bookbashuk Page 447
Page 447
The crackling "reed pipe grass" played in the hands of the onlooking monsters. Amidst this sudden lively atmosphere, Zha Zha, looking bewildered, adjusted its crooked crown. However, its long-traveled composure allowed it to quickly recover. After thinking for a moment, it stepped forward and said earnestly:
"Thank you all for your trust... There are always people stronger than me, and there's always something beyond my reach. I've traveled to many places and had many goals. Although I've become the new king of the Moss Tribe, I know there are many people stronger than me, just like the unnamed Lord Latis who defeated the Sacred Tree. There will always be such role models in my sight..."
Latis squatted in the grass, both amused and exasperated, and listened to half of the impromptu speech by Zha Zha. Although to him it was about the level of an elementary school student, to the illiterate monsters, Zha Zha, who had traveled through the human world and had a certain level of cultural literacy, was already comparable to a doctoral student.
He shook his head, and seeing that the monsters were already enthusiastically planning to rebuild their territory in the Spring Forest area, he stood up with relief and turned to leave.
He left without a trace after accomplishing his task, concealing his identity and name. These were the marks he left behind after his visit. There was no need for him to stand up and accept enthusiastic praise; everyone would remember his existence.
After walking a few meters and just as he revealed himself, Latis suddenly heard the sound of running towards him. Turning around, he saw His Majesty the King with his long beard trailing on the ground—no, he was now the former King.
"Your Excellency, esteemed hero, would you like to take a walk together?"
The former king stroked his beard with a smile, as if the emotions he had deliberately forgotten had quietly resurfaced after stepping down from that throne.
“Sure,” Latis nodded and smiled.
"You don't need to call me that. We've all been heroes, haven't we?"
……
"...Another problem is that without the Holy Tree as a 'node,' the chaotic forces of light will no longer gather here. In the short term, the climate of the Mossy Land may change, and vegetation will begin to increase or decrease with the changing seasons. You should pay attention to this."
"Similarly, without the sacred tree, the air and other things will be affected to some extent. You should prepare yourselves mentally in advance to avoid being caught off guard."
Latis, hands behind his back, strolled around like an old Beijing gentleman, and leisurely gave instructions:
"Although it may sound unbelievable to you, I still recommend that you start trying to use the magic net. It is not something unique to humans, but a tool that the goddess gave to all living beings. I have already set up the magic net in the mossy land. You must use it often so that it will not gradually dissipate, understand?"
"I know, I know."
The former king nodded sheepishly, like a child struggling with his studies, and hurriedly scribbled it down on scrap paper in his clumsy handwriting. After a moment, he sighed, smiled wryly, and said:
"Lord Latis, I was originally going to ask you if you would stay in the Mossy Lands for a few days, but it seems that you are already planning to leave."
"After all, we still need to find traces of the radiation..."
Latis was halfway through his speech when he suddenly noticed the slightly embarrassed look on the former king's face. He suddenly realized that this former king had previously married three wives, and asking him to stay a few days was probably...
"Good heavens," Latis couldn't help but exclaim, "Could it be that you have a third son? You're really still going strong for your age..."
"No way, that's not the time!" the former king quickly explained. "My third son is only a few years younger than that scoundrel, and he's already a strong and healthy young man. If you could teach him even a move or two, I would be extremely grateful..."
Latis pondered for a moment, then suddenly recalled Zha Zha's life story, shook his head, and laughed:
"In my opinion, your third son has a better teacher."
"Huh?" The former king pondered for a moment and asked, "Could it be trash?"
“No, it was a terrible experience,” Latis said with absolute certainty.
"I see……"
The former king stroked his long beard, seemingly understanding, and remained silent for a moment. Suddenly, he took a small grass seed from his person and said:
"Lord Latis, I intend to plant this in the center of the Spring Forest area, but I'm a little unsure. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Oh?"
Latis took the sapling, activated his spirit ability to analyze it for a moment, and said in surprise:
"Wait, is this the original species of the Sacred Tree? It's just a blade of grass?"
"Yes..." The former king nodded, a slight smile appearing on his face, and said:
"No one could have imagined that the sacred tree was once so small... Yet it was this tiny little grass that sheltered the moss tribe for so many years."
"So that's how it is..."
Latis pondered for a moment, then suddenly raised an eyebrow and, under the former king's questioning gaze, cast "Plant Growth" dozens of times on the grass seed in his hand in one go.
"What's wrong..." The former king sensed a powerful surge of magic, but had no idea what had happened. Just as it was about to ask for details, it saw Latis quickly hand the grass seed back to it.
"?"
The former king was stunned. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, his hand suddenly felt heavy. He quickly looked down and was shocked to find that the grass seed had grown to twenty or thirty centimeters tall.
"Run! If you don't run now, it'll be too late!"
Latis, with his hands behind his back and a faint smile, said:
"It can grow to more than a meter tall in a minute. At this rate of growth, it will be difficult to move it later."
"Here……"
The former king subconsciously shook his beard, then suddenly realized what Latis was talking about. A few beads of sweat instantly appeared on his forehead, and his face flushed red. Without even saying hello, he quickly swung his shrimp legs and hurriedly ran towards the crowd.
Latis watched the former king's departing figure, couldn't help but laugh, casually waved in the direction of the monsters, and then strode towards his teammates.
Chapter 434 The Great Zot
Latis easily followed the route he had taken to the vicinity of the Antler Worm Station platform.
After the Dream Nail absorbed the light crystals that the Sacred Tree had transformed into, the will of light throughout the entire Mossy Land vanished. The strange plants that could launch lava projectiles all regressed to their original forms. Although there were still some minor issues, such as the insectivorous plants that would capture passing creatures, this was actually a good thing for the Mossy Tribe.
After all, losing awareness of crisis can be very dangerous.
Latis glanced at the unprecedentedly large gathering team that had set off from the hot lake region in the distance, and seeing that various tribes were among them, he couldn't help but laugh.
Indeed, development is the best way to solve problems. However, it's likely that this young king will have a lot to do to bring the Spring Forest back into his territory. But having traveled to many human settlements, he should be much better at planning his territory than the previous king.
Recalling the red lobster lying in the pool after the battle, Latis felt a surge of hunger again.
It's been more than half a year since I transmigrated. Although I've gotten used to the food in this other world, I still miss the food from the East occasionally.
Perhaps someday I can find an opportunity to thoroughly hone my culinary skills in a simulation...
Back to the scumbag, it seemed quite shocked that it had actually pierced the Silver Scale Breastplate with a straight sword woven from vines. This breastplate, which it considered indestructible, seemed to have been less than powerful after all.
However, this meant that Zha Zha couldn't give Latis the reward it had initially promised. The embarrassed Zha Zha wanted to gather some resources to compensate Latis, but Latis hadn't actually come for the Silver Scale Breastplate. He had collected fragments of the Silver Scale Breastplate to give to his dwarf friends for research later, and symbolically took a few pieces of algae clothing before smilingly ending the hero's request.
Although I heard that Zha Zha planned to record the history of the heroes fighting the Demon King and put it on Latis's face, he ran away so fast that they probably wouldn't be able to remember what they looked like accurately.
I have a bad feeling. What if they still insist on drawing their own portraits and end up looking like a demon?
Oh well, I'll just keep refusing to admit it was me from now on.
Latis climbed onto the platform and saw the stag beetle munching on grass in one corner, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
It's good that the stag beetle hasn't left. He was worried that it might have run away somewhere else and been lured away by a bell. If it ran too far away and couldn't come back for a while, then he would have to wait.
As for their next destination… Latis drew the Dream Nail from his waist, intending to use his "Guide" ability to find his next target, when Jennifer suddenly asked:
"Lazi, what do you think the Moss Tribe will become in the future?"
"This question..."
Latis, holding the Dream Nail in his other hand, stroked his chin and said:
"It's hard to say. These things depend on Zha Zha's plans. But I have a feeling that the Moss Tribe might just establish a connection between the surface world and the underground world..."
“Indeed.” Jennifer stroked her chin in exactly the same way as Latis, pondered for a moment, and said:
"I used to think that all monsters were hostile to humans, but now it seems that the only hostile ones are the predatory monsters that roam around the surface and underground, as well as many monsters that have formed tribes and have civilizations that can communicate with them."
“But there are also monsters like goblins that cannot be communicated with,” Holnet continued. “If humans do develop cultural exchanges with monsters in the future, then monsters like goblins are a scourge that must be eradicated beforehand.”
“But this kind of thing is really hard to get rid of completely, isn’t it?” Geeta shrugged helplessly and said, “Teacher, we couldn’t even get into the Goblin Palace before.”
“There’s nothing we can do. As Dark Knights, we don’t have any usable divine spells.” Holnet sighed slightly and said, “Given A-Guang’s current responsiveness, it’s already quite difficult for him to create a divine spell that can generate divine power of light. Even though divine power of darkness and divine power of light are two sides of the same coin, we still can’t have a powerful weapon like a purification spell for the time being.”
"Huh? Is that really the case?"
Jennifer asked in surprise:
"But doesn't Geeta possess a divine spell called 'Sword'?"
"Yes, she said that divine spell is called 'Sword of Delight.' Although after understanding the process of how she created the spell, I didn't really feel any sense of delight, but since A-Guang thinks so, let's assume that for now."
Holnet glanced at the greatsword slung across Geeta's back, and thinking of how Geeta initially couldn't even draw her sword, but now had gradually mastered swordsmanship, she couldn't help but smile and said:
"Perhaps it's because this divine spell was created by Gita, so even though she became a Dark Knight, she can still use it without any hindrance. As for me, I wasn't very good at purification spells as an Armed Knight to begin with, and now I don't have any usable divine spells at all... I just hope that A-Guang can guide me if he can create a divine spell. That would make things much easier in the future."
"That's not necessarily true."
Latis suddenly recalled the ball of light he had seen in the empty dream space of the Dream Nail. Although there was no evidence to suggest that the ball of light was related to the God of Light, he still had an inexplicable intuition that made him feel that the key to establishing a connection with the God of Light lay in this.
"Hmm?" Jennifer stroked her chin and glanced at Latis. Although Latis hadn't explained the function of the Dream Nail in detail, she had a vague premonition. She thought for a moment and smiled:
"Indeed, the Pope never said that we couldn't contact the God of Light underground."
"The Pope has never even been underground, has he? Last time I told him to go out and explore more while he's still healthy, and he went on and on about some weird stuff like 'a madman saving the world,' I wonder where he learned that from..." Holnet sighed helplessly, rolling up his cloak as he spoke.
"I wonder what measures the Pope will take regarding the underground world... Will there be normal communication?"
"Perhaps it could be cultural export," Jennifer said, crossing her arms and revealing a hint of excitement.
"We can make the God of Light a school idol! And unify the faith of the underground world!"
"An underground idol project?" Radist immediately showed a tense expression and retorted, "Jennifer, do you really like anime that much?"
Jennifer raised an eyebrow, put her hands on her hips, and said:
"Who are you calling anime/manga enthusiasts! I like you more than anime/manga enthusiasts!"
“I can’t understand what you’re saying at all,” Holnet sighed deeply.
“Hollnit, now that all this is over, you won’t have to stay underground all the time, right?” Jennifer chuckled and said.
"Next time you come to Lundia, I'll show you around. As a NEET, I'm sure you'll find learning about NEET culture a piece of cake."
"What are these NEETs anyway!" Holnet rubbed his temples, looking exasperated.
"...In short, things like establishing communication with monsters are probably still a long way off."
Latis suppressed a laugh and ended the discussion. He shook his head and suddenly thought of Zerris. If a bunch of monsters suddenly appeared that required diplomatic work, Zerris would probably explode instantly.
The diplomatic affairs of the Kingdom of Norard are too easy right now; we need to increase the workload for Old Deng before he retires.
Thinking of this, Latis couldn't help but reveal a sly smile. He had to admit, while tricking his father-in-law was a bit unethical, it was surprisingly satisfying…
Snyder gazed quietly at Latis, and seeing the smile on his face, she unconsciously raised the corners of her mouth and smiled softly as well.
Upon hearing the laughter, Latis quickly glanced around, suppressed his smile, coughed twice, straightened up with a serious expression, and raised the Dream Nail.
As the captain and a male role model, Latis is still very conscious of his image. However, it must be said that after his status and position have risen, he has become more burdened by his idol image. If it were before, he would have definitely used the Dream Nail to explore Brother Niu's dream.