"Oh my, everyone's here! What a lively gathering."
Xianzhou Luofu, Scalegorge Waterscape.
As Jing Yuan, Jingliu, Blade, and Dan Heng chatted on a platform, Lumina materialized silently beside Yanqing, who was secretly watching them from a short distance away.
Seeing the scene before her, Lumina feigned surprise and exclaimed, "Oh my, what a lively gathering here!"
[You really didn't need to say that. The others on the platform can't hear you, and Yanqing certainly wouldn't care if you showed up here.]
"You know nothing, System! One must always play the part."
Lumina snorted at the System's retort and offered a brief explanation.
"Lady Lumina."
Yanqing, whose attention had been entirely focused on the figures on the platform, jolted violently at the sudden voice behind him, nearly drawing his sword on instinct.
Lumina's abrupt appearance had nearly scared him half to death.
Though startled and annoyed by the surprise, Yanqing's irritation vanished the moment he recognized Lumina. Instead, he adopted an expression of deep respect and performed a flawless formal bow.
"Ah, this white cat..."
After bowing respectfully, Yanqing raised his head and immediately noticed the pure white kitten curled up on Lumina's shoulder.
The white cat was strikingly beautiful. Even Yanqing, who rarely paid attention to cats and dogs, was captivated.
It seemed as if it hadn't emerged naturally from thin air, but rather had been meticulously sculpted, step by step, by a master artisan...
"Oh, you mean this one?" Lumina smiled, reaching up to playfully tease the kitten on her shoulder. "I found her in a trash heap earlier. She looked so pitiful, so I took her in."
Phantylia: ...
Hearing Lumina's words, the kitten raised its paw as if to protest. But remembering Lumina's overwhelming presence, it silently lowered its paw and settled back down obediently on her shoulder...
Though being around this damned Abundance Abomination filled Phantylia with disgust... being able to quietly enjoy the passage of Time, spending her days sleeping peacefully with her eyes closed, seemed like a decent compromise...
After diligently walking the path of Destruction for so many Amber Eras, it was time for a well-deserved rest.
Time to savor the wonderful life of a vacation.
Hmm... It would be even more wonderful if I could switch places with Lumina for a while...
"This cat seems remarkably intelligent," Yanqing murmured, having witnessed Phantylia's every move.
Though the Xianzhou was home to many sentient animals, this White Cat was different.
When Yanqing looked at her, it felt like he was facing a living person.
And... he couldn't shake the feeling that if he provoked this White Cat, she would effortlessly swat him to death.
Ugh... I must be hallucinating from all the recent setbacks. Even a little cat is making me see things...
The thought of being killed by a cat's paw was too absurd to even consider.
Yanqing shook his head, dismissing the unease as lingering trauma from his recent series of defeats.
"Don't worry," Lumina said with a reassuring smile, as if reading his thoughts. She reached out to stroke Phantylia's soft fur, offering a brief explanation: "I've checked thoroughly. She's just an ordinary kitten—weak, pitiful, and helpless. There's no danger here."
Phantylia: ...
Though this body was merely a vessel Lumina had casually crafted, with her soul inhabiting it, she could still experience basic sensations like taste and touch.
As Lumina gently stroked her, Phantylia felt a wave of discomfort wash over her.
She desperately wanted to raise her paw and scratch Lumina's face to shreds!
Of course... Phantylia could only voice this desire in her heart. As Lumina had just said, she was currently incapable of exerting her true strength—indeed, a weak, pitiful, and helpless kitten...
Hmm... Though she couldn't unleash her full power, crushing this frail boy before her would still be effortless.
Phantylia opened her eyes, cast a fleeting, disdainful glance at Yanqing, then closed them again.
"Ugh... Getting chilly?" Yanqing, oblivious to his near-death experience, shivered suddenly. He glanced at the weather in the Scalegorge Waterscape and muttered under his breath.
Ignoring Yanqing, Lumina's gaze settled on the figures on the platform.
"A farewell gathering of old friends," she mused aloud. "I wonder if I should envy them or grieve for them?"
Lumina sighed inwardly.
She knew nothing of these people's fates, as the System's narrative had not yet reached that point.
The only certainties she held were the final destinies of Jingliu and Blade—likely tragic endings, she surmised.
Hmm... their fates already seem tragic. For them, death might be a release...
But it doesn't matter. When despair engulfs all, a glimmer of dawn will tear through the darkness, illuminating all beneath heaven!
That glimmer of dawn? Of course, that's me! o( ̄▽ ̄*)ブ*
[I didn't realize it before, but now I do. You're so chuunii!]
Hearing Lumina's particularly chuunii inner thoughts, the System gained a slightly deeper understanding of her.
"This proves I'm still as youthful as a teenager!" Lumina exclaimed, staring at the message on the System screen. Far from taking it as an insult, she interpreted it as a compliment.
It called me chuunii, and chuunii mostly occurs during adolescence... she mused. And how old is someone during adolescence? Around eighteen.
So, could I interpret the System's message as it thinking I'm a beautiful eighteen-year-old girl?~
[?]
Hearing this, the System slowly typed out a "?," expressing its utter speechlessness.
As expected, when dealing with someone so thick-skinned, no matter what you say, she'll find some absurd justification to reply...
"Ahem♪"
In response to the System's implied compliment about her thick skin, Lumina merely hummed lightly, as if acknowledging a minor observation.
"Your immortality isn't something that can be easily dispelled. Mortal blades cannot kill the flesh of an Emanator... Surely Destiny's Slave has already informed you of this."
"Rather than seeking me for liberation, you'd be better off finding Lumina. With her authority as an Emanator of Abundance, resolving the influence of flesh at her level shouldn't be too difficult."
Just as Lumina was mentally planning her grand entrance to rescue everyone in the future, the "casual chat" between the figures on the stage seemed to draw to a close.
After the conversation ended, just as Jingliu and Jing Yuan were about to leave, Blade suddenly called out to them.
The pair exchanged a few words, and eventually, Lumina's name was mentioned.
Outside the stage, Lumina, who had automatically extracted the keyword from their conversation, vanished in a flash.
In an instant, she reappeared beside Jingliu, gently patting her shoulder and chirping cheerfully, "Little Jingliu, were you calling for me? No matter when or where, I'll always answer your call~ See? I'm here now!"
Jingliu: ...