Chapter 245: Chapter 211: My Favorite Is Still You Chapter 245: Chapter 211: My Favorite Is Still You On the Time Continent, an extremely rare event was occurring—three mages had gathered together.
Even though the active areas were much fewer than the Sea of Knowledge, the Time Continent was still immensely vast. Coupled with the scarcity of Two-winged Mages and the heavy obscurement of vision by the Golden Rain’s Rain Curtain, encounters between mages on the Time Continent were not as frequent as in the Sea of Knowledge, with everyone wandering in a dark forest.
But from today onwards, the sight of three mages journeying together might become a common occurrence on the Time Continent.
Feeling the grip on his throat tightening, Ash hastily said, “She’s a Witch, a new partner who has joined our team. It wasn’t easy for me to find her. She will be joining us in the exploration of the Void Realm…”
It wasn’t easy for me to find her?
An indescribable sense of grievance and annoyance rapidly swelled and boiled in her heart, yet Sonia’s expression remained unaltered, with only her eyes growing increasingly bright, and her pale red pupils seemed to morph into vertical slits.
Ash suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, an endless fear squeezing his entire body as if he was under Blood Moon Judgement. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, he lowered his voice and said, “Don’t worry, it’s still you that I like the most!”
Sonia blinked and let go of Ash, took two steps back with an averted gaze, and fidgeted with her clothes’ hem, saying a bit embarrassedly, “What are you suddenly talking about…”
“Sword Maiden, our bonds are still the highest right now, so I will prioritize giving you any Experience Treasure Orbs we find, let you pick first from the best Technique Spirits, and other benefits too. I’ll check with you first, and then whatever’s left will be split between me and the Witch,” Ash said earnestly. “You don’t have to worry that the arrival of the Witch will lessen your place in my heart.”
“Who cares about my status in your heart!”
Sonia muttered under her breath and then glanced at Diya, who was curiously observing them. She moved a bit closer to Ash and whispered, “Although I don’t care… you’d better not be lying to me!”
“I’m not lying to you!” Ash declared confidently. “Unless the Witch’s bonds with me grow stronger or she shows more potential than you, the resources will always be tilted in your favor!”
The red-haired Sword Maiden stiffened: “So that means, if she’s stronger than me…”
“After all, we are a team, and the fundamental goal of resource allocation is to make the team stronger,” Ash did not deny. “While I believe in your abilities, Sword Maiden, if you want to keep your advantage in the team, you will have to work even harder.”
In fact, before entering the Void Realm, Ash had a vague feeling that Sword Maiden would be angry, but he had not anticipated such a strong reaction.
But putting himself in her shoes, Ash thought Sword Maiden had every reason to be upset—like in a startup company, how could you not get mad if your partner brought someone new into the business without consulting you? How would the shares be allocated? How would the work be divided?
Although a three-person team theoretically has higher work efficiency than a pair, the harvest in the Void Realm largely depends on fate. Sometimes you might fight knowledge creatures and not drop a single Experience Treasure Orb, or you could fight Mage projections and only get rubbish Technique Spirits. Besides cursing a bad drop rate, what else could you do? And when the spoils are not good, three people have to share, and it’s easy for someone to get nothing—wouldn’t that cause arguments?
Ash and Sword Maiden had taken some time to reach an understanding and rarely had disputes over the distribution of spoils. But now with one more person, the dynamics of the game had suddenly become much more complicated. For example, if they found two Technique Spirits, both Sword Maiden and the new Witch could use them. Even if Sword Maiden had the priority to pick one first, wouldn’t the second still go to the newcomer?
It seemed sudden but reasonable on the surface, and Sword Maiden might even seem to have the advantage. But here’s the thing—if there were no Witch, both Technique Spirits would belong to Sword Maiden!
As someone who had mired through office politics for years, Ash knew well the subtleties of human nature. Though the arrival of new staff to share the workload, boost department performance, and collectively enlarge the pie was undoubtedly excellent, it also meant a reshuffling of interests. Her presence was bound to infringe upon the interests of the old-timers and could even affect the division of office factions.
So Ash brought in a Witch, and then the Sword Maiden welcomed the New Operative with open arms?
To use an inappropriate analogy, it was like a wife seeing her husband bring home a mistress to share the same bed. How could the wife possibly be willing?
The Sword Maiden wasn’t a genuinely selfless cardboard cutout. On the contrary, she was a highly sensitive self-interest actor. If she were in the company from Ash’s previous life, she might not have become an excellent Vanguard of internal competition, but at least she would have been a rights fighter who was so vigilant that even the company dared not bully her, always ready to record evidence.
The Sword Maiden was bound to be concerned about the Witch usurping her interests, more afraid of being replaced in her position. Moreover, since she didn’t control the leading authority in Void Realm Exploration, it was natural for her to feel uneasy and annoyed. It was only reasonable that she’d be upset.
People are rarely content because they’ve gained more benefits but are often disgruntled because they believe they’ve received less.
Ash wasn’t criticizing the Sword Maiden for her greed, considering it to be a natural human trait. He was no better himself—after all, who is a born Saint? Who works without the motive of more money? Blaming subordinates for lack of gratitude is something only a company on the brink of collapse would do. Team management is, after all, a profound study.
Therefore, he couldn’t suppress the Sword Maiden with grand principles but should analyze from her perspective the pros and cons of the Witch joining. Perhaps even paint an inspiring picture for her, showing that if she doubled her efforts in internal competition, she would always be the brightest star in the team.
But that was all Ash could do.
Ash could comfort the Sword Maiden, but he wouldn’t indulge her.
No matter how close they were, or if she was one of his pillars of inner strength, Ash wouldn’t give in.
Ash was also close to his parents, but when they wished him to become a civil servant back home, he chose to strive alone in the City, only returning home during the holidays;
Ash was close to his elder brother, but when his brother suddenly engaged in late-night heart-to-hearts about topics like “people always meet the right person at the wrong time,” Ash would inform his sister-in-law immediately, nipping his brother’s infidelity in the bud;
Ash was fond of his nephew, spoiling him with countless gifts, but upon returning home to find the boy mischievous, he wouldn’t hesitate to take off his belt and spin the little rascal like a top.
Emotions were one thing, but Ash had his own set of principles in his heart, never compromising himself for the sake of feelings. In a sense, Ash felt that he was quite akin to the people of the Kingdom of Blood Moon—he too valued his desires above all else, a true selfish culprit.
“Aurora’s Mage Manual” was his most crucial trump card, and he couldn’t refrain from using it; the operators were an essential combat power for his Exploration of the Void Realm, he couldn’t give up the Black and White Witch.
The Sword Maiden felt uneasy, angry, aggrieved—he could understand, he could comfort, but he would never apologize, nor concede even an inch.
He needed the Sword Maiden to understand and support him.
Under Ash’s gaze, Sonia fell silent for a moment before asking, “Will there be more people in the future?”
“Perhaps,” Ash wasn’t sure himself: “Maybe our team will grow to a dozen or so—”