"Is this enough?" Lynn asked Qiu Yue as they were getting ready for the reunion dinner. They were aware that they would just go down to their usual dinner place inside the house, but it was a rare chance to wear traditional dresses for the occasion.

"Hmm, it's still a bit too bland. Hold on, let me try something." Qiu Yue answered as she helped the Lady Chef, who was ignorant in such matters apply some more makeup. She grabbed the foundation brush and gently took some mild pink rose makeup and started to puff Lynn's cheeks up a bit.

"Lipstick wise, I think these natural colours will bring out your natural charm." Qiu Yue advised as she opened her cabinet stash and took a couple of sticks out for Lynn to choose from.

"But those won't give me a bombastic and loud look like yours…" Lynn pouted, as she was a bit jealous that she could not pull off such a bright and bold tone.

"Don't worry, I will make you as pretty as me in your own way. Treat it as my thank you for helping me pick this lovely cheongsam dress. " Qiu Yue snickered as she pointed to the black long cheongsam dress with red panda tinted designs on the cloth.

Lynn was similarly wearing a floral sakura kimono in respect to her nationality, and with small, cute penguins hiding behind the sakura flowers. But compared to the traditional ones, she had it easy because of the quick wear mechanism which her Sub System developed as a side perk for its user.

Once Lynn had applied the lipstick, the Penguin Queen took the initiative to help the Red Panda Tactician do up her hair into a cute, neat bun while Qiu Yue continued with her makeup process.

"It might sound weird to say it now but… honestly, the more I work with Jin, the more I feel at peace rather than in love…" Qiu Yue suddenly blurted out after Lynn had barely started to work on her hair.

"Mhmm." Lynn did not know how to reply. To make things worse, the table mirror in front of them betrayed Lynn's not so subtle expression to Qiu Yue.

"Here I thought you would be more relieved after hearing this." Qiu Yue laughed at Lynn's stunned expression. "I am telling you that I am retiring from that meaningless competition for Jin's affection."

"This must be another trick of yours, isn't it?" Lynn said the first thing that came to her mind. She had never expected that just aiding each other with their clothes would turn so serious.

"I just figured a new year, a new me. Haha. Maybe it was Pei's little trick on Jin that opened my eyes, but I do not want to be a burden to him. You know that we used to be a couple, right? I've known him long enough to see that he really does not seem to be in the mood of getting into a relationship… at least not back with me. Perhaps a tiny part of him still blames me for dumping him back then… Anyway, I just decided that I would rather concentrate on getting some achievement for myself." Qiu Yue explained as she closed her lips and checked the brightness of her own lipstick.

"Unlike you, Ms. Prodigy Cook, who has already trained to be a professional cook, I have yet to find a niche."

"Please, you've worked for the government before you joined Jin. You took control over the economy of the Goblin and Orc Kingdom and single-handedly oversaw the construction plans of Pandapolis. Don't those count as amazing achievements under your belt? Not to mention, you aided in the defence of Pandapolis by leading hundreds of minions under your command. What more could you want?" After Lynn tied Qiu Yue's hair into a bun, she inserted a red panda hairpin at the side.

"Heh, I feel like I should have done more. In the end, wasn't it Jin and Kraft's troupe who handled the Big Bad Boss? I've even asked my Sub System how my odds would have been in his shoes. It told me it was 0%. It might be able to boost my but not to such a level. Not unless my base strength improves by a lot. Don't tell Jin, but in recent weeks, I've been training with Tsu and Kai." Qiu Yue shared as she placed her index finger on her mouth while facing the mirror.

"Oh… no wonder there were some days I could not contact you. I erm…thought you did not want to talk to me when I visited Jin in his ward." Lynn decided to also be open with her, saying some things she had dared to say before.

"True I was worried about him. Especially the first few days, but I saw the bellators were taking great care of him, so I decided that I would trust them and instead of moping around I would take this time off from Jin's constant blabbering of requests to improve myself." Qiu Yue replied as she had felt inadequate after the fight against the Demon Rats.

While she did amicably well, there had been many times that she got rescued by the Orcs and Goblins around her, some of them paying for it with their lives. Though one could say that she had developed good teamwork to overcome the mounting odds, she felt that she could have done better.

Acknowledging her own lack of power, the Red Panda Cultivator had personally decided to look for mentors to help improve on her combat skills. Naturally, Tsu and Kai were quite surprised when the Sub System User approached them for training, but they were nevertheless happy to help.

She had chosen a perfect time, as the twin brothers were also giving martial art classes to the beast kids of the Paradiso Prison. However, the only condition that Tsu and Kai gave to Qiu Yue was that she had to unlearn all the knowledge she accumulated and follow the same training pattern that the Wolf brothers had given the beast kids.

"Then what about the cultivation manual that the System has given you?" Lynn asked, and Qiu Yue smiled.

"They told me not to worry about it. While I would learn their basics first, Tsu would subsequently follow up with the cultivation manual given to me. I don't know about Zeru, but those two are seriously demanding teachers." Qiu Yue sighed when thinking about it.

Seeing as she was done, she swapped places with Lynn. "Now it's my turn to do your hair a little." Similar to Qiu Yue's red panda accessory hairpin, Lynn also had a penguin hairpin. Still, instead of a bun, Qiu Yue tied a simple ponytail for her fellow Sub System User.

"So, don't worry about me and go for Jin. Just don't blame me if my inactivity still attracts him to me. Perhaps he really is becoming like a Panda and had just suppressed his desire for me, hehe!" Qiu Yue teased Lynn a bit. "Also, you should get him before that mysterious female State Agent officially enters his life. I have a feeling like she could spell trouble for you."

The Penguin Queen decided at that moment that in the new year, it's time to up her game a little. (Or at least she tries.)

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