NOVPUBBoss Cat Restaurant, the deepest room in the hallway on the second floor.
The aromatherapy of the day was a blend of lavender, sweet orange, and ylang grass.
Lavender was conducive to sleeping and easing anxiety, sweet orange uplifted the mood, while ylang grass further enhanced relaxation. This combination was beneficial for relieving the day’s stress and promoting deep sleep.
Ever since Hyperion moved into Talia’s home, she had noticed that Hyperion had trouble sleeping, so she always changed the aromatherapy at home to a more comforting mix.
But.
For the two people currently in Talia’s house, their moods were anything but calm.
With a dramatic, explosive bang full of fireworks, the broad work desk fell silent once again.
"How did it explode again?"
Talia glared at Lanci with a death stare.
"No, bro…"
Lanci averted his eyes, as if he was a bit resentful but found it hard to express.
"You tell me, what are you trying to express?"
Talia tapped on the desk and asked.
"...I think you have a bit of humor,"
Lanci pouted and muttered.
"You say that again."
"I’ll say no more."
Talia at the desk was unilaterally scolding Lanci.
Lanci wanted to retort but didn’t quite dare to.
It was already three or four in the afternoon.
Cat Boss watched the two by the desk, and at this point, it was no longer as startled by Lanci’s card explosions as it was at the beginning.
Maybe it had gotten used to Lanci, or maybe it was accustomed to watching him make cards by its side.
But Tata’s approach to Lanci’s card making was akin to the strict tutelage of a demon race teacher; she would not allow Lanci to randomly blow up cards, especially not in her home.
It lay there on the floor, listening to the two of them review the situation.
The glass skylight near the roof’s beams let the warm afternoon sun fill the room; a few simple potted plants and a stack of books were placed on the windowsill, and the lush trees outside and the mountainous layers of the cityscape seemed to form a tranquil watercolor painting.
The drowsiness from a Sunday afternoon nap even made Cat Boss yawn.
It didn’t understand how these two could still be so energetic, or maybe these two simply had endless vitality when together.
"Meow."
This morning, the two had started their attempt at collaborative card making. After going downstairs for lunch, they had immediately returned to continue their work.
However.
The two’s collaboration basically never made it past the second step of card making.
Apart from the material preparation step which went smoothly, the following steps were really too discordant to attribute to mere luck. Whenever Tata thought of going one way, Lanci would surely think of going the other.
Seeing that there had been no progress that afternoon, only increasing difficulty, Cat Boss couldn’t help but get up from the ground and walk to the feet of the two.
"Last time at the amusement park, how in the world were you two so in sync, meow?"
Cat Boss asked with a puzzled look.
"Who knows!"
Lanci and Talia responded in unison.
"…"
Cat Boss could tell they were both getting a bit irritated.
Because neither of them thought they had made a mistake, it was entirely the other person who was making things more chaotic.
What the heck, I’m just a little cat.
"How about we have some afternoon tea and then continue, meow?"
Cat Boss suggested.
Their planned collaborative card making was harder than they had imagined.
It was absolutely like fire and water.
"Or maybe go for a walk. If we keep making cards like this, I fear you two will start arguing, meow."
Cat Boss continued in its young voice.
Although it found it hard to imagine what an angry Lanci would really look like, every time he was with Talia, Lanci could get emotional enough to be influenced by the Great Love Poet.
The two at the desk remained silent for a while. 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓅𝓾𝒷.𝒸ℴ𝓂
"Let’s take a break. It seems like we’ve done enough for today,"
Lanci rubbed his forehead and said to himself shaking his head.
"So just like that, you plan to run away. What kind of results can you achieve then? Weren’t you very confident this morning?"
Talia looked scornfully at Lanci.
She despised Lanci’s lax attitude during card making; this guy always liked to relieve his own stress, and that was precisely why his success rate in card making was so low.
"But if we continue like this today, I’m afraid we also won’t be able to make a single card."
Lanci retorted a bit weakly.
Although he had gone through Talia’s devilish training to achieve his current skills.
He finally understood that once Talia took the field herself, it was several times more ruthless than before.
"..."
Seeing Lanci’s pitiful state, Talia started to doubt whether she was being too harsh.
"I really don’t have any experience with collaborative card making. Even working with my sister, we hardly ever succeeded. Why don’t you ask that head of the Magic Engineering College? Maybe there’s some trick to teaming up for card making."
She stopped looking at Lanci, leaned back in her chair, and spoke while folding her arms.
"That might be a good idea."
Lanci had the Cat Boss bring out a Communication Magic Card and started contacting Professor Bolao.
Even though it was the weekend, Professor Bolao might still be busy with magical engineering work; no one answered the communication for a long time.
"Speaking of which, Miss Isatia’s rapport with you isn’t that great either?"
Lanci waited for the connection to be established while glancing at Talia.
"So-so, but we have poor magical compatibility. I am Spirit, and she is Curse."
Talia murmured.
It wasn’t until this morning, when she used [Demon Fusion] to test her compatibility with Hyperion, that Talia clearly realized her compatibility with Isatia was probably also not high.
Even if Hyperion had half human lineage, inheriting the Hyperion half of Isatia’s Demon Blood should have meant a high compatibility with Talia. It couldn’t possibly be as low as ten percent.
She didn’t know whether to be more disappointed or relieved by this result. Although she had her suspicions and doubts, just like the Great Demon Clan had always questioned.
"So you’re mainly Spirit with a secondary attribute of Curse, and your sister is mainly Curse with a secondary attribute of Spirit. Your fighting styles appear similar, but are actually completely different?"
Lanci asked.
In this world, aside from [Destiny] and [Basic], the thirty-one attributes determined the additive bonuses and mutual opposition.
Any creature capable of innate magic has an inherent attribute that certainly matches the attribute of their innate magic because innate magic only emerges from the attribute they are most proficient in, such as Talia’s mind-reading innate magic being [Spirit], Antanas’s barrier informationization being [Barrier], and Pranay’s Thousand-Mile Eye being a very rare [Divination] attribute.
Besides this, the vast majority of creatures also possess an acquired attribute, which will depend on the quality and quantity of magic they master or bind with Magic Cards.
Similar to the Great Love Poet’s [Spirit] and ["Wood"] attributes.
"Yes, when we first tested your attributes, I told you it’s important to figure out an enemy’s inherent attribute. If you only see the acquired one, you will misjudge their real system and strength,"
Talia said, looking at him.
"For example, if one day you fight with the Great Priest Loren for a long time, only to discover that his [Wind] is just an acquired attribute, and he has never used his inherent attribute against anyone, that would be quite terrifying."
She used an example that was simple and easy to understand for Lanci with one of the strongest individuals he knew.
"Indeed, I know exactly what you mean."
Lanci nodded.
He hadn’t grasped the meaning of these words a year ago.
Until Lausang taught him with his life.
"Meow."
The Cat Boss felt Lanci remembering that Legendary Sealing Master again.
But since receiving the legacy, Lanci seemed to have started following in Lausang’s footsteps.
"Hey, hey? Lanci, what’s up?"
Suddenly, the Communication Magic Card flickered with a hint of purple light, and alongside some static noise, Professor Bolao’s voice came through.
Although Bolao didn’t like being disturbed during his research, his voice softened when he realized it was Lanci.
"Professor Bolao, is there any trick to collaborative card making?"
Lanci hastily asked.
He could hear the rumble of machinery from behind Bolao, obviously indicating that the professor was in the middle of a project and being disturbed by him.
"Cardmakers who can collaborate must have an extremely high level of mental unity and tacit cooperation,"
Professor Bolao answered tersely.
"I understand the theory, but…"
"Tell me about the specific situation."
"Well, I have a friend who wants to collaborate on card making with a girl, but their pacing is off, and they always disagree. Whenever they try to make a card, it explodes. Is there any way to quickly increase their rapport?"
Lanci glanced up at Talia, then asked the Communication Magic Card.
"Date more. The problem is, you aren’t dating enough."
"Goodbye, Professor!"
Before Professor Bolao could finish, Lanci hurriedly said his goodbyes and swiftly cut off the communication.
"..."
When Lanci looked up to see if Tata had heard.
All he saw was Talia looking down, not saying a word, the silence in the air fearful.
