The guess was confirmed, Yuejian's lips twitched.
He never expected his senior brother to be so bold.
The fire stolen by the Fire Thief remained in the City of Kindling, never leaving...
Seeing that Teacher Tsukimi seemed to be sensing his own Echo Core, Huomu became a little nervous for a moment.
After Yuejian removed his Armament, he eagerly pressed on with his question:
"Teacher, how is it? Has my Echo Core reacted?"
When will I be able to awaken?
Yuejian the expectant look on Hiki's face, Huomu opened her mouth, but for a moment she didn't know what to say.
"Teacher? Say something!"
Only after being repeatedly pressed did he finally speak:
"Huomu, you'd better be mentally prepared—"
You're probably...
"I'll never be able to awaken the Echo in this lifetime."
"Huh?"
Upon hearing this, Huomu was struck dumb, as if by lightning.
"... Why?"
Yes, why?
Yuejian also wanted to know why.
But asking Huomu about this issue was useless.
What can a man do if someone takes advantage of his own son?
Kalentia.
Isolde.
After a few days of rest, Charles was finally able to move around normally.
However, the damage to the spirit body is far from recovered, so using Echo in combat is out of the question right now.
Charles invited several members of the Sea of Consciousness team to his home.
After everyone arrived, Charles clapped his hands, and servants immediately brought in a treasure chest.
This treasure chest bears a striking resemblance to the others in the Sea of Consciousness.
It is a "Conceptual Creation" modeled after its form.
Using this specially made container to store the Echo Fragment can delay the "dissipation of spiritual energy" of the fragments to the greatest extent possible.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Charles opened the treasure chest.
In an instant, the unique brilliance of the Epic Fragment filled the entire hall!
The treasure chest contained exactly four fragments, no more and no less.
Charles waved his hand generously and said:
"This unexpected incident in the Sea of Consciousness was due to my lack of foresight."
The Isolde Family never mistreats their friends.
Each of you can pick up these fragments; consider it compensation for this unexpected event.
"Really?!"
Seeing this, Rina thought she was dreaming.
What she lost in the Sea of Consciousness was merely a blue fragment, but now, Lord Charles is compensating her—
It's an epic!
Epic!!!
That's so meticulous!
That's so cool!
Rina immediately beamed and offered a sincere compliment:
"Lord Charles, you are too kind! It is our honor to serve you, especially since you are so considerate of us... The Isolde Family is truly generous!"
Rina was the first to accept the compensation.
After a moment's hesitation, Yate and Wuma Ling each picked out the fragments corresponding to their respective lineages.
Yate glanced at Charles, and his impression of this playboy changed slightly, a rare occurrence.
As for Wuma Ling, although his face remained expressionless, he quietly said "thank you" when he accepted the fragment.
Of all those present, only Dorothy was truly unhappy.
She has been immersing herself in alcohol these past few days, and it has only been a little difficult for her to emerge from the shadow of the stolen Legend Fragment.
And now, to make matters worse, those dead memories are coming back...
'Damn fox face, I'll...'
Charles noticed Dorothy's expression and found it somewhat strange.
"Miss Dorothy, what's wrong? Are you unhappy?"
Charles called everyone here mainly for Dorothy's sake.
While four Epic Fragment might not amount to much for the Isolde Family, they represented a significant financial loss for Charles personally.
The reason he gritted his teeth and spent such a huge amount of money was to salvage his image in front of Dorothy.
"I... I'm happy..."
Faced with Charles's confused gaze, Dorothy could only manage a forced smile thanks to her superb acting skills.
Although at this moment, she really wanted to tell Charles—
What I lost was Legend Fragment! A Legend Fragment!!!
But if he said that, not only would Charles not believe him, but the rest of the team would probably secretly despise him, thinking he was greedy and trying to take advantage of them.
Dorothy is, after all, a very popular idol, and she can't let go of her idol image.
Besides, even if Charles believed it, so what?
Charles will compensate her with the Epic Fragment; there's no problem with that.
But Charles would never be so generous with the Legend Fragment.
Therefore, Dorothy had no choice but to suffer in silence, unable to express her pain...
Seeing Charles smiling so happily, Dorothy was finally relieved.
She thought to herself that her impression of Dorothy must have improved a lot.
To be honest, I handled this situation pretty well!
They perfectly turned an unexpected event that might have lowered their approval rating into a positive one!
By now, Dorothy must be completely captivated by her own charm!
This young master is truly a genius!
Charles reveled in his own thoughts for a while before bringing up another matter:
"In ten days, the Tide Grand Competition of the City of Kindling will begin."
Our goal in this trip to the City of Kindling is, without a doubt, to secure all ten seats!
At this point, the image of the person wearing the fox mask flashed through Charles's mind, and his expression visibly darkened.
"Do you remember that fox mask that hid in the Sea of Consciousness? That beast, he is the City of Kindling— "
Before the words were finished, a crisp, muffled thud was heard.
Charles's slicked-back face suddenly turned to one side.
It felt like being slapped hard by the air.
"?!"
Realizing something, Charles covered his swollen cheek and immediately looked towards the door.
But it was his sister Vivian who happened to be passing by in the corridor, casting a cold glance at him:
That's your brother-in-law. Don't let me hear you call him that again.
Compared to his younger brother who was of foreign blood, Charles was closer to his older sister Vivian from a young age.
However, due to his sister's icy aura, Charles couldn't help but feel both respect and fear towards her.
Upon hearing this, Charles immediately suppressed all his dissatisfaction and obediently nodded.
However, she couldn't help but mutter a soft, aggrieved remark:
"Sis, my classmates are all here, please give me some face..."
Vivian didn't reply to him; the sound of her high heels clicking on the floor faded into the distance.
Only after the figure completely disappeared at the end of the corridor did the people in the room seem to regain their breath.
"That's Isolde's..."
Someone murmured half a sentence, then swallowed the rest.
No one responded.
In Kalentia, Vivian's name was always preceded by a series of awe-inspiring titles—
"Vector Witch", "Silver-Gray Tyrant", "Deflection Princess", "Zero-Degree Queen"...
Despite his fame, most of the people present were seeing him in person for the first time.
Being overwhelmed by that terrifying aura to the point of forgetting to breathe is hardly shameful.
Everyone averted their gaze in awe, except for Yate, who stared blankly at the doorway, Vivian's words replaying in his mind—
That's your brother-in-law...
In an instant, a huge uproar erupted in my heart!
He looked at Charles in disbelief:
"Charles, the brother-in-law Miss Vivian mentioned earlier..."
The Isolde Family had their Myth Fragment stolen by the Thousand Faces Family's Suyo. Not only did they fail to recover them, but they also ended up handing over the family's most dazzling jewel.
It's a rather unpleasant topic to talk about, so the news of the marriage alliance between the two families is currently only circulating in a small circle.
But since his older sister had just said it in front of everyone, Charles no longer needed to hide it.
"That's right, that beast... that Suyo from the Thousand Faces Family... he's the fox from the Sea of Consciousness! My current brother-in-law... it's all my fault, I caused my sister..."
Charles slammed his fist on the table in frustration.
When Charles first learned of this, he was also greatly shocked, and it took him a long time to finally accept it...
When Yate confirmed the news with Charles, he was struck dumb.
His childhood goddess —
That Vivian Isolde, so high above, so unattainable, the one he had looked up to throughout his adolescence...
She's actually going to marry some kind of the Thousand Faces Family, Suyo?
A nobody I've never even heard of!
The reason Yate disliked Charles, yet still spent so much time with Charles, was for only one reason—
He had admired Vivian since he was a child.
He never even dared to hope for any outcome; simply watching from afar was enough.