Above The Sky
Chapter 1044 - 1044 131 Hot Water Fairy Grand Banquet 12

1044: Chapter 131 Hot Water Fairy Grand Banquet (1/2) 1044: Chapter 131 Hot Water Fairy Grand Banquet (1/2) The grand banquet of the Fae is actually another term for the ‘Fae Grand Meeting,’ a significant event to decide the future course of actions for a local Fae tribe.

That’s what it’s called, but expecting a group of Fae to sit quietly in a conference hall, following the rules of ‘you propose, I agree, then we vote’ is impossible.

Just as Dwarves make their most important decisions at the dining table, and Elves always decide while sipping tea, Fae simply cannot accomplish anything without holding a lively, celebratory banquet.

Before Hua’an and Frost Butterfly returned, the Primal Fae didn’t possess much wisdom, and their forms resembled tiny mosaicked butterflies…

or perhaps oversized moths.

The smartest among them was Frost Butterfly herself, vaguely humanoid with slight intelligence.

But even then, not much.

After they transformed their nest, however, the Primal Fae in the South Sea Great Labyrinth began exhibiting some intelligence…

in other words, they began adopting some thought patterns similar to the Fae.

Of course, to Shasha, none of this mattered.

As the Crystal Lake Grand Marshal, Shasha had the heavy responsibility of guarding Crystal Lake and protecting the underwater tunnels.

Playing house with these little Fae was simply not its arena!

Shasha’s biggest frustration was one thing.

That is, the transformed Hot Water Fae—their forms now looked…

far too appetizing.

But they were absolutely inedible!

Swimming along the waterway, Shasha entered the cooling chamber.

The original underwater Ice Abyss had now transformed into a massive hot water sea steaming with heat, where enormous amounts of high-temperature wastewater underwent cooling and purification, while the Hot Water Fae absorbed abundant energy to grow.

Arriving at the designated location, the Fae had not yet arrived; only two of them were waiting atop an ice platform floating in the hot water.

They were none other than Frost Butterfly and Hua’an, chatting without the slightest hint of irritation over the tardiness of the other Hot Water Fae—if anyone were to get angry over Fae being late, they probably would have been reincarnated long ago.

Shasha knew these two were allies of the boss.

That black-haired Fairy Miss was incredibly powerful and quite tough, earning Shasha’s admiration as it aspired to become stronger and tougher itself.

Unfortunately, Hua’an had been far too busy recently, leaving the diligent and ambitious Shasha unable to find a chance to ask her for guidance on how to grow stronger.

“Ah, Shasha!”

Frost Butterfly spotted Shasha, the Ice Fairy happily waving to it, and Shasha wagged its tail cheerfully in return.

“Whoa-whoa!”

“In the end, only Shasha arrived on time!”

Turning her head, Frost Butterfly slapped the ice pulpit in front of her with a ‘pa-pa’ sound and complained, “Do they think just because I’m an Ice Fairy, they don’t have to follow my orders?”

“Don’t worry, little Frost~”

Hua’an pinched Frost Butterfly’s puffed cheeks affectionately, exuding familiarity.

“Over in the Fairy Homeland, no Fae banquet has ever started on time—not even if you were one of the Hot Water Fae.

They would still arrive late.”

“Because most Fae’s concept of time is aligned with the Domain of Void…

They cannot properly perceive the changes in the material world, relying only on emotional shifts to sense the existence of time.”

“In simple terms, a Fae needs to wait until they feel, ‘It’s about that time!’ before they act.

And that emotion is contagious—once one Fae feels ‘the time has come,’ soon all the Fae will act simultaneously.”

As a legitimate Fae herself, Hua’an thoroughly understood her kin…

Earth Elemental Fae, one of the few who can perceive physical-world time normally, often arrive punctually.

Consequently, they frequently find themselves, much like Frost Butterfly now, patiently waiting while complaining about the tardiness of other Fae.

However, while Fae may struggle with punctuality, they never act alone.

Just like now.

Ker-splash…!

From every direction, the sound of roaring tides echoed through the water pipes centered on the cooling chamber.

Frost Butterfly, Hua’an, and Shasha all raised their heads, looking toward the far edges of the cooling chamber.

And there they saw it—several enormous, tens-of-meters-long light blue jellyfish swimming swiftly toward their location!

Each jellyfish radiated a tremendously powerful Origin Substance Reaction, resembling Second-Level Magical Beasts in their sheer strength, a surprising sight for all sharks present!

“Whoa?!”

Seeing this, Shasha’s shark spine instantly tingled.

It wasn’t afraid of jellyfish—oh no!

But in the waters around the Southern Sea, only a Thunder Jellyfish Swarm could pose a genuine mortal threat to it.

Even an Iron Armor Shark, if it strayed into the Thunderhunter Jellyfish nest, would surely end up electrocuted into charcoal!

—Charge first, think later!

Within moments, instinct propelled Shasha’s actions.

Electricity surged across its body as it powered up, and it charged directly toward the nearest large jellyfish by the exit!

Unquestionably, Shasha had overreacted—had it taken a closer look at these floating jellyfish, it surely would have realized that these seemingly massive and potent ‘Magical Beasts’ were actually wobbly gelatinous conglomerates…

In fact, beneath their light blue surfaces, many cluster formations of semi-transparent little dots floated while chanting ‘Hey yah hey yah,’ holding up the colossal shell.

But it was too late.

The collision was inevitable—Shasha, programmed by its nature to ram things, slammed directly into one of the massive jellyfish.

What followed was a Big Fae Explosion!

“Meep~ Kaboom!”

Accompanied by a string of adorable exclamations, the moment the oversized hot-water jellyfish exploded, colorful, wildly diverse ‘Fae’ burst out like shaken soda spraying from an uncapped bottle.

Pale blue, white-grey, soft gold, deep green—all manner of hues rolled out in tiny clusters in the hot water, bouncing elastically like multi-colored jelly blobs and scattering across the ground, even covering Shasha entirely.

“Whoa?!”

Now Shasha was truly dumbfounded.

How could it have guessed that jellyfish emitting such powerful energy signatures would shatter upon impact and release so many little Fae inside?

This wasn’t a giant jellyfish—it was simply a group of small Fae mimicking a sardine school, stacking together into an ‘intimidating form’ akin to jellyfish!

“Hm?” “Ya-miii…” “Hi hi!”

The little Fae knocked by Shasha rolled dazedly across the bottom of the cooling chamber, their eyes spinning like mosquito coils.

Some even displayed ‘X’ symbols, indicating a fainted state…

Their appearances were rather amusing indeed.

The upper halves of these Hot Water Fae resembled pixelated humanoids akin to Frost Butterfly’s earlier form, while the lower halves…

offered quite the variety.

Some resembled jellyfish, others sea cucumbers, some marine bristle worms, others sea anemones, and still others fish—truth be told, the fish-like half even carried shades of merfolk-like beauty.

Yet next to them were Hot Water Fae with mantis shrimp or sea spider appendages, which were frankly astounding.

Evidently, these Fae were mimicking the shapes of underwater creatures to adapt to aquatic movement.

All Hot Water Fae possessed highly elastic and durable bodies, akin to stress-ball material.

This granted them immunity to most physical impacts, so Shasha’s ship-breaking collision left these little Fae completely unscathed.

Of course, in exchange, Hot Water Fae were extremely susceptible to cold environments.

Under temperatures below ten degrees, their bodies would become brittle and prone to shattering…

Yet give them enough time to adapt, and all Hot Water Fae could transform back into forms resembling Frost Butterfly’s former large moth-like Ice Fairy configuration!

The only drawback was likely that their appearances now looked far too edible.

“…” (Resist!

These little things are definitely not for eating!)

Covered head-to-fin in Hot Water Fae, Shasha clamped its mouth shut tightly, not daring to open it—a single exhale would draw these curious Fae into its mouth, and then, with just one gulp…

Ah, disaster would strike.

Don’t get this wrong—the disaster wouldn’t befall the Fae, but Shasha.

Ordinary creatures have no capacity to digest Fae.

Any Fae accidentally swallowed by Shasha would merely experience an indescribable journey—a round-trip biological cycle—before returning to nature.

It’d only be Shasha left to suffer a bout of indigestion for a while.

Having mistakenly eaten Fae multiple times in the past, Shasha had learned its lesson.

Whenever there were lots of Hot Water Fae present, it refrained from eating altogether—not even a single “whoa” was uttered!

“No way, they’re already so proficient—they’ve managed to mimic giant jellyfish so vividly…

This tribe of Fae is truly intelligent.”

Hua’an observed the group of Hot Water Fae ‘hiya-hiya’-ing as they crawled all over the place, then regrouping to use their innate water-controlling abilities to once again reform the giant jellyfish shape.

She couldn’t help but feel impressed.

“Since Hot Water Fae are already capable of combined mimicry, they can now venture beyond the Southern Sea Great Labyrinth’s water channels and begin navigating through the larger labyrinth.”

“Yes, indeed.”

Frost Butterfly nodded seriously, cheerfully surveying the floating ‘giant jellyfish’ and the numerous Hot Water Fae within.

“This way, I can finally help Father with his tasks!”

Frost Butterfly and Hua’an had long prepared banquet ingredients—a large chunk of sea sandstone infused with water origin quality, along with ample jellyfish mucilage.

Fae don’t require food aside from demonic beast materials; most of the time, their nourishment comes quite literally from drinking dew or consuming dirt.

Sea sandstone helped Hot Water Fae stabilize their physical forms, while jellyfish mucilage served as the base material for their bodies.

Once Frost Butterfly announced ‘Let the banquet begin!’ the entire cooling chamber erupted with Fae cheer.

A budget Fae band emerged, using seashells for drums, sea anemones for harps, scallops for gongs, and conches as horns.

Though the music sounded terrible, the lively atmosphere was undeniable.

And as the emotions of the Fae resonated across the joyous ambiance, their ‘souls’ began harmonizing in frequency.

Frost Butterfly initiated mind communication to engage all present Fae, officially announcing the banquet’s agenda.

This was precisely why Fae could only discuss matters during banquets.

Without relying on something capable of stirring collective joy and igniting enthusiasm to unite the minds of all Fae present, issuing proclamations was pointless—no one would listen.

Even if they did listen, they wouldn’t remember.

And today, Frost Butterfly’s topic was about the operations following the opening of the South Sea Great Labyrinth.

Specifically, how various Fae would serve as ‘Labyrinth Guardians’ to assist the Labyrinth Master and Crystal Lake Grand Marshal Shasha in handling adventurers.