The appearance of this classical sofa was unmistakably the very one Lanqi and Hyperion had been sitting on before Chequers Manor dissolved; neither of them could be more familiar with it.
[Chequers Manor Sofa]
[Category: Magic Item]
[Quality: White Common]
[Tier: 1]
[Effect: As an official country residence of the Polante Empire, Chequers Manor can be chosen for high-level negotiations and working retreats when greater privacy and security are required; its furnishings are also of exceptional quality.]
[Note: Bonus gift from the Shadow World: Darkest Solar Eclipse Demon Realm.]
"Why did it give us a sofa?"
Lanqi pointed at the sofa, bewildered.
Having challenged three Shadow Worlds now, this was the first time he had ever seen a bonus gift.
Hyperion shook her head; she didn't know why either.
"Does your place need a sofa?" Lanqi asked Hyperion.
His dormitory living room already had a sofa, and putting one out on the balcony might just end up getting pecked apart by little birds again.
He still preferred a more spacious balcony, where a rattan chair to lean back in and leisurely read a book was quite enough.
"I don't think there's any room for it at the duke's estate."
Hyperion thought about it. If she brought this sofa back, she would have to get rid of an existing one, but she was reluctant to throw away old furniture.
"This sofa shouldn't be cheap, meow! Can we move it back to Boss Cat's Restaurant?"
Hearing that neither of them wanted it, Boss Cat hopped up in delight. It felt this Chequers Manor Sofa suited its restaurant's style perfectly!
"No problem."
Later, the three of them could just move the sofa over to Boss Cat's Restaurant.
With their spoils collected, the thought of returning to Ikerite Academy—where the second academic year had already begun—brought memories of drowsy hours in the School of Sages' classrooms crashing over Lanqi's mind like a tidal wave.
If possible, he wished he could just do public service every day around the school and nearby communities, rather than ever attending lectures in the School of Sages again.
Fortunately, clearing this Tier 7 Shadow World would resolve a great deal of trouble for Professor Borao, giving him time to mentor students. In the new semester, Lanqi would hardly need to set foot in the School of Sages; his daily coursework would be handled entirely by his dedicated mentor, Professor Borao.
It was now August. There were a few things he needed to consult Professor Borao of the School of Magic Engineering about, and he also had to figure out how to craft [Caliera's Shadow-Weaving Record] into a finished card. At the same time, Lanqi hadn't forgotten Loren; he would help him take care of the remaining trouble, after which Lanqi could set out from his hometown in the South Vantina frontier territory toward the Creti Empire at the southernmost edge of the Southern Continent.
"Hyperion, before long, we'll be heading out to search for Duke Mikhail's whereabouts. This journey might be more dangerous than any of our previous travels. Are you ready?"
Lanqi looked at Hyperion and asked.
Compared to back when they had first made that promise, both of them had grown vastly stronger; they were no longer rookies who had to exert themselves just to fight a Tier 5 examiner.
Upon advancing to Tier 6, Lanqi's already extraordinarily high Spirit had seen another massive increase. His maximum mana, mana regeneration rate, spell resistance, and other attributes had likewise improved significantly. Combined with the Great Demon Mark that boosted his magic defense and mitigated spell effects, magic below Tier 6 barely had any effect on him anymore.
Yet the colossus known as the Creti Empire was vastly larger than the Protos Empire and the Kingdom of Estherland combined—a true behemoth spanning the Southern Continent.
"No problem. I feel like I'm already approaching Tier 7; I'll soon be able to become a Tier 7 Priest."
Hyperion clenched her fist with conviction.
During her time in the Northern Continent, she had trained diligently under the Ice Witch. Now, after completing this Tier 7 Shadow World, not only had she reached Tier 6, she was merely a single step away from Tier 7.
"Alright, let's move the things back to Boss Cat's Restaurant. Having not seen you for over a month, Tata must miss you terribly,"
Lanqi said, resting his hands on his hips as he looked at the sofa.
"Though, after clearing this Tier 7 Shadow World, there'll probably be some first-year juniors waiting outside the Void Gate plaza to see the commotion. There will likely be plenty of reporters staking out the place like Senior Luweixier too. Leaving the campus might be a bit tricky."
He would have to plan their route ahead of time.
"Juniors..."
Hyperion murmured blankly to herself.
While clearing a Tier 7 Shadow World was bound to cause quite a sensation in the eyes of their juniors,
she actually remembered something important from this Shadow World.
Something she instinctively wanted to forget—
In this Shadow World...
she had kissed Lanqi right in front of everyone.
Instantly, Hyperion's cheeks flushed crimson.
The thought of stepping out of the Shadow World only to be surrounded by Ikerite students looking for spectacle made her want to crawl into a hole in the ground!
"I don't want to go back,"
Hyperion gently tugged at Lanqi's sleeve, her voice dripping with mortification.
Lanqi, who had been about to leave, turned back to look at her, but couldn't see her face. She kept her head lowered in sheer embarrassment.
"..."
Lanqi fell silent for a moment.
He turned around, walked over to a spacious landing amidst the steps of the Starlit Plaza, and began hauling the sofa all by himself.
Hyperion watched Lanqi.
Sure enough, her request had been far too willful; Lanqi had been rendered speechless and had no choice but to drag the sofa off on his own.
If they didn't go back, they couldn't just stay in this threshold space forever, could they?
"Since there happens to be a sofa right here, let's watch a movie,"
Lanqi said with a smile, looking over at Hyperion after straightening the sofa.
"Huh?"
Hyperion let out a bewildered sound.
"Right now is probably when the crowds are at their thickest, since they calculated when we'd exit the Shadow World. If we stay for another two hours or so and leave around lunchtime, there should be fewer people."
Lanqi took out Caliera's gemstone once more.
"This [Caliera's Shadow-Weaving Record] has the properties of a top-tier recording crystal, and among the tools Boss Cat brought, there's a magic apparatus that can project it."
Listening to Lanqi's words, Hyperion realized they were standing under a starry sky dancing with phosphorescence, where countless stars flickered with a soft radiance, weaving together this Shadow World's threshold space.
And with Lanqi and Boss Cat's simple arrangement, the Starlit Plaza had transformed into an open-air theater belonging exclusively to them.
"How about it, Hyperion?"
Lanqi rested one hand on the sofa, seemingly waiting for her to come over.
"Thank you, Lanqi."
Hyperion smiled helplessly and hurried over to sit beside him.
"In the future, let's go see even more shows together,"
Hyperion whispered softly to Lanqi, as if unwilling to disturb the quiet before the screening.
"Sure,"
Lanqi confirmed steadily.
"Meow meow, in moments like this, isn't the male lead usually supposed to not hear clearly? You actually answered!"
Boss Cat questioned, lying across the armrest of the sofa.
"Just what kind of romances about the deaf and mute do you usually read?" Lanqi retorted, looking at Boss Cat.
"By the way, what Caliera's gem recorded should be the actual Blood Moon Ruined World era, right?"
Hyperion checked with Lanqi before the screening began.
"That's right."
Lanqi was actually quite curious about the content Caliera had recorded in true history as well, since this Shadow World had already branched into an "IF" route, deviating significantly from actual history.
"Then if the historical scenes Caliera recorded correspond to the period of this Tier 7 Shadow World, wouldn't that mean... there was no witch lady corresponding to me, and only the Child of the Sun, entirely alone?"
Hyperion's expression turned slightly somber.
Piecing together the information from the previous two Shadow Worlds, she already knew how the story had begun: the Child of the Sun's homeland, the Horning Empire, was corrupted by the Blood Clan; as a young soldier of the empire's last special forces unit, he underwent modification surgery in the empire's testing grounds, turning into a pseudo-demon; then he and his comrades journeyed all the way to the Demon Realm of the Northern Continent, all to infiltrate the demon race and grow stronger.
At Purgatory Corridor Academy in Purgatory City Pasqual, the Child of the Sun met the equally lonely half-demon witch lady. Shaded by prejudice among the demons, she was kind-hearted and soon became close friends with him. After weathering all hardships at the academy, she chose to accompany him back to the realm of mankind. In turn, during their time at the academy, the Child of the Sun lost all his comrades from the imperial special forces to an envoy of the Blood Clan who pursued them, leaving him as the sole survivor.
Four years later, the Child of the Sun and the witch lady returned to the Lichtenstein Mountain Range on the northern frontier of the Horning Empire, becoming vital members of the Anti-Blood Clan Church. When invited to Lichtenstein Castle for a crucial gathering, they encountered a traitor within the church. It was during that desperate slaughter lasting seven days and seven nights that the Child of the Sun lost his dear friend, the werewolf prince, and also lost the witch lady who had stayed by his side through their journeys across the northern and southern continents.
Then came sixteen years later, corresponding to the timeline of this third Shadow World, Darkest Solar Eclipse Demon Realm. By then, the once-again solitary Child of the Sun had spent sixteen years climbing to the pinnacle of the Polante Empire, only to be met with yet another isolated, helpless trial.
"Probably, though there's no telling which specific day of those forty-five days left a deep impression on Caliera,"
Lanqi replied after some thought.
The Starlit Plaza was completely enveloped in darkness, the sole source of brightness being the simple magic projector Boss Cat had brought out, humming quietly as it ran.
As the imagery flickered to life, Lanqi and Hyperion both turned their gaze toward the open-air screen at the other end of the plaza, pausing their idle chatter.
Chapter 606