Chaotic Zenless Zone Zero Chapter 24 (Patreon)

I felt all too naked as I made my way back home... And it had nothing' to do with the fact that the back of my shirt and jacket had exploded off my back when my angel wings came in.

'Why the hell is the Angel Halo like twice the rarity score of the angel race itself?' I wondered helplessly as by the time I got home, I had calmed down a bit and was exploring my angel wings in particular.

I gently stroked the gleaming golden-white wings that shone to my senses. And in doing so, I shuddered as my wings were hypersensitive! 

"Can I like retract these things? These wings are massive!" I said helplessly as I tried to imagine pulling the wings in, or like folding them into some kind of magical pocket demension or something.

But nope. The Chaos Gatcha didn't allow for that, it just plastered the racial abilities and status on me. Made sure it didn't clash with other bloodlines and that was it. I was now stuck with four-meter-long massive wings.

Then I paused as I realized something really, REALLY annoying actually! "Fuck... I really hope these wings don't mess with my sleeping curse. I normally sleep on my back, and now I can't." I muttered with a helpless groan.

But hey, at least now I could fly now? That was at least a plus when it came to Hollow Exploration and such.

Taking a deep breath I brushed my hand up and down my face before I said more firmly.

"Ok! This is certainly something, but not something I need to worry about currently. I need to worry about the contract with Yunkui Summit for now. And I need to call Nicole to have her and the other's come over to help."

Taking out my phone as I went to sit down. I did find that I could kind fold my four wings behind my back a good bit so they took on more of a triangle form of folded wings so I could sit down with my back to something without too much issue.

I called up Nicole and, after explaining that I had a contract with Yunkui Summit for help in clearing out the microhollow. She said she would send over Anby and Billy, sadly she herself was busy helping the Pheathon siblings do some other nonsense.

"Hmm... What the hell are Bell and Wise up to right now? I know they got Fairy up and going at this point, but it's been literally a couple years since I first started playing Zenless I have forgotten the order of some things."

At this point, was it them messing around with Belebog Industries, helping them find the mechs? Or was it the whole mess with dealing with Vision Industries, where the company tried to kill a bunch of displaced people living on the edge of a hollow to get the land for free?

I shrugged helplessly as I didn't really see a point in messing with those siblings current events. It's not like they were truly courting death just yet, by constantly running into Hollow's themselves.

"Ok... I need, let's say, a hundred Droideka's ready for a several-hour deployment. So I will also be launching the resupply truck into the hollow as well." I muttered as I went to large semi-truck, which had a slightly enhanced capacity for its load.

The standard length of 20 feet for a 'smaller' semi-truck in this case had the space of over fifty feet, after turning the interior into a spatial expansion via lining the walls with spatial ether materials.

And with how Droideka's could fold up pretty well. That easily allowed this truck to carry two hundred of them, several large batteries for energy restoration as well as some essential replacement parts.

Once I got my side of the munitions and supplies set up, I had a random thought cross my mind as I went inside and noticed how much my fucking halo glowed at all times.

"Wait... My halo and angel race upgrade makes all holy and light based magic and abilities stronger. Does that affect my Erd Tree Miracles as well?" I muttered to myself.

I summoned the divine grimoire, which bore a golden insignia of the Erd Tree of Elden Ring, and flipped through it. I went to an easier spell that I had already a bit of a hang of as it's not like I could caste Minior Erd Tree at this point.

My body glowed as I held up my Black Knight Sword as I cast the standard Golden Vow that should increase my strength and defense by a good fifteen-something percent. But as I cast it... I realized it was more like I got a fifty percent increase to my strength and defense!

"Wait... And this incantation auto-buffs my friends as well when I cast it as well! Holy shit this awesome!" I cheered with joy as my race changed and the halo more than doubled my strength in some ways!

Then I paused as I looked at the grimoire and sighed as I realized that this massive boost in potential meant that I NEEDED to focus on hard on this holy magic then.

"I will literally be turned into a Void Hunter in reputation if I can actually cast Minior Erd Tree and can heal, buff allies, and probably crush a hollow." I muttered.

Because summoning/creating the phantasm of an Erd Tree wasn't going to be so simple inside of a hollow... An Erd Tree was a divine-tier conduit after all. 

And with how fucking horrible Zenless Zone Zero was. If I went so far as to get the attention of some eldritch god like the Golden Order. Whelp, it wasn't like this world could get any worse.

After all, the amount of land humanity and the rest of the people had to live within. Inside of this world wasn't even as big as the UK or New Zealand in my old world.

The rest had been taken over by Hollows... And within a couple more decades, even the moon itself was going to be completely engulfed in a single giant hollow of massive scale

"Ok, Jake... Now that I am in my private mountain where no one can spy on me because I am spying on everything else harder. It's time for me to learn how to fly!"

-

"Well, that is certainly interesting, I suppose." A calm, almost lazy feminine voice rang out.

Yixuan, the Grandmaster and leader of Yunkui Summit sat on the edge of the temple's stone roof as she watched from the very eye's of her Qingming bird as the new... Enigma, power-walked away from the temple grounds.

She then reached into a secret pocket in her top to pull out her phone, and she looked down at the message that her disciple Ye Shiyuan sent to check on this new... Associate.

But fate seems to have brought a possible new disciple to her? Those eyes filled with special ether instantly got her attention as soon as his light footsteps entered her temple grounds.

Ye Shiyuan quickly reached the front main temple where Yixuan elegantly dropped down from the temple's roof, her Qingming bird lowering her to the ground with an elegant click of her heels.

"Ye Shiyuan, what did that young man offer you that has you so full of heart?" Yixuan asked casually. Not really too particular so long as that man wasn't asking for something vulgar or too troublesome.

The thiren cleared his throat, and with a sideways glance at the more layman disciples, he said more firmly. "We should discuss it in the temple Grandmaster. What he brought over is of interest to us of Yunkui Summit."

Yixuan raised an eyebrow before leading the way into the Suiban Temple, where Ye Shiyuan quickly explained his interactions with this Jake Bariss, and more importantly, the products he wanted to sell through them or at least under their aegis.

"Hmm. The anti-ether medication is something we can easily test out after helping him clear that micro-hollow behind his expanding factory. But this ebony metal?"

Yixuan's gaze became much heavier as she stared at the black and gold metal bar that accepted her own cultivated internal energy.

'This metal is even more receptive than Porcelloy made by the Flint family... But while it's wholly much more receptive to controlled ether poured into it. It doesn't seem to have the Porcelloy's effect to stabilize ether being run through it.' Yixuan mused with an expert eye.

This major difference between the two wonder metals had their ups and downs. This... Ebony metal was going to be quite a bit more useful making extremely powerful projectile weapon systems. Or perhaps even something similar to her Qingming bird in a semi-autonomous creation.

'Hmm well besides certain other special materials and things that were required to make the Qingming bird... I do wonder what the result of making an actual sword out of this ebony metal would be?'

Yixuan finally asked quietly. "This ebony metal is also something that is... Troublesome, regardless of his other inventions. If Jake made something even slightly on the level of Porcelloy, the wonder metal made by the Flint Family. His lineage will reach the same level of massive wealth and political power the Flint family... Once had." 

"Once had?" Ye Shiyuan asked in clarification with a frown.

Yixuan was quiet before she explained. "Porcelloy as you are well aware can only be made with the blood of a Flint family being added to that batch of metal being processed. This Ebony is almost certainly something similar. Remember how he said that it was difficult to make, and not something that could be made on a large scale?" 

Ye Shiyuan's nodded in agreement with Yixuan smile growing as she said. "And it was only with Lady Sunbringer's protection that the Flint family was able to grow as powerful and unfettered from the attentions/and interfence of the TOPS and other factions."

There was a heavy pause before Ye Shiyuan said slowly. "You mean for Yunkui Summit to take Jake Bariss and the company he plans to create. And like Sunbringer, protect the company and use it to expand our own influence and wealth?" 

Yixuan raised an elegant sharp eyebrow before she said with a small smile. "Who said Jake needed to make a company anymore?"

Then the void hunter's pride came out of Yixuan as she stood up and said more firmly. "The water's of this world are deep. It would be far better and safer for Jake to simply fold himself into the Suiban Temple's grounds and I myself will take him as my disciple."

Ye Shiyuan gave Yixuan a rather odd look before he said helplessly. "Are you sure about that Grandmaster? He does seem to have his own thoughts; if you approach him recklessly, that could just push him away."

A soft hum left Yixuan before she said thoughtfully. "Truthfully, it almost seems fated. Be it you, Ju Fufu, Xiao Guang, and Pan Yinhu, all my disciples I am most proud of. Are all Thirens themselves."