Chapter 343: The Secret of the Magic Well

November 30, Heral Calendar 4243, one day remains until the official start of the Old Days Front program.

Today is a rather special day; if one were to ask what makes it special, it is: "Happy Birthday!"

Inside the Old Residence of Iliyasi, Yun Mu and the others had meticulously decorated the place.

Beautiful colored ribbons were tied like waves along the corners of the walls, with countless colored balloons tied to them, and a snow-white banner hung above everyone's heads, with the words 【Happy Birthday Lita】 written in colorful paint.

That's right, today is exactly Lita's birthday!

"Waa~" Although Lita had more or less guessed something when Yun Mu said she had a surprise prepared for her, she still couldn't help but let out an exclamation when she truly saw the scene.

"How did you all know when my birthday was?" She appeared somewhat puzzled.

Lita certainly knew when her birthday was, and she hadn't forgotten that today was her birthday.

It's just, how should she put it? After all, she was already at this age, and on top of that, they had other important business to attend to.

From the very beginning, Lita hadn't planned on celebrating her birthday properly.

At most, she would just buy herself something good to eat and be done with it.

Unexpectedly, Yun Mu and the others had actually meticulously prepared such a surprise for her. "Hehe, because I've seen Sister Lita's identification number," Yun Mu said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"By the way, I also know that Brenna's birthday is on January 1st every year~" After saying this, she turned her head to look at Brenna, who was to the side: "It's in just six days."

"Besides that, Meiyin's birthday is on January 5th; it's a pity she isn't here right now, otherwise I could have celebrated for her too."

"How come you know so much about other people's birthdays?" Xiliya, who had rushed over to join the fun, teased after hearing her words.

"I'm just more concerned about my Partners," Yun Mu said righteously.

"Right." Looking at Xiliya, she suddenly thought of something: "When we first arrived in Feiluoka, wasn't Xiliya also having a birthday?"

"I remember that day was... November 22nd, right?"

"Uh, that's right, that was indeed my birthday." Xiliya nodded in acknowledgment.

She paused, looking a bit distressed as she said: "When I was little, I quite liked celebrating my birthday because the people in my family would dote on me, and on my birthday, I could play as I pleased, carefree and very happy."

"As for now... sigh."

She sighed, seemingly not wanting to continue.

But saying this much was actually enough; everyone present understood what she meant.

After spending so many days together, based on Yun Mu's understanding of Xiliya, it was clear that she was the type of person who disliked being constrained to social venues, observing aristocratic etiquette and speech to socialize with others.

Ugh, having to keep a fake smile the whole time to deal with other nobles, it was troublesome just thinking about it. "When is Iliyasi's birthday?" Yun Mu asked, looking at Iliyasi with some curiosity.

Among everyone present, Iliyasi's birthday was the only one she didn't know; since the timing was just right, she might as well ask.

"M-my birthday is on July 35th." Hearing Yun Mu's words, Iliyasi replied.

She paused, then gathered her courage to ask in return: "What about Miss Yun?"

"Me..." Hearing Iliyasi's words, Yun Mu pondered for a moment.

As an orphan in her previous life, it was obviously impossible to know the day she was born, and she had neither the energy nor the mind to celebrate any birthday.

And when she registered her identity in the Frost Kingdom, Yun Mu used the birthday from her previous life.

Which is... "My birthday is February 1st every year~" she said.

"So Miss Yun is a Blade?" Xiliya looked very surprised.

"Blade?" Yun Mu glanced at her with some confusion, not knowing what she was talking about.

In her impression, there shouldn't be any concept of birth dates being tied to constellations in this world.

Could it be something newly popular in the Federation?

"Ah, I forgot you all probably wouldn't know about this." Seeing the puzzled expressions on everyone's faces, Xiliya explained to them:

"It seems like it was half a year ago; the Federation's well-known magazine, Star Anecdotes, interviewed a foreign prophet Transcendental."

"The connection between constellations and birth dates was the content of that issue; it was quite popular. Are you interested?"

Xiliya looked quite happy; it seemed she really liked the content of that magazine.

Hmm... learning about it wouldn't be bad; just treat it as entertainment.

But before that.

"Let's eat the cake first!" Yun Mu clapped her hands and suggested.

"Yay!" When everyone saw Yun Mu push the cart containing the cake out from the kitchen, they cheered one after another.

And after going through the classic wish-making segment, Xiliya began to enthusiastically explain the constellation studies that had recently become popular among young people in the Federation.

Because she was curious about how a real constellation Scholar would react to hearing these things, and also because Lucy hadn't come out for a long time.

Yun Mu summoned Lucy out as well. "Wow, such beautiful blonde hair!" This was Xiliya's first reaction upon seeing Lucy.

By the way, Lucy appeared in a state of being attached to her original body at this time.

Iliyasi, who was to the side, didn't speak, but her gaze basically never moved away from Lucy's chest; she was clearly stunned.

Heavens, this was the first time she had met someone her age who was similar to her!

Although Lucy didn't count as being her age at all.

"Emerging constellation studies?" Lucy showed great interest in the topic Xiliya was about to discuss.

Besides that, she also quite liked the taste of the cake.

Yun Mu had almost forgotten that it had been many years since she had properly tasted food.

Therefore, she specially cut a few extra pieces for her.

"The birth date for Lijianzuo is from November 5th to January 30th. According to Star Anecdotes, people of Lijianzuo have a heart that moves forward with courage, as well as a pioneering spirit for unknown things."

"Tianpingzuo is from January 31st to March 5th. It is said that people of Tianpingzuo are usually very calm, will always keep thinking, and can deal with all kinds of sudden accidents."

"People of War Hammer are very brave; this is not the reckless kind, but the courage to face all difficulties, a true Brave who never admits defeat. The corresponding birth date is March 6th to May 5th."

"As for the Archer..." Xiliya seemed to have forgotten a bit; she recalled for a good while before continuing: "The birth date for the Archer is May 28th to August 1st. Star Anecdotes says that people of the Archer are quite patient and like to take things slowly, but this 'taking things slowly' does not mean procrastination, but rather means completing the things they want to do after making full preparations."

"Finally, the Balance and the Twins; the dates are August 2nd to September 35th, and October 1st to November 4th, respectively."

"People of Tianpingzuo have a strong sense of justice, are quite serious and responsible in their conduct, and possess a strong sense of fairness; meanwhile, people of Gemini are meticulous, willing to think of others, and often seem to practice Self-Sacrifice and dedication."

"Hmm." After listening to Xiliya's explanation of the various constellations, Yun Mu lowered her head and pondered for a moment: "It sounds like the personality of every constellation is quite good."

"Haha, after all, no one wants to see it written that their constellation has a terrible personality," Xiliya laughed softly.

Although she liked the content in Star Anecdotes, she could not deny that these things were just content from a magazine.

It was fine to chat about them as a hobby, but there was no need to take them seriously.

"What do you think, Lucy?" Yun Mu looked to the side with some curiosity.

"Me?" Hearing this, Lucy raised her head and swallowed the cake in her mouth: "I think it's quite good."

"By connecting the stars in the sky with humans, don't you think the seemingly cold stars become a bit more intimate?" she said.

"If this kind of theory can really spread, the connection between humans and the stars should deepen further. I think this is a good thing for both humans and the stars in the sky, but—"

She paused and continued: "I don't really like this idea of personality being tied to birth date; it's like saying that Fate is already fixed."

"I think so too," Brenna nodded in agreement: "A person's personality can be cultivated and changed."

"What's important is not what kind of people we should be, but what kind of people we want to become."

"Oh, oh, I like that line!" Lita looked a bit excited.

"Is that so?" Xiliya tilted her head: "I feel like my personality is about the same as described above, so I quite like it."

"But hearing you all say that... if the content described above were different from my original personality, perhaps I wouldn't have that sense of identification."

"Perhaps."

Yun Mu and the others chatted, and soon ended the topic. Time jumped to one day later, which was November 31st, 4243 of the Heral Calendar.

The first day of the official Old Days Front tournament.

Today, what Yun Mu and the others had to face were mainly the challenge matches, that is, challenges from those who failed to reach the top ten on the leaderboard.

The competition used a best-of-five format, after all, the duration of a single Old Days Front match was very short.

If they didn't play a few more rounds, the match would end very quickly.

"Is this the Magic Fountain?"

After the last accident, Yun Mu and the others did not choose to take the light rail train this time, but instead hailed a taxi driver on the side of the road to take them to the Magic Fountain.

This time, she finally saw what this big guy looked like.

It was fifty meters high, its exterior covered by a sky-blue metal shell. Taking the elevator to the top of the shell, one could see a large space extending all the way down.

Just like Dwarfs carving dwellings into a mountain, a large number of shops, stairs, and streets were built suspended on the walls of the Magic Fountain, with dreamy neon lights and colors flickering and reflecting off each other, making one feel as if they were in a dreamlike kingdom.

And at the very bottom of the Magic Fountain was a pool of Pure Ether so dense it was nearly liquid; the milky-white Ether surged in calm waves like mother's milk, bound at the very bottom by the powerful restraining force of the Magic Fountain.

"It's truly spectacular." Following the elevator all the way down, Yun Mu looked at the surrounding scenery and said.

"Is this thing really something that the Federation people of a thousand years ago could build?" Brenna looked very surprised.

And beside her, Lucy, who had been brought along by Yun Mu, looked with curiosity at the Pure Ether below that was compressed into a near-liquid state.

"It's truly marvelous technology; if only I could study the secrets of this Magic Fountain," she said.

(End of this chapter)