Chapter 183: Kai’s Is A Bit Strange?

He rattled off a few more trivial anecdotes from the battlefield: how one hunter sat straight down on the dirt in sheer ecstasy upon watching the Boss collapse, how another instantly inquired whether its meat was edible, and how Lucas had simply clutched his forehead in despair when Kai announced he’d haul the spoils back for the camp chefs to whip up serpent-meat dishes.

Serpents and dragons bore a superficial resemblance, yet Kai genuinely felt zero psychological qualms about talking up eating serpent meat.

Kei listened in silence, chiming in with the occasional response. He hadn’t realized just how tense and perilous conditions outside had truly been until he heard Kai recount every minute detail.

Amidst that cheerful, bubbling chatter, he caught glimmers of adrenaline-fueled excitement over combat, yet he also heard how Kai had kept a watchful eye on exhausted hunters, proactively shielding them whenever their lives faced immediate jeopardy.

When he finished his story, Kai fell silent for a brief beat before asking:

“What about Kei? Did you manage to find that person today?”

Kei gave a slight shake of his head, well aware Kai couldn’t see it in the pitch-black room.

“Not yet. I asked around all day long, but absolutely no one knew a thing about Thunder. He’s never once shown his face in Ji-pong City.”

The faint smile upon Kei’s lips withered. He had assumed a major metropolis like Ji-pong, frequented by countless active hunters and Craftsmen, would inevitably harbor someone who had crossed paths with Thunder. Yet after interrogating one person after another, the response remained a monotonous string of headshakes.

Thunder had extended immense help to him. Not only had he instructed Kei in the fundamentals of crafting Space Rings, but he was also among the rare few who had patiently guided him through this completely unfamiliar world.

The thought that Thunder might be out there all alone, with zero trace of his whereabouts in a city suffering an active Dungeon Break like Ji-pong, weighed heavily upon Kei’s chest.

“Don’t worry,” Kai tightened his arm around Kei’s waist a fraction more. “I’ll help you track him down.”

Kei remained silent.

“I’ll ask Lucas, and everyone else, too. As long as he ever set foot in this city, someone’s bound to remember him,” Kai stated with absolute conviction. “And if no one knows, we’ll search for him elsewhere. I won’t let you search all by yourself.”

Kei shifted slightly within his embrace. In the dark, he couldn’t make out Kai’s expression, but that tone carried zero trace of idle mockery.

“You don’t have to stress yourself out over me to this extent.”

“I ‘want’ to look after you, everything about you.”

The reply came swift and resolute.

Kai buried his face against Kei’s hair, his arm remaining locked securely around his waist as though terrified that a single looseness of his grip would cause Kei to vanish instantly. The formidable warmth radiating from his body cocooned him entirely. After a grueling day amidst chaotic noise and blood-soaked sights, that presence offered Kei a sense of safety surpassing any fortified sanctuary.

He let out a soft, amused breath.

“Thank you.”

“No need for thanks,” Kai replied. “I’ll protect you.”

Kei closed his eyes, letting that voice and the surrounding warmth gradually chase away the lingering anxiety knotting his chest.

Yet right before drifting off to sleep, a peculiar sensation abruptly brushed across his mind.

Kei furrowed his brow slightly.

*Was he imagining things?*

Ever since their recent reunion, Kai seemed to… articulate his thoughts far more fluently than usual, didn’t he?

—

The following morning, when Kei woke up, Kai had already slipped out of the room at some unknown hour.

The space beside him had turned completely cold.

Kei sat up, rubbing his hand through his disheveled locks before swiftly washing up and changing his clothes. Out in the hallway, the relentless clip of footsteps and voices calling out to one another echoed without pause.

A fresh day of combat was on the verge of commencing.

Adjusting his collar, he strode briskly toward the building assigned to the Craftsmen. He had managed to patch up a handful of armor sets yesterday, but a mountain of work remained unaddressed. Kei wanted to arrive early to inspect how else he could lend a hand today.

The moment he crossed into the main hall, Clark’s booming voice drifted out.

“We can’t just keep burning through our remaining raw materials like this. If we brew any more Potions using this formula, the herb reserves are going to bottom out by noon.”

“But the hunters need Potions right now,” Linda replied, her voice taut with mounting anxiety. “The casualty count from yesterday exceeded our projections. If this trend continues today, we can’t afford to keep rationing such skimpy portions of Potions.”

Clark stood beside a workbench piled high with glass vials and open sacks of herbs. Linda faced him, clutching a logbook in both hands. Scattered across the tabletop were merely a handful of withered branches, a few vials of pale-blue liquid, and a scattering of crushed ingredients.

Kei didn’t speak up immediately. He hovered nearby, listening in silence for a beat longer.

Clark explained that every single batch of Potions demanded a massive volume of medicinal herbs as primary components.

To boost output, their sole recourse was increasing raw material input, yet their stockpiles were already dangerously lean.

During a protracted Dungeon Break, Potions were consumed continuously to treat injuries, restore stamina, and keep the hunters stable enough to weather the coming days. One didn’t need advanced math to realize their current reserves wouldn’t hold out much longer.

Kei stared down at the sacks of herbs on the table, his thoughts flashing to the medicinal plants cultivated securely within his Divine Space Ring.

He possessed a considerable surplus. Yet regardless of how plentiful they might seem, that quantity could never suffice to brew Potions for every single hunter operating within the city. If they continued consuming raw materials strictly adhering to the standard formula, the final output would forever remain throttled by the rate of herb depletion.

No mass release, New book is coming.

1 castle – 5 chapters bonus