Ball of Nothing

Feeling refreshed after his day off, Zero left his clones in the village and gave them individual tasks. After a long debate with Mii and Wii, they decided to only leave three clones in Half Moon Village. One clone was to constantly be soaking and cultivating in the pool, one clone was to manage the business in Half Moon and New Moon Village while the last clone ran important errands to various places such as Heaven, Hell, Nirvana, Arabesque just to name a few common places. In addition, Zero assigned the errand-running clone to visit Magnus Hilda on his behalf once Dorgo sent word that the Freya statue was ready.

With the pending matters settled easily, Zero made his way over to New Moon Village. As discussed with Truen, Zero decided to go with his more m.a.t.u.r.ed vessel appearance with his long hair and white lab coat. He no longer had to pretend to be Truen's sister or brother if they were going to be Smargdas envoys. In fact, appearing human was a wiser option.

Truen was surprised to see Zero in his white lab coat and smart attire. He thought Zero would be more comfortable travelling in his red tracksuit.

"Are you going with this appearance?" he asked his friend after Zero left the waystone array.

Zero nodded. "Should I make myself taller? I wanted to keep an androgynous appearance so that people wouldn't know if I was male or female. At the same time, I wanted to look like both a doctor and a magician so I thought this made the look complete. Maybe it's the hair colour? Should I make it red?"

Truen laughed. Leave it to Zero to contemplate over such things. He ruffled Zero's long brown locks, messing his ponytail a little and Zero sulked as he fixed his hairstyle.

"No, it looks great. That sling bag and YY Tonfa fits very well with the overall look. Nobody would be able to tell that you're carrying a dimensional storage bag and a magical weapon, they look very ordinary but you look closer to a scholar than a magician or a doctor."

Zero checked his overall look one last time. He was wearing the sky-blue button-up shirt and navy blue business pants underneath the white lab coat. The boots from the magician's outfit were the only thing out of place in this crisp look but Zero preferred practicality over aesthetics. He wasn't going to wear heeled shoes or dress shoes if he was going to be doing a lot of walking and fighting. YY Tonfas were in their inactive state and Zero fashioned it into a reliable-looking wooden staff. His vessel was slender and he looked unathletic enough to make the sling bag from Enma look heavy.

"I'll give it a ten out of ten," he told Truen. "I look like a weak scholar and you look like a tough escort. Oh, before I forget, the necklace from Dorgon that should be used for a guild pass has been converted into a bracelet."

He held up his right wrist and Truen approved of it.

"That works just fine, don't lose it. Shall we set off? The first town of Smargdas isn't too far from here. If we ride on Bob we will arrive at the capital very quickly."

Zero paused. "What would people think if they saw us riding on dragons to arrive?"

Truen blinked. "Nothing. They won't know. I'm going to use illusion magic and we will be landing a little outside the city to walk over. Nobody will suspect a thing but we need to register you at Mitchnew's guild the first thing we arrive."

Zero didn't mind and they waited for Bob who could be seen coming from a distance in the sky. Nobody in New Moon Village was alarmed by anything they saw now. They probably saw it all from mythical monsters like dragons to powerful Sage Gods and Demon Lords. Hence, the passing by children and women only greeted Bob when he landed.

"Sorry, master! I'm late because Kerberos and I couldn't decide on a good way to decide who was stronger."

Zero nodded. "I don't doubt you but how did you eventually appease that pup?"

At this, Bob wasn't too happy and became a little sulky. "I let him win... we settled for a game of janken1."

Zero and Truen spent a minute laughing before they let Bob know about their plans. Judging by the weather, Truen estimated that they would arrive in Smargdas' capital in four hours at most. Bob applied some sunscreen salve that Zero handed him. It was a long flight for them and Zero wasn't sure if radiation from the sun, something he learnt about, would affect the dragon negatively. Truen was also made to apply some but the archer knew better. Zero simply wanted to see the effects of the new salve formula to sell it to the ladies because it has skin whitening effects.

It was very spacious on Bob's back when the dragon transformed and Zero noted that his summon had grown bigger yet again. The Eternal Dragon was still only in his teenage phase but he was already bigger than wyverns. Will Truen be able to cover such a huge space with illusion magic?

His unasked question was answered when Bob took flight. The New Moon Villagers who were waving goodbye to them as they took off suddenly appeared to be confused as they searched the skies.

Zero gave his friend a look and Truen fake coughed once. "Just testing to see if the new spell works."

Zero didn't call Truen's bluff as they took to the skies. Feeling the wind in his face was going to be one of Zero's most enjoyable feelings in the world. Bob ascended quickly and maintained a fixed altitude above the clouds so that Truen can stop using the spell and conserve some mana.

Zero used the mini-map to monitor the surroundings and Bob flew at a relaxed speed so that his master could take in the wonderful new surroundings using the system's map.

"Care for some brunch?" Truen asked and unpacked something that the ladies of New Moon Village put together for them when they learned that Zero was leaving for official business. The hunters also showed their sincerity by going for a morning hunt. The rabbit sandwich in Zero's hand was the combined sincerity and well-wishes of New Moon Villagers.

Not one to turn down food, Zero took a bite from the sandwich and smiled. The system's description of the food and the luck status buff was more than enough to let him know their feelings. When people said that it wasn't the gift but rather the thought that counted, they couldn't be more right. The Japanese equivalent game for rock paper scissors.