Chapter 134: A Phone Call

After returning from the valley, Ou Xiaolu finally enjoyed a few days of leisure. Aside from the routine daily altar card draws, he didn't even bother exploring any of the micro-worlds. Instead, he spent his days wandering the valley with Emilia and Aro, watching the construction company haul in materials and lay the foundations for their grand project.

Emilia seemed to take a particular liking to this activity. She was always fascinated by the heavy machinery hoisted down from the sky, as if she were testing the limits of their strength. Ou Xiaolu found this hobby rather unexpected; he had assumed that a young girl raised with both noble etiquette and Valkyrie training would be more interested in weapons or food, not construction equipment.

When he finally couldn't resist asking, the answer he received left him speechless.

"My stepmother once said that once one's power reaches a certain level, they can shatter the walls of space and become a true Valkyrie. These machines claim to exert dozens of tons of force—does that mean they are all some kind of Valkyrie? No wonder houses are getting so expensive; if you hire a Valkyrie to build a house, no amount of money would be enough."

Ou Xiaolu broke into a cold sweat, not knowing how to respond. He felt he had no way to explain the difference between physics and physical attacks to Emilia, though perhaps the real reason was that he couldn't quite explain it himself.

Ou Xiaolu spent about three days in the valley before his phone suddenly rang. It was Miguel.

He didn't have much of an impression of his roommate, other than the fact that his style was the polar opposite of Charles—he was the type to end a conversation the moment he opened his mouth. This time was no different; before Ou Xiaolu could even offer a greeting, Miguel cut straight to the point.

"You’ve been marked absent for skipping too many classes."

"Skipping too many?" Ou Xiaolu was stunned. He hadn't been "skipping" classes; he hadn't attended a single one since arriving in New York. He had been so caught up in his own affairs that he didn't even know where the classroom doors were.

"Yes. The professor said that if you don't show up in his class, even if you were Da Vinci himself, you’d still get a zero."

"Oh, I see. I'll head back right now." Ou Xiaolu considered that he was, after all, a university student, and he probably shouldn't just blow off his education entirely.

But then, Miguel added, "That was what the professor said two days ago. He took roll again today, and you weren't there, so there's no point in rushing back now."

Ugh!

Ou Xiaolu was rendered speechless. After a long silence, he asked, "Miguel, is it easy to transfer departments in our school? What do you think about me switching to sculpture?"

"Probably not convenient. Every department related to the arts in this school is under that professor's purview. I heard the head of the sculpture department is the professor's protégé."

"Any other bad news? Just get it all out."

"That's it. But a senior told me never to go and beg for mercy from that professor. If you let this year pass, it'll be fine, but if you go begging, he’ll hold a grudge against you for life."

"What do you mean 'let this year pass'? Does he not teach us next year?"

"No, it just means that once this year is over, you start fresh next year. He won't drag this matter into the new academic year."

"That’s at least some good news. I'll deal with it next year then." With that, Ou Xiaolu hung up.

Back in the dorm, Miguel slapped his forehead. "I feel like I forgot to say something. Right, I remember now—the professor was looking for Ou. I was supposed to tell him to come by. Oh well, I've already told him the main point; when Ou comes back, he'll probably go see the professor for a lecture or something anyway."

Unaware of the gravity of the situation, Ou Xiaolu didn't give Miguel's call another thought. He lingered for two more days, waiting until all the building foundations were set, before finally leaving the valley.

As he departed, the Corsola egg he had placed in the pond finally hatched. The newborn Corsola was a small, pink, spherical creature with four coral-like horns on its back and a pair of tiny hands on its white belly. Just by looking at it, one could tell it wouldn't be able to move an inch on land.

However, it was remarkably fast in the water—faster than most ordinary fish.

Most importantly, once in the water, each of its four horns sprouted a bubble-like structure. These were four living spaces for aquatic fish-type characters. Ou Xiaolu investigated and discovered that each space could hold five "grunt-level" units or one "professional-level" unit. As for "supporting-character" level units—well, the newly leveled-up Corsola itself was a supporting-character level unit, so it couldn't hold others of the same tier.

There were also restrictions on storing grunts. While they didn't have to be the same species, they had to be of the same type; you couldn't mix schools of fish with octopuses, as those were considered different categories. It felt much like Zhong Kui’s folding fan, which could only collect ghosts, regardless of what abilities those ghosts might possess.

[Corsola, Character Card, Supporting-Character Level, Combat Power 619, Skills: Swift Swim, Environment Change, Pocket Dimension, Internal Digestion, Solar Beam.]

Since the Corsola hatched, Xiaoyou and the bear spent every day by the pond, watching it swim. They were mesmerized by the giant octopus, clownfish, and Horsea that Ou Xiaolu had kept in the Corsola’s spaces as they darted in and out of the three coral pillars. Their antics even began to affect the construction speed of Ou Xiaolu’s lakeside villa.

Eventually, Booth had to step in, promising to take Xiaoyou on a trip to the American Lighthouse Nation just to get her out of the valley.

With her gone, the responsibility of supervising the construction fell to Aro and the bear. At first, the construction company objected to having two animal overseers, but after Kakarot from the Sun God Design Company demonstrated Aro's capabilities, their skepticism turned into grim seriousness.

They realized that no matter what they were doing, they were under Aro's watchful gaze. As a result, not only did the construction progress speed up, but the quality of the work improved significantly.

What these mortals didn't know was that Aro wasn't actually watching everything. Aro was primarily concerned with the location of the main villa. Ou Xiaolu had decided to place the [Space: Arcane Tower] in the tower behind the main villa and establish his own organization there. Therefore, the timing and structural integrity of the tower were critical, as they would determine the ultimate quality of the Arcane Tower itself.