The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess-Chapter 74 - 72: Spiritual Power Breakthrough

"So this is the Ghost Fruit?"

After Rose dealt with the ghost, Hilia walked up to the Ghost Fruit Tree guarded by the spectral protector, curiously inspecting this not-so-tall tree.

The trees nearby were all tall and lofty, except for this one, which was only about five meters high.

But in the large area around it, not a single other tree grew—just some grass.

"There are twenty-one Ghost Fruits in total. That’s a lot. I wonder if they’re worth anything."

"None of these Ghost Fruits are ripe. The ripe ones glow—like this one."

Rose pointed at the only glowing Ghost Fruit.

"This one’s almost ripe."

"So, we only need this one?"

"Come on, since we’re here, aren’t you at least gonna take them all?"

"Of course not." Hilia was perfectly honest.

"Any kind of fruit can be ripened. The method works pretty well. For Ghost Fruits, all you need to do is inject a ghost’s soul core into each fruit, and they’ll ripen in three days."

"A ghost’s soul core?"

"This thing." Rose manipulated her puppet to take out a thumb-sized white stone, radiating a faint Spiritual Power.

"This is the guardian ghost’s soul core."

Rose flicked her finger, and the soul core burrowed into an unripe Ghost Fruit.

That fruit started to glow slightly, gradually getting brighter.

"Uh? Wait..."

Hilia’s eyes got huge. "Isn’t this basically using someone’s soul to ripen the fruit?"

"What are you thinking? Ghosts are ghosts, people are people. Ghosts are a special race, not just dead humans turned into this."

"Huh? Really? I thought ghosts were people who died and became ghosts for some reason."

"Those are wraiths, not ghosts. If ghosts were all that complicated to make, there wouldn’t be so many of them around here."

Rose rolled her eyes.

"Ghosts are formed by death energy and pollution. In certain areas where powerful Great Mages die, ghosts are more likely to appear. Once they form, they spread death energy and pollution, assimilating the environment.

"The thick death energy around the Twilight Tomb hasn’t faded yet, largely because ghosts keep producing it and expanding outward."

"So if we want to take all the fruits, do we have to kill twenty-one... no, nineteen ghosts?"

"Exactly."

Rose glanced outside the Air Wall she’d constructed with Spiritual Power.

After being summoned by the guardian ghost just now, a bunch of other ghosts were getting agitated, banging against the Air Wall.

Now that the guardian ghost was dead, even more were gathering.

"Look up. Check out all the ghosts around us. Even if you don’t intend to kill them, as soon as you try to leave with the Ghost Fruits, they’ll come for you."

Rose stepped forward and plucked the Ghost Fruit with the soul core inside, tossing it to Hilia.

"Eat it."

"Uh... we can eat this?" Just thinking about the ghost element inside, Hilia felt kind of weird.

"If it’s fruit, you can eat it." Rose snapped. "How come you never found pork or beef weird to eat?"

"Uh..."

Feeling the smooth, cool fruit in her hand, Hilia suddenly swallowed. Why did she get the sense it might taste amazing?

The girl bit down, and sweet juice burst in her mouth, like cold water on a hot summer day—refreshing from head to toe.

Chomp chomp chomp~

Hilia finished the Ghost Fruit in just a couple of bites.

Before she had time to savor it, an icy surge of Magic Power erupted from the pulp she’d swallowed, racing through her body, pounding at her Spiritual Space.

"Sit down and meditate, digest the fruit. This is precious stuff for improving Spiritual Power. Don’t waste it."

Rose’s voice reached her, and Hilia immediately sat down, closed her eyes, and began to meditate, focusing on absorbing the energy within the fruit.

Once she entered her meditation state, Rose stretched her puppet’s joints and withdrew the Air Wall made of Spiritual Power.

The ghosts that were banging against the wall swarmed in instantly.

"Just in time to use all that excess Magic Power from the fruit."

The magic puppet blurred into a shadow, weaving through the ghosts.

By the time Hilia finished absorbing the Magic Power from the fruit, she opened her eyes and noticed something different about the Ghost Fruit Tree.

Looking closer, she saw that all the fruits were glowing.

Not as brilliantly as the one she ate, but definitely glowing now.

She had an idea and glanced around—the ghosts were all gone.

As for where they went, the glowing fruits explained everything.

"Master Rose handled it, huh."

Ready for battle, Hilia now looked disappointed.

She’d assumed Rose gave her the Ghost Fruit so she could quickly replenish her Magic Power and take on the ghost swarm.

Though after absorbing it, her Magic Power hadn’t recovered much.

But her Spiritual Power was completely restored, and far stronger than before.

If she had to fight the guardian ghost again, she believed that no matter how much it struggled, it couldn’t break free from Mage’s Hand.

"Wait, the guardian ghost was a Tier Two creature. That means... my Spiritual Power reached Tier Two as well, right?"

The girl got excited.

Too bad Rose didn’t let her have any fun—he’d already wiped out the little monsters in advance.

Rose felt quite pleased.

Who says only fighting above your level is exciting?

Slaying weaklings can be super satisfying too.

"Pack up all the fruits. We’re heading back."

"Got it!"

Hilia quickly stuffed the remaining twenty fruits into her backpack.

Luckily, Ghost Fruits were small, so she barely managed to fit them all in.

After forcing the bag closed, Hilia made up her mind: "Next time I’m bringing a bigger backpack!"

Heading back to the riverbank was even smoother, and soon, Hilia was back on the main road.

To her surprise, Beck and the others were still here, waiting by the roadside.

They’d found a spot well away from the river, built a campfire, and were gathering around it, whispering and murmuring.

Sneaky Fei Qi kept a lookout, and when he spotted Hilia, his spirits lifted. "Captain, the Mire Brothers are here!"

The seated group sprang to their feet.

"I knew the Mire Brothers wouldn’t leave us behind! I knew you’d come find us! Hahaha—" Beck laughed heartily.

Hilia looked at the group in total confusion.

Wait, you guys really waited here?

She checked the time; it was now late afternoon, bordering on evening.

Between fighting the guardian ghost and digesting the Ghost Fruit, she’d been gone three, maybe four hours.

She started to doubt her earlier suspicions.

Could they be an actual investigation squad?

But from what she overheard...

Luckily, she’d considered the possibility they’d stick around—so when she came back, she refreshed her disguise spell.

Oh well, since they’re here, might as well find out: are these guys really heretics, or are they a legit investigation group?

"Sorry, I’m late," Hilia said in a low voice.

"No worries, we’re a team. Waiting’s what teammates do."

Beck laughed loudly, exchanging glances with the others, as he walked over with a friendly grin, trying to throw an arm around Hilia’s shoulders. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Hilia stepped back, coolly saying, "Sorry, I don’t like being touched."

"Uh?"

Beck froze, giving her a strange look, but he quickly forced a smile back on his face.

"Haha, it’s fine! Come on, Mire Brothers, let me take you to see our leader—Lady Suna. She’s been waiting at the investigation camp all day for you!"