123. His Good Fortune
"A misfortune and calamity?" Elysia suddenly leaned closer, cupping Ling's face in her hands as he looked on at her in astonishment, examining him closely.
"How could such a cute child bring misfortune and calamity? Don't overthink it." Elysia patted Ling's head.
"Don't touch me like that, it'll bring bad luck." Ling slapped her hand away.
"I don't believe you, I'll touch you anyway!" Ling's rejection made Elysia want to touch him even more enthusiastically, her hands constantly kneading his little face.
Ling nervously watched his surroundings. Such close contact would definitely...
However, after a long time, Ling felt his face was almost deformed from being pinched, but nothing happened.
"Hmph, trying to fool Ely, you're a hundred years too early." Elysia released her hand with satisfaction, but she also noticed that Ling's tense expression didn't seem like he was lying.
Could it be that he really would bring bad luck to those around him?
"Since you don't want to stay here, I'll find you a place to stay temporarily. Don't worry, Aponia will also be moved to a place where you can see her."
"...Thank you," Ling replied coldly.
Although he didn't know why the bad luck he brought didn't affect her... It was effective, but it was still better to be cautious.
His impression of Elysia was acceptable; at least she had explained everything he was worried about and had done her best to provide solutions for his problem.
Furthermore, at Elysia's request, Dr. Mai hadn't pursued the trouble he had caused with the Fire Moth, which was more than enough.
All he could do was pray that Sister Aponia and Kalpas would be alright.
...
"Ugh...finally finished the mission." Elysia stretched, suddenly receiving an urgent mission that had kept her away for two days.
She didn't return until almost midnight.
Elysia went to the cafeteria, which was open 24 hours a day, so there was no need to worry about food.
The cafeteria was empty; after all, there were probably very few people eating at this hour.
Suddenly, a figure in the corner caught her eye.
"Let me see which cutie is secretly flirting with dessert in the middle of the night."
"Look who is here for a late-night snack?" Elysia teased, touching Ling's back and covering his eyes with her hand.
"Please stay away from me." Ling brushed her hand away.
"Hmm...not cute at all, but I know Ling rejected the beautiful Sister Ely because of that, yeah, that must be it!" Elysia nodded confidently.
Then she got some food and dessert and sat down in front of Ling.
"I can never get enough of this cake..."
"Oh no, will I gain weight from eating tonight?" Elysia suddenly became concerned about her figure.
Ling remained silent, completely ignoring Elysia's antics, finished his meal, and left.
The next day, Ling had just gotten out of bed when he heard a rapid knocking at the door.
"?"
Ling opened the door, somewhat puzzled, but no one was there.
"Knock knock! Ling, were you startled?" Elysia suddenly appeared beside him.
"Has the approval for going to the Deepest Abyss been granted?" Ling asked.
"Hmm... No, not yet. The procedures are rather complicated, the Deepest Abyss is quite special... The process is quite long. It should normally take a week at most, but with you involved, it could take two weeks or even longer," Elysia explained.
"Thank you..." Ling said gratefully, realizing the delay was his fault.
Suddenly, Elysia seemed to remember something, and a sly glint appeared in her eyes.
"Sister Ely spent a lot of time helping you with the process. I haven't slept a wink these past two days, and yesterday Ling's cold treatment caused me insomnia. Look, I even have dark circles under my eyes now!"
Elysia gently touched her forehead, feigning weakness, and casually pointed to her own... Dark circles under her eyes that didn't even exist.
"What do you want?" Ling roughly guessed what she was thinking, but he had nothing to repay her with.
Elysia's face instantly lit up with joy.
"Hehe, just come out and play with Sister Ely, relax a bit!" Elysia grabbed Ling and dragged him out without giving Ling a chance to refuse.
Ling was dragged around like that.
However, Ling remained sullen and always kept his distance from people, rarely interacting with anyone.
After wandering around for a long time, Elysia finally gave up.
"Ling, you used to be at the orphanage... When you were in the orphanage, were you always alone every day?" Asked Elysia while she looked at him with a slight headache.
"No, I'm always with Kalpas," Ling answered without hesitation.
"Oh? Then what do you do with Kalpas every day?" Elysia felt she might not have grasped the point.
"Moving goods...and fighting."
"Huh? Fighting?" Elysia was taken aback by the answer for a few seconds, feeling a little confused.
"Well, because I need to become stronger, so I have to fight," Ling explained.
"I understand! You feel you bring misfortune to others, and if you become stronger, perhaps you can stop that misfortune when it happens, right?" Elysia immediately guessed Ling's thoughts.
Ling didn't answer, which was taken as tacit agreement.
"Alright then, I'll take you to the simulation training room. I'm sure you'll have a blast!" Elysia pulled Ling towards the Fire Moth's simulation training room.
Here, one could simulate some powerful Honkai Beasts to improve their combat experience.
A look of interest finally appeared on Ling's face.
Soon, the two arrived at the training room. Elysia operated it from the outside, while Ling fought inside.
"Emmm, let's start with a basic Seraph-class Honkai Beast..." Elysia tapped the screen, and soon the data stream formed a Seraph-class Honkai Beast.
A single Seraph-class Honkai Beast would require at least two adults to barely withstand it.
However, just a second later, the Seraph-class Honkai Beast was shattered by Ling's punch, reverting it back to data.
"Wow, that's awesome! Let's continue... This time it's a Chariot-class Honkai Beast!"
A twenty-meter-tall Chariot-class Honkai Beast appeared before Ling.
(A/N: It appears small in the game, but in reality, Chariot-class Honkai Beasts are this size, ranging from ten to forty meters.)
(A/N: So you know...Was Kevin's ability to crush a Chariot-class Honkai Beast with a baseball bat during his high school years impressive?)
This was the normal size of a Chariot-class Honkai Beast, capable of easily destroying a tall building.
Ling leaped high, delivering a powerful whip kick, sending the twenty-meter-tall Chariot-class Honkai Beast flying backward, turning into a mass of data.
"My god, that's incredible!" Elysia clapped her hands, showering him with praise.
Next came the Knight-class Honkai Beasts, and even the Templar-class Honkai Beasts were easily dealt with by Ling.
Keep in mind that the Templar-class Honkai Beasts require a well-equipped army to handle.
At least... It would take an elite anti-Honkai squad or a MANTIS warrior to defeat it.
In other words, Ling was able to contend with a MANTIS warrior without using any equipment.
Although he had defeated one before, both she and Dr. Mei felt that perhaps that MANTIS warrior had underestimated him, leading to this result.
"Ling, the next one is difficult. Do you want to continue?" Elysia asked.
Ling nodded in response.
After Elysia manipulated the monsters, an Emperor-class Honkai Beast—Ganesha—quickly appeared before her!
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