309 Can't You Poke Softer?

After the fall of the Ant King, the ant problem within the Grassland Region was basically resolved. What was left was the cleanup of the remaining ants that went berserk after the death of their king.

These berserk ants pose no challenge without a powerful Transcendent to lead them. In a short while, the Grassland Region was littered with their carcasses.

The shock brought by the appearance of Heaven's Wrath did not wane even after the dust settled. While everyone became busy with the clean up of the battlefield, their heads were still wrapped around the scene of lightning descending from the skies, and more surprisingly, the person who made it possible.

The power was not as destructive as real tribulation lightning, but it was hardly something a person could withstand. With the ability to command such devastating power of annihilation, who could possibly be the prince's opponent?

While Leon was being revered by countless admiring gazes, he shook his head helplessly. The condition to set up spiritual arrays were strict and too time-consuming to use. It was not practical in battle.

Although they had managed to pull it off, there were too many lucky factors to consider, such as the opponent's unfamiliarity to spiritual arrays, the Ant King's easily provoked pride, and Lumi's presence.

Lumi was the decisive factor. 

Without the Banshee's Scream of a Half Corporal state higher vengeful spirit or higher, it might not have been possible to land the hit on the Ant King.

Luckily, they have managed to pull it off, even if the Tier 3 spiritual array only manages to display a fraction of its full power, it was still more than enough.

"Boy, that was truly a big surprise. Who knew that you would have such an impressive ability? Impressive, very impressive. You've saved us all." Elder Evergreen praised in a jolly mood.

Staggering from Elder Evergreen's big pats on the back, Leon smiled wryly, "You have overpraised me, senior. It was everyone's united efforts that save us all."

"No need to be so humble, Your Highness. We all know that without your ability, killing that Ant King would not have been possible. Oh, right. That young lady was also impressive. Where did she go?" Marquis Haldir said.

Facing the curious stares of the people gathered around him, Leon shrugged and sent Lumi out of the Worldspace.

"How did you do that, Leon?"

"What is she really? Are my eyes playing tricks on me?"

"She looks kind of transparent."

"Seems that way to me too."

Everyone watched as the cute spirit girl appeared out of thin air right in front of them. Their eyes widened with surprise and turned to Leon with questioning gazes.

"I have a spatial artifact," Leon admitted. It was no secret at this point.

"Are you actually a Beast Tamer instead? I heard Beast Tamers possess special spiritual worlds that can store their pets." Faelyn asked with curiosity, while Lilith flashed with a look of wariness.

"Hmm?" 

Leon was taken aback by the question, before shaking his head. 

Beast Tamers were also a known profession back in the Divine Realm. However, he does not know the method of bonding used by Beast Tamers to store pets in the so-called special spiritual world. He only studied medicine with his father in his past life and never touched on the topic of beast taming.

"I'm not a Beast Tamer, and Lumi isn't a living thing. She's a vengeful spirit."

"What?"

"Vengeful spirit as in, a ghost?"

Everyone suddenly kept their distance with great shock at the revelation.

Lumi took some time to adapt to the change of environment again before understanding what was happening. She did a little curtsy and greeted, "Hi, I am Lumi."

Everyone revealed another round of shock. 

"You must be joking with us, Leon boy? When were vengeful spirits this well-mannered?"

"Yeah, vengeful spirits are so ugly and grotesque looking. How can this… this little sister here be a vengeful spirit?"

Leon could not be bothered with these questions and lazily said, "Why don't you all ask the spirit herself? I won't be staying here for long. After settling a few things, I'll be returning to the Capital."

"Oh, right. Lumi." Leon suddenly said.

"Y-Yes?" Lumi answered with slight apprehension and nervousness as she recalled the painful experience. 

Leon felt slightly guilty seeing her reaction, but there was nothing he could do about it. At the end of the day, Lumi was a vengeful spirit with an unstable factor. If he was careless, people could die to the evil Lumi.

Nevertheless, he reminded with a softer tone, "…Try to behave yourself… and not kill anyone, okay?"

"O-Okay!"

After being surprised by Elder Evergreen's progress in the Gaian language, Leon introduced the two elders to each other before dragging Lilith away from the group.

The others began to circle around Lumi curiously and barrage her with questions after overcoming their initial fear of vengeful spirits. 

"Are you really a vengeful spirit? How come you don't look scary at all?"

"Yeah, you look quite human to me."

"No kidding! Vengeful spirits were originally humans when they were alive. If she doesn't look human, then what is she supposed to look like?"

"C'mon, you know that's not what I mean, and besides, not all vengeful spirits were humans. Don't you know that? They can be from other races too!"

The two elders just stood aside and listened while the younger lads among the palace guards and soldiers vied for a chance to talk with Lumi.

"Enough, all of you get back to work! We have a lot of clean up to do! Don't you know these creature's blood is very corrosive? This place will become a wasteland if we don't clean it up!" An older palace guard walked over and said sternly.

"Eh? Ah…"

"Ah, what?"

"Ah, yes…" 

"Hm?" 

The older palace guard raised an eyebrow at the soldiers' response.

"I mean... Yes, Sir!" The soldiers corrected and skedaddled, afraid to face the palace guard's iron fist discipline.

"Hmph!" 

The palace guard snorted.

In the end, only Faelyn and the two elders were left with Lumi after the rest left the area.

"Hey, hey, can I try touching you?" Faelyn asked, filled with curiosity. She has heard of vengeful spirits back in the tribe, but it was her first time actually seeing one.

"Um…"

Lumi was unsure how to respond to that. If It was a guy asking, she would have considered it harassment.

…

Some distance away, Leon had pulled Lilith away from the group.

"Hey, hey, hey! I also want to talk to Lumi!" Lilith complained.

"There's no hurry. You will get your chance. Anyways, how have you been? I see that you have become quite proficient in the ancient language."

"I've been pretty good! Everyone seemed to have accepted me, and some even respect me! Well, until everything suddenly went crazy with the ants anyway." Lilith said before noticing something in Leon's words and became surprised. "Huh? When did you learn about that?"

"I have pretty good eyes. I saw you talking to some of the villagers during the battle earlier." Leon smiled before continuing, "Since you are already down with the basics, I'll transmit to you the intermediate level. Brace yourself, there's a lot of information to digest."

After giving his warning, Leon poked Lilith in the forehead, just like he did the first time. Lilith winced as the sea of information rushing into her head. She took some time to recover, before pouting, "Can't you poke me a bit softer? You're not gentle at all."

While rubbing her forehead, she continued without waiting for Leon's reply, "Anyway, thank you. I will definitely put this knowledge to good use."

Leon smiled lightly and said, "I'll be relying on you to be my guide in the Wildlands."

"You want to go to the Wildlands?" 

Lilith was startled.

"Not now, but in the future. Maybe when everyone in the kingdom is settled. I definitely have to explore the world and see what it has to offer."

"Aren't you being too ambitious? The Wildlands is much more over dangerous and chaotic than you think. Only the strongest of beasts would be able to traverse the Wildlands freely like an unfettered bird. Why not ask me some more questions about the Wildlands for now? I'll try and answer them all."

Leon began heading in the direction of the World Tree. With his back facing her, he waved while saying, "Maybe another time."

"You can go talk to Lumi now, but try not to make her sad or feel threatened. She can become crazy like a real vengeful spirit."

Lilith was left with complicated feelings as Leon left for the World Tree. She felt she owed Leon too much and became confused about their relationship.

Leon seems to place a lot of trust in her for him to be uncaring about more vital information on the Wildlands. Was he not afraid that she would run off and disappear one day? 

Leon would have lost big time if that happened, but she would not do that. She was not an ungrateful person.

Sometimes, she feels that they were more than just allies adhering to a business deal. She felt that they were more like good friends, or perhaps something more…

Lilith blushed as her thoughts went off the rail.

…