【Interstellar Contract Magician】Ruyuanke

Chapter 329 [Empire] In the beginning... I was its food.

Suddenly, I laughed, and an inexplicable sense of relief surged in my heart.

Then, I quietly unzipped my backpack and quickly reached for the seedling's roots. I gently "tugged" off a transparent vine. It was soft yet resilient, like a translucent ribbon, emitting a faint glow, as if responding to my movements.

The vine still has strong vitality. Although it was pulled off the seedling, it has not lost its vitality.

Instead, it seemed to maintain a strong reaction amidst the slight turbulence. The jellyfish's freezing effect finally revealed its true nature: it wasn't natural freezing, but rather part of the vines maintaining the barrier.

I stared at the transparent vine that I held gently in my hand, and suddenly felt that its existence had an indescribable charm.

At this moment, Nightingale's voice came from the side, with a hint of teasing: "If you want to open a farm, remember to ask me to invest."

I turned around and looked into his eyes. There was a tentative look in his eyes, as if he was trying to extract some information from me, or perhaps he was also waiting for my response to this matter.

I raised my eyebrows and smiled. "A breeding farm? I'm afraid if you invest in it, you'll end up fighting these 'pets' to the death."

Nightingale chuckled, a hint of teasing flashing in the corner of his eyes: "I'm afraid you feel the same way." He paused, retracted his gaze, and looked at the road ahead. "But to be honest, I didn't expect you to be able to get rid of that vine."

I didn't answer, simply quietly holding the vine, feeling its faint vibrations. I knew these vines before me were more than they seemed. They could not only control ice and snow, but they might even possess other abilities. Perhaps this was their true value.

"Do you think it will obey?" Nightingale spoke again, his tone becoming more relaxed, but a wary glint flickered in his eyes. "It's a wonder you can raise and control a life form of this level."

"I'm not planning on raising it," I sneered, putting the vine back into my backpack. "I'm just doing a little experiment to see if it can be used."

Nightingale glanced at me, and the smile on her face deepened. "Okay, I'm really looking forward to you showing off your skills with this 'Jellyfish' during the mission."

I didn't say anything, just looked down at the vines in my backpack, but a vague sense of unease welled up in my heart. This feeling was very familiar - whenever I thought I had everything under control, some greater power would quietly emerge.

Nightingale seemed to be nonchalantly adjusting the hovercraft's course, but I knew his eyes hadn't left the vine. His gaze was filled with interest, even a hint of tentativeness, as if he was waiting for my next move.

The game has just begun.

I pulled out some of the young seedling's favorite combat plant branches from the space nucleus. These leaves were tough, with distinctive patterns on their surface, and emitted a faint energy fluctuation. The young seedling could always break them down completely, using this energy to fuel its own growth.

"What kind of experiment are you planning?" Nightingale glanced at the branch in my hand, her tone full of ridicule. "Are you expecting that vine to crawl over to you like a pet and start eating it?"

"Give it a try." I ignored his joke and carefully placed the branch near the transparent vine. The vine, ripped from the seedling, still glowed faintly, as if in a state of low energy consumption, but its light would produce subtle reactions to fluctuations in external energy.

I arranged the branches and leaves and quietly observed the vines' reaction.

At first, it didn't move, maintaining its icy touch, as if it had no interest in this "food." But after a few seconds, I noticed its light flicker slightly, as if responding to external stimuli. Then, its tentacles slowly lifted, and like a hound with a keen sense of smell, it cautiously approached the pile of branches and leaves.

"Is there a chance?" Nightingale turned her head from the driver's seat, her tone filled with a hint of unexpected curiosity. "There's actually a reaction."

"It seems so." I whispered, my eyes fixed on the young vine's movements.

The tip of the young vine trembled slightly, then slowly wrapped itself around the edge of a branch. Its movements were slow and cautious, as if it were verifying the suitability of the material for food. Soon, I saw visible changes on the surface of the branch—the lines gradually dimmed, and the color of the branch gradually turned pale, as if the vitality had been drained away.

"It's absorbing energy." I whispered, excitement in my tone.

"You really succeeded." Nightingale leaned back in his chair, his expression half admiring and half helpless. "But to be honest, watching this thing eat is really a bit creepy."

"It's better than it falling over with an empty stomach." I smiled and pushed the remaining branches closer, trying to observe its subsequent reaction.

The young vine seemed to gradually become familiar with this "food," absorbing it noticeably faster. Soon, the entire pile of branches and leaves had been completely drained, leaving only a few withered remnants scattered around my hand. The young vine's glow was brighter than before, and its tentacles had regained greater flexibility.

"It seems that this thing is not completely harmless." I muttered, and already began to consider its potential uses.

"Harmless?" Nightingale sneered. "With its ability to drain plant energy, I bet if it gets really hungry, it might even go after you."

I didn't deny what he said, but just gently put the young vine back into my backpack.

Nightingale raised an eyebrow and leaned lazily back in her chair. "You always like to do dangerous things. Okay, I'll be your witness in this breeding experiment."

I smiled, not caring about Nightingale's teasing. I lowered my head and patted my backpack. My voice was soft, but with a hint of hidden fatigue.

"How do you think I raised this seedling in my body?" I whispered, with a hint of coldness in my tone, as if I was mocking myself, or stating a helpless fact.

Nightingale was stunned for a moment when he heard this, then turned to me with a hint of inquiry in his eyes: "How did you raise it? Did you really feed it anything special?"

"Special thing?" I scoffed, my eyes gradually dimming, as if lost in some distant memory. "Initially... I was its food."