[Target: Elf Princess. Current Affection Level: 70–80.] [During the host’s journey in the Raymond territory, he displayed a unique style of action and personal charisma. His decisive way of coming to Sara’s rescue strongly piqued the interest of the elf princess who was secretly observing. In subsequent observations, the host’s words, actions, and demeanor continued to earn the elf princess’s approval and growing affection.] [Original plot summary: During the journey in Raymond territory, Lien successfully attracted the elf princess’s attention through his kindness, tolerance, and sense of justice. Under her observation, he gained her favor through his personal charm.]
Ize stared at the system prompt, his mind instantly flooded with question marks.
“? ? ?”
Elf princess?
So who exactly is this princess?
System, you can’t even be bothered to give her a name?
And more importantly—when did he ever take care of, or even meet, an elf princess?
Aside from the group of children he rescued from Raymond territory and the teachers and students at the academy, where would an elf even come from around him?
[For the sake of the host’s gaming experience, relevant information will not be directly provided. Please explore on your own.]
Ize was utterly speechless.
All his life he had been cautious, always striving to stay low-key—how did he somehow unknowingly steal another member of Lien’s original “harem”?
But… thinking about it carefully, this didn’t seem entirely like a bad thing.
He vaguely remembered that when he used to watch pioneering攻略 videos for Era, the streamers mentioned that Lien gained many precious opportunities and powerful support precisely because he became close with the elf princess.
If that same “opportunity” had now shifted to him… didn’t that mean he could benefit from it in the future too?
Only problem was—this mysterious elf princess, exactly where was she hiding while observing him?
Ize instinctively looked around, but all he saw was the ordinary scenery of the academy. No clues whatsoever.
Meanwhile, after Ize left, the backyard of the old church returned to silence.
Lingke stood alone in the courtyard, her expression somewhat forlorn.
At that moment, several colorful butterflies surrounded by faint magical halos fluttered lightly to her side, circling around her. One even landed on her shoulder, its wings gently flapping as it spoke in a soft yet clear human voice:
“Princess, how much longer do you plan to remain in this human territory?”
“Your coming-of-age ceremony is approaching. Her Majesty the Queen is deeply concerned. If you do not return soon, I fear she will come personally.”
Hearing this, Lingke pouted unhappily and muttered under her breath:
“There’s still some time left… what’s the rush…”
She had originally left the Elf Forest out of long-standing curiosity about human society.
Ancient records spoke of a time when elves and humans were once very close, but hundreds of years ago, due to some unknown incident, the elves began to distance themselves from humans and turned neutral.
She wanted to see with her own eyes what this race—about which the elders in her clan had such complicated feelings—really was like.
But shortly after entering the human world, she became accidentally involved in the vampire disaster in Raymond territory.
There she witnessed not only the cruelty of the vampires, but also the selfishness, greed, and ungrateful betrayal humans revealed in moments of despair. Deeply disappointed, she had already decided this observation trip was a failure and prepared to return to the forest.
Just as she was about to leave, Ize and his group appeared.
At first she merely watched coldly—until the moment Ize, facing those hate-blinded children who turned around and accused their rescuers, unhesitatingly unleashed decisive, even ruthless, force to quell the internal chaos and moral coercion.
In that instant, Lingke was deeply shaken.
This was completely different from the “kindness” and “tolerance” she believed humans should possess. This cold, no-nonsense, unconventional style of handling things filled her with shock—and an extremely strong desire to understand more.
She initially labeled him as “a complicated and dangerous individual” and decided to observe longer.
But subsequent interactions revealed a completely different side of Ize.
His patient guidance of the children, the subtle care he showed her, and especially earlier—when he unhesitatingly gave her the [Desert Eagle], an excellent-grade magical tool considered precious in the human world, claiming he “had no use for it” while calling her “weak” and in need of protection.
This seemingly contradictory nature—ruthless toward enemies yet gentle toward those close to him—along with the inexplicable sense of security and closeness she felt whenever she was near him, deeply attracted her.
The warmth she felt when he patted her head was something she found herself craving.
“But Princess, Her Majesty is already very angry,” the butterfly attendant said worriedly. “You don’t want to be punished when you return, do you?”
The image of her mother’s stern face and possible punishment flashed through Lingke’s mind. Her small body involuntarily shivered.
It seemed she really had to go back.
“Fine, fine, I’ll return with you.”
She compromised, but then her eyes gleamed mischievously as she pointed at the other children in the church.
“But since you’re here at the perfect time—while I’m gone, you must stay here and protect these children for me. Make sure they remain safe and unharmed.”
“Ah? This…” The butterfly attendants seemed somewhat troubled.
But Lingke gave them no chance to refuse.
She took a deep breath, no longer suppressing the power of her bloodline, and dropped her disguise.
Her ears visibly elongated and became slender and pointed, elegantly emerging from her hair. Her originally jet-black hair rapidly faded, replaced by a gradient of brilliant azure sheen. Her eyes turned from black to a pure, clear lake-blue, as if holding stars within them.
Her small childlike frame stretched slightly, transforming into the slender, perfectly proportioned figure of an elf maiden, naturally exuding an ancient and elegant aura.
Then, with practiced ease, she manipulated the surrounding active natural mana. Light gathered before her, quickly forming an exact duplicate of her previous human “Lingke” appearance.
“Everything here is entrusted to you!”
Lingke smiled at the butterfly attendants and her created double, a hint of slyness in her expression.
“You must protect the children here well! After I complete my coming-of-age ceremony, I will come back!”
Before her words even finished, spatial power rippled around her. Her figure slowly vanished, leaving only faint blue motes of light drifting in the air.
Meanwhile, at the training grounds of Limoon Academy.
Lien was fully focused, guiding the magic power within his body, trying to condense thunder elements into an even more destructive form.
At that moment, the familiar voice that had guided him and brought him countless opportunities rang clearly once again in the depths of his mind:
[Ding— Due to your meticulous care and personal charm, the elf princess living in hiding among humans has developed extremely strong affection toward you. On the eve of her departure, moved by your kindness, she bestows upon you a sacred relic of the elf race and grants you the Elf’s Blessing. Your all-element affinity has been permanently increased as a result.]
The moment the voice fell, wild joy surged uncontrollably in Lien’s heart.
Elf princess! A sacred relic and blessing of the elf race!
This was undoubtedly an enormous opportunity that could drive any mage insane!
He almost instinctively began sensing his own body, eagerly awaiting the leap in elemental affinity.
Yet several seconds passed—his magic power remained unchanged, his elemental perception showed no difference whatsoever.
He hurriedly checked himself. Forget a sacred relic—even a single unusual leaf was nowhere to be found.
The wild joy was instantly extinguished like being doused with ice water. Lien was completely stunned.
“Elf princess… who?”
He furrowed his brows, frantically searching his memory, but couldn’t find a single fragment related to any elf—let alone anything about “meticulous care.”
This wasn’t the first time!
Earlier in Raymond territory, that same voice had hinted he should grow closer to Rhea—yet in the end, the strange atmosphere developed between Rhea and that guy Ize from Starshine Academy.
Now even this precious elf-race opportunity had inexplicably slipped away?
An indescribable frustration and irritation surged in his chest.
This voice in his head had been his greatest reliance—yet now it kept making mistakes. For the first time, he felt an unprecedented sense of unease and loss of control.
What exactly had gone wrong?
At the same time, Ize’s group had already left Starshine Academy. They were riding in a magic-powered carriage provided by the Betty family, speeding along the road toward the border.
Inside the carriage, the atmosphere was heavy. Rose was explaining the dire situation facing the Betty family to everyone.
“It’s very bad,” Rose said, her voice filled with exhaustion and grief.
“The border defenses of our family’s territory have almost been torn apart. In just half a month, half of our standing army has died in battle… And the most terrifying part is—those fallen soldiers will soon rise again in the darkness, turning into low-tier bloodthirsty vampires that attack their former comrades!”
She paused, a trace of fear flashing in her eyes, then continued:
“The strength of these vampires varies greatly. Most of the low-tier converted ones move slowly and act on instinct—their combat power is sometimes even lower than a strong goblin. But among them are some special individuals. They possess extremely high intelligence, can cast strange magic, and their physical strength is terrifying. Several of our family’s knight captains, masters of advanced combat techniques, were easily killed by them in direct confrontations… They are mainly active at night.”
Listening to Rose, Swan unconsciously clenched his fists. The tragic destruction of the Raymond family seemed to flash before his eyes again.
Yet besides the flames of revenge, he now also felt something strange—a recurring, inexplicable swelling pain in his chest that had been happening more frequently lately, making him very uncomfortable.
While everyone’s attention was on Rose, Swan silently called out in his mind:
“Ignir, what’s wrong with my body? Why… why does it hurt here?”
He subtly pointed toward his chest.
In his mind, the lazy and matter-of-fact voice of the dragon soul Ignir replied:
“Oh, that. Kid, haven’t you been borrowing my power all this time? Right now I’m only a soul without a physical body. To let you use dragon power, naturally I have to deeply influence and reshape your body through soul force.”
“Reshape?”
Swan had a very bad premonition.
“Exactly.”
Ignir’s tone even carried a hint of teasing.
“I am a noble female dragon; my soul essence is the same. The longer you accept my soul power, the more your body will naturally shift toward my essence. Simply put—you’ll gradually become… mm, a bit more feminine. This is just the beginning.”
“But with your current body, you can at most wield less than ten percent of the power I had in my complete form—unless…”
Ignir didn’t finish the sentence. Unless the soul fully merged with her—then Swan would completely cease to exist.
“Wha… WHAT?!”
Swan felt as if struck by lightning. His whole body froze in his seat, face instantly turning deathly pale.
Ignir was actually a female dragon?
And the price of borrowing her power… was to turn into a woman?!
This news struck him harder than facing any powerful vampire.
Sitting across from him, Ize keenly noticed Swan’s sudden change in expression and the way he instinctively clutched his chest. He couldn’t help but wonder inwardly:
“What’s wrong with Swan? His face looks awful—motion sickness?”
Ize glanced at Dio and noticed that Dio was also looking at Swan with a rather strange expression…
“Could Senior Dio actually know something about this?”
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