As soon as Nol stepped through Kando's ring of fire, he froze in place.
On the other side of the fire ring, Perradat's four eyes were swollen, and she lay on the ground dehydrated. Solo and Anakin were looking up and down, respectively, and the rest of Paradise's high-ups weren't in the room, leading Nol to suspect they had fled in advance—
Lynn wore a smile on her face, but it wasn't a "Oh, you're finally back" kind of welcome smile. It was more of a "I'm about to explode in front of you" kind of angry prelude.
Hesitating for two seconds, Nol transformed into a round, little black dragon. He grabbed his bulging bag with his mouth, flapped his wings, and dove into Teest's arms.
Teest's hand instinctively covered the dragon scales as if suddenly equipped with magnetic attraction. He naturally hugged the little black dragon in his arms and smiled as he crossed the fire ring, his hand repeatedly stroking the warm dragon scales.
Seeing it was Teest, Lynn's expression stiffened a bit.
"…We were just worried about you! Look how scared you are."
Lynn huffed heavily and sat back in the armchair. "You should consult more with everyone before setting off. This investigation was too rash. If not for Nol's quick thinking and Teest's unique abilities, you both might have been left on Ship Island."
The little black dragon nudged Teest's palm away with his nose, looking innocently up. "Rawr, rawr."
"Playing dumb won't help. I know you can talk in that state." Lynn squeezed out the words through clenched teeth, unable to resist cracking her knuckles.
Teest pressed his palm against the little black dragon's nose, pushing Nol back into his arms. "By the results, Lord Nol's action was very successful."
Lynn's eyebrows twitched.
Nol's crisis of crashing into the ship and his refusal to connect with the Lost Tower had her panicking. Thankfully, Nol thought of that somewhat underhanded solution, or the outcome of this investigation would have been uncertain—especially since Perradat, who inexplicably lost, was right beside her.
Nol started playing dumb before even entering the fire ring, clearly understanding her feelings but not wanting to start an argument.
"I'm not a saint." Looking into the little black dragon's shiny green eyes, Lynn couldn't bring herself to yell, settling instead for sighing. "Personally, you are more important to me than the entire Lost Tower. If you died, it would be difficult to maintain the alliance between Paradise and the Players, let alone deal with Star Stealer Sol."
"You don't have to take on all the dirty work yourself. If necessary, many people—at least I can speak for myself—are willing to sacrifice…"
Her gaze fleetingly swept towards Lilith.
"Battle often comes with risks. Thanks to that waste by your side, we know almost nothing about Star Stealer Sol. How could there possibly be a 100% winning plan?" Teest's smile was somewhat malicious.
The Mad Monk was impermeable, which only made Lynn's temples throb. "I don't expect you to understand—"
Teest gently scraped his nails over the dragon scales. "Of course I understand what 'worry' means. I just completely disregard everyone's opinions."
Smelling the increasing tension between the two, Nol struggled again to free himself from Teest's grip. He reverted to human form, grabbed Teest's waist bag, and started dumping out their loot.
Lynn glanced at the rolling treasures on the ground. "Don't think that trick will work on me… Wait, wait… Did you rob the entire ship?!"
As the pile of loot grew higher, so did her pitch.
"Please distribute these to everyone. Arm the Lost Tower. If it's you, you can surely conduct more research," Nol said earnestly. "This suits you better, Lynn."
"Don't worry about me. With Teest here, I'll use every means to survive. Next time we face Star Stealer Sol, I'll be even more cautious. Right, Perradat… Perradat?!"
Perradat was hoisted up by the collar by Teest, hanging like a dead snake.
Kando climbed onto Teest's hand like a spider. The candle tears patted the hand holding Perradat, but the soft candle tears couldn't open the Mad Monk's iron grip.
"Still awake, hmm?" Teest said cheerfully, ignoring Kando's complex gaze. "You still have a lot of work to do. We brought back Star Stealer Sol's flesh."
Perradat lifted her head, sniffed a couple of times.
"You two went too far," she said. "This is the first time in years I've felt this dizzy… Urgh…"
"We understand your self-preservation behavior. So, you should also understand our need to protect ourselves."
Teest's smile grew softer, but his eyes lacked warmth. "Work. Work. Miss Perradat."
"Let me recover—!" Perradat looked like she wanted to bite him.
"That's my sister's body. She's not even of age yet!" Lynn's hands flashed with magical brilliance.
"What a lively place." Amidst the chaos, Mentor shrugged. "Do you have a guest room? I'm a bit tired."
At this moment, in the Endless Sea region.
The sun was about to rise. Soft light glimmered on the sea surface. Large schools of fish pushed the scattered fleet back, and amidst the morning mist, Pope Fischer Reginald stood firmly on a piece of driftwood.
He stood straight, looking towards the sunrise.
He witnessed the downfall of Ship Island, the movement of the plates, and witnessed the God he worshiped defeat the forces of the False God.
'What a memorable day,' he thought.
Speaking of which, when would the great Lord Teest come to pick him up?
…The sea breeze was indeed chilly.
...
The end of a chaotic adventure.
"It's that guy's scent, very pure. Definitely an avatar."
Perradat judged as she observed Billy's flesh. "As agreed, I will take you near my core. I won't hide anything anymore… So that guy's name is Enbillick. It's my first time knowing it after all these years."
Nol pursed his lips, unable to muster a happy expression.
He needed to inform Painter and the others quickly.
Enbillick Alva had "hosted" not just him and Teest. Thinking about it, Painter, the "Traitorous Chosen One" had once dined with the god he betrayed, which made this seem like a sort of black humor.
As for Golden Sword's family…
He couldn't think of what to do for the moment. Star Stealer Sol probably wouldn't kill a few ordinary people. After a while, he could discreetly check on them.
"Please take care of these."
Nol broke away from his thoughts, presenting the "Essence" and "Blood Potion" obtained from Ship Island.
The "Essence" was a beautiful blue-black color, like a melted starry night sky. Gently shaking the container, it displayed mesmerizing, changing colors. Even through the glass, it emitted a faint but bitter special scent.
Nol had seen it in the hands of the Lord of Whitebird City, who had used it to concoct a Supplement Demon Potion in front of them.
The "Blood Potion", however, was a murky black-red with a viscous texture. It didn't leave any trace on the glass container's surface, making it hard to say whether it was liquid or solid. Its surface always twitched slightly, and the sealed bottle couldn't suppress the fishy stench that assaulted the senses.
Understanding that the reversion potions were concocted from this stuff, Nol got why they had such a bizarre taste.
They had only one thing in common—both potions quietly placed on the table, continually emitting an inexplicably powerful force. Nol could feel a vague sense of familiarity from them. Unfortunately, that was all the familiarity he could muster.
Perradat carefully picked up the two round-bottomed flasks, looking like she didn't want to touch either. She lay limply by the table, her mouth drooping downwards. "Alright, I'll do my best…"
"What about the others?" Nol turned towards Lynn.
"Not many people are up at this hour. Most are asleep." Lynn collapsed into a pile of documents. "If you're hungry, you could go to the dining hall. They definitely left something for you. I remember there were lamb fried dumplings…"
"No need for now. I'm just looking for someone." Nol scratched his face.
"You sure you don't want to rest first?" Lynn propped herself up from the documents.
"It's rare that we agree on something." Teest draped his arm around Nol from behind, transforming once again into his silver cape form.
Nol looking for a neighbor alone always seemed like it was for something serious—especially after a prolonged battle for life and death. Perradat, not far away, turned her head in shock and started whispering with Kando.
"I'm sure." Nol took a breath, holding up the "Bystander's Tongue" on the table.
"I need to talk to Granny Meng."
Unfortunately, Granny Meng wasn't among the early risers.
The old lady usually woke up at six sharp, and it was still a good half-hour away. Lynn promised to notify someone to inform her once Granny Meng woke up, but Nol didn't want to use this fragmented time for a nap.
The morning light in the reception room was dim. Nol watched the tongue floating up and down in the glass jar.
The room was cozily arranged, with just the right lighting. The morning light in the Black Forest could make even the sharpest blade seem gentle. Yet, even with a layer of beauty, this thing still seemed quite revolting.
According to the system's notes, they only needed to place it on the target's skin and ask a clear question in the universal language. If using it on oneself, one only needed to specify the memory fragment in mind.
As for how this thing presented memories, the system didn't elaborate.
"I'll give it a try then."
Teest tapped on the jar, and the tongue moved, swimming away like a seahorse.
Nol looked up, somewhat surprised. "Why the sudden decision?"
Teest had been deprived of his true name, naturally losing most of his memories. If he wanted to fill in these gaps, one question wouldn't be enough.
Moreover, the Mad Monk didn't seem like the type to be sentimental.
"Your memories shouldn't be tampered with, and we're not sure about its specific effects. Apart from you, I am the strongest here, making me the most suitable for this experiment."
Teest kept tapping on the jar, causing the "Bystander's Tongue" to tremble. "Anyway, this thing isn't dangerous. Let's just take it as entertainment."
"Alright then."
Nol leaned in too. "I'm a bit curious. What do you want to ask?"
"The day we first met—"
"Teest!"
"Alright, alright. Just some memories I'm curious about."
With a pop, Teest opened the sealed jar. The "Bystander's Tongue" tried to stick to the bottom of the jar but was cruelly pinched out by Teest.
Unable to escape, it hung straight down, looking like an oddly shaped red goldfish.
Teest glanced at Nol, not visualizing the question in his mind but directly asking it.
"The day I was taken away when I was seven. During a game of hide and seek, I followed someone's footsteps into a room. I heard a voice, but when I removed the blindfold, there was only me inside."
Teest's pronunciation was deep and clear.
"I want to know, what did that voice say?"
Nol paused, having discussed this incident with Teest when talking about their entanglement with the Temple. At the time, Teest didn't pay much attention to it.
This meant that whatever that voice said back then didn't interfere with Teest's fate.
Indeed. Now that they had discovered Star Stealer Sol had the power to revert the past, this matter had become somewhat delicate.
Between Teest's fingers, the "Bystander's Tongue" emitted a layer of red light. Its root sucked onto Teest's fingertips, and the surrounding air vibrated, producing a male voice with a particularly standard intonation.
[The youngest son of the Flama family was playing hide and seek with a guest's child, despite having no interest in it. But for his busy parents, he was willing to tolerate those idiotic, shrieking brats.]
Teest: "..."
Nol: "..."
Perhaps Teest was unfamiliar with this format, but Nol recognized the tone all too well—it was basically "narration".
The narration didn't provide Teest's true name, indicating its memory reconstruction capability was limited.
[He only needed to listen to footsteps to know where those poor kids were hiding. Even a fledgling rabbit was better at hiding, he thought. Better end this quickly.]
Teest was enthusiastic. "Sounds just like me."
[In the darkness created by the blindfold, he suddenly heard a new set of footsteps. Light, almost non-existent, but he heard them. Undoubtedly, they belonged to an adult man.]
[The youngest son of the Flama family found the footsteps unfamiliar. Who was it? He tried to remove the blindfold, but the fabric seemed to have grown onto his skin. What a mysterious visitor. He excitedly followed.]
"Sounds just like you." Nol couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose.
Even at seven, the word "fear" wasn't in the Mad Monk's dictionary.
[The youngest son of the Flama family followed the footsteps at a safe distance, entering a room. At this time, his parents hadn't returned, his brother was practicing with the knights, and his sister was helping with accounting next door with the little sister—only he was in the room. Whatever the mysterious visitor intended, his family wouldn't be affected. The youngest son of the Flama family was very reassured.]
[Turning through corridors, down the stairs, doors opening and closing. The youngest son of the Flama family estimated the route. They had entered the Flama family's secret prayer room. He heard the scraping of boots over the wooden floor. The man had stopped.]
Teest held his temple and hissed.
Nol sat beside Teest, wrapping an arm around his shoulder—Teest's memories were incomplete, and the narration seemed to touch on a part he had forgotten.
["Who are you? Only my family knows this room. Earl wouldn't do such a stupid thing." The youngest son of the Flama family asked, his tone not like that of a child. A hand rested on his head. It was a warm, broad palm.]
[The man spoke. The youngest son of the Flama family had never heard such a gentle voice. The man said, "You will experience many things in the future. Your life will be full of questions, but no matter what, you will try your best to survive."]
[The youngest son of the Flama family was very puzzled. He would do so even without this person's explicit statement. Did this person break into the family's secret prayer room just to say these nonsensical words?]
["Everything will come to an end. God loves you deeply." The uninvited guest's tone contained a bit of laughter as he withdrew his hand from the child's head. The tightness of the blindfold disappeared, and the youngest of the Flama family hurriedly removed it. In the dim prayer room, he saw no one. Except for the altar right in front of him, above it was that paint that paint that paint that paint that paint that paint that paint that paint—]
The tongue trembled violently, suddenly veered to one side, and stopped functioning.
Nol quickly grabbed it and threw it back into the glass jar. As soon as it touched the liquid in the jar, the tongue swiftly swam deeper, trying to distance itself from Teest.
"Tch." Teest pursed his lips. "It seems my impression wasn't wrong. It's just some nonsensical, mystical babble—a total waste of my one chance."
"At least it wasn't 'Star Stealer Sol' if the voice was gentle." Nol capped the jar with a shiver. "Do you remember what was on your family's secret altar?"
If the word was "paint", then it should be referring to painting.
But how could a painting cause the "Bystander's Tongue" to malfunction?
"I don't remember." Teest shook his head. "Never mind. We can't use it against Star Stealer Sol anyway."
"Right." Nol sighed.
Compared to a painting already destroyed by the Temple, they had more important puzzles to solve.
Nol glanced at the time. It was now six in the morning.