Warming Up Before the Operation

Her skin was delicate, her hair set in large curls, and she wore a little golden leather skirt. She had long, shapely legs, gemstone-like eyes, and even carried an entire slave city with her. Did that count as being fair, rich, and beautiful?

Now, if a girl like that held your hand and looked at you with deep affection, telling you she felt something for you, what would you do?

Li Ziran dared swear that this was the greatest test he had faced since coming to this fantasy world.

In his view, everything should be earned with his own two hands, yet this had fallen from the sky for no reason at all.

It was surprising and sweet, yet it also made him timid.

He understood as well that living beings were naturally social creatures, and mating among social creatures was an inborn trait.

Such a trait could often change one's other half's fate. He could feel that as long as he nodded lightly, the good fortune countless people dreamed of would come crashing down on his head.

But he was afraid. So afraid that sweat broke out across his back. Even he himself did not know what answer he should give at a time like this.

He had to admit that if he won this girl over, he could soar to the heavens in a single step, entering the highest circles he had never set foot in and beginning an entirely different life.

"We can be together." Li Ziran unfastened the buttons of his undershirt, exposing his firm chest. "Nicole, honestly, you're very beautiful. Especially your perfume and curled hair today—they hit me right in the heart. You've made me a little restless."

Nicole did not move closer. Disappointment flickered in her eyes. She had gotten her answer. Clearly, he did not want to get tangled in Anduin City's disputes at this time.

But she quickly wiped away that disappointment and smiled. "I thought you had no sense of romance at all. Looks like you're quite ordinary too. Hmph, an ordinary person isn't worthy of the Lord of Anduin City."

Li Ziran could not help laughing, but he had caught that instant of disappointment in Nicole's eyes. There was nothing he could do about it.

He was not suited for her. At the very least, the current him was not worthy of her.

"Looks like I've missed out on a precious opportunity."

"That's right!" Nicole shot him a fierce glare. "But you haven't missed it. You can come confess to me anytime. As long as I'm even the tiniest bit touched, I suppose I'll still condescend to accept." As she spoke and laughed, she suddenly threw herself into Li Ziran's chest and clung to him tightly, as though she wanted to melt into his body.

Li Ziran did not move. He gently held the girl as she trembled—trembled terribly. Her tears even fell patter by patter onto his collar.

In that instant, he discovered that Nicole seemed to have grown up.

"I'm sorry!" After an unknown amount of time, Nicole finally calmed down. She wiped away the remaining tears, looked up at Li Ziran's sharply defined face, and said, "I shouldn't have selfishly dragged you into this. I want to tell you a few truths. My father died in battle half a month ago. We intercepted a group of Moon Elf pilgrims and besieged Jon, a titled Archmage. The battle was fierce, but we gained quite a lot. Apart from Jon escaping with a small group of Moon Elves, we captured his wife. Most importantly, we found this Elf. Actually, there are humans helping me from behind the scenes..."

Nicole wanted to continue, but Li Ziran suddenly pressed a hand to her red lips and smiled. "Don't say too much. You'll make a habit of it. A city lord can't just casually bare her heart and speak her true feelings. You need to learn how to be a smiling tiger now."

Nicole glared fiercely at Li Ziran, clearly disliking being interrupted so abruptly. "Why are you so boring? Hmph, what do you think I've been doing these past two years? Let me tell you, Anduin City is basically under my control. As for my two younger brothers, they're complete trash. They're still being kept in the dark!"

Her self-congratulatory expression made Li Ziran want to laugh, but he could tell she was speaking the truth.

In two years, the delicate girl from his memories had truly changed.

"All right, I'll consider your suggestion just now. How about I find a bard to write a love letter, then go to Anduin City to confess and make it a grand, earth-shaking affair?" Seeing Nicole about to pounce on him again, Li Ziran hurriedly added, "But that will have to wait until you're the true city lord. I don't need some little girl who cries easily to keep me company."

"You're the little girl!" Nicole immediately bombarded him with a flurry of powdery fists.

Li Ziran dodged a few times, snatched the brush from her hand, and said solemnly, "Let's both calm down. I need peace of mind. You little girl, you've gotten much better at seducing people, wave after wave of it. But becoming a city lord requires more than methods—it requires strength. Your father was not wrong. This Ancient Elf is very suitable for you. His organs have regenerated and have not yet been contaminated by the Elemental Tide. His bones contain the most vibrant marrow. If the replacement succeeds, you'll possess at least Archmage-level strength."

He needed quiet, and the way to quiet himself was to write Tadpole Script.

With every character he wrote, his desires were gradually separated from him, allowing him to enter a state of perfect stillness.

"Are you afraid?" Nicole asked from beside him. "The Elves might find us. The other two slave cities on the Wasteland want to harm me too. And there are my brothers."

Li Ziran shook his head. "Stop worrying yourself sick. Leave the rest to me. What you need to do now is stay quiet."

As he spoke, he took an orange-yellow thumb-sized bottle from his pocket and gently shook it a few times. After ensuring the medicine inside was evenly mixed, he handed it to Nicole. "Take off your clothes, pour a little into your palm, pat it a few times, rub it in carefully, then apply it all over your body."

"What is this?" Nicole asked in confusion.

"An active potion. It will ensure that your skin has enough elasticity and your flesh has enough room to stretch." Li Ziran gave a simple explanation. He did not tell her that it was Grassland Giant Snail urine.

Smack! Smack!

Nicole obediently patted her palms in silence while watching Li Ziran write with painstaking care. She did not look at all like someone about to become a city lord.

She had seen this scene two years ago. She could even recognize the meanings of several Tadpole Script characters.

She liked this quietness, and she liked watching Li Ziran prepare with such single-minded focus even more.

She knew Li Ziran's abilities very well. He was merely an ordinary little wizard who knew one or two spells. There were many living beings like that, nothing especially rare. Yet it was strange—being beside him always calmed her down.

It was as though this was not a shabby old windmill, but a massive city guarded by thousands upon thousands of troops.

Smack! Smack!

She gently patted her calves, slowly moving upward to her lower abdomen, then unfastened her tight leather skirt.

Horse Dwarf stayed quietly outside the door, listening to those rhythmic sounds through the wall.

The soundproofing of this broken-down mill was absurdly poor.

Tadpole Script flowed stroke by stroke beneath the brush. Li Ziran's frenzied heart gradually calmed, and he began carefully outlining the Transformation Array.

He liked quiet, especially during surgery. He would not allow any disturbance.

"Are you ready?" Li Ziran took out his staff and looked at Nicole, who was almost completely uncovered. At this moment, she did not have the slightest trace of desire.

Nicole tossed the completely empty thumb-sized bottle aside and nodded seriously. "I'm ready."

The instant her words fell, emerald light rose from the white surgical gown. Guided by the staff, it burrowed into Nicole's body. In less than a blink, Nicole's smooth skin seemed to grow moss. The moss wrapped around her, gradually shrinking her down until she became a slender emerald frog.

Li Ziran took out an anesthetic potion, poured it into his palm, grabbed the frog, and rubbed it over her from head to toe.

The anesthetic took effect extremely quickly. Before Nicole could adapt, she had fallen completely unconscious. Only then did Li Ziran take out a red string, tie up her hind legs, and hang her from the edge of the bed.

Then he looked toward the Ancient Elf.

He was asleep, as though he had already taken some kind of anesthetic. Yet to be safe, Li Ziran still administered full-body anesthesia.

He was very careful, avoiding any possible damage to the body from the medicine.

Transplanting organs like these was a merciless lashing against his conscience.

But he had to live, and he had to live as comfortably as possible.

With the transformation complete, the rest became much simpler. He only needed to replace Nicole's organs according to normal surgical procedures.

Li Ziran placed the Elf at the very center of the Transformation Array, allowing the Light of Transformation to envelop him. According to plan, a frog should appear in a moment.

But something strange happened.

The Light of Transformation completely covered him, yet the Elf showed no reaction to transformation whatsoever.

Magic resistance!

It was the interference factor Li Ziran hated most. There were always certain special races in this world born with resistance to magic.

Still, this was not particularly difficult.

He took a bottle of brown potion from his pocket, lightly dipped the brush into it, and dabbed a little onto the Elf's forehead.

In an instant, a tiny vortex appeared. It was as though the Light of Transformation had found a breach, and it all burrowed toward the Elf's forehead. In less than a blink, the outline of a pointed little mouth appeared.

Necrotic Bone Powder.

A special powder formed when undead exploded upon death. It could effectively suppress magic resistance.

The effect was not bad, but it was harmful. It corroded the skin and left scars, and the damage it caused Elves was especially obvious.

Sure enough, a black spot quickly appeared on the Elf's forehead, like a burn mark.

Li Ziran was helpless. This was already the best possible result.

Before, he had only known the basic properties of this substance. But when Karen had given him the Necromancer's inheritance last time, he had come to understand some of its principles.

Necromantic Power was a special force produced when elements were completely extracted. It ran counter to elemental power, while Necrotic Bone Powder was the most extreme fusion of Necromantic Power.

Therefore, when it came into contact with elemental power, it could achieve perfect neutralization.

Having understood the principle, Li Ziran naturally used it with ease.

After seeing the effect of the Necrotic Bone Powder, he began applying it to other areas. As the bone powder destroyed the Elf's magic resistance, he could no longer withstand the power of the Transformation Spell, shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In the blink of an eye, a transparent sapphire-blue frog appeared at the center of the white surgical gown.

It was palm-sized and incredibly miniature, like a model.

Beneath its transparent skin, delicate frog organs gradually appeared.

Li Ziran smiled confidently, tied up its hind legs with red string, and hung it beside Nicole.