Chapter 136: Chapter 122 Return!
A week before the New Year, at dusk, Long Yi stood in the mission hall of the Dragon Knight Academy.
All the management personnel in the mission hall at this time were no longer students, but entirely replaced by representatives of the Empire’s military. All the Crystal Cores gathered from the collective deployment of Dragon Knight students would converge here, amounting to a substantial wealth.
The Empire naturally wouldn’t entrust the task of classification and sorting to unreliable children.
Crystal Cores possessed immense energy, capable of sustaining any machinery that required energy. Researchers from all over the world are currently studying ways to utilize Crystal Cores, and how to efficiently reuse their energy, which is of great interest to emperors of all countries.
The usage of Crystal Cores couldn’t go unnoticed without mentioning the Underground City in darkness.
Currently, the most advanced technology in Crystal Core development comes from the Underground City. According to legends, the people of the Dark City have always used Crystal Core-driven machinery as a substitute for Dragon Power. Some inadvertent adventurers have infiltrated the Underground City and have witnessed the grand and unimaginable underground machine city from legends. There were even perplexing autonomous machinery people.
However, the Underground City has always been closed to surface-dwelling humans. The Subterranean People fear daylight. Their skin burns in the sun and withers in the moonlight. These subterranean beings also disliked humans. Unless necessary, the subterranean beings rarely ever communicated with humans.
The Underground City exported Substitute Puppets and imported large quantities of various vegetables and meats. The emperors of various countries have tried to send envoys to the Underground City, but all have been turned away.
No one knows exactly where the Underground City is. Other than some adventurers who stumbled upon it, humans have never successfully entered the city.
Beyond this, humans know nothing about the Underground City.
Of course, Long Yi, who was always engaged in various studies involving machinery, was unaware of these complex relationships, otherwise, he would certainly have joined in the search for the Underground City.
At this time in the mission hall, it was filled with students who came to turn in their missions. Some garnered a satisfying haul, discussing enthusiastically with their friends, unable to hide their pride in their speech. The crystal cores were proportional to military honors, and what military honors could exchange for were definitely not quantifiable in money; how could these young ones not be happy?
Some had meager harvests, only able to lament about others’ good luck and their own slow pacing.
After all, hunting monsters wasn’t a fair competition. No one knew where a monster would appear. No one knew the level of the monster, either. Small imperial outposts did sell some information about monster sightings. However, monsters weren’t stationary trees, the timeliness of the information wasn’t effective for long.
Long Yi and Ai Lin stood among the crowd, with Little Zi floating by Long Yi’s shoulder, their appearance immediately attracted everyone’s attention.
Firstly, there was Ai Lin.
Ai Lin’s seductive attire and perfect figure have always been a beautiful sight in Dragon Knight Academy. Now, Ai Lin’s new attire attracted even more lascivious looks. However, when they saw the Crystal Core on Ai Lin’s arm, they immediately gasped.
"Look! That’s... a Crystal Core weapon, right?" someone asked quietly.
"Nonsense! It definitely is!"
"That’s a huge Crystal Core! It’s either level nine or eight, right?"
"So extravagant!"
"I heard that Crystal Core weapons must be transformed into a Crystal Core weapon within an hour of removing the Crystal Core itself!"
"Could it be that they hunted two level nine monsters, then directly used them to make Crystal Core weapons?"
"So damn extravagant!"
A group of people stared at the two gleaming red Crystal Cores on Ai Lin’s hands, full of envy. The cores were activated, not merely giving off light from within. If they were to exchange these Crystal Cores for military merits, how many could they receive! But they just turned them into Crystal Core weapons! How could weaponry be more important than military merits!
"Hey, look at that Crystal Core first. You see that big fellow is Long Yi, right? And the little girl floating next to him is..."
"Damn! It’s a female demon!" someone exclaimed, instantly drawing all eyes onto Little Zi.
Little Zi was already in her Complete Form, always with Long Yi, and being nourished by Long Yi’s Giant power had made her evolve rapidly. Now, Little Zi completely resembled a beautifully dressed little maid hovering in the air. If she wasn’t floating there, she would have been indistinguishable from humans.
Little Zi, unfazed by the crowd, freely performed various adorable poses in the air, openly stealing the show.
"God, look, that little female demon... she’s so cute!"
"Yes, yes, I really want to hug her!"
"If she sweetly calls me ’big brother’, I’m willing to die!"
A group of men stood there, eyes glazed over, immersed in countless fantasies. Meanwhile, others in the crowd seemed tense. Their power was stronger and had just felt the abnormal change in their mental state, but their strong force of will quickly restored their clarity. Then they noticed how all the students were fixated on Little Zi, faces bearing a strange smile. Some tried calling out to their peers, but they had no response!
"Little Zi!"
Long Yi quickly tugged Little Zi, reminding her that they were still in Dragon Knight Academy, and she should follow its rules.
Little Zi giggled. Her psychic energy dissipated, and the crowd quickly went blank. Soon after, the crowd began to stir.
"Was that mental manipulation just now?"
"Oh my God! It was unnoticeable!"
"I was calling you just now, you didn’t respond at all!"
"We’ve seen a ghost! That’s a female demon! Even if she’s cute, she’s still a demon!"
"Can you please not mention the word ’cute’?"
"Wait a second! That female demon seems to be Long Yi’s subordinate? Is Long Yi trying to flaunt his power?"
The honest Long Yi heard these words and gave an awkward smile. He sincerely looked at everyone’s faces, expressing his desire for peace. You can challenge higher ranks, you can disregard instructors, but you can’t provoke others at this place. That would be unreasonable behavior, and Long Yi couldn’t do that.
Seeing how her actions had gotten Long Yi into trouble, Little Zi stuck her tongue out in embarrassment and hid behind Long Yi.
