Roommates!

It was as clichéd an adventure story as could be: a cat-owning master entered a perilous place and, in order to escape, didn't hesitate to strike a bargain with the "demon" dwelling there. Yet diverging from the usual tropes, not only did Purr "forget" the agreement, she never suffered any backlash from the "demon" either. Purr ultimately turning into a cat had been the result of various accidents, the primary factor being the Light finger. Compared to that finger, the "demon" was utterly beneath notice. Furthermore, the "demon" had been thoroughly hoodwinked. Who knew what method Purr had used back then, but she had actually left it harboring delusions even now, believing that generation after generation of the Aisenna family was still upholding that ancient pact. In truth, even the "Aisenna" family was a complete fabrication. The female corpse let out a cold laugh. "And yet, have you not come after all?" The female corpse's serpentine eyes swept toward Little Kanna. She flicked out her tongue and licked her lips, looking like a human serpent tasting the air. "What's more, you have brought along a dragon of incomparably pure bloodline—a bone dragon, no less... My body had already mostly collapsed when I was suppressed, and under the erosion of such countless years, it has decayed nearly beyond recognition. The body of this dragon is just what I need to rebuild my skeletal frame. "This is your fate. It is the inevitable outcome of the covenant your ancestor forged with me." Karen shook his head and replied with a smile, "Though I don't know the exact details of your agreement with her, nor whether that pact still holds any power, there is one thing I can guarantee: even if it does take effect, it will never fall upon me." The female corpse said, "Under the guidance of destiny, you have no right to choose. Your bloodline has already laid out your path in life beforehand." "Whatever makes you happy." Karen could no longer be bothered to explain. His attention shifted upward, overhead. Outside, a creature of colossal proportions was moving rapidly in their direction, sending unmistakable tremors through the ground—undoubtedly its true body. Yet Karen felt no panic, because the array aura circulating overhead was growing denser and denser. An external force was infiltrating inward, which meant a temple elder was about to enter. Earlier, Karen had humiliated Xiti, but not through his own strength; he had relied on the authority of his position. No one could deny the sheer terror of the power represented by a temple elder. *Rumble...* The surrounding mountain began collapsing at a terrifying rate as the enormous serpentine form gradually revealed itself. The true body of Chisas had arrived. Though thoroughly dilapidated, its massive, decayed serpent head loomed high above, looking down upon everything. The female corpse spoke: "Give this dragon to me. Then, help me ignite this statue and shatter the seal here. I shall bestow supreme glory upon you and your family." "Keep dreaming." Karen knew that if the true Space Serpent had appeared before him, his current strength would never suffice to face it. Yet perhaps because this was an era devoid of gods, not only were deities unable to descend, but powerful beings were also indirectly prevented from reclaiming their past glory. In simple terms, this serpent was merely an undead lifeform born from the decayed remains of Chisas after its fall and suppression here. "You seem to have misunderstood. I am not soliciting your opinion; I am giving you an order." The female corpse pointed forward, and the gigantic serpent head above began bearing down toward them. Karen threw his head back, spreading his arms wide as his dharma body materialized to unleash an art. "Order—Gate of Judgment!" *Thud! Thud! Thud!...* Massive black gates plummeted one after another, blocking the giant serpent's path. *Bang! Bang!* Yet the immensely thick gates failed to truly halt it, merely slowing the serpent's momentum for a split second. Little Kanna pouted, about to step forward and revert to her dragon form. Karen pressed his hand down onto her head to stop her. "No need to fight. Someone is coming to deal with it." Little Kanna immediately threw up both hands and clutched Karen's wrist. Qianmei, having just returned to Karen's body and replenished its energy, spread its wings once more. It carried Karen off the ground, and Little Kanna held on to his hand as they took flight together. The female corpse seemed surprised that Karen would flee so decisively. She immediately commanded the great serpent to shudder its massive frame. *Buzz!* All around them, grid-like patterns resembling snake scales instantly materialized, each grid sealing off an area of space. This was Chisas's innate ability. In the eyes of the Space Serpent, the world was built of toy blocks, ready to be stacked or dismantled at will. However, its body was far too decayed. Though the formidable innate ability was unleashed, the speed at which it spread was sluggish. In Mr. Hoffen's encyclopedic notes, it was recorded: *When it descends, its body trembles slightly with a crisp ringing sound, whereupon an entire sacred land is blanketed by scale-like grids. Arrays, humans, monster beasts—every existence within the sacred land is cast into a spatial cage, like exhibits placed within a display case.* Karen surmised that over the past two centuries, maintaining this statue and nurturing the key had caused its condition to deteriorate even further. In other words, the entity Purr had encountered two hundred years ago was drastically different from the one he was facing now. Though it still possessed miraculous power and an undeniable remnant body, it was like an enraged bull—as long as he maintained his rhythm and technique without attempting to face it head-on, surviving posed no great issue. Most importantly, its "popularity" here seemed atrocious. When it appeared, the other entities in the dungeon kept their distance, sparing Karen from the collective onslaught he had encountered when he first arrived. Standing atop the serpent's head, the female corpse rose as the colossal serpentine body reared straight up into the air. The terrifying silhouette resembled an approaching storm cloud seen across an open sea. "Whoa, it's way, way bigger than Augie." Little Kanna voiced her admiration. She had always harbored an obsession with growing up, because whenever Purr gave her lessons, she would always tell her: *You're still small, so study hard and do your homework diligently. Once you grow up, you'll be free.* Karen said, "It's nothing special now—just an empty frame." "Its scales are so pretty!" On the decayed remains of Chisas, a few patches of snake scales still lingered. They were an eerie, vivid emerald green, beautiful yet bizarre—and prime spatial-attribute materials. As a bone dragon, having no scales had always been a regret of Little Kanna's. "Qianmei, keep your distance." After instructing Qianmei, Karen summoned his dharma body once more and channeled his arts. Before him, a dense barrage of Spears of Judgment condensed into form. Karen then veered away as Chisas slammed forward. The spears shattered across its body, failing to inflict substantial harm, but they did knock loose a few scales. Qianmei swooped downward, and Karen caught one of the dislodged scales in midair. He could have taken two, but there was no time; each scale was the size of a whole house. In such a short window, the overflowing Flame of Order from Karen could only envelop and smelt one, compressing it down to the size of a palm. Securing the scale, Qianmei rapidly ascended, dodging the foul stream of green venom spewed from the serpent's maw. Large size had its perks, but small size had its advantages as well. Perched atop the serpent's head, the female corpse clenched her fists in fury. She was like an elephant trying to swat a fly. The spatial seal grids continually conjured under her direction were like repeated swings of a flyswatter that consistently failed to hit their mark. Once they had pulled a safe distance away, Karen handed the scale to Little Kanna. She cradled it in her hands, beaming with delight. Karen always doted on Little Kanna, never forgetting to find her a toy even at a time like this. After several more rounds of evasion, Qianmei sent a wave of intent requesting permission to expand its maneuvering radius, but Karen denied it. While a broader range would ensure greater safety, it would also cause the temple elder about to enter to lose their clearest coordinates. The commotion stirred up by the colossal serpent was as blinding as a beacon in this dark dungeon. There was no helping it; Karen had to account for Xiti's "intellect." Finally, a pillar of dark red light pierced down from the sky. If the dungeon were compared to an opaque balloon, it was as though someone was now shining a flashlight directly into it. The great serpent was visibly startled by the pillar of light, its movements grinding to a halt. Qianmei pulsed with excited emotion, wanting to draw near the beam to be locked onto. "Don't go." Karen once again overruled Qianmei's instincts. Instead, he waved his arm from a distance. A giant hand manifested and reached toward the light pillar. Yet before it could make contact, layers of grid lines blanketed it, locking it tightly in place. The female corpse's shock had been feigned; she had long since laid spatial seals around the pillar of light, waiting for Karen to fly into the trap. Karen flicked his wrist, willingly dissipating the giant hand formed by his dharma body. *Hiss...* The palm of his left hand twitched, blood welling out, but it was insignificant. Overhead, the aura of the array was still gathering. Yet this beam of light had descended ahead of it. Karen felt a twinge of bewilderment: *What kind of move is this?* The great serpent might not have been bright, but it wasn't an idiot. With such a blatant indicator, how could it fail to notice the array fluctuations overhead? The serpent surged upward, opening its maw to preemptively crush the gathering array aura, cutting off any chance of Karen escaping via that route. Karen pursed his lips, uncertain of the arrangements being made outside. Soon, however, the situation became clear. The pillar of light moved on its own, shifting across the space to illuminate the great serpent. Immediately following it, a humanoid phantom descended. His foot came down squarely upon the serpent's back. The immense creature, whose size had earned even Little Kanna's awe, stood utterly powerless beneath the stomp of that humanoid silhouette, driven violently into the earth. *Boom!* A massive crater opened in the ground. By instinct, the serpent's body coiled around the phantom, its spatial power violently slashing in a frantic flurry. Yet the phantom stood motionless. A dark red radiance flared from his figure, clinging to the great serpent before bursting into horrific heat. "Aaaaargh!" The female corpse shrieked, and the serpent head roared in agony, yet neither could break free. Gradually, the serpent's flesh shriveled at a visible rate until, from afar, it resembled nothing more than a desiccated gecko. *Is this... the power of a temple elder?* It wasn't Xiti's aura. Was it the elder who had engaged in a tug-of-war with him through the teleportation array? Karen knew that condensing a godhead fragment was equivalent to possessing a portion of a deity's might; both the elevation of the soul and the tier of life reached a realm incomprehensible to ordinary mortals. Yet Karen had made his own estimates of such power. On the battlefield, he had seen temple elders bombarded by salvos of magic crystal cannons from air fleets; in Samsara Valley, the temple elders of the Church of Samsara had intervened against Rielsa when she emerged from the gate. Still, the power demonstrated by this temple elder exceeded Karen's past vague impressions. One had to remember that the man's true body had not even entered—this was merely a projection, not even a full dharma body. Perhaps because the commotion was simply too massive, or perhaps drawn by the aura of the teleportation array, the dungeon's other "inmates," who had previously kept away out of deference to Chisas, now began converging on the area. Unrest rippled through the dungeon. From deep within the phantom, a gaze swept outward. In an instant, the unrest subsided. Like prisoners banging on iron bars suddenly reduced to docility, they instantly quieted down. A voice drifted from the phantom: "Is the Pangxi family's dungeon always this filthy and disorderly...?" The moment the voice reached Karen's ears, an overwhelming sense of familiarity washed over him. It sounded like someone he had heard before; as absurd as it was, he felt as if he had met this person somewhere, interacted with him. The phantom began to move. Chisas clung tightly to him, yet could do nothing to hinder his steps. He arrived before Purr's statue. "Heh heh..." As if discovering something immensely amusing, he chuckled. Karen could understand why he laughed. When he had first learned the statue's purpose, he had found it hilarious as well. Who would have guessed that the home of an esteemed temple elder of the Church of Order had constantly sat atop a hazard ready to detonate at any moment? "Sigh..." The phantom let out a sigh, rendered utterly speechless by Xiti's foolishness. She had believed that merely plugging the entrance and exit would resolve everything. But how could matters ever be handled so naively? He raised his foot and stomped down onto Purr's statue. *Boom!* The statue shattered, and the accumulated resentment beneath it surged upward, whipping up a terrifying storm of malice. However, stripped of the statue's guiding focus, the wildly dispersing resentment soon drifted back into the dungeon. The inmates within grew agitated once again, their spirits soaring. *Roar!* *Roar!* *Roar!* Howls echoed one after another. Over the past two centuries, they had been subjected to continuous bloodletting by the statue, leaving them listless and drained. Now, their wild nature had returned. The phantom paid it no mind, as this was the natural state of a sealed ground. It was precisely because such remnants could not be easily eradicated that they were locked away in an isolated place. Unless a true deity descended, or a gathering of temple elders wielded divine artifacts to conduct a protracted purification, it was impossible to completely extinguish the endless husk creatures here. Having done this, the phantom seemed to recall something. "Almost forgot why I came. I'm not here to do janitorial work... Hey, you're not dead, are you?" The phantom's "gaze" swept across the surroundings. Karen knew he was looking for him. Yet Karen did not immediately respond, because as the voice spoke several times from within the phantom, he finally remembered where that familiar feeling came from! That dormitory—the dormitory from a thousand years ago. Mad Pope Philias, High Priest Budalas, Great Adventurer Dicarost... Ukonga. Karen knew that he had survived to this day, and that he had been searching for the version of Karen that had appeared in the dormitory that day. Yet Karen had never expected that the man would appear here, coming to his "rescue." Karen made no sound, but a cluster of the Flame of Order flared beneath his feet. Drawn by the flare, the phantom's "gaze" swept toward Karen, and a gentle force enveloped him. "Phew... Good, you're alive." Karen offered a respectful bow. Overhead, the teleportation array seemed to finalize its coordinates, rapidly locking into place. "Come on out. Rohan said you're well-versed in arrays." Karen nodded. Qianmei spread its wings, carrying Karen up toward that position. Once there, Karen laid down a simple resonance array around himself. Upon synchronizing, the teleportation beam settled over Karen, and the transit commenced! *** *Buzz!* Karen returned to the hall inside Pangxi Manor, standing within the teleportation circle. The three elderly caretakers originally in charge of maintenance were no longer present—they had fainted during the tug-of-war between Karen and Rohan. In their place stood six middle-aged priests. Upon Karen's appearance, the six bowed in greeting: "Greetings, Minister." "Greetings, Minister." Only these six were present; there was no sign of Xiti, nor the second elder, nor Ukonga. It was a tacit understanding: treat this incident as if it had never happened, and have Karen return home as quickly as possible. Karen let out a breath and nodded to the six Pangxi priests below. "Teleport to the Yorktown Region." "Yes, my lord." The teleportation light flared anew. The recent ordeal felt like a dream—a quick adventure that unraveled a chapter of his cat's past, leaving behind seemingly nothing else... Karen looked down to see Little Kanna fiddling with the green serpent scale in her hands. This scale was likely their only souvenir. *** Pangxi Manor, atop the roof of the clan council hall. Rohan stood before a grill, happily roasting meat. Xiti stood off to the side, looking as though she were being punished to stand in the corner. The only one comfortably seated was Ukonga. Rohan said warmly, "Senior, you should try my cooking. Trust me, this is undoubtedly the most delicious barbecue in the world." Ukonga glanced at the grill and shook his head. "I have tasted the most delicious barbecue in the world, but the one who made it for me is no longer around." Rohan asked, "Was it Mr. Dicarost? I have read his adventure logs, but I focused more on the culinary sections. My cooking learned a great deal from him." In truth, neither Rohan nor Xiti understood why Ukonga lingered when the matter had already been resolved. Rohan sensed the teleportation activating in the hall. He smiled and said, "Karen has gone back. The matter is finally settled. I plan to visit him in a couple of days to take him as my student." Pausing, Rohan added, "This aligns with the strategy laid down by the Prophet. Karen is a strong contender on our candidate list. Every formidable candidate will be taken under an elder's wing, serving as an endorsement that the Temple stands behind them." "No need to look for him," Ukonga said. "Nor will he become your student." "Senior, what do you mean by that?" "He will be my student." "Senior..." Rohan wanted to protest. He didn't want to give up a youth with such immense talent in arrays. Yet before Ukonga, Rohan knew that once this man staked a claim, there was virtually no room left to compete. When Ukonga's projection had entered the sealed grounds earlier, both he and Xiti had clearly felt just how terrifying this thousand-year-old temple elder truly was. He had none of his usual sickly demeanor. Though his official rank had been demoted due to merging with an artifact spirit—leaving his treatment in the Temple no different from an ordinary elder, or even slightly lower—it was merely his title that had dropped. No wonder the Prophet had placed him in command of the team sent to resolve the Inmeles incident. Ukonga stood up and said, "Then it's settled. I'm heading back. You two enjoy yourselves, and don't fight." Rohan and Xiti looked at each other, in the end only able to bow respectfully to see Ukonga off. When this senior decided to take verbal liberties with them, there was nothing they could do. Ukonga turned his gaze toward the distant starlight, his eyes deep and contemplative, murmuring in his heart: *Did you really think that by staying silent on purpose, I wouldn't recognize you?* *Hah.* *My dear roommate.*