Inside a secret apartment room on the fifth floor.
Liu Na stretched out her pale little hand and picked up a thin piece of wood, tossing it into the brazier before her.
The campfire in the brazier was already burning fiercely. With the added wood, sparks immediately crackled and flew, and the flames burned even more intensely.
It also brought ample light into the room.
"Miss Liu Na, would you like something to eat?"
The Halfling elder named Polo walked over, holding a black, elongated object in his hand.
"Thank you." Liu Na took it and put it into her mouth. Her red lips pressed together lightly, and a sweet yet bitter flavor immediately spread through her mouth.
However, after eating this thing she had named an energy bar for over a year, she had grown accustomed to the taste.
After all, it was made by grinding Dried Mushrooms and Dried Earthworms together, then mixing them with rice flour and sugar from Blue Star.
Just thinking about it made it clear that it would not taste very good. It could only be used to fill the stomach and give the body energy.
Yet even something like this—
Liu Na understood.
Many ordinary people, regular people who had not obtained a Spiritual Realm Mark, were not qualified to eat it.
Because these Energy Bars could quickly restore physical strength and mental energy.
After eating just one, Liu Na already felt much more alert, despite having been somewhat drowsy from staying up late at night.
Clearly, the substances in that energy bar had replenished the mental energy Liu Na had depleted from staying awake.
"Elder Polo, how many Dried Mushrooms and Dried Earthworms do we have left?"
Liu Na asked.
"We still have over seventy jin of Dried Mushrooms and more than four hundred Dried Earthworms, so there is no need to worry about the quantity."
Elder Polo, covered in fur with white fuzz that marked his age, comforted her. "We can normally eat more ordinary food from this world. The mushrooms and earthworms are strategic supplies prepared for your advancement into a professional. As long as you, Miss Liu Na, can successfully advance into a level 2 Druid, you will comprehend the passive skill Low-Level Nature Affinity. It will allow the mushrooms and earthworms we brought here from our homeland to grow faster."
"Thank you." After hearing that, Liu Na lowered her pale, lovely little face slightly. Her voice carried some guilt as she added, "Sorry."
"There is nothing to apologize for. This is perfectly normal." Elder Polo comforted her again. "Even in the Spiritual Realm, becoming a professional was not easy, much less a Druid, a Spellcaster-type profession. Only those who were peaceful at heart, cared about nature, and understood how to protect it could successfully undergo a Job Change. Miss Liu Na, you are already very impressive."
Liu Na pressed her lips together and said nothing more. Only the firelight before her flickered across her little face, revealing an increasingly dejected expression.
"Alas." Elder Polo merely sighed softly and sat beside her without saying anything else.
He understood why Liu Na was so downcast.
After all, Liu Na had remained a Level 1 Druid for half a year without showing any signs of leveling up. It truly was tormenting.
But there was really no way around it.
The 207-year-old Halfling elder Polo picked up another thin stick and tossed it into the campfire before him.
Watching the stick begin to crackle as it burned, he kept his tone deliberately steady. "Miss Liu Na, you do not need to worry about leveling up. We will cultivate more stable natural conditions. Once flowers and greenery fill this room, perhaps your Druid Job Change may finally have a chance to loosen."
These words carried more comfort than substance.
"Mm." Still, Liu Na nodded gently and chose to believe him.
"By the way, Kokoro!" Elder Polo seemed to think of something and turned toward the corner of the room. "Before nightfall, you said you sensed the aura of the Spiritual Realm. What was that about?"
He was addressing the young Halfling sitting in the corner, holding a pot of roses and taking deep sniffs as though immersed in their fragrance.
Kokoro, Elder Polo's grandson.
"Ah... oh! Yes!" Hearing his grandfather's question, Kokoro immediately snapped out of the floral scent.
He nodded, then pointed upward. "I felt that the aura of the Spiritual Realm seemed to be flowing on our rooftop. There was only a trace of it, but I really felt it!"
"The aura of the Spiritual Realm?" Liu Na raised her head to look at the young Halfling, who was usually energetic and fond of adventure.
"Tell us in detail." Elder Polo asked seriously.
"I think it was on the seventh floor. You know, I like secretly exploring the apartments in this world, especially going up to the rooftop to see what this world looks like..."
Kokoro said, "But when I went to the seventh floor today, I found Human Soldiers patrolling there. It seemed that the seventh floor had become their territory, so I secretly observed them for a while. After they discovered me, I ran back."
Kokoro paused, then added, "It was at the stairway entrance on the seventh floor that I sensed what seemed to be the aura of humans. Judging from the Human Soldiers I saw, someone must have obtained a human mark and rescued a group of humans from the Time Seal."
"A human mark, Human Soldiers." Elder Polo nodded, remembering it as well.
It had been close to nightfall at the time, and he had still been cultivating mushrooms.
His grandson had come to tell him about it, but he had been thinking about how to bring more Natural Aura into this room, so he had overlooked the news.
But it did not matter.
After all, there were countless Spiritual Realm Marks, and the various races sealed by the Time Seal were even more numerous.
It was only natural that someone had obtained a human mark and gained the following of sealed humans.
After all, if Spiritual Realm Creatures did not make contracts with the people of this world and choose to follow the humans of this world—
Then they simply could not live in this world.
Once the humans of this world left, they would fall into the Time Seal again, forever suffering as though frozen, existing between life and death like purgatory!
"Tomorrow, once it is light, we will visit our new neighbors on the seventh floor." Elder Polo looked at Liu Na and said seriously, "Perhaps these new neighbors may bring us an unexpected gain."
"Alright." Liu Na pressed her pink lips together and nodded lightly.
She understood as well.
If someone had truly obtained a human mark and, through good fortune, gained a territory that could unfold in reality—
Then perhaps that territory, which had not been contaminated by the Necromantic Rules and still retained fragments of the Will of Nature, could help her complete the Druid's advancement!
"Caw! Caw!"
At that moment, Liu Na's brows furrowed slightly.
She seemed to have heard something.
Elder Polo beside her heard it too, as did the dozen or so other Halflings who rose to their feet.
"Imps! Imps are attacking the seventh floor from the rooftop!"
Elder Polo was very experienced.
From the faint sound of flapping wings and the stench of sulfur drifting in through the window, he immediately understood what kind of Undead Monster it was.
After the undead from the Kingdom of the Dead joined forces with the demons from the Endless Abyss, while the devils of the Nine Hells fanned the flames and defeated the Alliance of Justice, the Evil Faction gained absolute dominance.
Even after the Crystal Wall System of the Spiritual Realm where they had lived completely shattered—
And its fragments fell into this unknown world.
The great extinction and extreme chaos brought about by the deaths of most Spiritual Realm Creatures—
Had amplified the power of the undead and demons to its limit.
Even this unknown world had been contaminated.
Thus, most of the evil monsters active in this world at night belonged to the Undead Race and Demon Race!
Imps were one type of monster from the Demon Race!
"There are so many imps now, all thanks to the demons' mortal enemies—those devils who thought themselves so intelligent."
Elder Polo carefully checked the window.
Only after confirming that it had been sealed by an iron gate and carefully covered with a wooden board, leaving only a vent for smoke to escape, did he finally let out a breath of relief.
At the same time, he gritted his teeth somewhat at those devils who loved scheming in the shadows. "There are so many imps because those foolish devils provided them with vast amounts of soul fragments!"
Liu Na silently listened beside him.
These were all secret pieces of information from the former Spiritual Realm.
However—
With the Spiritual Realm shattered, nothing, no matter how secret, was more important than still being alive.
Besides, it did not matter much if people from Blue Star knew.
The intelligence was already outdated.
Its place of origin had already exploded.
Yet after they heard the faint sounds of battle coming from the rooftop, heavily muffled by the gray mist but still barely audible—
Black shadows were thrown down from above the window one after another.
They struck the ground with smacking sounds.
Liu Na and the Halflings grew increasingly puzzled and shocked.
"It seems that our new neighbors on the seventh floor have brought us a different sort of surprise."
At that moment, Elder Polo came to the inside of the window, stood on tiptoe, and cautiously looked upward.
His short stature made the motion somewhat comical.
But Elder Polo's expression suddenly changed, and his gaze became several degrees more solemn.
"This... this... this is..."
He discovered that on the outer ledge of the window lay a piece of clearly flattened straw, stained with a little dirt... wheat straw!
"What is it?" Seeing Elder Polo's stunned, rigid back at the window, Liu Na was startled as well.
"This is... uncontaminated wheat straw and soil!"
Elder Polo reached out, pinched up the dirt-stained wheat straw, and began trembling all over. He was so excited that he could barely speak.
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