Chapter 97: The Enchantress

Even a hero cannot pass the barrier of a beauty; the strongest steel, when faced with you, melts into a gentle ribbon wound around the finger. These two were the very image of childhood sweethearts—growing up side by side, innocent and unguarded. The greatest regret, of course, was that the girl was not gifted with the talent of a Spirit Master and could only remain an ordinary person. It would have been simple enough to enhance her abilities; with Leslie’s authority, acquiring an evolution elixir was a trivial matter. Yet, he could not bear the thought of her being harmed in any way, and so he waited, hoping to give her the perfected, side-effect-free version. That wait became an eternal farewell… How could there be perfection in this world?

Shar strode away, a comprehensive plan already forming in his mind. This person meant a great deal to him, and if he wished to spirit her away, it would require careful plotting. Not that it was impossible—after all, in the beginning, she was a person of deep feeling and loyalty…

Upon returning to his quarters, Lyle greeted him with a cheerful smile. “Shar, the Ivan family has delivered all the gemstones you requested.”

She retrieved a small box from a hidden drawer and pouted in mild annoyance. “You trust me far too much—just letting me keep things worth tens of millions like it’s nothing. What if someone stole them? Aren’t you afraid I might just keep them for myself?”

Shar shrugged off his coat, replying with casual nonchalance, “There’s nothing to fear. If anyone dares lay a hand on my possessions, I’ll make sure they understand what it means to be reasonable. And if you want them, you’re welcome to take them—there’s no need for formalities between us.”

“By the way, I heard there’s a beautiful necklace in the academy’s mall. It’s a bit pricey, but I’ll buy it for you once I’ve saved enough.” His words caught the girl off guard; a blush quickly spread across her cheeks. She shook her head hastily. “No, no, you shouldn’t waste money on me. This is when you need to invest the most—don’t be extravagant for my sake.”

She lowered her head, slender white fingers twisting together nervously. Her voice was soft. “Shar, why are you always so good to me?”

“Because you’re the only family I have here,” he replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Only family?” She exhaled, and something seemed to slip away from her heart, leaving an uncomfortable emptiness.

“Oh? And what else would you wish for? Don’t tell me—you’ve fallen for me?” Shar grinned at her, deliberately teasing, “Don’t worry about it. After all, I’m so handsome and talented—falling for me is perfectly understandable.”

“Who—who—has fallen for you? I haven’t!” Eileen’s heart pounded wildly. She stomped her foot and hurried back to her room.

Well, who would have thought she really was falling for me?

Shar’s smile carried a hint of helplessness. He was no clueless harem protagonist from some anime; it was all too clear that she was growing more and more attached to him.

As the saying goes, affection grows with time. Including their voyage, the two had been living together for over ten days. Especially now, alone in a foreign land, the isolation intensified the girl’s instinctive reliance on him and deepened her feelings. Still, it was only a fondness for now—it would take deliberate effort and the right circumstances for it to blossom into true love.

“Ah, being too handsome is a curse, truly unfortunate…” Shar muttered, his face calm even as his words were unbearably smug. With the small box in hand, he made his way unhurriedly into the basement.

Now, he had finally gathered all the resources needed for the little white fox’s evolution. If it still couldn’t evolve, he would have to seriously consider replacing his primary totem!

“White Spirit!” he called.

A translucent interface appeared as Shar took out the gemstones one by one from the box. There were four water-blue gems, six deep-violet ones, and three strange black flowers speckled with white.

All these items together barely filled the palm of his hand, yet had cost him more than ten million! Fortunately, the Ivan family’s direct heirs—all of whose primary totems he had drawn evolution and ultimate evolution inheritance diagrams for—had paid him two or three times the usual fee. Otherwise, he could never have spent such a fortune.

Not that they’d gotten the worse end of the deal. For a Spirit Master, every totem evolution was crucial, determining their potential for the future. Every Spirit Master would strive to perfect their understanding of their totem’s inheritance factors, hoping to uncover its greatest potential and guide its evolution.

To put it plainly, each totem creature could evolve in dozens, even hundreds of directions, most of which would lead to a dead end, unable to evolve further. Only by finding the inheritance factor closest to a Calamity Divine Beast could one achieve true evolution, ultimate evolution, and perhaps even transcendent evolution!

In this, a Master Cartographer was the ultimate authority, able to chart the perfect evolutionary path. For the heirs of great families, anything money could buy was no obstacle—if it meant a brighter future, no price was too dear.

Having settled his thoughts, Shar calmly pressed the “+” evolution button with his mind.

A soft hum resonated.

The little white fox, Firefly, lay quietly, enveloped in a gentle white glow. A moment later, the light faded—yet there was still no change whatsoever!

“Damn it, a 95% success rate—how could it still fail?!” Shar stared in shock. With his recent knowledge and the resources purchased, the success rate should have been nearly absolute. Yet the fox had not evolved into a three-tailed form; it remained as it was, a single tail. He could not fathom where the problem lay.

“Fine, let’s try again!” Shar gritted his teeth, suppressing his rage. Earlier, he had cast a series of burst-type spirit arts on Yuetong, managing to take down a second-order Spirit Master in a surprise attack, which had earned him thirteen evolution points. With his previous points, he now had fourteen left; each attempt consumed four, so he could try twice more.

Suddenly, he noticed something odd on the translucent interface—a series of new details appeared over the little white fox’s model.

The mutated Moonlight Fox had quietly changed its name—now it was the Moon Spirit Fox.

“Moon Spirit Fox: Primary Totem, evolved, can be advanced, evolution success rate 25%, evolution point cost 18.
Abilities: Spirit Flash, Foxfire, Moonlight Blade, Mystical Guard, Enchantment.”

Mew~

Firefly made a soft, wriggling sound and slowly opened its eyes, a gentle purple glow swirling within. It sat quietly, its demeanor calm and obedient.

For a moment, he seemed to see a noble young lady sitting there—a snow-white gown, delicate features shrouded in a faint mist, an air of alluring mystery.

Damn, had Firefly turned into a fox enchantress?