NOVEL WEB CHAPTER 213 - Daily Reports.
Three days later.
Alex sat in a room, holding the communication device in his palm, watching the projection with a small smile.
"—is all I did yesterday."
With those words, he completed his daily report.
Lilia and Jessica sat beside him, the latter practically bouncing in place, her chibi form exuding boundless excitement while the projection showed two familiar faces—Zahara and Mira.
"Hm, so nothing special again, huh?" Zahara, with her head resting on her palm, sighed, causing Alex to let out a wry chuckle.
"I'm not some protagonist of a shonen novel or manga that I would always keep fighting and telling you my entertaining trials, you know..."
Chuckling at his words, Zahara shook her head as well, not realizing how much she had started to enjoy these daily reports of Alex.
It really was as if she was hearing the tale of some protagonist.
Though she preferred being next to him better, this wasn't a bad experience.
But soon, her expression turned serious as she recalled something. "Alex," she said, her eyes locked into Alex's. "Has any of them reached yet?"
At her words, another long, weary sigh escaped his lips as he ran a hand through his hair. "No," he admitted, leaning back slightly. "Not a single one. And I've been waiting."
It had been three days since he had dealt with Barbara and her group members, but he couldn't return to the academy.
The reason was simple. He didn't know how to get to the teleportation artifact he had used to come here.
He had been running around in random directions since he was forcefully ejected from the Luminous village.
Some would say that he could've just used the portal that others use, but if he did that, then his personal teleportation device would be revealed to the world as there was no record of him going out of the academy.
In the end, he had to call James and his tamed beasts to come through the teleportation artifact.
For the past three days, they had been searching for Alex while leaving trails to return to the device. They knew that he was within the ruins at the center of a forest, but the problem was that the whole desolate was filled with such forests, so it was still hard to find him.
Zahara chuckled. "I can practically hear the frustration in your voice."
Jessica, sitting on the bed next to the table and chair Alex was on, snickered, crossing her tiny arms. "Of course he's frustrated. He can't even find an exit to this area! How low the geniuses of this generation have fallen."
"Oh, yeah?" Alex, with his eyes squinted, turned toward Jessica. "The dissolving viper must be lonely~."
A shiver ran down Jessica's spine as she heard those words, recalling the torturous time she had to spend with that beast that wouldn't stop licking her with its gross tongue.
"Why don't I call it here?" Alex completed, but Jessica was already near his legs by now.
"Please! Please! Anything but that! I'm sorry!" She wailed with snot and tears leaking out of her nose and eyes, causing Alex to shake his head while Zahara, Lilia, and Mira just chuckled.
"Alright," Alex sighed, turning back to Zahara, but Jessica, who recovered as soon as she heard Alex's words, quickly leaned in toward the projection, eyes twinkling. "Hey, Zahara, Mira! I just remembered that I haven't told you guys about it, but I know something crazy!"
Mira, who had been silently watching, tilted her head slightly, her lavender eyes curious. "What?" She asked in her soft, almost hesitant voice.
Jessica pointed dramatically at Lilia. "SHE'S A PRINCESS! Not just any princess, but the eldest princess of the demon empire!"
Zahara and Mira both blinked at those words, their gaze turning to look at Alex and Lilia, who just shrugged.
Lilia, utterly indifferent, turned to Jessica. "You think they don't know that?" She asked flatly.
Jessica's gaze froze as she stared at Zahara and Mira, who were shaking their heads with a sigh, before her eyes went wide. "WAS I THE ONLY ONE WHO DIDN'T KNOW?!"
Alex smirked. "Yes, now be quiet."
Mira let out a barely audible laugh, quickly covering her mouth, while Zahara shook her head in amusement. "Jessica, you really are something else."
Jessica huffed, crossing her arms. "Hmph! I feel so left out! Next time, you guys better tell me everything, or I'll—" She paused, thinking hard about what she could say before she added, "I'll... uh... steal all of Alex's food?"
Alex shot her a deadpan look. "You already do that."
Lilia nodded. "Constantly."
Jessica gasped dramatically. "Lies and slander! I only take a little bit! And besides, you owe me for all the emotional trauma I've suffered today because you pushed me to play with that beast!"
The beast she was talking about was, of course, the dissolving viper. It had been tamed by Alex.
An unexpectedly good boon, but even Alex had never expected that.
It was something that happened three days ago when he was returning to the city to inquire about Keryu's arrival.
He had made up his mind and recovered enough strength to be able to kill the beast, which would've been easier since Lilia was with him as well, but when he came out, he found the beast bowing to him. Enjoy exclusive adventures from My Virtual Library Empire
It turned out that the beast would obey the holder of the controller of the trial ground.
But of course, Alex didn't leave it with that since he wouldn't always have the controller, so he made the snake his subordinate and added it to the <Servants> category of the dream infinite system.
After that, the snake was able to free itself from the bind of the controller, and it was also able to leave its position as the guardian of the trial grounds, something that made it happy and increased its loyalty to Alex.
Since then, Alex had been building his relationship with the giant snake, and turned out that it liked Jessica for some reason. But Jessica didn't. She hated slimy things, and the snake's tongue was slimy as hell.
So, it became a way to control Jessica a bit, but that was all.
Soon, Zahara chuckled, shaking her head before turning back to Alex. "So, what's the plan now? Since no one's arrived yet."
Alex exhaled through his nose. "For now, we just secure our hold here. Barbara and her people are under control, so that's one less problem. But I don't like just sitting around."
Mira, who had been listening intently, finally spoke again. "It's... good to rest sometimes."
Her words made Alex pause for a moment. Mira rarely spoke, but when she did, it always carried weight.
"Maybe," he admitted with a small smile. "But I doubt we'll have much time for that."
Zahara tilted her head, studying him for a moment before sighing. "Just don't push yourself too hard, Alex."
Jessica snorted. "Yeah, yeah. He'll be fine. He's got me watching his back, after all."
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Oh? So does that mean you'll actually fight next time instead of hiding behind me?"
Jessica gasped in offense. "EXCUSE ME? I provide moral support!"
Lilia let out a rare chuckle, while Mira's lips stretched into a faint smile as well.
Zahara sighed, exasperation laced with fondness. "You're all impossible."
And just like that, the tension melted away, replaced by a rare moment of ease between them.
No battles, no bloodshed—just a conversation between people who had found solace in each other's company.