Damn Mebius, You Deserve to Die a Thousand Deaths, You Lost the Chance to Advance Further.

"Hmph, yes, look."

Not noticing Chang Yuan's dejection, Airi conjured a pink Crystal Flower in her hand.

"This is my ability, like fairy magic. Beautiful, isn't it?"

Handing the pink Crystal Flower to Chang Yuan, Airi asked with a light laugh.

Looking at the Crystal Flower, Chang Yuan tried to squeeze it with a little force.

But he couldn't budge it at all.

However, this was within the normal range. In the original work, these crystals had helped Hua save her life from Kevin's Feather of Conviction.

If Airi hadn't intervened to save Hua during that tragic restraint incident, she would have become one of them.

"It's very hard. At least I can't move it at all without using my full strength."

"You! I wanted you to appreciate this work of art. Who told you to squeeze it? You'll be in trouble if you break it."

Hearing Chang Yuan try to crush her Crystal Flower, Airi immediately became displeased.

It was her very first pink Crystal Flower, a memento, and all he cared about was its hardness.

This made Airi a little upset.

"Ahem, it was an instinctive action. But this Crystal Flower, give it to me. I want to keep it as a collection."

Clutching the Crystal Flower to his chest, Chang Yuan had no intention of returning it to Airi.

Seeing this, Airi nodded with satisfaction. She had intended to give it to Chang Yuan anyway, but seeing him treat it so carelessly, even trying to crush it, had made her a little upset.

"Then you take good care of it. I'll be checking on it from time to time. If even a single petal is missing, hmph, you won't be able to beat me."

Airi playfully threatened with a cute pout, flexing her small fist.

Her threat was so weak and powerless.

Putting aside the fact that her cute appearance showed no hint of threat, Chang Yuan knew Airi well enough to know she would never lay a hand on him. Unless he did something she absolutely could not accept, she would never hit him.

"Airi, give me a piece of crystal to study." ×2

After Chang Yuan spoke, two voices rang out almost simultaneously.

The two were Mebius, who had witnessed the entire process, and Velvie, who had just arrived and only caught snippets of the conversation.

"Sure, here you go."

Unlike the pink Crystal Flower Airi gave to Chang Yuan, what she gave to the other two was a rhombus-shaped crystal.

"Alright, Mebius, I know your intentions. You've prepared what you need, right?"

Velvie, who had put away the crystal, asked Mebius.

Seeing this, Mebius tossed a bottle of Gene Serum from her pocket to Velvie.

Catching the bottle with ease, Velvie said no more and turned to return to the operating room in the Spiral Workshop.

Mebius quickly followed.

And so, only two people were left at the scene.

"Um, Airi, can I—"

"A'Yuan, I just remembered I promised Himiko I'd go with her to see her new team members. Goodbye."

Without giving Chang Yuan a chance to finish, Airi immediately excused herself and ran off.

Chang Yuan was instantly left alone, standing bewildered in the wind at the Spiral Workshop.

"..."

Damn it! That wretched Mebius. As expected, this opportunity was hard to come by a second time.

Losing the chance to get closer to Airi, Chang Yuan's heart ached.

However, he believed in taking what fate gave him and accepting what it took away.

Chang Yuan wasn't too insistent about it.

After all, he had already had a first chance, so wouldn't a second or third be far behind?

Moreover, it was clear that Airi's feelings for him were beginning to change.

Perhaps one day it would truly be possible.

But the most important thing was to defeat Finality. Otherwise, everything else was just empty talk.

"Sigh, it's just that I don't have any abilities, which is a bit disheartening. When the Flame-Chasing Thirteen Heroes becomes the Fourteen Heroes, my ranking won't just be ahead of Pardo, will it?"

Thinking of that possibility, Chang Yuan shivered.

Embarrassing, so damn embarrassing. If his ranking really ended up just one spot above Pardo, he would probably be the most embarrassing transmigrator in history.

"No, I need to go see how much my strength has grown."

With that, Chang Yuan headed to the place where the Flame-Chasing Moth warriors usually trained.

There was a holographic projection developed by Velvie, with a 99.99% realism.

It could be used for actual combat drills, though people could die, but the advantage was that it could be terminated immediately.

Upon arriving, many greeted Chang Yuan.

After all, he was the second strongest pillar of the Flame-Chasing Moth; if they met him on the battlefield in the future, they might be able to receive some special treatment.

Entering the Holographic Combat Room, Chang Yuan directly chose to project the Judgment-class Honkai Beast, Sasha.

Fortunately, the Flame-Chasing Moth was wealthy and powerful; this holographic projection room was large enough, otherwise, they might not have been able to project Sasha's entire body.

Looking at the giant snake, nearly a thousand meters long, Chang Yuan couldn't help but gasp.

He then chose to fight Sasha bare-handed.

Compared to before, when his punch could only dent Sasha's scales, his current punch directly created a bloody hole in Sasha's body.

"My strength has increased by almost more than double. What about the others?"

Chang Yuan then began to test his other attributes.

Including stamina, speed, reaction time, recovery, and so on.

The final results were also very satisfactory. Except for recovery, all other attributes had increased several times over.

His recovery had also improved, but not significantly. It wasn't enough for limb regeneration, but he could pick up a severed limb, reattach it, and it would heal and recover.

Finally, after nearly several hours of bare-handed assault, Sasha's size shrunk to only a few dozen meters before it finally died.

"You can even simulate this? Velvie, you're truly a genius."

Exiting the Holographic Combat Room, Chang Yuan directly grabbed a few bottles of saline solution and drank them.

With his physical stats already beyond human, he wasn't afraid of any side effects from the saline solution.

After replenishing the lost salt, Chang Yuan had a clear understanding of his current strength level.

His strength was superior to the Fusion Warrior Kevin. After all, he had a very solid foundation. However, if they both wielded Divine Keys, he would be at a disadvantage against Kevin.

This was because the Feather of Conviction seemed tailor-made for Kevin; besides him, anyone else using it would likely die after a single use.

Therefore, this Divine Key, the most destructive sword, could only be perfectly wielded by Kevin.

The combined effect of the two of them was far greater than 1+1 equaling two.

However, Chang Yuan didn't feel bad about this.