Although Fang Yuan had deliberately lowered her voice, the Dandelion Spirit was still startled by it. Clutching her dandelion puff, she drifted in the opposite direction, nearly plunging straight into the rushing water.
Fang Yuan's hand blocked the space between her and the water, her peripheral vision already catching sight of a letter floating along the current in the center of the fountain.
The Dandelion Spirit spoke up: “Hello, God Candidate Shovel-You-Onto-the-Stage Hammer Star. Could you please help me pick up that letter?”
Her expression held a hint of pleading. Her tiny gaze froze awkwardly on the “Vile Character” label floating above Fang Yuan's head for a moment, but she still looked directly into Fang Yuan's eyes with utmost sincerity.
“This letter is very important, and the contents inside are very important too. Little Sister Hammer Star, could you please help me?”
Before her words even fully faded, Fang Yuan took a long stride forward and bent down, scooping the letter out of the fountain.
Of course, midway through, she nearly slipped, almost spraining her ankle and taking a faceplant.
The letter felt odd to the touch. From the outside, it looked like an utterly ordinary letter, yet when her fingertips brushed against it, there was none of the roughness of standard envelope paper. Instead, it felt as though a thin film coated the envelope; the moment it lifted out of the water, the droplets on the film evaporated instantly.
The Dandelion Spirit's eyes sparkled. Clutching her puff, she fluttered toward Fang Yuan, her fluffy hair bobbing comically with every movement.
Fang Yuan didn't hand the letter over immediately. She cast her eyes down to glance at the envelope; the crooked golden characters written on it were completely indecipherable to her.
“No matter how you look at it, I'm clearly the older sister here, right? Why are you calling me Little Sister Hammer Star?”
Seemingly not expecting Fang Yuan to ask such a trivial question, the Dandelion Spirit couldn't quite wrap her head around it. She blinked her bead-like yellow eyes, staring blankly at the letter in Fang Yuan's hand.
“If you don't tell me, I won't give it back to you.” Saying this, Fang Yuan turned as if to walk away.
The Dandelion Spirit flew anxiously in front of Fang Yuan, bringing her gaze level with hers. “N-No, that's not it! I didn't mean to offend you! I called you little sister because you're younger than me! I'm already 111 years old; you don't look anywhere near that age!”
Fang Yuan smiled and held the letter out in front of her. “Aren't you going to introduce yourself to the person who helped you?”
Hearing this, the Dandelion Spirit panicked even more. She hurriedly freed one hand from clutching the fluff ball to wave it frantically. “N-No, it's not that! I'm not some rude, uncultured spirit! I-I'm just delivering mail for the very first time and ran into this situation! I was just too flustered!”
Her body was only half the size of the envelope. Taking the letter from Fang Yuan with her tiny hands, she placed it on top of her dandelion puff and pressed down on it with both hands.
“I am Tuantuo the Dandelion Spirit, a postman! I work at the Sunset Post Office, responsible for delivering letters to every home before sunset.”
“Thank you so much today, Big Sister Hammer Star! If there's ever anything you need help with, you can come find me at the Sunset Post Office! I'll definitely help!”
Fang Yuan had caught a glimpse of the Sunset Post Office on the map earlier; it was located on the east side of town.
“Hello there, tiny dandelion! I'm Fang Yuan, Candidate for the God of Wealth! My 【Blessing】 lets me conjure gold coins!”
Tuantuo cast a few dubious glances at the “Vile Character” label, then looked back at Fang Yuan, who was grinning broadly with her white teeth showing, appearing completely guileless as she blurted out her trump card.
She blinked her eyes. For a moment, she wondered if the divine panel created by the God of Destiny had glitched, causing it to display “Vile Character” over Fang Yuan's head.
Such a kind, sincere, pure, and helpful little sister clearly needed guidance from her, Tuantuo!
This goofy, naive-looking little cutie who was gullible enough to leak all her info just because someone helped her pick up a letter was indeed absurdly easy to fool.
Easier to fool than Huo Duoduo.
She had originally intended to use hypnosis on her to test whether it worked on divine creations, but before she even got around to using it, the little spirit had already bought her act completely.
She would find an opportunity to try it out on other divine creations later.
With a smile, Fang Yuan watched Tuantuo clear her throat in front of her, hold up a tiny index finger, and begin offering her pointers:
“Little Sister Hammer Star... I mean, Big Sister! You can't just casually tell your true name to those God Candidates! Let me tell you, among the 【Blessing】 abilities I've seen, there's one that can strip away someone's 【Blessing】 just by using their true name and obtaining a piece of their body!”
Fang Yuan nodded submissively as if half-understanding, looking just like an obedient top student listening intently in class.
Ren An couldn't be allowed to live.
But her 【Blessing】 was extremely useful.
Regardless of whether her power was the exact 【Blessing】 Tuantuo mentioned, once she got the clue about the 【Divine Relic】 for stealing 【Blessing】 abilities from Huo Duoduo, Ren An would be the very first person she tracked down.
Tuantuo felt an immense sense of accomplishment.
At 111 years old, a Dandelion Spirit was considered an adult—the prime age to work hard and make something of oneself.
On her very first day out working, she had encountered a little sister who needed her guidance. Tuantuo truly felt like a mature adult now.
Thus, clutching her puff and keeping the envelope pressed down, she shared even more with Fang Yuan: “Gold coins are super important! You shouldn't go around blurting out to everyone that you're a Candidate for the God of Wealth, or else they'll definitely try to steal your money!”
“Also, also! You absolutely must go to the ‘Has Everything’ General Store on Jingle Street to buy a place to stay! It's not safe in town at night! There are always God Candidates who refuse to listen, and the next day they either go missing or have everything stolen from them!”
“And, and, and! Stay far away from the Pantomime Circus on the west side of town! They aren't welcome in town, and a lot of bad things are stirred up by them! They're super weird too. Anyway, overall, they're no good!”
“Oh right, oh right! If you ever get injured, go to the Old Maroni Opera House and look for Shengzhi Shuishui. She's a Master Elf Singer! Just tell her you're a friend of Tuantuo the Dandelion Spirit, and she'll definitely heal you herself!”
“One more thing! Two kilometers north outside Ryder Town is Moon Bay. You'd better not go there! The mermen there are skilled at using song to bewitch minds, and they're bloodthirsty by nature! Most of the people who go missing in town at night are connected to them!”
Fang Yuan listened with an extraordinarily obedient nod, her earnest expression assuring Tuantuo that she was taking every single word to heart.
With a flick of her fingers, a shiny gold coin appeared between them.
The gold coin spun around her fingertips. The pad of her thumb slid across its surface, presenting it toward Tuantuo.
One side of the gold coin was smooth, while the other was embossed with raised and sunken patterns forming a letter.
‘α’—Alpha.
The first letter of the Greek alphabet, carrying the meaning of "beginning" or "origin."
Tuantuo gazed at the gold coin, shaking her head as she struggled to pull her eyes away. “Yes, yes! That's a gold coin! This is the circulating currency in the 【Crucible】! It's very important!”
“A lot of divine creations love collecting gold coins, so you can ask them for favors using gold coins!”
Fang Yuan smiled without a word, simply holding the gold coin further out toward Tuantuo.
“F-For me?” Tuantuo felt a surge of temptation.
“N-No, I can't! You helped me, so I can't take your gold coin! That's not right!” Tuantuo resolutely resisted the temptation.
Rate on N.U.
