Book 4: Chapter 8 |
On the grass of the training field, the little dragon girls sat directly on the ground.
Noah and Little Light stared at each other in silence. The air between them carried a seriousness that didn’t quite belong among children.
Mu’en looked at her older sister, then at her younger sister. She blinked, shook the tuft of hair on her head, and asked seriously,
“Is the game we’re playing today called ‘Keep Your Eyes Open and Don’t Talk’?”
Little Light raised her hand, cutting off her second sister’s question, her eyes still locked on her eldest sister.
“I just saved you,” the pink-haired girl said slowly, word by word.
“What do you mean, Little Light?”
“I wasn’t talking to my big sister. I was talking to the ghost hiding inside her body.”
Mu’en flopped down onto the grass in a full-on give-up pose, her little tail spread beneath her.
She was already developing something like PTSD toward the word “ghost.” Every time, Little Light would excitedly drag her along to catch one, and every single time it ended with nothing but disappointment.
After a while, Mu’en seriously began to suspect that her little sister had been so bored staying home during summer break that, lacking any real fun, she had simply driven herself a bit crazy.
Noah helplessly covered her face as well.
“There’s no ghost, Little Light. You’ve been catching ghosts for a whole month now. If you keep this up, summer break will be over. Why don’t we use the remaining time to play some games, or practice some of the magic we’ll learn next semester? Wouldn’t that be better?”
Having a little sister who loved chaos wasn’t scary.
What was scary was that this chaos-lover was both smart and stubborn.
The pink-haired girl only believed what she saw, heard, and reasoned out herself. No matter what anyone else said, unless they produced decisive evidence, she wouldn’t change her mind.
If Noah inherited her dad’s talent and diligence, and Mu’en inherited her mom’s occasional airheadedness, then their youngest sister Aurora had inherited all of the stubborn mule-like personality traits buried deep in both parents’ bones.
That temperament was indeed suited for scientific research—but don’t use it on your big sister, okay?!
The pink-haired girl narrowed her eyes slightly, then waved her hand.
“Hmph. I don’t know what you were doing spying on Mom while she was working, but next time, don’t expect me to save you again.”
Noah shook her head with a smile.
“So was that sentence meant for me? Or for that so-called ghost?”
Whoosh—
Little Light suddenly stood up, strode over to Noah, and cupped her sister’s face with both hands.
“Big Sister, believe Little Light. Little Light will definitely save you!”
“…Alright. I’m sure that one was meant for me.”
Mu’en sat up and raised her little hand.
“Um, um~ so what game are we actually playing today?”
“What do you want to play?” Noah asked.
“Ummmm…”
Mu’en rarely began to think.
She only ever fully activated her little brain when deciding what game to play or what to eat for dinner.
But after thinking it through, she realized that over this summer break, they had already played every game they could think of. Playing them again wouldn’t feel fresh.
So the little dragon girl gave up thinking.
“I dunno…”
While the three little ones were worrying, two maids passed by the edge of the training field.
One of them seemed to be holding a promotional poster for some event.
“Oh wow, what a novel kind of gameplay. I’ve never heard of this before.”
“I heard it’s a game introduced from another race. Thrilling, exciting, and really brain-burning!”
The two dragon maids each held one side of the poster, chatting enthusiastically.
Hearing their voices, Mu’en immediately jumped up and ran over.
“Sister Miss, Sister Aria, what game are you talking about?”
Miss bent down and handed the poster to Mu’en.
“Your Highness, we’re talking about a live-action interactive game that’s recently become very popular in Sky City. Take a look.”
Mu’en took the poster with both hands.
The main image showed a massive ancient castle, looking mysterious beneath the night sky.
Beside it were several graffiti-style bats that didn’t look particularly scary.
Mu’en read the text on the poster aloud.
“Sky City’s newest large-scale live-action interactive game. Explore the mysterious castle and help the princess find the murderer hidden among the crowd…”
“That’s right. If Your Highness is interested, you could ask Her Majesty and the Duke to take you along,” the maid Aria said.
Mu’en’s eyes lit up.
She really had never heard of this game before, and just the poster alone had completely caught her interest.
“Thank you, Sister Miss, Sister Aria,” Mu’en said politely.
“You’re welcome, Your Highness.”
Mu’en ran back with the poster.
Sitting down beside Noah and Little Light, she spread it out.
Noah and Little Light leaned in as well.
“A live-action interactive game? …Sounds pretty interesting,” Little Light said, clearly intrigued.
As everyone knew, when the keywords “live-action” and “interactive” came together, the most likely result was—
Fun chaos.
And as the Silver Dragon Clan’s number-one god of amusement, Aurora naturally didn’t want to miss such a prime opportunity to watch some excitement.
“Right? Right? Little Light wants to go. What about you, Big Sister?” Mu’en asked excitedly.
Noah continued reading the poster.
“The game lasts at least seventy-two hours and is suitable for class reunions and group outings among friends and relatives… The optimal number of participants is eight…”
She quietly counted the number of relatives at home.
“Dad, Mom, Mu’en, Little Light, me—that’s only six people, even if we include Aunt Isha. We don’t have enough people, Mu’en.”
Aside from being live-action and interactive, another key word for this game was “large-scale.”
In addition to the generous seventy-two-hour duration, there were naturally requirements for the number of participants.
And given the Merkway family’s personality, they probably wouldn’t want to team up with strangers.
Mu’en puffed out her cheeks and started thinking again.
“Then… then we can invite Sister Shirley!”
“She’s out on a mission and hasn’t been home lately.”
“…Then Sister Milan and Aunt Anna?”
“Sister Milan has a lot of daily work and can’t spare the time. As for Aunt Anna… she doesn’t really like this type of game.”
The dragon girl with the cowlick felt like the sky was falling. She flopped back onto the grass in another full give-up pose.
Little Light also looked disappointed, lowering her head and fiddling with the tip of her pale-pink tail in silence.
Noah lowered her gaze to the poster.
At the top, it also listed the championship rules and prize for the game.
“Whether you’re in the good faction or the wolf faction, as long as you complete all tasks triggered within the game, you are the winner of this round.”
“The winners will obtain the ultimate hidden relic within the castle—the Black Holy Stone.”
After that came a parenthetical explanation of the “ultimate hidden relic.”
“The game item ‘Black Holy Stone’ is made from the absolutely safe material known as Night Spirit Crystal.”
“Night Spirit Crystal… I remember the teacher mentioning it in class. It’s a rather uncommon but pretty much useless magical material… mostly used to make decorative items.”
Most people probably joined this game for the novelty and fun anyway. What the final prize was didn’t really matter.
“Kid, that’s not some ‘useless magical material.’”
At that moment, the “ghost,” silent for quite some time, suddenly spoke.
Drip—
A droplet fell from the dark-gold ceiling into the water at Noah’s feet. Ripples spread outward from her, eventually stopping in front of the white dragon.
“What is the Night Spirit Crystal?” Noah asked.
“In ancient times, dragonkind used the Night Spirit Crystal to reinforce the magical circuits within young warriors’ bodies. This allowed them to cast far more intense magic without harming themselves.”
The old ancestor explained calmly.
“In addition, it can also increase the efficiency of refining magic power.”
Noah raised an eyebrow.
“If Night Spirit Crystal is that effective, why does no one use it anymore?”
“Because to make Night Spirit Crystal work, it requires a special type of magical power.”
Special magical power.
Noah instantly understood what the old ancestor meant.
“Only primal power can activate Night Spirit Crystal’s true effect, right?”
“Hmph. Smart little brat.”
The old ancestor said, “So, Noah, our opportunity has arrived.”
Noah blinked. “What opportunity?”
“Since you don’t want me borrowing your mother’s wedding gift, then Night Spirit Crystal is the perfect substitute. We need it to speed up our accumulation of primal power.”
“So… you have to participate in this game. And you must become the winner.”
…
Footnotes
- PTSD (used humorously)Pinyin: chuàng shāng hòu yìng jī fǎn yìngExplanation: Internet slang exaggerating repeated frustration or annoyance.
- Give-up pose / lying flatPinyin: tǎng píngExplanation: Slang for abandoning effort and passively lying down.
- Watching the funPinyin: kàn rè nàoExplanation: Enjoying chaos or drama as a spectator.
- Brain-burningPinyin: shāo nǎoExplanation: Describes activities that require intense thinking or strategy.
- Grinding gears / stubborn mulePinyin: jué lǘ píExplanation: A colloquial phrase for extreme stubbornness.
- Cannon fodderPinyin: pào huīExplanation: People used as expendable participants with little value to decision-makers.