Chapter 3008: Chapter 3009: The Wood Spirit’s First Step

The staff is just an ordinary staff, but the vine wrapped around it is a Wood Spirit.

Previously, Angel had kept the Wood Spirit with him, but later he stored it away to enter the Mirror Domain. However, the Wood Spirit didn’t want to stay in the bracelet because Dangross was inside.

Angel thought about it and simply let the Wood Spirit sink into the shadow with Earl Mi.

It’s not that the Wood Spirit isn’t afraid of Earl Mi, it’s purely that it had to choose the lesser of two evils. It fears Dangross, it fears Earl Mi, but it’s not afraid of the Blue Lantern Flower on Earl Mi’s head, it even feels close to it.

The Wood Spirit cannot discern that the Blue Lantern Flower is actually Earl Mi; it only feels that the Blue Lantern Flower is filled with a familiar aura, and staying around it gives it a sense of safety, as if... it has reached a safe harbor.

Since its birth, the Wood Spirit has always been in a state of anxiety. Its instinct is driven by the belief that it is unsafe everywhere, and everything around it will harm it.

This pathological fear has allowed it to survive till now but has also tortured it for hundreds of years.

Therefore, when it found intense safety around the Blue Lantern Flower, it naturally chose to stay with it.

Even if Angel let it sink into the boundless dark sea of shadows, as long as the Blue Lantern Flower still emitted its faint glow, it felt extremely secure, as if staying in a steel-reinforced safe house, without worrying about the outside world.

Others might not understand the Wood Spirit’s sudden dependency on the Blue Lantern Flower, but Angel can sense the Wood Spirit’s emotional state and can roughly guess some reasons.

This might be a special psychological symptom.

People, when experiencing huge environmental changes and emotional stress, also develop various peculiar psychological symptoms. Although the Wood Spirit is not human, the spirit class is closest to human nature.

The Wood Spirit’s decision to leave the Hanging Jail Stairway and firmly fulfilling its promise represents a huge environmental change; seeing diverse life forms after leaving the Hanging Jail Stairway, the timid and cowardly Wood Spirit experiencing emotional stress is quite normal.

In such circumstances, perhaps the only one the Wood Spirit can trust is Angel. The ’Blue Lantern Flower’ in Angel’s shadow, in the Wood Spirit’s view, also belongs to Angel.

As a beginner who has never encountered his kind and has barely interacted with plants, suddenly seeing the powerful, resilient, elegant ’peer’ Blue Lantern Flower, naturally gives rise to some psychological dependency symptoms.

Dependency involves drawing the energy and emotions one needs from someone or something.

The Wood Spirit draws the emotion it needs - security - from the Blue Lantern Flower.

Thus, this change is not entirely without reason.

From a certain perspective, the Wood Spirit’s dependency on the Blue Lantern Flower is indeed a pathological psychology. But Angel currently has no intention to correct it... After all, the Wood Spirit’s situation is special; leaving a small world of self-seclusion and encountering a more complex society, having dependency is better than having none.

Moreover, Angel has an inexplicable feeling that the Wood Spirit’s goal, Sanders, probably won’t treat the Wood Spirit too harshly.

In such circumstances, having psychological support is better than being aimlessly lost without reliance.

While Angel pondered the Wood Spirit’s situation, the Wood Spirit also noticed the change in its surroundings.

The vast, dark shadow ocean disappeared, and it returned to the outside world.

Instinctively, it glanced around, wanting to see if there was any danger... Of course, finding a hiding place would be even better.

As the cowardly Wood Spirit observed, Angel reached out and touched the staff.

The vine entwined around the staff instinctively wanted to move away, but feeling Angel’s warm aura, the Wood Spirit stopped.

"Don’t worry, there’s something I need your help with," Angel said in a gentle tone.

Help? A strange feeling suddenly arose within the Wood Spirit.

Yet, before the Wood Spirit could ponder this feeling, Angel placed a leaf, exuding a strong natural aura, in front of it.

"This leaf is actually a kind of special Magic Message," Angel said. "To see the content inside, you need to use the Power of Nature to unlock its external bonds."

Under the Wood Spirit’s curious gaze, Angel shrugged: "The person who sent the message probably didn’t know, I have little involvement with the Power of Nature."

As Angel spoke, he earnestly gazed at the Wood Spirit: "So, I need your help."

The Wood Spirit can sense malice and can perceive some lies through inspiration.

But Angel harbors no malice towards the Wood Spirit, and while he hid part of the details, it was indeed truthful.

Thus, the Wood Spirit didn’t notice anything amiss.

However, the Wood Spirit still felt a little timid. Even facing the Angel it depended on, it did not immediately agree, instinctively holding back.

After observing the Wood Spirit for a few seconds, Angel "belatedly" discovered its timidity and patted his head: "Ah, I almost forgot, it’s your first time encountering a Magic Message, you must be worried about damaging the leaf, that’s why you dare not act recklessly?"

"It’s okay, you can boldly send in the Power of Nature, just a small portion is enough. Roughly, it’s the amount needed to germinate an ordinary seed."

The Wood Spirit remained silent.

Seeing the situation, Angel didn’t blame the Wood Spirit; he merely smiled kindly: "It’s understandable that you are cautious, so let me demonstrate it for you once, and next time you’ll know."

After saying this, Angel pointed to the Blue Lantern Flower.

Without another word, Earl Mi manipulated the Blue Lantern Flower to sway, as a soothing Power of Nature began to gather.

Upon seeing the Blue Lantern Flower starting to glow faintly, the Wood Spirit’s mind flashed with many images; it associated the gentle glow of the Blue Lantern Flower with the protection it received from the light earlier... Now, even such a trivial matter, the Blue Lantern Flower was helping it.

A sudden surge of guilt arose in the Wood Spirit’s heart, causing it to abandon its reservations and actively speak:

"I, I can do it."

Angel had been waiting for the Wood Spirit’s response, and without hesitation, instructed Earl Mi to pause mentally. He then adjusted his expression, gazing at the Wood Spirit with eyes containing three parts surprise, three parts delight, and three parts encouragement.

— Although Angel wasn’t sure if his eyes conveyed accurately, as long as the atmosphere was right, everything else doesn’t matter.

With Angel’s "encouraging" gaze, the Wood Spirit cautiously extended a vine, nervously and slowly approaching the leaf’s edge, and then controlled the vine to gently touch the leaf.

As the Wood Spirit’s natural aura flowed into the leaf, the "shape" maintaining the leaf could no longer hold, releasing all contained "intention" in one burst.

A phantom shadow appeared out of thin air in front of everyone.

Angel was not surprised, but the Wood Spirit was startled, immediately hiding behind the Blue Lantern Flower.

This phantom shadow was Buru’s image. Though it appeared lifelike, Angel knew it was merely a method of retaining images.

Although Buru seemed to appear here, it was just a pre-recorded image with only the function of transmitting messages.

"Esteemed guest, I deeply apologize for the sudden disturbance. I offer my sincerest apologies."

"Here’s the situation: my master has just returned. If the guest wishes to become a Starlight member, you can do so before the night market ends."

"Of course, it’s also possible to apply after the night market ends, but during the night market, my master will not leave. If the night market ends, my master may go into seclusion."

"Once again, I apologize for disturbing the guest. Please forgive me."

"Always willing to provide high-quality service to the guest, Buru."

After Buru finished speaking, he completely exhausted the "intention" within the leaf and vanished completely.

Angel didn’t find Buru’s words surprising nor paid them much attention; instead, he turned to look at the Wood Spirit behind the Blue Lantern Flower.

"This is a shadow image featuring a Natural Sprite named Buru."

Angel didn’t mind if the Wood Spirit was listening or not, but treated it like a friend and explained Buru’s words again. Naturally, to explain Buru’s words, Angel also casually mentioned their current location.

Indirectly informing the Wood Spirit that they had already left the Underground Aqueduct.

After Angel finished speaking, without waiting for the Wood Spirit to react, he cheerfully said, "This night market, although Buru didn’t specify the situation, sounds quite interesting; would you like to go out for a stroll with me?"

The Wood Spirit instinctively replied, "No, no."

A trace of sadness flashed in Angel’s gaze as he looked at the Wood Spirit.

The Wood Spirit felt guilty but dared not speak; it only turned its head to evade Angel’s gaze.

Angel sighed softly and used a warm tone, "Alright then."

Facing the Wood Spirit’s evasive gaze, Angel indicated to Earl Mi to submerge it back into the shadow.

This time, the Wood Spirit didn’t resist, and after a swirl of shadows, it vanished.

After the Wood Spirit disappeared, Angel’s gaze immediately returned to calmness.

He had brought out the Wood Spirit merely to eliminate its wariness, also indirectly telling the Wood Spirit that he had left the Underground Aqueduct.

Everything else, including mentioning taking the Wood Spirit to the night market, was just casually spoken by Angel, who knew full well that in the current state of the Wood Spirit, it would not agree.

Of course, if the Wood Spirit had indeed agreed, Angel would have been pleased.

After all, what Angel did was intended to make the Wood Spirit more courageous.

Caution is necessary, but the Wood Spirit’s caution had reached an excessive point; what it needed was to move forward rather than continue to retreat.

Although the whole matter was simple, and the Wood Spirit ultimately retreated as Angel had expected, Angel did not feel it was a total loss.

The Wood Spirit needed gradual change; a sudden change might provoke new psychological symptoms for the Wood Spirit. Thus, this situation is satisfactory.

Angel contemplated silently: in the future, similar attempts could be made more often.

...

After a brief meditation, Angel tucked away the Indestructible Heart Mirror and left the quiet room.

Since Granny had mentioned that the Starlight doesn’t pose any issues and that being a member offers certain benefits... though not much, having some is better than none. Thus, Angel planned to first visit Buru’s master and become a Starlight member.

As for whether to stand by Starlight’s banner to oppose King Gumman, that’s certainly impossible. Of course, siding with King Gumman is even less likely.

In fact, this aligns well with the philosophy of Starlight.

Besides becoming a member, Angel also intends to check out the night market Buru mentioned. When he first came to the Starry District, Angel noticed that the shops on both sides of the district were mostly closed. Since Buru’s message seemed to promote the night market, does this imply that during the night market, the Starry District becomes lively?

Soon, Angel arrived at the lobby of the traveler’s inn.

During the day, the inn was nearly empty, but now it had become much more crowded.

In addition to lodging services, the traveler’s inn also provides tavern-like services, so at a glance, it resembles a bustling small tavern.

Even though it hasn’t reached a point where it’s overcrowded, many people are seated around the better-positioned tables.

Generally speaking, taverns frequented by Transcendents are actually more orderly and restrained than those of Mortals. This is because Transcendents are acutely aware of the consequences of offending powerful beings.

Therefore, although the tavern was crowded, everyone behaved orderly.

The patrons in the tavern, being aware of Angel’s presence, did not dare to stare. Even though they didn’t know Angel’s identity, the aura of an Official Wizard was unmistakably present.

Angel walked all the way to the counter.

Buru was already near the counter; seeing Angel approach, he immediately came forward.

However, before speaking, Buru released a simple Natural Barrier, shielded against external prying, and then respectfully said, "Esteemed guest, forgive my previous disturbance. Are you here to apply for membership?"

Although Angel had already learned about the inner workings of Starlight from Ironclad Granny, he still inquired, "As a member, there wouldn’t be any obligatory tasks, right?"

Buru: "None at all. If the guest wishes to understand the membership system, you might as well ask my master."

Angel: "Alright, take me to your master then."

Buru: "My master is currently in the shop across the street. If you want to see my master, you can go directly over."

Angel didn’t say much, nodded to Buru, and then walked out.

Upon leaving the traveler’s inn, Angel first glanced at the distant district... neon flickered, light reflected hues; previously closed shops had all opened.

Moreover, the formerly deserted streets now had many more people.

Though it cannot compare to the commercial streets of Bilun Tree Court outside, as an invitation-based and membership-based district, it’s quite bustling.

After a casual sweep with his gaze, Angel set his sight on the shop across the street.

The store had no text on its sign, but there was a drawing of a boiler. Below the boiler, Illusion Technique simulated blazing flames, while pale pink smoke emanated from the top of the boiler...

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