Four Split Personalities

"I like it, your personality is so nice, and you’re pretty too."

Motan replied smoothly, already having a plan in mind.

"Eh!?"

This time it was Ji Xiaoge who was genuinely surprised and blurted out, "Are you serious?!"

Motan cracked a smile, "I even like the litter of kittens under my building, you know."

It was a deft verbal misdirection, a thing that came naturally under the ’Tan Mo’ persona, and even if ’Mor’ were to say it now, the effect would hardly be worse.

"That’s kind of lame."

The girl pouted and put her hands on her hips, "Hey, so what exactly did the Dragon King tell you? Hurry up, your online time is always so tight, isn’t it? If you have to log off and leave me all alone here, I’m gonna go crazy!"

Motan gently tapped his forehead and then said suddenly, "No rush. First, I need you to cooperate with a test."

"Test?"

Ji Xiaoge tilted her head in curiosity, "What test?"

Motan pointed at the Silver Beacon in her right hand and said seriously, "Use this."

"A teleportation beacon?"

Ji Xiaoge’s expression changed, and she looked at Motan suspiciously, "What for? Are you trying to send me away? Or is there danger ahead?"

"No, that’s not what I mean. I just want to see if this thing is working properly."

A hint of surprise flashed in Motan’s eyes, then he quickly shook his head and began to explain in what seemed to be a leisurely manner but was actually quite rapid, "Look, the hole we blasted open earlier is gone, so we’ve likely already gone through space teleportation. Therefore I want to test if your beacon can still operate normally. I remember this item should take just over two seconds to activate, and it can be interrupted at any time—it’s not like using it means leaving."

"You’re being too cautious..."

Ji Xiaoge sighed, her mouth twisting, "But what you’re saying makes sense, I’ll give it a try. Even if we experienced a teleportation, the teacher’s creations wouldn’t... Eh?"

Seeing the girl’s suddenly dazed expression, Motan’s heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked, "What’s wrong?"

"It... won’t start..."

Ji Xiaoge looked up somewhat frantically and asserted repeatedly, "It’s true, I’m not lying to you. Although it looks perfectly fine, the system just told me ’Item cannot be used.’"

Motan’s heart sank, but on the surface, he smiled relaxedly, "I believe you. But no need to worry, my mission didn’t signal any danger. Ha, now you don’t have to stress about not being able to cook for a month."

He even managed to make a joke at the end.

"I promise I’ll behave."

Ji Xiaoge quickly raised her little hand as if taking an oath, and then frowned, "So what exactly did that Dragon King say just now?"

Motan gestured to the cup of bright red liquid on the table and tipped his chin towards it, "First, he congratulated us for finding this place, then he left that reward-like ’gift’ for us. It’s a good thing that can enhance one’s constitution, with a limited shelf life. You better hurry up and drink it."

His words were faultless—the place would be doomed in ten minutes, naturally having a limited shelf life.

"Ah? There’s only one serving?"

Ji Xiaoge blinked her eyes, and then she started to shake her head rapidly, as her dazzling black hair waved like ripples behind her, "Then it should definitely be you who drinks it. I’m just here to gain some experience. You’re the one doing the quest; it should definitely be you who gets the benefits!"

[As expected...]

Motan thought everything was going according to plan, then solemnly said, "That’s not related. Don’t forget, my main profession is Knight, and my race is Half-Dragon. I naturally have an inherent advantage in constitution, and I gain the most from leveling up in that attribute; I hardly lack that little bit. But isn’t stamina one of your biggest weaknesses? If this can improve my overall strength by 5%, for you it should be at least 15%. It’s purely a cost-benefit matter."

"I get the idea, but I still don’t think it’s right..."

Despite Motan’s logical argument, Ji Xiaoge was still hesitant.

"We’re talking about cost-benefit here."

Motan shook his head and said in a deep voice, "I’m not being modest with you, just making the most of things. Think about it, if we face a crisis like the one on the grassland again, increasing your survival capability will help the whole team. Who was the one saying they didn’t want to hold the team back? So stop being pretentious. If you were a Mammoth or a Wild Boar Half-beast, I definitely would’ve downed that drink myself."

"Who’s being pretentious! Pretentious who! Pretentiously who!"

Ji Xiaoge huffed lightly, walked up to the table, casually picked up the cup of Blood Marrow, and downed it without even looking at the item description, then frowned and stuck out her tongue, "Ugh, it makes my body feel warm, but it doesn’t taste good, a little... fishy..."

Motan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He did not tell Ji Xiaoge that it was actually the blood of the Dragon King Boss, just smirked, "It’s not a beverage, what did you expect? Now, go stand in front of that blue Array."

"Wow! My Health Points limit has increased tenfold! And I got an additional BUFF that reduces damage by 99%!"

Ji Xiaoge suddenly exclaimed, her eyes widening: "Isn’t this a bit too powerful... Oh, I see it only lasts for ten minutes, that’s fine then, otherwise I would have gained too much of an advantage."

As Motan walked towards the red Magic Array, he looked back at Ji Xiaoge and waved his hand: "What advantage? Hurry up and get in position."

"Oh, the blue Array, right!"

Ji Xiaoge didn’t doubt and simply flapped her wings and flew to the blue Magic Array, asking Motan who just stood opposite in the red Array: "So, what next?"

Motan glanced at the Dragon King’s image on the desk, now completely frozen in time. He took a deep breath and shouted across the room to Ji Xiaoge: "Next, we’ll count one, two, three, and stand on this Array at the same time, and then we can leave this place."

"That simple?"

Ji Xiaoge looked at Motan with a skeptical expression, asking: "Did the Dragon King tell you this? Where will we go after we leave here?"

Motan smiled: "Think about what I’m here for."

"Oh, okay then."

Because the other party couldn’t lie, Ji Xiaoge didn’t continue to fuss, or rather she never felt that Motan was lying from the start, so she nodded decisively: "So we just need to stand on these two Arrays at the same time, right? Okay, you count. On three we go."

"Alright."

Motan didn’t dawdle and started counting immediately...

"Get ready, one, two—"

"Wait, hold on!"

Ji Xiaoge suddenly remembered the look in Motan’s eyes when he had asked her to try the teleportation Beacon, and she abruptly interrupted loudly: "Did you not tell me something about—"

Whoosh!!!

The sound of cutting through air erupted suddenly, and a visible arc of sword light appeared in front of Ji Xiaoge in an instant.

[Eight Leaves One-Sword Style• From Two -Arc Shadow Slash]

"Ah!"

A 15% disorientation effect was triggered, and combined with the completely unexpected Arc Shadow Slash, the girl was caught off guard and stumbled backward involuntarily: "What are you trying to do..."

"Sorry~"

Motan shrugged his shoulders and only after Ji Xiaoge had fallen into the flickering blue Array did he put away the low-grade iron sword into his satchel. Then, triggering his Talent [Scale Against], he retreated into the red Array behind him, chuckling: "Don’t worry, I thought about it carefully just now, and I might not necessarily be in trouble, so..."

Before he finished speaking, he disappeared in a twist of red light, while at the same time, Ji Xiaoge vanished into the blue glow.

...

...

"Wake up~"

"..."

"Wake up~"

"..."

"Wake up! You, the dead person!"

"Hm!?"

Motan, who only remembered falling into darkness, suddenly opened his eyes and stayed as still as if petrified, because he discovered Ji Xiaoge was right beside him, and somehow, he was lying with his head on her lap, trying frantically to get up: "Ah, sorry, I...uh!"

The next second, the girl was already embracing him with tears like pear blossoms, her slender body shaking slightly...

"I...I was so worried about you..."

"!?!?"

Motan froze, his face stiff and his brain almost blank.

Chapter Five Hundred and Eighty-Two: The End