Chapter 94: Advertisement Campaign [2]

Leading me into the laboratory, she simply said.

"One paper."

Pausing, she added after a second.

"Oh, and my father owns the building."

"..."

As I followed her through the maze-like laboratory, we eventually arrived in another room, where countless pieces of camera equipment were scattered and a massive green screen hung on the wall.

"Over here!"

"I need another camera; this one isn’t working."

"Can we get another microphone over here?"

"..."

Around twenty workers were running around the room in suits, setting up cameras and microphones as if we were about to do a podcast.

Ignoring me, Lily simply walked up to a desk and picked up a familiar item, but more refined and visually appealing.

The metal armband now had streaks of red across it, a lever to adjust the tightness of it around your arm, and was more symmetrical overall.

And, in big ice-blue letters, the words "Lily Labs" were plastered onto it.

Handing me the armband, she said casually.

"You’re now the face of the mechanical armband."

"..."

Ignoring my silence, she gestured for me to put it on and said.

"You’re the one who used it in the tournament without even asking the inventor, right?"

Annoyed, I answered.

"Why would I ask myself if I were allow-"

"I spent three years on this, so help me god, if you even joke about inventing it."

"...can I at least put my name on it?"

As I paused for a moment, expecting a harsh rebuke, Lily suddenly answered in the most cheerful tone I’d ever heard her use.

"Sure!"

"...really?"

"Yeah, but it has to be your last name!"

"...that was unnecessary."

Handing me a stack of papers as I slid the armband onto my arm, which already fit perfectly without any adjustment, Lily said.

"Here’s the script. When you’re done, get in the harness."

My head bolted up upon hearing the last part of her order, and I asked confusedly.

"Harness...?"

Pointing at the harness held up in the air by countless pieces of string that stretched up to the ceiling, Lily answered as if it were an everyday thing.

"How else are we going to do the flying scene?"

Clasping her hands together and walking away from me, Lily yelled while looking at the workers running around.

"We start filming scene one in five."

...

...

...

"CUT! Good work, everyone; we can end here early for the day."

Rubbing my hoarse throat, I grabbed a bottle of water and moved away from the green screen.

As the workers put down their microphones and disassembled the tripods lying around the room, Lily approached me.

"Are you a natural-born actor or something!?"

Scratching my head, I secretly thanked the countless workers scrambling around the room.

With such a selection of people to choose from, I could find almost any emotion and allow it to consume me with my mark.

Sorrow, anger, fear...you name it, at least one of the people in the room was feeling it.

Looking at me with wide eyes, Lily continued.

"No, seriously, how do you make yourself cry and then just have a grin on your face in the next second?"

Glancing at my sheathed Dao lying on a table behind her, I answered.

"Martial Arts really helps."

"...just say you have a low mana capacity, alright?"

As Lily turned around and gestured for me to follow, the two of us entered one of the brainstorming rooms on the floor.

Pointing at the whiteboard filled to the brim with cryptic numbers and letters, she suddenly asked.

"Do you know what’s wrong?"

Dryly coughing, I thought for a moment, trying to recall what Lily had gone after in the novel after the mechanical armband.

Ah...yes, inter-dimensional travel.

A method to create portals to dimensions outside of the Dreg Dimension.

Currently, the only way to travel to other dimensions besides the Dreg was through rare dungeons, which transported you there and back automatically.

But...those were one in a million.

Shaking my head, I looked away and said.

"I’ve already repaid my favor...not that I even know."

Clicking her tongue, Lily sat atop the table in the room and cracked open a can of soda.

Seeing her, I couldn’t help but pause.

If Lily discovered the method to inter-dimensional travel earlier than in the novel...would it even be a good thing?

Although her creating the mechanical armband and selling it early was undoubtedly a good thing, helping supply countless heroes with ways to protect themselves from Dregs... inter-dimensional travel was tricky.

Thus, looking at the whiteboard, I suddenly said.

"What dimension are you planning to t-"

"Daedalus’s Workshop."

A bad thing.

Her discovering inter-dimensional travel early was a bad thing.

Shaking my head, I considered dissuading her before quickly pushing away the thought.

I just had to find her another thing to work on.

Jumping off the table, she downed the entire can of soda and asked.

"So when you were drunk on Tuesday, was that the real ’you?’ "

Coughing to hide my embarrassment as I recalled how I couldn’t stop laughing, I paused and shrugged my shoulders.

"Could be."

"..."

As if tired of waiting, Lily approached me, looked up at me, and suddenly questioned.

"Aren’t you gonna ask me for a cut of the sales on the invention?"

Shaking my head, I said.

"No need."

"... what do you mean ’no need?’ Didn’t you get cut off by your family?"

"I’m a pretty lucky person."

"..."

Realizing that I wouldn’t explain more, Lily sighed and opened the room’s door.

"I was just going to order food, but it seems we have time. Have a preference?"

"...?"

When was it even decided we were going to have lunch together?

After a moment, I nodded my head and said, happy to enjoy a free meal.

"Expensive."

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, as if expecting the answer, Lily glanced at her smartwatch for a few seconds before finally guiding me to the elevator.

However...just as we exited the skyscraper and stepped onto the capital’s sidewalks, an excited voice suddenly sounded from behind us.

"Lily, is that you!?"