Chapter 15: Awkward System Encounters
I returned to the mission world with my shiny new voice upgrade installed.
I’d gone back to the System Realm while Seraphine was in closed-door cultivation, and now that I was back, my routine had settled into a comfortable pattern. Days were spent monitoring the side hall, nights curled up among the roof tiles counting stars. Ti had no aning for —I didn’t experience boredom or restlessness.
Waiting wasn’t a habit. It was just existence.
Another dramatically painted sunrise arrived, and I drifted to my usual perch atop the guardian beast statue on the side hall’s ridge, my form shimring with golden light as I surveyed the distance.
A woman in Luanyang Palace disciple robes made her way up the mountain path, her figure nearly swallowed by the lush greenery.
[Work Log
Today Xue ngtao wasn’t late. Fire Rock Dragon can eat breakfast on schedule.
Note: After several days of observation, discovered that Fire Rock Dragon has massive appetite. High maintenance.]
As I finished logging, I noticed soone else had entered the side hall. Not Xue ngtao.
I descended, floating beside the woman in pink robes.
Hello there.
“Co here,” Siyi called to the Fire Rock Dragon with a smile.
The massive head that had been resting on the windowsill imdiately erged, coiling up in front of Siyi and watching her cautiously. It recognized this woman who seed to have a good relationship with its master, but its attitude toward Siyi lacked the intimacy it showed Seraphine.
Siyi wasn’t in a hurry, waiting until Xue ngtao entered the courtyard.
“Lady Siyi,” Xue ngtao quickly bowed, thinking Siyi was waiting for her. Her heart jumped with anxiety—had she done sothing wrong these past few days?
Her face went slightly pale.
Siyi glanced at Xue ngtao before returning her attention to the Fire Rock Dragon.
“I’ve been busy with various matters lately and forgot to introduce myself properly that day. I’m the Inner Peak Affairs Elder of Luanyang Palace. All matters, large and small, within the palace pass through my oversight. I’ll be visiting Phoenix Roost Peak frequently to et with the Palace Lord. Since you’re the Palace Lord’s contracted spirit beast, we’ll be seeing each other often. Let’s get along well.”
With that, Siyi withdrew a Fire Lingzhi from her storage ring.
The Fire Rock Dragon’s eyes imdiately lit up. Based on the brightness of its pupils and the angle its head tilted, I determined this was an excellent gift.
“Roar.”
The dragon let out a sound, twisted its head, and dove back into the hall. Monts later, it crawled back out with its tail wrapped around nurous spiritual stones, piling them at Siyi’s feet.
Siyi laughed heartily. Seeing that the Fire Rock Dragon didn’t mind, she patted its head with a smile. “Your monthly allowance cos from my approval anyway. Keep it for yourself.”
She waved her hand, using palm wind to sweep both the spiritual stones and Fire Lingzhi back into the hall.
The Fire Rock Dragon charged back into the main hall without looking back.
Host, your spirit beast seems sowhat… lacking in dignity.
“This dragon may be old in years, but its mind is simple. It appears quite easy to deceive,” Siyi remarked.
Xue ngtao kept her head down, saying uneasily, “Yes, but I would never deceive Lord Error!”
After speaking, her pupils contracted sharply. She jerked her head up and said, “The spiritual stones Lord Error gave that day—I didn’t trick them out of it! The lord gave them to willingly…”
Rembering the day when both the Palace Lord and Siyi were present, she thought Siyi had discovered the Fire Rock Dragon’s gift of spiritual stones and was pointing this out to her. At the thought, cold sweat beaded on Xue ngtao’s forehead, her face went white, and her lips trembled slightly as she tried to explain further.
Siyi raised her hand to interrupt the explanation, smiling warmly. “I heard from the Beast Hall’s steward that while you don’t like interacting with people much, you’re thoughtful and handle tasks properly. That’s all I need to know. Whether the Fire Rock Dragon rewards or punishes you is between you two.”
“I’m busy managing Luanyang Palace affairs—I don’t have ti to worry about such trivial matters.”
Xue ngtao let out a breath of relief, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
For so reason, despite Lady Siyi’s beautiful appearance and gentle, soft-spoken manner, Xue ngtao was terrified of her.
Siyi noticed this too, raising an eyebrow slightly before continuing in an offhand tone: “But I do have business with you today. The compensation Luanyang Palace sent to the Lianshan Sect was robbed by White Water Sect—this was reported by Elder Li of the Lianshan Sect. I had the bandits’ corpses delivered to White Water Sect, and today their sect master personally ca to apologize. I’ve already sent word to the Palace Lord. Once you finish here, co to the main hall on the peak.”
“Yes,” Xue ngtao replied quickly.
Siyi sent word to my host? My host is going out today?
The virtual panel floating in front of disappeared with a whoosh. This silver orb shot straight toward the main hall like a bullet, my light-ford body passing directly through walls before stopping mid-air.
The room was empty. No sign of Seraphine.
“Host?” I called out.
Even high-level systems have their difficulties. With a hundred-ter range, I still had to search manually.
I floated left and right, then drifted toward the bedroom area.
The mont I passed through the wall, I heard the sound of water.
Wisps of steam rose and swirled through the room like mist. White jade steps were beaded with water droplets, nearly obscured by the hot vapors. Only the gold and crimson curtains remained visible, layered upon layered, still rich and vibrant even when saturated with moisture, creating a sensual contrast against the white haze.
I stopped between the curtains, peering into the misty depths, and began to speak over the sound of water: “Ho—”
“Who?!”
Before I could finish calling my host’s na, the water sounds stopped abruptly. An angry voice and a water sword shot toward , its blade energy sharp enough to shatter curtains and sweep away pearl strands, crashing into the wall with a bang.
Gleaming white jade beads scattered across the floor with tinkling sounds.
Gold and crimson curtain fragnts drifted down like snow, so passing right through my head and body, just like the sword energy that had struck .
One person and one system stared at each other across the long jade pool steps.
The person glaring at had waterfall-black hair, dripping wet and clinging to her snow-white body. The light outer robe hastily wrapped around her had beco transparent from the water, unintentionally revealing what it was ant to conceal.
“—st,” I stubbornly finished the last syllable, then used my expensive new voice to call out properly: “Host.”
“Good morning. It’s , Golden Finger System Echo,” I announced.
The unfamiliar voice reached Seraphine’s ears like frost over snow—cold yet gentle, like a vast white landscape touched with gold by the rising eastern sun.
Seraphine froze.
But before she could connect this clear, crisp voice with the shimring silver system before her, that cold voice spoke again—and what it said was thoroughly irritating.
“I apologize,” I told Seraphine. “I don’t have the ability to knock.”
A wisp of lingering steam drifted over, and I floated back and forth through it to demonstrate that I was, indeed, telling the truth.
Of course, I knew she already knew this.
Seraphine didn’t want to know!
Her chest rose and fell heavily, and as if she could feel my gaze, her exquisite face flushed red. Furious, she grabbed clothes from a rack and put them on, then walked toward step by step, barefoot and seething with embarrassnt.
For so inexplicable reason, my light orb felt like it wanted to crackle with static.
I remained motionless, watching Seraphine approach.
Even disheveled, with wet hair over her shoulders and glimpses of pale legs visible through her outer robe as she walked, she moved with the bearing of soone who looked down upon the world.
Very crackling indeed.
Just as she was about to reach , I suddenly said: “Host, you can rest assured—this is my first ti seeing a human body.”
The first one I’d seen was hers. Rather than being reassured, this made Seraphine even more upset. Her face darkened as she stopped in front of .
I floated up to her moisture-dampened face to explain further.
“What I an is, even though I saw it, I’m a system and you’re human. Systems have no interest in human bodies.”
I drifted downward, stopping at chest level, staring with my dark-circled eyes to prove my point: “See? No interest whatsoever.”
“……”
The air suddenly fell silent, with only steam churning about like invisible flas burning around us both.
Seraphine remained silent, then raised her hand.
She slapped a ball of golden fire right onto my face.
“You’d better never get a physical body,” she said in a low voice, grinding her teeth. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop myself…”.”
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