The Fairies' Will to Fight

A small insect that had just landed on a leaf suddenly froze.

A faint white light rose from its body and drifted toward Jielusi's fingertips.

Jielusi frowned, then her eyes returned to normal.

The white light returned to the insect's body, and the little insect shook its wings and flew away in a panic.

"The ability to draw upon and utilize soul energy is actually Lai'aoniya's ' Soul Erosion and Spirit Devouring ' ability," Jielusi explained.

As she spoke, she exhaled softly, as if she had just surfaced from the bottom of the water.

"To draw power from the souls of the dead and fight?" Su Ming asked.

Lai'aoniya is the name of the Thought-Dwelling Tribe within Jielusi.

He had also seen Jielusi use this power in battle.

"Actually, it can also directly absorb soul power and integrate it into the body," Jielusi replied, "But at the same time, it will cause serious pollution to oneself."

"My current problem is that the last time I was hit by the Hairspring, this power has increased significantly."

Zijin understood. "So you're having trouble controlling things?" Jielusi nodded.

More power is not always better.

It must be compatible with the holder's understanding, will, and ability to control it.

"If this power is unleashed, I will be overwhelmed by the desire to devour souls."

Jielusi looked at her palm.

"I can temporarily stabilize myself when switching to 'Shadow' form."

"But it didn't last long."

Taiye chimed in:

"Soul Erosion and Spirit Devouring" was originally an ability that was "forced" upon him.

"During this time, Jielusi has been studying knowledge about and manipulating the soul."

The Fairy Spirit Tribe has the most in-depth research on matters related to the soul, which is why Jielusi stayed here.

Su Ming looked at Jielusi. "So you're actually going to school here?"

"Yes."

Jielusi was somewhat helpless.

She pointed to a group of forest fairies hiding behind leaves not far away.

"And the textbooks are thicker than the teacher's."

****

Zijin took Jielusi to the lakeside. She wanted to study Jielusi's troubling power and, incidentally, verify the rules of the soul.

For Zijin, the pursuit of power is never something to be neglected.

If we become complacent, that's something to do after we've defeated the enemy.

The remaining Su Ming and Queen Taiye turned their attention to the upcoming Battle of Water Chestnut Island.

"I'm sorry, President Su."

Taiye said softly, "Most of us in the Fairy Clan do not possess normal combat abilities."

"At that time, I'm afraid I'll only be able to do some logistical support work."

Su Ming nodded; he had already received the relevant report.

But to be honest, he didn't know much about the Fairy Spirit Tribe Race as a whole.

Su Ming looked around. Apart from the green forest fairies like the Taiye, the colorful fairies were smaller. Some were pale blue, some were crimson, some were yellow, and some were almost transparent.

"Do the different colors represent element types?" Su Ming asked.

The Taiye nodded.

"Besides forest fairies like myself, this place is mainly populated by various elemental fairies."

She raised her hand and beckoned gently.

A blue water sprite hesitated before flying over.

She was only the size of a palm, her body was translucent, her hair was like flowing water, and her wings on her back were so thin that they were almost invisible. When she flew, she would leave a wisp of water mist behind her.

"This is Lingmo." Su Ming picked up a piece of fruit and gestured invitingly.

Lingmo first hovered in mid-air, observing him cautiously.

Then, she mustered her courage and pounced on the fruit.

Instead of biting into the fruit, she lay down on the crack in the peel and sucked out the juice.

A few seconds later, a small part of the orange fruit visibly shrank.

Lingmo shook her head contentedly, then, as if suddenly realizing she had gotten too close, she darted away and hid behind a leaf once more.

Su Ming looked down.

The soil around my legs swelled slightly, and a yellow earth sprite poked half its body out of the ground, with a small stone on its head, as if it were using the stone as a hat.

He tilted his head back and glanced at Su Ming.

They looked at each other.

The earth sprite suddenly realized that it had been discovered.

The next moment, he hugged the small stone, then with a plop, he shrank back into the soil, leaving only a shallow ripple in the earth.

Su Ming couldn't help but chuckle.

"She's quite cute."

Luckily, I didn't bring Stacy along, otherwise she would definitely want to raise a whole bunch of them.

"Do you think these fairies are children?" Taiye suddenly asked.

Her tone was soft, yet carried a subtle hint of self-deprecation.

"Those two were actually adults."

Su Ming was taken aback.

He looked in the direction where the water sprite had disappeared, then looked at the soil that had been leveled again at his feet.

"He seems a bit dim-witted?" Su Ming asked tentatively.

The Taiye sighed softly.

"The current Fairy Clan is actually a degenerate." "Our ancestors, the ancient fairies, or rather, the true fairy spirits, lived in a world with a higher concentration of Magic Power."

Su Ming immediately understood.

"The Fairy Spirit Tribe also originated from Eden?"

Taiye nodded. "Now it seems that's how it is."

In the past, scholars in Taya would have believed that beings like fairies must have originated from an ancient period when Magicules was extremely abundant.

However, the team of scholars led by Quail has now revised the relevant research: there is no such continuous and stable high Magicules era in Taya.

Therefore, the fairies can only come from Eden.

Although the success rate of navigating natural spatial fissures is extremely low, an opportunity that only occurs once every few decades or centuries will eventually become inevitable in the context of billions of years of life evolution.

Furthermore, according to Su Ming's discovery, the "distance" between Eden and Taya is variable, and there may have been periods in history when traversal was relatively easy.

Taiye continued:

" In the Taya Plane, it is extremely difficult for the immortals to maintain the full cycle of elements, which led to their division."

Su Ming roughly understood what she meant. Just like the emergence of many super-large organisms on Earth, which benefited from the high-oxygen environment hundreds of millions of years ago. But when the environment changes and the oxygen concentration decreases, those enormous life forms that were once adapted to the old era either disappear from the stage or are forced to develop into smaller forms.

"Some of them are shifting towards a single element."

Taiye looked towards the little sprites hiding in the distance.

"The advantage is that the difficulty of survival is greatly reduced."

"They can replenish their core energy by utilizing various natural phenomena."

"The downside is that intelligence also declines."

"The other part consists of host plants."

She raised her hand, and green light swirled around her fingertips.

"This evolutionary path is inferior to that of the elemental fairies in terms of energy intensity."

"But its advantage lies in the complete elemental cycle and the preservation of intelligence."

Su Ming listened attentively and then asked a question.

"You also have combat professionals, right? You even have a Saint Rank expert." "Why do you say their combat strength isn't high?"

Taiye seemed to have anticipated that he would ask this.

"For human mages, Magic Power is a power that can be mobilized, consumed, and replenished."

She told Su Ming.

"But for fairies, Magic Power, besides being used for casting spells, is itself part of their body, consciousness, and life structure."

"Therefore, it's easy for us to lose balance and control during combat."

Taiye looked at the water sprite, Lingzhu, hiding behind a leaf.

Only a very small number of exceptional individuals possess sufficient control to conduct combat effectively.

Su Ming was even more puzzled.

He looked around at the vast forest. "How did you manage to occupy such a large area of tropical rainforest?"

This is a direct, yet very realistic question.

Without power, one has no right to occupy resources in the long term. The Immortal Spirit Peninsula has a superior climate, abundant resources, and a relatively unobstructed geographical location. It's impossible that such a large tropical jungle has never been coveted by other forces.

"Furthermore, as far as I know, there have been large-scale demon-hunting teams in history."

Su Ming continued.

"Because many nobles are willing to pay high prices to buy fairies."

Fairies are creatures that easily arouse the curiosity and "affection" of other races.

Such beautiful, rare, and fragile lives almost inevitably become "commodities."

Taiye did not answer directly.

"You didn't ask me about the consequences of an imbalance in fairy Magic Power just now."

"... So what are the consequences?" Su Ming followed up on Taiye's words, "Similar to a human mage overdrawing their Magic Power power?"

The Taiye shook its head.

"It's a self-destruction!"

Four wings unfurled behind her. Pale green magical dust drifted from between her wings, like a silent firefly.

"A fairy's body is largely composed of Magicules."

"If we decide to give up our lives and perish together, the destructive power a fairy can unleash far exceeds that of a mage of the same rank."

The fairies who had been curiously peeking from the surrounding bushes had become much quieter at some point.

"Throughout our history, we have indeed encountered countless enemies who coveted our territory."

"Whether they covet this land or we fairies ourselves."

Taiye raised his hand and pointed to a stone ruin covered with vines in the distance.

Those were rare human traces in the forest.

The crumbling stone walls were crushed by tree roots, half of the tower was sunk into the mud, and only a few black stone pillars were exposed.

"These ruins were once a demon-hunting castle."

The Taiye whispered.

"Over three hundred years ago, human nobles hired a demon-hunting team, along with pirates and slave traders. Nearly ten thousand warriors poured in, intending to turn the Immortal Spirit Peninsula into their hunting grounds." "They stormed the forest and captured a large number of demons."

"That queen, along with all the captured fairies, detonated the core."

The Taiye paused for a moment.

"More demons followed suit, and in the end, the demon-hunting team was completely wiped out, and 70% of the pirate fleet sank."

She looked up at Su Ming, her amber eyes gentle, but her tone unwavering in its firmness.

"There were several similar incidents afterward, but the enemy failed each time."

"Anyone who tries to cage the Fairy Spirit Tribe will only end up with a handful of ashes and an explosion that takes their own life."

Taiye's voice was serious.

"With a death wish, we bind our lives to freedom."

"This is the reason we have this place to live and a place to stand in this world!"