Gold was right beside Weslie when she woke up. The female scholar was amazed by the sterile, comfortable setting she found herself in compared to the slightly dark, cold and dull walls she had been trapped in for the past months. Gold grabbed onto her hand so tightly that she nearly feared her arm was going to fall off from all the numbness.
“What is this place?” Weslie asked as she enjoyed the beautiful seaside scenery outside the window with the winds from the ocean blowing into the room. (Were this not an instance, Jin would have trouble maintaining the building)
“Just as I told you, the power of our new Master is unbelievable. Think of it as a part of a small world in and of itself. One he created thanks to his powers.” Gold chuckled and began to tell her more about what life was like under the System, their new Master Jin and brought her up to date.
With Gold rambling like a grandfather, the Panda Nurses interrupted them once or twice to provide some food for the Scholar of the West. After the first bite, Weslie couldn’t believe it. No matter what, each bite was nothing short of it being delicious. Seeing how preoccupied Weslie was eating, Gold stopped with his tales and partook the meal together with her.
It had been a long time since Weslie felt this way and appreciated every single waking moment with Gold. His details in the stories were equally juicy and sometimes very animated since Gold utilised some magic to show some of his past memories that he had gone through. This lasted until after the sun had set when one more Panda Nurse came in to check on Weslie, asking if they needed anything.
“So…whew. That’s that.” Gold said as he took a glass of water for himself by the table.
“That’s all? I am disappointed.” Weslie replied with a jab in her response and Gold nearly fell for it.
“Hmm…I might have one more surprise story to tell for the ages to come.” Gold revealed mysteriously as he asked her to close her eyes. At that moment, he used the storage ring, which Jin gifted him and pulled out a mirror he got from the previous Panda Nurses when Weslie was too busy with the food. “Okay, you can open them now but do it slowly.”
Weslie listened and opened her eyes gradually, only to see a familiar looking reflection of in front of her. She was stunned. Astonished by the current look on her face. She tried to touch the face, only for the mirror image to replicate her action before she put her hand on her own cheek. She knew that beauty wouldn’t last and Gold had claimed he was willing to accept her for who she was, regardless of her looks, yet Weslie was unable to comprehend the image that was portrayed in the mirror.
Her face was completely back to normal, there was no protrusion of the muscle nor bones or any scars or blemishes as well.
“I…this… I erm…” Weslie was at a loss of words as she covered her mouth and tears began to fall. “Is this really me? I am a normal person…?” She asked as she too could not feel the link of the necromancy magic tied to her repeated resurrection.
“Told ya it was a good story.” Gold winked at her, and she responded with a quick hug.
“Thank you…Thank you…for returning me to normal.” Weslie whispered as she quietly sobbed on his shoulders. Gold instinctively wanted to say it was not entirely his effort, but even a romance idiot should know that it was best to keep quiet for now.
————-
When Weslie had calmed down, Gold opened the door for her, and it was as if she stepped into another world. ‘Welcome Scholar of the West!’ A large banner was set up on the ceiling and poppers were used alongside a unison of shouting coming from the various mansion floors.
Apparently, the System had temporarily linked a ward of the Luxury Recovery Instance with Gold’s home instance, so the moment they stepped out, they would be in Gold’s mansion.
The numerous werejackals and a number of the Dark Templars including the newly joined ones who had ‘survived’ the trial of death and fiery destruction welcomed the newest addition from the Farming World into Gold’s mansion.
They celebrated because Weslie had been one of the more popular and well received scholars among the current four in the Compass Tower. Thus, everyone was excited to see that the Scholar of the West not only survived but was now on the side of ‘good’ too.
Gold had prepped them in advance via the System channel to ensure the surprise welcome would go off without a hitch. He even allowed the werejackals to open the wine stashes, they had previously plundered and ask the penguins to cook up some good food all under his System’s account. However, everyone knew how difficult it was to earn System points and because it was a joyous occasion, every single Werejackal, including the new ones chimed in some form or another. Be it points or effort to set up the whole welcoming party.
Meomi and the goblins even came back from their assault missions to partake in the party while sharing the information they had from all the scouting of caves and raiding of towns. Ke Mi was invited to showcase some of her musical talents which surprisingly took place in the form of DJing.
Many were amazed and bewildered by Ke Mi’s beauty and skill with her in traditional Chinese clothes while wearing her headphones as she rocked the house with some catchy music from Earth and a few songs of her own creation.
The Great White snake no doubt played a big part by aiding Ke Mi to move around the various DJ machines as they partied all night long. Weslie took some time to warm up, but after seeing how the werejackals did it, she began to loosen herself up though never once did she leave Gold’s side. (Or was Gold the clingy one?)
———-
It was a crazy night filled with booze, music and decent company until everyone dropped dead tired. In the meantime, the all seeing System also had made sure to dilute the temporal manipulation of the home instance so the entire group would have sufficient time to rest and ensuring that their plants especially the delicate ones would not be affected by their party.
Come morning, the bellators and Yun visited their home instance along with a few helpers. Milk and the Panda Nurses aided each and every drunken werejackal back to their rooms while ensuring they were not overly intoxicated.
Yun got a few Deep Ones with her and began cleaning the place up. In the meantime, Zeru and a few sober Werejackals who had refused to drink too much had begun to pack the remaining food items that were not eaten into various packages as they would be sent over to the Ording Sanctuary for the Mousefolks.
Zeru figured the leftover food was too good to be thrown away and considering it was still edible, it should not be wasted into the Lost Tech Recycler and be given to the Mousefolk instead. Besides, the weremice deserved some reward for practising every day and night while preparing for the inevitable fight against the Demon Rats.
As they were nimble enough and great with ranged weapons, Zeru had taught them not only the proper way to use swords but introduced them to guns. That is right, Zeru may have come from a different time period, but he studied various different weapons, including the newer ranged one.
While he might only know the basic Weapon Arts for guns, Zeru had a strong foundation in it for he had to learn how guns worked to counter them properly. To be ignorant of other weapons other than the one he was holding was a folly of his old master and the demise of the original Lotus Clan.
Thus, the Mousefolk became competent in both guns and swords, making them versatile warriors and their reward for their hard work was the constant upgrading of their sanctuary even though it was a temporary one. They had better beds, easier access to water and improved sanitation as well as a constant supply of food from the System.
Somehow, Zeru had placed a lot of effort on the Mousefolk as if he saw something in them, but whatever it was, the System lets Zeru do as he pleased as long as he answered Jin’s command.
