Chapter 176 - 173: Wild Guess Confirmed
The Great Macaque was far larger than a typical adult macaque. Standing upright, he was only slightly shorter than an adult man. His long arms and legs moved with great force, and his powerful movements were both heavy-set and surprisingly nimble.
A brief exchange convinced Qin Xiaoxia that this guy would probably get even bigger.
He had originally been just an ordinary macaque. Although he was already the Monkey King of his troop, his physique was only slightly more robust than average, nothing exaggerated.
But ever since he started to feel the changes in his body, the Monkey King's appetite had exploded. He even developed a taste for meat and had hunted plenty of wild game in the mountains. His body had been growing slowly ever since, and now he was much larger than an ordinary macaque.
'There's no reason his growth would just happen to stop after being brought to Dawn.'
"Don't get too excited. Get ready to study hard. Although you've gained the Ability to speak and understand human language, there's still so much more you need to learn."
"As it happens, besides you, we have two other suitable talents. One of them will probably be able to teach you a lot."
Qin Xiaoxia looked the monkey up and down as he excitedly circled the group.
The fella was definitely listening intently, he just couldn't stay still at the moment. He also didn't know that acting this way toward the person speaking was impolite.
"After all, with your exceptional agility, you aren't suited for the set of Combat Techniques the Silent Knight Order is currently codifying."
Hearing about learning things, the monkey immediately zipped back over to Qin Xiaoxia's side.
"What am I going to learn?"
Su Su, standing to the side, let out a snort of laughter.
In a short time, because he had been acknowledged by the Mentor and was now considered a member of the association, all the surrounding magical vegetation, from flowers to trees, had begun to radiate goodwill.
The intuitively sharp monkey immediately sensed this and lost all his fear. He started darting about wildly, even daring to provoke some of the still-dangerous plants. He plucked a little here and picked a little there until he was covered in all sorts of random things.
He looked just like the Horse Groom who had just been rescued by Tang Monk from Five Finger Mountain.
She kindly helped the monkey by removing a still-twitching creeper vine from his head.
"I think, before the Mentor teaches you anything, you should at least learn how to act a little more civilized~"
Dawn's mentor-student system had been passed down for a millennium. In Su Su's eyes, a student's Mentor would first observe their aptitude and character, then gradually guide them during their time together, forging a path suitable for the student.
'Just like me right now!'
'Since the Mentor personally bestowed a name on this monkey, he must have accepted him as his own student. The monkey probably doesn't understand the significance of that yet, but he will in the future.'
Qin Xiaoxia was actually very pleased with the monkey's boisterous personality. 'Wild monkeys should be wild,' he thought. As long as he could genuinely feel the monkey's respect for him, that was enough.
"Alright, Wukong, get familiar with the place for now. In a little while, we'll go check out that mountain of yours."
As he said this, Qin Xiaoxia headed indoors. The North American Branch's Secret Realm was now established, and the French Branch was in the works. The framework for the Silent Knight Order was also beginning to be "restored" thanks to Baru's efforts. Furthermore, a foundational logistics system, built on the networks of Sun Tian and Blaise, had been more or less secured.
In addition, with the gradually increasing number of magical plants and the recruitment of Monkey King Wukong, the plant and animal circles were beginning to show their potential for intelligence gathering.
This would be combined with informants in various countries' special departments, as well as in economic, criminal, and even potentially journalistic circles, to solidify their intelligence network. Certain key gaps could even be filled through divination or a Wish.
And while the Red Demoness had been resurrected through the Statue of Comir, that didn't necessarily mean the statue's original function was gone. At the very least, he had to run some tests before drawing a conclusion.
From the looks of it, although the structure of the entire Dawn Association was vastly different from its historical predecessor, it was gradually taking on a new, thriving shape.
Qin Xiaoxia's current focus, besides gathering necessary resources and personnel and keeping an eye on major potential threats among the anomalies—stepping in to help when necessary—was to outline the arrangements for the new "Dawn's" various departments.
In other words, that "'crappy editors must die' kind of 'literary' work he hadn't done in a long time was back on the agenda. Only this time, it was official business, so it was far more serious.
By the time he neared the doorway, the Great Macaque had already grown quite friendly with Su Su. Qin Xiaoxia sighed softly, a hint of emotion in his voice.
"The legend of the Beautiful Monkey King is in your hands now. I hope you won't bring shame to this name, you little monkey!"
Wasn't this also a way of reminiscing about his own childhood!
His voice was extremely faint, so soft that one could say he had only moved his lips, not even causing a ripple in the surrounding air. And yet, because Qin Xiaoxia's emotions were directed at him, the monkey inexplicably heard it.
After a brief lesson from Su Su, the monkey had realized he had to shamelessly call the person who named him "Mentor." He had to cement his status!
He glanced at the doorway where his Mentor had disappeared and mulled over the words he had just heard.
'Is the name Sun Wukong really impressive? Am I the Beautiful Monkey King? Why did the Mentor's words as he was leaving just now sound so... nostalgic? No, that's not quite right. It felt so complicated. Hmm, I guess "nostalgic" is the right word...'
"Of course it's famous! You have no idea how renowned that name is! Just saying it out loud could scare a whole horde of demons and monsters to death!"
Speaking of which, Su Su suddenly paused.
"What did the Mentor say?"
The monkey scratched the back of his head.
"He seemed to be talking to himself, but it also felt like he was talking to me. Anyway, he told me not to bring shame to this name."
"Oh."
Su Su glanced at the empty doorway.
'Maybe it brought back some childhood memories...'
But her own words made Sister Su immediately realize something she had been wanting to know for a while but had always been too busy to think about.
She turned her gaze to Doudou, who was perched on Wukong's shoulder. The little fellow was constantly trying to pull out some of the monkey's fur.
"Doudou, how old is the Mentor?"
"I don't know!"
"He's your older cousin, and you don't even know his age?"
Doudou glanced at her.
"Then how old is *your* older cousin?"
"My older cou... uh..."
She had several cousins, but Su Su honestly couldn't say what their ages were.
Doudou looked at Sister Su's head, then at her chest, and then let out a little "hehe."
The look drove Su Su a little crazy.
"Then how old are you?"
Doudou actually had to think hard about this question. 'I remember my big cousin telling me I can't just reveal my real age, but he never told me what age I *should* say.'
"Mumu, how old do I look?"
Mumu, who was busy comforting a flower Wukong had damaged, turned a branch over from a distant flowerbed.
"You 'look' seventy~~"
To be honest, while Mumu wasn't sure about other Elves, it could tell Doudou's age at a glance.
Doudou: "..."
Su Su: "..."
"What he said doesn't count!"
Then he glanced at the Red Demoness and decided against asking her.
"Su Su, how old do I look to you?"
Su Su crossed her arms under her chest in a supportive posture.
"You look like you're four or five."
"Okay, then I'm four or five. Hmm, let's go with four!"
Su Su: "..."
'Does this guy really think I'm an idiot!!'
'But from the looks of it, the Mentor's real age is probably very high. Older and charming... Stop, stop, my mind is in the gutter!'
'In that case, it couldn't be him reminiscing about his childhood. He was probably just feeling nostalgic about *Journey to the West*?'
'Jokingly, she thought, maybe there really was a Sun Monkey in Dawn's history!'
"Hey, hey, Su Su! The Mentor wants me to recreate the legend of the Beautiful Monkey King. Does that mean I'm beautiful?"
The Great Macaque and Doudou had long since buried the hatchet and were now playing together.
Su Su's neck creaked like a puppet's as she turned to look at the monkey, a spark of insight flashing through her chaotic thoughts.
'It... can't... be...!'
PS: Wednesday's first chapter. Holy crap, I'm 7 chapters behind. This is killing me!
Let's see how long I can keep up three updates a day -_-||