Chapter 111: Mandatory Action

The Imperial Academy had formally invited Elder Thorne, Vespera, and Princess Elara to a diplomatic banquet, seeking to officially establish relations with the Silent Thunder Sect.

As a result, the estate in the merchant district was unusually quiet...

In the eastern courtyard, Silas the Mad Blade and Corey were huddled together behind a stone pillar.

They were staring at Theo, who was sitting cross-legged on a bamboo recliner, staring blankly at a piece of Cyan-Vein parchment.

"What is wrong with the Sovereign?" Corey whispered, chewing on an alchemical root.

"He has been staring at that drawing for two hours," Silas muttered. "I fear the stress of sect management has finally broken his mind."

Silas remained deeply offended by Theo’s critique of his art the previous night.

He was trying to figure out how to improve his aesthetic standards.

"Still missing a crucial foundational node," Theo rubbed his temples, snapping out of his meditative trance.

He had spent the last two hours trying to imprint the *Genesis Monolith* array into his soul.

It was exponentially more difficult than anything he had attempted before.

He looked up and noticed the assassin and the twelve-year-old staring at him.

"Is there a problem?" Theo asked.

Silas stepped out from behind the pillar, pointing at the parchment in Theo’s lap.

"Sovereign, is *that* what you consider peak aesthetics?"

Theo looked down at the parchment. The array he had painted resembled a swirling vortex of Abyssal energy, vaguely shaped like a coiled wyrm.

The brushstrokes defied conventional geometry, intersecting at impossible angles to simulate the crushing gravitational pull of the Monolith.

To anyone without a foundational understanding of cosmic laws, it looked like a child had spilled ink on a page and smeared it with a broom.

"Yes," Theo nodded honestly.

"It is a blob of ink!" Silas clutched his chest.

He reached into his robes and pulled out his sketchbook. "Sovereign, I beg you. Look at this."

He channeled his shadow-qi. The lifelike projection of an alluring, scantily clad dancer materialized above the book.

"Now," Silas demanded, shoving the book toward Theo. "Tell me which one is actually beautiful."

Theo pushed the glowing projection aside.

He looked at Silas with conviction. "The Abyssal Wyrm is vastly superior."

"What?!" Silas’s worldview cracked.

He turned to Corey. "You have eyes, boy! Tell him!"

Corey looked at the glowing dancer, then at the ink blob.

"I think the Wyrm is better," Corey said sincerely. "It looks very smart. Unlike me."

Corey gave Silas a look of profound confusion, questioning why a grown man would prefer a glowing lady over a magical dragon.

Silas felt as though he had been struck by lightning. His pupils trembled.

Was he the only sane person left in this estate?!

Theo leaned back against the bamboo recliner, closing his eyes.

His consciousness sank back into his Inner Scenery, where his spirit began the process of carving the wyrm array into his foundation.

Within minutes, the sheer mental exertion dragged him into a deep sleep.

...

Meanwhile, on the second floor.

Liana stood by the window.

[New Action Required: Kiss Theo (Abyssal Sword Sovereign).]

She wanted to brew a pot of tea to calm her nerves, but the tea set was packed inside her spatial ring, and she could not bring herself to move.

"Let nature take its course," Liana whispered to herself, repeating the Daoist mantra.

But this did not feel natural... Should she simply walk downstairs, tap him on the shoulder, and execute the penalty?

In her past life, she had slaughtered thousands without hesitation.

Why was a simple gesture causing her internal temperature to spike?

"Can I forfeit this requirement?" Liana asked.

[Ding!]

[This action can be abandoned. However, abandoning a mandatory action incurs a penalty.]

"You never mentioned that before," Liana frowned.

[The system never detected the host expressing a desire to abandon an action.]

[Warning: Forfeiting will result in the random revocation of one previously issued premium reward.]

Liana’s heart sank.

The system’s rewards were the only reason she was currently keeping pace with Theo’s monstrous growth...

If she lost her *Aurora-Vein Crystal*, her cultivation would stagnate at the second aperture of Inner Scenery.

If she lost the *Demon-Slaying Gourd*, she would lose her primary means of purifying negative energy, leaving her vulnerable to Syndicate mental domains.

The price of modesty was simply too high...

She could not afford a setback. The Shadow Syndicate was still hunting them.

"I will just... get it over with," Liana murmured, pressing her lips together.

She walked softly down the stairs, her footsteps silent.

As she reached the ground floor, she encountered Silas and Corey, who were still arguing in the hallway.

"Senior Corey, the dancer is objectively superior!"

"But the Wyrm looks so cool!"

Hearing her approach, the two of them stopped and turned.

Silas’s eyes lit up.

"Instructor Liana! Please, settle a debate. Which of these is a superior work of art?"

He pointed to his glowing dancer, then gestured toward the courtyard where Theo’s ink-smeared parchment rested.

Liana glanced at the projection, then at the chaotic wyrm drawing.

"The Wyrm is better," Liana stated flatly, not breaking her stride as she walked past them.

Silas turned to stone. He stood frozen in the hallway, questioning his entire reality...

Liana stepped into the courtyard.

She saw Theo lying on the bamboo recliner. His eyes were closed, his breathing deep and steady.

He was asleep.

Liana subconsciously relaxed her shoulders.

The situation was infinitely easier if she did not have to explain herself or endure his oblivious commentary!

Moving quickly before her courage could evaporate, she leaned over the recliner.

She aimed carefully and pressed a light kiss against his forehead.

She immediately straightened up, taking two steps back, her hands fiddling nervously with the hilt of her sword.

She braced herself, ready to deploy an excuse about checking his core temperature if he woke up.

Theo did not stir.

Liana waited for the system prompt to clear.

The text remained floating in her vision, unchanged.

[The action requires contact with the lips.]

Liana glared at the text.

Her gaze slowly drifted downward, settling on the sleeping Sovereign’s face.

She had to kiss him there?

Bathed in the pale moonlight, the Reborn Empress leaned down once again...

Her movements were incredibly fast, honed by years of supreme sword arts, yet the brief descent felt as though time had crawled to a halt.

The distance between them seemed to stretch into eternity.

Theo remained blissfully unaware of the impending breach of his personal space.

Finally, the fleeting eternity ended.

Their lips met. It was a brief, incredibly soft contact, yet it sent a sharp jolt of unfamiliar warmth straight through her icy meridians.

Liana froze, her eyes widening slightly in shock at her own reaction.

"Hmm?"

Theo’s eyelids fluttered.

His Abyssal forge flared as his consciousness was yanked from the depths of his Inner Scenery.