NOVEL NEXT Chapter 95: The Duke Was No Ordinary Man in His Youth
"Druja?"
Cocotte's hand hung in mid-air as she stared at Erica, lost in thought, feeling the rich natural energy on her body, unsure of how to respond.
This level of natural energy, she had only felt it on the Wood Calamity before.
For a moment, Cocotte felt as if she had returned to that alternate space covered in dense forests, with flowers bursting and wild grass dancing.
"Cocotte, Cocotte."
With a call, Cocotte suddenly snapped back to reality.
She turned her head towards Lia, who was calling her name, still in a daze.
"What Druja?"
Druja was the name of the Wood Calamity, actually told to her by Viktor.
The Calamities had their own names, which was something Cocotte had only just learned.
She didn't answer Lia's question, instead turning to the Duke and saying:
"Duke Levi, don't worry, Erica isn't in any danger for now."
"Maybe you'll sleep tonight, and she'll wake up tomorrow."
Hearing this, Duke Levi's brow relaxed a little.
If even a former council member said so, perhaps Erica really was fine.
He had done everything he could.
The Duke sighed, bowed to the two of them, and said:
"Thank you both."
Cocotte hated these formalities the most, even forgetting that she was still Lia's hired employee, and waved directly at the Duke, saying:
"Since there's nothing else, we'll be going now."
Lia also nodded to the Duke.
"Alright, let me see you out."
Levi closed the door, and the three slowly left.
But no one noticed the unusual black color that appeared on the windowsill buried in green grass.
A crow stood on the windowsill.
Its single eye stared at the delicate girl lying on the bed, a strange light flickering in its eye.
[Natural protector under the dark night sky, remove the last curse of life from the world—]
[Gaiusthea, strip away the life that has escaped the control of chaos and order—]
As if speaking from its abdomen with a heavy tone, the crow's voice slowly echoed in the room.
In an instant, a black formation was constructed out of thin air behind the crow, white patterns constantly swirling on it, converging on the dagger-shaped rune in the center.
Black mist sprayed out from the center of the magic array, spreading throughout the room.
The lush plants withered and shriveled the moment they touched the black mist, gradually dissipating into dust.
The flower clusters on Erica's body quickly withered and disappeared, and a faint green color appeared in Vega's eye.
Vega slowly spoke:
"Power that you can't control yet shouldn't be released carelessly, little girl."
"Let me keep some of it for you for now."
With that, it flapped its wings and flew out the window.
Only a black feather was left on the windowsill.
.......
Erica seemed to have a dream.
She dreamed that she was in the midst of chaos.
Six huge lands floated around her, each filled with immense magical energy.
Wind, Fire, Earth, Wood, Thunder, Water.
The six elements on these six continents were as chaotic as newly born planets.
Wind, rain, thunder, and lightning raged incessantly, and the six continents suddenly fell into silent darkness.
One continent began to flicker, and Erica was drawn to the brightening land.
The moment she approached, she felt as if she had sunk into a lush primeval forest, surrounded by countless vines and waist-high wild grass.
Tall, thick cedar trees completely covered the sky, not a ray of sunlight visible.
Erica instinctively began to explore this forest, moving forward in the deep mist.
Strange 'woo-woo' sounds echoed around her.
The deeper she went into the mist, the more pronounced these sounds became.
After walking for a long time, the sound gradually subsided.
As the mist slowly cleared, a huge black object appeared before Erica.
Instinctive fear didn't make her retreat, but instead sparked her curiosity, drawing her towards the black shadow.
One step, two steps...
Soon, Erica walked up to the huge object and saw its true form.
It was a giant green snake-like monster, with three pairs of compound eyes growing on its head.
Sensing Erica's arrival, the monster slowly turned to look at her.
Before Erica could feel afraid, she saw that there seemed to be someone sitting on top of the giant beast's head.
She appeared to be about Erica's age, but Erica couldn't make out her features clearly.
Under the heavy mist, everything seemed hazy.
A beam of light came from behind the girl, and Erica raised a hand to block the dazzling light, falling into a blur.
She wanted to try to peek through a gap in the light to see the other person clearly, but a familiar yet strange voice slowly came to her ears:
"You're still too weak, Erica."
"How can you, like this, accept the future inheritance?"
Erica fell into a strong sense of déjà vu. She suddenly knelt down in the jungle, two streams of tears slowly falling.
"Mo...ther?"
That seemingly familiar voice plunged Erica into memories.
But she didn't wake up from this, instead falling into another void.
Everything around was pitch black.
Countless sinister black crows flew overhead, and among the millions of crows, only one one-eyed crow landed in front of her.
It was a full circle larger than the other crows and glanced at Erica with its single eye.
Erica recognized this strange crow, it was the one that followed Viktor.
"God...?"
The sinister crow seemed somewhat satisfied, flapped its wings, and flew away again.
The surroundings shattered like a mirror, countless pieces falling into the void.
The next second, Erica appeared in a sea of flowers.
She slowly sat up, and in front of her floated a seed full of green vitality, trying to attract Erica to hold it in her hand.
Erica reached out and grasped it, and the seed began to grow and sprout in her palm, gradually enveloping her, turning into a cocoon of green vines.
'Inheritance.'
As if waking from a deep dream, Erica suddenly opened her eyes to find herself sitting in her familiar room, on her familiar bed.
Sunlight poured into the room through fragments of clouds outside the window, the breeze moving the curtains.
Erica leaned against the headboard and opened her palm.
What she held wasn't a seed, but a black feather.
Like a deceptive illusion, the seed in her dream had turned into such a tail feather.
But the power in her body couldn't be fake. Erica closed her eyes and imagined the scene of the flower sea in her mind.
When she opened her eyes, a warm sea of flowers had already appeared before her, like a beautiful painting.
And she was the artist of this painting.
......
Clang!
Two silver swords clashed violently, making a crisp sound.
Viktor effortlessly parried Gwen's attack, withdrew his sword, and gave it a twirl.
The two retreated, and Viktor nodded at Gwen.
"That's about it."
Viktor walked backward, his fingers moving slightly, a cleaning spell removing the dust and sweat from his body.
Kevra had been watching the two practice from one side of the arena from the beginning.
Looking at Viktor, she frowned deeply.
She felt that her brother-in-law today had a strange kind of annoyance about him.
It gave her an irresistible urge to go up and give Viktor a couple of stabs in the kidney.
But she thought this was just an illusion because only demons would give her this feeling.
Unless Viktor himself was a demon.
Gwen hung the silver sword on the weapon rack, wiped her sweat, walked to Viktor's side and said:
"You've improved quickly, and your stamina has increased quite a bit compared to before."
This was natural, as the Wood Calamity's core was life force.
Viktor had absorbed the essence of the Wood Calamity, so his stamina naturally increased considerably compared to before.
It could be said that the Wood Calamity had compensated for some of Viktor's weaknesses as a fragile character.
"Well then, I'll come again tomorrow."
Viktor nodded to Gwen and turned to leave.
Gwen understood, standing in place to see Viktor off, but suddenly noticed his shoulder and felt a bit confused.
Where had that crow gone today?
......
Viktor walked out of the Delin mansion alone, standing on the street waiting for a while.
A black crow flapped its wings and flew onto his shoulder.
Only then did Viktor continue forward.
"Do you know about a place called the Inheritance Temple?"
After a while, Vega on his shoulder asked.
Viktor didn't look at it, but walked directly towards the carriage not far away.
He climbed into the carriage, pulled the curtains, and with a wave of his finger, the carriage started moving automatically.
Viktor didn't answer Vega directly, but instead asked:
"Why are you asking about this?"
"I saw this place in a little girl's dream, and I'm a bit interested."
Viktor cupped his chin, thinking.
Inheritance Temple.
In the game's setting, mages' magic included the six major natural systems.
But strictly speaking, the six major natural systems didn't refer to the six attributes of magic.
Instead, they referred to the six forms of existence of natural energy.
And the Inheritance Place belonged to the end of this mysterious energy.
It existed at the six borders of the continent, within the void rifts.
Any player could enter it, go through trials, and obtain the inheritance of the corresponding power.
But few players could grind through all six temples consecutively, and Viktor was one of the few top players who had ground through all six temples back in the day.
"I know the place, what about it?"
"Good, I'm now interested in Duke Levi."
Vega narrowed its eyes, its cunning eyes rolling in their sockets.
Viktor immediately understood a lot and said calmly:
"So you left just now to find Erica."
"Let me guess, the resurrection of the Wood Calamity caused some anomaly in her?"
"It's more interesting than you think."
A green light flashed in Vega's eyes, and faint green vines climbed up inside the carriage.
Viktor didn't seem particularly surprised. This power, which even this useless evil god could use, had already roughly explained something.
"The inheritance of the Wood Temple."
"This is a stolen power. Duke Levi must have stolen something for this power to manifest in Erica."
"How about it, isn't this power very similar to the Calamity?"
Vega giggled.
Viktor looked at it expressionlessly.
When a player completed the inheritance quests of all six temples simultaneously,
A deity of the Inheritance Temple would appear as the final boss for the player to challenge.
Viktor fell into deep thought.
In his mind, it was a deity emanating divine light like the sun, but its appearance...
Was like a combination of a butterfly and a moth.
Six transparent, glowing wings constantly vibrated, its body and head fused into one, with two eye sockets also bursting with golden light.
Below were a pair of floating tentacle-like tails.
Could Erica's mother, who had never appeared in the plot...
Be that thing?
"Duke Levi was no ordinary man in his youth."
Viktor sighed.
This was the first time he felt some admiration for someone, and it was an NPC from the game.
"By the way, the academy has been rebuilt, and in a few days it will be the start of the new semester."
"But my teaching assistant has become an associate professor, and there's no one to write lesson plans for me anymore. Do you have any ideas?"
Vega, who had been laughing just now, suddenly blinked.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"What do you mean?"