Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3085: Chapter 3086: The Solution

Very soon, Angel received Lianna’s reply.

Lianna’s reply was lengthy, but most of it was venting about the various problems encountered in constructing the New City, including the previously proposed marine ecosystem construction and similar to Delicacies Island... only the last sentence mentioned the Time Tribute.

”Time Tribute, never heard of it, is it a sacrifice used for offerings?”

As expected, Lianna’s answer was the same as everyone else’s; she also had no idea what the Time Tribute was.

It seems that Time Tribute is likely a proprietary term of the Nightmare Realm, and to obtain its specific information, we probably have to start from Xinnai Land.

But is it really worth it to go to Xinnai Land just to figure out the ”Time Tribute”?

After all, Angel currently doesn’t know what impact the Time Tribute has on him.

Since there doesn’t seem to be a pressing issue for now, maybe it’s best to just leave it alone?

While Angel was pondering this, the device in his hand vibrated.

Looking down, Lianna sent another message... but compared to the previous one, this message was much shorter.

”The Fairy Guard Squad seems to have come to the New City secretly, and for the safety of the Tea Party, should we do some protective measures?”

Fairy Guard Squad? Angel paused for a moment.

He was quite familiar with the Fairy Guard Squad; it was a patrol team composed of the first generation of Dream Plant Fairies, mainly to protect the Civilization’s Mother Tree from damage and safeguard the stability of the Tree Civilization and was formed under the leadership of the Vine Demoness.

And the first generation of Dream Plant Fairies, due to the significant influence of the Mother Tree, never had much goodwill towards human civilization.

They generally would not enter the scope of human activity; their appearance in the New City certainly has some internal reason.

Angel sought confirmation from Lianna about this doubt.

Sure enough, Lianna confirmed with a message: Greya and Moss Baby were taken by the Fairy Guard Squad.

Upon seeing this, Angel understood.

The Fairy Guard Squad appearing in the New City must be for the Moss Baby.

Not long ago, Angel also saw Greya and Moss Baby. Greya valued Moss Baby’s ability, and Moss Baby yearned for the outside world; the two hit it off and sneaked out from the Mother Tree Forest.

At the time, he told Greya that within the Wilderness of Dreams, it’s almost impossible to take Moss Baby away.

Anywhere there is greenery is where the Mother Tree’s tendrils extend.

Unless Greya keeps Moss Baby hidden underground in the Wilderness of Dreams; or find a way to take Moss Baby out of the Wilderness of Dreams, otherwise, they will inevitably be tracked by the Fairy Guard Squad.

And getting Moss Baby out of the Wilderness of Dreams... even Angel couldn’t do it, let alone Greya.

Ultimately, Greya decided to meet with the Fairy Guard Squad to completely resolve the issue of Moss Baby’s stay.

Clearly, Greya being taken by the Fairy Guard Squad this time is to resolve this issue.

As Angel thought this, he opened God’s View to look at Greya’s situation...

Greya and Moss Baby were indeed with the Fairy Guard Squad, and they weren’t far from the New City, just two hundred miles away in the rainforest outside the New City.

Greya stood in front of Moss Baby, adopting a stance of a mother protecting her child.

And opposite Greya were over a hundred Dream Plant Fairies, densely scattered throughout the rainforest, atop the large trees, under the floating water, in the mud, on the dead branches... among them, three Dream Plant Fairies with distinct auras took the lead.

In the center was a strikingly beautiful white-robed youth with a very holy demeanor.

The other two were a flower deer with vivid plum blossoms throughout its antlers and a massive pinecone with dense white scales.

”She’s blocking us from taking Moss Baby, we must deal with her...”

”How to deal with her? Can’t kill her, can we?”

”We must kill her!”

”But the Mother Tree has warned us, we are an outside civilization, shouldn’t become enemies with the human civilization here...”

”The Mother Tree did not say not to kill humans. The Mother Tree just told us to understand the boundaries.”

The buzzing sounds echoed throughout the dense forest, all were conversations among the Dream Plant Fairies. However, Greya could not understand their dialogue, yet she sensed a strong malice from those intricate tones.

Moss Baby could understand, but didn’t know how to refute, merely shouting anxiously: ”No, you can’t harm her!”

Unfortunately, Moss Baby’s voice was too small, completely drowned out among the hundreds of voices.

Just as the Dream Plant Fairies were verbally assaulting Greya, a deep sound emitted from the mouth of the white pinecone: ”You all shut up, let the Third Apostle speak.”

With the white pinecone’s roar, the surrounding Dream Plant Fairies all fell silent.

While Greya felt puzzled, a mild wooden spiritual message was captured by her.

”Moss Baby seems to really like this human.”

Since it was a spiritual message, Greya could understand the meaning. Through the spiritual fluctuations, she also confirmed that it was the flower deer with the vibrantly plum blossoms in its antlers speaking.

Moss Baby: ”Yes, Barbie Sister treats me very well, she made lots of food for me. I really like Barbie Sister.”

Flower Deer: ”Dream Plant Fairies do not need to eat, merely giving you food, and you follow humans away... your vine sister will be sad.”

Moss Baby pouted: ”You don’t like to eat, I like to eat. Vine Sister... I like too, it’s a different kind of like from Barbie Sister.”

”But your Barbie Sister is a human.”

Moss Baby: ”So what if she’s a human? Can’t I like her because she’s human?”

The Flower Deer wanted to say more but was interrupted by a voice.

”How Moss Baby thinks we have long known, trying to persuade is difficult to change. Rather than talking to Moss Baby, it’s better to chat with this human.”

”We’ve watched human behavior patterns, but we’ve seldom understood human thoughts.” The speaker was the white-robed youth, who not only spoke the human language but whose physique, attire, and grooming were almost indistinguishable from humans. Only the small white flowers entwining around his knee-length hair’s tail denoted his fundamental difference from humans.

”Since the Third Apostle says so, let’s hear what this human wants to say.” The Flower Deer lowered its head and retreated behind the white-robed youth.

The Third Apostle, also the white-robed youth, stared intently at Greya with his white pupils: ”Human, since you agreed to follow us, you must have your own thoughts, so why not articulate them?”

Greya silently nodded, gazing at the white-robed youth.

At this moment, Greya’s aura subtly changed, appearing more confident in the white-robed youth’s eyes.

Yet, in Angel’s God’s View.

He knew Greya wasn’t actually confident; she was eager to start performing.

Though Greya never told him how she planned to resolve Moss Baby’s issue, Angel could roughly guess that her plan likely involved a verbal clash with the Fairy Guard Squad.

Physically confronting them is certainly not feasible, and Greya couldn’t defeat this group of Dream Plant Fairies.

If physical engagement isn’t possible, then verbal engagement might just be the way to go.

Although Dream Plant Fairies inherit the memories of the Civilization’s Mother Tree and are naturally enlightened, their understanding is ultimately limited, compared to verbal sparring... no, let’s say reasoning.

When it comes to reasoning, even if the Queen of the first-generation Dream Plant Fairies, that Vine Demoness, arrives, Greya is confident she can win the verbal war.

So, she is not afraid at all.

In fact, she came here specifically to engage in verbal sparring with the Fairy Guard Squad.

Sure enough, the following scenes were similar to Angel’s expectations, with the stage being completely controlled by Greya.

From the start, Greya unleashed her secret technique: the art of leveraging sympathy.

In other words... playing the victim.

She first stirred emotions by embodying the baby moss, narrating its life devoid of light, confined to a prison.

Even Angel, upon hearing it, felt a tear nearly slip away.

If it were a stage play, it would be ”The Life of the Neglected Baby Moss.”

Once the emotions were sufficiently stirred and everyone understood the baby moss’s ”yearning,” Greya entered the second phase: she portrayed herself as the Savior, the sole beacon of light in baby moss’s life, descending from the heavens to rescue baby moss from its predicament.

She then recounted all the lovely moments shared with the baby moss during their time together.

Listening to her tale, it seemed like she and the baby moss had spent years together, inseparable, anyone trying to separate them was evil and immoral!

However, Angel knew they had only been together for a few days.

All the storytelling was an exaggerated use of rhetoric.

And the baby moss, too, cooperated extensively, or perhaps it also fell into the mood woven by Greya... though it had never really been neglected, under the persuasive rhetoric, the baby moss felt it was indeed shunned by other Dream Plant Fairies, becoming a genuinely aggrieved plant.

The collaboration of the baby moss with Greya’s performance created this drama of sympathy.

After the drama, eighty percent of the Dream Plant Fairies were moved and kept silent. The only one still able to retort was the young man in white robe.

As the only ”human form” Dream Plant Fairy on the scene, the resistance of the Third Envoy was quite substantial; even though touched, his inner alertness remained.

And at this point, Greya entered the third phase of her performance: the verbal battle of wits.

Angel gave it this name, but now there wasn’t a ”crowd of fairies,” only the Third Envoy sparred one-on-one with Greya.

This verbal showdown was crucial, it would determine whether Greya could successfully ”persuade” the baby moss to leave.

To get the Dream Plant Fairies to grant freedom to baby moss, they must comprehend what ”freedom” means.

During this process, Greya used a major technique from the experiential school: empathy.

”Put yourself in the situation”, ”if you consider it from your own perspective”, ”under the circumstances, imagine yourself in that place”.

This beginning almost turned into Greya’s typical way of speaking.

The content of her words invariably evoked themes like ”You can imprison baby moss’s body, but can you confine its longing for freedom?” ”You obtained its physical being, but not its heart” ”Trapped in one place for long, it will be sad, anxious, can you bear to see it cry?”

The more Greya spoke, the more passionate she became, almost starting to present philosophical values.

Angel immediately sent a message asking her to stop.

Verbal sparring could continue, but expressing philosophical values needed caution.

The output of philosophical values involves the concept of a cultural invasion. Culture is the flame of civilization; Dream Plant Fairies naturally dislike humans due to civilizational repulsion.

Thus, verbal sparring must focus on the individual, and cannot elevate to philosophical assertions. Even if the Dream Plant Fairies present could be swayed, the Vine Demoness secretly observing might not accept it.

Indeed, the Vine Demoness, Queen of the Dream Plant Fairies, like Angel, was also observing the battle from afar.

Angel observed with God’s View, whereas the Vine Demoness was watching the verbal battle through the plants.

When Angel signaled Greya to stop, the Vine Demoness seemed to notice something unusual.

By the distant Civilization’s Mother Tree.

The demoness constructed of massive vines forming a ”snake tail,” murmured softly, ”Are you watching too?”

”Do you have a connection with Mother?”

”Can you... awaken Mother?”

The Vine Demoness’s murmurs received no response.

A hint of disappointment flashed across her face.

But soon, the Vine Demoness returned to her usual calmness. Her gaze turned to the distance, towards the direction where Greya was conducting her verbal battle.

”Perhaps baby moss can become a bridge... but it cannot be turned into a tool of exploitation.”

”Within the knowledge passed by Mother, there is a vague concept that might be utilized.”

”Mother urged us to discern the scope of our cultural exchange with humans, but how should this scope be managed?”

With a sigh, the Vine Demoness slowly closed her eyes, her thoughts drifting toward the Third Envoy far away.

Upon receiving the Vine Demoness’s telepathic message, the Third Envoy, initially planning to continue debating with Greya, decided to relent.

”I can agree to let baby moss go with you, but we need to establish some terms...”

...

When the Third Envoy agreed with Greya, Angel withdrew from God’s View.

Greya achieved a victory, marking the beginning of the first-generation Dream Plant Fairies’ interaction with humans.

Whether this is good or bad is yet to be seen, to be evaluated in due time.

However, a response was needed for Lianna’s inquiry.

”Whether to implement protective measures is up to you to decide, but my personal suggestion is to wait until Greya returns, then decide.”

Shortly after the message was sent, Lianna replied.

”Did Greya really solve it?”

Angel: ”More or less, you’ll know the specifics when Greya returns.”

Lianna replied with a ”Hmm”, then fell silent.

After ending the conversation with Lianna, Angel fell into deep thought.

Having witnessed Greya’s verbal battle with the Fairy Guard Squad himself, he was also touched by some insights.

Perhaps... it’s time to make a change.