Yiren and Lisa walked up to the little Mona as one-tailed Fox and paused. It wasn't because of her cuteness but rather the blue Water Elemental Stone which laid loose on her neck. The thin chain was just too big for the young fox's neck.
"I have no place to hide my Talisman for now. Can you please keep it safe for me? I will reclaim it once my Soul recovers," Mona pleaded to which Yiren naturally agreed, crouching to pick up the little white ball.
"Awww… You are so cute!" Yiren muttered, her body melting from Mona's cuteness. She couldn't help but hug and squeeze the soft fur into her chest. She was extremely light as well so it wasn't a trouble to carry her.
"Shall I wear it on me?" Yiren questioned as she touched the Water Elemental Stone, caressing its surface with her thumb. It was crystal blue, with immense energy brewing inside.
Mona cuddled into Yiren's chest with her eyes closed but they could still hear her clearly. "Yes. You can't keep it in your Storage Ring anyway, so just hang it on your neck. It is quite beneficial too. It will increase your affinity to Water Element. It was the only reason how I was able to create this place."
"Ah, makes sense…" Yiren agreed as Lisa came forward, helping her with it.
The moment Water Elemental Stone touched her chest, she immediately felt like something was different. The Water Essence in the air seemed more attracted to her, coiling around her body with each movement.
"It is truly magical," Yiren commented with a nod. "Do you maybe know if it has any other uses?"
Lisa's eyes brightened when she heard it but pretended to be oblivious.
"No, but I know there is one important usage. My mom told me that one day a person will come to collect the Talisman because they need it for completing their mission. She said if I like that person, I should give it to him, together with myself. Following that person would either bring me great misfortune or a great and happy future. The moment I heard that guy was interested in my Talisman, I checked his wrist but he didn't have the Bracelet my mom was talking about. Even though I knew it wasn't him, I still fell in love," Mona explained, giving them more clarity.
Now that Yiren thought about the situation from the bigger picture, it didn't seem like they could leave Mona out anymore.
"Don't worry… Maybe one day you will meet him, who knows. He might even like you," Yiren muttered softly, rubbing Mona behind her ears.
"I don't think this will happen any time soon… I also don't want to hope anymore. If I expect, I will only get hurt again. I will leave that to fate," Mona replied.
"Who knows, maybe he is closer to you than you think…" Lisa muttered quietly before changing the subject. "Shall we leave? It's cold here."
"I will leave the rest to you then. I will sleep for a while," Mona called out before her breathing calmed down.
Yiren and Lisa exchanged gazes but didn't say anything. Just their look alone was enough to display the dilemma placed in front of them.
Xuefeng badly needed another Elemental Stone while Mona had it. Looking at the case without any strings attached, they already took control over the Water Elemental Stone. They technically didn't need Mona anymore but then came the emotional aspect. Were they so cruel as to leave cute Mona to defend herself and break her trust? It was the last thing Yiren would do, especially to her friend.
They could only do one thing which they agreed to without even speaking.
Let Xuefeng decide what he wants to do.
"Let's go back to the Village. Once we say goodbye to everyone, we should find Xuefeng," Lisa proposed to which Yiren nodded firmly.
Both of them began to miss him when he suddenly got involved.
———
"Are you feeling better…?"
Just as Yiren and Lisa who began to miss Xuefeng, he was the same, holding onto his chest with a grimace. He was in the middle of refining when his body suddenly shuddered as if he smashed against a wall. As he was sitting on the bed with Tianshi accompanying him, it could only be one person that caused it.
Yiren.
Their souls and body got connected after Yiren split her Elvish Bloodline with him. They could feel each other's pain or strong emotions and that day was the first time Xuefeng felt Yiren's pain since they arrived in the Heaven Realm.
"I'm better now… Yiren seems to be fine but she was fighting just a moment ago," Xuefeng assured as he hugged Tianshi who stopped her refining to attend him. "I was worried for a moment…"
"It's alright… She is a strong girl," Tianshi assured as she gave him a deep kiss. "She will tell us all her stories once we meet again. We can't do anything about it."
As Xuefeng seemed to be still bothered, Tianshi sat in between of his legs and pulled out an Upgrade Fragment. She got herself comfortable while leaning against his chest and ordered. "Let's continue. You have a tournament to win in two days."
"I want to find them all soon," Xuefeng declared firmly. "Let's wait for the House of Dragons to visit and then use their help to do so. I don't think we can depend on the Trade Union."
"Yes, my love, but to do that, we need to train, so let's start again," Tianshi reminded and Xuefeng finally nodded, pulling his own fragment.
———
"Stop staring at me!"
In the depths of the Dwarf Kingdom, one of the caverns just didn't go quiet.
"Stop breathing so loudly!" The female dragon cried out and Drakos finally sighed, fed up with her bullshit.
"You are really crazy. Stop thinking so highly of yourself. I am already taken so stop flirting with me."
Pfft!
The female Dragon almost choked when she heard that. "Who is flirting with who?! Me? With an oldie like you?! Never!"
"As if I would flirt with a madwoman," Drakos replied annoyed. "How can you even tell if I'm old or not? I'm obviously still young."
The black female dragon turned around in her cage and sniffed him, declaring without hesitation, "You stink. All old perverts stink the same!"
Thud!
Drakos stomped angrily with his giant foot, causing both cages to shake. The female Dragon got startled, jumping away but was stopped by the cage. She hit her head against the bars but didn't complain anymore, only glaring at him.
"Behave," Drakos grunted. "I didn't even say anything yet you continue to insult me. We are meant to work together else we will never leave this shit hole. Got it?"
Drakos' low voice and the stare of an Elder seemed to have worked well as the female Dragon chilled a bit, avoiding his gaze while lowering her head. It was a sign of respect young Dragons gave to the Elders that all mainland Dragons were taught.
"How long have you been here? What did he force you to do? How many times does he come down here? Did you try escaping?" Drakos questioned multiple times, not wasting time.
"Two weeks…" the female Dragon replied quietly and continued after a moment of hesitation, "All I did was smelt his stupid ore. He comes down once or twice a day to give me new ore. He promised that once I'm done, he will release me but something tells me he will not... That is why I began revolting. He stopped giving me food to force me to work but I'm not going to bend."
Although Dragons had one of the strongest endurances which allowed them to survive without food for a long time, if they wanted to spit fire, they needed energy. In Drakos' case, the energy could come from Fate Qi but normal Dragons needed to eat.
"He will not release us," Drakos informed. "Many years ago I was jailed in this place and only managed to escape because he got careless. I doubt we can repeat this again."
"I knew you were old…" the Dragoness commented sarcastically and suddenly took control, "So what are we doing? I'm clearly stronger so I will lead the escape. Just tell me what is your idea."
Drakos rolled his eyes. "Didn't you just hear what I said? We won't be able to escape. Unless we are able to break those collars on our necks, we will be stuck here. Even if we can destroy those cages, we won't run away far before they either explode or crack our necks."
"Huh? Do you plan to stay here forever and be this bastard's slave then? I expected more from an uncle like you but it seems I will have to do this by myself," the Dragoness called out, acting as if he wasn't worth her time anymore.
"Oh, how will you do it? I'm very curious," Drakos asked amused.
"I don't know yet but I will figure it out soon. One thing I know for sure: I will not stay here and become a slave," the Dragoness replied firmly before glancing at the gigantic armor she helped create. "Who knows what he wants to use it for. It's definitely enough to fight against our race if he wished to do that. We can't finish it."
Drakos blinked, actually not realizing this one last fact. He didn't care about his own race that betrayed him but if Dragons were hunted down, the power dynamics in the world would shift diametrically. He couldn't let that happen.
'It will take a week before Bella can reach here… if she even will. I need a back-up plan…' Drakos thought as he glanced at the Dragoness and an obvious idea came to his mind.
"Kid, I know a certain method that will let you escape from this place. I want to use it for myself but I'm currently too weak. Do you want to hear it?"
The Dragoness gazed at him interested, even ignoring the insult using her age.
"Shoot!"