Fifty Thousand Federation Credits

"Na'er!"

Bai Lin nearly cried out, rushing forward in a single stride, his voice filled with undisguised panic.

"You..."

"Why did you pick up that book?"

"Put it down, now!"

Instinctively, he reached out to take it back.

Startled by his sudden tension, Na'er shrank back slightly, clutching the book. A trace of confusion and helplessness flashed through her pale violet eyes.

Looking at her brother's anxious face, she explained softly:

"Brother..."

"Na'er didn't mean to..."

"It's just..."

"It felt like it was calling me..."

"Like..."

"Like little stars twinkling..."

She gestured earnestly, trying to describe that strange attraction.

"It was calling you?"

Bai Lin froze completely, his outstretched hand suspended in midair.

At the same time, in the darkest corner of the Sea of Consciousness, Hei Lin, who had remained silent like an immovable boulder, suddenly opened his eyes!

A blade-sharp gleam burst from his cold black eyes!

He "looked" at Na'er outside, holding the book with an innocent yet bewildered expression, then "looked" at Bai Lin's stunned face. In an instant, a clear thread of logic formed within his cold mind!

"No wonder..."

Hei Lin murmured soundlessly. Every word carried the icy chill of seeing through the truth, sending cold ripples through the Sea of Consciousness.

"No wonder..."

"That flutter at our first meeting..."

"So that's how it was!"

"Hei Lin!"

"What exactly is going on?!"

Bai Lin's consciousness questioned anxiously within the Sea of Consciousness, overwhelmed by enormous unease.

"Idiot."

Hei Lin's cold thought was like a tempered steel needle, carrying a hint of speechless mockery.

"If we could sense that book because of the Golden Dragon King bloodline fragment within us..."

"Then what about this silver-haired little girl?"

"Why can she sense it too?"

"Even..."

"Be 'called' by it?"

Bai Lin's heart sank, and a chill crawled up his spine.

"You mean..."

"Na'er has..."

"Also..."

"Golden Dragon King bloodline?"

The thought filled him with inexplicable panic.

"Golden Dragon King?" Hei Lin sneered, his voice full of exasperation at Bai Lin's slowness.

"Use your brain!"

"Look at her!"

"Look at the picture in that book!"

"Do you think she resembles that stupid dragon covered in glittering golden light, who only knows how to rely on brute strength, or..."

Hei Lin's cold voice paused, then cut straight to the heart of the matter with almost cruel precision.

"That Dragon King who commands the elements, possesses both wisdom and strength, and has..."

"Silver scales?"

Boom!

It was as if thunder had exploded in his mind!

Bai Lin instantly recalled the indescribable flutter in his heart when he had first seen Na'er by the roadside!

It had not been ordinary pity. It had been an attraction born from the source of life itself, like the pull between two poles of a magnet!

"Besides."

Hei Lin's voice continued, like a chain of cold logic locking into place.

"The description of the Silver Dragon King in that book—the aura of ethereality, control, and wisdom..."

"How similar was it to the feeling she gave off!"

"This was no coincidence!"

Bai Lin stared blankly through the Sea of Consciousness at the silver-haired girl outside, holding the thick volume, her eyes pure yet tinged with unease.

After the tremendous shock, what rose within him was unexpectedly not fear or rejection, but a strange sense that everything had finally fallen into place.

"So that's how it was..."

Bai Lin's consciousness murmured. Then an open, even slightly mischievous smile spread through his thoughts.

"Wasn't that..."

"Perfect?"

"Hm?" Hei Lin let out a cold monosyllable, clearly unable to follow Bai Lin's leap in thinking.

"Look."

Bai Lin spread his hands in the Sea of Consciousness, his tone turning lighter.

"I'm the older brother, and she's the younger sister."

"I have the Golden Dragon King's bloodline, and she has the Silver Dragon King's bloodline."

"Isn't that just right?"

"One gold, one silver. We both have divine bloodlines, so we were born to be family!"

He paused, his voice becoming utterly sincere and relieved.

"I used to worry all the time that Na'er was so weak. What if someone bullied her in the future?"

"Now that I know this, I'm actually relieved!"

"It means she'll have the power to protect herself someday too!"

"Isn't that..."

"The best gift?"

Within the Sea of Consciousness, Hei Lin's cold black eyes "looked" deeply at Bai Lin's completely unguarded, even somewhat foolishly delighted expression. He remained silent for a long time.

In the end, he merely gave an extremely faint, nearly soundless snort and closed his eyes again, leaving behind only an indifferent thought.

"Whatever."

Outside, Na'er watched her brother's expression shift unpredictably—first shock and tension, then blankness, then an inexplicable smile. Yet he remained silent for so long that the unease on her little face deepened.

She asked timidly in a soft voice:

"Brother..."

"Did..."

"Did Na'er do something wrong?"

"Did I make Brother unhappy?"

Bai Lin suddenly came back to himself. Looking into Na'er's violet eyes, brimming with innocence and worry, the last trace of tension over his secret being touched vanished completely, leaving only tenderness.

He hurriedly crouched down, a warm, reassuring smile blooming across his face. He gently rubbed Na'er's soft silver hair.

"No!"

"How could Na'er possibly have done anything wrong?"

"Brother was just surprised. So our Na'er likes reading too!"

He naturally took the thick book from Na'er's hands and placed it back on the bedside table. Then he took her hand, his voice light and cheerful.

"But it's too late now. Reading is bad for your eyes."

"Be good, Na'er. It's time for us to sleep!"

"We can play again tomorrow, okay?"

Feeling her brother's familiar gentleness and unconditional acceptance, the final trace of unease in Na'er's eyes faded away.

She nodded obediently and let Bai Lin lead her by the hand into the soft bed.

"Okay!"

"Good night, Brother."

"Good night, Na'er."

Time flew by, and the stars shifted.

A year slipped quietly away amid the rhythmic clang of forging hammers, Bai Lin's steadily growing strength and appetite, and Na'er's gradually blossoming smile.

That year, under Hei Lin's cold will's precise guidance and almost exploitative "assistance," Bai Lin absorbed and wielded the power of the Golden Dragon King bloodline far faster than he would have in the original timeline.

The hidden divine bloodline within him was like a furnace set fully ablaze, constantly tempering his muscles, bones, skin, and flesh, granting him terrifying strength, endurance, and recovery far beyond those of children his age—so great that even Mang Tian was often alarmed!

In Mang Tian's workshop, the forging talent and efficiency Bai Lin displayed were nothing short of monstrous.

The heavy forging hammer was as light as nothing in his hands, and repeated hammering came as easily as eating and drinking.

The basic metal components he forged surpassed standards in both precision and strength. Even Mang Tian could find few faults with them.

In just one year, through the results he hammered out blow by blow with his own hands, Bai Lin had somehow saved up fifty thousand Federation Credits!

For a child his age, that was nothing less than an astronomical sum!