In general, the overall strength of the Technology Side and the Mysterious Side of the Xyrin Empire is roughly equivalent. Both sides have corresponding technologies that can accomplish what the other can do, so if both were to compete on the battlefield, it would be an even match. This balance has gradually developed and become entrenched over the Empire’s long history, as the Empire faces an endless stream of enemies, and conditions and challenges vary across the different Sky Zones. This necessitates that the Empire cannot afford any technological shortfalls—be it the Technology Side’s warships or the Mysterious Side’s alchemical products, neither can become weak links on the battlefield.

However, when possessing similar power or effect, the creations of the Technology Side and the Mysterious Side have their own distinct characteristics.

The Technology Side’s creations are relatively "direct," with a design philosophy and functionality based on simplicity and intuitiveness, aiming straight at the target. For example, the most powerful conventional main cannon they created—the Galaxy Main Gun—uses simple, brutal yet effective absolute power to destroy enemies, leaving no room for detours or giving enemies the chance to maneuver. Everything is built on a straightforward and efficient mindset. This logic is very suitable for the creations of the Technology Side and aligns well with the systematic linear thinking of the Xyrin Technicians. In some sense, it is this straightforward design philosophy that endows the Empire’s Technology Side with an astonishing power in its boundless, limitless weaponry.

The creations of the Mysterious Side, on the other hand, give an "ethereal, elusive" strange feeling, filled with mystery just like their classifications. They habitually use sophisticated methods to bypass formidable obstacles and strike at the enemy’s weak points from the most undefendable angles. Various curses, symbolic rituals, and math rate effect weapons emerge endlessly in this domain. Instead of using absolute power to destroy the enemy’s sturdy armor, they prefer to harness worldly laws to enhance success rates. The Mysterious Side’s objects are sly; they may seem insignificant or even weak at first glance, but upon analyzing their operational principles, you’ll realize that one wrong step can lead you into the Abyss of no return—the most notable example being the Horror Mirror System of the Radiant Ring. To be fair, this system isn’t as applicable as the Galaxy Main Gun, and even the combat capability of the Radiant Ring itself is less than half that of the Eternal Level, but you cannot deny that the threat of the Horror Mirror on the battlefield is no less than that of a Galaxy Main Gun locked onto you.

While the Technology System conquers skill with force, the Mysterious Side counters with skill, and these two completely different developmental routes ultimately reach the same heights, both entering the "temple" of truth.

Sandora and I, under Orelia’s guidance, visited several districts that had resumed operations, including the manufacturing factories of Gundam Giant Statue and other constructs of "Mechanical Soldiers," experimental weapon factories, and the "Magic Energy Furnace" used for producing standard Mysterious System Apostles, excluding the two special units, Raven and Xyrin Angel.

The Magic Energy Furnace is a gigantic inverted white dome-shaped structure located high above Angel City. In the center of that massive building, we saw a large blue crystal occupying nearly a third of the spherical surface, making the Magic Energy Furnace resemble something suspended thirty-six thousand meters high in the sky...

It feels like it’s best not to describe this dome structure too much.

The interior of the Magic Energy Furnace is an environment beyond my comprehension, and even Sandora knows very little about its principles and structures. The vast internal space is filled with mist and leaping Arcane Lightning, with clusters of freely moving Elemental Beings appearing and disappearing in the mist, serving as the workers of the furnace. They are responsible for maintaining small crystal grids fixed on the walls of the furnace. Within these crystal grids, Sandora and I saw unformed "embryos" with humanoid shadows of light. Orelia informed us that these radiant embryos sleeping in the crystal grids are the future Mysterious System Apostles.

The birth and evolution of Mysterious System Apostles are quite peculiar. Initially, they have three branches: one type is the Raven, spellcasters born from the Arcane Ocean (of course nowadays we use technology to directly replicate Bella’s Soul Fragments, with similar efficiency); another type is the Xyrin Angel, seeds produced from the Angel Wall and gradually nurtured into Holy Light beings within the Incubation Grid. The final type is named "Magic Energy Vanguard," a mass-produced type of Apostle. They are the basic form of general Mysterious System Apostles (excluding the special units Raven and Angels). Each Mysterious Side member is born as a Magic Energy Vanguard, with balanced abilities—without outstanding strengths but versatile as universal spellcasters. They are generally born in the Magic Energy Furnace and after accumulating a certain amount of experience and war achievements, the Magic Energy Vanguard can choose their promotion route within the central crystal of the Magic Energy Furnace—becoming an Arcane specialist, or learning to use Holy Light, or researching shadows and curses. It is not until this stage that the Mysterious System Apostles birth diverse sub-clans similar to the Technology Side.

This evolution method of starting from a basic form and evolving through "promotion" into various advanced branches is quite reminiscent. I can’t help but wonder if they might have referred to a certain Insect Race’s technological tree to enhance the evolutionary advantage of their race...

Of course, not every Magic Energy Vanguard must choose promotion. While most of them choose to enhance the paths they are best at, a small portion opts never to be promoted. Such Magic Energy Vanguards also achieve great accomplishments in the end, even becoming generals. Audemus is an example—although he is now a lieutenant general, he is still a "Magic Energy Vanguard."

Different techniques, different styles, different promotion mechanisms, yet they have the same faith and complementary strength. When these mysterious things from the Mysterious Side I’ve never encountered before unfolded before my eyes, I felt the Empire’s areas of inadequacy being slowly filled in, even though I couldn’t exactly grasp what these areas were. But I indeed felt this way. Perhaps in the next battle, I would face a new battlefield scene—I am quite looking forward to it.

Just as Sandora and I were about to leave the Heavenly Realm City, three unexpected guests arrived, slightly delaying our schedule: it was Shajina and Sona, along with Vanilla.

These three girls have been staying in the Mortal World of New Xiang, developing their respective churches as instructed, while promptly reporting the situation of the Mortal World to the Heavenly Realm City. After the three hundred Mysterious Side Commanders awakened, leaving a large number of Ancient Spirits in the Mortal World, these Ancient Spirits have transformed from their previous chaotic state. Under the Empire’s command, they have efficiently reorganized the world’s religious societies and declared the Crow God Sect as the new religious leader, while the Dragon God Sect is busy gathering all the Half-Dragon People worldwide to rebuild the Half-Dragon Empire. It can be said that all three girls are very busy. Their sudden visit to the Heavenly Realm City today was actually to report to Orelia, but they didn’t expect to run into Sandora and me.

Upon seeing us with Orelia, Shajina was quite surprised and rambled for a long time, until Sona quietly flicked her tail at Shajina, calming her down. I smiled and said to the somewhat overly energetic Half-Dragon girl, "Why so surprised? Didn’t I say we could come by anytime?"

"Ah, just not used to it," Shajina’s thick tail slapped the ground with a crackling sound to express her excitement, "It felt like you went very, very far away. I didn’t expect you could just show up like that."

"This place is now just the Shadow City Suburb, taking a Teleportation Gate probably takes less than two seconds," I shrugged, looking at Shajina and Sona both wearing short shirts and skirts akin to Lin’s preferred cool attire. This contrasted sharply with Vanilla, clad in an overly large Priest Robe, though the emblem-like things could also be seen on the former’s clothes. "Is this the Dragon God Sect’s priest uniform? It’s quite distinctive. I thought priest uniforms were all those loose robes."

"Don’t mention it, we ordered a few of those robes you mentioned the other day, but they couldn’t be worn—the tail couldn’t swing, and we kept tripping when walking," Shajina grimaced, looking shrewd, "Wasted a lot of fabric. This short attire suits us Half-Dragon People; it’s light and simple and doesn’t interfere with work. Sometimes I get tired just watching Vanilla. Her small frame, probably even lighter than her own clothes..."

Vanilla said nothing, only holding a large book shyly in her arms and smiling bashfully; she was still as introverted as ever... Oh, it hasn’t been long since then, just a few days...

The book Vanilla held was likely for show. When we left New Xiang, this child had just learned to write all of our names. Unlike the well-versed duo of Shajina and Sona, this girl who grew up in a mountain valley never had the chance to read. However, according to reports from Orelia and Lilina, Vanilla has adapted to her new life and work with astonishing speed. Although still immature, she now commands great respect within the Crow God Sect and can handle some matters independently—of course, Lilina still remotely aids in half of the tasks. So it seems that Vanilla is indeed a smart child, and her amiable personality is fitted for the role of "Holy Girl," outshining Lilina in this aspect. In front of believers, Lilina feigns compassion, but Vanilla is genuine. Thus, my previous concerns dissipated: I was worried whether Vanilla could bear the sudden burden on her shoulders. Although it granted her a life of luxury previously unimagined, it was as if Lilina irresponsibly thrust her into an environment mystifying for ordinary people. Now, it appears such worry is unwarranted.

I once asked Vanilla if she felt troubled by Lilina’s irresponsible act of immersing her in such a foreign environment. Vanilla’s answer was that she was not troubled at all; on the contrary, she was immensely grateful to Lilina—for giving her a brand new life and introducing her to so many kind people. To this, I can only comment: Lilina’s exquisite persuasion skills have reached new heights, leading such a pure, kind-hearted child into being deceived by illusions, turning her into a loyal follower of that crafty loli. Until now, Vanilla believes that Lilina is the world’s kindest Great Pope. Isn’t this frightening... 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"By the way, since you’re already here, why not come over to my place for dinner tonight?" When Sandora indicated for the third time that she was hungry, I suddenly remembered something and stopped the three girls who were about to return to the Mortal World. As soon as Sandora heard the word "dinner," she gave a fitting smile, "Anwina’s culinary skills are excellent, you should try it."

Shajina was a bit dumbfounded, "Eh? Inviting us... to your home?"

"You aren’t so busy that you don’t even have time for a meal, right?" While using a Spiritual Connection to notify Anwina to prepare dinner for three more people tonight—although with Sandora’s massive appetite, preparing food for three more was hardly noticeable for Anwina—I said to Shajina.

Vanilla stayed with us for quite some time before, so she immediately happily agreed, knowing what kind of people we are. Shajina and Sona still seemed a bit dazed, as if the "Xyrin Emperor inviting us over for dinner" was so unbelievable, but they also agreed in a muddled way. So when we returned, we brought an additional three people, and one little creature we picked up, the "Arcane Dwarf" we saw at the experimental factory. I thought it was fun; Qianqian would probably like this quirky little creature, so I asked Orelia for one.

Actually, Arcane Dwarf is just a nickname; its scientific name is officially Arcane Colloidal Organism. However, since its abbreviated name is "Arcane Colloid," I insist on calling it Arcane Dwarf, or Slime—even though this Slime’s combat power is quite significant, capable of flattening Kaelthas, except its intelligence is about the same as an Autonomous Machine...

Right now, the direct teleportation channel from Heavenly Realm City to Earth’s Outer World hasn’t been opened yet, so we had to take a detour through Shadow City before teleporting home. This was the first time Shajina and Sona had seen the legendary Capital of All Realms, and they were instantly captivated. The sky was filled with various flying vehicles, magic girls... ravens, the magnificent Dimension Hub Square, the iron giant warship floating above the city, and the other land reflected in the sky—Gaia. All these sights took their breath away, even though Heavenly Realm City is a more fantastical place, this city has an unmatched prosperity and advanced "high technology," incomprehensible to Shajina. The two half-dragon girls asked questions every step of the way, just like Vanilla did the first time she came here. Vanilla volunteered to give them weird and quirky explanations, most of which, I suspect, came from Lilina...

So, I constantly corrected them along the way, hoping Vanilla’s worldview could still be saved, at least so she wouldn’t really believe Shadow City is implementing a Shaman Instant Cast Stove Stone policy—that was made up by Lilina.

"You can come over here anytime; you three all have B-level entry permissions within the empire. If you have time, learn from Orelia how to use the World Gate. The vast empire is more incredible than you imagine."

I smiled and said to Shajina and the others. The two half-dragon girls probably only now realized they hadn’t truly seen "the world beyond the gate," and thus they nodded excitedly, only Vanilla stayed calm. She had seen the peculiar otherworldly people in the Dimension Hub Square and watched documentaries introducing the empire’s territory (broadcast as a friendly program on XLTV), making her relatively unfazed.

Just then, in the corner of my eye, I saw a despondent figure. It wasn’t Bella after all.

I looked up at the horizon and noticed the sun had set. In the afterglow of the sunset, two big characters were prominently displayed: Dinner Time.

So it was at least 6:30, and Bellavilla had already returned to her world with a ping value of half a minute. The girl in a shop assistant’s uniform, looking despairingly, was undoubtedly Raven 001.

"Yo, Number One," I greeted, successfully drawing her attention. When Raven 001 saw us, she quickly perked up and saluted me and Sandora, then greeted the others one by one, "Hello, Vanilla, hello, Shajina, hello, Sona, hello, Xizhi Lang..."

She probably recognized Vanilla and the others from the public database, but Xizhi Lang... she was addressing the "Slime" we brought back from the Heavenly Realm City. The latter was unfazed, immediately wobbling into the form of Raven 001, mimicking her salute, and emitting a girlish voice mixed with gurgling sounds, "Hello, Officer." Then it splatted back into a jelly-like state.

"You look out of spirits," I curiously observed Raven 001. After exchanging greetings, she instantly reverted to her despondent state as if she had been harshly beaten. "Is it a side effect of Bellavilla’s possession?"

"No..." Raven 001 clutched her head, "I just ran into Vega, Your Majesty, that violent girl might be broken..."

Me: "....?"

"Just now, I returned from the dessert shop. As soon as I entered the base, I saw Vega rushing at me, and then she inexplicably gave me a beating. Finally, she cheerfully shouted, ’This time I finally got it right!’ and ran off. In conclusion, she might be broken..."

What should I say now? Can I make a sad face?

Raven 001 was wandering around looking for traces of Vega, firmly believing her arch-nemesis had finally broken down due to long-standing cerebral malfunctions. She vowed to drag Vega to a repair center. For various reasons, I decided not to tell her the truth, after all...

The mutual love-hate relationship is their daily routine, isn’t it? (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian’s website (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)