Magical Alchemy: Rising after contracting with a monster.

"You... how dare you show your face here?" Ryan walked up to Keta, noticing that Keta was so tall that Ryan had to look up at him. Keta, now with a greenish hue, resembled a humanoid figure, with tender green branches sprouting from his body. Ryan realized that standing so close to him made his speech lose its impact, so he stepped back a few paces, then began pointing at Keta, reprimanding him loudly.

The surrounding dark elves were taken aback. After all, even the elder dark elves were respectful toward Keta. Before his transformation, they weren't afraid of him because, as a War Tree, he couldn't move. But now that he could move, if they spoke to him the same way as before, he might just walk away, and that wouldn't bode well. The relationship between the War Trees and the dark elves was based on equality—Ryan, despite being a master of alchemy, seemed to have little leverage with the War Tree. Everyone around held their breath, watching Keta's reaction, worried that Ryan might be crushed by a single slap.

"Hehe! I'm just trying to help you out, and you're still grumbling. I didn't expect things to go like this either," Keta said, scratching his head, which had sprouted a small cluster of fresh green leaves, a wide grin on his face.

"Clink!" Ryan turned to see a dwarf drop his hammer, mouth agape, and the other dark elves were just as stunned. The War Tree was known to be quite rigid and xenophobic. When in his tree form, only elves could approach him, and anyone else would be met with a hostile response. But now, it seemed like his nature had changed as well.

"Help? Where's the help? You attacked me with magic as soon as I came out. If it weren't for my luck, hmph!" Ryan retorted sarcastically.

"Hahaha!" Keta burst out laughing, followed by the surrounding dark elves, all laughing at Ryan as if he were some kind of fool.

"What's so funny? If you keep laughing, the deal's off. If you want to find someone else to deal with, go ahead. I'm not playing anymore," Ryan said, feeling embarrassed by the laughter. He turned to leave, muttering to himself, intending to continue testing his new alchemical creation.

"Hey, hey, don't back out now!" Keta hurried to catch up with Ryan, calling after him.

Ryan, irked by the situation, yelled, "Get lost! I'm done with you! You take advantage of me and then act like a lazy pig? I've already told you, the deal's off. I'm done!"

"Hey, hey, hey?" Keta, still confused, wasn't used to interacting with people. He didn't know how to explain himself and hesitated to stop Ryan, worried about making him even angrier. He simply stood there calling after him.

The surrounding dark elves stopped laughing as well. Those who were quick-witted took the opportunity to leave, realizing that the laughter might have been ill-timed, while others, slower on the uptake, began to move closer to Keta. At that moment, Keta, clearly annoyed, yelled, "Get lost! All of you! Don't you have anything better to do? If you follow me, I'll turn all of you into wood."

The magic Keta referred to was a wood-based defensive spell called "Woodification," which turned the skin of the target into wood, increasing their defense. It could also revive dying plants, but it needed to be undone after a while, or the person would eventually become a wooden figure. No one in the crowd thought Keta was offering them better defense, so they scattered quickly, leaving behind only a few discarded leather boots.

"Grandpa, what's going on?" Deff, a young dark elf, asked. Deff was taken in by Keta due to her lack of magical talent and had become his adoptive granddaughter. In the dark elf society, those with poor talent were typically adopted to perform menial tasks, but Keta had raised her to be a trusted companion, fighting alongside him. She called him "Grandpa" out of affection.

Keta glanced at Deff and began walking in the direction Ryan had gone, explaining the situation as he went. He explained that the spell he had cast was a natural protection spell, allowing him to communicate with plants. It was permanent, and if Ryan were to die in the forest, the person who killed him would trigger a level 9 forbidden spell, "Nature's Fury," causing all the plants within a hundred-mile radius to attack the killer. This was a rare defensive and auxiliary magic, and Keta could only cast it once.

"Grandpa, don't worry. Let's go and clear things up. Ryan was just embarrassed," Deff suggested after hearing Keta's explanation.

"Embarrassed? What use is that?" Keta muttered in confusion. He had heard of "face" (a concept of saving face in social interactions), but he couldn't understand why Ryan would cancel their deal just over that. Keta, still puzzled, set off with Deff to find Ryan and explain.

As Ryan walked away, he muttered angrily to himself, "A bunch of schemers. The longer they live, the slicker their brains get. I'm not falling for it. I'm gonna work on my creations in peace." As he walked toward the city's outskirts, he waved at passersby. Ryan noticed that the city of Muan had no humans, though he had heard from Corbi that a few humans could be found in other cities. Dwarves, dark elves, and gnomes were all quite xenophobic, and in their eyes, humans were known for their greed and cunning, qualities that had made humans the rulers of the continent, driving social and civilizational development.

Ryan pulled out a pair of night-vision binoculars with a permanent low-light enhancement from the pocket of his mage robe. Taking a deep breath, he pressed them to his eyes and began to observe carefully.

"Not bad, the crystal's transparency isn't great, but for my first try, it's already quite good." Ryan examined the view, seeing clearly several kilometers ahead, even picking up on rocks, beetles, ferns, and some glowing plants. His night-vision binoculars seemed to be a success, with optimization to follow.

"What's this? Let me see!" Ryan was startled by a sudden voice.

Turning around, he found it was Deff, the young dark elf. Although she was small, she was about as tall as him, though a little more slender. She spoke in a youthful, girlish voice. Ryan, who had grown up as an only child in a well-off family, had always been envious of those with siblings. He had a distant relationship with his parents due to their busy careers, and it was only at night, when everything was quiet, that he felt a slight sense of loneliness. He had always admired the idea of having a sister, and now, seeing Deff, he took her as a little sister. She was lively, cute, and very beautiful, so he affectionately called her "little girl."

"I came to see what you're up to!" Deff replied, eagerly taking the night-vision binoculars from Ryan's hands. She marveled at the silver-white and purple-gold design, which also radiated a faint magical glow. The characters carved into it were intricately detailed, and though they were just lines, they gave the illusion that the figures were alive—quite different from the style of drawings in this world. Deff eagerly examined the binoculars and, with Ryan's guidance, placed them up to her eyes.

"Ah!" Deff screamed in surprise as she saw something through the lenses. She had recognized a familiar area—a passageway she knew well. While she hadn't explored the tunnel deeply, the exterior was familiar to her.

Ryan didn't respond, allowing Deff to continue experimenting with the binoculars. Deff was so excited that she couldn't stop talking, pointing out various things she saw—beetles, mushrooms, and so on. Her excitement was contagious, but Keta, who was watching from a distance, was growing increasingly anxious. After all, his people still needed Ryan's light magic.

"Ha ha, little beauty, is this Muan City?" Ryan and Deff, lost in their conversation, didn't realize they were still outside the city. In the blink of an eye, a group of knights appeared in front of them. These knights wore all-black armor, with only their eyes visible. Their physique suggested they were human. The knights were riding on scaled beasts, which resembled pangolins, but these creatures were at least 5 meters long and over 3 meters high, with six muscular legs. They were 3rd-level Earth-type magical beasts, known for their astonishing defense. There were dozens of knights in this group, all from a particular faction, as their armor bore a distinctive emblem resembling a fierce, clawed black dragon. Ryan didn't take a close look at the emblem, as the knights' tone was rather flippant.

"Since you know this is Muan City, you should also be aware that the dark elves occupy most of this place. So, if you don't want to die, get lost." Ryan, pulling the stunned Deff behind him, responded coldly.

"You little brat, you're asking for death!" The knight who had spoken earlier saw Ryan and, thinking he was human, immediately dropped his helmet, leaped off his scaled beast, and slowly approached with a sinister smile.

"What do you want? The patrol team will be here any moment!" Deff finally snapped out of her daze. Seeing the knights' glinting armor and their large swords, she hurriedly shouted.

"You little brat, stay out of our business. This is a human matter." The knight sneered at Deff, making her shrink closer to Ryan. Ryan could feel the sharp pressure of her nails digging into his arm.

"If you apologize, I might consider sparing your life." Ryan, already in a bad mood, saw an opportunity for some venting. He said calmly to the approaching knight.

The knight was bald. He rubbed his shiny head, looked around in surprise, and asked in confusion, "Are you talking to me?"

"I wasn't talking to you," Ryan replied, smiling.

"Boy, scared now, but it's too late. I'm going to take your life today!" The bald knight sneered at Ryan and struck a victory pose, signaling the other knights.

"I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to the mole over there," Ryan replied sarcastically, as if he hadn't heard the bald knight's threat.