97: Absorbing Spiritual Essence Flower

"Tap, tap, tap～" Accompanied by a flurry of heavy hoofbeats, Lister and his two companions spurred their horses, finally rushing out of the dense forest as quickly and safely as they could.

However, the vibrations beneath them had not yet dissipated. Not daring to linger, the three continued to ride their horses away from the periphery of the Hengduan Mountains at full speed.

It was only after their horses had galloped at full tilt for several hundred meters that they gradually slowed down.

"Whoa～"

Feeling that the vibrations beneath him had vanished, Lister immediately pulled on the reins to bring his horse to a halt.

Red and Spartacus, who were following closely on either side, also reined in their horses to a stop immediately.

Turning his horse around to look back at the Hengduan Mountains, Lister frowned and said in a deep voice, "The vibrations seem to have disappeared completely. Red, Spartacus, did you feel it?"

"...It seems so, Lord Lister." After sensing carefully, Red replied.

Spartacus looked a bit strange as he said, "Lord Lister, I feel like the geothermal eruption that just broke out in the Hengduan Mountains doesn't seem quite right."

"Back in my hometown of Sebul, for some reason, geothermal eruptions would occur several times a year."

"Every time they erupted, although the power was immense, the duration was always very short."

"But the eruption just now in the Hengduan Mountains lasted an incredibly long time. From the moment the shaking started until we ran out of the Hengduan Mountains, it was at least a quarter of an hour long."

"For some reason, I feel that this is likely not caused by a geothermal eruption."

"I think so too." Red nodded in agreement and continued, "Once, when I was fighting Orcs in a valley in the north, I encountered a sudden geothermal eruption."

"At that time, our squad had been ambushed by an Orc army, and it was almost a death sentence."

"But because of the geothermal eruption, the Orc army was standing too closely together, which caused many of them to be crushed to death by sliding rocks, and that's how we managed to save our lives."

"The duration of that geothermal eruption was also very short, not comparable at all to what we just encountered."

Hearing their personal experiences, Lister became even more certain of the thought that had occurred to him while escaping.

This was likely not a geothermal eruption; after all, earthquakes in his previous life usually only lasted for tens to hundreds of seconds.

The shaking just now was simply too exaggerated, and although the vibrations were strong, the destructive power seemed minimal.

This point could be verified by the state of the mountains he saw before him, which remained intact without any signs of landslides.

You have to know that since the heavy rain started, the downpour had only been intensifying. The fact that there were no landslides under these conditions was truly too strange.

However, Lister couldn't figure out the cause for the time being.

Furthermore, it was too dark now, and the mountains in his line of sight were already beginning to blur.

In this situation, even if he wanted to investigate, he was powerless to do so.

Suppressing the adventurous thoughts in his heart, Lister turned his horse around and said in a deep voice, "It's enough that we got out safely. There's no point in thinking too much about the rest. Let's hurry back to Ironthorn Territory."

"Understood."

As the words fell, the three urged their horses to continue galloping.

As their figures gradually disappeared into the torrential rain, a faint, almost invisible, hazy shadow flickered and appeared above the dark and misty Hengduan Mountains.

...

On the way back to the castle, Lister first arrived at the office area of the magistrate and the others in Ironthorn Town.

Soaked through with rainwater, he quickly summoned a group of people in charge, including Brutus, Malo, and Charlie.

Looking at the group before him, he quickly instructed, "Hobbes, the rain this time is too heavy. I'm worried that there might be some issues with the Serfs' houses."

"Immediately gather the patrolling Soldiers and conduct a house-to-house inspection. If any houses have been destroyed by the rain, arrange for them to stay elsewhere temporarily."

"Also, the streets might accumulate a large amount of water, so arrange for the Cleaners to clear them."

"Malo, take some men and conduct a safety inspection of the factories under construction. You must ensure the safety of the personnel while keeping the site protected from damage."

"As for the farmland areas that might be flooded, don't worry about them for now. Once the rain eases, Charlie, you organize the farmers to check them."

"Gimel, you..."

After the series of tasks and orders were issued, Lister scanned everyone present and said with a dignified tone:

"In this task of dealing with the heavy rain, you must prioritize the safety of the personnel. Other problems that cannot be handled in the short term can wait until the rain stops. Do you understand?"

"Understood." Everyone responded in a loud voice.

Soon, teams poured out from the office area, rushing in all directions of Ironthorn Town.

...

Night fell.

After dinner, Lister washed off the sticky, damp feeling caused by the rainwater and returned to the lord's room on the third floor.

At this moment, the heavy rain outside the window was still pouring down, accompanied by the rumbling of thunder and lightning, as if the god of the sky was furious.

He had originally intended to cultivate after dinner today, but unfortunately, the weather was not in his favor, so he had to give up.

After instructing Baize to look after the Magic Cloud Eagle cubs, he sat cross-legged in the cultivation area of the room and took out the last Spirit Essence Flower from his storage ring.

Then, with a thought, he cleared his mind. Dense mental energy was instantly released from his sea of consciousness, and the space trembled slightly, creating ripples.

As he focused on driving his mental energy to completely envelop the Spirit Essence Flower in front of him, the rich, special energy once again surged madly into his sea of consciousness through the mental "bridge."

Although this was his third time absorbing it, the nourishing sensation within the special energy still made him involuntarily close his eyes and groan in satisfaction once again.

It was unknown how much time had passed before this comfortable feeling gradually subsided, and the Spirit Essence Flower, which had originally possessed a strange spirituality, became dim.

"Hoo～"

Exhaling a long breath, Lister slowly opened his eyes and immediately felt the changes in his mental energy.

He could see his agile mental energy constantly jumping within his sea of consciousness; the viscous sensation seemed to have completely solidified into substance, containing an immensely powerful sense of oppression within it.

At the same time, the sense of flexibility, clarity, and swiftness in his thought processes had once again improved significantly.

And as his mental energy was released, the world before him was clearly different from before.

He could sense more special energy floating in the air, among which the elemental energy was even more clearly visible.

And when he perceived some faint, flickering blue energy floating deep within the air, he was instantly overjoyed.

Because the feeling those energies gave him was almost the same as the magic power transmitted from Baize's body through the contract technique; it was clearly the natural magic energy in the air.

However, while overjoyed, he couldn't help but feel astonished. He had originally thought that after absorbing three Spirit Essence Flowers, he would be able to fully sense and capture magic energy.

But now it seemed he had only just crossed the threshold.

"Tsk tsk, it's truly hard to imagine just how terrifying the talent of those mages is!"

After sighing inwardly, he withdrew his perceived mental energy.

Immediately after, three divination messages slowly appeared before his eyes...