Ryu's gaze landed upon a dilapidated scroll. He could tell that it hid maybe the most useful method in this place.
'That should be the method of forming the Corpse Garden.'
'Do you want to build one within the Incubator? It might be difficult to balance it so that it doesn't affect the growth of the Spiritual Herbs. But, it wouldn't be impossible.'
Ryu thought for a moment before shaking his head.
'It's not worth it. Esme has the ability to improve by swallowing her opponents. I can still tweak it so that she becomes more efficient at it too. I'll simply build all of my future corpse puppets like that, there's no need to make sacrifices.'
'Well, taking that path is its own form of sacrifice. It's impossible to give your corpse puppets every evolution pathway there is. If you're giving them the ability to grow through battle, you're giving up immediate and more potent strength.'
'Not necessarily…' Ryu said after a while. '… You've been grooming the Spiritual Herbs I pointed out, right?'
Ailsa nodded.
'Then, I'll be able to give you a surprise very soon.' Ryu's lip curled.
He hadn't forgotten the tome of human skin that rested in his spatial ring. The Body of an Herbologist Tome was a godsend to Ryu. The more time he spent reading it, the more of a genius he felt its creator was.
Ryu rarely if ever felt inferior. But, he realized that it seemed that even as an Origin Grade Herbologist, he still had so much to learn.
Not only was the creator of the Tome able to come up with ingenious methods, but most of the ones Ryu could use immediately required exceptionally cheap herbs. The combination of these two things seemed almost impossible to accept, but this was his reality.
'Oh?' Ailsa giggled.
Ailsa was quite a good Herbologist herself. But, she always felt inferior to Ryu in this regard for whatever reason. She felt that in this regard, the very thing that made humans the enemies of Faeries, was the very thing that made Ryu such a good Herbologist.
He had the flexibility to bump the status quo and stick a middle finger to the Heavens, doing things with Spiritual Herbs she had never even considered before. Who would have thought that a human would surpass a Faerie in Herbology?
'It's not completely useless, though.' Ryu's eyes glowed for a moment. 'They modified it to work as a Corpse Garden, but the true root of its use is to build a unique Death World.
'It's missing a lot of parts, though… I'll need your help to rebuild the rest of it.'
Ailsa nodded. 'Okay.'
"Alright, I've had my fill." Ryu turned toward Niel with a smile. "Take me to your treasure vaults."
Niel's lip twitched again. He was beginning to think that this was a quirk of his. This Ryu was truly going to be the end of him.
If Niel didn't know by now that Ryu had only asked to come here to prove a point, he would be too much of a fool.
Of course, what he didn't know was that Ryu had just gained a method his Sect hadn't managed to unearth even after all these millennia. But, Ryu had no intention of telling him that.
"… W… Wait!"
"Hm?" Ryu looked back to find Sarriel stuttering through her words.
"Um… S… Senior Brother N… Niel. C-can I … speak to … to Ryu alone for a moment?"
Niel's face froze. He looked like he wanted to shed tears, but didn't dare to do so at this moment. It felt like he was watching his little sister go off into the den of a wild wolf.
Sniffling, he took a step back.
"Sure…" He squeezed out. "… I'll be right outside if you need… anything…"
Niel turned, hiding the pain on his face as he looked up into the skies.
Why couldn't he be more handsome? Why?
Ailsa lay on Ryu's shoulder, clutching her stomach. She couldn't seem to get enough of this.
Ryu turned to face Sarriel, looking toward her curiously. She looked like she couldn't be more than 17 or 18 years old, but Ryu knew well that for anyone to step into the Half-Step Path Extinction Realm like her, especially in this environment, she would have to be thousands of years old at least, most likely tens of thousands.
However, the more Ryu observed her, the more his gaze sharpened. Eventually, his gaze became so overbearing that the temperature of the room seemed to plummet.
Any fire his loins had had gazing upon this petite beauty seemed to vanish. His expression eventually became no different than when he was facing an enemy. It seemed as though he might explode at any moment.
This Sarriel… She was only 5000 years old at the oldest. Ryu was absolutely certain.
"W… Wh… Wha… Wha…"
Sarriel began to hyperventilate. She was trying her best to squeeze out her next words, but no matter how hard she tried, Ryu's aura was too stifling for her.
Eventually, she broke down into a fit of tears.
She began to wipe her tears with her little hands, wishing for them to go away.
"I… I'm s… sorry… I'm sorry…"
These were the only words she was able to squeeze out. She was practically balling.
Maybe it was just an illusion, but it even seemed like her violet eyes dimmed considerably the harder she cried. It seemed like the only thing keeping her up from collapsing was her fear of moving. She was more scared of Ryu than her legs were weak.
Ryu frowned, retracting his aura. He even began to feel somewhat… guilty?
'Dammit, what the hell is going on?'
Ryu couldn't wrap his head around what was going on.
Sarriel was at most 5000 years old. Yet, she was already a step away from the Path Extinction Realm. In fact, Ryu could tell that she was even suppressing her cultivation.
But, the issue was that even the pre-eminent geniuses of the Shrine Plane only stepped into the Path Extinction Realm at 10000 years old.
How was Sarriel twice as fast as those geniuses? And how exactly was such a talent in a middling Eighth Order Sect that could only be consider top five in this weak world?