In the end, it was a dark-faced March 7th who had to pry Stelle off of Fu Zhu, pulling her aside for a thorough scolding. However, faced with her long-unseen sister-in-law, Stelle just kept grinning, leaving March 7th completely at a loss.
While March 7th was lecturing Stelle, Fu Zhu, Phainon, and Khaslana took the opportunity to get acquainted.
To Fu Zhu's surprise, Khaslana was actually the Phainon from a previous cycle. A butterfly effect caused by his actions in this cycle had led Khaslana to choose to help the Chrysos Heirs of this era.
"So, you're carrying the Coreflames from hundreds of millions of cycles?"
Fu Zhu's eyes lit up as he stared at Khaslana. Didn't that mean he could collect all the Coreflames right now and complete the construction of the Amphoreus mod?
With such a massive temptation laid before him, Fu Zhu was genuinely stirred.
Khaslana had heard about Fu Zhu from the other Chrysos Heirs and knew of his plan to collect all the Coreflames. However, he still shook his head at Fu Zhu's expectant gaze, dashing his hopes.
"I cannot give you the Coreflames. This is my bottom line. I cannot allow any mishaps to befall them."
"Is that so? Then never mind."
Fu Zhu didn't press the issue as Khaslana had imagined he would, though a hint of regret flickered across his face.
Fu Zhu's reaction actually surprised Khaslana.
"You're not going to insist?"
Before Fu Zhu could answer, Stelle jumped out, perfectly timed to escape March 7th's nagging. She stood beside Fu Zhu with her hands on her hips and faced Khaslana.
"You think too little of my brother."
Fu Zhu reached out and patted Stelle's head, then smiled and nodded at Khaslana.
"You've guarded those precious treasures for over thirty million cycles. If I were to demand them, it would make me seem far too greedy. Besides, I'm not exactly lacking your Coreflames."
He had almost collected all the Coreflames from this cycle. There was no need to take Khaslana's. Unlocking Creative Mode was just a matter of time.
At the mention of this cycle's Coreflames, Fu Zhu immediately turned to look at Stelle and Phainon. Weren't they supposed to have gone back to the past to completely resolve the [Strife] Titan issue?
"Speaking of which, where is the [Strife] Coreflame?"
"It's right here."
Phainon snapped back to attention and immediately took out a small, specially prepared casket from his pocket, which held the [Strife] Coreflame.
"Can I touch it?" Fu Zhu asked first.
Phainon naturally had no objections. The Chrysos Heirs of this cycle had already agreed to hand over all the Coreflames to Fu Zhu, to see how he intended to use them.
Fu Zhu took the casket, opened it, and held the Coreflame in his hand. A system prompt immediately appeared. The construction progress of the mod had jumped significantly and was now very close to 100%.
After touching it, Fu Zhu placed the Coreflame back in the casket and returned it to Phainon.
Although Phainon and the others intended to give him all the Coreflames, the trial of the [Strife] Titan was not yet complete, so they still had need of it.
---o---
Once he had the Coreflame safely stowed away, Phainon finally let out a long sigh of relief. The frown that had been fixed on his face since he arrived in Castrum Kremnos finally relaxed, and he reverted to his usual sunny, cheerful demeanor.
"Now that the matter of Castrum Kremnos is settled, should we be heading back to Okhema?"
Phainon directed the question at Fu Zhu. He was curious to see just how amazing this man, who Aglaea and the others had spoken of with such reverence and missed for over a thousand years, truly was.
Fu Zhu thought for a moment. If they were going to have a reunion, then no one could be missing. And there was still one person who had gone missing while looking for him.
According to the information Aglaea and the others had provided, Cerydra had likely gone searching for the Nether Portal he had left behind, but had probably gotten lost in the trap Lygus used to imprison him.
Though he wasn't sure if Cerydra was still alive after all these years, he had to go and check.
Even if Cerydra had died, he could still resurrect him.
Having made his decision, Fu Zhu announced his plan to the group.
"I'll open a portal for you. You all go back first. I'm going to bring Cerydra back."
Hearing this, Phainon frowned and offered a word of caution.
"Fu Zhu, you must be careful. We can't afford to wait another thousand years."
"Don't worry, I won't make you all wait again."
After giving the group a reassuring look, Fu Zhu drew his Yamato and sliced open a spatial passage leading directly to Okhema.
As for the army of Iron Golems that had accompanied them, Phainon and the others decided to leave them in Castrum Kremnos for now to help out.
Before leaving, Phainon looked over at Mydei and raised an eyebrow. "Mydei, want to come along? The score between us hasn't been settled yet!"
Mydei hesitated. Before Fu Zhu's arrival, he had been at odds with Phainon. At the time, however, he didn't think Phainon was a worthy opponent, his mind solely focused on his promised duel with Fu Zhu.
But after the battle outside the city, Mydei had completely given up on the idea of dueling Fu Zhu.
Having a formidable rival like Phainon didn't seem so bad, did it?
"Hmph, the people of Castrum Kremnos don't back down easily, even on our opponent's home turf!"
Mydei snorted, then nodded to his father. He shot Phainon a glance, held his head high, and strode proudly into the portal.
Seeing that Mydei had finally fallen for his goading, Phainon couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle. Before coming to Castrum Kremnos, his teacher Tribbie had entrusted him with the task of bringing Mydei back to Okhema by any means necessary, because he too was one of the Chrysos Heirs from the prophecy.
Even though Khaslana had told them that the Re-Creation was a sham, Tribbie insisted that the prophecies were not baseless and must have their own reasons for existing, so she had insisted Phainon help "abduct" Mydei.
His mission accomplished, Phainon nodded to the group and was the first to step through the portal.
When it was the Astral Express crew's turn, March 7th, Dan Heng, Stelle, and even Evernight were all a little worried about Fu Zhu going alone.
March 7th nervously gripped Fu Zhu's wrist. "Why don't we go back and discuss this further? We can all go together then!"
She wasn't so much worried that Fu Zhu would go off alone and bring back another beautiful stranger. More than that, she was worried he would fall into another trap and be separated from them again.
Fu Zhu understood March 7th's concern and reached out to pinch her soft cheek.
"Don't worry, I'll be right back."
At that moment, Stelle walked over. Right in front of March 7th and Fu Zhu, she squatted down, hugged Fu Zhu's leg, and shamelessly activated her rascal mode.
"I'm going too!"