Sometimes I really feel that Qianqian’s mouth has reached an unmatchable level of magic, as many things that seem quite aligned with the scientific development view become unrecognizable even to their own creators after being filtered through Qianqian’s logic loop and casually processed by her brain. Just like I said before, no one can explain how our real-world gets twisted into a loop in Qianqian’s mind before popping out of her mouth. Anyway, with just a word from her, Big Sister instantly loses her composure and twitches as she taps Qianqian on the forehead. As for Alaya—well, Angel Sister isn’t here right now; she’s still out walking on the slope of the Angel Wall.

Orelia also paused for a moment, her glow flickering on and off. I think the current Qianqian is certainly a far cry from Lady Vanna as she remembers, so even she took a few seconds to react. She gently fluttered her wings and said, "It is indeed him. When Lord Alaya left this world, it was through the Sky Tower, and Audemus is the designer of the core defense system of the Sky Tower; he knows the most crucial secrets of that tower. And now, he is about to awaken..."

The projection in the center of the hall shifted, presenting a rugged and barren mountainous terrain, with a background of towering snow-capped peaks. "This is in the northern part of the continent, closer to the Northern Border. According to the information I’ve gathered, the residents here mostly believe in an Ancient Spirit they call the ’Storm Giant,’ who was the first to respond to the Empire’s command. His awakening progress is faster than others. Based on the vague information relayed by the ’Storm Giant,’ it might be the incarnation of Audemus. With this, Audemus is the first Mysterious system Commander to awaken, which is good news. With his and the Sky Tower system’s assistance, the Commanders will awaken in large numbers in the coming days, and our work will soon be completed."

Of course, we don’t know any of the Commanders from the Old Empire’s 15th Day Zone, but based on Orelia’s description, this Imperial Officer, whose name sounds like he walked out of Ancient Greece, was a key figure in the Mysterious Side of the 15th Day Zone back then. Not only was he a High Order Officer, but also a brilliant Researcher and scholar. I also remember that the system designer of the Sky Tower had Alaya’s name written, and since Audemus was in charge of designing the defensive components of the Sky Tower, this makes him, like Orelia, one of Angel Sister’s assistants back then—which puzzles me, as both assistants seem sharp and capable, yet ended up following someone who stumbles even while walking on flat ground.

"Please do not underestimate Lord Alaya’s power," Orelia said softly yet firmly upon hearing my mumbling. "Though she may have an eccentric personality, her power is the strongest among all Angels, at least in the 15th Day Zone. She also has an extremely profound knowledge of Holy Light and Magic Power, though she cannot currently access that information. As the information between the two Sky Zones becomes mutually accessible, you will soon realize the indispensable value Lord Alaya holds for you..."

"I know, I know," I replied, waving my hand with a smile and tears of laughter. Orelia is indeed a nice person, just too rigid, even more so than Taville—at least Taville has some human touch outside his scientific endeavors (though we have to admit, Taville’s time outside of research is practically negligible). Orelia, on the other hand, remains serious every moment, as if she never learned how to spell the word ’joke.’ "I’ve never underestimated Alaya. She’s even given me a child..."

Everyone fell silent immediately, as Lin Xue grabbed my neck: "Wood, is your mouth trying to get you killed?"

I flailed my arms and pulled Little Qijing out of the Spirit Sea: "I meant this! I meant this!"

Orelia’s attention was drawn to the suddenly appearing pure white little girl, whose body flickered with light constantly. She seemed immensely intrigued by the latter: "A semi-mature Energy Life? She carries Lord Alaya’s aura, yet doesn’t match any known Xyrin Apostle’s life structure. Quite intriguing. Is she yours and Lord Alaya’s chil..."

"Ahem, here’s what actually happened." I quickly explained the origins of Little Qijing. This child comes out so infrequently that even Orelia didn’t know about this "Imperial Princess." Even Vanilla, Shajina, and Sona almost forgot they knew such a child. Sometimes I worry that if this girl doesn’t come out to bask in the sun soon, she might start growing mold...

Little Qijing seldom comes out because she’s very shy. Upon seeing the exquisite and luminescent sister appear before her, she immediately gasped and darted behind me, clutching tightly to the hem of my clothes, peeking only her little head out to look at Orelia, her single beautiful large eye filled with curiosity: "Daddy, did Mommy fall into a flour jar?"

Lin Xue, watching with amusement, almost collapsed, looking at me with a ’it’s your genes for sure’ expression: "Wood, she’s definitely your kid—if Xiao Xue ends up like that in the future, at least a third of it’s your genetic contribution, right?"

The naughty kid king, Chen Xiaoxue, immediately shouted, "Include me in everything, include me in everything! Is this how you act like a mom?"

Orelia looked at Little Qijing and then at all of us adults, seemingly wanting to say something. However, before she could speak, a sudden beam of Holy Light interrupted her. Alaya’s figure rushed out from the beam that formed from the Holy Light, holding something in her arms, appearing very hurried: "Quick! Orelia! Come look at this quick, I found this! What is it?"

"Lord Alaya," Orelia rushed over at once, "Is this... a new core? Where did you find it?!"

It was then that I saw what Alaya was holding, a spindle-shaped orb of light, about the length of an adult’s forearm, emitting a gentle white glow. Alaya held it carefully, as if she were holding a baby. I noticed that there seemed to be something within the orb, flowing as if it were substantial, yet no matter how I looked, I couldn’t discern its true form. I could only feel a certain pulsation emanating from that gentle light — weak, tenacious, like a life breathing.

"At the end of the slope, near a Suspension Tower. I had no idea what was happening, but I felt something was calling. I opened a crystal door, and before I realized it, this glowing thing was in my arms... it seems to be getting dimmer!"

"This is an Angel Core! But the Angel Wall hasn’t activated yet..." With a gentle wave of her right hand, Orelia summoned something like a control panel in the air. She spoke while quickly operating on the panel, and a few seconds later we heard a deep rumbling sound coming from all directions. It seemed like some large apparatus was starting up, and the floor beneath our feet began to quiver slightly. "No time to worry about that, we need to transfer it to the Incubation Grid immediately... Let me see—great, the energy is sufficient, and there’s a grid that can be used right away, though it hasn’t been used for tens of thousands of years. Let’s hope nothing goes wrong... Everyone, follow me!"

Before we could react, Orelia had already completed a dazzling series of operations. A teleportation gate several meters high appeared behind us, and she flew through first. Alaya followed closely, with the rest of us, still slightly puzzled, trailing behind.

After the teleportation was complete, we arrived in an extravagantly bizarre indoor space. Instinctively, I had a feeling we weren’t out of the Platinum Tower yet. The vast hall, impossible to see the boundaries of, was filled with interwoven Crystal Stone Bricks forming cubes. Each cube was about ten meters in length, width, and height, with ten meters of distance between each. These structures were neatly aligned beyond the eye could see. The floor was marked with straight energy guide lines drawn with blue crystal powder, along which an endless flow of Arcane Radiance poured into the surrounding crystal cubes. The nearest cube had already opened up, its crystalline wall facing us, rippling like waves. With Orelia’s guidance, Alaya stepped into the cube with her and they carefully placed the cocoon-like white orb in an oval container in the center of the crystal cube. That container resembled some kind of hibernation chamber, though it was notably different from the technology-filled hibernation chambers I had seen before — in fact, I hadn’t seen a non-coffin-shaped hibernation chamber for a long time.

We, being complete laymen and still in a state of confusion, naturally didn’t dare to intervene recklessly and could only wait outside the cube. Thanks to the transparency of the entire crystal cube, we could clearly see the actions of the two inside. After placing the light cocoon into the "hibernation chamber," Alaya stood aside with her hands lowered, appearing unsure of what to do next. Meanwhile, Orelia was busy adjusting several Rune Arrays floating outside the hibernation chamber, seemingly manually setting some parameters. Although I couldn’t see her expression, judging by the flickering light on her body, I could tell she was quite nervous.

Orelia wasn’t wrong; the equipment here was indeed old. Even though many things made by the Xyrin Empire could function normally after many millennia, the passage of time still deteriorated their performance. The crystal cube before us was clearly affected by this; it appeared to be a highly precise piece of equipment, where the passage of time could be fatal. Orelia continuously adjusted the control panel outside the hibernation chamber, yet the light within was dimming rapidly.

Just then, a small figure suddenly darted into the crystal cube while everyone was distracted, transforming into a white light that dashed into the hibernation chamber. As we were all stunned, the white light slipped back out of the chamber, revealing Little Qijing who had been timidly hiding behind the adults. This little girl came hopping back, laughing at me, "Daddy, hug! Sleepy!"

I bent down and picked up the tiny girl, who stood less than a meter tall, into my arms. The Mercury Lamp bent down with a whoosh, tugging at her special sister’s hair, "Wow, you look much dimmer now, even your tips are transparent!"

I also noticed this point, a part of Little Qijing’s energy inexplicably vanished. Crawling out of the crystal cube, she looked incredibly sleepy, with light flickering on and off around her. Seeing this, I was initially worried, but she quickly replenished her energy through our soul link, and then she closed her eyes and fell asleep. This instant sleep ability definitely comes from Alaya.

"The situation has stabilized," Orelia’s voice temporarily drew my attention away from Little Qijing’s bewildered and adorable sleeping face. She had already left the crystal cube, and behind her, the walls of the cube had solidified again, with the hibernation chamber inside emitting a steady, balanced white light. Orelia curiously looked at the little girl in my arms, "Was it this child who replenished the energy for the new core? How did she do it? Without matching equipment, how could she replenish energy for a soul-exhausted core?"

"I’ve been meaning to ask, what exactly is that?" I asked, waving my hand and pointing at the hibernation chamber not far away.

"That is the core of a newborn angel. I mentioned before that the Angel Wall produces these cores, and after catalysis, they can grow into Xyrin Angels. Both I and Lord Alaya were born this way," Orelia said matter-of-factly, but I could still hear a hint of happiness in her voice. "I don’t know what’s going on, why would there be a new core on the Angel Wall when it should have stopped operating long ago... and the entire Angel City has been dismantled and stored in the Hall of Gathering, so it couldn’t have been running either..."

"Then it’s possible it was left from seventy thousand years ago," my sister said, looking in the direction of the hibernation chamber, her expression thoughtful. "Perhaps it was formed before the Mother Star split, but in a rush, it was forgotten in the... embryo."

Orelia’s wings trembled slightly as she spoke in a low voice, "It’s possible... It was so close, this child almost died. It’s unbelievable, a newly born core persisting for this long..."

It was then that I realized something, and gently lifted the deeply asleep Little Qijing in my arms: "This child has an ability called Soul Parasite, where she’s a soul body herself and can also parasitize other souls. She can absorb the life force and information of the target to grow, and it seems now she can reverse this process; she must have gone to recharge that core just now."

There was half a sentence I didn’t say: After recharging others, this girl came to recharge from me.

Orelia’s attention was focused on me, and even though I couldn’t see her expression, I felt myself get tingling. Finally, as I was about to speak, Orelia said, "You and your daughter are both good at recharging others."

Me: "..." Is she recalled the time not long ago when I overcharged her, making her a bright incandescent bulb for an entire night?

Just then, Qianqian seemed to have just remembered something, pointing at the hibernation chamber with a look of surprise, "So angels are oviparous?"

Everyone: "..." What has this girl been thinking for the past few minutes?!

Not just us, even the ever-composed Orelia was a bit dumbstruck this time. Perhaps she had never met anyone who could randomly piece together things happening around them to this extent; she folded her wings, timidly distancing herself from Qianqian, "Well... Angels are energy beings, and like all Xyrin Apostles, we have several ways of being born. This core-manufacturing method is only widely used because it’s very efficient..."

"Alright, no need to explain," I patted Orelia’s wing, "If you continue explaining, who knows how many versions she’ll come up with — let it be oviparous, we also have someone here who was grown through soil cultivation." As I said this, my gaze fell on Dingdang, who perceptively raised her head, "Ah Jun? What?"

We stayed outside the crystal cube (Orelia called this the Incubation Grid) for a while, quietly watching the hibernation chamber inside being gradually enveloped by white light. My sister had a gentle smile on her face, and even Alaya looked full of smiles. Perhaps this unexpectedly appeared Angel core was a good omen: since the revival of the Mother Star, the first newborn little life was quietly sleeping in front of us.

"Is it alright to just leave it here?" my sister asked, looking at the hibernation chamber within the Incubation Grid and gazing around. The Incubation Grid in front of us was the only one activated; besides it, the surrounding crystal cubes were enveloped in a dim feeling, making the entire space seem a bit lifeless, "It feels like... it will be lonely."

"The new core needs time to grow, and the Angel Wall can’t be restored to production overnight," Orelia said, placing a hand on the wall of the grid and "looking" at the hibernation chamber inside, "I’ll leave a Thought Body specifically to take care of this child."

I looked at Orelia, surprised that someone who usually appeared all business could make such an emotional decision.

Our unexpected discovery in Angel City, the newborn core left from the Ancient Era, was just a small interlude. We stayed by the Incubation Grid for a while, finding we couldn’t be of any help, so we returned to the upper levels of the Platinum Tower, leaving behind a Thought Body of Orelia to take care of the newborn.

The next day, we received a report from Orelia that she had found a reaction signal of the first Imperial Commander to awaken — Audemus. As expected, the officer appeared at the northernmost end of the continent, but possibly due to just awakening, the other side was still a bit disoriented, thus applying to maintain position for half a day.

Feeling restless in Angel City, I decided to bring Qianqian and Lin Xue along with Alaya and Orelia to personally go over, while leaving the others in the Giant Dragon Kingdom. But just as we were about to depart, something surprising happened: Shajina and Sona suddenly appeared and volunteered to accompany us.

"We’re going to find someone."

Sona said so. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)