Chapter 196: Food

“Well… this is a bit troublesome.”

Inside the spacious and luxurious Crystal Beast carriage, the White Fox Girl lifted the curtain and glanced at the refugees by the roadside who were constantly brushing past the army. A faint comment slipped from her lips.

Beside her, a certain Little Dragon Daughter had her head resting on her shoulder, taking a nap with closed eyes.

It wasn’t that Xiao Guang was unwell, but according to her, a certain Miss White Bird in the pet space had been getting stronger and stronger lately, capable of holding her own against a level 100 Holy Crystal Dragon for quite a while without any life-or-death struggle after being soundly beaten up at first.

As a result, their nighttime “battle practices” in the pet space had begun to consume more of Little Dragon Daughter’s energy.

To put it simply, while they had lots of fun at night, there were always lethargic periods during the day… sound about right?

Since Xiao Guang rarely had such a playmate, Vilyric didn’t stop the two kids from playing rough. Besides, the battle practice itself was also enhancing their combat and self-defense abilities.

However, when they occasionally overdid it, it meant they would need help restoring their magic power during the day from the Priestess.

On the other side, Leila, who had just brought over a freshly brewed pot of tea, set the tray on the table in front of the girls. After distributing it, as usual, she picked up the White Fox Girl’s murmurs.

“The number of refugees fleeing from the east is increasing. It seems the situation at the front lines is indeed not looking good. I’ve heard that the vanguard of the Holy Kingdom has engaged with a small group of demons less than a hundred miles away from the Star River. The war is already spreading this close; I’m afraid that over at the Holy City…”

“No, that’s not what I’m talking about.”

“Huh?”

The White Feather Girl blinked slightly, but Vilyric simply changed the topic, turning her gaze to a certain Blue-haired Girl sitting cross-legged next to her, who was sitting there meditating quite impressively as a Little Loli.

“How is Eudora doing?”

Tilysha, who was closely observing the little one’s condition, lifted her head and locked eyes with the White Fox Girl.

“It feels like she’s still a bit off. It might take a while…”

“I see… that’s fine, just take it slow. We have plenty of time.”

Before the war began, Miss Vilyric needed to tackle a pressing issue.

That was Eudora’s “food.”

Demons are special lifeforms that do not rely on physical food but rather prefer to consume “emotions.”

Or more precisely, they require the “Void” behind emotions, one of the two fundamental energies constituting all things in the world, also known as spiritual energy.

From this angle, they could even be considered similar to the Spirit Butterfly Clan as semi-spiritual life forms.

Especially for young demons, only by ingesting enough “food” can they ensure their healthy growth.

Vilyric was not quite sure how demons in the demon realm replenish their void energy, but here, it was clear that they induced local creatures to emit strong enough emotions through so-called “corruption,” including war or various other actions, to extract it.

The research reports from the Holy Academy had repeatedly suggested that this was likely the fundamental reason for the demons’ unrelenting invasions.

However, since Eudora was with Vilyric and the others, and given her circumstances, she could not absorb emotions through such cruelty or the various abilities of succubi, thus necessitating some other methods to solve the problem.

Previously, when they were in the Western Capital, Vilyric had asked Eudora in detail about this issue, and the answer she received was that physical food could still alleviate her hunger to some extent.

Additionally, apart from “Little Fox Sister” herself, Eudora could also obtain some emotional energy that was perfectly suited for succubi from “the other sisters” as well, which managed to keep her vital signs stable without any major issues.

As for what those emotions actually were, Eudora couldn’t understand and didn’t dare to speak casually, so she only cautiously disclosed this to the White Fox Girl when asked.

Ahem… to sum it all up, this was the situation, but at the end of the day, whether relying on food or sneaking in some emotional energy, it was merely a band-aid solution.

As a succubus, unless Eudora remained forever by Vilyric’s side and decided not to grow anymore, she would inevitably require more and stronger emotions.

Just like that succubus named Chloé Irone during the auction of the Enchantment Pearl, who used her physical advantages and certain abilities to charm others and extract overflowing emotional energy.

Honestly, Miss Vilyric couldn’t imagine what Eudora would look like dressed in hot pants and pastel colors, dressed up in full succubus style. However, for the sake of not letting the good child go astray and to ensure that Eudora could continue to grow and eventually become self-sufficient…

She had to come up with a solution.

A solution… well, there is one.

Emotions, at the end of the day, are merely a manifestation of the “Void” energy. If there’s a way for Eudora to directly absorb this invisible and intangible energy from the heavens and earth without going through any other individual…

All problems would be solved.

Fundamentally, why can’t demons absorb the “Void” from the air like the native creatures of this world for their own use?

The only reason Vilyric could think of was that they were otherworldly beings, marked with a “repulsion” label by the world.

Thus, they could only rely on indirect means to snatch it from the temporarily unrestrained parts of the world.

Then, Vilyric thought of the Little Blue Slime in the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons, who was guarding the Divine Tree for her.

The little guy’s situation was still fresh in the Priestess’s memory. If Adaptive Mimicry Slime couldn’t directly absorb energy from the air for some reason, could it instead use the powerful bloodlines of other creatures to masquerade as them and deceive the world’s judgment to ultimately gain the “right to absorb energy”?

Could this similar pattern be replicated onto Eudora?

In other words, the ultimate goal would be to remove the “repulsion” label from Eudora, allowing her to wield various corresponding powers even though she was still indeed a succubus, while making the world believe she was no longer an invader.

So, may I ask, is there a creature that can meet such conditions, one that also comes from another world yet isn’t rejected by this world?

Of course, there is.

That would be Vilyric herself, and her companions.

Neither Xiao Guang nor Lucas showed any signs of being rejected by this world, so if traced back, this reason could likely stem from their core, the Priestess.

This was an interesting idea. After a simple discussion with her companions and consulting Eudora’s opinion, Vilyric ultimately decided to conduct an experiment.

Vilyric took a drop of her own—Divine blood, diluted it as much as possible… as much as possible, and after filling a sufficiently large bottle, she fed Eudora a small sip of what appeared almost like clear water, yet still carried the stirring light elements within.

Divine blood undoubtedly contained surging energy and miraculous power. It was said that the ancient ancestor of the Moonshadow Clan, the White Wolf, had ascended to godhood after drinking the blood of the Moon Goddess.

Though it was merely a legend, with details and circumstances unknown, it still held some reference value.

So… after drinking divine blood, even if it was just an extremely diluted amount, how would a demon fare?

   

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