A/N:
Do you think I should aim for 40 chapters before sleeping?
***
"So you decided to head to the frontlines where a Commander and even a Monarch-class beast was present?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much what I did."
"You—sigh... do you even realize how dangerous that could be?" Mu Nujiao sighed as she rubbed her temples, a headache beginning to settle in from listening to Damon's tales of Hangzhou.
"Oh come on, Jiaojiao, you know I'm strong! Those chickens don't stand a chance against me," he said with a tone full of confidence, earning an exasperated look from Mu Nujiao.
She had the urge to punch that smug face of his but only sighed. The two were currently sitting inside one of the renowned cafés of Shanghai, enjoying a date after Damon got back from Hangzhou.
Damon hadn't returned the moment he was done with the battle. Instead, he spent some time helping the citizens—doing charity work... or so he told Mu Nujiao.
"Since when did you even bother with charity?" she asked, looking at the Instagram page where his image casting a Level 4 Intermediate Shield was going viral.
"As selfish as you are, you wouldn't even help a dying man in front of you. You? Charity? Things don't add up here." Her gaze was filled with suspicion as she looked at Damon with a piercing stare.
His hands began to sweat, but he looked at Mu Nujiao with the most serious expression he'd ever made. "I was a victim of Bo City's destruction. No one knows better than me how devastating it can be to lose your home to monsters.
"I ain't any saint, but I do understand the plight of the people over there—hence, I decided to do this."
Hearing this, Mu Nujiao didn't know what to say. She felt bad for being suspicious, but her instincts told her something else was cooking. She only sighed as they continued with their date.
On their way out of the café, both laughed as they ate their ice creams.
"Hey, isn't that Mo Fan?" Suddenly, Mu Nujiao pointed as both looked at the average-looking young man with brown eyes standing in front of a middle school, hugging a little girl who blocked his kisses with her hands.
"Jiaojiao~ would you call the police for me?" Damon said with a smile as he walked forward towards the hunter duo. Damon knew full well the relationship between the two. Lingling knew it too, and so did Mo Fan.
But did the public know?
Placing a hand on Mo Fan's shoulder, Damon shouted,
"Pedophile! This predator is harassing a schoolgirl!"
The shout made the entire street turn their eyes toward Mo Fan, who still held Lingling as the girl fiercely blocked her cheeks.
"Damon? What—" Mo Fan was stunned to see Damon behind him. Lingling, who knew what Damon was up to, deadpanned at his scream but still played along, tears forming in her eyes.
"Waaah!" Her cry made the stunned civilians furious as they all took out their phones and began recording. A few brave ones even stepped forward, ready to teach Mo Fan a lesson—but were quickly beaten back as he released his Fire Element in public before the police arrived and arrested him.
"Predator Mage Fights the Public!"
Looking at the headline later, Damon clutched his stomach laughing, while Lingling and Mu Nujiao held their heads in exasperation.
With Lingling's statement, the police dropped the predator charges and set Mo Fan free, but the media had already made him famous.
Earlier enmity with the students of Pearl University fueled the outrage, as they started their own smear campaign.
All this happened as Zhao Manyan, Ai Tutu, and Damon laughed until their stomachs hurt, while Lingling happily drank her milk tea.
The incident was surely something Damon would store in his memories as the days continued. Mo Fan and Zhao Manyan busied themselves with vampire hunting.
Mo Fan didn't get any Black Totem material this time but instead received a direct quest from the artisan Huo Tuo to acquire vampire fangs in exchange for armor.
Mo Fan initially invited Damon, but he was busy with his own work and didn't bother to join at all.
His business was booming; the investments he made were yielding results. His companies were approached by big names—the Hunter Union and Magic Association tasked his firm with installing new internet systems and developing apps for their operations.
It was a major deal for Damon, as his connections expanded. He also focused on this commission.
His other companies received a boost as online delivery services and ride-hailing apps became mainstream in major Tier-1 cities, raising his valuation by billions of dollars.
Damon's ambitions grew further as he planned to enter markets long dominated by major corporations.
For his mutated Earth Element, he managed to control one star, though there was no progress with his Space Element.
The energy he absorbed from an Advanced Mage was focused on his Fire Element, raising its rank, while his Light Element showed progress with an Advanced Spell.
The experiment for artificial mutation was a success, making Damon itch for more—but he restrained himself from using just any element.
Finding the best Spirit Seed with growth potential was a challenge. Such resources were only sold at the highest-level auction houses once a year. Getting his hands on one was a headache in itself.
He wanted more elements, sure—but not just any. If he had the ability to choose the elements and their properties with all possible resources available, why would he aim for anything less than the best?
With that thought, his standards for choosing spirits rose to the absolute, and he assembled a proper team to find the spirits that suited his tastes.
His mind wandered to the things he stored in inventory, monarch level corpse, black totem scale, honestly Damon was itching to just use them and advance to super level in both physique and magic but the time required to complete the changes held him back for now.
Weeks passed as peaceful days went by before Mo Fan finally called him.
"Hey, we're going to Dunhuang! Some Flame Belle or something is about to be born! Wanna join?"