Once the affection level is maxed out, the rivalry begins!

"Senior, if anything unexpected happens, you absolutely must throw me into the maze immediately!"

In her bedroom, Lu Xingyao nervously turned to look at Bai Ze.

The core of the original tea bowl has now undergone a huge leap, much like the evolution from a pixel game to the Unreal Engine.

She received some magic from Lu Xingyao and regained the ability to walk upright.

Although it looks like a miniature doll less than 15 centimeters tall, it has at least taken on a human form—or rather, when magnified, it is almost indistinguishable from a real person.

Her hands and feet were relatively long for their proportions, and her long, silvery-white hair was neatly combed, with each side braid hanging down on either side of her face, the ends of which were gently curled.

She is now sitting on Bai Ze's shoulder, blinking her bright blue eyes and acting all bossy.

"Arrogance: Behold the true form of this machine!"

"Enough with the nonsense, how are you going to assist Lu Xingyao in battle?"

Bai Ze flicked her away with his knuckles.

After discussion, they decided to give the core member a chance.

In any event of an accident, he would invoke the Minotaur's labyrinth as a safety net.

"Sadness: Why is there such a lack of trust in this machine?"

The doll-like Core Girl slowly crawled to Lu Xingyao's feet, playing the tune of "Erquan Yingyue" while reaching out to touch her slippers.

"Excitement: This unit is combat sword spirit number 009, manufactured by the giant Xiandao enterprise Taiqing Heavy Industries. It has been authenticated with you. Please use me, Admiral!"

"Why would something that maintained a consistent sci-fi art style until now call itself Blade & Soul...?"

Bai Ze found it hard to believe that this thing could have come from a place resembling a fantasy film set!

"How do I use it?" Lu Xingyao wasn't as nervous as before, and poked the doll on the ground to ask.

Hint: Please design the transformation dialogue.

"There's even a part that's this enjoyable...and troublesome!"

She clearly meant to say it felt great.

Lu Xingyao cleared her throat and raised one hand: "Darker than dusk, redder than blood, appear in the flow of time..."

"Irritability: omitted, getting dressed begins."

A bright green halo unfolded above the core doll's head, melting it into a liquid state and reshaping it into a rhomboid metal block.

Bai Ze remembered that it was something that Lin Tingwan had hit and sent flying, using it as a speed bump.

But now, with the support of a massive amount of magic from the witch, its form has also changed.

Several emerald-green short swords were drawn from the edge and swirled around Lu Xingyao like swimming fish.

The remaining part transformed into an oriental-style palace dress, with a brightly colored skirt that spread out like a peacock's tail feathers. When she stood up, it closed up again, like a blooming flower closing into a bud.

If Miss Core had appeared like this from the beginning, Bai Ze might have believed she was a sword spirit from another world.

"Joy: This machine senses it! Such immense power! It's comparable to a battleship engine! Let's begin our rebellion against this person and launch a great evangelism campaign throughout the world!"

The core puppet floated in mid-air as a holographic image, delivering a passionate speech.

Is "great preaching" synonymous with their world-conquering wars?

"No way!"

Lu Xingyao completely rejected her lofty ambitions.

So she lowered her head and obediently knelt down in the air.

"Please forgive me: What I just did was a friendly gesture imitating a human's joke. Please don't take it as a declaration of war."

Bai Ze ignored her and asked his junior directly, "How are you? Is there anything you can't control or any other discomfort?"

"In excellent condition."

The girl waved her hand, and a jade dagger that had been circling around her flew to her side at her will.

"I think it could be used as a drone..."

"Then don't practice it in your bedroom."

After confirming that relying on the core girl's combination could enhance Lu Xingyao's combat power, Bai Ze breathed a sigh of relief.

This is not only about her safety, but also about how to slow down the witch transformation process.

He has discovered that daily negative emotions are difficult to accumulate quickly, but if he were to learn from Lin Tingwan's methods and beat up his junior... it probably wouldn't work either.

Lu Xingyao was aware of her lack of combat ability, so even if she lost the battle, she probably wouldn't feel any sense of defeat; she might feel more inexplicably aggrieved.

But now she also experiences the exhilarating feeling of improved combat power, and in the future she can legitimately use the guise of accompanying training to give him a good beating!

Can I quickly rack up victory points by coordinating with the friendly witch like this?

Although it's highly unlikely to work, it's still worth a try.

"Senior, why don't we test it in real combat?"

Lu Xingyao tugged at his sleeve, momentarily interrupting Bai Ze's thoughts.

"I know of an anomaly that even the Bureau of Spirit Disasters hasn't recorded, and it's active in Fuyuna City."

She suddenly suggested.

As a witch with an all-around talent for divination, Lu Xingyao has been preparing to ensure her safety ever since she came into contact with the abnormal world.

This shows that although she has chuunibyou (middle school syndrome), she is not stupid.

However, lacking in combat power, her strategy was to gather as much information as possible about any unusual activity that might occur in Fuyuna, thus ensuring she could perfectly avoid danger.

Like a rabbit cautiously listening for any sounds near its burrow.

Because of her superior abilities, she even knows about some anomalies that are not under the control of the Bureau of Spirit Disasters for special reasons.

"I call it the phenomenon of the hero's return."

Lu Xingyao held up her smartphone, which had a webpage open, in front of Bai Ze.

The photo above shows a small alley with telephone poles blending into the background and blurry lighting. A figure stands in the alley, dressed in leather armor as if attending a cosplay convention, and appears to have a Western two-handed sword at his waist.

"It was originally just an urban legend that someone saw a madman in this alley who claimed to have been summoned as a hero in another world and had finally defeated the Demon King and returned. The madman was even stabbed by the madman. Even the Bureau of Spirit Disasters investigated and concluded that it was a fabricated lie. The poster was just a random victim of a role-playing game."

The girl puffed out her chest triumphantly, "But I know it's true."

"The person in the photo does exist, and the appearance of the 'Hero' changes each time. Moreover, he vanishes without a trace once he steps out of the alley, so it is a relatively harmless phenomenon-type anomaly."

There are actually exceptions like this.

Bai Ze thought of a question: "Wait, is this a case of someone actually traveling back from another time, or is it an unusual random capture of people who were implanted with false memories, or is it simply the creation of humanoid NPCs?"

"So let's go investigate the scene! And test my current combat capabilities while we're at it!"

She argued, "Based on the information I've gathered, even if there's danger, running out of the alley will avoid it!"

To be honest, since he himself was a time traveler—or at least had the self-awareness that he was a time traveler—Bai Ze was very interested in this anomaly.

So he quickly made up his mind.

"Let's solve this 'Return of the Hero' phenomenon!"