After leaving the Alchemist Headquarters, Rico Guli took out his communicator and connected with the Alchemist Headquarters of the Yure Solar System.
"I've been caught again, so they are scouting me back now."
The man on the other side frowned and said.
"It's unfortunate, but there is nothing else to be done. Come back, and I will send you somewhere else. Wait for the dust to settle, and I will send you back once more another time."
He then put a serious face and asked.
"You better not have said anything, or you know what will happen with them."
Rico nodded.
"Don't worry, they are still in the dark. So far, everyone from the nearby Solar Systems thinks that we are trying to raise the rank in the Dalin Universe. But because of our recent actions, there are probably a few old guys who are getting suspicious."
The person on the other side didn't care.
"That's not something for you to care about. As long as you follow the agreement, everyone will be fine."
The call was then finished, and Rico couldn't help but sigh.
'Sorry, father. For the sake of our Solar System, I can't help but disappoint you. There will be a day that you will understand.'
Rico then arrived at a long-distance teleport formation. After paying the fee, he disappeared with a flash of silver light. Somewhere far away from that place, an elder of the Alchemist Organization noticed when Rico left with his Divine Sense.
"Well, he's gone now."
He then opened a spatial gate and entered it, no one knew that he had been there.
Back at Krune's Hotel, he had just finished helping Yilio and returned to his room. Arriving there, he found that Ruik was already sleeping in a corner in his true form in the living room. Krune didn't have any reason to wake him up, so he just ignored that and returned to his room to think about the last phase in the next day. Also, there was something that had been bothering him ever since the second phase started.
A few minutes later, Feifei and Tiane also returned. On their way back, Tiane had told Feifei what happened in the Alchemist Competition, which immediately made Feifei burst on laugh once more. She knows very well that Krune absolutely didn't want to do that, and that was the funny part.
She then entered the room where Krune was staying to check on him.
As for Tiane, she immediately noticed the 'dead weight' in the corner of the room, and her mouth twitched. Their hotel room is quite big, so there was a room available for each one of them other than the living room. But that snake just had to go back its real form and sleep in the living room.
'He's doing it on purpose to bother me, I'm sure that this is the case!'
Of course, this wasn't the case. Ruik just had the habit of sleeping anywhere he felt comfortable. He knew that he is in the living room, but he thought that it wouldn't bother anyone. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't the case.
Back inside Krune's room, Feifei noticed that he was deep in thought. So much that he didn't even notice when she entered. Feifei approached and gave him a hug from behind. Only then did Krune notice that she was back.
"What is it, still bothered with the fact that you got first place today?"
Krune sighed and answered.
"Well, not that much to be honest. I had my identity hidden, after all. Still, there was something that happened while I was going through the extraction process."
Feifei then asked.
"Did something go wrong?"
Krune shook his head.
"That's not it. In fact, it wasn't something happening in my working station, but the one beside me. You remember those Golden Star Alchemists that I told you about?"
Feifei nodded and waited for Krune to continue.
"Well, there is one of them just beside me, and his name is Kaio Tirenia."
"Is there something wrong with him, then?"
Krune shook his head once more.
"That's not it either, it's just that during the time that we were doing the Impurities Removal, I felt like something was different about him."
Feifei got puzzled.
"What you mean?"
Krune sighed and continued.
"I don't know... How can I say it? It was like the elements were acting more friendly to him. No, to be more precise, the Fire Element was. I couldn't really understand since I've never felt it before. So I have been thinking about it ever since. Oh, but it only happened during the time that he was burning the impurities of his Medicinal Liquid away. It didn't happen when he was extracting it."
Feifei pondered a bit and then said.
"Maybe it's his cultivation technique. Don't you have that Elements Regulation Technique from your Master? Maybe he has something like that which helps him manipulate the Fire Element."
Krune agreed with her.
"At first, I thought the same thing. But somehow, I felt like those differences were attracting me."
Krune thought about asking Light Spirit but gave up the idea in the end. If he needs to ask him for help every time he has a problem, he won't improve anymore.
Feifei then released Krune and sat in front of him to hear more about the problem. But it was at this moment that she noticed something.
"Hum...?"
Feifei then approached Krune's face and gave a deep look into his eyes, which puzzled Krune greatly. While looking at Krune's eyes, Feifei asked.
"Is it me, or did the positions of the colors of your rainbow irises change?"
Krune was taken aback by that question, he then used a simple water element skill to create a water mirror in front of him. Sure enough, the position of the colors of his rainbow irises changed. It wasn't easy to notice, though. Only someone as close to him as Feifei would probably notice that difference.
"What is happening here? Ever since my rainbow irises appeared, the colors had never changed."
Feifei nodded.
"It looks like they moved a little in a circular motion, but they are still now. It probably has something to do with that thing about the elements that you told me. This morning when I looked, I didn't see any difference. Of course, I might not have noticed too, but the timing is just too good for that to be the case."
Krune nodded and dispelled the water mirror.
"It seems like it does indeed has something to do with the fire element that Kaio was controlling. Oh, now that I think about it, it had something to do with the fire element, but it wasn't the fire element in its entirety either. It was more like a small part of the whole thing called 'Fire Element' instead."
Krune then put his hands on his head and started to shake it helplessly.
"Arrg! Do my words make any sense at all?!"
Feifei couldn't help but laugh.
"Nope, I can hardly understand what you are 'really' trying to say. Still, I think you will find the answer sooner or later."
Krune looked at Feifei.
"How do you know?"
Feifei gave him a kiss and said.
"I just know. It's not like weird things started to happen with you only now, right? But you always think about something. For now, just forget it and go back there tomorrow. You are still a Six Silver Stars Alchemist, remember? So there is no way you can beat those Golden Stars Alchemists. Why don't you take this chance to pay attention to Kaio instead of concocting something? In the worst case, you will still finish in the 100th position anyway."
Krune's eyes lit up after hearing that.
"Great! I will do exactly as you said."
It was then that he remembered something.
"Oh, right! Sorry, how was your day in the Formations Master Junior Competition? Did you advance to the last phase too?"
Feifei laughed once more and said.
"Only now you asked that? Such an insensitive wisp."
Krune felt a little embarrassed but waited for her to continued.
"Well, I obviously failed. As you know, I'm not relying on my Advanced Destiny Major Core, so I ended in the 143rd position. Anyway, I'm very happy with my ending ranking since I was able to do better than quite a few higher-level Formation Masters."
Feifei then explained how she was invited to join the Formations Master Headquarters and that she opted to enter only in name. Krune listened to everything and agreed with Feifei's decision. They don't know if they will need to leave or not, not to mention that Krune still wants to go take a look at that Wisps Planet. So the best thing was for all of them to not make any promises for the moment.
"Oh, right! Talking about invitations, the guys from the Snake Clan came to invite Ruik today as well."
Feifei was surprised by that.
"Really? What happened?"
'Tud!'
Just mas Krune was about to tell everything, they heard a sound coming from outside the room.
"Let me go, your idiot snake!"
Feifei and Krune looked at each other puzzled and decided to take a look in the living room. But when they arrived there, they were taken aback.
For some reason, Tiane was on the ground, and Ruik's snake body was wrapped around Tiane's. Because of that, she couldn't move a single muscle. As for how that happened, only those two know.
Feifei and Krune looked at that scene and immediately turned around to leave.
"Cough, cough. Don't bother with us, you two can continue."
Tiane heard that and felt like crying!
