Chapter 299: Here’s A Present For You

The moonlight condensed into Mu’en midair, and she appeared a distance from the bookstore, her face paler than before.

A fight with a true Supreme-rank might have been quick, but it sure wasn’t easy.

While Sandalphon’s doppelganger only had mastery of the first level of Law with the potential to reach the second level, ‘Origin,’ it was still a Supreme-rank. Moreover, Sandalphon herself had used ‘Weave’ to create numerous lines of fate on her clone as insurance.

Before dying, her doppelganger’s counteroffensive counterattack was to impose all the woven bad luck on the enemy in a bid to weaken the lines of fate to its thinnest and most fragile form.

This was followed by trying to direct ‘Sever’ the other party's lines of fate to end her right there.

Unfortunately... She had encountered a Law that could completely counteract her own.

With the aid of Source Death, the coronal projection could eliminate not only life but also everything else, tangible or invisible, including fate.

In short, Source Death was superior to Sandalphon's Law by a whole level. If she could master ‘Fate,’ perhaps Sandalphon might have been able to contend against it. However, she was still at the level of ‘Connection,’ so the eventual outcome was obvious.

Still, Mu’en was injured.

She was, after all, still only at Destructive-rank and her only experience was the battle with the pseudo-god. Even if she had a mastery of Laws, her experience was still lacking.

The power of fate condensed by Sandalphon's clone expanded all the flaws in Mu’en’s body. Those inferior philosopher's stones that had accompanied her since her creation penetrated her flesh and bones, causing cracks to ripple out...

I’m still not strong enough… Mu’en thought to herself.

Wiping away blood on her lips, she made her way back to the bookstore with Whitey in her arms.

At the same time, she also applied a divine blessing on herself.

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The girl's pale face had returned to normal, but the ruptured damage from Origin had already become a part of her. Even if it could be restored back, the ‘damaged inferior philosopher’s stone’ would just turn into a ‘complete inferior philosopher’s stone’... In this case, it would be as if she was a disabled person.

That is, unless she could find a perfect grade philosopher's stone to replace it.

Mu’en shook her head and mused, As if a perfect grade philosopher’s stone is that easy to find…

She had learned a little about alchemy through what she saw and heard during her one year spent in the glass tank at the Truth Union’s laboratory.

Refining a philosopher's stone didn’t just require raw materials but the highest level of scholars as well. It was said that even the Truth Union’s Chairman had only succeeded once.

Just that one time had made her close to ascending to Supreme-rank. And thus, she went into seclusion to break through to the next level.

The philosopher's stone she forged was used by the Truth Union to power the Aether Annihilation Cannon.

Indeed, a shot of the Aether Annihilation Cannon required the use of a complete perfect grade philosopher’s stone, but its power was enough to kill an ordinary supreme-rank.

This alone displayed how valuable philosopher's stones were.

Or rather, it showed the greatness of scholars as a class amongst transcendent beings.

In short, the people or organizations that could get hold of those perfect grade philosopher’s stones were definitely tightly guarded.

As for the people who could make those stones, none could be found at present.

Mu’en opened the bookstore’s door with Whitey in her arms.

Whitey was unscathed, of course. Under the protection of Mu’en, it wasn’t just fine and had enjoyed a satisfying meal.

However, it wasn’t stupid. After all, it was the deceitful and avaricious descendant of a pseudo-god. Naturally, it knew that today’s close shave and escape wouldn’t have been possible if Mu’en hadn't followed it.

Thus, it laid still obediently in Mu’en's arms to show its resolve to never galavant without permission again in the future.

The more it thought of what had happened just now, the more it felt that...

The usually scary Boss Lin’s moment of indulgence had been used to teach little Whitey a lesson: the outside world was dangerous and a warning to not think about escaping.

That’s right! Only this terrible man who wants to eat cats every day could do such a devious thing! Whitey nodded to itself, affirming this thought of its.

"Hmm? You’re back..."

Behind the counter, Lin Jie looked up and was momentarily taken aback.

It was because of how worn out Mu’en was. Her clothes were stained with dirt and she appeared somewhat exhausted. Whitey's fur was ruffled, and there was a bit of some unknown red fluid at the corner of its mouth.

He recalled that Mu’en had gone out for quite a while.

The corners of Lin Jie's mouth twitched. She didn’t really run into someone who stole and abused cats, did she?

Remembering that after promising the pretty elf cosplayer that everything would get better, Norzin experienced flooding right after, and now this — Had Lin Jie jinxed it?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Boss Lin pondered for a moment before he spoke, “Was everything alright? You shouldn’t have encountered anything dangerous, right… If someone bullied you, let me know and I’ll get back at them for you.”

Not in person, of course, but rather, he meant to... call the police! Have Joseph settle it!

Mu’en shook her head.

"It’s fine," she said. "Just a bunch of cat thieves and their mastermind. I dealt with them already."

The whole affair wasn’t really considered dangerous, but the thought that was now naturally ‘disabled’ made her mood inevitably low.

Lin Jie knew his assistant was always honest and not a tsundere. ‘It’s fine’ meant that it was just that.

Relieved, Lin Jie immediately brightened up. “That’s good."

Then, he stopped smiling all of a sudden.

Wait a moment. What does ‘dealt with’ mean?

And what the hell did she mean by having dealt with the mastermind behind it all in such a short time?

Lin Jie could not help but ask, "Mu’en... Taking out bad guys is good, but a mastermind wouldn’t be found out so easily, right? Could you have been mistaken?”

Mu’en was startled, then suddenly became alert.

That’s right... Is a Supreme-rank that easy to kill?

Thinking back, the strength displayed by the opponent had been far below par. Moreover, in retrospect, the opponent's reaction was strange when she put more thought into it… It was very likely that it had been a substitute or a clone.

Boss Lin’s amazing! He easily thought of something I hadn’t expected!

"I was careless," Mu’en uttered gravely with a nod. "Thank you for your reminder."

Lin Jie shook his head. He felt that a relapse of the chuunibyou disease had befallen his assistant. He guessed that she had probably scared away a few thugs and incidentally threatened the ringleader along the way but had instead used such scary words like ‘dealt with.’

He put on a facade at once, portraying his seniority and maintaining his authority while at the same time trying to be on the same wavelength as his assistant. "Umm, I’m here to remind you this time, but there’s no guarantee I will be there next time. You mustn’t act recklessly, okay?”

Mu’en nodded obediently.

Whitey, ignorant of the dangers of the world, immediately jumped out of her arms, darting over the counter and into Boss Lin's arms, shivering and looking like it had been bullied, in hopes of being comforted.

However, to its surprise, Lin Jie had double standards and treated it differently.

The boss rapped his knuckles on the chubby cat’s head and reprimanded, "Still having the gall to act like a spoiled child? One look at your bulging stomach and I can tell that you’ve had your fill! Let’s see if you still dare to go out next time, troublemaker!”

Whitey was harshly reprimanded and could only hide its head beneath its paws and mew sadly, indicating that it wouldn’t dare do so again.

"Oh, right."

Lin Jie took out a pink heart-shaped box and handed it to Mu’en. Softening his tone, he said, "Here’s a present for you. Umm, thanks for all you've done for the bookstore these past few months. Open it and have a look."