Chapter 197: Crystalline's Happiness!
"..."
The sight he saw upon making it all the way into the tent was exactly the same as all the other times he made it to this point. It was nothing short of heartbreaking to see so many beautiful women in such a lifeless state.
*Sigh* A heavy sigh escaped his indifferent expression before his body phased throughout the large tent, 'extracting' all the women inside of it.
None of them were of a high enough cultivation level to even realize what happened to them...
....
**Step Step**
He walked out of the tent before phasing through the skies, appearing next to the distant figures of Boundless, Crystalline, and Emu.
"Go ahead and finish 'cleaning up' the place, Emu."
"Mhmu!"
It responded with a merry tone before leaping through the skies and making its way over to the various goblin corpses.
"This seems to be the last known monster village within a one hundred thousand-mile radius of the City of RiverBloom." The cold voice of Crystalline sounded out as she seemed a little relieved over that fact.
'All he does is collect women from all these damn monster villages... I really hate those goblins.'
She was a little vexed over the growing number of women building up inside his storage ring space. It was a large number of women that even he himself had yet to figure out what to do with
'I guess I should make a stop at the Royal Capital of AquaRing soon. They should have the necessary facilities to hold such a number of 'unfortunate' women.' A thoughtful expression emerged on his face as he looked through the rest of the quests.
All 470 of them requested the killing of 'powerful' monsters who traveled by themselves or in small groups.
They were all monsters that had consumed at least a dozen innocent lives!
'Hmm It would be a little troublesome to take care of all these monsters by myself.'
Although he could still do it within a couple days at the most, he had far better ways to make better use of his time.
'This is a perfect opportunity to test out that 'Party Function' feature. This will also prevent Crystalline and Emu from simply sitting around as onlookers. I know they must be getting bored watching me do all the work'
He had already figured out what he would do as he pulled up his System Interface and added both Crystalline and Emu to his 'Main-Party Member' section.
His 'Party Function' segment now looked like this:
==<[Party Function]>==
[Main Party Members: Emu, Crystalline] (Main Party Member Experience Bonus: 10% (20%)
[Non-Main Party Members: 27 Humans]
[Party Member Experience Bonus: None]
[Non-Party Members Experience Percentage Gain: 10%]
He had added a few random people to his 'Non-Party Member' section a few hours ago, and they have been giving him a few experience points here and there.
Although he only gained a relatively small amount, it was still decent, considering that he had barely even scratched the surface of the full capabilities regarding this particular system function.
'It looks like Emu and Crystalline were successfully added to my 'Main-Party Member' tab.' He thought to himself with a satisfied tone as he scanned through his Party Function.
'Now the real question is how I will go about telling Crystalline about the increases in strength that are about to come her way'
He brooded over the matter for a moment before he ultimately decided he would simply play it off as a benefit of being around his aura. Which actually wasn't too far off from the truth
"Hey, Crystalline, My Love~?"
He found his sly self over near the voluptuous figure of Crystalline as he started to speak to her in a mischievous tone.
"Yes?"
She saw that devious look on his face and suddenly got a bad feeling.
"How would you react if I told you that there was yet another way for you to get stronger than you are now~?" His hands had already found their way to those smooth, tender shoulders of hers.
He began to massage them while waiting expectantly for her response to such an ambiguous question.
"I would take it." She replied instantaneously.
"?!?" He didn't expect her response to come so soon and with such a determined look on her face.
'Did she really care that much about gaining more power? But why?' He was a little puzzled over the reason for her willingness to acquire more power.
"Why do you want power so badly, Crystalline?" He asked with a mildly inquisitive tone.
"The reason why I want more power? Isn't that a silly question, Azmond?" She responded with a confused expression.
She didn't quite understand why her man would ask such an obvious question.
"This is the world of Asterion, Azmond. Power is the final law and rule here." She began with a stringent tone. "However, if you were to ask me what specifically makes me yearn for power, then I would tell you that I want power fo-for... you"
A small blush formed on those icy features of hers as she turned her face away from the intense gaze of Azmond.
"For me?" He wasn't quite following.
"Yes, for you. I wish to be beside you on your journey, no matter where that journey ends up leading you. I just want to help you out But I can't do much to assist you with the vast difference in our strengths" She mumbled with a self-deprecating look on her face.
However, such a gloomy mood didn't last for long, as a surge of determination coursed through her icy veins.
"That is why, if you have a way for me to get stronger, then I will take it! no matter the cost!" She erupted with newfound resolve.
She was doing this for Azmond, but she was also doing this for herself! She did this for her happiness! Her life was nothing but following orders and commands before she met Azmond
He was her happiness now! The only happiness she had over known
"I see For me, huh...?" A wide smile emerged on his handsome face as he looked at the determined beauty with an affectionate gaze.
"Very well, I'll give you a way to gain even more power." His kind voice was followed by a simple hand motion.