Chapter 128: Milking Freya for All She’s Worth

After chatting for only a short while, Master Bobak’s presence grew increasingly faint, finally vanishing with a brief "my apologies."

Leo was secretly astonished. The flight speed of Master Bobak’s giant eagle form was incredible—practically a fighter jet. In such a short time, Bobak had flown beyond the range of their soul link, meaning he had covered at least a thousand miles to return to the northern snowfields.

"What could possibly be happening in the northern snowfields to make Master Bobak so concerned?"

If it were merely a standard invasion of human territory by the Beastfolk, Master Bobak might find it distasteful, but he wouldn't rashly intervene. It had to be something of far greater importance. Unfortunately, such matters were far beyond the reach of the small Riverbend territory and a minor figure like Leo; even asking would be a waste of breath.

Fortunately, while Master Bobak didn't even have time to sit down—rushing back overnight as if he were carrying an airplane—he had left Freya behind. Freya was an extraordinary being, and in a sense, she possessed the most prestigious lineage in the world.

Leo tried to coax her with good food and drink, hoping to pry some extraordinary knowledge from her—perhaps meditation techniques, ideally the top-tier meditation methods of the Druid Feral Sect!

Freya looked bewildered. "Meditation? Isn't that just sleeping?"

"..." Leo was speechless. "You just rely on sleep to absorb magic? Don't you have to work hard?"

Freya sounded perfectly justified. "Yes, exactly!"

Seeing Leo’s confusion, she explained with a grin: "Elves are pure magical beings; we awaken magic naturally. We don't need to meditate at all."

"But you still have to work hard to become stronger, don't you? If you want to become a powerful figure like Master Bobak, you can't just rely on sleeping."

"Right! You also have to eat! And live long enough!"

Eating, sleeping, and living long? Was this the path of elven cultivation? Leo felt his worldview crumbling.

Freya counted on her claws as she explained to Leo, "It’s not that eating anything makes you stronger; it has to be food rich in magic, like the exotic flowers, herbs, and fish in the inner court, or the flesh and blood of powerful magical beasts."

"As for sleeping, you have to choose the right spot. The best place is the Fountain of Magic in the High Court, followed by the Fountains of Life scattered in the corners of the world."

"And living long goes without saying. Elves are only considered adults at one hundred, middle-aged at three hundred, and elderly at six hundred. As long as there are no accidents, we basically all live to be eight hundred."

"Even for humans, after an extraordinary awakening, living seven or eight hundred years would make you very powerful, right?"

Put that way, Leo had to agree. He was no longer the ignorant youth who had just transmigrated; over the past few months, he had learned quite a bit about this world through various channels. A normal human lifespan was seventy years. After an extraordinary awakening, some high-tier extraordinary beings could live to be over a hundred.

However, even those who reached the Saint tier had limited lifespans; there were very few "old monsters" who lived to be three hundred. Unless one ascended to the demigod realm, completely shedding the limitations of a biological entity to reach a state of immortality, it was impossible. In human history, those Saint-tier masters who lived to be one or two hundred would have had a vastly increased chance of becoming gods—or at least much more powerful—if they had a few hundred more years of life.

At this thought, Leo grew restless. Useless Freya had left him empty-handed! He grabbed her cheeks and shook her violently.

"I don't care! I want a meditation technique! No meditation technique, no wheat cakes for you!"

Freya immediately wilted, like a primary school student assigned double the homework, sprawling on the bed, unwilling to move. "Fine, I'll think about it and get you one tomorrow."

Leo didn't have high expectations. When Master Bobak dropped her off, he had explained why: this mischievous marmot had been a disaster in the inner court. She had eaten all the fish in Moon Lake, devoured the rare flowers and herbs in the garden, and had nearly attacked the thousand-year-old trees that had gained sentience. She fought with Al every day, causing absolute chaos, and the Bearfolk tribe would run away on sight, refusing to take care of the "bear child." Eventually, she had cried and fussed at Bobak, demanding to go play in Riverbend. Unable to stand the harassment, Bobak had used the opportunity to drop her off in Riverbend to fend for herself.

Watching the exhausted Freya collapse on the bed and curl up with the little mouse, quickly falling asleep, Leo lay down as well to observe her.

As Freya slept, countless invisible wisps of magic floating in the air were drawn toward her, gathering around her body and being absorbed bit by bit with every breath she took. These invisible magical forces were not visible to the naked eye; they were a matter of spiritual perception. Before his awakening, Leo couldn't have sensed them at all, and even now, he could only barely perceive their existence.

The most important thing was that the amount of magic surrounding Freya was immense—it was surging!

Leo slowly reached out and placed his hand on Freya’s back, feeling the invisible magic slowly envelop his palm and seep into his skin. He felt a surge of joy, but the fluctuation of his emotions seemed to be sensed by the magic, which scattered like frightened tadpoles.

Elves were natural magical beings and were not repelled by natural magic, but Leo was an "acquired" extraordinary; to the magic, he was an alien presence. Leo didn't care; he grabbed the little mouse, squeezed between the two, and fell into a deep sleep. *If there’s no meditation technique, I’ll just mooch off her!*

The next morning, at the first light of dawn, the strictly scheduled Freya climbed out of bed and snuck out of Riverbend. When the sun was high, Leo was kicked awake by Olivia for breakfast, only to see Freya charging back in, looking excited.

She was clutching a mysterious red fruit in her claw. "This is food for extraordinary beings! Eat it and gain ten years of cultivation!"

Leo ate it, half-believing her, and suffered from a raging stomach ache for three days.

"Didn't you say this was food for extraordinary beings?!"

Freya was discouraged. "I eat it every day and I'm fine?"

Leo was furious. "You're an elf! You're a marmot! You could eat ten pounds of deer-horn cassava and be fine!"

"Fine, I'll teach you a meditation technique then!"

Freya sat down properly, telling Leo to adjust his breathing, empty his mind, and minimize his emotional fluctuations just like her. Then, she fell asleep.

However, sitting beside her, Leo clearly felt something unusual. After his extraordinary awakening, Leo’s mental strength grew daily, making it easier for him than for a normal person to clear his mind and eliminate distractions. As he entered this state, some of the magic attracted by Freya began to attach itself to him, slowly seeping into his body. Some of the magic even entered his mind, leaving his thoughts clearer than ever.

*Ah, this is meditation. It's really simple!*

As soon as Leo thought this, the roaming magic scattered instantly.

He looked at Freya again. Although she was fast asleep, the magic was surging toward her frantically. If one were to compare magic to temperature, the magic around Leo was like the body heat he radiated himself, while the magic around Freya was like a roaring bonfire in the lord’s great hall.

Instead of trying to stay warm with his own body heat, it was better to just huddle up and warm himself by the fire.

Leo had an epiphany: humans and elves were simply different. For humans, sleep was merely rest—a way for the body to recover and repair while the brain remained active, often even more chaotic and disordered than when awake. Meditation was the act of mental adjustment: clearing away distractions, gathering one's focus, and increasing spiritual strength.

But the elven brain and perspective were different from humans; they were naturally peaceful and simple-minded, so for them, sleep was synonymous with meditation. Therefore, Leo couldn't simply absorb magic through sleep like Freya. He had to train through meditation; the deeper the meditation, the faster the speed of absorption.