Chapter 161 Obviously,

It was clear that the little bat's visit to Vivian wasn't just about mooching food, drink, lodging, and a mother figure. A large part of her reason for being there was to show off her achievements in her career – such as completely controlling the Shadow Council, consolidating the Hesperian family's dominance among Earth's supernatural creatures, and the fruitful outcome of a major negotiation with the demon hunters. But before she could flaunt her accomplishments, Lily's well-timed boasting completely shattered all of the little bat's confidence, because Hao Ren had led this group of violent thugs to do something even bigger – they had gone and fought a god.

And they had won.

It was like the little bat spirit excitedly returning with two perfect scores, only to push open the door and see a group of people gathered around the coffee table discussing mathematics degrees. The gap in experience was something only she could understand…

However, what surprised and even moved Hesperia was that Vivian still praised her a few times during dinner.

"What we do and what you do are both important, there's no superior or inferior," Vivian even patiently comforted the somewhat dejected little bat. "And we weren't as successful as Lily made it out to be – that battle was very difficult. Most people were entangled with their own reflections, and didn't even have a chance to fight that evil god. Even the landlord almost didn't win…"

"Really?" Hesperia looked at Hao Ren skeptically. "Aren't you very powerful?"

"It depends on who you're comparing me to," Hao Ren said with an embarrassed smile. "We almost messed things up, but in the end, Dou Dou delivered the finishing blow…"

Hesperia: "...Huh?"

"I'm not lying, it's true, so she's the biggest hero this time." As Hao Ren spoke, he solemnly lifted Dou Dou onto the dining table, then took out the reward he had prepared for the little one from his dimensional pocket: a pair of small sandalwood… chopsticks.

Looking at Dou Dou gnawing on the chopsticks, sending splinters flying everywhere, and the circle of self-proclaimed violent thugs who had just successfully fought a god, Hesperia felt the difference in their worldviews widen once again…

During the meal, the happiest was Hesperia. The little bat couldn't remember how many years it had been since she had experienced such peace of mind and warmth. Vivian was by her side, chatting idly, occasionally praising or scolding her. Both praise and scolding carried an unfeigned affection, and the flatbread in her hand was as sweet and delicious as it had been twenty centuries ago – and she no longer had to worry about being abandoned again.

The second happiest was Dou Dou. Her happiness was much simpler: the taste of the small sandalwood was really good…

The entire Hao family mansion was filled with a warm atmosphere that day. If there was a regret… it was that at such a heartwarming moment, someone related to Vivian by blood was far away in another world, buried in her homework.

Early the next morning, Hao Ren set off to resolve this regret.

The war in the Dark Domain had ended, and there was no longer any rebel threat in the Nexus Star System. The entirety of the Dream Plane's explored areas was in its most stable state – although an increasingly terrifying roar and vibration were coming from this deep-space prison, the night before a storm is always the calmest.

In this brief moment of peace, Hao Ren piloted his ship to the World Tree Temple in the Terminal Nexus.

Everyone else in the family was resting, and Vivian had stayed behind to accompany the little bat spirit, who was severely lacking in maternal love, so Hao Ren came alone this time.

He was one of the owners of the World Tree Temple, and a hero in the eyes of the Guardian race, so he didn't need any notification to enter and exit the Nexus and the Temple. After parking his ship in a port somewhere in the canopy, he used the internal teleportation system to directly reach the main hall where the Creation Goddess was located. At this time, the goddess was sitting behind that huge desk, with books, paper, and pens spread out in front of her, reading and taking notes.

In the air behind her, a light and shadow display, like ripples of water, was slowly changing. In the light and shadow were clusters of things slowly condensing and recombining. Each change seemed to contain the laws and mysteries of the evolution of all things. Hao Ren felt that his mind was suddenly filled with a large amount of knowledge about basic particle structures, basic force parameters, microscopic-macroscopic transformations, and other information that couldn't be categorized using existing human knowledge, just by looking at those images.

He looked at the changing light and shadow, and casually gestured in the air. A small, soft-bodied creature emitting a faint silver light appeared out of thin air. The soft-bodied creature made a series of small gurgling sounds, then happily pounced toward Leah, fusing with the images.

The little animal's movements also awakened the Creation Goddess from her studies. Leah looked up and saw Hao Ren standing in front of her, a look of surprise on her face. "You're back so soon… Hmm? Are you alone?"

"The others are resting at home, I just came to see you – are you studying creation science?"

"Following the curriculum," as Leah broke away from her thoughts, the creation evolution scene in mid-air disappeared. The goddess raised the book in her hand so that Hao Ren could see the title on the cover. "This morning I'm studying creation, and this afternoon I'm studying destruction-related divine arts. Systemic creation science is really amazing – it turns out you can directly incorporate all the universe's information into a set of formulas! I was wondering why the things I created always turned out different from my initial designs. Turns out it was a problem with the parameter settings…"

Listening to Leah begin to ramble on about her learning experience, Hao Ren suddenly noticed that the Creation Goddess's mental state seemed to have changed compared to before.

Although it was hard to tell, he could still sense a strong sense of confidence from her expression and tone, as well as… drive.

It was as if she had shed some heavy burden, thrown away unnecessary thoughts and hesitations, re-established her goals, and was ready to do it all in one go. Even when she said the same things as she had a few days ago, the look in her eyes was completely different!

Was it really as Raven 12345 had said, that the Dark Valkyrie had left a "small gift" in the textbooks she gave to Leah, which successfully ignited the lost goddess's fighting spirit? Did it really have to be so effective!

"Why are you staring at me?" Leah noticed that Hao Ren's gaze hadn't moved for a long time, and finally stopped her study report. "Is there something wrong with me?"

"No, nothing's wrong," Hao Ren quickly came back to his senses and waved his hand. "I just think you seem to be full of motivation now."

"That's right, I'm full of motivation now!" Leah's face was full of a bright smile. She stood up, one hand pressed against her chest and the other on her workbook. "I love learning, and learning makes me happy, okay?"

"The other day, you still had an attitude of drifting along and giving up on life."

"Did I? Was it that obvious?!" Leah was startled, then waved her hand forcefully. "Whatever, that was just a temporary bad mood! There aren't that many hesitant and wishy-washy people in the world. Our family tradition is to fight! I've figured it out. Success or failure is just a fleeting moment. What matters in a fight is real skill. When I graduate from elementary school, I'll just swing two knives and chop up the Mad Lord, solving all the problems at the source! How simple is that!"

Hao Ren was stunned by Leah's domineering speech, and couldn't think of what to say next for three seconds. Leah stood there for a while, then shook her head vigorously, took a deep breath, and muttered, "Tsk… I've been influenced by talking to Mom too much…"

Hao Ren didn't quite catch that: "What?"

"Nothing, I was just talking to myself," Leah waved her hand and walked out from behind her desk. "By the way, did you come to me suddenly because you needed something? Does the god of your universe have something to tell me?"

Hao Ren quickly took out the pair of rings from his dimensional pocket. "Oh, the real business is here. I came to bring you something – if you have this, you can establish a connection with my universe! You can even go directly to see my boss. It's much more efficient than relaying messages or exchanging texts!"

Leah curiously took one of the pair of metal rings. The perfect shape and size made it easy for her to put it on her wrist. "What is this? A bracelet? Is the other one for me too?"

"No, you only need one. The other one is a receiver. The scientific name for this thing is a Mass Projection Generator…"

Hao Ren then briefly introduced the name and function of the pair of rings to Leah, and didn't forget to explain the side effects and usage limitations of the things. Of course, in the process, he cleverly hid the word "idiot-proof"…

After finally finishing the instructions, Hao Ren took a breath and looked up at Leah: "Do you understand?"

But the voice came from behind him: "Wow – not just the Star Domain, but the things from the Xiling Pantheon are also amazing!"

Hao Ren turned his head in shock, only to see a figure exactly like Leah standing behind him. There were subtle interference patterns and slight spatial distortions around the figure that were difficult to see with the naked eye. Only this feature could prove that she wasn't the real thing, but a mass projection.

Hao Ren looked down and saw that the "receiver" ring on his hand was emitting a faint white light.

He couldn't help but mutter, "I'll be damned… this learning ability…"

"Actually, it's not that difficult," the two Leahs said simultaneously, one in front and one behind. "It's just a kind of avatar, but the form of this avatar… is very strange. I hardly feel any loss of power, but the mass projection perfectly possesses all sensory abilities, and my mind is directly divided into two… It's like I'm thinking with two brains at the same time. Although it's a little easy to get confused, as long as I can master it skillfully… I think this thing can increase my learning efficiency by a whole factor of two!"

This goddess seems to be truly addicted to learning and unable to extricate herself…

"You should practice first, and then honestly use it as a communicator," Hao Ren said with a helpless rub of his forehead. "Using this thing too much will really cause schizophrenia. You've already split once, don't do it a second time."

Leah pouted: "Step by step, step by step, I know, you don't need to tell me. Oh right, I'll tell you something by the way – just half an hour ago, Asu Man observed an energy burst in the direction of the Dark Abyss. It should be that 'living bomb' that exploded."

Hao Ren's mood immediately improved.