Su Cheng was a little surprised.
Gerald quickly pulled back and stood up straight, as if he had been burned by something.
A burning flush quietly crept up the young man's ears, dyeing the thin cartilage cherry-red, and even spreading down to his neck.
Then it soaked through his snow-white cheeks.
Su Cheng suddenly forgot what she wanted to say.
The boy slightly lowered his head. His thick, brilliant golden curls flowed with a honey-sweet luster under the basement lights.
A few stray strands of hair fell by his face, further accentuating the breathtaking red of his cheeks.
His long eyelashes drooped and fluttered like feather fans, casting a fragile shadow beneath his deep eye sockets, while his dark green eyes seemed to mist over.
Su Cheng: "..."
Unbelievable.
She still remembered the lazy look of the God of Jealousy leaning on the couch; after all, that face was truly unforgettable.
The him from back then and the raw, inexperienced boy right now were simply like two completely different people.
With just a kiss to express gratitude, Gerald seemed ready to spontaneously combust on the spot.
This pure, unadulterated shyness made that overly delicate and exquisite face bloom with an unimaginably seductive beauty.
He no longer seemed like a real person, but rather a camellia dyed with rouge just before a sudden storm.
—And blooming just for her.
The basement was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Su Cheng heard her own heartbeat.
As if possessed, she reached out and gently cupped the boy's burning cheeks; the skin against her palms was astonishingly hot.
Gerald seemed to stiffen for a moment. He raised those deep emerald-green eyes and stared at her blankly.
Su Cheng looked at him, "You—"
She thought of things from a long, long time in the future.
Even though, to her, it was the past.
But in her memories, those green eyes that seemed to forever burn with cold, toxic flames were filled with intense malice and negative emotions.
What exactly had he been through?
Su Cheng's feelings were somewhat complicated. Her gaze swept past the boy's distinct eyelashes and landed on his tightly pursed, rose-red thin lips.
Su Cheng: "...The color of your lipstick looks very nice."
Gerald: "?"
The next second, Su Cheng leaned in and kissed him.
His eyes widened in shock. Those lips, tinted as if with flower juice, were incredibly soft, like rose petals coated in morning dew.
The boy's slender body suddenly tensed. His hands, hanging by his sides, clenched abruptly as if he wanted to embrace her but didn't dare to.
Time seemed to stand still in this moment.
Su Cheng was in no rush to deepen the kiss; she just gently rubbed against his lips, as if touching some fragile porcelain.
She could still taste a hint of the sweet honey leftover from breakfast.
Gerald tried to respond, but he was far too inexperienced. He could only clumsily open his mouth slightly, not even extending his tongue.
Su Cheng wanted to laugh a little but held it back. She just gently bit him, then licked the quickly fading bite mark.
The boy's breathing seemed to grow rapid, and he let out a soft, fragmented whimper.
He subconsciously leaned forward, seemingly wanting to take in more, yet not knowing how to get closer. He only gazed at her intently.
Su Cheng raised her hand to hold the back of his neck, then kissed deeper. Her tongue gently roamed between his lips and teeth, slowly guiding him.
Gerald finally relaxed a little and raised his arms to embrace her.
In front of the basement stairs, they shared a lingering, tender deep kiss.
After his nervous emotions completely settled down, his breathing leveled out. The flush on his face faded a bit, but his expression was still somewhat unnatural.
"Ahem," Gerald cleared his throat, "...Should we get started?"
This time, both of them completely forgot about lunch, and the servants wouldn't come down to disturb them either.
So, their training lasted into the night.
Having used magic too many times, Su Cheng felt a dull ache in her head. She sat on the ground, resting her forehead in her hand.
Gerald leaned against the wall, his lean chest rising and falling slightly, the blond hair on his forehead a bit damp.
He casually unbuttoned the top two buttons of his collar. "Speaking of which, I'm sorry you had to see that scene this morning—"
Su Cheng glanced at him, meeting those gloomy yet vibrant dark green eyes. "You don't need to apologize, and I won't apologize for anything I said either. Wait, except for when I said you couldn't beat me. That was said in anger. In reality, I don't know what the outcome would be if we fought to the death."
He raised an eyebrow. "I don't think we need to find out, and I don't mind you saying that. I just... do you think I'm pathetic?"
Su Cheng blinked. "Yes."
He silently closed his eyes.
Su Cheng pondered for a moment. "But I don't think it will always be like this. I feel like you're just going through a certain phase. Maybe one day, you'll resolve all of this."
Gerald opened his eyes. "What if it were you? What if your family treated you like that?"
Su Cheng sighed. "Don't ask me. Ever since I was little, I've been called an animal, a heartless wretch, a waste of rations, and things like that. Because from the moment I could remember, no matter who hit me first, I would always hit back."
"Even when you were very young? I mean, before you had battle aura and magic?"
"Yeah. Whoever hit me, I'd hit them back. Even if I couldn't win, I'd still fight. Unless they knocked me out cold, I would keep fighting back. If they held me down, I'd scratch and bite. If they let me go, I'd grab a folding stool, a kitchen knife, anything... and fight back."
Su Cheng said in a low voice, "If you're talking about an age when I couldn't even lift a knife, I don't remember things from back then anyway. In short, they eventually found it too much trouble to beat me and stopped doing it. At most, they'd smash things, and if there was an issue, we'd just argue."
Gerald looked at her in shock. "I completely failed to see that you were this kind of person."
Su Cheng nodded slightly. "I've also killed strangers for some bizarre-sounding reasons without ever thinking to verify them further—"
"Oh, strangers," he waved his hand dismissively. "That's different. I'm just talking about family."
"...You're very strange," Su Cheng hugged her knees and stared at him. "If you really loved him, you should be angry about my attitude toward your father, right?"
"Are you mocking me?" Gerald frowned. "You weren't wrong, I know that very well. Besides, I'm just a little surprised. You seem to worship the God of Law. Is the influence of the Holy Church stronger where you're from?"
"This doesn't have much to do with the Holy Church—"
Su Cheng said subconsciously, then froze.
The Holy Church?
In the rumors from a thousand years later, it was the complete rupture between the God of Darkness and the God of Light that caused the principal gods to take sides.
Right now, the Siege of White Night hadn't even begun. That event wouldn't happen for at least another ten or even decades later. The relationship between the Holy Church and the Occult Religion was not yet hostile.
Although it couldn't be called friendly, on the surface, the two sides could even build temples in the same city, just keeping some distance apart.
Could it be that in this era, the God of Law was already an ally of the God of Light?
Su Cheng had some doubts in her heart but found it hard to voice them.
Because if she asked this question, Gerald would likely feel that her persona didn't hold up.
She decided to take her time and slowly inquire for the answers.
They trained like this for another few days. One morning at the breakfast table, Gerald summarized her progress with satisfaction.
He stated that she was now capable of handling conventional combat, especially in one-on-one situations. "If there are too many people, there will be a lot of uncontrollable factors. Even I couldn't guarantee anything..."
Then, he invited her to join a research project—a private one—regarding the improvement of spatial storage items.
"Your necklace. Though it looks like it was originally a bracelet?"
Gerald pointed a finger at her. "That's spatial equipment, right? I'm guessing you bought it? Then you should know that the storage jewelry on the market basically falls into two categories. The stable ones are attached to an independent space, but they have great limitations, so the space is usually small. The unstable ones, like those cracked crystals, have internal structures that get destroyed by magic injection and can't be maintained for long."
Su Cheng didn't bother explaining her necklace. "...What kind of improvements do you want to make?"
"Well," he said, resting his face on one hand. "In the spatial magic system, there is a folding principle. As long as you can calculate the true axis, you can fold it around that center. The resulting independent space is very small and easily combined with jewelry. Almost all the original casting materials for storage items on the market can be used. Of course, there is a restriction: only those who have crossed the threshold into the field of spatial magic can expand the folded space."
"Oh," Su Cheng understood. "You're not trying to sell them for money, right? Otherwise, your customer base would be a bit too small."
"Right, I just want to prove some theories. But I need someone to help me cut and stabilize the separated space at specific moments. Folding it is also a bit strenuous. Although I could do it alone, I want to maintain a better state of focus for observation and sensing."
"Alright. If you remember that I'm only a beginner, and you still think I can really help you, then I'm willing. It sounds interesting."
Thus, Su Cheng stepped into the third underground level of the villa for the first time.
Su Cheng: "..."
Su Cheng: "Just how deep does this go? Is there a secret tunnel leading to the Southern Continent down here too?"
Gerald seemed to have dark lines forming on his forehead. "How is that possible! Why would I build that! I might as well build a teleportation array."
Su Cheng: "?"
Su Cheng: "You can actually build one?"
"I can," Gerald shrugged. "I'm just missing some materials. If you really need it, I'll go steal some from the secret cult's temple."
Su Cheng: "...There's no need for that. What if you get caught and they force you to stay and work for them?"
"Hah?" Gerald crossed his arms. "Yasuo's temple? I've been in there several times, and absolutely no one could detect me!"
Su Cheng stared at him speechlessly.
A repeat offender, it seemed.
Su Cheng: "If you're so capable, why don't you take a stroll through the secret cult's headquarters—wait, never mind, don't go."
Gerald rubbed his forehead. "Highgarden? There's a magic barrier set by the Dark God there. No spatial magic can tear open a passage from the outside."
As he spoke, he began to tidy up the laboratory on the third underground level.
It was actually quite clean, but there were so many things that it looked a bit chaotic.
The thickened walls were layered with protective magic and hung with various exquisite forging tools. The room contained a small forge and slate boards covered in dense calculation formulas, along with some bizarrely shaped geometric figures. The surrounding areas were filled with calculation steps and page numbers for cited sources.
On the workbench sat even more peculiar tools. Su Cheng glanced over them and realized she couldn't name almost any of them.
Among them were several thin, rectangular blocks made of transparent spar, strung together from above by a thin crystal tube.
"These are resonant sound bricks made from cracked crystals—"
Gerald lifted one of them and tapped it lightly.
Su Cheng immediately felt the space begin to fluctuate, matching a certain established frequency—one beat, two beats, three beats, gradually slowing down over time.
Next to it was a calibration instrument shaped like a semicircular ruler, as well as a lens made of a group of polygonal crystals. Below it lay small boxes containing fragments of various rare ores.
"Come here, I'll teach you how to use it."
The blonde youth beckoned to her. "First, use the lens to observe these crystal fragments, and at the same time, feel their internal structure in the manner of a spatial mage..."
Their two heads leaned close together, their hair almost intertwining.
Gerald gave a brief explanation, and as he spoke, he tilted his head slightly and suddenly caught sight of the girl sitting so close to him.
His words paused for a moment before he nonchalantly continued, "...You give it a try."
Su Cheng caught on quite quickly.
She first saw the internal structure observable to the naked eye—cloudy impurities and cracks—and then tried to extend her spiritual energy inside.
Searching for the feeling of stepping onto a magic array during teleportation.
Forgetting those concepts related to distance and direction, allowing that paradox-like intuition to envelop her.
Everything around her began to blur.
She felt as if she had fallen into water, or entered a world that could not be described with words.
There were no directions of up, down, left, or right here.
There was only a concept of connection.
She saw countless glowing lines, as if she were in a magnificent forest of light.
The root systems of all the trees intertwined, connected, and supported each other.
Every line was so clear, bending at perfect angles, spiraling into elegant coils, converging at a random node, and then extending in all directions.
This was the internal framework and underlying logic of the crystal.
The cracks and flaws seen in the real world were presented here as broken stems and leaves, or hollows like those gnawed out by insects.
As her understanding deepened, the number of lines she could feel also increased.
The light became chaotic and curved, and the forest turned into a labyrinth.
She subconsciously moved along the brightest mainstream, and thus saw even more points of light.
They were drifting like a school of fish in a sea of light.
A moment later, she realized that this might be the special energy within the crystal.
Su Cheng forgot about time, forgot why she had come, and simply chased after those energies, trying to understand their trajectories and dynamic changes.
At the end of that river of light, she seemed to see a door once again.
That peculiar, bizarre door that constantly generated a powerful gravitational pull like a vortex.
It flashed by in an instant.
Su Cheng jolted awake.
Gerald was sitting nearby eating a baked potato, a glass of iced tea at hand. "...Is your adventure over?"
Su Cheng rubbed her forehead. "Ugh, is it noon now?"
"No, it's the evening of the second day. You started observing yesterday morning."
He pushed the half-eaten bowl of baked potatoes aside. "It seems your affinity with the Fringel crystal is quite high. Maybe we don't need to test anything else, since we're both pretty sensitive to this material."
Su Cheng nodded.
They soon entered a new phase of research, and she began to assist him with some tests.
Su Cheng had originally thought she would be in a frantic mess, but her experience roaming inside the crystal had greatly enhanced her perception and control of spatial powers.
Gerald was also able to give her clear instructions, so their progress was extremely smooth.
He was responsible for the majority of the calculations; she merely helped him verify some numbers.
The two of them threw themselves into their research day and night, only going upstairs to eat once a day. Sometimes they would even forget to do that, and several days passed in the blink of an eye.
Because they needed to consult ancient texts from time to time, Su Cheng's Elvish proficiency was forced to improve, and she memorized hundreds of words in just a few short days.
All while continuously conducting their research.
She was actually quite impressed with herself.
Gerald had even helped her obtain identification documents.
When they finally finished sealing the folded independent space, Gerald fired up the furnace and began preparing to craft the ring.
He also took down various tools from the wall.
Su Cheng's gaze paused.
The blond boy was holding a small hammer that looked as if it was forged from a solid piece of mithril, its entire body flowing with a matte silver-white luster.
One end of the hammerhead was a flat square, while the other side was a curved sickle shape, resembling a protruding eagle's beak, sharp and keen.
The entire hammer was quite small, perfectly sized for someone of their stature to wield with a single hand.
Hmm? Gerald looked at her. Do you like this?
He casually tossed it to her. I am going upstairs first.
Holding the hammer, Su Cheng had not even had the time to examine it closely before she heard voices coming from above.
The man from before had returned and had already reached the second basement level. Evidently, Gerald had heard his father's footsteps.
...Yes, it is almost finished.
The boy sounded somewhat impatient. I have not written a paper. Uh, I only have some calculation processes. No, I do not want to write it...
You must write it! the man roared. Your brother needs something weighty like this. Dean Toller's students have all produced decent work; only your brother has not—
The only reason he became the dean's student is because he has been plagiarizing my results. Isn't it only natural that he cannot produce anything?
Slap!
The sound of a slap echoed from above once again.
You animal, that is your brother! He needs all of this! Otherwise, how will our family ever squeeze into Yasuo's high society? Relying on a freak like you?
...No. Gerald said in a low voice. Failing to squeeze in is your own problem. This achievement is not yours. This is the research of my friend and me, and it is also the gift I am going to give her. No one can take it away.
