I used a cork to seal the test tubes to prevent the scent from leaking.
AI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Then she walked into the stone house. The succubus felt dehydrated and was panting exhaustedly.
I spoke in Demon God Language:
"I am Daolin Prodia Grellat, the most powerful mage of this era. I am going to rule the world. Are you willing to follow me?"
"Ahhh," although she didn't understand what I was saying, it didn't matter.
"I can let you go. I will return to this desert in at most five months. If you are willing to follow me then, come find me.
If not, then so be it. But if you dare to attack me again next time, I will surely kill you."
"Ahhh, hehe, hiss hiss."
This time there were more sounds. It was too troublesome; there was no way to know what she wanted to say.
Then I dispelled the magic on the stone house, and she flew away with a whoosh, using the two fleshy wings on her back.
Elinalise looked at me with a puzzled expression and said:
"You just let her go? Are you really pitying her? She's a demon beast; she won't be grateful to you. What did you say to her?"
"It doesn't matter. Even stray dogs and cats, if you raise them for a few days, might feel grateful, let alone a succubus whose intelligence is clearly above ordinary animals.
I just casually laid down a loose piece. Killing or not killing this succubus won't affect our future journey. What I just said was that I collected her charm vials and spared her life. It's that simple."
Elinalise obviously didn't believe it, but it didn't matter.
We returned to the stone house where we were resting.
Rudy and Roxy were clearly not asleep. They were getting closer and closer, huddling together for warmth during their night watch.
It seems to be developing quickly. When we return to Sharia, I'll have to help Sylphiette more, otherwise, I won't be able to fulfill my promise to her.
Then I told them both to go inside and sleep, while Elinalise and I stood watch outside.
During the night watch, she took out that vial and played with it. I was so scared, so afraid she would open the stopper of the vial. I was afraid my kidneys couldn't take it.
"Miss Elinalise, we are currently in a very dangerous desert, and accidents can happen at any time. Please compose yourself. Do not do such dangerous things."
Elinalise glanced at me with foxy eyes, chuckled, and put the vial away.
"Hmph, Dorin, next time if you're doing weird research again, I'll pour this vial into your mouth while you're sleeping. Then I'll squeeze you dry until not a drop is left."
I was a bit speechless. I was making such a big sacrifice all for science. She didn't understand it at all.
I didn't reply to her, just shook my head helplessly, leaning against the stone wall to continue my night watch duty.
Elinalise wasn't embarrassed either and quickly snuggled into my cloak beside me for warmth.
The journey continued. In the following days, we didn't encounter any particularly dangerous demon beasts, and soon we arrived at a dust storm area.
I remembered that this sandstorm was the barrier of this area. Inside and outside the sandstorm were completely two different worlds.
We used magic protection to pass through this area.
After traveling for about 20 minutes, we finally left the dust storm. As expected, after leaving that area, the dust storm stopped. Behind us, the storm continued to blow, just like a Wind-element Barrier.
After passing through the sandstorm, the desert changed like a different world. All the demon beasts were different from those inside the sandstorm. Basically, the demon beast levels had dropped by one tier.
Many demon beasts found inside the sandstorm were difficult to encounter outside.
Thus, we continued our journey northward for another week until we reached a place mentioned in the novel.
It was a Rock-shelf Area with giant rocks resembling towering mushroom-like megaliths, extending to the horizon, boundless.
This should be where the Griffons are active, and it's also where I planned to collect materials.
We climbed to the top of the Rock-shelf Area using the giant rocks created by Rudy.
Just as we ascended the Rock-shelf Area, my Kanryu sensed a huge fluctuation.
A huge object was rushing towards us.
I held my sword horizontally in front, blocking the attack of a huge Griffon. Its claws were as big as my entire head, and the overall size of the Griffon was as massive as a rhinoceros I had seen in my previous life.
There was more than one; another Griffon was blocked by Elinalise.
Just as I was about to counterattack, the Griffon was struck down by Rudy and Roxy's attacks.
Indeed, magic is more convenient for long-range attacks. Without enchantment, my weapon's attack range is still too short.
It's impossible to kill the enemy instantly; at most, it can only cause damage.
After Rudy and Roxy killed the Griffons, we relaxed.
"This place above should be the Griffon's territory. All creatures passing through their territory are a provocation to them and will be actively attacked."
Elinalise seemed to know a lot about Griffons. She immediately understood the current situation.
We also agreed.
Fortunately, Griffons usually only occupy their territory as a pair, male and female, so it's rare to encounter more than two Griffons besieging us.
I examined the Griffon's corpse.
Surprisingly, although it was large, the corpse was actually very light. I studied it further. It turned out that there wasn't much flesh in its actual body.
There were many feathers on the outside of its body, making it appear quite large. Its actual size was similar to that of a Silly Bird.
Since it was already dark when we arrived, we decided to set up camp here and continue our journey tomorrow.
I didn't participate in the camping setup. While they were setting up camp, I surveyed this Rock-shelf Area.
The rocks on top of the shelf were in pieces, with large gaps in between. I didn't plan to go down through the gaps to check; that would be unwise.
I patrolled the top layer, and hard work paid off. I quickly found my target.
A Griffon's nest. I used Kanryu to sense the space within 30 meters nearby, and there was no danger.
I ascended to their nest.
The Griffon's nest was built alone on the highest rock. It would indeed be inconvenient to get up there without using magic to create a path.
After ascending to the nest, I was pleasantly surprised to find this trip's objective: a football-sized egg lying in the nest. This should be a Griffon's egg.
I wrapped the egg with the straw from the nest and placed it into my pre-prepared bag with a mesh pocket.
I hope this egg won't break along the way. This is one of the biggest research projects I plan to focus on when I return to Sharia.
After collecting the Griffon egg, I returned to the campsite.
Rudy was a bit curious when he saw me return and asked:
"Brother Dorin, where did you go earlier? The Griffon meat is already roasted and tastes great."
"Hmm, I went to collect Griffon eggs. I plan to research if I can domesticate this type of demon beast when I return to Sharia.
After all, my Silly Bird used to be a demon beast too, but it was later domesticated by the demon race.
Humans are still doing too poorly in this regard."
"Oh, I see. So you'll be checking all the Griffon nests we encounter along the way these next few days, then?"
"Yes, don't worry, it won't delay everyone for too long." Roxy and Elinalise had no objections.
Elinalise also stated,
"The Beast Race and Long-eared Race in the Great Forest also have a habit of domesticating demon beasts. Although I don't understand much, you can ask for their opinions when you return to Sharia."
"Okay, thank you."
Thus, we began our journey on the rock shelf. Basically, all the Griffons we encountered were eliminated, and I collected about six Griffon eggs.
All of them were hung on Silly Bird. Once we reach the nearest Market, I'll buy a Carriage. Such research materials are not easy to collect and must be properly preserved.
After a five-day journey, we finally left the Rock-shelf Area and reached the nearest Market.
Unlike Rudy and the others, we didn't encounter a caravan that needed rescuing; we directly entered an unknown Market.
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