A good day starts with climbing out of bed while holding your butt.
Zane endured the pain in his backside and jumped off the bed. Just thinking about what Rover and Master Changli had done to him last night made cold sweat stream down his forehead.
"Zane, wake up!"
A lively voice suddenly exploded from the doorway. Right after that, a red figure rushed straight into the room like some kind of over-the-top police.
Behind the red figure came a blue one.
"Chixia, senior hasn't said you can come in yet. That's not polite."
"Oh? Then why do I remember that when I said I was coming to find Zane, someone seemed even more eager than me? Yangyang, who do you think that person is?"
The ones barging in early in the morning were none other than Chixia and Yangyang.
"Chixia, you…" Yangyang stomped her foot, puffed her cheeks, and hurriedly covered Chixia's mouth.
At the same time, she secretly glanced at Zane, then quickly lowered her head, not daring to meet his eyes again.
Seeing her best friend like this, Chixia smiled silently, then looked at Zane with bright, expectant eyes.
She had hinted this clearly already. Zane should…
"Yangyang, did you mess up or something? Why aren't you looking at me?"
Alright, he didn't get it.
Yangyang lowered her head deeply, her hand hidden behind Chixia gripping the corner of her clothes tightly. A trace of disappointment flashed through her eyes.
But the next second, a warm hand reached out and gently rested on her head through her beret.
Yangyang's heart trembled. She looked up and met those eyes with a faint smile in them.
"The Narushiki battle is over. You all worked hard. Since you finally came to Mt. Firmament, how about relaxing a bit?"
Yangyang opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she swallowed all her words.
She wanted to be a little greedy… but didn't know how to say it.
"You probably don't know this yet, but Mt. Firmament has a special attraction. I happen to be free today, so I'll take you to try it. How about it?"
Chixia's mouth dropped open as she stared at Zane in disbelief.
It had only been a few days since they last met, yet his emotional intelligence hadn't gone down... it had actually increased?
That completely violated the law of conservation of energy.
The sun did rise from the east today, right?
Or had he been possessed by something strange?
But seeing the uncontrollable smile on her best friend's face, Chixia shook her head silently.
...As long as Yangyang is this happy, possession is fine.
"I still have patrol duty today, so I won't…"
Chixia had just started to make an excuse to leave when Yangyang grabbed her hand tightly. Thinking about it, if Yangyang and Zane were left alone, that steam-powered girl might end up selling herself and even help count the money for him.
With that thought, Chixia nodded as well, saying that this trip to Mt. Firmament was actually a few days off granted by the Magistrate.
"Where are you going? We're coming too."
A tall gray-haired girl suddenly popped her head out from behind them, peeking curiously into the room, her golden eyes blinking.
"Huh? Yangyang, Chixia, why are you here?" Then Stelle slapped her palm as if she had realized something, a playful smile appearing on her face.
"Got it. Is this the legendary 3P? Should the Doctor and I step aside?"
Clearly, Stelle was stirring trouble again.
Hearing that, even Chixia, who was usually carefree, couldn't help but blush. She secretly glanced at Zane, then quickly looked away.
As for Yangyang, there was no need to say anything... her head practically sprouted a mushroom cloud on the spot.
Seeing their reactions, Stelle raised an eyebrow and walked over to Zane, nudging him with her elbow.
"Kid, you've got quite the luck with women."
Yangyang being shy made sense, but Chixia's reaction was a bit… interesting.
Stelle felt like she could already smell the fun.
"Say it. What do you want?"
How could Zane not understand what this troublemaking Stellaron girl was planning? But to avoid becoming the entertainment himself, he decisively chose to bribe her.
"Hmm…"
Stelle curled her lips slightly, her gaze shifting as a hint of a smile passed through her eyes.
"I want the Flame Lance."
"Hm?"
Zane froze for a moment, then quickly understood what she meant.
Right now, Stelle could only use the power of "Destruction," and her weapon was just a bat.
The "Flame Lance" she mentioned represented the power of "Preservation," a weapon in the form of a knight's lance wrapped in blazing fire.
Thinking about it, Zane suddenly realized he hadn't pulled any gacha since coming to Mt. Firmament.
If he counted the Astrite he got from exchanging those chess pieces, he had about 53 pulls.
'Hitting a small pity should be fine… right?'
For the sake of peace in the near future, Zane decided to agree to her condition.
However, he didn't think about why Stelle suddenly wanted power so urgently.
Seeing him agree without hesitation, Stelle quieted down for once. The usual mischievous vibe faded, replaced by a gentle, refined elegance.
But as the saying goes, when Stelle is quiet, she's either sleeping or planning something.
Zane felt like she definitely wasn't up to anything good.
Since he couldn't figure it out, he stopped thinking about it. He turned to look at the Doctor, who had been standing by the door the whole time. A strange, unspoken resentment seemed to be coming off her like an emperor penguin.
"Ahaha… Doc... no, Little Eagle… what's wrong?"
Unfortunately, the Doctor didn't respond. She just stared at him with half-lidded eyes.
Seeing this, Zane knew he had probably messed up, but he couldn't figure out what exactly he had done.
"Um… big sis, don't just stay silent. You're scaring me."
Zane wiped the sweat from his forehead and leaned closer with an apologetic smile.
The Doctor's faint resentment melted away at his expression. Looking at the white-haired guy rubbing against her, she let out a long sigh.
"Next time, don't do something that dangerous… If there's no other choice, make sure to call me and Stelle."
Hearing that, Zane immediately understood that little Jue had already told them about how he took the chess pieces used to set up the Mirage Realm and entered it despite being stopped.
The Rover and Changli... one was someone even the creator of the Mirage Realm would revere, and the other was that creator's disciple.
That Mirage Realm had been a setup created by Master Xuanmiao and that legendary figure, using a chessboard as the medium and hidden through the Jiting rewind mechanism, only appearing after the time flow on Mt. Firmament stabilized.
Even after the Lord of Time was freed, the Remnant Stelle Society wouldn't give up.
And that chess game was actually just a trap set by Master Xuanmiao and the legendary figure to eliminate the remaining members of the Remnant Stelle Society on Mt. Firmament.
To break it, both Rover and Changli were indispensable.
But Zane didn't have that identity. The chess game could very well mistake him for an outsider and erase him.
After figuring everything out, Zane gently rubbed the girl's hair, his eyes so soft they almost seemed to melt.
No wonder Sister Xi had deliberately given Yangyang and Chixia time off at this moment. She must have been worried about him.
Although those two wouldn't stop him from doing reckless things, he still had to consider them before acting.
Using this way to restrain his own risks.
Not far from the room, two graceful figures... one in black, one in red... quietly appeared.
What he desperately protected was, in another way, quietly watching over him.
"Hey, what are you smiling about? You're being scolded right now. Did Rover hit your head too hard or something?"
Seeing the smile on his face, the Doctor felt a chill run down her spine. This guy couldn't have some weird hobby, right?
Thinking that, she turned to run, but Zane grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"There are some really good things on Mt. Firmament. I'll show you today."
[🎉 Shoutout to "Regis" for joining p@treon. Thank you very much.🤗]
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