously.
She had done the same for Fool's Dream, and now she was doing it for this plant elf.
In her eyes, Xiao Han was far too kind. Perhaps it was because her natural transcendent level enriched her perception; cute things couldn't influence her kindness from the outside. Only when she voluntarily chose to accept something would she set aside her reservations.
This was true for most witches. For instance, witches generally looked down on all races below the transcendent level, yet they easily lowered their guard around cute things like cats—some witches had absolutely no resistance to them!
"Does Sister Bai not understand?" I tilted my head and whispered back.
"Is it... an emotion similar to what you feel for Fool's Dream?"
"No, no, no." I shook my head. "The plant elf hasn't reached the level of the bond between Fool's Dream and me, but there's definitely some goodwill. If Sister Bai can't understand my complex considerations... let me explain it to you this way."
"What is it?" Sister Bai asked, intrigued.
"This plant elf is dead... but... it still has value as a subject for my breeding projects, life experiments, soul depiction, and various other skills and research topics."
Once I said this, Bai Yu understood.
Stating it so bluntly did lack a certain human touch, but for a plant elf who was already guarding a tragedy, this was undoubtedly a glimmer of hope for life!
Once the gathering ritual was solidified, I could already feel wisps of plant essence and similar energies beginning to aggregate on Lake Heart Island.
This wasn't an area that already had a massive accumulation of plant power, after all. To reach the same level as the previous location, it would take at least a day or two.
Furthermore, plant power was one of the few transcendent energies that naturally nourished life; having a high concentration was perfectly fine.
"There we go~ Ling Yi, this way you can take care of your friend right here. In about a day or two, the environment here will be roughly the same as the old place."
"Waaaah... Thank you, Sister Xiao Han! Thank you..." At this point, Ling Yi didn't know how else to express her gratitude and kept repeating her thanks.
Amidst her gratitude, I shifted my tone.
"By the way, Ling Yi, I know a fair bit about plant elves. Your friend has been gestating for so long; could there be some kind of problem?"
"Eh? How is that possible! Definitely not! Definitely not!" Ling Yi said hurriedly.
" I'm just saying it's a possibility~ Don't worry, I care about your friend too~ But she really has exceeded the normal gestation time for a plant elf. How about this: I'll go look for some information and see if I can help you solve this problem, maybe speed up her birth. What do you think?"
"Eh? Really... can you really do that?" Ling Yi asked, sounding a bit anxious.
She actually felt that there might be a problem too, but she didn't—and didn't dare to—think in such a dark direction.
She only hoped her friend was just special. She was a plant elf who had survived the hands of those evil Wizards, after all! She had to be special in some way, right?
"Of course it's true~ It's just looking up some data. Once I find it, I'll bring the good news back to you next time I return!"
"Mhm, mhm!"
After soothing the plant elf, I planned to leave the dungeon world with Sister Bai.
The reason I wasn't starting the experiments immediately was that I had other things to do. The experiments on the dead plant embryo would take a long time, so there was no rush. Moreover, it was better to give Ling Yi some time to adjust and accept things; being too eager for results wouldn't be good.
The place I was heading to was, naturally, the Primitive Dream Laboratory.
After all, I had been away for about a day; I wanted to see if Muli and the others were adjusting well.
Of course, the main reason was to check if Fool's Dream was showing any abnormalities.
Even though Fool's Dream's life experiment was being watched over by an independent clone and monitored by the Tree of Great Knowledge's key data streams, for my own peace of mind, it was better for my main body to check in daily.
For this trip, Sister Bai naturally came along. As a Body Cultivation Witch who mastered the order of the dream domain, she naturally had access to the Primitive Dream Laboratory. There was no need to worry about that.
"Oh~ Is that Xiao Han? You've only been gone a day, right? Back already?"
"Ha~ Bai Yu came too?"
Upon seeing the two figures arrive at the lab, they were met by familiar faces. After all, there were only so many people with clearance for this lab; they were all well-acquainted.
Regarding Bai Yu's arrival, the ones most interested were naturally Long and the other two Body Cultivation Witches.
At the moment, Muli was still the one maintaining the Primitive Dream Realm. One could tell that her mastery over the Primitive Dream Realm was becoming increasingly proficient.
"I didn't expect Xiao Han to return to the lab so soon. I thought you'd take a long break for ten days or so to relax~"
"Exactly~ It's only been a day, hasn't it? Proper rest helps improve efficiency, you know!"
"If I remember correctly, this semester is already over, right? Do you really not plan to rest during the break?"
"I just couldn't stop thinking about it~ So I made a point to come back and check," I replied casually.
"It's fine, you don't need to worry, Xiao Han. I know you maintained the Primitive Dream Realm for so long; how could we be any worse? Besides, there are three of us," Muli spoke up first.
"It's not that I don't trust you all, sisters~ I'm just afraid of accidents. The Primitive Dream Realm is a terrifying place; even I don't dare to explore it endlessly. I'm also thinking of your safety."
"Well, thanks for the concern then~" Muli didn't pursue the topic further, instead turning her gaze toward Bai Yu.
They had a very deep impression of this witch, Bai Yu.
If they had to use one word to describe her, it would be... genius!
She was the most talented transcendent Body Cultivation Witch they had ever seen!
Of course, Xiao Han was a Little Witch, so she wasn't included in the rankings for now.