Chapter 80: 79. Star Palace

79. Star Palace

"What is this place?" Dorothy was astonished.

Before they had even entered, the two of them could already see specks of light flowing throughout the entire space; they were like fireflies, yet they danced through the air at a much faster speed, their trajectories seemingly following some sort of profound and mysterious pattern.

Li Ang estimated the distance they had just walked; this vast space was already inside the peak of Frost Sky Island.

Walking further ahead, one could see that the floor of the space and the distant walls were all built from translucent glaze—no, it shouldn't be called built, because this glaze was a seamless whole, and one could not see any joints at all.

Even calling it glaze was incorrect, for no glaze could be so transparent and clear while still flowing with magic; its interior seemed to have light spots pulsing as well, and its surface was not smooth, as if it had formed naturally.

"What the two distinguished guests are seeing is a substance known as 'Star Crystal'."

Noticing the gazes of Li Ang and his companion, Eden explained from the front.

The beast-eared woman glanced at Dorothy, then looked at Li Ang: "Who is this guest?"

"Like Zoe, she is a member of my party."

"Like me?"

Zoe’s eyes flashed with questions as she looked Dorothy up and down, her brows slightly furrowed as she observed the woman’s curves, which, while not as full as Eden’s, were sufficiently alluring.

"You don't look like me at all."

Dorothy gave a dry laugh: "Yes, yes, little sister."

"Li Ang," Zoe stared straight into Li Ang's eyes: "I thought I was your only party member."

"It's impossible to have a party with only two people." Li Ang recalled; this girl should have at least that level of common sense.

"Ah, right, I didn't have a chance to introduce you just now."

Li Ang rubbed his temples; Zoe was truly skilled at kicking people out of their normal train of thought. Once she caused a mess, he forgot everything.

He stepped between the two and introduced them to each other.

"This is Zoe, a child I met back home on Satus Island. She’s a bit mischievous, but she’s a kind, good child. She excels at using a sword and possesses special potential."

"This is Dorothy, a companion I adventured with in the past. We happened to meet in the Ignis airspace this time. She also has special potential, so she will be adventuring with us from now on."

Li Ang spoke briefly; as for the specifics of their respective powers, he would let them get to know each other slowly later—it couldn't be explained in a sentence or two.

"Hello." Dorothy’s polite smile was impeccable.

Zoe did not respond to her; she tugged on Li Ang’s sleeve and pointed at Dorothy, asking: "How long ago was the past?"

"About eight years ago."

"Oh." Zoe counted on her fingers, and finally, she laughed in realization: "Then I’ve known you longer."

"What is there to argue about with that?"

Li Ang didn't know how many times he had sighed since just a moment ago. He looked up, only to see Dorothy beside him wearing a strange expression.

"What do you mean by 'longer'?" The half-elf girl’s rainbow-colored eyes were locked onto Li Ang’s face.

Zoe: "Although I didn't know Li Ang back then, I had already been sleeping in Li Ang’s bed and on his bedding every day."

"You two have a history." Dorothy squinted as she looked over.

"Stop, stop, stop."

Li Ang stepped between the two and said to Eden: "In any case, if there are important things to discuss, there is no need to avoid her; she is trustworthy..."

"Hey, what’s with that quieter and quieter voice at the end?" the half-elf girl called out: "I can get hurt too, you know? I’ve clearly entrusted my whole life to you."

Zoe’s large red eyes blinked.

"Then please, both of you, continue to follow me."

Eden swayed her large, icy-blue tail as she led the way forward. Dorothy muttered something under her breath and followed along, looking indignant.

Li Ang whispered to her: "It’s not that I don’t trust you; I was just thinking about how to tell you about this series of events. As a teammate, you need to know, but it might exceed everything you’ve known as common sense in the past."

"Anyway, I’m just someone who doesn't understand anything, right?"

"That’s something even I didn't know."

"Fine, I’ll try my best not to lose my composure. However, they don't know about the Magic Life Flower either, do they? I heard from my mother that it’s also an ancient secret."

Zoe quietly observed the two talking, her nose unconsciously sniffing at something.

"What are you doing?" Li Ang asked.

"Why do you and she have the same scent on you?"

"We took the same ship."

"Oh."

The girl nodded, a trace of doubt still on her delicate little face as she pinched her chin and pondered something.

Under Eden’s guidance, the three arrived at the center of the vast space.

"Lord Li Ang," Eden turned back: "This is my Star Palace."

"This is the place you mentioned before, where you specifically wanted to bring Zoe."

Eden nodded, her large ears swaying slowly.

"Due to the arrival of the Divine Child, my power has recovered, and the light in this place is even more abundant."

Li Ang glanced at Eden’s panel.

Previously, both her energy source and skill sections had the word "depleted," but now they had all disappeared, causing her combat power boost to rise to 38%.

As the wolf-woman’s voice fell, Li Ang’s sleeve fluttered, and golden light flowed to the side, condensing into the Earth Serpent, Anastasia.

"Little An!"

Zoe excitedly hugged the giant serpent. The giant serpent’s star-like eyes flickered, as if conveying some information to the girl.

"So you two have been through so much..."

Zoe seemed to have received the information completely in an instant, looking at Li Ang with a hint of worry.

"We'll talk about those things later."

The girl nodded obediently.

Eden said: "My kin are all transformed from a part of the natural world, but we were not born from natural or supernatural laws."

"We were born under the guidance of that ancient race called the Divine People, right?" Li Ang thought of the device in the island-heart ruins on Satus Island.

Eden nodded, but seemed unwilling to talk about the Divine People, only saying: "Because we were not born from the laws of the world, although my kin are set to exist forever, our core power, the 'Light of the Star Soul,' will gradually consume itself with the passage of time and cannot replenish itself."

"Most of the time, my kin choose to hibernate to pass the long years, and the faint Light of the Star Soul during sleep also dissipates; through its irradiation, the surrounding matter transforms into 'Star Crystal'."

Li Ang looked up at the vast space around him: "So, you once hibernated here."

"Yes."

Eden raised her hand, and the light spots throughout the space began to move, circling in the air under the guidance of her power.

"And within the vast amount of Star Crystal, the Light of the Star Soul is also produced, nourishing us once again. Throughout the ages, this is how my kin have maintained our existence. We call the space where we continue our existence the Star Palace."

Li Ang squatted down, touched the Star Crystal floor, and sensed the spirit within it.

Just as she said, the spirit in the Star Crystal attracted magic, slowly transforming it into a type of energy Li Ang had never felt before. It was scorching yet stable; it should be the Light of the Star Soul that provided power to the Star Soul.

The spirit of the Star Crystal was different from the spirits of the natural world. Ordinary spirits had intermittency when they followed their instincts to draw in magic and interfere with the material world, much like a person’s cycle of work and rest, but these spirits in the Star Crystal were producing the Light of the Star Soul at a completely identical speed.

Eden continued: "However, Star Crystal originally comes from my kin ourselves; their replenishment can only delay exhaustion. Fortunately, the Divine Child has already descended into this world."

"In this Star Palace, the Light of the Star Soul is not as scorching as it is in our bodies, making it more suitable for helping the current Divine Child grow."

"Living up to the mission, in just three days, the Divine Child has already achieved an increase in strength."

Oh?

Li Ang hadn't looked at Zoe’s panel earlier, so he immediately opened it.

He discovered that the girl’s caster profession had been confirmed as Elementalist, and she had two slots for contracted spirits: one was the Earth Serpent, and the other was the Frost Sky Giant Wolf.

Is the Star Soul really that excessive? Can it even fill the slots for elemental spirits?

What was even more excessive was that both of her profession tiers had reached 3.

Although it was relatively easy to improve the three tiers of the Mortal realm—basically learning naturally as one became familiar with magic without hitting any talent barriers—Li Ang still underestimated the growth speed of the Star Soul greenhouse. Isn't this just cheating?

However, not breaking through the realm meant that even with a cheat, one still had to consider personal effort.

"My kin have other assistance we can provide to the Divine Child."

As Eden spoke, she stepped back a distance, revealing her giant wolf form amidst the shrouding ice mist.