Hutao, Xingqiu, Zhongli, Chongyun, and Xinyan were all sitting on small folding stools, each holding a bowl of seafood fried rice and eating from it.
Xingqiu put down the disposable white foam lunch box he had been using for the seafood fried rice.
"Hutao, where have you been playing around these days?"
After swallowing a mouthful of fried rice, Hutao began recounting her recent experiences to the others.
Things like riding a snowmobile on the Belobog tundra, attending the martial arts ceremony in Luofu, and shopping during the Golden Mont in Penacony.
There was also fooling around at Ye Yun's store, having dinners together, doing dungeon runs and playing gas, gardening, and so on.
The experiences Hutao described filled the others with envy — what a colorful and exciting life she was living.
Xingqiu in particular got really excited when he heard about the martial arts ceremony.
It was a martial arts tournant for the younger generation, to determine the strongest among their peers.
Xingqiu had dread of becoming a wandering hero since childhood, and participating in tournants like that was essential for a true hero.
And why, you ask?Xingqiu could only say — haven't all the great heroes in the novels competed in martial arts tournants?
"What a pity I missed the martial arts ceremony on the Xianzhou Luofu, sigh~" Xingqiu sighed.
Chongyun spoke up.
"I'm not that interested in martial arts ceremonies, but I am really curious about the tundra in Belobog. I'd like to go see it soti."
Hu Tao caught on to what Chongyun was thinking.
"Chongyun, are you thinking about going there to see if it can help with your Pure Yang constitution?"
Chongyun nodded.
"Yeah. The whole world is nothing but snow and ice — I want to give it a try."
Zhongli spoke at this point.
"If you're going for the sake of your Pure Yang constitution, then it's not worth the trouble.
The ice in Belobog is just a product of the mundane world. It won't resolve your condition.
However, living there would certainly make things more comfortable for you."
Chongyun shook his head in response.
"Living there? No thanks. I like where I'm staying now.
After moving to this new Liyue, I found a secluded pond that stays cool all year round, and I built a little cabin next to it."
Xinyan nodded.
"True that. Chongyun's new place is really chilly. In the middle of sumr, if you sleep there, you still have to use a blanket at night — or you'll freeze."
Hearing this reminded Xingqiu of when they had last visited Chongyun's place. It was so late and raining that they all ended up staying the night.
That night was really cold — he woke up shivering the next morning.
Xinyan then turned to Hu Tao.
"Hu Tao, did you say there's rock music in Penacony?"
Hu Tao nodded.
"Yup! I t a cool older lady who owns a bar there. She used to play rock music."
As Hutao described her, Xinyan imagined a super cool big sister-type figure.
"Can you take to et her? I wanna play rock with her!"
Hutao thought for a mont.
"Sure, I'll take you tomorrow. Co find in the morning."
Xinyan agreed enthusiastically.
"No problem! I'll co find you first thing in the morning!"
—
Near the Hanu Celebration Planet in the surrounding star system, a fleet bearing a pirate emblem slowly approached.
On the flagship, the leader of the fleet was video calling soone.
His deanor, gestures, and tone all showed the utmost respect for the person on the screen.
If anyone from the Company had been present, they would have recognized the person imdiately.
It was Schneider — and he was dead set on getting involved in this business.
Through his investigation, he discovered that the Spirit essence wasn't actually produced by any of the Company's properties.
Even the Strategic Investnt Departnt had been sourcing it from outsiders.
To track down the mastermind behind this, Schneider decided to dispatch a secret, dirty-work fleet under his command to the tournant venue to stir up trouble.
He believed that once the fleet reached the area, the person behind it all would surely show themselves.
—
In his office, Aventurine had naturally noticed the fleet's arrival. When he saw the emblem on the ships, he recognized it instantly.
"The Exploration Division just won't give up, huh? Already found their way here.
Oh well, not important — they're just here to die."
Sure enough—
The mont the fleet arrived above the Hanu Celebration Planet, Aventurine summoned Aha.
"Aha! Go greet our guests!"
Aha put down his unfinished script and dashed out of the Joy Theater excitedly.
In the next mont—
Aha appeared around the fleet, letting out a thunderous laugh that echoed across the entire star system.
Everyone on the fleet was instantly infected by the laughter and began laughing hysterically.
Eventually, soone couldn't take it anymore — their mind broke, their brain overloaded, and they beca completely catatonic.
In the end, Aha left the last 100 people who had managed to endure it, planning to take them back as extras.
As for the rest of the idiots? Soone else would clean up that ss.
Not long after Aha left, Aventurine boarded the flagship.
He glanced at the now-idiot leader in disgust, dragged him over, and pressed his right hand onto the palmprint scanner.
After gaining control of the fleet, Aventurine waved his hand, and two subordinates ca to take the man away.
Then Aventurine did a few things at the console, changing the destination to Pierpoint, the Exploration Division headquarters.
After finishing, he put on his hat and left the warship.
—
At Ye Yun's store—
Stelle and Firefly stepped into the portal leading to Rimuru's world.
Today was the day of the final battle between Orc Lord and Rimuru's group, and Stelle and FIrefly planned to go help — they had nothing else to do anyway.
Tomorrow, they would go retrieve the Ember of Conflict Titan.
Today, Aglaea and the others seed to have more urgent matters to deal with.
—
anwhile, in the "Eternal Holy City" Okhema in Amphoreus—
Castorice, Phainon, Mydei, Aglaea, Tribbie, Trianne, and Trinnon were busy leading a search for treasure chests.
That's right.
For the past two days, they'd been gathering Stellar Jades from around the city.
But progress wasn't great — many of the chest locations were now empty.
Aglaea asked so townsfolk and found out that a little gray-haired guy had led a group of beautiful girls and looted all those chests recently.
Aglaea sighed in frustration when she heard that — another example of losing out due to lack of information.
Before they even understood the importance of Stellar Jades, soone else had already been collecting them.
Now, all they could do was ramp up their search and grab whatever was left.
Aside from hunting for chests, Aglaea and the others also went to collect crops from the Koukou Farm at regular tis, to prevent their crops from being stolen.
Aglaea wasn't too worried about the safety of Okhema — with Teacher Trianne, who could open portals to any world, guarding the city, nothing major was likely to go wrong.
And if sothing did happen, they could just spend so credits and bring in reinforcents from the train.
Thinking back to the sword strike from Stelle in Janusopolis, Aglaea didn't believe there was any problem in Okhema that they couldn't solve.
***
Aglaea, Phainon, and the others were currently gathered together, counting today's gains.
Aglaea glanced at the record book in her hand.
"Congratulations, our star coin count has finally broken six digits—100,300 star coins."
Everyone applauded, and Tribbie said,
"These past two days have been hard on everyone. I'll treat you all to milk tea. Co take a look and choose your flavors."
Tribbie pulled out her phone and started placing the order for everyone.
The pickup location could currently only be set to Ye Yun's store, as Amphoreus was not yet listed on the company's delivery map.
Once the order was placed, Trianne raised her hand.
"I'll go pick up the milk tea for you guys!"
Not giving the others a chance to refuse, Trianne dove straight into the portal.
Trianne jumped out from the portal.
"Woohoo~ Trianne has landed successfully! Let's see what everyone's up to."
She wasn't in a hurry to get the milk tea and decided to look around first.
Trianne had wanted to visit the train these past few days but hadn't had the chance. Now that the opportunity finally ca, she wasn't going to miss it.
Looking around, she saw Hiko, Kafka, and others training a strange little creature.
"Hiko! What are you doing?"
Trianne walked up to Hiko, curiosity in her eyes.
Seeing Tian, Hiko smiled.
"Hello, Trianne. We're training little spirit creatures. How co you're here? Didn't Tibo and the others co with you?"
Trianne smiled and put her hands on her hips.
"I ca to pick up the milk tea. Tribbie ordered for everyone.A little spirit? Is that what this is?"
Hiko's spirit was a fox entirely covered in icy blue fur, nad Akshia.
When Hiko first hatched it, even Ye Yun was stunned.
Seriously? She used a high-level essence and got an Akshia? That thing's insanely strong.
Freezing landscapes, absolute zero—that's the kind of powerful ice-type moves it could wield.
Also, Akshia was a planetary guardian—one of the strongest kinds.
When Ray was young, he had even trained under her for a while.
Stelle was dumbfounded when Ye Yun told her that and refused to believe it until her Fire Monkey and Mika challenged Akshia to a fight.
Unsurprisingly, Mika and Fire Monkey were no match at all and were instantly defeated.
Neither Fire Monkey nor Mika had trained properly; they just fooled around on the train all the ti. Naturally, they stood no chance.
Had Stelle trained them from the beginning, the result might have been different.
Mika still had untapped potential, and Fire Monkey's fire attribute actually countered ice.
Seeing her spirits get instantly defeated, Stelle demanded that Ye Yun ban Hiko from the tournant.
With such a strong spirit, how could anyone else compete?
The tournant was just two days away.
In two days, what could they possibly do? At best, build a bit of rapport with their spirits.
Ye Yun explained,
"Spirits can grow stronger through battles. Training only reinforces their foundation.
If you raise them in a greenhouse, they'll fall with the first gust of wind.
Once the tournant starts, lots of people's spirits will grow rapidly through fighting."
Only then did Stelle give up on banning Hiko.
Hiko introduced,
"That's right, this is my spirit, Akshia. Akshia, this is Trianne, my friend."
Akshia nodded at Trianne as a greeting.
Trianne curiously stared at Akshia.
"Wow~ it's so smart! It can actually understand what you're saying!"
Hiko smiled and explained,
"Spirits have intelligence on par with humans. Ye Yun even said that so of them can speak.
By the way, is anyone from Amphoreus joining the spirit tournant?"
Trianne looked puzzled.
"Spirit tournant? What's that?"
Seeing her reaction, Hiko realized the others probably hadn't received the news yet.
So Hiko explained Ye Yun's upcoming spirit tournant to Trianne.
After hearing the news, Trianne grabbed the milk tea and bolted, eager to tell Aglaea and the others.
Once Trianne told them everything, Aglaea and the others got ready to sign up for the tournant.
This was Ye Yun's event, and he had practically saved Trianne's life.
If it was Ye Yun's show, of course Amphoreus would support it.
Aglaea turned to Tibo and said,
"Teacher Trinnon, bring the star coins—we're going to buy so spirits."
Trianne cheered with joy.
"Yay! Trianne's getting her own spirit!"
Soon, the Amphoreus group headed to Ye Yun's store to purchase spirits.
In the treehouse realm, inside March 7th's room.
Bubu Flower looked worriedly at the sleeping March 7th on the bed.
She waddled over with her short little legs and reached out to touch March 7th.
As soon as she made contact, a piercing cold surged through her, making her hand sting with ice.
Bubu Flower yelped in pain and withdrew her hand, her face full of sadness.
Usually, whenever she got hurt or fell while playing at night, March 7th would always comfort her and pick her up.
But now, March 7th just lay there quietly, fast asleep.
Bubu Flower once again reached out, trying to shake her awake.
Even though it was bone-chilling, Bubu Flower didn't let go—she just wanted March 7th to wake up.
At that mont, Welt walked in. He had just returned from Herta and ca to check on March 7th.
Seeing the scene before him, he imdiately scooped Bubu Flower into his arms.
Her hands were covered in frost, showing signs of severe frostbite.
Even so, Bubu Flower kept struggling, trying to get close to March 7th.
"Bubu~ Bubu~"
Welt hugged her tightly.
"Bubu Flower, you can't go near her anymore—you're already badly frostbitten."
Bubu Flower looked back and pointed at March 7th, her face full of sorrow as she whimpered.
"Bubu~ Bubu~"
As she cried out, tears welled up in her eyes.
Seeing this, Welt said gently,
"Don't worry, Bubu Flower. Little March will definitely get better.
Let's treat your wounds first."
Welt carried Bubu Flower out of the room and returned to the train.
As soon as they arrived at the store, Ye Yun saw Bubu Flower's serious frostbite.
He frowned.
"What happened? Why is Bubu Flower so badly frostbitten?"
Welt explained everything to him.
Looking at Bubu Flower as she received treatnt, Ye Yun sighed.
"Don't worry, Bubu Flower. March 7th will be okay.
Don't forget, she has the Immortal Totem. Since it's still active, that ans she's not in real danger, understand?"
Bubu Flower nodded.
"Bubu~ Bubu~"
Hiko, sitting nearby, said,
"Ever since March was frozen, Bubu Flower has been gloomy every day. I really don't know what to do.
I even had Fire Monkey and the others try to play with her, but she wasn't interested."
Ye Yun thought for a mont.
Bubu Flower's state wasn't good. Prolonged sadness could lead to emotional damage.
He needed to find a way to distract her.
After thinking for a bit, Ye Yun had an idea.
He looked into Bubu Flower's eyes and said,
"Bubu Flower, do you want to join the spirit tournant?
Think about it—when March wakes up and sees you holding the championship trophy, won't she be super happy?"
Hiko and Welt chid in.
"That's right, Bubu Flower. Little March will definitely be happy to see you win."
Hearing this, Bubu Flower agreed.
"Bubu! Bubu!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)