Chapter 310

"A gift?" Otto's eyes widened immediately. "What kind of gift?"

During these three years, although Otto invented many interesting things with Ai Yue's help, he did not actually receive any of them from Ai Yue.

Now that he has a better understanding of Ai Yue's identity, he is very much looking forward to seeing what kind of gift the other party will give.

Ai Yue gave a mysterious smile, "If you can complete the mission, you'll naturally find out. But if you can't, finding out now might not be good for you."

In fact, he hadn't decided what kind of gift to give.

Otto racked his brains for the gift, even forgetting his plans and staying in the bathroom.

Finally, unable to wait any longer, Kallen rushed into Otto's room and dragged him out of the bathroom amidst his screams.

After all, she didn't want to miss this rare opportunity.

In the church's backyard, Ai Yue looked at the excited Kallen and the absent-minded Otto, and couldn't help but shake his head with a smile.

He then reached out and conjured a circular, pale gold door from the air beside him. "Ready?"

"Of course!" Kallen said, pushing Otto, who was still deep in thought, inside.

The moment she stepped through the door, the church backyard, which had been dark and gloomy at night, was immediately replaced by the blazing midday sun. However, Kallen did not feel uncomfortable at all with this change of scenery.

After all, the reason she was so looking forward to it was because Ai Yue could use his unique power to teleport them to places they might never be able to reach in their lifetime, to experience the lives of people in different regions, or to appreciate sights that are hard to see in Europe.

Take now, for example.

The sun blazes overhead, and the sand beneath your feet is scorching hot, yet the air is not dry—because in this boundless desert, there are lakes of all sizes nestled among them.

Desert and lake clusters, two completely unrelated terms, have been magically combined at this moment.

Sand dunes formed by accumulated yellow sand rise and fall among the lakes, like solidified waves. The lakes are scattered irregularly among the dunes, like a handful of gems casually tossed by the gods. Under the sun, they appear azure or emerald green, so clear that one can see the patterns on the bottom of the lake at a glance.

Even Otto, lost in thought, was interrupted by the sudden light before him. He stared blankly at the scene before him for a moment before snapping back to reality. "It's... it's the Thousand Lakes Desert!"

He had already learned of the existence of this magical landform from Ai Yue's teachings and understood the cause of its formation, but it wasn't until he witnessed it with his own eyes that he realized how barren his imagination was, based solely on hearsay.

"How beautiful!" Kallen gazed at the lake before her, mesmerized. She ran vigorously towards the top of a higher sand dune, trying to take in the even more beautiful scenery. "Otto, Mr. Ai Yue, there are even bigger lakes in the distance!"

Otto was still just a minor, and seeing such a scene, he temporarily put aside his confusion and turned to chase after Kallen.

The two sat side by side on the sand dune, neither speaking for a moment. Such a beautiful scene, even just quietly appreciating it, was enough to make one feel refreshed and relaxed.

After a moment, Kallen couldn't help but say, "Only a god could create such a scene, right?"

"No, it's naturally formed." Otto instinctively retorted upon hearing Kallen's words. "Although this is a desert, its formation is different from that of ordinary deserts. Moreover, the local climate is humid and it's close to the ocean, so the rainfall is very heavy during the rainy season. Therefore, it can only be formed during the rainy season and will disappear during the dry season."

"I see," Kallen nodded, but her expression showed she hadn't understood at all. However, that didn't stop her from looking at the boy beside her with admiration. "Otto, you know so much!"

"This, this is all what Teacher Ai Yue taught me." Otto scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed. "Compared to the knowledge Teacher Ai Yue possesses, what I've learned is just the tip of the iceberg."

"After all, he's Mr. Ai Yue." Kallen couldn't help but nod in agreement. "He's so amazing because he knows so much, right?"

"Yes, Teacher Ai Yue told me that knowledge is power. Even if your body isn't as good as others, you can make up for it with your mind," Otto said. "So I want to become someone like Teacher Ai Yue when I grow up!"

At this point, Otto's expression became somewhat subtle again. "However, that kind of thing is probably unlikely..."

The power Ai Yue has shown so far has already exceeded Otto's imagination, not to mention that this is only the tip of the iceberg of his true strength. Otto simply cannot imagine how someone could grow into such a being based solely on knowledge.

But this did not stop him from having high hopes for Ai Yue.

"You can definitely do it!" Faced with Otto's self-doubt, Kallen gave an affirmative answer. "You're the smartest person I've ever met. If even you can't do it, then there's no one else in the world who can!"

Otto looked at Kallen with some surprise, then smiled and said, "Since you put it that way, it seems I'll have to try a little harder."

"Go for it!" Kallen clenched her fist to encourage him, then, as if remembering something, added, "Oh, right, you can't use training time for that!"

Otto's face immediately fell.

Karen burst into laughter at his reaction, but then she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye, turned her head, and craned her neck to look into the distance. "Otto, Otto, look over there, aren't there people boating on the lake over there?"

Otto looked in the direction she was pointing, but because his eyesight wasn't as good as Kallen's, he couldn't see clearly at all.

However, this small matter was no problem for Otto. He quickly took out a small cylindrical object from his pocket and held it up to his eyes. "It really is... there are two boats, they are fishing."

"Fishing? Aren't these lakes only active during the rainy season? How can there be fish here?" Kallen paused for a moment, but quickly turned her attention to the small object Otto had taken out. "And what's this? Did you see it?"

"Yes, this was made using the knowledge my teacher taught me. I call it a telescope," Otto said generously, handing the device to Kallen and explaining how to use it. "You point your eye at this side, and then you can retract the tube to adjust the distance..."

"I can really see clearly now! It's amazing!" Kallen quickly learned how to use it and even thought of more uses. "This thing seems to have many applications, like observing enemy movements in the distance!"

"Yes, I've given the blueprints to my father. He'll find craftsmen to produce them, and then the Knights will be able to equip themselves." Otto nodded. "As for fishing, the lakes here sometimes connect to rivers in the distance, and the fish usually swim in at those times, but..."

However, in such cases, there are usually not many fish in the lake, so is it necessary to specifically come here to fish?

Before Otto could think about the problem carefully, he suddenly heard Kallen exclaim, "Oh no!"

The girl suddenly stood up, looking somewhat nervous.

"What's wrong?"

Otto subconsciously looked again, and his expression immediately changed.

Without a telescope, he would have had no chance of seeing what was happening over there, but now there were enormous objects that he could see without a telescope.

Those are Honkai Beast!

Honkai Beast suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They moved very slowly, but they had already surrounded the lake where the fishermen were.

The lake's depth wasn't enough to stop them; under such circumstances, without external intervention, the fishermen's fate seemed sealed.

Otto instinctively wanted to find Ai Yue, because in his opinion, only Ai Yue could solve this disaster, but when he looked back down at the bottom of the sand dune, he couldn't see him at all.

Could it have run away again? This time, the timing is really bad!

Ai Yue had done similar things before, giving the two of them some alone time. At that time, Otto was very grateful for Ai Yue's thoughtfulness, but he never expected to encounter something like this one day.

In contrast to Otto, Kallen was much more decisive. She shoved the binoculars back into Otto's hands and then rushed off into the distance without looking back.

As a member of the Kaslana family, her upbringing did not allow her to stand idly by in the face of such a situation.

"Kallen! Stop! You are no match for them!"

Realizing what Kallen was about to do, Otto shouted and tried to stop her, but he also knew that Kallen would never stop, so Otto quickly stopped shouting and instead knelt on the ground, taking out all his belongings to see if there was anything he could use.

However, Otto didn't need to participate in the battle, so besides paper and pen, he only had small inventions like a telescope. But these things could only be used as aids and didn't help in the battle.

Kallen at least carried a short sword for self-defense, but he didn't even have a dagger.

Otto gritted his teeth, then packed up all his things again, stood up, and chased after Kallen.

He had at least received some training, albeit at a very low intensity... but no matter what, he couldn't allow himself to watch Kallen fight the Honkai Beast alone.

At the same time, Kallen had already arrived in front of the Honkai Beast. She drew the short sword from her waist and activated the power within her body.

A white light gradually emanated from her body, and then, under Kallen's control, surged toward the short sword. The light flowed along the blade and eventually transformed into an additional sharp edge.

Kallen took a deep breath to calm herself down, forcing herself to stay calm and recalling what she had learned from her memories about the weaknesses of the Honkai Beast.

At that moment, the Honkai Beast clearly noticed the human so close by. It turned around and swung its thick forelimbs at Kallen.

The girl nimbly slid in to dodge the attack, and in the process, she landed under the Honkai Beast's abdomen. She leaped up and swung her short sword, leaving a wound on the Honkai Beast's belly.

Ordinary weapons are actually difficult to damage Honkai Beast, but the special power wielded by the Kaslana family can easily break through Honkai Beast defenses.

Seeing that her attack had worked, Kallen couldn't help but smile, but she soon noticed that the Honkai Beast was making a new move, so she quickly ran under it.

She had just escaped the range of the Honkai Beast's body when she heard a muffled thud behind her. The Honkai Beast raised its pair of forelimbs, which it used to support its body, and tried to crush Kallen to death.

Although Kallen dodged the direct damage, the shockwave from the Honkai Beast still sent her tumbling.

But this gave her an opportunity. Before the Honkai Beast could get up, Kallen leaped up and landed directly on its back. She ran along Honkai Beast back until she found its head, then plunged her short sword into it.

Honkai Beast are strange energy entities, which means that even if they are covered in wounds, their combat power will not be affected. Only by destroying their vital organs can they be truly killed.

Just in case, Kallen detonated the energy contained in her short sword. The violent explosion shattered the Honkai Beast's head into pieces, successfully killing it.

Feeling the giant beast beneath her feet stop struggling, Kallen breathed a sigh of relief, a smile involuntarily appearing on her face, and a feeling of pride rising in her heart.

This was the first time she had personally and independently killed a Honkai Beast, making it a truly memorable moment!

However, reality did not allow her much time to catch her breath. Although Kallen's battle with the Honkai Beast lasted only a moment, it successfully attracted the attention of all the monsters around her. They abandoned the fishermen in the lake and turned to rush towards Kallen.

This situation also caused the Honkai Beast' originally perfect encirclement to fail.

Seeing this, Kallen disregarded her own safety and waved to the fishing boat not far away, shouting for them to leave immediately.

She only felt relieved when she saw the fishing boat turn around and head towards the shore.

At the same time, the Honkai Beast's attack arrived.

By the time Otto finally arrived, Kallen had already defeated another Honkai Beast. However, she was currently being chased and pursued by several Honkai Beasts, and she looked out of breath. It was unclear how long she could hold on.

Otto wanted to go forward, but eventually stopped. He had calmed down during the chase and realized that he was not only useless in the battle, but would most likely become a burden.

So rushing in at this point might seem like being a good friend, but it won't actually do anything.

So, is there anything else I can do?

Yes, definitely. As Professor Ai Yue said, knowledge is power. When facing difficulties, the most important thing is the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and to use everything at hand to try to turn the situation around...

Otto looked around, recalling Ai Yue's teachings—but this was an endless desert, not even a large rock to be found, so what could he possibly use?

No, there really is.

Otto quickly focused his gaze on the Honkai Beast that Kallen had killed. At this moment, the huge Honkai Beast's remains had begun to gradually dissipate, which meant that after its vital parts were destroyed, the Honkai Energy that made it up was gradually becoming unstable. In just a few minutes, it would completely collapse and disappear into the world.

But isn't unstable energy precisely a usable material?

The knowledge he had learned from Ai Yue began to resurface in Otto's mind. He once again laid out his various small inventions on the ground, this time with a confident smile on his face.

By simply disassembling and reassembling these things, the current predicament can be reversed!

As the plan took shape in Otto's mind, he no longer hesitated and immediately began to work on it.

A moment later, Kallen, who was still struggling against the Honkai Beast, suddenly heard Otto's shout.

"Kallen!" Otto stood beside the mostly vanished remains of the Honkai Beast and waved to Kallen. "Lure the Honkai Beast this way!"

Looking at Otto's retreating figure, Kallen hesitated, "But—"

Even she can't handle so many Honkai Beasts. What other outcome could there be besides implicating Otto?

"Trust me!" Otto interrupted Kallen, his voice firm. "I can handle them!"

"Good!"

Seeing Otto's determined expression, Kallen no longer hesitated. She rolled away to dodge the Honkai Beast's attack and then ran towards Otto.

Otto, meanwhile, nervously fiddled with the makeshift device in his hand, repeatedly checking its reliability while calculating the distance between himself and the Honkai Beast.

Using her speed advantage, Kallen quickly reached Otto's side. Panting heavily, sweat streamed down her face. "What... what do we do now?"

Otto, who had already placed the device on the Honkai Beast's remains, didn't hesitate for a moment. He grabbed Kallen's hand and turned to run towards the lake. "Dive!"

His makeshift trigger device can detonate unstable Honkai Energy, causing an explosion. To avoid the damage from the explosion, diving is currently the best option.

Just as the two jumped into the water, the Honkai Beast finally arrived at the spot where they had just stood. The giant beasts, devoid of self-awareness and emotions, mercilessly trampled over the remains of their former comrades, unaware that a small device among them had reached its activation threshold.

A focusing device composed of lenses concentrates the scorching sunlight into a single point, shining it onto the somewhat chaotic structure. As the special materials within it heat up, they release a large amount of energy. This volatile energy, upon contact with unstable Honkai Energy—

"Boom!"

Then a huge explosion occurred!

The powerful energy surge, along with the shockwave, swept outwards in all directions. Even the two people hiding in the water could vaguely sense it. When everything finally subsided, Otto, unable to hold his breath any longer, suddenly surfaced, gasping for air.

Before him lay a huge sandpit, into which water was being drawn to flow.

Apart from that, no more complete, mobile Honkai Beast can be found.

"Otto," Kallen's voice rang out beside Otto, who could feel the girl gripping his arm tightly, "You did it!"

"No," Otto smiled at Kallen, "We succeeded."

Chapter Seventeen: The process was wrong, but the result was right.

After everything had calmed down, Ai Yue finally arrived, albeit belatedly.

The two children, soaked to the bone, disregarded their disheveled appearance and excitedly told Ai Yue everything that had just happened.

"Well done," Ai Yue patted their heads, a warm current flowing into their bodies. The next second, their previously damp clothes and bodies were dry again. "Looks like I'll have to be more careful in the future and can't just take you guys out to play so casually."

"It's alright, we're fine!" The oblivious Kallen didn't care at all, still immersed in the afterglow of her battle with the Honkai Beast. "In fact, the more I encounter things like this, the faster I can grow!"

"That's not impossible," Ai Yue nodded with a smile, "But remember to keep this a secret."

"I won't tell anyone!" Kallen swore immediately, "Not even Mom and Dad!"