Kisuke carefully observed Ophis and Lilith using his plethora of senses and the others in the room were quiet so as not to disturb him and the Infinite Dragons.
In Kisuke's perspective, Ophis and Lilith, despite clearly unifying under the concept of 'Infinity', were still two different entities. Thanks to that, however, the communication device was still connected using them as a channel. They became connected regardless of the immeasurable distance and treacherous void in between.
Kisuke wanted to observe more but a voice came to his head, [I can't do this forever.], and he could only sigh after that.
Clapping his hands, Kisuke gathered everyone's attention, "I hate to break your reunion but I'll have to request the two of you to separate for now and I didn't mean just taking a distance from each other."
Lilith looked at Ophis, wanting to ask about him. Of course, she didn't have to say it out loud as Ophis understood her confusion. With a rare smile that exudes pride and gloating, Ophis introduced him, "My first friend, Kisuke, The Hat."
"Ohhh..." Lilith turned to Kisuke with interest before saying, "You shall be my friend too."
Kisuke chuckled as he approached them. When they came to his reach, his left hand patted Ophis' head while the right one went to Lilith's head, "I'm grateful to be your friend too, but let's save this for the next time when things are more convenient, alright?"
"...I'll see you again, new friend."
Kisuke nodded to Lilith before turning his head to Sakura, Cleria, and Masaomi, "Looks like the situation on your side was more complicated than I initially thought, but I'll hear it in two days. I have to first take care of the problems on this side."
"I understand. Be careful and I'd like to see everyone later~.", replied Sakura with a big smile while Cleria and Masaomi hurriedly said their goodbyes to Claire. A few seconds later, the communication device finally shut down and the hologram of everyone disappeared. At the same moment, the Dungeon returned to its usual activity.
As everything settled down, Kisuke sighed in relief, 'I doubt I could stop the connection between Ophis and Lilith so I have to find a way to camouflage that and make it look like I'm using a simple and direct method.'
Soon enough, a slightly tensed Serafall arrived first, "Ki-tan! What was that just now!? Are we compromised!?"
"Welcome back~ It was an oversight, but it ended without causing any further incident, so all are still fine." Kisuke then proceeded to narrate what happened when they are gone and asked Medusa to tell Yoruichi and the rest of the events of today since he needed to find a 'fix' to Ophis and Lilith's 'problem' and he would like to start doing it now so he could meet the two days deadline.
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.
Two days later, Kisuke finally came out of his workshop with Ophis with a big smile over his face. After a whole day of testing different methods, he finally found a way to hide the Infinite Dragon's 'completion', "Just in time~" he muttered and stretched his arms.
He then looked towards Ophis and said, "Ophis-chan, please call the others to the living room. We'll open the communication lines again."
Ophis nodded and started walking ahead. But before she could go far, she turned back and asked, "Including Line?"
Kisuke was a bit surprised at her question and thought about it for a few seconds before nodding, "Please ask her to make her way too."
With Ophis' back turned to him, Kisuke couldn't help but smile while reminiscing the days that he first met her and truly understood her as a person, 'She's already come a long way from being oblivious of simple things. She can also finally remember names, but I wonder why she still calls me 'Hat' despite calling others by their names perfectly fine? Should I think of this as special treatment from her?'
Kisuke just shook his head and stopped thinking about it as he made his way to the core of the tower to add the necessary equipment of the modified communication line. Since there are some fragile and delicate parts that needed to be sophisticatedly handled, it took him about an hour to finish the job and it was only then that he decided to return to the living room where everyone was probably already waiting for him.
Upon arrival, everyone was already in the room, talking merrily to each other while having some snacks, "Kisuke-kun! You're finally back! I heard you'd be contacting your hometown today?" Hestia greeted and asked him excitedly.
"Yep. And since this is a good chance, I'll introduce Hestia-sama, Artemis-sama, and Line-chan to everyone on the other side."
"M-me too!?" exclaimed Line since she didn't expect that she'd be included in this closely knitted group even though she was also called to come here.
"Of course. You're my student, after all." Kisuke then approached her and passed candy to her, "But for starters, take this."
"T-thank you..." Line expressed her gratitude shyly but it also made her feel a lot better. Although she's friendly with everyone, she doesn't know if she should really be here since she's from the Loki Familia.
However, she suddenly realized something that heated up her face, 'W-wait... Does that mean I'm one of his women now!?'
While most of them were with Kisuke, she certainly forgot about Hestia, Artemis, and Serafall.
"What's wrong?" Kisuke asked when Line was deep in her thoughts.
Kisuke's bewildered voice woke Line up from her fantasies and hurriedly shook her head while waving her hand, "N-nothing! I'm was thinking of something stupid." In any case, it's really a stupid thought for her as she couldn't even be compared to the other girls around Kisuke, 'Not just in abilities, but also qualification.'
Seeing the candy being offered, Line received it after taking a deep breath and asked, "This is?"
"Just eat it and you'll know its effects later."
After giving her a confusing answer, Kisuke then moved towards Yoruichi and Akeno and gave them a different kind of candy each, "This is for Hestia-sama and Artemis-sama."
Yoruichi wanted to smack Kisuke's head for giving nonsensical explanations but before she could do so, Artemis, who heard his words, asked, "For us?"
"Yep~ You'll know its effect after they eat it and update their Status."
Yoruichi immediately understood what these candies are for but could only let out a short sigh, "Why do you have such extreme sides? It's either you'll explain how it works to no end, or you'll give an answer that doesn't provide any explanation..."
Kisuke thought about it and didn't deny it, "Well, I guess giving explanations to enemies is more fun?"
AN: 03/12/2022
And that should be all, I suppose.
I know this isn't an excuse but it may sound ridiculous at this point, but there's no other reason than I forgot to update.
Whenever I would post an update to my Pat reon, my lazy brain will immediately release the 'satisfaction chemicals' and forget everything else before going into full lazy mode.
I was only able to update this time because someone in Discord pestered me (thank you.)
Btw, I revived my discord server again.
Join the few people that could pester me and throw insults at me without any repercussions (please go easy on the latter. I might cry.)
https:// discord. gg/ cczgMZ8t5h
I'm not active very much because of the nature of my work, but I'm frequent there more than webnovel.
Editors:
28th00: Phis-chama is a growing dragon! She’s learned how to learn! THE MOST TERRIFYING ABILITY OF ALL!
Hestia and Artemis were skeptical about what Kisuke meant, but they did update Yoruichi and Akeno's status. However, the moment they pulled out Yoruichi and Akeno's experiences from their Falnas, foreign knowledge invaded their minds.
The suddenness of the situation caught both Goddesses off guard and immediately stopped updating their status. Nevertheless, the unknown knowledge already branded itself to their minds and made them panic, "W-what's this, Kisuke-kun?"
Kisuke immediately held Hestia's hand and reassured her, "Please don't worry, Hestia-sama. It's the knowledge of our hometown's languages and there shouldn't be any other effect on you."
Kisuke couldn't just craft a candy that'll directly imprint the knowledge in them, since that may be seen as an 'intrusion' to the system. To safely circumvent this, he had to implant the information on the Falna itself so that it could be naturally absorbed by the Deity as they manipulated it.
"On another note, can you understand me now?" Kisuke proceeded to ask in Japanese with a grin.
Hestia calmed down after feeling the warmth of Kisuke's hand and was mildly surprised that she fully understood what she formerly heard as gibberish, "...So this is the language of your hometown?"
"Yep~!"
Off to the side, however, Kisuke heard Artemis' dissatisfied voice in fluent Japanese, "It wouldn't really hurt you if you were to treat me just like Hestia..."
Kisuke and Hestia looked at Artemis with a start, "Artemis, Kisuke is my child so it's normal for him to spoil me!"
Artemis pouted in discontent and retorted, "Aren't we considered as one organization? Shouldn't I receive the same treatment?"
Kisuke and Hestia looked at each other not knowing what to do. Technically speaking, Kisuke's treatment of them should be pretty similar, but he always found himself treating Hestia a bit better than Artemis which now became the source of her dissatisfaction.
In addition to that, Kisuke involuntarily didn't want to close the 'distance' between them after her previous confession that he rejected.
"Er... Give her a pat on the head?" Hestia asked Kisuke.
Kisuke wanted to ask if that much is fine but before he could do so, Artemis interrupted him with shining eyes, "You will!?"
The duo were once again shocked at her reaction and Hestia whispered to Kisuke, "Are we treating her too harshly?"
"I don't think so, but I'm not too confident with a reaction like that." Kisuke whispered back.
Seeing them whisper to each other, Artemis' anticipation diminished and she asked worryingly, "...Is that too much?"
Hestia hurriedly elbowed Kisuke and the latter feigned a cough, "Ehem, of course not, Artemis-sama. We're just surprised that you'd ask for such a thing."
"And?"
Kisuke cackled and reached out for her head. Just as he always does, he gently stroked her head and as additional service, he infused a bit of his Soul's power into his hand to give it a calming effect.
Artemis closed her eyes and enjoyed the unexpectedly pleasant feeling, 'They've been receiving something like this all this time? I've been missing out...' She was only curious when she asked for a pat since everyone except for her was regularly receiving his pats but she didn't expect that it was such a pleasurable feeling that she might get addicted to.
A few seconds later, Kisuke stopped stroking her head and took back his hand while thinking that it was enough. However, he and everyone else witnessed an instance of devastation on her face before returning to her normal stoic expression immediately, albeit with a bit of blush on her face, "Ehem... I'd like to receive it tomorrow too if you don't mind."
Artemis wanted for him to continue but they have something important to do today and she doesn't have the courage to ask for more right now so she could only let him promise that he'll do it again next time.
"Tomorrow is fine, but I can't always do it." promised Kisuke.
As simple as that, Artemis became a happier person.
While everyone accepted it without any fuss, there's someone who couldn't let it pass without receiving the same 'offering'.
Moving in front of him, Ophis stared straight up at Kisuke as if she's threatening and pressuring him with her 'glare'.
Guessing what's on her mind, Kisuke chuckled softly and also patted her head.
Ophis closed her eyes and enjoyed the pleasant feeling, resulting in a small smile blooming on her face. She decided that she should accept this offering at least once a day.
And after seeing Ophis like that, Claire and Tanis also scrambled to get close to receive theirs, "Me too, me too!"
"Okay~ Come here~", but before he noticed it, there's already a train of people behind the children, including Line who meekly went behind last, "Uhmm... What?"
Yoruichi who in front of everyone else replied with a big grin, "It's decided that you'll be doing this every day." And as she spoke out, everyone nodded.
"So I don't have a say in this?"
"You're not agreeing?"
"I'll gladly be of service to everyone~!"
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After the pat galore everyone was satisfied and Kisuke finally finished installing every module he needed for the modification. With everything and everyone ready, Kisuke initiated the connection while carefully looking through all the logs that come and go on his console to see if everything is working as intended.
With the connection successfully establishing smoothly and without any problems, Kisuke let out a short sigh of relief and a few seconds later, a familiar loading screen appeared in front of everyone, 'I know that winging it like this is bad, but I just can't stop doing it. Well, this kind of thing helped me respond faster than anyone else in various situations.'
The moment Cleria and Masaomi's figures showed up, Claire, as everyone expected, lunged at them, "Mama! Papa!"
Masaomi caught his precious daughter and started pulling her cheeks while patting her, "It was just two days. You already missed us that much?"
It was just supposed to be a light joke but Claire immediately nodded at his question with an innocent smile and made him stutter a little.
About to tear up, Masaomi tightly hugged his daughter, "I'm very sorry sweety... We're very busy with our work right now so you have to stay with Kisuke-niichan for a bit more. Don't worry, though. Once you're home, we'll go to an amusement park and we won't go home until we can ride everything in it."
Claire's eyes shone, "It's a promise!?"
"It's a promise."
"Can we take Ta-chan and Phis-chan?"
"Of course!"
"Yay~!"
After consoling their child and making her behave on their laps, Cleria greeted everyone and introduced herself to the people she met for the first time today, "Nice to meet you. I'm Yaegaki Cleria, Cleria is my given name. Beside me is Yaegaki Masaomi, my husband and Claire's parents. Thank you for taking care of my daughter."
Editors:
28th00: Ah, even Hestia was like “Are we actually hurting Artemis?! Are we the bad guys?!” then they saw her eyes shining at the subject of headpats and went “HOW STARVED FOR AFFECTION ARE YOU!?” Phis-chama is a proud dragon that wants worship, in the form of headpats. She is pleased.