"Little Douding Sister," Zoe greeted.

Ever since Elaphia gave her that training gear, Zoe started calling her sister.

"Call me by my name, not a nickname."

Clearly, Elaphia wasn't used to being called that by Zoe.

Blondie Douding glanced at the ingredients they were carrying: "What are you doing?"

"They want to cook at my place," Li Ang shrugged.

"Your place—"

The look on the petite blonde's face was intriguing, and Li Ang was a bit surprised; he thought this young lady had no interest in their cooking session.

"Is it the place you've been living in all along?"

"Yeah, where else could it be?"

"Sister, you should come too," Zoe said.

ALulu hurriedly nodded, "Yeah, Little Captain Sister, I had lots of your delicious food on the ship."

Xiaoniu showed the bag of groceries to Elaphia.

This bag contained various sauces and meats, which were the heaviest, so she carried it. The lighter veggies were with Dorothy.

These ingredients were all affordable food items. Even though Li Ang wasn't around, they were consciously saving.

Not quite right, Li Ang glanced at the three of them holding some novel but impractical and expensive stuff; it seemed Xiaoniu was the only one thrifty.

"I, I can cook, and I learned a few dishes from your ship's chef. I, I want to invite you to join us for a meal. I'll personally make a table of dishes, even if it's nothing special, I hope to somewhat repay your kindness!"

ALulu said nervously.

"Sure," Elaphia agreed without hesitation.

Li Ang raised his eyebrows, and seeing his expression, Aifei retorted, "What? You think I'm the type who never mingles with people? The kind of young lady who can't even attend a gathering, let alone handle daily chores?"

"I never said that."

You exposed it all yourself, Li Ang thought.

"Alright, let's go, let's go."

Zoe ran over with a smile, at first wanting to hold Elaphia's hand, but then remembered her strong demeanor, unsure if her usual friendly approach would work with her, she hesitated.

Aifei stepped forward smoothly on her flying sword, patting the little cat's shoulder, "Let's go."

Feeling her warmth, Zoe nodded and stepped forward.

Dorothy moved next to Li Ang, "What were you doing just now?"

"Went to the bank."

"Oh, the bank that froze your personal safe?"

Dorothy clicked her tongue, "Even in Ignis Sky Realm, I've heard about the Holy Capital Bank's tricky ways. Did everything go smoothly?"

Li Ang turned sideways and pointed to the bank's vaulted ceiling, which was originally quite gorgeous, but was cut down by Elaphia.

The half-elf lady's iridescent eyes widened, then she quickly turned to look at Douding floating in front of them.

"Is she really a member of the Knight Resolution Council? To dare act recklessly even in the Holy City. I never realized how someone I like knows such high-status people; I always thought it was just a fancy title, couldn't believe it.

"And she's so powerful, I'm really afraid one day she'll snap and take you away to be her captive husband..."

"Stop," Li Ang quickly interrupted her as her words were getting more and more outrageous.

Although profession skills in Nebis emphasize magic power control over physical training, Elaphia was a caster and didn't rely on temporarily enhancing her body with magic power.

But she had long been immersed in the path of magic, so she could enhance some sensory abilities via magic's vibration.

Dorothy's words might be overheard.

The half-elf was a bit nervous too but seeing Elaphia flying steadily ahead, she relaxed.

Once calmed, her courage slowly returned, and she whispered to Li Ang, "There is a reason she agreed so quickly."

"What?"

"Just like me, she wants to see your love nest with your ex-girlfriend."

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know if you're playing dumb or just dense, didn't you notice on the ship? Although I don't know what your ex was like, our sword control young lady cares about it.

"Let me guess her thoughts—'Damn, that woman lived there, and I haven't even been there yet. I definitely have to see how Li Ang and that vile woman lived together.'

Dorothy finished with a mischievous laugh.

Li Ang saw Elaphia's pointed ears gradually turning red in front of them.

It's over, she heard.

He quickly covered Dorothy's mouth, but Aifei just flew slowly, without any other reaction.

Back home, ALulu immediately busied herself efficiently.

Her movements were very skillful, though slightly hindered by the heavy fruits, affecting efficiency somewhat.

Zoe actively helped, Dorothy was intending to slack off, but after some thought, decided to help with some trivial tasks, and under Li Ang's suggestion, Andasu also joined in.

Li Ang also wanted to help, but ALulu insisted not to, because this was her work of gratitude, along with her friends in the group.

Li Ang and Elaphia sat on the living room sofa, watching her slowly scrutinize the furnishings in the room.

"What do you think?" Li Ang chuckled softly, "Isn't it especially small?"

"Yes."

"Really not holding back, huh."

"That's the truth, this place isn't half the size of my room."

"Haha, wealthy people." Li Ang previously, when meeting wealthy friends, would jokingly ask for patronage, but now he doesn't dare to anymore.

"If you want it, achieving this isn't difficult."

Elaphia shook her head, her gaze still passing over the traces of Li Ang's life, from the well-used home furnishings, to dusty adventure books, to chipped cups and bowls…

"You living here all the time shows that your heart doesn't need an empty, spacious room to prove anything."

The blonde-haired young girl turned to look at Li Ang, "Within you is the spirit of a strong person. Even when living in a humble abode, you forge yourself into a unique individual."

"Humble abode… I'll take that as a compliment."

"Are you free tonight?" Elaphia suddenly asked.

"What do you want to do?"

"Retract that look, it's serious business."

The flush on Douding's face quickly vanished, and she earnestly said, "When I returned to the Order Corps Headquarters, I saw them busying around."

"What's going on?"

"The Arcane Shield had an intrusion alert."

"This—"

Li Ang initially thought to say it's impossible, but Elaphia isn't one to lie or joke, so he didn't know what to say for a moment.

After a few seconds of reflection, he asked, "Was it infiltrated by the unknown?"

"Yes, that's why it's special."

"Indeed, it is."

Li Ang recalled, "The Arcane Shield was at the founding of the Guild, led by the female witch and the Great Arcanist of Thousand Tower City, built at the cost of almost all precious materials and the manpower of thousands of Holy City's casters. In history, it was breached twice, but those were both done by Legendary Realm Transcendent Demon Beasts."

The Arcane Shield separates non-intelligent races, and Li Ang had previously speculated that it was based on various races' spiritual structures for recognition and judgment.

Since Holy Capital Vitas is at the forefront of the Demon Disaster Realm, now it's alright, but back then, with fewer developed territories, all magical disasters would head this way.

So, when the ultimate form of a magical disaster — Transcendent Demon Beast — appeared, the Arcane Shield did fail twice, but the Protective Magic Array wouldn't be destroyed, and the shield quickly recharged and recovered.

Elaphia nodded and said, "Once was in Guild Calendar Year 37, the specific information is vague, recorded as 'a gigantic green dragon bird swiftly skimmed over the Holy City, and the shield was cut open,' assessed as an unknown high-tier magical beast or an unknown primordial Transcendent Demon Beast."

She continued, "The second time was in Guild Calendar Year 195, one of the Transcendent Demon Beasts, the 'World Destruction Six Punishments' known as the Riftworld Bull, targeted the Holy City for attack, and with three consecutive full-force impacts, shattered the shield. That time, it took the Celestial Group seven days to destroy its physical form and drive its spirit back to the Magic Power Dimension."

The blondie Douding's expression turned serious, "So, this time, the Order Sky Knight Corps is taking it very seriously, the Speaker is also very concerned."

"It's impossible to misjudge, right?"

"Impossible."

"But this time the situation is different, previously it was broken through, if it's infiltrating, could it be a more troublesome situation?"

"Even if it's not as powerful as a Transcendent Demon Beast, once it enters the city, we know nothing about what kind of demon it is, its category, appearance, habits, motives, or purpose. That is even more dangerous," Elaphia said.

She sighed, "The Order Investigation Corps is already driven mad with work, and the other sub-groups, those remaining in the Holy City, have almost all stopped their actions for a clandestine investigation.

"Therefore, tonight, I'd like you to help see if you can use the witch's spiritual methods to investigate, perhaps you can find something."

"Alright." Li Ang agreed.

The two of them watched the young girls busying in the kitchen, and soon the smoke began to rise; tonight's dinner was one of the rare quiet moments in recent days.

But the task entrusted by Elaphia was too important to be taken lightly, negligence might affect his four team members.

At night, after roughly explaining the situation to his team members, under Elaphia's suggestion, he let them temporarily go to the Order Sky Knight Corps Headquarters to stay, considering it both as accepting protection and having a visit.

After settling them, Li Ang, following Elaphia, set out towards the touchpoint of the Arcane Shield at the edge of the Holy City.

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