Monster Integration

'It looks like I will have to the same method; it is a good thing I had prepared for something like that,' I said to myself and sat crosslegged and string that had been following behind me, divided itself into the multiple parts and went into the ground.

I did not take back the vine I used earlier; I had been bringing it behind me ever since I started exploring the underground palace.

Seeing it is the underground palace, I had already prepared for its collapse for some reason. Such old places are very delicate, and one should always be prepared to deal with all kinds of emergencies, especially when powerful enemies like the wraiths are involved.

Hundreds of tiny strings went inside, and it took them barely a minute to find a way into that room. When I looked at the room through my soul sense, a bright smile couldn't help but appear on my face, but I quickly controlled my emotions and focused. 

It is not difficult to find the room; the difficult thing is finding the best place to expand it without destabilizing the whole thing. It is a good thing; I only have to inflate my vines to the size of Ashlyn. If I had to expand it to my size, there would have been no way I would have been able to do that without collapsing it all on my head.

'Ashlyn, little help in finding the stable route,' I asked. While my soul sense worked on the underground, it could not sense the room; I could sense inside the room through my vines but not from the outside; I would need the help of Ashlyn, whose soul sense could pass through everything.

'Chew Chew'

She affirmed in my mind, and we both started to work together in finding the most stable way where my vines could expand, and I have to say its very difficult, seeing slightest movements we make shakes the ground we were standing.

It took more than two hours to find a stable way and expand the vine through that way and another hour for me to plan my escape from this underground. If things go awry, I hoped they did not, but if they did, I would be prepared for them.

'Ashlyn, get in,' I asked Ashlyn to get inside my vine, which had split up to let us in. Ashlyn flew into it, and after her, I walked into the tube.

The Vine tube above the ground is my size, and the one below is of Ashlyn's. If things go awry, then I would use this tube to flew up, and I am confident in the tenacity of my vines that it would take me up even If the whole palace collapsed.

'Chew, Chew!'

Ashlyn chirped happily before flying down through the tiny tunnel, and a few seconds later, she is in inside the secrete room.

I closed my eyes and looked through the Ashlyn vision, which is extremly clear, unlike my soul sense which is the only world in the monochromatic field, which is fine normally but in some things, you have to see the colors.

The room is normal size, made of thick grey stones. The stones were likely, the soul-blocking material which had not let my soul sense discover the room.

In the center of the room is a square bluestone bed which had filled with runes, and on the bed is a skeleton lying in a sleeping position. 

The way it placed its hands and feet and marks on its bone, it was extremly injured and using some healing method to heal itself. Seeing the result, it is clear that the person was not able to heal themselves and died.

The strangest thing about the skeleton is that there is a small purple tree of meter-long height coming out of its chest, and that tree had one small white color fruit hanging on it.

Ashlyn's eyes concentrated on fruit, on the patterns on it specifically before disappointing emotions flashed in her mind. 

While she is disappointed, I am extremly happy; I am able to identify the Miracle Fruit. It is called 'Bloodline Stregthning Fruit' as its name suggests, it is used in strengthening the Bloodline, and my Bloodline really needs some strengthening.

This fruit is specially made for people like me, it will be very useful to me than those people with the real Bloodlines.

Feeling my hunger for the fruit, Ashlyn flew to the ripe fruit and swiped it out of the tree, and it disappeared into storage.

Just as the fruit disappeared, an even bigger smile appeared on my face. Seeing what fruit it is, I thought my runes are sensing the fruit all along, but it seemed like I am wrong, and I am very happy to be wrong as the treasure that my runes are sensing was still there.

Once a thing entered Ashlyn's space, it can not be sensed from outside; I had tried with the bone, my runes could not sense its position even when Ashlyn entered inside me.

'Ashlyn, look for the treasure,' I said to Ashlyn, who nodded her tiny little head and begin to look for the treasure I am sensing. She first looked at the room, which is empty aside from dirt and pieces of soul-blocking stone. 

She took some pieces without me asking her to do that; these pieces are small ones. She intentionally avoided the bigger one in case they destabilize the room, which is barely maintaining its existence.

Ashlyn scanned through the whole room but did not find a single piece of the treasure. It means the treasure is on the skeleton, and she flew at it.

Dhub!

The miracle fruit tree had already turned into ashes, and just as the Ashlyn landed on the skeleton, it also turned into ash like the tree. Seeing that, I couldn't help but sigh; the skeleton was a powerful person without a doubt. If not, the miracle fruit would not have been born out of their essence, but in the end, that person also turned into the ashes.

Flap Flap

Seeing the skeleton turning the ash, Ashlyn flew up and flapped her wings gently. Her movements were gentle, but they were able to move away from all the dust off the bed, and now, there are only two things remaining on the stone bed.

A ring and a small green violet pearl, the pearl is a little smaller than the fingernail and radiating gentle light. Just one look at the pearl, and I know this is the treasure my runes were hungering for; even Ashlyn's eyes begin to shine for a moment seeing the pearl before she was able to calm herself.

The ring, on the other, is silvery color with the design of a dagger on it. It looked quite damaged, there are visible marks and dents could be seen on the small thing, it is clear it had suffered quite a bit of damage.

My eyes turned a little greedy seeing the ring, and I desperately hope that it is a storage ring. Even if something little had been left in it, it would be a great treasure for me, seeing the difference between that person's level and mine.

'Ashlyn, take the treasures and return,' I asked Ashlyn. She nodded with her little head and swiped up the treasure before flying up toward the vine pipe.

She had reached vine's pipe when she suddenly stopped, and I immediately got a bad feeling about what she is gonna do and was about to open my mouth to warn her when she swiped her wing toward the room.

Instantly, all the big and small rocks of soul-blocking stone had disappeared, and also the blue bed, which I desired but held back the urge, seeing it will destabilize the room, but Ashlyn sensed my desire for those things and did not hold back.