106: Spirit of Nature

A faint, ethereal figure was crouching at the entrance of the cave above Magic Wolf Peak, gazing down at the stone life flower.

"Such fragrant fruit, Dora really wants to eat it!"

Upon seeing the stone flower fruit hanging from the stone life flower, the figure wanted to step forward and pick them. However, after glancing at the demon wolves and the human beside the plant, she hesitated.

Inside the grotto, after waiting for two days, Renn was finally about to see the stone flower fruit reach full maturity.

"You are very lucky, kid. If you had come two days later, I would have distributed this batch of stone flower fruit to my offspring."

Anatolis looked at the small fruits hanging on the stone life flower tree. There were thirteen in total, and they had reached the final moment of ripening.

There were hundreds of demon wolves on Magic Wolf Peak, half of whom were descendants of Anatolis.

Among these hundreds of demon wolves, there were three Gold Rank demon wolves, over a hundred Silver Rank demon wolves, and the rest were all Bronze Rank demon wolves.

To Renn, the strength of Magic Wolf Peak was already extremely formidable. It would be perfect if they could be used for his benefit.

Unfortunately, despite his two days of persistent persuasion, Anatolis only agreed to let him take dozens of Bronze Rank demon wolves and a few Silver Rank offspring; the rest could not be taken away.

"Alright, Renn kid, stop eyeing my children."

"Children of the mountains and forests can only find their own path by living in the wild. Besides, if they all went to your territory, could you even support them?"

"Let them live on Magic Wolf Peak. If you need help in the future, just come here and find me."

Seeing that Renn still harbored designs on his offspring, Anatolis spoke up to persuade him to give up the idea.

Anatolis knew exactly how much a Barony could provide. Letting Renn take these demon wolves was already the limit; any more, and Anatolis feared Renn wouldn't be able to sustain them.

Furthermore, he didn't want his offspring to go back to the battlefield to fight and kill humans and other races. Wasn't it better to live freely in the mountains?

"I understand, Senior Anatolis!"

"Sigh, you and big brother Derrick are truly exactly the same—both so fond of fighting. Back then, big brother Derrick fought too much, causing too many internal injuries to accumulate, and finally died before he was even a hundred and twenty years old."

"If he could have fought a bit less back then and taken good care of his body, he could have lived at least another fifty years."

Anatolis felt a bit nostalgic for the years gone by.

"Senior, weren't you the same back then?"

Renn remembered Anatolis's title of 'Black Nightmare.' When it came to being aggressive and battle-hardened, who in the Derrick Family from top to bottom could compare to the one before him?

"Hahahahahaha!"

Anatolis burst into laughter.

"Little fellow, you're right. I did love fighting back then. I suppose I really have grown old; I've started to dislike these things now."

After Anatolis finished speaking, he fell silent.

Without breaking through to the Legendary Realm, his lifespan would not increase further. Demon wolves were not a long-lived species, and at two hundred years old, Anatolis's life was in its final stages.

After a moment of silence, Anatolis suddenly turned to give Renn some instructions.

"Kid, if I can't break through to the Legendary Realm within ten years, I'll leave this Magic Wolf Peak to you. I'll leave my children for you to look after."

"Senior, what do you mean by this?"

"I have a premonition that I only have about ten years of life left. If I don't break through to the Legendary Realm during this time, I'll just die of old age."

"In ten years, with your talent, you'll likely have reached the strength of the late Gold Rank. Your talent is much stronger than any of my offspring. Letting you take over Magic Wolf Peak then would be the best choice."

"Senior Anatolis, I believe you will definitely be able to break through to the Legendary Realm."

"Hahahahaha!"

"Let's hope so!"

Having lived to this age, Anatolis had come to terms with many things.

While they were chatting, the fruit on the stone life flower was about to fully ripen.

The figure crouching at the cave entrance swallowed her saliva, unable to endure any longer, and quietly descended from the opening.

Anatolis, who had been chatting with Renn, twitched his ears slightly and sniffed with his nose, but he made no further move, continuing his casual conversation with Renn.

Just as the figure was about to touch the stone life flower, Anatolis's long tail swept out and coiled around her.

"Where did this little thief come from?"

As Anatolis's tail constricted around the figure, she shifted from ethereal to solid, appearing before Anatolis and Renn.

"Pointy ears? An Elf?"

"But the body is too small; it doesn't look like an Elf."

Renn looked at the little creature Anatolis had caught. Based on appearance alone, Renn would have thought it was a legendary Elf.

However, this little creature was less than fifty centimeters tall, so it clearly wasn't an Elf.

"No wings, so not a Fairy either. What kind of thing are you?"

Although Renn had studied at the Knight Academy, he only knew common knowledge about powerful races. He couldn't recognize the creature before him.

As for Anatolis, although he had lived a long time, he had never seen such a creature in his long life either.

"Dora is not a 'thing,' Dora is a Spirit of Nature."

Dora, caught by Anatolis, crossly explained her identity to Renn and Anatolis.

"Dora didn't steal it either. This fruit was nurtured by mother nature. It belongs to mother nature, and everyone has the right to take it."

"mother nature also agreed to let me eat this fruit!"

"Little one, this fruit belongs to me now. Taking it is stealing!"

"Stealing must be punished!"

Anatolis slowly tightened his tail, making Dora feel very uncomfortable.

However, Anatolis didn't actually intend to do anything to Dora. He had an intuition that if he truly harmed this little creature, he might be in big trouble.

"Spirit of Nature... this little one might truly have the protection of some unknown existence."

Anatolis had encountered similar magical creatures before. The best way to deal with such beings was to keep a respectful distance and not invite trouble.

"Dora is hungry and wants to eat yummy fruit. This was given to Dora by mother nature, it's not stealing!"

"Your fruit isn't even the tastiest yet. Dora can make the fruit even tastier. Let Dora go!"

The forty-to-fifty-centimeter-tall Dora had pointy ears and exquisite features like an Elf. Her body was wrapped in clothes made of a special type of leaf, and her voice was melodious and pleasant.

Listening to Dora speak was like listening to someone sing; it was pleasing and comfortable to the ears.

"Even tastier?"

Renn glanced at Anatolis, and the latter released his tail from around Dora.

"Little one, if you can make the fruit even tastier, I'll have Grandpa Anatolis share a few fruits with you, okay?"

"Hmph!"

Dora made a face at Anatolis and then agreed to Renn's proposal.

"Okay!"

Immediately, Dora flew up into the air and slowly circled the stone life flower. As she flew, many starlights drifted from her body and sprinkled onto the stone life flower below.

Then, Renn and Anatolis clearly felt the stone life flower before them become more upright and vibrant, and the fruit on the tree became noticeably plumper.

"A talent!"

"An exceptionally rare talent!"

Seeing this scene, Renn immediately decided in his heart that he had to kidnap Dora back to his territory no matter what.

"I must bring her back to the territory. Having her in the territory's magic herb garden would be truly perfect."