The mont the Clear Mind Pill entered his stomach, Zhongli's eyes widened. Countless fragnts of his past flashed through his mind.
He murmured softly to himself:
"Guizhong... Bosacius... Indarias... Bonanus... nogias..."
To Ye Yun and the others, it seed like not even half a minute had passed.
But to Zhongli's perception, he had experienced an extrely long passage of ti.
It wasn't until Venti's voice called out, "Old man!" that Zhongli ca back to his senses.
Zhongli returned to normal, shaking his head to calm himself.
"Apologies, everyone. That was rude of ."
Welt, Hiko, and the others expressed that they didn't mind.
Zhongli then turned to Ye Yun, a look of sincere gratitude in his eyes.
"Thank you, Ye Yun."
Ye Yun smiled.
"No need for thanks—just rember to pay."
Zhongli rarely showed a smile, but this ti, he did.
"Hahaha, of course. What's the price of this pill?"
Ye Yun held up two fingers.
"2000 star coins—that's 200 Primogems. Venti should've told you the exchange rate between Primogems and star coins, right?"
At that, Zhongli shook his head.
"No, he didn't."
Ye Yun looked a little speechless.
"Venti, sothing that important and you didn't tell him?"
Venti just gave a cheeky "Ehehe~" and continued sipping his porridge.
Zhongli patted his body... then paused.
"Ye Yun, can I pay you the Primogems later?"
Ye Yun waved it off.
"Sure, no problem. Co on, eat up first. After the al, I'll take you all sowhere interesting."
Just as Ye Yun was inviting everyone to eat, an Aetheric teleportation gate opened in the shop. Kafka and Silver Wolf stepped out.
Silver Wolf looked rather unwilling—she had been in the middle of a good gaming session when Kafka dragged her here.
"There he is. That's Ye Yun."
After pointing out Ye Yun to Kafka, Silver Wolf plopped herself into a booth, crossed her legs, and pulled out her handheld console to keep playing.
Hiko and Welt tensed up the mont they saw Kafka, on high alert.
"Stellaron Hunters Kafka. I've seen you—on the company's bounty board."
Klee, standing nearby, looked at Kafka's figure and exclaid:
"Waaah~ Demon Queen! Demon Queen!"
Kafka glanced at Klee—what a cute little girl—then turned to look over Hiko, giving her a once-over.
"Hiko, right? Relax, I'm not here to go after the train crew. This ti, I'm here to buy sothing from Mr. Ye Yun."
With that, she took out a small box filled with Stellar Jade and opened it.
Seeing this, Ye Yun stood up and spoke to Hiko and the others.
"No worries, you all keep eating. I'll go help her with the shopping."
With that, Ye Yun led Kafka to sit near the small bar.
Although Hiko, Welt, and Zhongli continued eating, their eyes would occasionally drift toward Ye Yun's direction—just in case.
Ye Yun tapped on the box Kafka brought and asked,
"How much Stellar Jade do you have in here?"
Kafka shook her head and looked at Ye Yun with a mischievous glint in her eye, feeling a sudden urge to tease him.
"I'm not really sure. Why don't you count it for ?"
She smiled sweetly, propping up her chin with one hand and staring at Ye Yun.
Raising a brow, Ye Yun placed the Stellar Jade onto a conversion scale.
"Counting manually is too troubleso. With this device, we can instantly see how much Star Coin it's worth.
The conversion rate between Stellar Jade and Star Coin is 1 to 100."
Kafka looked slightly disappointed that her teasing didn't work.
"Oh? I see... fine, let your little scale do the math then~"
Over ten minutes later, Ye Yun finished converting all the Stellar Jade—it totaled 60,000 Star Coins.
Kafka weighed the Star Coins in her hand and spoke:
"Ye Yun~ Tell , what should I buy?"
Ye Yun crossed his arms, looked into her eyes, and asked in return:
"What do you want to buy?"
Kafka noticed her Word Magic didn't work on Ye Yun, and her interest in him grew even more.
"Let think... Do you sell emotions?"
Ye Yun thought for a mont.
"Emotions? I'll have to look that up for you."
He sat at a touchscreen terminal and searched for the word "emotion."
Within seconds, hundreds of product listings appeared.
Ye Yun skimd a few and asked,
"Yep. What emotion are you looking for?"
Kafka looked surprised. You can actually buy emotions here?
"Do you have... fear?"
Ye Yun pulled up a few items on the screen.
"Take a look." He made room for her to sit. Kafka walked over and sat beside him.
[Product: Inner Demon]
Description: Causes resurgence of inner demons upon use.
Price: 1000 Star Coins
Note: Cos in 9 levels. Level 1 starts at 1000 coins; Level 9 costs 10,000. Choose freely.
***
[Product: Abyss Pass]
Description: Grants access to the Abyss upon use.
Price: 5000 Star Coins
***
[Product: Strange Invitation Letter]
Description: Lets you participate in a bizarre ga upon use.
Price: 2000 Star Coins
Kafka looked through them but couldn't decide right away. Then she turned to Ye Yun.
"You pick for ~"
She smiled charmingly, twirling her hair.
Ye Yun glanced at the options and said,
"Why not try Inner Demon? It shows you what you least want to face."
Kafka nodded slightly.
"Alright, I'll go with your recomndation."
Ye Yun took 1000 Star Coins from her and bought the lowest level Inner Demon.
After inserting the coins, a dark red energy orb wrapped in a bubble appeared in his hand.
Ye Yun handed it to Kafka.
"Just pop it."
Kafka looked at the orb, then back at Ye Yun.
"Ye Yun~ Can you stay close? What if I get scared? As the shop owner, you should be responsible for your custor."
Ye Yun coughed loudly.
"Don't start! This is a legitimate business!"
Kafka, seeing that her teasing worked, giggled.
"Haha, okay okay, just kidding~"
Then she looked at the Inner Demon in her hand.
"Let try your recomndation first."
With a squeeze of her right hand, she crushed the orb.
The mont it shattered, the dark red energy surged into her body.
Kafka's expression froze, as if she had seen sothing terrifying.
But it only lasted a few seconds before vanishing.
Kafka savored the sensation.
In those two seconds, she truly felt fear.
That foreign, longed-for emotion... so this is what it feels like.
She took out 2000 Star Coins.
"Ye Yun~ Get a higher-level one."
Ye Yun raised his brow and got her a Level 2 Inner Demon.
Kafka took it and crushed it again, falling into fear once more.
This ti, the expression lasted a few seconds longer than before.
Ye Yun thought for a mont.
"How many levels do you want? Once you decide, put the corresponding Star Coins here. Try it yourself—but don't go for too high a level at once."
Kafka nodded in agreent.
***
Klee saw Ye Yun blushing and thought he was being bullied by Kafka.
"Wah~ Demon Queen! You're not allowed to bully Brother Ye Yun~ Boom Boom Bomb!"
Klee stood on the chair, angrily holding a large Boom Boom Bomb and threw it at Kafka.
Seeing this, Ye Yun quickly dashed forward and caught the bomb mid-air.
He let out a sigh of relief and rubbed Klee's little head.
"Klee, this big sister didn't bully your Brother Ye Yun."
Upon hearing that, Klee realized she had misunderstood Kafka. She slid down from the chair, ran to Kafka's side, and bowed deeply.
"Big sister, I'm sorry. I wrongly accused you~ Can you forgive Klee?"
Klee swayed her small body slightly, looking up at Kafka with big, pitiful eyes.
Kafka was instantly chard by Klee's cuteness, and the corners of her mouth lifted unconsciously.
"Okay~ I forgive you. Little one, your na is Klee?"
Klee brightened up with a big smile after hearing Kafka forgive her.
"Yes! My na is Klee. Big sister, what's your na?"
Kafka smiled and said, "My na is Kafka."
Klee looked at Kafka and pronounced her na slowly, syllable by syllable.
"Kafka Got it! Kafka big sister~"
Ye Yun walked over at this mont and patted Klee's little head.
"Klee, go eat now. Your food will get cold."
Hearing that, Klee obediently returned to her seat to continue eating.
Because the dining table was too tall, both Klee and Hook had to stand on their chairs to eat.
If they sat, their eyes would just et the tabletop.
"Hook, that big sister is called Kafka big sister."
Hook took a spoonful of porridge. "Mmm~ Hook knows. Klee, help get so pickled vegetables."
Klee picked up a chopstick-full of pickles and passed it to her.
"Here~ Pickled veggies."
The two little ones chatted while standing on their chairs and eating.
Kafka looked at the two with a knowing smile.
Ye Yun noticed Kafka was watching Klee and Hook the whole ti.
"How is it? Aren't they adorable?"
Kafka nodded with tacit approval.
"Mm~ extrely cute. Are they your daughters?"
Ye Yun nearly spat out the water he just drank.
What the heck? Daughters? How do I look anything like their dad?
"No, what are you thinking?"
Kafka tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked at Ye Yun with a smile.
"Oh~ I thought they were your daughters, since you're so good to them."
Ye Yun wiped the water from his mouth.
"Of course I treat them well. Raising daughters is one of life's greatest joys, right?"
Kafka suddenly asked, "Have you ever thought about having a daughter of your own?"
Ye Yun looked at Kafka and decided to go all in.
"What, you gonna give one?"
Kafka hesitated for a mont, slightly flustered.
"You wouldn't be a bad choice~" she said, giving Ye Yun a flirtatious look.
Ye Yun took a deep breath and went for it.
"Then shall we set a date?"
Kafka's mind montarily blanked out, thinking of so interesting implications.
Looking at the way Ye Yun was staring at her, Kafka's cheeks reddened slightly.
She quickly bought a level 2 and level 3 heart demon and went to sit next to Silver Wolf.
Ye Yun's lips curled into a smug smile — finally scored a win. Heh, won!
He returned to the dining table.
"Hiko, what's the situation on Jarilo-VI? How are the Stellaron readings?"
Hiko opened her device and scanned the readings on the planet. After seeing the results, her expression changed in surprise.
"The Stellaron is growing increasingly active — it's close to a critical point."
Upon hearing that, Ye Yun imdiately headed toward the teleportation gate.
"Let's go, ti to watch the show."
At that mont, Kafka spoke up.
"Ye Yun, are you going to check on Stelle and the others?"
Ye Yun nodded.
"Yeah, a Stellaron war — can't miss that."
Kafka pondered for a mont, then turned to Silver Wolf.
"Darling, pull up a projection of Stelle's side."
Silver Wolf's fingers were flying across her console.
"No ti, I'm busy."
Kafka sighed.
[Listen to !]
"Darling, pull up a projection of Stelle's side."
Silver Wolf, as if bewitched, stood up blankly, summoned a virtual keyboard, and projected a feed of Xing's side onto the wall.
After it was done, Silver Wolf sat back down, color returning to her eyes.
"Kafka!!! You used Spirit Whisper on again!"
Kafka covered her mouth and chuckled.
"Darling, who told you to be so into your ga?"
Then she looked toward Ye Yun.
"Alright, let's just watch from here. No need for you to make a trip, right?"
Ye Yun shrugged — watching on the big screen wasn't a bad idea.
Kafka looked at the projection and breathed a sigh of relief.
This battle would be a turning point for Stelle. If all went well, she would receive the Preservation's Gaze.
Once she gained the Preservation Path, Stelle's power would take a qualitative leap.
On Belobog:
Stelle, March 7th, Dan Heng, Seele, and Bronya had already arrived at the Everwinter Hill.
Cocolia raised the Great Guardian's legacy weapon, the Fla Lance.
"Engine of Creation! In the na of the Great Guardian, I command you to rise!"
The ground of the Everwinter Hill trembled, and a towering ch awakened from the permafrost.
Beneath it, a swarm of Fragntum creatures surged toward the group.
Stelle imdiately drew the Judgnt of Shamash, swinging a blazing slash.
"Judgnt Of Shamash, Unleashed!"
Flas erupted from the sword, sweeping across the battlefield.
All Fragntum creatures caught in it — except elite units like the Decaying Shadow and Ice Out of Space — were incinerated.
The Shadow of Devourer raised its staff to attack Stelle, but an arrow flew in, knocking it away.
Just as it reached to retrieve the staff, shadows flickered — several luminous butterflies appeared before it.
In a flash, Seele erged from the shadows, her scythe cleaving down.
"Disappear among the sea of butterflies, relic of the past!"
The Decaying Shadow was struck dead, dispersing into glowing motes.
Elsewhere, Bronya kept suppressive fire on an Ice Out of Space.
Dan Heng suddenly appeared in the air above it, his Cloud-Piercer spear glowing.
"Ethereal Dream, illusions shatter — strike!"
He landed and swept the spear into the ground with a flourish.
In the next mont, the Ice from Beyond behind him burst into light and vanished.
Stelle had her sights set on a Guardian Shadow.
She burst forward with a powerful leap, like an arrow loosed from a bow.
In a blink, she was beneath the enemy.
Gripping the Judgnt of Shamash tightly, its blade erupted in fire.
"Hah!"
She slashed upward in a fiery arc, carving a gash through the Guardian Shadow.
The mont she slung her sword over her shoulder, flas burst from the crack, engulfing the enemy.
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