Chapter 78: 77. Goodbye, Little Wildcat

77. Goodbye, Little Wildcat

Li Ang slept for almost a day and a night.

When he woke up again, it was another morning. His head was heavy, and he had somewhat lost his sense of time.

Coming to the deck, the warm breeze carried by the Floss airspace made his spirit relax slightly.

Seeing him come out, Dorothy stood by the helm and shouted: "Ah, you're awake!"

She fixed the helm and walked toward the cabin: "I stopped at some small islands in between and bought various foods. You're hungry, right?"

The girl dragged out a tea table and chairs that were gorgeous, almost approaching a Rococo style, set out meal items, and even began to make tea. Although her ship was small, it had all kinds of utensils that weren't cheap, and naturally, there was no lack of automatic boiling magic kettles.

Dorothy was a bit clumsy; it was obvious she wasn't someone who made tea often, but she was full of interest. Although she spilled some hot water, she basically got it done.

Sitting at the table, she had prepared some pastries.

Li Ang looked up at her, and the girl said a bit embarrassedly: "I don't know what food is suitable for travel, so I just bought what I wanted to eat. But I didn't buy much, so it won't be wasted after eating."

Not wanting to ruin her mood, Li Ang nodded and said: "It just so happens I haven't eaten this style of dessert before."

Dorothy chuckled and sat down beside him.

In the distance was a continuous sea of clouds, and no islands could be seen at close range. Above this blue sky, a small tea party unfolded.

Li Ang sipped the tea, recalling that not long ago he was still fighting various monsters in the magic disaster zone. Everything before him felt slightly melancholy.

After savoring it for a while, he determined it wasn't melancholy, just his inner self adjusting his thoughts, letting him begin to adapt to a brand-new life.

The small boat sailed slowly through the blue sky. It wasn't fast, so it might take three or four days to reach the Gorasis airspace.

In terms of departure time, Li Ang hadn't broken his promise to Zoe. However, after she left in the small boat, she would have Eden's help later. That giant wolf was very fast, so Li Ang should have a time difference of more than two days.

There was no entertainment to kill time on the road. Li Ang stood in the wide part of the deck, preparing to continue improving his swordsman experience from the previous situation.

After rising to a Rank 2 swordsman, he hadn't had time to accumulate any of the 500 experience points.

He reached his hand to his waist, preparing to draw the Sword of the Silver Heart, but the hard part of its scabbard knocked against something in his waist bag.

Taking it out, this was the strange measuring device he had picked up from the Imperial soldiers on Satus Island.

He had originally thought about studying it after sending the Imperial soldiers to the Order Hall, but then he encountered the blocked channel, then the annihilation of the knights, and he had almost forgotten about this earlier.

At the time, he had taken a preliminary look with the system, but because the description was vague, he hadn't paid much attention to it.

【Spirituality Measuring Instrument】

【A measuring instrument made of special substances that reacts when in contact with certain spirituality】

【Purpose: Measuring special spirituality】

Now it seemed that half of the secret inside had already been solved.

The strange ship cannons on the Imperial ships, the annihilation knights, and this measuring instrument—they were all made by relying on purple strange tissues. The so-called "special spirituality," judging from the Imperial army's behavior at the time, referred to a certain spirituality on Zoe.

What Li Ang couldn't confirm was just the principle of how this purple substance took effect, and what part of the power on Zoe it was pursuing—was it the Star Soul Greenhouse or some traits she inherited from her parents?

Thinking of this, he remembered the Helmet of the Divine Eye.

Finding that helmet and putting it on, Li Ang entered the super-sensory vision state.

The appearance of the material world was stripped away, and the lines of spiritual flow were clear and distinct in his eyes.

The spirituality of that purple substance was visually presented before him.

Li Ang frowned. After the spirituality within it drew magic, it wasn't trying to transform the material world, but trying to use magic to destroy all matter and energy.

This completely violated the conventional spiritual trend.

He dug into the knowledge in his brain and only found one similar thing.

Could this be "Dark Element"?

In the Newbis world, elements broadly refer to the smallest units of matter, but when people generally mention elements, they are talking about the four basic elements of earth, fire, water, and wind.

However, when strength reaches a certain level, one will come into contact with the concept of so-called "superior elements."

Conceptually, there are two elements that transcend all elements, and they are light and dark.

The reason they are called concepts is that they aren't the smallest units of concrete matter or energy like the four elements, but higher-dimensional forces. It's just that when used, they are similar to the four elements, so they are called elements.

Of course, the power of light and dark is much stronger than the four elements. They don't participate in the restraint cycle of the four elements; light and dark restrain each other, waxing and waning.

Scholars of the Thousand-Tacheng had summarized their characteristics.

Light element is the afterglow of the world's creation; dark element is the residue after all things are annihilated.

The former is the power to construct the world and let all things be reborn; the latter is the power to destroy the world and bring death.

Li Ang had only seen light and dark attributes in some particularly tricky ancient ruins or powerful magic beasts. He had heard that some people mastered the power of light and dark, but he hadn't seen such people currently—at least not among the top ten Air Knights and the top four Heavenly Groups.

If this purple substance were dark element, then it would indeed be qualified to harm the powerful Star Soul.

Li Ang decided that after picking up Zoe and letting the two girls in the team get used to adventuring, he would take time to go to the Thousand-Tacheng and find a truly erudite scholar to identify this thing.

Putting away the measuring instrument, he began to practice swordsmanship.

The time afterward passed like this. Li Ang swung his sword with all his might, and Dorothy just watched him sweat from the side.

They stopped briefly at the Trade Capital in the Floss airspace, and the ship flew straight toward the Gorasis airspace.

As soon as they passed through the channel, the warm wind immediately transformed into cold. As the ship moved forward, snowflakes drifted in the air, and many parts of the airship began to frost over. The coat he had reminded Dorothy to buy at the Trade Capital also came in handy, but she still let out a series of exclamations.

When they reached Frost Sky Island, five days had already passed, and Li Ang's Rank 2 swordsman experience had accumulated to 296/500.

"That's Frost Sky Island!"

Dorothy exclaimed while looking into the distance.

Wind and snow shrouded the entire island; it was like an irregular piece of ice. Its terrain was steep, high in the middle and low on both sides, with the mountain body tilting more than 45 degrees.

The side of the island facing south was the main living area, and Winter-Refusal City was built here. Houses were built in circles around the steep slope, and a wide long staircase that vertically penetrated the entire city led straight to the top of the mountain peak, where the magnificent cathedral of the Frost Tower Church stood. It was like a dark blue ice cube carved into a work of art.

In the midst of this mountain peak, there was a magic array system that provided heating for the entire city. The ore that powered it was mined from the dense caves on the back of the mountain, where there were also cave springs inhabited by fish and shrimp with delicious meat.

The ship docked at the port. After finishing the docking procedures, Li Ang and his companion felt that the place was caught in a lively atmosphere.

End of May—in his impression, Frost Sky Island didn't have any festivals at this time?

Li Ang was just planning to ask the port administrator about the situation, but he found that this person looked a bit familiar.

He walked over, and after fully confirming, he grabbed his shoulder.

Startled by his action, the administrator had subconsciously made a counter-attack move, but after seeing his face, he also froze. He was surprised for several seconds, then gave Li Ang a powerful bear hug.

"Oh my, you kid! What a coincidence, I was just about to get off work!"

The middle-aged man laughed loudly. He had graying temples, and his dashing style from back then had diminished a lot, but he recalled some of it when he laughed.

He was the founding leader of Soul Apex, Will Taubo. Before Li Ang came here, he hadn't worked this job as a port administrator.

"Did you come specifically to see me?" the old leader laughed.

"I came to handle some business, and I was planning to visit you anyway."

"Is this your little girlfriend? You kid, not bad. Where did you pick her up?" Will looked at Dorothy.

"She's my group member."

"Hello." Dorothy performed a standard noble salute.

"Group member," Will's smile slowly faded, "I guessed a bit about the Soul Apex matter. You really did leave the group."

"Forget it, let's not talk about this for now," Will pointed to the cathedral on the mountain top: "Come join the fun with me first, and we'll talk after I treat you to a drink later."

Will led Li Ang and Dorothy toward the sky ladder that went straight to the top of the city.

"Come, come sit on this; walking up is very slow." The man greeted.

A cable car had also been built on the side of the sky ladder, specifically to take people who wanted to go straight to the top.

"Do you have any festivals? It's so lively."

Sitting on the cable car, Li Ang saw that there were no festival decorations in the city, so he chatted with Will.

"A blessing festival held by the Frost Tower Church. They distribute free food and drinks to all city residents and passing travelers, and there are dances and chanting of prayers to bless the people present. Don't underestimate it; those blessings really have magic effects, with cold resistance and strength increases. Many nearby adventurers come specifically for it."

Blessing is a type of magic released by monk-type professions. Through special ritual preparation, it can allow magic to amplify others in a special way.

"And," Will smiled mysteriously: "The reason this festival is livelier than usual is also because of the appearance of that mysterious high priestess. She's a great beauty."

"There's even a more beautiful girl helping to host the blessing ceremony. No one had seen her before. Many people are guessing if she's the successor of the high priestess."

Will glanced at Dorothy, who was silently following along, and whispered: "You should watch your gaze, don't make your companion unhappy."

Li Ang smiled and didn't say anything.

Li Ang didn't have a big reaction to Will's introduction, which made Dorothy notice something different, and she secretly sized him up.

Winter-Refusal City wasn't big, and the speed of the rail was moderate. Before long, they arrived in front of the cathedral.

"Just in time, the church people are coming out." Will laughed.

The magnificent door frame of the cathedral was several meters high, as if set for giant beasts to pass through. The heavy dark blue doors slowly opened, and a group of priests wearing dark blue robes walked out in formation.

At the very front of the queue, a tiny girl with chestnut hair and red eyes was wearing a dark blue long dress, holding a ritual staff, and walking forward with uncoordinated movements.

Li Ang shook his head with a smile. Dorothy had been paying attention to his expression, and seeing him like this, she was thoughtful.

That somewhat tight-fitting attire, the ornaments on her head, and the ritual shoes with thick heels—it was no wonder that little wildcat Zoe could get used to it.

Eden swayed her figure and walked in the second position.

The crowd began to clamor because of the appearance of the priests. The priests separated by the same distance from each other, looking as if they were about to start dancing.

And Zoe was standing in the lead dancer's position. Li Ang could see that she was incredibly nervous, but also had a kind of eagerness, because this seemed to be some kind of fun thing for her.

Eden was located in the center of all the priests, and the priests behind were holding various musical instruments. The music and dance were about to begin.

Zoe raised the ritual staff, her gaze following the snowflake emblem on the top as it lifted. When it passed through the crowd, it paused slightly, then continued to lift.

She suddenly froze. The priests behind who were preparing to follow the movements were all ready to go, and many people showed expressions of confusion.

The girl lowered her head and blinked hard, confirming that she hadn't seen wrong just now.

At the same time their gazes met, Zoe threw the ritual staff away, kicked off the shoes on her feet, and amidst the crowd's surprise and panic, charged fiercely toward Li Ang.

Not to mention others being panicked, Li Ang was also panicked.

Do—don't hug me—

The girl leaped and crashed straight into his arms. ===== CHAPTER 79 =====