Reborn with Steve Stand - Chapter 723: Gangling Lotus

The next morning, Fang Mo was once again awakened by the sound of knocking.

Since he had slept fairly well the previous night, Fang Mo wasn’t in a bad mood this time. He walked straight over and opened the door.

However, the person outside was not his usual little follower.

Instead, it was Sharan.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Sharan got straight to the point.

Her purpose was simple: she was there on behalf of the Empress of Bel Myre Principality to probe Fang Mo’s true intentions. After all, his power was quite extraordinary. He had only been on the West Coast for a day, and his little follower… that is, the Summon, had already signed a summoning contract with the monsters of Sky Tower.

Indeed, Sharan was very proficient in magic.

So when the two returned from Sky Tower to the West Coast, she immediately sensed something was amiss.

The contracts signed by Summon are essentially a connection between souls, and the aura of the summoned creatures can occasionally be transmitted to the summoner through this connection.

Sharan had long been stationed on the West Coast and was very sensitive to the aura of Sky Tower, so she immediately noticed the aura on the Summon. As the dominant party in the contract, she now felt like a moving Sky Tower, which was quite intimidating.

Naturally, she couldn’t sit still.

So that night, she had an urgent communication with Empress Skardi.

Empress Skardi, on the other hand, seemed to be busy dealing with another strange incident, reportedly a terrifying sinkhole that had mysteriously appeared in the depths of Grand Flores, which was currently under investigation.

Considering the various anomalies on the Arad continent recently, Empress Skardi’s instructions were clear: avoid antagonizing such a powerful figure as much as possible.

Therefore, Sharan’s attitude was very friendly. Although she expressed a desire to inquire about Fang Mo’s true intentions, her tone and wording were very careful to avoid any misunderstanding.

In fact, to show goodwill.

She even brought a gift.

“Your Excellency, this is a small token from our Mage Guild.”

As Sharan spoke, she produced a small black box the size of a palm: “Inside is a plant seed from the Demon World that I acquired by chance. Perhaps the little summoner can use it.”

“Aukuso?”

Fang Mo took the box and asked.

“You know it?”

Sharan seemed a bit surprised by his words: “The ecology of this Demon World plant is quite peculiar. Although I have one in the Mage Guild, it is difficult to propagate, making this seed very precious…”

“Then why don’t you use TP?”

Fang Mo couldn’t help but say.

“What?” Sharan seemed puzzled: “Your Excellency… do you know how to propagate it?”

“Oh, it’s not difficult.”

Fang Mo casually opened the box. Inside was a seed with a large tuft of fluff on top, resembling an enlarged green dandelion.

“The main reason Aukuso doesn’t propagate is its reluctance. Watch my method.”

Fang Mo picked up the seed and whispered to it: “I’ll give you a villa in the city center and a million in cash. I’ll also cover all your child’s tuition and medical expenses…”

As he spoke, Fang Mo’s ring of arcane power lit up with a green glow, activating the harvest and nature mode. The seed in his hand quickly began to wriggle, with numerous vines twisting into a ball. The flower bud at the top suddenly burst open, revealing a large scarlet flower with sharp teeth that even sprayed out a few seeds.

Notably, the plant seemed to have some intelligence.

It humanly rotated its flower crown as if surveying the surroundings.

“See? It has reconsidered.”

Casually tossing Aukuso into the room, Fang Mo shrugged.

“Uh… your Excellency is indeed knowledgeable.”

Sharan was a bit speechless, rubbing her forehead, but quickly brought the conversation back on track: “In any case, please understand that the situation on the Arad continent is turbulent. Your Excellency’s power is so immense that it inevitably causes fear among ordinary people. Please understand, we mean no harm…”

“Have you heard of the Apostles?”

Out of the blue, Fang Mo asked this question.

“Apostles?”

Sharan, being well-versed, thought for a moment and said: “I’ve heard the bard Iris mention them. They seem to be a group of evil and powerful beings from another world…”

“Heh, evil.”

Fang Mo sneered at her words.

“Your Excellency, you…”

“Let me ask you.” Fang Mo continued before Sharan could speak: “What do you think is evil? Am I evil?”

“You must be joking, Your Excellency.”

Sharan quickly said, “You have only explored the Sky Tower without harming the innocent. Although you possess such great power, you are just like an ordinary person. This must mean you have a kind heart.”

“The NPCs of Arad are really good at talking.”

Fang Mo couldn’t help but laugh. He originally wanted to give himself as an example. “Alright, I’ll come clean. My target this time is actually the Apostles.”

“The Apostles…”

Sharan pondered for a moment after hearing this. “Are you planning to eliminate them?”

“I…”

“Teacher Sharan!”

Fang Mo had just opened his mouth to speak when suddenly, a voice as melodious as a nightingale rang out from afar: “Great, I finally found you.”

Following the direction of the voice, Fang Mo saw a blonde girl standing in the distance.

She was quite beautiful, with wine-red eyes, smooth waist-length blonde hair, a large red ribbon tied into a bow on her head, and a gothic Lolita style of dress. However, she exuded a slightly narcissistic aura, much like a proud little noble peacock.

“Lorianne?”

Sharan turned her head to look at the girl upon hearing the voice. “What’s wrong? Is something the matter?”

“Are you busy?”

After Sharan turned around, the girl named Lorianne noticed there were other people present. She blinked her eyes and said, “And this is…?”

“Uh…”

Sharan hesitated briefly before explaining, “This is Mr. Jade Emperor.”

“This is Lorianne,” Sharan quickly turned to introduce her to Fang Mo, “She is my top disciple.”

“Oh, I know.”

Fang Mo nodded upon hearing this. He did remember this NPC quite well; she was a well-crafted character back in the day, involved in several side quests. In the later version, she even had a dramatic death, which brought tears to many players.

Of course, Fang Mo quit the game during the later version, so he didn’t know much. However, he clearly remembered two quests involving her: one was a secret love and the other was a rescue mission.

The secret love quest was about a love triangle. Lorianne secretly loved a dark elf named Kargon, but Kargon was in love with Seria. Kargon even asked Lorianne for advice on how to pursue Seria, which upset her, leading her to give bad advice.

The other quest involved Lorianne being captured by a dragon, and adventurers had to rescue her. After being saved, Lorianne seemed unhappy, which players later realized was because she was waiting for Kargon.

Regardless of how other players viewed these quests, Fang Mo, as a staunch advocate for true love, was quite fond of this couple and planned to help them get together if possible.

“Hello, I’m Lorianne.”

Lorianne, unaware of Fang Mo’s thoughts, behaved demurely in front of her mentor, lowering her head and greeting him politely.

“Not bad, well-mannered.”

Seeing this, Fang Mo smiled and said directly, “You have a crush on Kargon, right? Alright, I will help you succeed in winning his heart.”

“!!!”

Lorianne instantly looked up in shock.

“…Huh?”

Even Sharan was stunned. She was curious why Fang Mo suddenly said that, but seeing her disciple’s reaction, she immediately understood. “Lorianne… do you really like Kargon?”

“I… I don’t… this…”

Lorianne stammered nervously as her deepest secret was suddenly revealed.

Truth be told, Lorianne couldn’t understand why someone she had never met could see through her secret so easily. She felt doomed.

“It seems so…”

Sharan, familiar with her student, sighed and facepalmed. “I always felt something was off with you. Despite having so many suitors, you weren’t interested in any of them. It turns out you like Kargon.”

“No, no, no…”

Lorianne quickly covered her face, feeling embarrassed.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Sharan said. “Kargon is a good kid. He and I are both dark elves, and I watched him grow up. If you like him, go for it. Your teacher supports you.”

“Yes, exactly. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Fang Mo joined in. “If all else fails, I still have some love potions here.”

Yes, this is not a joke. When Fang Mo was organizing the storage boxes last time, he actually found two bottles of aphrodisiac. If I remember correctly, this item seems to be added by the Tinker’s Construct expansion module.

“?”

Upon hearing this, Sharan looked at Fang Mo with a bit of confusion.

“Ahhhhh!”

However, it was probably too embarrassing for Lorianne to handle: “Teacher, a girl just came ashore looking for you!”

After saying this, she covered her face and ran off.

“This child…”

Sharan shook her head and sighed, then looked back at Fang Mo: “Sir, we were just discussing…”

She had also heard what Lorianne just said, that someone was looking for her, but after a moment of consideration, she thought Fang Mo’s matter was more important.

Yes, she now realized that the man in front of her was really too strange. The more she interacted with him, the more alarmed she felt. How did he even know about Lorianne’s secret crush, something not even she, as the teacher, was aware of? Could he have some kind of mind-reading magic?

“Alright, no need to say more.”

But to Sharan’s surprise, Fang Mo raised his hand to stop her: “Weren’t we just discussing the Apostles? There’s no need to discuss it now.”

“Why?” Sharan asked, a bit puzzled.

“The Apostles are attacking!”

Fang Mo suddenly changed his tone and said.

“What!?” Sharan was shocked: “The Apostles are here already? Where? That girl by the sea, could she be…”

“Oh, they’re in the sky.”

Fang Mo said: “If they had really come from the sea, you’d be done for…”

“In the sky?”

Sharan seemed a bit confused.

“Alright, that’s all.”

Fang Mo waved his hand dismissively and turned to walk inside: “By the way, tell Empress Skardi that this place is quite beautiful, so she can rest easy.”

Without waiting for Sharan to say more, he closed the door.

Afterward, Fang Mo walked towards another nearby house, knocked twice, and shouted: “Stop sleeping, get out here and look at the Apostles.”

While knocking on the door, Fang Mo also recalled some plot information about the Apostles.

Lorianne just said someone had washed ashore. If he remembered correctly, it should be the girl named Ophelia.

As previously mentioned, Arad is a world full of magic, so it’s not surprising for strange things to happen, like a gigantic floating whale larger than a city. This thing is called the Skyveil Behemoth.

On the back of the Skyveil Behemoth are some ancient ruins, which attracted some researchers who later formed a group called the GBL Church to study the so-called Great Blue Truth.

However, Hilder, a woman from the Demon Realm, used a transfer spell.

To kill the other Apostles, she teleported the eighth Apostle, Lotus, who was hibernating, onto the Skyveil Behemoth. Lotus is an octopus, and the Skyveil Behemoth flies in the sky, cutting off its source of life, water.

So, it started desperately trying to survive.

And as the Apostle tried to survive, these followers suffered.

In the end, only Ophelia escaped and ran to the West Coast for help.

According to the original plot, Ophelia would cry about the Apostle’s crimes, someone would fan the flames, and adventurers, in a moment of hot-headedness, would attack and kill Lotus.

“Lotus…”

Thinking of this, Fang Mo also subconsciously recalled some information about the Apostle Lotus.

To be honest, he couldn’t remember the specifics well, just that the creature was quite lewd in the original comics, featuring female mages and fighters… But he vaguely remembered Lotus being a tentacle monster that could lay eggs.

“Lay eggs?”

Fang Mo’s mind suddenly twitched: “Wait… only females lay eggs, right? Damn, is Lotus a female tentacle monster!?”

Fang Mo’s eyes suddenly lit up.

But in the next second, as if he remembered something, he wiped his face in frustration: “Damn it! I haven’t unlocked the gender transformation module yet…”