-----

  As Chris went to purify the ke, suddenly…

  SPLAAASH!

  A massive Nessie-like monster emerged, looking like an a maritime dinosaur with a long neck; however, it was pletely b color and with red eyes aacles.

  “T-That’s…!” The beetle fairy man gasped. “That’s the Lake Guardian! What happeo him?!”

  “Lake Guardian?!” Chris asked, notig the giant monster seemed already dead, overtaken by the mold and turned into some sort of Undead. “Uh, sorry to tell you this, but yuardian might be dead…”

  The thing was reeking, probably what was also polluting the entire ke so much; its immense body was also quite the issue, especially now that Chris didn’t have Argentia or Paul to help him out.

  In fact, his ons were also gone; he only had his magic to do everything with them!

  “RAAAARRRGGH!”

  The Lake Guardian didn’t wait for them to try to find a solution though, rushing towards them while opening its jaws and unleashing a powerful downpour of ied water towards them.

  SPLAAASH!

  The water rushed down as Chris desperately raised his hands, juring a barrier of Ara bined with Heavenly Ki, proteg himself and the beetle fairy man, alongside the entire vilge behind them.

  “GRRRHHH…?!”

  The undead monster groaned, notig its attack didn’t do a sihing against them, beginning to swing its massive tail, hitting the barrier stantly.

  CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

  “Uaaagh! T-This is serious! The Lake Guardian is dead, and now he’s an undead!” The beetle fairy man screamed. “I have to tell the rest of the vilge!”

  “Go!” Chris let him quickly escape back to the vilge as he g the thing. “Hey ghost, how do I beat this thing? What is even its Tier?”

  “I have no idea, but it doesn’t look strong,” the Heavenly Emperor said. "Also, don’t ever call me a ghost again, or I will stop talking with you forever.”

  “S-Sorry…” Chris sighed. “But what I even do? I don’t have my ohat Paul made with so much effort, and Paul isn’t here either! Nentia! I need Paul at least! Paaaauul!”

  Chris started growing desperate as the monster tinued hitting the barrier. The Heavenly Emperhed, smiling a bit.

  “You’re truly hopeless… Relying so mu your sort,” he sighed. “He is indeed very handsome and good-hearted, Chris, but you also o work on your own! Sometimes, he won’t be there to do everything for you, you know?”

  “A-Ah…” Chris muttered. “I didn’t mean it like that!”

  “It is quite clear to me you’ve grown very attached to him,” giggled the Heavenly Emperor. “It’s very adorable... I think that soon enough you will be able to fulfill the penalty ditions; you must marry him and then embrace him ihen you form a big family together.”

  “W-What nonsense are you talking about?!” Chris grew more and more flustered.

  This was definitely not the time to talk about such things right now!

  “Don’t worry about the family part; I’ve perfected an ability that could have allowed me to give birth to my beloved’s children, although I never used it because-”

  “Shut up, shut up, shut up! Stop talking weird shit!” Chris screamed.

  “RAAARRRGH!”

  The monster kept hitting the barrier until it gained tless cracks.

  “YOU SHUT UP TOO, STUPID NESSIE KNOCK OFF!”

  Chris screamed as light emerged from his eyes; a massive beam of light surged from the skies, pierg through the clouds and impag the Lake Guardian with a massive explosion.

  BOOOMMM!!!

  “Gryyaaaeerrghh!”

  The monster screamed in agony as its entire body urified and exorcised, turning into ashes; the entire ke suddenly urified at the same time, being azure-colored and pletely translut.

  “H-Huh?”

  Chris g the se in disbelief, shocked.

  “Oh my, I was about to tell you how to do it, but it seems yer triggered the teique…” ughed the Heavenly Emperor, materializing a golden fan and waving it gracefully. “You’re so eainingly cute sometimes, my unruly reination! Hahaha!”

  The worst part was that he didn’t even ugh like a normal man but like some rich young dy from some sort of Otome Game or Anime.

  “We’re here! We’ve brought reinforts to…”

  “Huh?”

  “W-What happened?”

  “The Lake Guardian is gone?”

  “The Lake! It has been purified!”

  The Beetle Fairy Warriors arrived quite te, as Chris had pletely elimihe threat before they could help him in any ossible.

  “S-Sister priestess, was this your doing?” One of them asked.

  “A-Ah… Yes!” Chris nodded. “It has been eliminated and the ke purified… You don’t eveo thank me; I’m going! Byeee!”

  Chris had no time to waste; having secured the safety of this vilge, he decided to just fly away towards the , only leaving the Beetle Fairies more fused.

  However, they instantly kneeled and started worshiping him as he left, callihe holiest of priestesses to ever exist.

  “Phew, doh that… Dammit, what was that teique though? Or spell?”

  Chris wondered about this as he noticed a new system notification.

  Ding!

  [The Trial Quest: [The Bed Lake of the Beetle Fairies] has been pleted!]

  [You have earhe Beetle Fairy People’s Devotion and Gratitude for yreat deeds!]

  [Because you’ve also defeated a mighty Undead Creature, you’ve earned bonus Points!]

  [You earned +50.000 Score Points.]

  Two out of four! Two more to go and he would be done.

  He now had... two hours and a half to plete them, though!

  “Shit! I’m te, I gotta hurryyyyy!”

  Chris tinued flying, feeling a bit tired, but somehow, something within him was developing, allowing him to breathe in and instantly recover Ara from the enviro.

  “What the hell?”

  He raised an eyebrow, feeling something within his heart slowly beginning to blossom.

  It wasn’t there quite yet, but he could feel it.

  And with this power, the Spirit Energy of the forests down below helped him recover both Ara and even his Ki.

  “Woah, what this feeling?”

  “Hmm… This Trial is indeed helping you in more ways than I imagined. Well, the good deeds you’re doing will also help your Heavenly Core improve.”

  The Heavenly Emperor surveyed his surroundings, looking for arao a cave.

  “Over there.”

  He poi a small hill in the middle of the forest, which had a small entrance leading to some sort of underground system of caverns.

  “The quest is about an underground Mushroom Forest, is it not? I see mushrooms.”

  “Oh yeah! Thanks!”

  Chris rushed down as the Heavenly Emperor looked at him in silence, admiring his cute smile.

  Perhaps in the past, if Chris had been another person, he would have adopted him and turned him into a disciple of his sect.

  He found him cute.

  But at the same time, Chris was his reination, so wasn’t this a bit weird?

  “The teique you used was an advanced form of Spiritual Arts,” said the Heavenly Emperor. “It’s called {Heaven’s Repulsion} and it summons a ray from the white heavens that obliterates dark, demonic, or evil beings.”

  “Ohh…” Chris nodded. “Sounds strong! I’m going to spam it!”

  “You ’t dowhough, unless you want to blow up the entire hill and bury yourself with the people down there.”

  “A-Ah…”

  “Worry not, there are many ways to wield Heavenly Ki and bi with this Ara energy of yours…”

  The Heavenly Emperor was already creatieiques for Chris as the half-fairy boy desded, entering the cave by barely squeezing in.

  “Ugh, why is this avatar so damn fat?”

  Chris buttocks had gotten slightly stuck as he tried to get inside, but after he pushed enough, he mao sneak in.

  “You have rge hips, like a female.”

  “Shut up!”

  “I tell why your lover finds them very attractive.”

  “I said shut up!”

  “By the heavens, boy, I am simply trying to talk. What’s wrong with just a little talk every now and then? I also had quite a few admirers when I was alive, you see. Many men and women desired me.”

  “Then why did you never choose any as your sort?!”

  As Chris groaned, he explored the dark caves, evading the giant mushrooms that popped up ih. He created small spheres of light to illuminate his path forward.

  “That’s because…”

  The Heavenly Demon remained in silence as Chris suddenly saw a strange vision, as if sharing the same memories with the Heavenly Demon.

  The appearance of a handsome, unruly man appeared, wearing bd red robes, with long bck hair and red eyes, ughing maniacally.

  And smiling defiantly.

  “Huh? Who’s that guy?”

  “Hm? What are you talking about?”

  “I saw him! Some bck-haired, red-eyed guy… in the vision!”

  “So you shared the same vision I had?! Fet about it!”

  “Tell me who he is!”

  “H-He’s only a monster! A depraved demon that o be defeated!”

  “Uh-huh… You looked like you missed him or something. Did you like him? Hm?”

  “Silence! I could never like a demon like him!”

  The Heavenly Emperrew all flustered, blushing, as he averted his gaze from Chris while crossing his arms.

  “What a drama queen.”

  Chris was pletely unaware of the drama queen he was.

  His eyes widened, however, as he g the forest of mushrooms opening before him.

  “Oooh!”

  He noticed there were hundreds of gigantic, colorful mushrooms growing across a rge open area within the cave.

  Below the mushrooms, there were small houses where small, mushroom people walked around.

  They were like… oer-tall mushrooms of various colors, with tiny legs and arms and small, cute faces.

  They carried stuff around and talked, some children pyed around, and there were even some mothers there.

  Who, funnily enough, had children growing out of their bodies as smaller mushrooms.

  “These must be the Myid, they’re much more peaceful than the Beetles…” Chris said.

  “No time to waste, my reination, look,” the Heavenly Emperor pointed.

  Above the giant mushroom caps, there were rge growths of bck mold that were iing several mushrooms.

  The Myid seemed uo do anything about it, and Chris quickly noticed a pair of them were carrying another person on a small bed.

  The affected person seemed feverish, with his vibrant colors darkened, and with red eyes, their mouth was stantly drooling some bck goo.

  “I guess I should go help!”

  Chris jumped off the cliff, using his wings to maneuver his dest, and then…

  BAAAM!

  “Uwaah?!”

  “What the…?”

  The two Myid carrying the sie gasped in disbelief as he desded very dramatically into the ground; they almost dropped on their own backs.

  “I am the priestess of the heavenly emperor, and I’ve e to heal everyone!”

  “I-Intruder!”

  One of the Myid screamed as the rest ran away in fear while rger ones appeared, pointing spears made of magic ore and crystals at Chris.

  “E-Eh? Wait, calm down! I didn’t mean to scare you guys! Look!”

  Chris waved his hand as the Myid panicked. A ray of light hit the sick Myid.

  FLASH!

  “Huh?”

  And then, instantly, the mold disappeared, making the Myid slowly wake up, refreshed and rejuvenated.

  “I-I’m alright? What happened? Wasn’t I sick? I don’t feel any pain anymore.”

  “S-See?! I am good!”

  The warriors still didn’t stop pointing their spears at him; it seemed the Myid weren’t very trustful anyway.

  “Lower your ons.”

  The voice of an old man echoed behind them as an elder Myid appeared, with a big beard made of white mushroom roots.

  “Are you truly a priestess, young dy?”

  “Yeah, I came here to heal everyohat’s my… I mean, I’m a priestess in training! My trial is to heal and help as many as I , sir…”

  “I see… and you said yod was the Heavenly Emperor? Such a grandiose name, yet I’ve never heard of such deity… However, what you’ve done was genuine.”

  “Elder, is it really okay to let an outsider we’ve never seen before ihe vilge?!”

  “She looks dangerous!”

  “She healed someone, but it might be just a fa?ade to lower uards!”

  The guards were actually very wary of Chris; it seemed they had been tricked before, causing them to beore reclusive and suspicious of strangers.

  “Silence, young’un,” said the elder. “No evildoer would go this far trying to vince us; we are merely small mushroom people; anybody could crush us if they wanted… She is probably being ho and good-hearted; I feel it within her Psychic Aura.”

  “P-Psychic Aura?” Chris wondered.

  “We Myid are blessed with Lesser Psychic Abilities, we unicate through our minds, lift small objects, and also sehe Psychic Aura of someoheir Emotional Spectrum,” said the Elder. “Now, e with me; we don’t have much time. Prove you’re truly a priestess.”

  The elder quickly led Chris towards a small room full of ied Myid, the miasma iion had gotten so bad ohey were covered with the mold, some looking almost pletely dried, like mummies.

  “Leave it to me!”

  -----

  Pach