Yano carefully protected the slime in his hand, quite puzzled by the little girl's words.
"What do you mean? We Belmonts are pure-blooded nobles of the White Horse Kingdom."
"It seems those old folks never told you."
The little girl curled her lips, placing her hands on her hips. "Nili Belmont, that's my name. In terms of seniority, I'm likely one of your ancestors."
"But that's not important. What matters is Gore is dangerous. Come with me first;
this isn't a place for chatting."
Nili beckoned to the group, then turned with an old-fashioned air, hands clasped behind her back, and walked deeper into the ruins.
After everyone followed, Elara fell back a few steps, looking at the wilted slime in Yano's hand with guilt. "Is this little fellow alright?"
"He's fine. The Boss just needs to eat to recover." Yano appeared calm on the surface, knowing this was just a split-off entity.
However, this place was far from the territory, and the signal was getting weaker. By the time they reached the ancient castle, he wasn't sure if he could still contact the Boss.
"Let me see."
Nili somehow also came over, looking at the wilted little slime. She even curiously reached out a finger, wanting to poke it.
Yano hurriedly stopped this disrespectful act.
"Uh... miss... it doesn't really like people getting this close."
"Cheapskate. And call me Auntie."
Nili muttered but immediately leaned in curiously again. "So, this little thing saved you?"
Leon nodded. "Exactly. Thanks to Slime-sama, we were able to hold out until you arrived."
"Oh, I see."
Nili looked up at Yano, saying calmly, "You're that force from the Eastern Swamp that the Blacktooth Mercenary Corps put a bounty on?"
"How do you know that?" Yano was somewhat surprised.
Could it be that the fame of their Slime Kingdom had already reached the Dark Realm?
Nili said with great interest, "Not only do I know, I also know that not long ago, a guy calling himself 'Miracle' Yano was at Gray Mist Lake..."
Hearing this, Yano choked on his own saliva, his face turning red as he waved his hands frantically. "Cough... Auntie, you're my auntie, alright? Please don't spread that kind of thing around."
"That's more like it."
Nili's gaze remained fixed on the little slime. It seemed compared to Yano, she was more interested in this little thing.
To prevent the Boss from being snatched away, Yano kept a straight face and quietly slipped the slime back inside his shirt.
"So, can you tell me now what relationship you have with my ancestors?"
Nili lowered her head to duck under a broken log, her voice coming from ahead.
"The answer is obvious, isn't it? Our ancestors are the same guy."
"Probably many years ago, these old folks had a big argument and split up. Some of them ran off."
"It seems now they went to the White Horse Kingdom. Not contacting us for so many years, they're really stubborn."
The others behind also tried to duck under the broken log, only to find they weren't short enough and couldn't get through.
Only Max silently stepped over the log with one foot.
After passing the log, Yano cleared his throat lightly. "Actually, the ancestors... have all turned to stone."
"Hmm?" Nili stopped, turned around, and scrutinized Yano carefully, squinting her eyes as she circled him once.
"That shouldn't be. You're perfectly fine here, and I don't see any symptoms of petrification. Didn't you find a way to remove the Petrification Curse?"
Seeing the confused looks on the younger generation's faces, Nili nimbly leaped onto a moss-covered stone pillar, hands on her hips, and said:
"Castor—"
She deliberately dragged out the name, watching as everyone perked up their ears, then continued with satisfaction, "—that ancestor of ours who actively sought out the Medusa's Petrification Curse, also known as the Stone Descendant hero, did indeed bring temporary glory to the Belmont family and the power to rival vampires."
"But he probably didn't anticipate that later generations, due to their diluted Stone Bloodline, would be unable to ignore the Petrification Curse and thus contract the Petrification Disease."
"Especially for aging Stone Descendants, the Petrification Curse is like a preset life countdown, taking their lives precisely on schedule."
Yano seemed to understand.
"You mean, my ancestors left Gore to seek a way to remove the curse?"
"Oh, you're much smarter than Leon," Nili seemed pleased with Yano's reaction.
Leon awkwardly rubbed his nose beside them, the tips of his ears turning red.
Being personally called out by an elder was utterly mortifying.
"You guessed right," Nili said, then yawned, suddenly transforming into a shadow and appearing on a nearby branch, swinging her legs.
"After Castor—that guy you all worship—died, the family soon faced backlash. Some elders, including several newborn infants, turned into stone statues due to the Petrification Disease."
"This caused quite a stir at the time, leading to internal strife within the family."
Yano's heart skipped a beat. Could it be his ancestors rebelled? Was he, a traitor's descendant, delivering himself right to their doorstep?
Thinking this, a cold sweat broke out on his back.
Nili didn't notice his expression, simply standing up, her figure instantly landing on the path ahead.
"Later, these old folks split into two factions. One faction insisted on upholding the power of petrification and stayed in the Stone Fortress. The other faction left the Dark Realm to seek a way to remove the Petrification Curse."
"This faction was your ancestors. They believed that with so many royal alchemists in the kingdom, someone would surely find a solution to the Petrification Curse. So they left carrying everyone's hopes and never returned."
"It seems now these guys not only turned completely to stone but also failed to preserve the family secrets. Their descendants have even forgotten about Gore."
"But I'm quite curious, descendant, how did you eliminate the Petrification Disease?"
Elara interjected, "Auntie, actually, he still has the Petrification Curse on him. His body is hard, and he's incredibly strong."
This immediately piqued the girl's interest. She suddenly appeared in front of Yano, startling him into taking half a step back in caution.
"Yano, right? Show me the petrification."
Under the curious gazes of the others, Yano could only brace himself, meet the beautiful eyes seemingly watching from the unseen, and allow the stone patches to rapidly spread across his body.
Nili even curiously tapped on it, her interest growing. The way she looked at him made Yano somewhat uncomfortable.
It was as if he had become a little white mouse on a mad mage's table, waiting to be dissected.
"Ahem... Auntie, there shouldn't be a problem with me, right?"
Nili propped her chin with a finger, her expression thoughtful. "Not only is there no problem, you're actually very healthy."
"Strange, this is too strange. Could it be a case of atavism?"
Yano remained silent.
He couldn't very well say he was poked with needles by the Boss several times and suddenly awakened his bloodline, could he?
In fact, he still held some wariness towards these unfamiliar clansmen. Such a secret couldn't be spoken so casually.
Yano wasn't a three-year-old child who believed everything people said.
Sigh, the only one he could truly trust, the Boss, was asleep again. Who knew when he'd wake up.
...
"Achoo!"
Chen Yu sneezed, a large number of bubbles emerging from his gel as he finally shook off that dizzy state and became fully alert.
The little slime was simply too far away from him;
the connection was truly lost now.
He'd have to wait until "Split Proliferation" reached Lv.5.
Fortunately, that wouldn't be long.
Chen Yu swallowed all the drawn array pattern talismans into his stomach. After leaving the tree house, he handed them to the Metal Slime to set up the ninth Battery Array.
Passing by the tree hall, he saw Little Flower and other Slime Scholars studying the three types of talismans for the Battery Array. Although he couldn't hear their discussion, judging by the constant "plop plop" collision sounds, the exchange seemed quite lively.
Chen Yu stood in the open area, wanting to test his newly acquired talent, "Bat Wings."
After all, this was a rare flying talent.
A slime soaring through the sky? This was something he never dared imagine before.
Perhaps if he flew high enough, he could see the entire swamp, see the distant snowy mountains, and wave hello to Sekashi who had ventured into the vast snow.
Maybe sneak a peek at what this fool was doing, why she hadn't returned for so long.
Alright, he was actually a bit worried that his little fan with a tail might have died in the snowy mountains.
After all, that place wasn't exactly a livable paradise for lizardfolk who preferred damp environments.
Chen Yu shook his gelatinous body, dispelling the irrelevant thoughts, then his entire plump form began to contract as he exerted force.
[Bat Wings]
With a soft "plop," gel extruded from both sides of his body, forming a pair of bat-wing-shaped gel appendages. He then flapped them vigorously, attempting the slime's first flight.
To Chen Yu's delight, he felt his body gradually leaving the ground.
One meter, two meters, three meters... until he reached about eight meters off the ground did he start to feel some strain.
"I'm really flying!"
This feeling was utterly marvelous for a slime.
Watching the ground shrink beneath him, he felt as if he commanded this entire area.
He began trying to move in the air. Forward, backward, left, right—all were fine, quite smooth. It was stable, but performing highly maneuverable actions was almost impossible.
This might be related to him being too fat, or perhaps the talent level was too low.
Regardless, being able to fly was enough.
Chen Yu attempted to use his flying ability to circle the territory.
When passing by the city wall, the Metal Slimes on duty suddenly felt a shadow fly overhead and grew alert.
Before they could adjust the Battery Array to aim at the sky, one Metal Slime clearly saw the appearance of the flying magical creature. Its little eyes widened in shock, freezing completely.
Soon, the other Metal Slimes also saw the scene in the sky—their green King, under the sunlight, resembled a sparkling emerald, shimmering with a soft glow. Even more peculiar were the gel wings on its sides, which actually allowed the slime to fly in the air.
"Whoa..."
All the Metal Slimes emitted an awed hum, little stars of admiration sparkling in their eyes.
"Today is a good day..."
At that moment, Minister Bran flew back quietly humming a hometown ditty taught by His Majesty. Thinking about the large piece of Gray Gravel Crystal he had found by the river again, his heart bubbled with joy.
He thought today was another day of contributing to the national treasury.
Just then, a shadow suddenly swept past him.
Minister Bran was startled, his form becoming unsteady. The stone he was carrying in his beak directly fell into the swamp mire.
"No, my shiny little treasure!"
"Who! Who did that!"
He looked around angrily, quickly locking onto the figure circling the territory's sky.
When he clearly saw its appearance, Minister Bran's eyes widened in shock.
"A... a flying slime?!"
He blinked his eyes frantically, only to see the figure disappear.
"Oh no, I must be so heartbroken that I'm hallucinating."
"It seems I need to find a Treatment Wasp Soldier for a jab," he mumbled confusedly, flying into the oak forest on the east side of the territory.
...
"Huh? Did I just bump into something black?"
"Never mind, forget it."
Chen Yu soared over the northern farmland, seeing the Poison-stinger Wasps, under the direction of the Slime Agronomists, toiling diligently to cultivate the fields planted with Elf Tubers, transporting chunks of magical creature meat to bury around the land.
Judging by the lush growth of the tuber crops, they didn't look newly sprouted but rather like they had grown for dozens of days, clearly having undergone "Promote Growth."
After the crops rapidly absorbed large amounts of nutrients and water, the soil even showed signs of compaction, becoming more barren.
So these little fellows were busy performing "Soil Improvement," quickly consuming the magical creature meat buried in the soil to improve the soil condition.
This was to prepare for a new round of Promote Growth.
In the experimental field closer to the castle, they were growing some herbs commonly used for alchemical potions. For example, Gas Spore Fungi that could make anesthetic powder, Giant Frog Fungi that increased jumping distance when eaten, Moonlight Moss that could restore vitality and temporarily boost mental energy...
Almost any herb that could grow in the swamp had been planted by the Slime Agronomists.
Beneath the roots of these herbs, "Spirit Stones" filled with spiritual energy were buried, using the simplest method to nourish these herbs.
After touring once, Chen Yu was quite satisfied with the territory's development.
However, during this time, he noticed many emerging problems. He realized that with the massive output of Gray Gravel Crystals, the replenishment of spiritual energy seemed unable to keep up.
In the entire territory, only he and some slimes equipped with "Energy Storage" could replenish spiritual energy for the Gray Gravel Crystals.
But the amount of spiritual energy they replenished daily was increasingly failing to match the territory's spiritual energy consumption. A large quantity of Gray Gravel Crystals were sitting idle in the warehouse.
This was a problem.
But the solution wasn't difficult.
Perhaps he could try setting up a few Spirit Gathering Arrays in the territory to serve as Spirit Stone charging stations, specifically for replenishing spiritual energy.
It's just that the spiritual energy in Zeyarila was pitifully thin, which doomed the charging efficiency of the Spirit Gathering Arrays to be slow.
But if one Spirit Gathering Array wasn't enough, he could set up several more, burying them in spiritually rich areas of the swamp or even the dungeon. As long as the scale was large enough, it wouldn't be a problem.
"Setting up a Spirit Gathering Array seems to require quite a few rare treasures. I'll have to ask my senior brother to modify the array."
Coincidentally, he was approaching Qi Training Lv.7 and should update his Dao techniques.
He still had his eye on that vampire in the Dark Realm.
Can't be killed?
It's just that the Dao technique's power isn't sufficient. Let him try a proper Water Arrow Technique or other Dao techniques. There's bound to be one he'll appreciate.