Little Mortal shouted angrily at the token,
"Didn't you tell me it would be a fair challenge, you useless rock?
I'm gonna break you and make you my 'stepping stone'!"
The Emperor was going to say he didn't mean that by stepping stone, but the little boy was already attacking like a tiger, hunting down the floating token.
But a hair's distance from it, its mechanical voice sounded again:
[It will be fair.]
Little Mortal stopped and said with an impatient tone,
"How?
That stupid old man wants to come back on his leg?
This whole world is connected to him!
Isn't that the same as making this whole planet full of spirit energy again?
Huh?
How can I do that?"
The token answered:
[Due to outside interference, the Guardian Association will hold an emergency meeting.
Please be patient.]
Little Mortal was speechless.
"What are you talking about?
You're the only thing left from that shady Guardian Association!"
But the token didn't reply.
He knocked on it.
"Are you having a meeting with yourself?"
The token trembled this time and answered:
[The meeting is over.
The decision has been made.
The candidate will be given an opportunity to offset outside interference.
Searching for a suitable target.]
After a moment of silence:
[Searching has been completed.
It is detected that there is a space treasure in the candidate's possession.
Connection has been made.
Target location has been locked on.
It is detected that there is a treasure with the ability to show images in the candidate's possession.
Connection has been made.
Please study all the information before entering the target area.
Planet Blue Sea.
Black Dragon's Treasury.
Spirit Orb.
The candidate can descend to any place he wants.
The target's approximate location has been marked.
The candidate can use the orb to fulfill the seventh condition.]
And an image emerged from the crystal.
It was a sky-view image of a deserted world.
There was nothing on its surface except a massive black mountain with an unusual shape.
No water, no plants, no living creatures.
The sky was clear, but above the black mountain floated a massive chunk of dark clouds, silent and ominous.
On the right side of the picture was some information:
[Planet Blue Sea.
Located in one of the central galaxies under the influence of the 'Ice Parasite'.
The current resting place of his favorite pet.]
There was also a picture of a blue spherical object, 10 to 15 cm in diameter (6-12 inches)—about the size of an adult's fist.
Little Mortal scratched his head and said,
"So, basically, you're sending me to the home of a parasite's pet using my own birthday gifts?
Well... It's the Ice Idiot, so I can make him indirectly pay a little for our personal grudges from the past.
And who named this planet?
Blue Sea? It should be Yellow Desert..."
The token didn't answer.
Little Mortal suddenly slapped it while shouting angrily,
"You call this fair?!"
The token sank to the ground.
The whole place trembled.
The audience's hearts skipped a beat.
'The unstable kid is out of control once again!'
The token floated up, and its mechanical voice sounded:
[The candidate is a theft expert.
This challenge has been evaluated based on your expertise.]
Little Mortal's eyes widened.
He snatched the token and, while clenching his fist to crush it, asked coldly,
"I'm an expert in what?
I couldn't hear you?"
The onlookers answered in their minds:
'Theft.'
But the token answered differently:
[Collecting birthday gifts.]
The crowd was speechless. History had changed once again before the eyes of its witnesses.
Little Mortal snorted and looked at the Empress.
"Do you have any clothes my size, sister-in-law?"
The Empress, confused, took out a set of clothes slightly bigger than him—the same as the ones the little boy with the old couple had been wearing.
The standard attire for kids in the Imperial Family.
"Thank you. Now look away, please. I'm going to change."
The crowd looked away.
"Alright, I'm done."
They looked at him again. For a moment, they saw the illusion of a polite, well-behaved boy—the kind you'd want to pat on the head and say sweet words to.
But the moment passed. That mustache alone made the little monster overlap the illusion of the polite boy.
Little Mortal folded his black robe, placed the cage, the notebook, the headband, the two wristbands, the twelve storage rings, the pen, and the crystal on it, then looked at the token.
"Is there anything else that can be tracked?"
[The mustache.]
The people on the scene grew interested.
'That mustache is fake, right?
Please tell us it's fake!'
Little Mortal turned to the Emperor.
"Your Majesty, do you have a razor for me to shave my mustache?"
The Emperor, speechless, handed him one.
This was the first time in his life he'd seen someone this young shaving—and the first time someone had asked him, the Emperor, for a razor.
Little Mortal turned his back to them, making noises and pretending to move his hand up and down.
After a while, he turned around, holding the mustache in his hand.
"Alright, thank you, Your Majesty.
I'm done shaving."
The Emperor almost broke character when he saw the intact mustache in the boy's hand.
'You call that shaving?
You have the whole mustache intact in your hand!
Have I been shaving wrong my whole life?'
The two ladies did their best not to laugh. Tears gathered in their eyes.
Little Mortal placed the mustache beside his other items, turned to the token, and said,
"Alright, tell the mirror to open a passage to the back of the big guy."
The token replied after a brief moment:
[The gate will open in 60 seconds.
Please be ready. You only have one chance.
If you lose this opportunity, the Guardian Association is not responsible for—]
"Alright, be quiet. I'm tired of hearing your voice today."
He slapped it toward his folded clothes, and it dropped beside the rest of his items.
The token no longer moved or made a sound. It was clearly evident that the little monster was in a bad mood.
Little Mortal began warming up, doing some stretches.
The couple and Shadow Scarlet watched, waiting for the scattered information from the kid and his magical token to produce a result they could understand.
Suddenly, the space in front of them twisted.
A circle slowly appeared.
A blurry scene unfolded on the other side of the passage-like circle.
At the same time, a timer appeared above the token, counting down from 60.
They were all shocked!
'There's really a gate opening to another world?'
They all knew of a place called the Immortal World, but that was it. No one knew more. Those who went there never returned.
Little Mortal, seeing the timer, approached the Emperor, knelt on one knee, and said in a serious, determined voice:
"Your Majesty, this subject is going on a mission.
There may be no path of return for me.
Please give me an encouraging speech..."
He paused, raised his head, and looked into the Emperor's eyes.
"...for one last time."
Looking at that small, natural, innocent face—now free of the mustache—the Emperor could only describe it in two words:
[Brave soldier.]
He took a deep breath, ready to deliver his line—
"Cut! Little Crystal, where's the background music?"
Epic music began playing—the kind meant for soldiers marching to an unfair war, never to return.
"Alright. Take two. Action!"
He stared at the Emperor with a face that screamed: 'I am ready to sacrifice my life for the Empire!'
The Emperor, syncing with the music, glanced at the timer and delivered his lines at the perfect moment:
"My loyal and trustworthy soldier, remember:
Your strength lies not in your weapons, but in your heart and mind.
You carry the power to shape our destiny, to rise above challenges, and to forge a path of greatness.
Stand tall, be brave, and let your spirit shine like the brightest star in the night sky.
Together, we create a legacy that will be remembered for generations!"
As he finished, the scene behind the gate cleared—as if the passage to the other world was ready.
Little Mortal's eyes sparkled.
The Emperor nodded inwardly.
This child was easy to satisfy.
"Now, go on your journey.
This Emperor awaits your return."
Little Mortal stood, brimming with confidence.
"I will not disappoint you, Your Majesty!"
He turned to the token.
"Where's the orb?"
The token projected an arrow pointing toward the black mountain, with a distance marker.
Little Mortal nodded, stood before the gate—facing the desert and the massive black mountain—and said:
"By the way, for safety's sake, don't stand in front of the gate.
Oh, and don't come in.
As you can see, there are no trees there, so there's no oxygen for you to breathe."
As they puzzled over his last words, his head vanished inside his new imperial clothes.
Then the clothes collapsed to the ground—empty and torn at the front!
Their eyes widened in shock.
'How fast is he?!
This high-quality Imperial Robe couldn't even react to his movement...'
The three gulped, picked up their chairs, and moved far to the side of the gate.
They knew this little monster said things that seemed like nonsense—but in reality, they weren't. You just needed enough context to understand.
So they didn't risk it.
Time passed. The three—plus the two corpses, who had slowly shifted away from the gate—nervously watched the scenery of the other world.
Shadow Scarlet noticed the two silly shadow soldiers still lying on the ground.
"Leave before he comes back."
The two corpses suddenly sprang to life, cupped their hands at her and the couple, then fled at full speed.
The couple shook their heads and turned back to the other world's scenery.
Everything seemed normal.
Through the gate, they couldn't feel the temperature, smell, or hear any sounds.
It was like staring at a painting of an empty desert with a massive black mountain—
Wait.
'Where's the mountain?'
The enormous black mountain had vanished!
Then—a shockwave tore through the sky.
The dark clouds above where the mountain had been exploded, scattering in all directions.
In their place loomed a colossal, dragon-like creature!
A single glance at this monster drained the color from every face in the hall.
Its shadow alone turned the scenery from day to night.
The Black Dragon scanned the ground, searching for something.
Then—as if finding its target—it opened its maw and roared in a specific direction!
ROAR!
A moment later, the people in the hall saw a blue and round light moving towards the gate.
The dragon's head in the sky followed the light in disbelief!
The light passed the gate and destroyed some walls on its way until it stopped somewhere in the Emperor's mansion.
Everyone just saw it for a moment.
It was a blue sphere, with a diameter of at least two meters (6.5 feet), similar to the one in the picture from before, but...
'Why is the size of it not matched with what we saw in the picture?
That one was the size of a fist...'
The dragon seemed to be twenty times more enraged now!
It looked in another direction and opened its mouth.
This time, there wasn't a dragon roar, but pure black flame that came out of its mouth!
The pillar of flame hit the ground from the sky and started spreading everywhere.
The onlookers couldn't feel anything from this side, but just from the scale of the attack, they could tell this move from the dragon could turn the whole capital and everything around it to ashes!
While the black flames were spreading in all directions and moving towards the passage like a torrent,
They saw an upside-down bag with two small legs running towards the gate, while the flame torrent chased after it.
Then the dragon, who saw its target running away,
dove down towards it.
It was only at this moment that the crowd could understand how big this dragon truly was!
It didn't matter how close it got to the passage; it was just getting bigger and bigger.
It turns out the dragon was so far from them all this time, but because of its size, there was an illusion of it being close.
While the dragon was on its way to the running bag,
The little bag suddenly disappeared, then it appeared in front of the gate.
Seeing the sudden speed boost, the dragon was dumbfounded.
The crowd was speechless.
'If you can run so fast, then do it from the start! Why are you pretending to be slower than the big dragon?'
The small walking bag walked inside the passage, and the gate closed while the angry dragon was coming towards it.
The last scene from the other side was only the inside view of the dragon's throat, with black lava and fire inside...
The crowd wiped the sweat from their foreheads and sighed in relief.
That thing was so scary, big, and powerful.
It might not have been able to pass the passage, but couldn't it attack?
The little monster told them to move, probably because of the blue sphere that was thrown to this side at the start. Or the possible flame attack?
Either way, the passage was closed in time.
Then they watched the bag walking to the folded clothes on the ground and sucking everything in.
By now, they knew who was inside it.
After some movement in the bag, Little Mortal, with his mustache, headband, and wristbands on, came out.
The first thing he did was say,
"Little Crystal, how long did it take?"
A number appeared above the crystal:
[23 seconds]
He sighed in relief.
"Good, no way he can track me down."
The three wondered:
'Who is "he" that might track this monster?
Are there others as scary as him out there?
Wait, in the information, it was said that the favorite pet of the "Ice Parasite" is there! That dragon was just a pet!?'
They felt this little monster was involved in some matters that they really didn't want to put their noses into!
After Little Mortal became sure everything was fine, he came in front of the imperial couple, suddenly spat out a mouthful of 'blood', knelt on one knee, and said with 'difficulty',
"This subject, once again, is back, victorious."
The Emperor, who hoped this would be the last time dealing with this nonsense, thought to try something new and said,
"You overcame so many obstacles to achieve this victory.
Your perseverance is an inspiration to everyone in my empire.
Welcome back, my brother."
Little Mortal, who seemed taken aback for a moment, smiled at the Emperor and said,
"I was wondering if there would be a day that I hear you call me brother once again."
Then the two looked at each other, smiled, and nodded.
If there wasn't the age, look, and height difference between them, everyone would believe that they were real brothers...
"Aaand cut."
Taking another scene, Little Mortal looked around and ran in the direction of the big blue sphere.
The couple was going to talk to each other while he was gone, but the Emperor's eyes rolled back again and turned back to normal a moment after.
Shadow Scarlet looked at him strangely.
'What happened to him?'
The Empress asked,
"What is it this time?"
The Emperor answered,
"Take the small orb."
The Empress raised her eyebrows.
"So he got the small one too?"
The Emperor nodded and said,
"Should be in that bag, or I wouldn't receive another message."
The Empress touched her chin and said,
"So the planet manager his guardian token mentioned is..."
The Emperor finished her sentence:
"Heaven's Will."
The Empress said confidently,
"Should be easy to take it."
The Emperor:
"How?"
"Believe it or not, I can tell he is more like a child, even though he acts like some senior.
As parents, we should be able to handle this."
The Emperor thought about it for a moment and agreed.
"Hmmm, angry or sad?"
The Empress chuckled.
"Sad. If we play angrily, it might get us killed."
"You are right.
He is trying to fit in.
That's what children do when they are in a foreign environment.
We can use that."
"Yes, but if he can't, he might start 'crying.'
And in his case, I can't guess what will happen."
And they both said at the same time:
"Sad it is, then."
The Emperor added:
"But I'm only good at 'angry,' so I leave it to you."
Hearing the conversation between the two, Shadow Scarlet was full of questions.
'What are they talking about?
Why do I feel they want to trick that little senior?
Did they lose their minds?
How about I take my leave?
You even call Heaven's Will "planet manager"?'
She was going to excuse herself, but it was too late.
She saw the little monster coming back from the tunnel made by that blue sphere.
He was bringing it back while holding it above his head.
When he got close, the Empress stood up, went to the torn imperial clothes—now completely ruined—and brought them back.
Then she sat in her seat, looking sad, as she stared at the torn clothes.
When Little Mortal got close to them and saw this scene, he was shocked.
He paused for a moment, then dropped the ball on the ground, making a hole in the floor, and ran to the Empress.
"Sister-in-law, what happened?
Who made you sad?
Who did this to the clothes you gave me?
Tell me so I can punish them!"
The depressed Empress said sadly,
"Sigh, Big Brother Sect Master.
Don't let me start.
I can't take it anymore..."
Even some tears appeared in her eyes.
"You can tell me, we are like family!
Aren't we?
I even found an Emperor for you to marry!"
Hearing him, the Empress almost broke character.
"Y-yes, how can I forget that!"
Then, after a pause, she said,
"Big Brother, these days, it's so hard for me and my husband to protect the capital and the people!
Just look at this!
It was my son's favorite clothes!"
Little Mortal gasped and asked nervously,
"W-who did this?"
The Empress didn't answer and pointed at the windows.
"Every window in my house is broken, too."
Little Mortal looked around and became even more nervous.
The Empress then pointed at the table.
"Look, even the table that you gave us as a gift for our wedding is ruined..."
Then she pointed at the hole the sphere had made.
"Look at the hole in the floor. I don't even know where it appeared..."
Then she started 'crying.'
Little Mortal looked at the table with his own handprints on it and gulped.
"S-such formidable handprints!
W-who could it be?"
The Empress wiped her tears.
"Who else?
It must be those terrorists! They keep bullying us, and we don't have a way to protect ourselves..."
Little Mortal, as if finding a way out, jumped up and down, saying,
"Yes, yes, it's them!
Wait here, I'll give you something so you can deal with them if I'm not around!"
Then he ran to the bag and took everything out of it.
There were 17 shining items.
The hall became bright with a multitude of colors in an instant.
They wondered how he had taken the orb, since all these things came together with it.
The token was speechless...
He said "opportunity to fulfill the 7th condition: not to empty the treasury of someone..."
Among these probably treasures, one was the small orb.
The rest all looked like some high-quality jewelry that was extremely shiny, except for three other items.
Two of the three were a pair of black shoes, and the other one was a staff with a purple orb on it.
The couple was thinking:
'Give us that orb!'
But he picked the staff up, looked at it coldly, and said,
"You are going to change owners. Send the ugly guy out."
The three looked at him talking to the staff and thought, 'Does he have intelligence, or is he just acting again?'
The staff trembled.
"So what if that dragon is stronger than my sister-in-law?
He was an ugly pet!"
Then he pointed at the Empress.
"Look, the new owner is an Empress. She is weak, but still, the 'Empress' title is on her identification card. She even has an Emperor as her husband.
Look how cool and handsome they are!
What else do you want?"
The imperial couple, hearing the compliment, unconsciously sat straight.
The staff vibrated again.
"What do you mean, 'what do I mean'?
Let me explain it to you in a simple way so you understand."
The staff waited silently.
"Okay, let me ask you: If someone asks,
'Who do you serve?'
Your answer, right now, is...?"
The staff vibrated.
Little Mortal was speechless.
"Are you stupid?
What do you mean, 'Great Black Dragon'?
The answer is, 'I serve someone's pet.'"
Then he stared at it and said,
"Do you... understand?"
This time, the staff showed no reaction.
"Good.
Now, if you work for the lady over there, and someone asks,
'Who do you serve?' Your answer is...?"
The staff was still silent.
But Little Mortal just stared at it.
Until it finally vibrated.
"Exactly, the Empress!
Do you see how cool it is?
You can hold your head... No, your purple orb high and say proudly, 'My master is the Empress! Her husband is the Emperor! And her brother-in-law is the Sect Master!'
Now, send that guy out so I can send him on his way."
Then he turned to the couple and smiled apologetically, as if saying:
'Sorry that it's taking too long.'
The couple just smiled back like they were saying:
'Take your time.'
But inside, they were thinking:
'Why didn't things go as planned?
You were supposed to say, "How can I help you?"
And we would ask for that orb!
Now you're going to take something out of that staff?
The staff that was surely stolen from that big, scary dragon?'
The couple prayed to Heaven's Will for protection in their hearts.
They planned to deceive him and take the orb, but things didn't go as they planned.
At this moment, a certain dying old man in the sky, who received their prayers, was thinking:
'If you pray to me, who should I pray to?
Please don't bring a calamity out of that staff...
Sigh, I'm so tired of this troublemaker...'
Shadow Scarlet was now thinking if there was an afterlife so she could meet her family...
The staff went silent for a moment and then threw a black miniature dragon out.
When it appeared, it seemed to be sleeping—nothing happened.
But that didn't last long.
As if it sensed something, its eyes began to open.
The audience felt the hall's temperature rising, as if a volcano were erupting here.
The ground under the boy's legs started melting and even turned to lava.
The three people's hearts stopped beating once again.
The feeling was like a higher existence descending upon them.
However, while the feeling came quickly, it disappeared just as quickly.
Little Mortal caught the miniature dragon and stuffed it in his mouth before gulping it down.
If it wasn't for the lava he was standing on, they might have even thought all of this was just an illusion!
The crowd felt that every move of this little monster could make them age ten years every time, just from the stress...
"..."