Ball of Nothing

After bringing goodies back from U.N.U. for the gnomes, Truen and Zero quickly checked on the chaos. Hana was creating trouble for the villagers in New Moon Village and as the head of Half Moon Village, Zero had the duty to resolve that. Monoman was still not in and he couldn't let Rohan handle it alone.

Bob barely landed in the village and Zero was already jumping off his back to find the trouble-making flower spriggan. Shouldn't the flower spriggan be sleeping in the Flower of Enlightenment? It wasn't all that long before he left to create Sylvia's new body. How could things go so wrong?

His question was answered when he stopped by New Moon Village. Truen didn't follow Zero. He had matters to attend to with the gnomes and lab members. The goodies from U.N.U. needed proper care and couldn't fall into the wrong hands. In addition, he had to send the list of items Jynx wanted to order from half Moon Trading. King Brice should also be notified of their mission's success. He should keep his promise and help them get rid of the corruption within Smargdas.

The patrol team at New Moon village jumped when the portal was activated. They were expecting for a rowdy and overpowered flower spriggan to attack them again and guarded against the newcomer.

"Z-Zero?"

One of the guards remembered the Half Moon Village's leader and quickly invited Zero to look for Rohan.

The doctor immediately noticed the strange air in New Moon Village. Constructions were progressing smoothly and there were small farms as well as a community hall still in the process of building. Security had been fortified and the guard towers built into the trees just like the ones in Half Moon Village. Yet, Zero couldn't stop absorbing the dense qi in the air. The villagers looked very healthy and stronger than they were. It had to be the work of Hana and her World Flower.

Rohan bowed and greeted Zero when he saw the doctor. He was slightly ashamed to have managed internal matters so poorly in Zero and Monoman's absence.

"My deepest apologies," the archer started. "I could not prevent the World Flower from casting her spells. Many of our patrol guards are still sick from her magic and my healing magic is limited. Nothing I do work and none of the Half Moon Villagers could help. We don't know what's wrong but Hana assured us that it wasn't deadly."

Zero nodded. "I heard that she was causing trouble. I will talk to her later but let's tend to the sick for now. Where are they? I see that constructions are coming along very well. Has Cleo been coming around to take care of the farms? The harvest looks bountiful."

Rohan grinned. "Latitia has been coming over whenever Cleo is busy. We learned a lot from them how to grow some of the more difficult herbs that couldn't be grown on Endow Hill because of the dense mana. These lotus flowers grow really well here so we started a small pond for it. The fox lady said that it would sell very well to the demons who would be coming to visit for work attachment."

Zero agreed. With this much qi in the village, the Flower of Enlightenment would be able to spread its seeds and create little enlightenment flowers for cultivation. If they could grow more of these, Zero knew that Princess Dorothy and Magnus Hilda would be their first buyer. New Moon Village would flourish just by selling them.

The sick house was fully occupied and Zero raised his brow. Every single one of the 'sick' patrol guards was actually showing signs of a cultivation breakthrough. Whatever mischief Hana was up to turned out to be for the greater good. He didn't know that cultivation could be forced upon someone but the World Flower of Enlightenment wasn't a flower just for show. Zero didn't know what he'd created but this was a very interesting discovery that should be reported to Buddha for further investigations.

"They'll be fine," Zero said after checking their pulses. Rohan looked unsure but Zero told him that it was part of the process.

"Hana just means well. You can become stronger if you continue taking on her attacks. It's her method of making everyone the best version they can be. In fact, you should start asking Qin Yun for tips on how to use your new abilities."

Rohan didn't know what Zero was talking about but he trusted the doctor. If Zero said that it was fine, they would be fine.

After confirming that New Moon Village was not in a dire situation, Zero teleported back to Half Moon Village to check on his patients. Misana, Xvyal and Yxaan were in a terrible condition when he left them. He only left them after confirming that they were out of the woods but as a good doctor, Zero wouldn't rest until he knew they were recovering well.

Zoe gave Zero a phantom hug on his return and Truen was nowhere to be found. Bob left a message with her that he was going to find Kerberos and Zero decided that he would stay for a night to settle outstanding administrative matters that his clones couldn't resolve.

Hana was chilling in the tub with his clone and Zero raised a brow., The World Flower froze at the sight of the original Zero and Hana quickly fought to get inside the flower to escape but Zero was faster.

"What have you been up to?" he asked the flower spriggan who looked guilty.

"I didn't do anything wrong!" Hana insisted and Zero kept his expression neutral. He was grateful that Hana was trying to do good although she was still mischievous. If she truly meant well, she wouldn't give them an overdose in qi that made them fall ill. Surely the spriggan knew how much was enough. A near-lethal dose of cultivation progress wasn't called for.

"I'll overlook it because none of them died yet but I would like to remind you that every guard that falls out of commission will mean that New Moon Village becomes that much more vulnerable."

Hana looked slightly guilty and Zero let her go after the flower spriggan knew her mistake. Truen watched as he let the troublemakers go and approached him after they fled from the tub.

"What's up?"

The archer shook his head. "Nothing. Just settled some miscellaneous tasks. Are you going to check on Misana?"

Zero nodded. "I need to check on the twins too. Did you send a notice to King Brice? Schaf should be on standby for the signing. I think Mitchnew should get in touch with him and start laying the foundation or the purge. Those corrupted nobles had their moment of glory, it's time for a change."

Truen agreed. Unlike the past, the Zero he knew now had matured a lot after seeing so many horrible things. He learned that not everyone deserves kindness but he didn't know how Zero intended to punish the corrupted nobles who sacrificed the poor and innocent for their benefit. They might be able to stop slavery from U.N.U. but not everyone in Smargdas would be happy about the arrangement.

"What are you going to do next? After we return Misana, King Brice won't be able to withstand the pressure from Altear if he removes the dukes in power."

Zero smiled. "Then we shall visit altear ourselves. Fae King Vivian told us that the holder of a key is in Altear. I have a spriggan to talk to."