Chapter 78: 77. Seeing the Little Wildcat Again

77. Seeing the Little Wildcat Again

Li Ang slept for nearly a day and a night.

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

Upon arriving on the deck, the warm breeze carried by the Floss airspace finally eased his spirit.

Seeing him come out, Dorothy stood by the ship's wheel and shouted, "Ah, you're awake!"

She locked the wheel and walked toward the cabin: "I stopped at a few small islands along the way and bought all sorts of food. You must be hungry, right?"

The young girl dragged out a tea table and chairs that were ornate, almost approaching a Rococo style, set out the food, and even began to brew tea. Although her ship was small, it was equipped with all kinds of high-priced utensils; naturally, there was no shortage of magic-guided kettles that boiled water automatically.

Dorothy was a bit clumsy; it was clear she didn't brew tea often, but she was full of enthusiasm. Although she spilled some hot water, she basically managed it.

Sitting down at the table, she had prepared some pastries.

Li Ang looked up at her, and the young girl said rather embarrassedly: "I don't know what kind of food is suitable for travel, so I just bought what I wanted to eat. I didn't buy too much, so there won't be any waste once we finish."

Not wanting to dampen her mood, Li Ang nodded and said: "It just so happens I've never had this style of pastry."

Dorothy chuckled and sat down beside him.

In the distance was a continuous sea of clouds, and no islands could be seen in the immediate vicinity. Above this azure sky, a small tea party unfolded.

Li Ang sipped his tea, recalling how he had been fighting various monsters in the Demon Disaster Domain not long ago, and felt a slight sense of melancholy at everything before him.

After savoring it for a while, he determined it wasn't melancholy, but rather his heart adjusting his thoughts, allowing him to begin adapting to a brand-new life.

The small ship sailed slowly through the blue sky. Its speed was not fast, so it would likely take three or four days to reach the Gorassis airspace.

In terms of departure time, Li Ang had not broken his promise to Zoe. However, after she left in the small ship, she would have Eden's assistance; that giant wolf was very fast, so Li Ang should have a time difference of more than two days.

There was no entertainment to pass the time on the road, so Li Ang stood in the wide area of the deck, preparing to continue improving his swordsman experience based on the previous situation.

After reaching a Tier 2 Swordsman, he hadn't had a chance to accumulate any of the 500 experience points.

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

He took it out; it was the strange measuring device he had picked up from the Imperial soldiers on Satus Island.

He had originally intended to send the Imperial soldiers to the Order Hall before studying it, but then he encountered the blocked shipping lane and the annihilation of the knights, and he had almost forgotten about this.

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 materials that reacts when in contact with certain spirituality.]

[Purpose: To measure special spirituality.]

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

The strange warships of the Empire, the Annihilation Knights, and this measuring instrument—they were all created by relying on that strange purple tissue. The so-called "special spirituality," judging from the Imperial army's behavior at the time, referred to a certain spirituality within Zoe.

What Li Ang could not confirm was the principle behind how this purple substance took effect, and exactly which part of Zoe's power it was pursuing—was it the Star Soul Greenhouse or certain traits she inherited from her parents?

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

He found the helmet and put it on, and Li Ang entered the state of hyper-sensory vision.

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

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

Li Ang frowned; after the spirituality within it pulled on magic power, it was not trying to reshape the material world, but rather trying to use magic power to annihilate all matter and energy.

This completely violated conventional spiritual tendencies.

He dug into the knowledge in his mind and only found one thing that was similar.

Could this be "Dark Element"?

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

However, when one's strength reaches a certain level, one will come into contact with the concept of so-called "Higher Elements."

Conceptually, there are two elements that transcend all others: they are Light and Dark.

The reason they are called concepts is that they are not the smallest units of concrete matter or energy like the four basic elements, but rather higher-dimensional forces. They are just called elements because their application is similar to the four basic elements.

Of course, the power of Light and Dark is much stronger than the four elements. They do not participate in the restraint cycle of the four elements; Light and Dark restrain each other, waxing and waning.

Scholars of the Thousand Towers City had summarized their characteristics.

The Light element is the afterglow of the world's creation, and the Dark element is the residue after all things are annihilated.

The former is the power that constructs the world and brings new life to all things, while the latter is the power that destroys the world and brings death.

Li Ang had only seen Light and Dark attributes in some particularly tricky ancient relic creations or powerful magical beasts. He had heard that some people mastered the power of Light and Dark, but he had not seen such people yet; at least, there were no such people among the top ten Sky Knights or the top four heavenly legions.

If this purple substance was indeed the Dark element, then it was certainly qualified to harm a powerful Star Soul.

Li Ang decided that after picking up Zoe and letting the two girls in the team become familiar with adventuring, he would find time to go to Thousand Towers City and have a truly profound scholar identify this thing.

He put away the measuring instrument and began to practice his swordsmanship.

The time that followed passed just like that; Li Ang swung his sword with all his might, while Dorothy watched him shed sweat from the side.

They made a brief stop at the trade capital in the Floss airspace, and the ship flew straight toward the Gorassis airspace.

As soon as they passed through the shipping lane, the warm wind immediately turned cold. As the ship moved forward, snowflakes began to drift in the air, and frost began to form in many places on the airship. The coat he had reminded Dorothy to buy at the trade capital came in handy, but she still let out a series of shouts and exclamations.

By the time they reached Frost Sky Island, five days had passed, and Li Ang's Tier 2 Swordsman experience had accumulated to 296/500.

"That's Frost Sky Island!"

Dorothy exclaimed as she gazed into the distance.

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

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

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

The ship docked at the port, and after completing the docking procedures, the two of them felt that the place was caught in a lively atmosphere.

It was the end of May; in his memory, there were no festivals on Frost Sky Island at this time, right?

Li Ang was 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 it, he grabbed the man's shoulder.

Startled by his action, the administrator subconsciously made a defensive move, but after seeing his face, he 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 heartily. His temples were gray, and he had lost much of his former dashing style, but he recalled some of it while laughing.

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

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

"I'm here to take care of some business, and I had intended to visit you anyway."

"Is this your little girlfriend? You kid are something else, where did you snatch her from?" Will looked at Dorothy.

"She is a member of my team."

"Hello." Dorothy performed a standard noble salute.

"A team member," Will's smile slowly faded, "I guessed a little about the Soul Apex; you really did leave the team."

"Forget it, let's not talk about that for now," Will pointed to the cathedral on the mountain top: "Come join the fun with me first, 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, it's very slow to walk up," the man greeted.

A cable car had been built along the side of the sky ladder, specifically to take those 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 festive decorations in the city, so he started chatting with Will.

"It's a blessing celebration 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 those present. Don't underestimate it; those blessings really have magical effects, providing cold resistance and increased strength. Many nearby adventurers come here specifically for it."

A blessing is a type of magic released by monk-class professions. Through special ritual preparations, it can allow magic power to amplify others in a special way.

"And then," Will smiled mysteriously: "The reason this celebration is livelier than usual is the appearance of that mysterious High Priestess. She is a great beauty."

"There is even a more beautiful girl helping to host the blessing ceremony. No one has ever seen her before, and many people are guessing if she is the successor to the High Priestess."

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

Li Ang smiled and didn't say anything.

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

Refuse-Winter City was not large, the cable car moved at a moderate speed, and 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 designed 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 a line.

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

Li Ang smiled and shook his head. Dorothy had been watching his expression, and seeing him like this, she became thoughtful.

With that somewhat restrictive attire, the ornaments on her head, and the ritual shoes with thick heels, it would be a wonder if Zoe, that little wildcat, could get used to it.

Eden swayed her figure as she walked in the second position.

The crowd began to clamor due to the appearance of the priests. The priests were separated by equal distances from each other, and it looked like they were about to start dancing.

And Zoe was standing in the lead dancer's position. Li Ang could tell she was incredibly nervous, but she 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 her ceremonial staff, her gaze following the snowflake emblem on the top as she looked up. It paused slightly as it passed over the crowd, then continued to look up.

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

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

At the same moment their gazes met, Zoe threw the ceremonial staff, kicked off her shoes, and amidst the surprise and panic of the crowd, charged fiercely toward Li Ang.

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

A-a thousand times, don't hug me—

The young girl leaped, crashing straight into his arms.