Chapter 25 The Singing Stone

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So, he asked Valia to help him find something that could hide the detection of spiritual power; outright blocking was not very good because if someone scanned it, whoa, there would be a huge empty space.

It would be a typical case of protesting one's innocence only to reveal one's guilt.

It was better to conceal it, to make that space seem as "substantially existent" as the soil itself.

Up to this day, he could see it clearly.

Valia was truly... naive! The kind that's adorably foolish.

She was not feigning stupidity; consequently, his mindset changed, and he couldn't help feeling a sense of guilt.

He had assumed too much!

Before he asked her, he had also done his due diligence.

Although Valia was over a hundred years old, the mental maturity of elves really had nothing to do with their age.

According to the history books he had consulted.

The average lifespan of the Elf Clan was around five hundred years; and they only visibly aged rapidly in the last decade of their lives, essentially retaining their youthful looks forever.

The history books said.

The rising history of Dan Dong's people began with a 16-year-old human boy who exchanged a few human world children's toys for vast fortunes from a three-hundred-year-old elf...

It was outrageous.

As a result, when the tale reached Dan Dong's people, the astute among them deceived a great number of elves and extracted massive fortunes.

The Empire thus rose to power.

Tasting the commercial cake changed the direction of development quite distinctly.

It became the commercial military empire it is today.

At that time, the hardest hit was the Natural Language family; it is said that even a 480-year-old "old lady" was deceived into a brothel to earn money for others.

It was too tragic.

Absolutely inhumane.

A solo clan without enough strength couldn't retaliate, let alone instigate a war; moreover, since major transactions were bound by contracts, with clear terms in black and white, even if there were some trickeries in the wording, it was difficult for the Elf King to point out any wrongdoing.

They could only take their revenge covertly, rather than openly starting a war.

This happened a thousand years ago; humans may have forgotten this history, but for Valia the Natural Language, it was a matter of just two generations rotating.

It's possible that a wizard from the Natural Language family of that era is still alive.

It was really tough for her to harbor such good intentions towards Dan Dong's humans...

Her innocence and kindness seemed to be instincts etched into her bones.

Humans really are despicable creatures.

Recalling the content of his readings from the past few days, Lin Suo felt deeply moved.

He covered the entrance well after descending.

Lin Suo took a bath, drank some Mint Essence, and his eyes brightened up considerably, taking the opportunity to prepare a table full of vegetarian dishes, waiting for the appointed time to arrive.

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

Creak~

Ding-a-ling!

As the wooden door was pushed open and the sound of wind chimes surrounded his ears, Lin Suo greeted the elf lady with a friendly smile.

"Lea, take a seat."

"Wow! Rhein, you're too kind, making all this delicious food."

"I knew you were hungry, let's eat first, then talk."

"Mm-hmm~"

The red-eyed girl's eyes were so cheerful they almost smiled, and under the fine fluff was her smooth and tender skin, exuding the youthful energy of a young girl to two hundred percent.

In contrast, Lin Suo, who was also young.

His skin was pale, dark circles ringed his eyes, and even after popping some "stimulants", he still looked listless and world-weary.

To an outsider, he might appear as if he had been kidnapped by some dame, hiding under the covers all day, studying deoxyribose...

"Your complexion looks terrible, Rhein."

"I've been quite busy lately, eat your vegetables."

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"Oh (¯﹃¯)!"

Quack quack~

An hour later, after a hearty meal, Valia brought up the matter Lin Suo had entrusted to her.

"This time it took a lot of effort to get this, a pity there's not much of it."

"It's okay, tell me what happened."

"Alright."

Valia touched the pendant on her chest, and a white stone appeared in her hand.

Space storage equipment... I want it so badly!

"This is a Jing Essence Stone, a mineral that can deceive spiritual power detection, very rare—I... I only got this one piece."

Lin Suo nodded, not blaming her, one piece was enough.

Valia didn't see it that way, thinking his silence meant disappointment.

"Rhein, Jing Essence Stones are very rare, mostly used by official wizards to construct Meditation Rooms, generally only a small room is built, and you want to build your own Meditation Room too, right?"

With that, Valia got a bit annoyed.

"All my things were taken away by my sister, otherwise I could dismantle the Meditation Room at my house and give it to you."

Lin Suo's lips twitched.

No need, no need, I'm not a mosquito, I don't suck blood.

Valia was like the moonlight at night, seemingly possessing some mysterious purifying power that always managed to dispel the darkness in his heart.

Perhaps that was her innocence.

That's nice.

Taking the Jing Essence Stone, Lin Suo released his spiritual power to feel it, sure enough, it was inconspicuous like soil, yet still detectable, soft with a hint of the earthy scent.

"Lea, do you know the principle behind how the Jing Essence Stone works?"

"The principle…"

Valia placed her index finger on her chin, deep in thought, quickly her face lit up with a bright smile.

"Grandma said that Jing Essence Stones are crystallizations of the Earth Element, but their elemental power is very relaxed, just like soil."

"A large amount of Jing Essence Stones can create a serene and solid domain of magic surge; once magical power enters, it can never escape, which is why they are usually used to construct official wizards' Meditation Rooms."

"In addition to hiding from spiritual power detection, it can also isolate the myriad elemental powers in the air."

"Actually, now is the perfect time for you to start collecting Jing Essence Stones, by the time you break through as a First Rank Wizard, you'll probably be able to build a Meditation Room..."

Lin Suo took a deep breath.

The crystallization of the earth, huh...

It seems that the so-called Meditation Room is likely built underground, and by doing so, one must camouflage an underground compartment to avoid exposing the even deeper secrets beneath.

"Got it, thank you."

"No need to be polite, Rhein. You treat me to great meals every day and your cooking is so good, much better than my sister's."

"Ha..."

After a short pleasant chat, Valia happily left.

Lin Suo felt a bit guilty; the debt he owed seemed to be piling up.

Soon.

Lin Suo closed the door to research the Jing Essence Stone; its texture was like softened brass, with a white color and a unique magical power structure inside.

It had a sense of the witchcraft model, but more natural, without traces of artificial carving.

Wanting to cheat with the Power of Synthesis, replicating the method of creating Artificial Magic Stones to make an Artificial Jing Essence Stone, posed many problems.

They could only be resolved one step at a time.

Mainly using the Earth Element, Lin Suo bought a large batch of minerals that could be purchased with Gold Coins, all possessing a weak magical power reaction.

Official wizards wouldn't care for them, only suitable for Apprentice Level use.

Mainly Mountain Copper.

Lin Suo used his spiritual power to capture the Earth Element from the air; if magical power was a fusion of all the elemental powers, then the Earth Element was a secondary derivative.

It had a wider distribution than magical power.

Simply infusing it into Mountain Copper was utterly useless; only by using the Power of Synthesis could one fully integrate the single element into the Mountain Copper.