“Yiya! So Master was taking a bath… Oh la la! I love bathing the most! I want to bathe too!

  A crisp voice suddenly rang in Ye Tianxie’s ears, sending a shiver down his spine. He nearly jumped straight out of the bathtub. The door was clearly locked tight—there was no way even the smallest gap existed, so there was no way Guoguo could have gotten in. Even if she somehow had, he should have noticed. But the voice was undeniably right next to him.

  Before Ye Tianxie’s exaggerated expression could recover, Guoguo floated lightly in front of him. She had just barely finished dealing with her lollipop when she realized that her master was missing. Following his presence, she tracked him here, and the moment she saw the bath, an intense urge to join in overwhelmed her.

  “Oh la la! Bath time!” Guoguo brushed her hands over her body, and instantly, Ye Tianxie’s vision blurred. The next second, his eyes widened to their limits.

  Right before him was a soft, snow-white silhouette.

  The little dress Guoguo had been wearing had disappeared completely, revealing a tender, flawless body as white as jade. Her pitch-black hair cascaded over her snowy shoulders, making her fair skin seem even more dazzling. Her body was like a piece of pure, translucent snow jade—so delicate that one would hesitate to touch it.

  On her chest, two small, gently rounded mounds sat like upturned snow bowls, their shape distinct and their soft pink peaks clearly visible. Below, her slender legs were pressed gently together, smooth and flawless, without a single strand of hair. Her tiny, milky-white feet floated in the air, her toes round and crystalline like polished pearls.

  She was unbelievably small, her body so pure and ethereal that it seemed untainted by the mortal world, without the slightest imperfection or impurity.

  “Wow~!”

  With an excited cheer as if from the heavens, Guoguo descended, plunging herself into the water, creating a splash as small as her body. Only then did Ye Tianxie snap out of his daze, instinctively covering his nose.

  “Guoguo, who let you in?!” Ye Tianxie pinched himself in secret, trying to shift his gaze elsewhere and divert his thoughts. Beneath Guoguo’s innocent and pure appearance, she concealed an almost impossibly perfect body. And in front of such a tiny little thing, he had nearly lost control.

  “Because… I want to take a bath too,” Guoguo surfaced from the water, grinning happily.

  “Girls and boys can’t bathe together!”

  “Oh la? Why not?” Guoguo’s face was filled with innocent confusion.

  “…” Ye Tianxie struggled for a long time, but he couldn’t find a proper answer. Why? Should he explain the concept of propriety between men and women? Even if he tried, Guoguo probably wouldn’t understand.

  “Oh la? Master, you look so weird… Huh? What’s this long, big thing…? How strange, why don’t I have one? Ah? It’s so warm here… and it’s getting a little bigger…”

  “DON’T TOUCH IT!!”

  “Waa… Master is so fierce… But I want to touch it… Eh? Eh? Eh? Eh?! It’s getting even bigger!”

  “Wow! So this is Master’s bed? So soft, so comfy! Even better than sleeping on flower petals!”

  Guoguo lay on the bed with blissful satisfaction, rolling around and reveling in the never-before-experienced softness. She kept shifting positions—lying on her back, crawling, turning sideways, or just rolling back and forth—her airy laughter continuing until she finally dozed off into a sweet sleep.

  Ye Tianxie, however, remained awake for a long time, occasionally glancing at the peacefully sleeping Guoguo beside him. Even in her dreams, her expression was so charming that he felt an impulse to kiss this little thing.

  Who was she? Where had she come from? What secrets was she hiding?

  He didn’t know. All he knew was that from this moment on, his life would be completely different. Having grown accustomed to solitude, he now found himself with an unexpected companion—one who would undoubtedly cause him endless headaches, yet one he did not reject at all.

  By the time Ye Tianxie woke up the next day, the sun was already high in the sky. Beside him, Guoguo was still fast asleep.

  She wasn’t exactly a well-behaved sleeper—throughout the night, she had unconsciously grabbed him awake three times. And now, her sleeping posture was outright improper: her delicate arms were sprawled out, and her slender legs were spread wide open.

  Ye Tianxie quietly observed her for a moment, then carefully got out of bed and left the bedroom.

  After a quick breakfast, he sat on the sofa, pressed his fingers against the wristband on his left hand, and mentally commanded himself to enter the world of Destiny.

  As his eyes closed, the pitch-black pendant on his chest mysteriously disappeared once again. At the same time, Guoguo, who had been peacefully asleep in the bedroom, also slowly faded away.

  Destiny World

  Ye Tianxie reappeared right beside the item shop where he had logged out the previous night.

  Taking a quick glance at the still-bustling crowd, he moved toward the blacksmith’s shop.

  “Level 5 full-strength warrior looking for a party to farm Little Green Snakes!”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “… Big bro, can you spare a steamed bun? I’m starving…”

  “Selling premium apples! Cheaper than the store by two copper coins! Limited stock, hurry and buy!”

  In Destiny, the body remains in a state of deep relaxation, and the brain enters a semi-sleep state. While it can’t replace real sleep, it significantly reduces the need for it. For young people with boundless energy, staying online for 24 hours straight wasn’t even an issue.

  The previous night, Ye Tianxie had reached level 4. Overnight, the average player level had risen to level 4, with many already hitting level 5.

  Food in the game was outrageously expensive—at least for penniless newbies who could barely afford health potions. A single steamed bun that reduced 30 hunger points cost a whopping 5 silver coins! The same price as an apple that only reduced 10 hunger points—though the latter was crisp and sweet, while the former was dry and hard to swallow.

  Because of this, while not many players died to monsters, a huge number were starving to death. The newbie village was filled with food beggars, making it nearly impossible for new players to accumulate much wealth. Most of their precious copper coins barely covered the cost of food.

  At the blacksmith’s shop, the old blacksmith, Wang, immediately spotted him and broke into a rare smile.

  “Ah, my eager young warrior, I’ve been waiting for you! Here, this is your ring. I finally succeeded in imbuing it with even stronger mystical power.”

  A silver ring was placed into Ye Tianxie’s hand. Its shape was identical to yesterday’s, but its previously dull surface now gleamed with a faint golden hue.

  The moment Ye Tianxie caught sight of the subtle yellow glow on its surface, his heart pounded with excitement.

  Yesterday, the ring had only emitted a weak blue light. But now, it was radiating yellow—the unmistakable glow of a bronze-tier artifact!

  The Ancient Life Ring: A bronze artifact, no special requirements to wear. The village chief of Newbie Village No. 60001 had unknowingly picked up this ring in the wild many years ago. Its origins were unknown, but after being carefully forged by Old Wang, the blacksmith of Newbie Village No. 60001, its power was greatly enhanced: Attribute: Life +200, automatic life regeneration of 5 points per second.

  It was indeed a Qingtong artifact, and the current attributes were more than double what they had been yesterday!

  Suppressing his excitement, Ye Tianxie put on the Life Ring. His health instantly increased by nearly half, and he politely said, "Thank you, Blacksmith Uncle, your forging has been a great help."

  "Hehe, hearing that makes me very pleased," Old Wang the blacksmith nodded and smiled.

  After purchasing a few of the most cost-effective steamed buns from the store, Ye Tianxie quickly headed north, aiming for the Wolf Valley once again. At least for now, no other players would venture into the Blood Wolf's territory, which still belonged to him alone.

  After a night's "rest," the Blood Wolf territory, once cleared by Ye Tianxie, was once again filled with wolves. Perhaps due to the strong enemy's invasion yesterday, they appeared in groups of three to five or seven to eight, with no lone wolves in sight. This worked to Ye Tianxie's advantage, as he stepped into the territory and immediately charged toward the pack, causing the once-quiet valley to resound with the screams of the blood wolves. In no time, the once-dense pack of wolves became sparse. Due to the Newbie Village's effect, the blood wolves respawned very slowly, and their regeneration rate couldn't keep up with Ye Tianxie's slaughter. The death cries of the wolves finally woke up Guoguo, who had been peacefully sleeping.

  The Eternity Fate Mark in Ye Tianxie's hand flickered with a brief white light, and Guoguo's body materialized next to his shoulder. Half-closed eyes, stretching lazily, she murmured, "Ah, that was such a good sleep."

  With a wave of the Fate Mark, the four blood wolves Ye Tianxie had lured together collapsed at his feet. He turned around and said, "Guoguo, did you forget something?"

  Guoguo blinked her big innocent eyes and said, "Huh? Forget something? I don't remember."

  "You said yesterday that if I bought you a lollipop, you'd tell me what the Fate Core is. I don't like it when little girls go back on their word," Ye Tianxie raised an eyebrow and struck at a freshly spawned blood wolf in front of him.

  Guoguo rubbed her eyes, giggling, "Oh, I remember now! Hehe, the lollipop you gave me was really delicious, no wonder my sister said... Hmm, what was the Fate Core again? Let me think, I think I forgot. I'll try hard to remember."

  Ye Tianxie: "..."

  Ye Tianxie's movements became even more agile as the blood wolves attacked, his body dodging in and out of positions in the span of a second. Guoguo, like his little shadow, hovered closely behind him, her bright eyes looking up as she tapped her chin with a small white hand, seemingly lost in thought. But after a long while, Ye Tianxie still hadn’t received an answer.

  "Hmm... I really can’t remember... Don’t worry, Master, I’ll think of it eventually!" Guoguo smiled sheepishly. Behind Ye Tianxie, she wiggled her little hand, and a lollipop appeared in her grasp. Having had experience unwrapping one before, she quickly peeled off the thin wrapper, licking the lollipop as she continued to think.

  ...The lollipop seemed to work wonders, as Guoguo’s intellect suddenly seemed to jump. Without warning, she shouted excitedly in Ye Tianxie's ear, causing him to jump in surprise and almost get bitten by a blood wolf.

  "Master, I remember! The Fate Core is the power core of the Fate Mark in your hand. There are seven of them!"

  Ye Tianxie quickly cleared away the nearby blood wolves, then turned back and asked, "Power core?"

  "Yes, the power core. Master, look..." Guoguo said eagerly. "The seven missing spots on the Fate Mark originally had seven Fate Cores. Then, for some reason, they disappeared, and that's why the Fate Mark's power became so weak... Let me think... There are seven Fate Cores: the first one is red, called Blood Feather... The second... I can't remember, but I know it’s orange... Then there's yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple..." As Guoguo spoke, she tried her best to recall, her little tongue unconsciously licking the lollipop in her hand.

  Ye Tianxie patiently waited, not interrupting her, his gaze falling on the Fate Mark in his hand. As Guoguo described, the seven strange gaps on the Fate Mark were originally meant to hold seven Fate Cores, each containing immense power. The Fate Mark itself was a vessel for these Cores' power. Without the Fate Cores, the Fate Mark would be nothing more than an empty artifact, lacking true strength.

  Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple... The seven empty gaps on the Fate Mark shimmered with faint hues of these colors, clearly representing the seven scattered colors of sunlight. The first Fate Core was the red Blood Feather.

  Blood Feather? A blood-colored feather?

  Ye Tianxie's gaze moved upward, and indeed, the uppermost gap was shaped like a feather. He had become very familiar with the shapes of these gaps, and up until today, he had always thought they resembled narrow flames.

  "Where are these seven Fate Cores?" Ye Tianxie looked at Guoguo. As soon as he asked, his expression froze, and his pupils contracted in shock, as if he had seen something unbelievable.

  "I don’t know. But I know the Eternal Fate Mark is very powerful. A long time ago, the Fate Mark suddenly appeared on the Lost Continent. No one knew where it came from… Later, the highest deity of the Lost Continent used the Eternal Fate Mark to defeat the most terrible evil monsters. These monsters were then sealed in the Fate Tower by the Fate Mark. But then the Fate Mark disappeared... and it reappeared in your hands, Master. How strange!" Guoguo said with a curious expression. But there was one thing she wasn’t curious about—why she had appeared from the Eternal Fate Mark!

  "No matter what happened, the Fate Cores never disappear. If you can find them, Master, you'll become very powerful... Huh? Why are you looking at me like that... Huh? Huh? Huh? Do you want a lollipop too? No, no! Lollipops are for the cutest, most obedient little Guoguo, Master can’t have any!" Seeing Ye Tianxie's gaze fixed on the lollipop in her hands, Guoguo hurriedly clutched it protectively, taking a few cautious steps back, her eyes wary.