The creation of the new full-body armor was by no means a simple task, especially since at first Bai Zemin hesitated over whether he should make a metal plate armor or a leather one.
In this type of situation where he was looking for the greatest defense of all the answer seemed to be obvious, but in reality, it was not as simple as it seemed.
While it was true that a metal plate armor granted higher defense, metal was prone to overheat when exposed to high temperatures and the place Bai Zemin was targeting was not a particularly mild one.
However, the reason he still decided to forge a metal plate armor over a leather one was very simple.
“While a leather armor certainly won’t overheat like a metal one, I don’t think there is a leather strong enough to handle the temperature of the sun.”
When Lilith said those words, any hesitation Bai Zemin may have felt in his heart disappeared practically in an instant.
Yes, the metal plate armor would definitely overheat and potentially melt once he got too close to the sun. However, the leather armor was better than this? No, of course not. Leather armor would catch fire immediately like a pile of papers thrown on a burning torch.
Before getting to work, Bai Zemin left the Collector’s Pocket World to put a few things in order since this time he would be absent for several days.
First, he looked for Bai Shilin and Kali. He intended to take both girls with him.
Kali was easy to find, she was alone in the villa of the base that belonged to Bai Zemin.
“…What are you doing?” Bai Zemin asked not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Kali turned her face to look in his direction and said coldly, “I thought the blind person here was me but I guess I was wrong.”
“…” After a brief pause, Bai Zemin shook his head and said amidst a sigh, “Kali, you really don’t want to try to make friends?”
Kali smoothly controlled her wheelchair away from the mutant plants she had been smelling and approached Bai Zemin until she stopped about a meter from him.
She raised her head and he lowered his in such a way that if Kali could open her eyes they would definitely be staring at each other.
“Friends? Luo Ning is pretty good, but she’s too obsessed with getting stronger and practically won’t talk about anything other than zombies and mutant beasts. Wen Yan is so shy she barely speaks while Wen Yun is a naughty little pervert. As for Bai Shilin, she goes on and on about how amazing her dear father is or how beautiful her two adorable mothers are…. understandable for a newborn.” Kali kept talking without pausing, her voice was flat like that of an emotionless robot.
“Then there are the adults, a little better than young children but worse in their own way. Bullet, there are two reasons why I left Eventide World and decided to follow you even if it meant getting away from Seraphina, the only person I could trust.” She finally paused briefly before calmly asking, “You know one of the reasons, but do you know the other?”
The first reason was obviously the fact that Bai Zemin did not treat Kali as a treasure merely because she was able to draw and comprehend runes of a practically divine level. In fact, she knew that he valued more what she always considered a disability.
As for the second reason, he didn’t know. But it definitely wasn’t the fact that he had promised to treat her.
After five seconds of silence, Kali said in a cold voice, “It’s because you are an anomaly.”
“…Thank you for the praise?” Bai Zemin smiled bitterly and shook his head.
“You are an anomaly in the same way that I am one.” Kali kept her face fixed on his as she said indifferently, “Anomalies like us would hardly feel at ease with others, am I not right? You should know better than anyone by now… That Shangguan Bing Xue woman is probably the greatest genius of your entire faction perhaps next to that other woman named Feng something, but none of them are even close to you. Do you dare to tell me that deep in your heart you don’t feel lonely? Do you dare to tell me that you don’t feel a little out of place around them?”
At first it was not like that, but as time went by the distance between Bai Zemin and those close to him did not stop widening.
He hadn’t noticed it this much while he was stuck at level 50, but once the barrier between the First Order and Second Order was broken through that difference became simply too big to ignore.
Even Shangguan Bing Xue had realized that she was no longer of any help to him in the battlefield.
“You and I are anomalies, so it’s only natural for us to be together.” Kali snorted and turned her chair around to have her back to him. She moved closer to the window and said in a detached voice, “Doctors group with doctors not mechanics just the same way geniuses don’t play with normals. That is the reality of the universe in which we happen to live.”
Bai Zemin had thought that his method of keeping Kali away from abnormal things would be good for her to be able to have the most normal life possible, but he overlooked one very important thing that he only now realized.
After a moment of silence, he calmly asked, “Kali, what do you really want?”
” …I don’t know what I want,” Kali paused before saying with confidence in her voice, “But I definitely know what I don’t want.”
She turned to look at him and said in a firm voice, “I don’t want to sit around all day in this wheelchair or on a couch waiting for time to pass while I talk or listen to others discuss nonsense that doesn’t concern me at all.”
“… I see.” Bai Zemin nodded, and then added, “We’ll think of something.”
…
After sending Kali to the Collector’s Pocket World, Bai Zemin looked for Bai Shilin.
The girl was helping in repairing the east wall that had suffered severe damage during the war against the mutant beast army days ago when the Earth evolved without warning.
“Eh? Are we going to our family’s private world? Yay!” Bai Shilin’s eyes shone brightly and she began to hop with joy when she heard that her beloved father was taking her to the Collector’s Pocket World.
Finishing with Bai Shilin, Bai Zemin looked for Xiao Xiao but when he invited her to join them the pink-haired girl refused with some bitterness.
“Big brother, this time Xiao Xiao will not go with you.”
Bai Zemin noticed that it was difficult for Xiao Xiao to make such a decision, so after a moment of silence he faintly asked, “Is something wrong?”
“No… My Water Maker skill is of much use, isn’t it? Therefore, I thought that to avoid a lot of future problems for you I could help build a large defensive moat around all the bases where other mutant beasts can be put, and it will take me a long time to have it done. So…”
“Xiao Xiao, you…” Bai Zemin looked at her in awe and thankfulness.
“Hehe… I just want to do my best for you.” Xiao Xiao smiled brightly, and seeing this Bai Zemin finally couldn’t contain himself and hugged her tightly.
“Thank you a lot, little pink dolphin.”
“Just make sure to hug me a lot in the future, okay?”
“I promise.”
“Promise!”
…
Bai Zemin also contacted Shangguan Bing Xue, and after explaining the situation she said it would probably take a day or two to reach Inner Mongolia.
Not everyone had a Third Order mutant beast capable of running through the sky with Agility comparable to a Fourth Order mutant beast.
Bai Zemin: “I’ll have Little Snow pick you up.”
Shangguan Bing Xue: “Okay, I’ll finish preparing some things here in the meantime.”
Bai Zemin: “Ok. Make sure you keep your Mana at maximum please.”
Shangguan Bing Xue: “Yes- Wait… Come to think of it, doesn’t this conversation seem a little weird?”
Bai Zemin: “Weird? What’s weird about it?”
Shangguan Bing Xue: “Well… You said you would send Little Snow to pick me up as if she were your private limo, and then you ask me to keep my Mana to the max as if you were asking me to wear your favorite dress.”
Bai Zemin: “…Now that you mention it…”
Shangguan Bing Xue: “Just to let you know, I won’t go to your house to watch movies. Even though I never did it I know you won’t want to watch movies.”
Bai Zemin: “Bing Xue, you are being naughty right now.”
Shangguan Bing Xue: “Hmph, I’m being naughty and what can you do about it?”
Bai Zemin: “…I will spank your butt if you continue, I mean it.”
Shangguan Bing Xue: “…You wouldn’t dare, especially with that little succubus of yours around.”
Bai Zemin: “I’ve already touched you all over anyway, a spanking would be no big deal at this point.”
Shangguan Bing Xue: “…Shangguan Bing Xue has left the chat.”
Bai Zemin: “This is the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had in my life.”
…
After hanging up the call with Shangguan Bing Xue, Bai Zemin chuckled and returned to the Collector’s Pocket World.
“Oh? Did something good happen?” Lilith immediately questioned as she saw the amused glint in his eyes.
“About that….”
Bai Zemin explained what had just happened, and seeing Lilith nod he wasn’t particularly surprised when he heard her next words.
“Oh, that time while playing Dark Room you sure had fun uh?” Lilith folded her arms and said with both eyebrows raised, “So, how is it?”
“… I knew you were definitely fooling around.”
“Hmph, don’t change the point.” Lilith snorted and continued to press for answers, “Answer honestly. Which set of breasts is better? Little sister Yijun’s boobs? Maybe that brat’s? Or are mine’s after all?”
“Yours, of course.” Bai Zemin replied without batting an eyelash.
“Hmph.” Lilith snorted and with a triumphant smile walked off to play with Bai Shilin.
As he watched her back and seductive waist swaying like a water snake with every step she took, Bai Zemin felt that this relationship was quite peculiar.
A girlfriend who didn’t get jealous or angry when her boyfriend touched other women’s breasts and even got happy to be selected as the best? Bai Zemin muttered under his breath, “Quite strange. Quite mysterious. For a second and I felt like a protagonist of some light novel.”
Just at that moment, Fire Sorrow approached and said in a serious voice, “Bai Zemin, there’s something important I remembered regarding the Divine Daydream Pomegranate.”
“Mm?”
Bai Zemin hadn’t known Fire Sorrow for very long, but he had seen all sorts of expressions on her face; sadness, joy, disappointment, hope, disbelief, shock, and even a bit of jealousy and love.
However, this was definitely the first time he had seen her so serious that even her smile had disappeared.
He nodded and became serious too as he somehow sensed that things would not be so easy…. Although they wouldn’t be to begin with, just that they would probably be even more challenging than Bai Zemin estimated.
“The Divine Daydream Pomegranate is a Rank 3 consumable fruit as soon as it is born, and as it consumes high-temperature flames its Rank will continue growing nonstop until Rank 6. A treasure like this is bound to attract the attention of other beings so there’s a probability that there’s a guardian you’ll have to fight against to get it.” Fire Sorrow sighed and said in an apologetic tone, “Back then I fought against a Higher Existence of Fifth Order to get this Divine Daydream Pomegranate I showed you before, but it was so long ago that I had completely forgotten about it.”
“Fifth Order Higher Existence?” Bai Zemin opened his eyes wide and said in disbelief, “How am I supposed to face something like that? I’m still at level 100 for crying out loud.”
“Hehe, I don’t think you need to worry about that.” Fire Sorrow ruffled his hair a bit and said in the voice of an older sister talking to her little brother, “You’ll probably have to fight a fire spirit. Fire spirits range from the Second Order to the Fourth Order, and if it’s you it should be okay shouldn’t it?”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
We have been in the top 1 GT for 10 months in a row, and it means a lot to me to see that my effort pays off. Many thanks to you, who still donate your golden tickets and support Blood Warlock <3
