For the second time she had opened her eyes in this gritty, dangerous world, and she woke up to the sound of absolute silence. Her first was back in Theloca; it was only been roughly a month since then, yet it felt like forever ago.
There were no deafening roars of abyssal monsters, no desperate clashes of dwarven steel against cultist blood-magic, and no telepathic shockwaves from grieving mothers trying to melt the kingdom.
There was only the soft, rhythmic rustling of the wind against the reinforced glass windows, and the warm, golden sunlight streaming across the massive, king-sized mattress.
Xuan Ji slowly blinked her eyes, staring up at the sheer, opulent silk canopy of the Morvant Estate’s master bedroom. She is feeling a strange, unfamiliar heaviness behind her eyes. She sat up, the pristine, high-thread-count sheets pooling at her waist, and checked her internal clock.
It was nearly noon.
Xuan Ji frowned slightly, looking inward. Her Dantian was a roaring, flawless engine of boundless power. As the Heavenly Demon, her physical body was fundamentally divorced from mortal fatigue. She didn't accumulate lactic acid, her muscles didn't tear from exertion, and she didn't technically require sleep to regenerate her cells.
Yet, she had slept for a half a day.
Mental exhaustion, Xuan Ji deduced, rolling her shoulders and letting out a long, quiet sigh. My HP and MP bars are full, but my stamina bar for dealing with political conspiracies, suicidal cults, and apocalyptic raid bosses is completely tapped out.
She threw her legs over the edge of the plush mattress. For today, the grand quests could wait. There were no immediate threats looming over her head; the capital was stabilized, and she had officially carved out an autonomous, heavily fortified sanctuary right in the middle of the inner rings.
Today was a designated rest day.
Xuan Ji slipped into a casual, lightweight black silk robe, not bothering to tie her dark hair up into its usual complex martial crown, letting it fall freely down her back. She stepped out of the master suite and began to navigate the sprawling, labyrinthine halls of her newly acquired sovereign territory.
The Morvant Estate was truly a monument to corrupt, unchecked wealth. The hallways were lined with priceless eastern carpets, imported velvet tapestries, and enchanted crystal chandeliers that cast a warm, ambient glow.
As Xuan Ji walked toward the grand staircase, she noticed a pair of maids, survivors from the Vael Estate's staff who had relocated with them, huddled behind a marble pillar. They were trembling like leaves in a hurricane, clutching silver polishing cloths to their chests and staring wide-eyed down into the grand foyer.
Xuan Ji followed their terrified gaze.
A heavy, rhythmic THUD... HISS was echoing from the direction of the estate's massive, gilded ballroom. The faint, refined scent of the mansion's floral incense was actively being overpowered by the sharp, undeniable smell of volcanic sulfur and melting stone.
Xuan Ji descended the grand staircase and approached the open double-doors of the ballroom.
The room, designed to host hundreds of dancing nobles beneath a magically painted ceiling of the night sky, was currently undergoing a severe, highly unauthorized renovation.
Standing in the center of the room was Aurelithia.
Even compressed into her mortal vessel, the Gold Dragon was a creature of breathtaking, terrifying majesty. Standing seven feet tall, her cascading golden hair shimmered like liquid sunlight, and her flowing gown of overlapping golden scales shifted with her fluid, predatory movements.
Currently, the Sovereign of the Peaks had both of her hands shoved deep into a blinding, spatial distortion ring hovering in the air.
With a grunt of effort, Aurelithia pulled a massive, jagged slab of raw, glowing volcanic obsidian from her spatial hoard. The stone was easily the size of a dining table and radiated an intense, suffocating heat. Without an ounce of hesitation, the dragon-woman casually tossed the molten rock directly onto the priceless, intricately woven eastern carpets.
The imported fabric instantly caught fire, violently hissing and turning to ash beneath the sheer thermal output of the stone.
"Good morning," Xuan Ji called out lazily, leaning against the intricately carved mahogany doorframe. "I see you're redecorating."
Aurelithia paused, turning her head. Her luminous gold eyes, complete with sharp, vertical slit-pupils, locked onto Xuan Ji. The terrifying atmospheric pressure she passively exuded softened just a fraction.
"Heavenly Demon," Aurelithia greeted, her dual-layered voice, a smooth, feminine alto overlaid with a deep, rumbling purr, echoing in the vast room. She gestured to the growing pile of glowing obsidian, magma-stones, and mythic sun-ores she was meticulously arranging in a massive circle. "I am constructing an incubator."
Xuan Ji walked into the room, entirely unbothered by the stifling, sauna-like heat radiating from the rocks. "I thought you stored the egg inside that spatial sigil on your chest for safekeeping."
Aurelithia brought a hand up to rest over her heart, where the glowing golden sigil pulsed faintly against her skin. A look of profound maternal warmth crossed her sharp, alien features.
"I did," Aurelithia explained, her golden eyes softening. "But the sub-dimensional pocket acts as a temporal stasis. It is the ultimate shield, but while my child resides within it, time does not pass. The incubation halts. To hatch properly in the coming months, my brood requires the ambient, latent heat of a true volcanic nest."
Aurelithia grabbed another glowing magma-stone and slotted it perfectly into the circular wall she was building. "Since I cannot fly back to the Sunlit Peaks with my broken wing, and you expressly forbade me from raising a mountain outside the city walls... I am bringing the mountain inside."
Xuan Ji looked at the massive, glowing, highly destructive indoor volcano actively burning a hole through her new ballroom floor. She couldn't help but smirk. It was exactly the kind of pragmatic logic she appreciated.
"Fair enough," Xuan Ji said, walking closer. "Though, I do have a minor request regarding our continued cohabitation."
Aurelithia tilted her head, a gesture that looked distinctly draconic despite her human neck. "Speak."
"Aurelithia Ignis-Vaelstrasz," Xuan Ji recited flawlessly. "It is a majestic title. It carries the weight of centuries. But it is a massive mouthful for casual, daily conversation over breakfast."
Xuan Ji crossed her arms, looking up at the towering woman. "I'd like to shorten it. Lithia. Is that acceptable?"
The seven-foot-tall dragon went perfectly, terrifyingly still.
For a true dragon, their name was a fundamental anchor of their pride and their magic. To shorten it was to treat them without the due respect. The ambient heat in the ballroom instantly spiked, the magma-stones glowing a furious, blinding white as Aurelithia's vertical pupils narrowed into thin, dangerous slits.
Xuan Ji didn't flinch. She simply met the dragon's gaze with the calm, immovable obsidian depths of her own eyes. It was a silent clash of wills between a primordial force of nature and a woman who punched mythic beasts for a living.
Slowly, the intense, blinding light of the magma-stones dimmed back to a warm, smoldering orange.
The corner of Aurelithia's mouth twitched upward into a sharp, predatory smile.
"Lithia," the dragon repeated, testing the syllables on her tongue. The rumbling purr in her voice deepened. "It lacks the grandeur of the Peaks. But... for the Heavenly Demon, and for the young mortal disciple who shares your hearth, I shall permit this familiarity."
Lithia took a step closer, towering over Xuan Ji, her expression turning deadly serious.
"However," Lithia warned, her dual-layered voice dropping to a terrifying, rumbling whisper that vibrated the crystal chandeliers above them. "Should anyone else attempt to address me with such insolent brevity... I will incinerate their vocal cords before the syllables leave their throats."
"Agreed, you can also just call me Xuan Ji." Xuan Ji chuckled, highly amused by the sheer arrogance. "VIP privileges only. Carry on with your masonry, Lithia. I need to go check on the rest of the party."
Xuan Ji turned and walked out of the sweltering ballroom, leaving the Sovereign of the Peaks to happily arrange her glowing magma-stones on top of the ruined, smoldering ashes of the estate's finest carpets.
It was a good morning.