BXBX NOVEL Chapter 77: A Break
"The human domain. I knew it, the air was too pure." Amon cursed himself for being too dumb. Why hadn't he thought about it? The size of the room, the furniture, and the air had been clear giveaways, after all.
"Regardless, this means I have a lead," Amon thought, turned his back, and started to walk away.
His destination: the Vermilion Kingdom.
The livelihood of Cromwell Barony had improved significantly in the past four years. Before, their major source of revenue had come from farming, which was only a dozen gold coins and could barely sustain them.
However, this had changed since the appearance of the level two dimensional rift. The unemployed Awakened who didn't work for guilds finally had something to do besides hunting monsters in the Luminous Forest.
The resources and loot were sold to guilds in the Royal Capital and other cities, bringing in a steady stream of gold coins. The barony's economy was flourishing, and the people were happy. It was the best time of their lives.
Because of the presence of the dimensional rift, several merchants had moved into the barony, setting up shops and trading goods. The once-small and sleepy town was now bustling with activity.
Nathan had used the money generated from the dimensional rift to expand the cobblestone roads and repair the walls.
In the past four years, beasts had been coming closer and closer to the walls, accompanied by heavy downpours of rain from time to time. The people of the barony had grown uneasy, but with the improved infrastructure and the presence of the Awakened, they felt safer.
A black-haired youth standing at 5'6" with lightless eyes was currently gasping for breath as he stared at the high ceilings of the coliseum. Beside him were Panda, a fat cat, and a humanoid ant.
"Training is over for today; you can take a break tomorrow," Eve said as she descended from the fighting platform after another grueling training session. It was a three-versus-one fight, but Eve had easily bested all three unscathed.
Nox felt frustrated; no matter how hard he pushed himself, he couldn't land a single hit on the necromancer because she could anticipate each of his moves easily.
"Thank you, Master!" he said as he staggered to his feet. During these four years, he had trained continuously, learned a variety of dagger arts, and even perfected his control of splitting his attention in battle.
Unlike the other kids, he didn't take breaks. His daily routine for the past years was completing his daily quests, training with Eve, and lastly, hunting monsters.
Of course, under the guidance of his grandfather and other Awakened in the barony, almost everyone had learned about how disciplined and hardworking Nox was.
The only person who trained at the same pace as he did was Nyx... the rest took breaks from time to time, so they were far behind the twins in terms of strength. In fact, this was his first break in four years.
"You're welcome." When she was further from the fighting platform, Eve murmured to herself with a subtle smile on her face.
"Please tell me the world isn't coming to an end," Skully exclaimed when he saw the smile on his Mistress's face. She'd been smiling more often, and it freaked Skully out whenever he saw her; he wasn't used to this version of his Mistress!
'All this began when she started training that pipsqueak... that kid doesn't know it, but he is slowly breaking Mistress's frozen heart,' Skully thought.
Skully had long noticed that Eve was very fond of Nox because they shared similar qualities: they were both very hardworking, disciplined, and had goals they were actively working toward. However, for some reason, Eve would never accept these feelings, and Skully knew the reason.
Eve's smile faded as quickly as it appeared, replaced by her usual cold and calculating demeanor. She turned to Skully, her expression unreadable.
"What are you talking about, Skully?"
Skully, taken aback by the sudden change, stuttered, "N-nothing, Mistress. Just... just making conversation."
"You all have tried; I'm very proud of you guys," Nox said as he flicked an invisible tear from his eyes. He was currently standing before his pets: Thirteen, Fluffington, and the Ant Queen. Just like him, they had also trained seriously in the past four years, improving their attributes significantly.
[Fight!] Thirteen bounced up and down with his fists clenched. Unlike Fluffington and the Ant Queen, who were exhausted, the little panda seemed full of energy and could still go through another section of training.
[Since it's a free day tomorrow, I'm entitled to choose how I spend my day, right?] Fluffington spoke up as he lay down on his belly.
"Yes, all of you can choose what to do," Nox said. "Because after tomorrow, we still have something to do."
[Good, I want to get enough sleep, a bowl of milk, and oh, a massage. Don't forget the massage!] Fluffington said.
"Granted!" Nox didn't feel the cat was demanding too much, so he readily agreed. Besides, Fluffington deserved it for training tirelessly without a break in the past four years.
"What about you?" Nox stared at the Ant Scourge Queen.
[I'll attend to my colony. That's all,] the Ant Queen said. With the help of her master, the Ant Queen had set up a nest inside Cromwell Barony for her ant colony, but she hadn't been attending to them much because of constant training; with the free day, the Ant Queen intended to check on all the ants in her colony and make sure they were doing fine.
'So responsible... she's just like Mother.' Nox stared at the Ant Queen with admiration before looking at Panda.
Before he could even say a word, Thirteen spoke up: [Fight! Panda fight!]
"Ah, what did I expect?" Nox massaged his temples. He needed to find a way to quench this panda's urge before it was too late.
'That reminds me, I haven't checked their status in a long time.' Nox thought and the system interface appeared before him.