—Whoa, System-chan finally shows up to fix things when the plot goes off the rails. Did the sky fall or the earth split open?
【Ding! The System heard that. Please don’t badmouth this System behind its back, Host.】
—You’re the one eavesdropping on my thoughts… Besides, it’s the truth. I’ve never seen such a useless System. All it does is hand out tasks—nothing else.
【This System’s full name is ‘Protagonist Role-Playing System.’ It is an incarnation born of the Heavenly Mandate, one of the greatest existences in history. Host, you can check the instruction manual for a detailed introduction.】
“…”
—You waited until now to tell me you have an instruction manual?!
【Host is so smart~】
Yan Zhen didn’t want to deal with it anymore. He shifted his attention to the task. After reading the Role-Playing Requirement clearly, he breathed a sigh of relief.
All three were scenes from the script, and none were difficult. If anything, the second one—”Help Long Ying take a bath”—was a bit tricky. He’d never taken care of a little kid like that before. Besides, Long Ying had the same fire attribute as him, so she resisted baths on principle. The moment water touched her, she got fidgety.
She preferred soaking in lava.
Later, when Yan Zhen entered the Volcano Secret Realm to hunt for ore, Long Ying had dived into the lava and found a huge deposit of Fire Crystal Ore for him, saving him a ton of effort.
For now, though, he needed to feed this little ancestor first.
“Still hungry? If you are, I’ll take you to the dining hall. Eat as much as you want.”
Long Ying hurriedly shook her little head.
She remembered how, in her previous life, she’d devoured meal after meal at the dining hall until she’d maxed out one of Yan Zhen’s Level Two Courtyard Cards. His face had turned as black as charcoal. He clearly hadn’t expected her to still be ravenous after downing three Fasting Pills, and her image as a bottomless pit had been seared into his mind.
She absolutely couldn’t eat like that this time. It wasn’t ladylike at all. Yan Zhen preferred elegant ladies—whether Sister Cai Lian, Sister Xunyi, Holy Lord Yun Xiu, or even the Demoness from the Demon Domain. They were all so “graceful.”
But Long Ying’s stomach betrayed her again, letting out a loud rumble.
“Gurgle~”
/（/ /o/ω/o/ /）/
“You say you’re not hungry? Come on, let’s go to the dining hall.”
“…Okay.”
The Loli Dragon Girl hopped down from the stool and held out her little hand. Yan Zhen took it, and they headed to the dining hall together.
They’d just gone downstairs when Yan Zhen sensed something. He looked up to see Zi Xunyi flying over from the Cliffside Small Building.
Not her Divine Soul Incarnation—this was her true body.
Zi Xunyi floated through the air and landed gracefully in front of Yan Zhen and Long Ying. Her pale purple hair danced in the wind, and the hem of her purple skirt swirled around her. She truly looked like a goddess.
“Zi Ji? What are you doing out of the small building?”
“I sensed a very special aura…” Zi Xunyi glanced at Yan Zhen, then lowered her gaze to the Loli Dragon Girl whose hand he was holding. “It’s her, isn’t it?”
“You noticed her from that far away? Impressive.” Yan Zhen complimented her first, then continued, “Yeah. Senior Sister Yu Die found her in the Great Forest Outside the Academy. She was originally an egg that hatched after absorbing the power of the Great Crimson Heaven Flame.”
“She’s… a dragon?”
“According to her, yes. She’s from the Dragon God Clan on the Eighth Continent.”
Zi Xunyi’s delicate brows furrowed slightly. Then she bent down a little and asked softly,
“Little sister, what’s your name?”
The Loli Dragon Girl giggled.
“I’m Long Ying—dragon from the Dragon Clan, cherry blossom for Ying. Hello, Sister Xunyi.”
“Hello, Little Long Ying. I—hey! How did you know my name?”
“I don’t just know your name. I know you’re from the Heavenly God Clan.”
“Did Yan Zhen tell you?”
Yan Zhen hurriedly defended himself.
“No, not me. I didn’t.”
Long Ying looked smug.
“No one told me. I already knew. Because I’m the one and only Dragon-Phoenix Divine Beast in the world!”
“Have we met before?”
The Heavenly God Clan’s territory was far from the Dragon God Clan’s, and each had their own independent spaces. Their relations were neither good nor bad—just few interactions. Besides, they were both young, so logically, they shouldn’t have crossed paths.
“We have met, but not in the past.” Seeing Zi Xunyi’s puzzled expression made Long Ying feel accomplished. Finally, it was her turn to play the cryptic one. “Anyway, don’t sweat the details. Yan Zhen Zhen and I are headed to the dining hall next. Want to come along, Sister Xunyi?”
Zi Xunyi hesitated for a moment and looked back at Yan Zhen, who smiled faintly.
“Let’s go together.”
“Okay.”
Zi Xunyi didn’t dare walk side by side with Yan Zhen, of course. Instead, she fell in step on Long Ying’s other side, stealing curious glances at her now and then.
None of them realized it, but with two adults and one child walking together like this, they looked exactly like a family of three.
As they went along the path, the trio drew stares from all directions.
Zi Xunyi’s beauty and poise were unmatched in the Inner Academy. Though she’d only appeared a handful of times in the past two years, anyone who’d seen her was left with a deep impression—plenty had fallen for her at first sight.
Long Ying, meanwhile, was dressed in Yan Zhen’s oversized robe, looking a bit mismatched, but she was still a pink-haired porcelain doll. Paired with her lively emerald eyes, she was cuteness on a national-treasure level.
As for Yan Zhen, he was the handsome young man of the neighborhood. Add in his performance during the Special Exam and his recent clashes with White Fang, and plenty of students recognized him.
So the question arose: Why was the legendary Purple-Clothed Goddess walking alongside New Student Number One? And why was there an explosively adorable pink-haired loli sandwiched between them?
They didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but the scene made it impossible not to.
Thus, a crowd of students trailed discreetly behind the trio, eager to see what was up.
The three noticed, of course, but ignored them.
At the dining hall, Yan Zhen reserved a private room and ordered every dish on the menu.
The chefs were efficient. Soon, a table was piled high with food.
The meats were Mystic Beast Meat, the vegetables Mystic Vegetables—nothing too high-tier, just first- through third-tier fare.
“Dig in. Order more if it’s not enough.”
Long Ying gulped, swallowing hard.
“Won’t this cost too much?”
—So why did this Loli Dragon suddenly get so sensible?
Yan Zhen broke out in a sweat.
“Eat as much as you want. Don’t worry about the money—I have two Academy Cards. One’s Level Two, the other’s Level Four. More than enough.”
“Then I’ll eat. And you can’t get mad if I overdo it, okay?”
“Eat away. I won’t get mad.”
Reassured, Long Ying tucked in with gusto. Of course, compared to her past life, she was much more refined—even nibbling her drumsticks in dainty little bites.
“Zi Ji, you eat too.”
“Okay.”
At Yan Zhen’s urging, Zi Xunyi symbolically picked at her food a few times.
Outside the private room, the trailing students were itching with curiosity. They cornered one of the servers, bribed him with some pills to take their place, and slipped inside. What they saw was a heartwarming family scene:
The pink-haired loli chowing down with sauce dribbling down her chin; Yan Zhen dabbing her mouth with a napkin; Zi Xunyi watching them both with a gentle smile.
—This… this is totally a family of three!
