“Sir, you’ve forgotten to identify yourself.” Schor Wu frowned. She was always a stickler for the proprieties.

  “Hmm? But we’ve all met before. Have you forgotten?” When he smiled, two cute dimples showed on his cheeks.

  “I don’t believe we’ve met, sir,” I said, copying Schor Wu’s form of address since I didn’t know his rank.

  It would be strange indeed if I had met and forgotten this child who looked like someone straight out of an anime show.

  “Lady Violet, I taught you the basics of pill alchemy. It’s me, the Dawn Skybde Sect’s Sage.”

  My mouth fell open in shock, and his grin became even wider.

  “No way! The sage is an old man with white hair and a long beard!” I said.

  He ughed merrily. “Didn’t I tell you that I was going to use the ingredients you gave me to make the Sovereign Vitality Awakening Pill to bring back my youth?”

  I remembered that, but I had no idea it was going to turn him into a young child. “Oh my, please have a seat and have some tea with us.”

  He held up a hand and shook his head. “Not today. I need to go to the front lines. Shall we do another test? I’ve brought a much more advanced Soul Essence Stone to evaluate your spirit roots.”

  Looking around, I saw the eager expression on my apprentices’ faces and said, “I fear that the Venerable Immortal Sage will be disappointed in the results again.”

  “There’s no harm in trying again.” He reached into his sleeves and took out a small wooden box which he opened to show us a small white crystal ball nestled in red silk. “Please pce your hand on this.”

  I nodded to Kharli who stepped forward and gingerly touched the Soul Essence Stone. Green lights swirled inside the crystal ball and formed a few characters spelling out a simple message.

  “Unknown Bloodline?” The Sage frowned at the stone. “It’s detecting something but can’t cssify it.”

  “I expected it.” I patted Kharli on the shoulder in consotion.

  She was a little disappointed because in this world people who had spirit roots could practice a huge variety of martial or mystical arts to become more powerful and extend their lifespan. This was called cultivation and the people who practiced it were called cultivators. It was considered the most powerful and prestigious job for humans.

  Lari and Mo also got tested, with the same result. When it was my turn, I was expecting to get an “Unknown Bloodline,” too, but I was wrong.

  “What does ‘Supreme Transcendent Bloodline’ mean?” I asked the Sage.

  “This is one of the terms for unknown bloodlines, but it’s specutive since the stone can’t properly evaluate bloodlines that are extremely rare or have never been seen.” The Sage smiled as he closed the box and put it back in his sleeve. “It’s likely that the Soul Essence Stone could only detect your bloodline because your connection to it is stronger than your apprentices. The ‘Supreme’ part means your bloodline is of the highest level and the ‘Transcendent’ part means its origin is not of this world.”

  Wow, the Sage hit the nail on the head! My bloodline really wasn’t from this world since I was from Earth and the System was likely reted to a video game I pyed there.

  “How interesting,” said Schor Wu.

  She seemed to be waiting for my reply, but I just smiled and offered the Sage a few herbs as a parting gift. However, he asked for a sample of my [Five Elements Pill] that I had distributed to the cns. He called it the Supreme Celestial Dragon Shield Aura Pill. That must be what it was called by the cultivators.

  [Five Elements Pill:

  Crafted from potent herbs, it harmonizes with the wielder's aura to strengthen its elemental defenses against earth, fire, water, wood, and metal magical attacks.

  Duration: 15 minutes]

  After he left, I poured myself a cup of coffee and said to the others, “Did you guys know the Sage turned into a cute boy?”

  Schor Wu choked on the tea she was drinking. “Lady Violet, he's still too near. He heard you.”

  Lari, Kharli, and Mo all burst out ughing at my discomfiture.

  “Prince Baiyu will hear of this!” said Kharli after she was done ughing.

  “Hey, don’t make it weird.” I mock-gred at her.

  “Is he still too near?” asked Mo.

  When Schor Wu shook her head, Lari said, “No, we didn’t know.”

  “I didn’t realize you knew him,” said Schor Wu.

  Lari rolled his eyes. “Because Kharli and Mo only talk about love scandals!”

  “You love scandals, too.” Mo tried to flick his forehead, but Lari dodged it.

  “Not the way you girls do. You both have love-fevered brains!” said Lari with a smirk.

  I let the kids babble as much as they wanted since they were probably just going through the motions of a normal day. Though their talk was lively enough, every now and then they would gnce at the demon boss egg, keeping a close tab on it. Even Schor Wu was affected. Her movements were a lot more jerky than usual, and she also couldn’t stop her eyes from repeatedly darting to the ominous presence south of us.

  The day grew hotter and hotter as the sun rose higher in the sky. As the fateful time grew near, everyone gathered outside, craning their necks to gaze up at the egg that was as rge as a mountain. The first hint that something was happening came when the sky above us sparkled and an almost transparent dome with glowing golden runes appeared.

  “The shield formation has been strengthened,” said Schor Wu.

  Five minutes before noon, the ground beneath us started shaking. The maids clutched at each other in arm and my apprentices held on to each other.

  “It’s hatching!” I excimed.

  Schor Wu helpfully offered me her arm, and I clung to her as the earthquakes intensified.

  Suddenly, there was a loud booming sound that echoed through the campsite, and the egg shot up into the clouds above it. The sky turned dark, with arcs of red and white lightning crackling throughout the clouds that hid the egg.

  A moment ter, the clouds parted and the egg was nowhere to be seen as a gigantic figure of a red-skinned horned demon dropped down from the heavens with a crash. I couldn’t see it from here, but no doubt it had created a crater where it had nded. The Demon Boss was bipedal and was roughly the shape of a human with eyes that were pure bck, including the sclera.

  This time, there was no crying or screaming from the staff. Instead, everyone took out their telescopes or binocurs. They were quite expensive, and I had overheard a few of the staff bemoaning the cost, but everyone wanted to have a good look at this important, history-making event. Of course, I used one from my System inventory.

  “It’s smaller than the egg!” said Lari.

  “Less than half the size,” said Schor Wu.

  According to the reports I had gotten, the demon egg was ten thousand li tall, which in Earth terms was five thousand meters or sixteen thousand feet. However, people here used “ten thousand” as a catch-all term for something very rge or tall. Whatever the actual measurement, the Demon Boss looked roughly the same as in the game, unless I had the scale wrong since I was far away from it. The World Event from Adventure Incarnate featured a Demon Boss that was so huge that we could only see its feet on our screens.

  “The cn members will just have to whittle away at it,” I said.

  Even as I said that the others cheered, whooped, or cpped their hands when they saw the first cn members approaching the demon from the air.

  “Our valiant heroes are fighting!” said Kharli.

  “Kill it!” screamed Lari.

  “Don’t scream or you’ll lose your voice,” said Mo. “We need to be able to cheer for Teacher tomorrow.”

  “Hmm, I think I’ll have a viewing tower set up here. What do you think?” I asked the others.

  They all agreed it would be nice to view the battle from a higher vantage point, so I used the System’s build tab to pce a small stone tower thirty feet wide at the base and three stories tall. This was high enough for us to have a slightly better view, but not too high that we were above the camp’s shield formation. The top level was an open area with crenetions, and I set up a canopy to protect us from the hot sun.

  We were all glued to our binocurs and telescopes, but it was difficult for us to make out what the current strategy was or whether the cn members were fighting effectively. Schor Wu helped us out by giving us a running commentary on the battle.

  “Look at the head. That’s where the White Tiger cn members are,” she said while using her telescope. “They’re testing the demon’s reflexes. The demon is trying to swat them away, but they avoided it. Meanwhile, the Vermillion Bird cn mages are coming from behind. There! They hit it with a giant fireball. I see the King of the Bck Tortoise cn in the rear…”

  She was as good as a TV presenter on Earth, but I couldn’t keep track of the battlefield since the view from the binocurs was small and the demon was huge. From this distance, the cn members looked as small as flies assaulting an elephant. I was fiddling with my binocur controls and trying to get the best magnification when I thought of looking for more advanced tools. Wasn’t there something like a long-distance camera?

  I lost track of what Schor Wu was saying as I searched through my System inventory until I found the webcams and widescreen monitors. On Earth, they would have been made of pstic, but here they were made of metal and gss. I had never needed to use these before, therefore it took me some time to set the items up properly. I pointed the cameras to the south and mounted the digital screens on monitor stands. Then I used the System controls to zoom into the Demon Boss’ head, arms, body, legs, and feet.

  “A magic moving picture?” Schor Wu stopped narrating the battle and went over to examine the items. “What do the buttons in front do? May I touch it?”

  The others all crowded around the screens, fascinated by the dispys. The cn members still looked tiny on the monitors, but with five separate and simultaneous views of the battle, we could grasp more of the overall situation.

  “You may examine it at your leisure after sunset,” I said. “I’d like to watch first. Could you please expin what is happening again?”

  Schor Wu smiled and pointed at the monitor showing the feet. “There you can see the Azure Dragon cns are in pce. Can you see the spears they’re holding? The demon is unbanced because it’s filing its arms to defend itself from the White Tiger cn members while kicking at the Azure Dragon warriors.”

  “It’s gonna fall!” yelled one of the maids.

  As, she was wrong since the demon eventually found its bance.

  The others couldn’t see the Demon Boss’ HP bar, but I could tell that the cn members were slowly whittling away at it. Based on what I knew of the World Event in the game, the boss should have a few predictable special moves it used that healed its HP completely after casting an area-of-effect spell.

  The first spell, [Dark Nova] was cast when its HP was at 75 percent. The second spell, [Fury Vortex], was cast when its HP was at 50 percent. The third spell, [Meteor Storm], was cast when its HP was at 25 percent.

  After the st spell, it should be out of spells and shouldn’t be able to heal itself again.

  I’d expined this all to the cn members, using terms they would understand, like “life force” instead of HP.

  Seeing with my own eyes how fast and agile the warriors were, I was no longer worried that they might be caught up in the Demon Boss’ spells, especially since the Bck Tortoise cn was protecting everyone with their shields by using the [Diamond Scepters and Thunderbolt Bells] I had provided.

  “Are they killing it?” asked Mo with a frown at the monitors.

  “No,” said Schor Wu. “It’s too big to easily kill. What they’re doing is checking for weaknesses and formuting the most efficient strategies.”

  “The Vermillion Bird cn seems to be using different fire attacks,” said Kharli.

  “It’s not just fire. I saw the Azure Dragon heroes raining water on the demon,” said Lari.

  “Was it water spears? I want to see water spears,” said Mo.

  “The battle is so chaotic.” I stepped back and attempted to get the big picture by looking at all the monitors at once, but it looked to me like a mad free-for-all where people were doing whatever they wanted.

  Now that I thought of it, the World Event in the game was also like that.

  “It’s better not to fall into a predictable pattern,” said Schor Wu.

  Everyone was glued to the screens, so I told Fengying not to bother serving a hot meal, and we ate the packed lunch we had prepared beforehand. We stayed there until it was too dark to see the battle.

  “We should bathe then go to bed early. I’ll be in the midst of that-” I nodded in the direction of the demon. “-Tomorrow.”

  That was the pn, but they do say that “no battle pn survives first contact with the enemy,” and this was no exception.

  LinMeili