As he tapped "accept", a magical circle appeared on the Fire Ant Emperor's forehead. Tang Shaoyang put his palm on it.
[You have successfully established the contract with a spirit "Malki the Fire Ant Emperor"!]
Malki's figure turned into a crimson ball of light and entered Tang Shaoyang's forehead. The contract had been established, Malki was sent to his spirit space.
—Thank you for willing to accept me, My Lord.
A static voice rang in his head. It was a foreign voice, not Karan and Zowen for sure. Zaneos was still outside there with his avatar body. So the voice should belong to Malki.
'Are you Malki?' Tang Shaoyang asked the voice.
—Yes, My Lord. This humble servant's name is Malki.
He was about to ask why Malki suddenly submitted toward him, but Zaneos walked to his side and spoke, "I will go back now."
Tang Shaoyang nodded and Zaneos's avatar body turned into smoke and disappeared. Then he saw the concerned little girl, she stared at him worriedly, "What's wrong?" He asked the girl as he looked at his own body. He was still in his [Dragon Transformation].
'Ah, maybe she is scared of my current form,' he assumed the girl was scared of him who was covered in scales, horn, and wing. He canceled the [Dragon Transformation] and returned to his original look.
"Are you okay?" Li Na asked as she scanned him from the top to bottom.
"I am fine, you can see it," he tried to punch and kick into the air. The girl was genuinely concerned about him, so he tried to prove to her that he was fine.
"It was one of my skills, so you should not worry about that," Tang Shaoyang waved his hand dismissively at the girl, "Rather than that, let's look for a safe place to get some rest. You look exhausted."
Tang Shaoyang walked toward the closest mound. He climbed the five meters tall mound and looked into the big hole in the center. It was dark, but he could see through his [Dragon Eyes].
'What a convenience eye to be able to see in the dark,' he thought to himself as he scanned the hole.
Li Na followed him closely, she looked into the hole curiously. Wondering why her leader looked down there, but she could not see anything in the dark.
"Let's go, inside should be safe," they had slaughtered thousands of the Scorched Ants, so the nest should be empty and safe.
"Huh, why?" She blurted out. The hole should lead them to the main nest. Inside should be the most dangerous place.
"Getting some rest? You look exhausted," Tang Shaoyang turned to the girl with confusion.
"But inside is the Scorched Ant's nest? It's dangerous," she looked at the bottomless hole again.
He rolled his eyes at her, "What are you talking about? Dangerous? We just slaughtered hundreds of thousands of the Scorched Ants, inside should be empty instead. Inside is safe."
Tang Shaoyang squatted next to her, "Hop on, we will enter the nest," the reason he wanted to carry her because the hole was steep. It went straight down without any curve, he needed to use [Sky Walk] to come down.
Li Na stiffened as she was not expecting this, but soon she came to her senses, "N-no, i-it's okay, I can come down alone."
She immediately regretted it as soon as she finished her words. This was her chance to get closer to the man she loved, but she wasted it, 'Stupid Li Na, why did you refuse him! This is your chance, act bolder Li Na!' She was screaming to herself inside.
"The hole is too steep unless you want to be a meat paste, you can jump in," he rolled his eyes at her, "Just hop on, why are so embarrassed?"
When those words came from Tang Shaoyang's mouth, Li Na did not waste her chance again. Without any words, she walked to his back and hopped onto his back.
Her face turned red, it was so embarrassing, more embarrassing than accepting the first offer because she declined it once. Now she easily hopped onto his back. She immediately buried her face onto his shoulder, not daring to raise her face.
Tang Shaoyang was indeed caught off guard that the girl immediately hopped onto his back. He thought he needed to persuade her once more, 'Nah, everyone is truly weird today.'
He did not think much as he stood up. He then walked down into the hole with [Sky Walk]. The whole was rather large, it was five meters wide. So he could walk down as if he walked down the stairs.
'Will he think me weirdly? Will he think of me cheaply? Stupid Li Na, you are doing something stupid again!' The girl was having an inner struggle as she kept scolding herself.
Tang Shaoyang was oblivious to the girl's thoughts as he was continuing the conversation with his new spirit, Malki.
'Malki!' He called him out.
—Yes, My Lord. Do you need something from your humble servant?
'Why did you suddenly surrender in our battle?' He was so curious that he could not wait for later to ask.
—Because you are My Lord!
Malki's answer was firm and respectful. The direct answer threw him off.
'What the…' he did not get what he wanted to know, 'Then why am I your Lord?'
There was a moment of silence, The Fire Ant Emperor could not reply to the question directly.
—Because you are My Lord?
Malki replied with a doubtful tone. It was more like he was confused by the question. Or maybe he did not know the reason too. It was more like his instinct.
'Alright, I give up!' Tang Shaoyang gave up knowing the reason no matter how curious he was. It would just frustrate him to talk to someone who relied on their instinct.
—Maybe because of the [Dragon Transformation]. He submitted to you after you activated the [Dragon Transformation], maybe it related to your dragon bloodline.
Zaneos voiced his thought.
'It's possible, but we don't know that for sure. Only the guy himself knew the reason,' Tang Shaoyang shook his head.
—Who's that? Who's talking disrespectfully to The Lord!?
Malki's angry voice immediately rang. The Fire Ant Emperor seemed to be angry with Zaneos.
'Calm down, Malki! He is your friend, and it's okay to drop the honorific between us, now you are one of us, our friend too,' Tang Shaoyang calmed the angry spirit.
—No! You are My Lord! Malki should respect The Lord!
—Friend?
The Fire Ant Emperor ended his words with confusion.
'Alright then. But you should not be angry with your friends. The voice you will hear is your friend,' Tang Shaoyang shook his head. After that, Karan and Zowen started to talk too. What they did was teasing the ant who seemed to lack common sense.
Tang Shaoyang just listened to them as he brought Li Na to their rest spot. It was the path that led them to a dead-end tunnel, "Alright, you can come down now,"
"But I can't see anything," only then Tang Shaoyang realized that Li Na did not have the eyes that could see in the dark.
"Oops, my bad," he created a fire spear through [Dragon Fire] and pierced the spear to the ground. The fire spear now became their source of light, "Alright, you can go rest now."