Thick smoke rose from the towering chimneys. The construction progress of the steel fortress was much slower than that of the stone and wooden city castles.

Compared to other areas, the atmosphere in the Mechanical Forest is relatively peaceful now. The gun battles and magic cannon bombardments at close range can feel intense, but these types of attacks are often not as far-reaching as magic and melee roars.

The dragon's flying height has increased. The Mechanical Forest not only has flying units, but its ground-to-air long-range attacks are sometimes more troublesome than those of the Winged Demon Flying Cavalry.

Sensing the location of the ancient tree, well, it can’t be said to be sensing, it should be said to be following the feeling.

It was not a perception with clear information. For those ancient trees that could absorb the essence of plants, it was more like an inaccurate sense. Mu Hua could vaguely feel where such ancient trees might exist.

This feeling may cause illusion even at close range unless you touch a tree, so it is quite troublesome to search for plant essences on a large scale in an unfamiliar environment.

The explosive assault type battles in the Mechanical Forest are stronger than those in other areas, but it also has an advantage for human adventurers, that is, the monsters here are generally more concentrated.

Their range of activities is relatively fixed, and their gathering places often have stronger defenses, but at the same time, there are also a large number of wild natural environments in the entire area of ​​the Mechanical Forest where there are few monsters roaming.

There are often monster fortresses in large flat areas near water bodies, and smelters with monster troops stationed on some mountains with thick smoke rising.

Avoiding areas prone to conflicts, and with the magic dragon making it difficult for the monsters to distinguish between friend and foe, Mu Hua wandered safely over the Mechanical Forest.

"Burp~!" Fanny, who was released again from the back of the dragon, was holding Mu Hua's soul-hosting skull and devouring the ghost that Mu Hua had put in it.

This magic item made from a demon's skull can not only store Mu Hua's enhanced bone soul, but also some ghosts. However, to ghosts, this thing is more like a cage. Mu Hua usually uses it to collect some monster ghosts he encounters in the wild.

"Haha~~Power, I feel the power, Tricia, I told you, the witch will cling to the thighs of the jealous god. If you can let me eat like this, I will be able to go further soon!"

Although it was a ghost, it had already eaten a lot. In between breaths, Fanny held the ghost skull tightly and refused to let go, smiling at Tricia.

"..." Mu Hua looked at Tricia speechlessly. Tricia gave Mu Hua a helpless expression and ignored Fanny who was making trouble.

Go one step further? What the hell, I've already reached the level of a banshee, and I want to go one step further by swallowing some newly born ghosts? This thing can't change qualitatively due to its large quantity. The feeling of power is probably an illusion. I'm afraid I'll suffer from indigestion.

"Don't swallow it. Be careful or they will tear your stomach apart. Let these ghosts in the skull devour each other for a while. When the quality is high, it will be more effective for you if you eat it later." Seeing that Fanny was about to extract the ghosts from the skull, Mu Hua shook his head and pulled the skull back from her.

"No, don't think I don't know. If I don't swallow you, I will use you to feed the strengthened bone soul. That's why the ghost is unwilling to follow you necromancers." Fanny held the skull tightly and refused to let go, being dragged by Mu Hua and playing tricks.

"You also said that I am a jealous ghost, not a necromancer. I will help Tricia refine a soul-hosting skull and let her help you raise a ghost."

While coaxing Fanny with his mouth, Mu Hua was not polite with his hands. He reached out and crumpled the human-shaped Fanny into a ball, then took out the spirit tablet from Tricia's arms and was about to throw Fanny into it again.

"No, brother-in-law, brother-in-law, why give it to Tricia? If you want to give it to me, it should be given to me. Tricia is a money-grubber and very stingy." Fanny, who was crumpled into a ball of ghost fire, struggled to retort. With the growth of her soul, Mu Hua can now control the incorporeal ghosts.

"Damn it, please have a little more conscience! Almost all of the teacher's inheritance was spent on you, and I'm stingy? Come in." Tricia was annoyed. While speaking, she pulled Fanny from Mu Hua's hand and stuffed her into the spirit card.

Fanny was a little delicate and jumpy. She was probably well protected when she was alive, and Tricia probably didn't let her suffer after her death.

Mu Hua didn't have anything against her personality. As long as she wasn't a saint, she would be strong when she needed to be strong, and being sensible when she needed to be sensible had nothing to do with whether she had endured hardships or not.

"Can you control this girl? Isn't she a witch soul?" Mu Hua asked Tricia after locking Fanny in the 'small dark room' and hearing Fanny talking about the Faceless Man earlier. "It's okay, she's actually quite timid, she just doesn't care about her age in front of acquaintances, she's lucky, she's also a witch, what? You still want her to evolve into a wailing banshee?" Tricia said jokingly.

Lucky to become a witch? I have to say, if her mother is a witch, she is indeed lucky not to become a demon.

To a certain extent, this is also one of the main reasons why Tricia is willing to pose and wait for Mu Hua to pick her up, because under normal circumstances, a witch can only give birth to a demon or a witch, and the probability of giving birth to a demon is higher.

Only by combining with humans like Mu Hua who have completed the life transition can they give birth to normal human children.

"I can get the Philosopher's Stone, which can indeed help her evolve. If you can't control her, then let her slowly swallow the ghosts." Mu Hua spread his hands and said indifferently.

"Well, it has been rumored in the outside world that you can get the Philosopher's Stone, but you should prioritize exchanging it with the demon merchant for the supplies you need." Tricia said with a smile. She liked Mu Hua's attitude of being willing to give up precious supplies to help her train Fanny.

"The rumors outside still underestimate us. Let alone Friday, the energy required to evolve a Howling Banshee is not much more than that required to evolve a Dragon. Our Sage Time is not mainly consumed on Demon Merchants." Mu Hua shook his head.

Other people are not fools. As long as you are still in contact with the outside world and as long as you still want to develop, many things cannot be hidden by simply covering them up, and may even bring about counterproductive effects. Mu Hua has always been revealing half-true and half-false information to the outside world.

Including the Philosopher's Stone, the outside world knows that Mu Hua must have a channel to obtain the Philosopher's Stone. The devil has the magic weapon to transform the Philosopher's Stone. This is no secret to the upper forces.

It's just that they don't know the details of Mu Hua, and after occasionally imagining it, they will think that Mu Hua's management of himself is much more complicated.

"Friday? Can you really help her evolve into a dragon?" Hearing Mu Hua's words, Tricia asked doubtfully.

"Who knows? We can try. However, Fanny should take care of you first, in case you can't control her in the future and I beat her up and make things difficult for you." Mu Hua chuckled without saying anything specific.

"Oh, then please take care of her, sir. As long as you don't beat her to death, I won't make it difficult for you to beat her. Just don't let others beat her."

Tricia didn't know the details, but when she said this with a smile, she seemed to be somewhat protective of her child. Since she followed Mu Hua, if Fanny caused trouble, she would just beat her man up, but if it was someone else, she might not be able to accept it.

Flying high in the sky, the two of them joked and laughed, touching and rubbing each other from time to time, which was quite comfortable. While playing, Mu Hua's expression suddenly froze. He looked over the ground from a bird's eye view and sensed several hostile consciousnesses, so he avoided those places and did not observe them.

But in a mountain alley, he discovered something that surprised him.

Not giant trees, but mechas? A team of monsters transporting mechas.

Escorted by several metal barokos, the overall shape of the mecha was designed based on the body of a big devil. This should be a mecha produced by the Mechanical Forest. Judging from where they are going, it seems that they are heading to the Goblin Kingdom.

Although those mechas were being controlled, the attack modules on them were dismantled and placed separately, so it was obvious that they were not patrolling or preparing for battle.

There are also several floating platforms with a number of containers that are more than ten meters long and wide. Could they be filled with energy units or ammunition and weapons?
Well, there are indeed some clever goblins who can be trained to become mecha pilots. Is this considered as assistance from the Mechanical Forest to the Goblin Kingdom?
Or did the Goblin King purchase the goods from Valk?
Transactions between monster forces are also very common. Not to mention monsters, even if it is humans, even if they follow the same boss, there is no reason for them to share everything, right? It is probably not uncommon for them to sabotage each other.

There are more than 20 tall and mighty mechas, with dark black and purple tones that make them look very intimidating. These mechas are not mechanical demons. If they are given to goblins to drive, then humans should also be able to drive them.

Observing the surroundings of the escort team, although it is in the heart of the Mechanical Forest, there are no monster forces around. Perhaps in order to save energy, they chose to travel by land?
In the wilderness, a small group of modified demons are sneakily transporting mechas. Now that we have encountered them, wouldn't it be too disrespectful to the demons if we don't try to rob them?

After a moment of caution, Mu Hua gradually showed a malicious smile. (End of this chapter)