"Master, is this what you used to summon me?" Liv asked, staring like a curious kitten at the 'Gate of Vows' placed before Li Xuan.
"That's right." Li Xuan glanced at the mountain-like pile of Honkai energy Crystals, his mood soaring. Seeing Liv bend over so cutely, his hand itched, and he couldn't resist reaching out to pat her head.
"Master..." Two blushes bloomed on Liv's snow-white cheeks, her eyes as clear as water.
"Ah, sorry..." Li Xuan realized he had just patted a girl's head without her permission, which was incredibly rude. He quickly retracted his hand...
"No, it's okay... Master, my body can only be touched by you..." Liv's delicate face was flushed. Though she was still shy, she grabbed Li Xuan's retracting hand with both of hers and... gently placed it on her own cheek.
"..." Li Xuan felt Liv's skin, as tender as a freshly boiled and peeled egg, against his right hand. He was getting a little excited... this was the first time in his life he had ever touched the face of a girl who wasn't a relative...
"Ahem... we should probably get on with the vows!" Li Xuan managed to convince himself, with great willpower, to move his hand away from Liv's face. The feeling was just... too good!
"Hmph~" Liv pouted, a little unhappy that Li Xuan had pulled his hand back. Her small face puffed up like a little bun. "But Master, if we make vows now, won't we attract other people?!" Liv said, a bit reluctantly.
"Heh heh~ It's fine..." Li Xuan said with a confident smile. He picked up an alarm clock from his bedside and pointed to the hour hand, which was on the number '7'. "Given Kiana's habits, what do you think she's doing right now?..."
"Hmm... she must be sleeping!" Liv said with certainty. Although she had only been with everyone for a short time, she already had a complete grasp of Miss Kiana Kaslana's personality. To put it bluntly, she was a bit of a glutton and a slacker...
"Mhm! Exactly!" Li Xuan crossed his arms and nodded. "Besides, Mei and Bronya are sleeping in the same room as Kiana... so they definitely aren't awake yet!" he said with conviction.
"Alright, let's get ready to make our vows!" Li Xuan said, looking at Liv beside him. He actually felt a lot more at ease having told Liv his secret about the vows. Plus, Liv was his exclusive maid, so he was confident that her loyalty was absolutely reliable!
.........
"Ahem, let's prepare to make the vows..." Li Xuan was now sitting cross-legged in an abandoned and safe house a hundred meters from the base, a large pile of azure Honkai energy Crystals next to him.
He couldn't make the vows at the base. Even if Kiana and the others were asleep, once the golden light appeared... they would have to be in a coma, not just sleeping, to not wake up. The spectacle of the golden light was just too... grand every time.
"..." Li Xuan took a deep breath to calm himself. There wasn't much time. He had to finish the vows quickly, and so many Honkai energy Crystals couldn't be piled up for too long, otherwise, who knew what the Honkai energy fluctuations they generated would attract?!
Just like that, under the watchful eyes of Li Xuan and Liv, Crystals disappeared one by one into the Gate of Vows' mirror-like surface, which felt as soft as water. Even though the surface felt like glass to Li Xuan's touch, it could devour these Crystals that were actually harder than stone...
As the Crystals vanished, rays of light began to flash in the room...
The first pull—blue light, a three-star weapon, 'V-Type Prototype Chainsaw'...
The second pull—blue light, a three-star weapon, 'V-Type Prototype Grenade'...
The third pull—blue light, a three-star weapon, 'Yamamoto Night Shadow Katana'...
The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth pulls... a three-star outfit 'Branch One Military Dress', a five-star outfit 'Kamui Junketsu', a five-star emblem 'RPG Wielder (High)', a four-star weapon 'Superconductive Sniper Rifle', a four-star weapon 'MK2A1 Grenade', a three-star weapon 'HECO Healing Spray'...
Li Xuan didn't even look at the first nine pulls, a mix of blue and purple light. Instead, he stared intently at the Gate of Vows, waiting for the tenth vow to descend. According to his observations and experiments, putting in 2,800 Crystals at once would guarantee at least one golden flash, meaning he was guaranteed an armament that could be called a 'divine weapon'!!
Finally, under Li Xuan's eager gaze and Liv's curious watch, the Gate of Vows once again shimmered with light. Unlike the previous times, the light it emitted was golden...
The moment the golden light appeared from the Gate of Vows, a strange power manifested in the void, as if a god was descending. An ancient and eternal pressure filled the air, and the gravity seemed to grow heavier, making it hard to breathe...
A beam of incredibly brilliant golden light shot up from the Gate of Vows' watery mirror... The golden light connected heaven and earth, carrying with it a divine majesty. All the Honkai Zombies within a hundred-meter radius fell to the ground, trembling... They subconsciously felt the majesty and power within that golden light, which made them collapse.
......
"Beep, beep, beep!!" A sound suddenly erupted from Bronya, who was still asleep. The piercing alarm easily shattered the sweet dreams of the Honkai Yuri Trio. "Didn't I tell you not to set an alarm?! Bronya!" Kiana said irritably, her eyes half-open as she turned over and covered her head with a pillow.
"Beep! Bronya has detected a massive energy signature!" Bronya said, sitting up in bed with her usual deadpan expression. "Uh... Bronya, are you talking about that?!" Suddenly, Mei's surprised voice came through, making Bronya and Kiana turn to look. What they saw was Mei's exquisite face, and... outside the window, that golden pillar of light spanning heaven and earth.
......
The majestic yet warm golden light in front of Li Xuan slowly dissipated, and a ball of faintly glowing light appeared on the Gate of Vows. Li Xuan reached out his right hand and grasped the weapon!
The light immediately vanished, revealing the weapon's true form—a silver-gray launcher barrel, a sophisticated optical scope, an oval-shaped rocket at the top, and four square, golden protrusions...
A stream of information transmitted from Li Xuan's right hand, exploding in his mind—
A five-star weapon, 'Tyr's Wrist'!...