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[Crossover] Ch 111: Golden Wing Flames
🕑 Added 2025-06-24 19:39:41 +0000 UTC— — — — — —
At the [No Name] base, beside the courtyard fountain, under a marble gazebo…
Ryo calmly poured tea from a delicate teapot, his gaze quietly fixed on Karyou's face.
She raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. Her long legs crossed and bounced slightly, the restless motion hinting at some impatience.
Moments later, Karyou finally spoke up. "Tea? What's the point of that? You should be drinking wine! Don't tell me… you're not even of age?"
'Silly... Does she really think drinking alcohol makes her an adult?' Ryo almost laughed out loud at her reaction, but held it back and replied with a straight face: "Sure."
He pulled out a bottle of low-alcohol red wine, along with two glasses, and poured her a drink.
Karyou didn't seem to care how much he poured. She picked up the glass with graceful poise, took a small sip, and set it down with satisfaction. Then she glanced at the freshly brewed tea in Ryo's hand and smirked a little, clearly unimpressed.
'Probably thinks tea is for old people…' Ryo chuckled to himself, then spoke casually:
"You're here to talk about the Canaria, right?"
Based on her attitude so far, Ryo had a decent read on her personality. The trick was to treat her with straightforward respect—like an adult—but also be patient with the bratty side she couldn't quite hide.
"Yeah. If it weren't for Big Sis asking me, I wouldn't have bothered showing up and embarrassing myself."
Karyou replied, then mumbled the second half under her breath like a kid complaining.
Ryo leaned in a little, resting his hand on the table as he asked,
"I heard Lady Canaria was the Great Sage's disciple, your Big Sis?"
"Umm... Only when it comes to martial arts. She barely learned a third of what Big Sis can do."
Karyou took another sip of wine, rested her cheek in one hand, and smiled faintly. "But she's always been more about brains than brawn. Easily one of the smartest people I've ever met."
She paused, then pointed at Ryo with a slightly teasing smile.
"About half a year ago—probably not long after Canaria picked you up—she told me she'd worked out a few training plans for you. She even shared one with me over drinks."
Karyou laughed lightly at the memory.
"It was… quite the interesting plan."
'So that was her play, huh, Canaria? Mentioning me on purpose to get Karyou involved?' Ryo couldn't help but find it amusing.
He was starting to suspect that Canaria hadn't just mentioned a training plan—she'd probably made a bet with Karyou about it.
And now that Karyou brought it up, Ryo knew: the "benefit" Canaria promised was finally arriving.
"What kind of plan could be that funny?" he asked, only half pretending to be curious.
Karyou narrowed her eyes, giving Ryo a once-over, then smiled slyly.
"A plan to teach a human how to use the Golden Wing flame."
Her tone was filled with challenge, practically daring him.
"So? Want to give it a try?"
Golden Wing flame… The racial gift of the legendary Golden-Winged Roc—designed to burn gods, dragons, even souls and existence itself. The flames contained the heat that were equivalent to a miniature sun
The moment he heard it, Ryo recalled everything he knew about it.
And that's when it clicked.
Canaria hadn't told Karyou about a training plan—she'd made a wager.
A bet that Ryo could actually master the Golden Flame.
His eyes widened, barely able to contain his excitement. "If it's possible, of course I want to try!"
"Hmph."
Karyou's lips curled up, her eyes twinkling with amusement.
"But you know… the Divinity made by the Shiroyasha's Sun Authority has way more potential than my Golden Wing flame."
'Canaria probably hyped up the Shiroyasha's power in front of Karyou just to provoke her…' Ryo shrugged and said calmly,
"I think they're both about the same—either way, I'm not sure I can master them."
That made Karyou pause. She nodded.
"Fair enough."
In her eyes, achieving divinity as a Sun God or learning the Golden flames were both incredibly difficult feats. Ryo wasn't wrong—he might not manage either.
She sighed.
"Still, I have no idea where Canaria gets that confidence from."
Her gaze turned a little distant, lost in thought for a moment before snapping back.
Then, raising her right hand, her index finger began to glow—golden, radiant, and divine.
"To be honest, it's not that I don't want to teach you… but the Golden Wing flame is more of a racial trait than just a gift—"
She stopped mid-sentence.
Her eyes landed on Ryo's own right hand—fully transformed, blazing with golden fire.
Karyou suddenly couldn't find her voice.
Ryo, having learned the transformation process through the Hōgyoku, was a little surprised himself.
"That light-speed movement you did earlier—was that by transforming your body into light?"
"Exactly!"
Karyou responded with force, gritting her teeth as she looked him up and down.
"Elevating ordinary 'fire' to 'blazing light' is one of the key breakthroughs a five-digit fire user needs to ascend to four digits. It's when a fragmented authority becomes whole."
To be acknowledged as a four-digit being in Little Garden, a god's spirit, body, and gift all had to reach that level.
And if any of those three aspects far surpassed the standard, they were considered a "five-digit abnormality." A freak like Ryo Yagami.
The strongest faction in the lower levels of Little Garden—the Greek pantheon—had more of these freaks than anyone else.
That's because triple-digit beings aren't allowed to descend to the lower levels unless it's a special situation. They can only influence the human world and the lower realm through proxy wars.
The Greek gods, crafty as they were, bent the rules to personally interfere in the lower levels and human history, raking in massive amounts of faith in the process.
It drove the higher-up gods crazy with jealousy and frustration.
Of course, the Greeks had their own secret techniques for pulling it off.
Similarly, the Golden Wing flame was one of the Golden-Winged Roc tribe's secret methods—used to produce powerful four-digit freaks.
And turning fire into blazing light was a necessary condition for using it.
Karyou looked at Ryo's glowing hand and clenched her teeth.
"Not bad. You're picking it up fast—almost caught up with my ten-year-old self."
Not that she was ten right now—she was over five hundred. But she'd only started researching how to evolve fire into light at age ten.
...
Thinking of that, Karyou forced a smile.
"Anyway, using unconventional means to activate the Golden flame requires a special fire seed. I didn't bring one today, but I'll prep one for you next time."
She wasn't lying—outsiders really did need a fire seed from their tribe to use it.
She just didn't think Ryo would make it this far so soon. She hadn't bothered bringing one, figuring he'd be stuck on the basics for a few decades.
Now she felt kind of embarrassed.
But seriously, how the hell did he learn it so fast? He didn't even have a clue before!
Karyou narrowed her eyes at Ryo, a bad feeling creeping in.
If he actually mastered the Golden Wing flame, her old man might drag her home, smack her around, and then force her to marry him—just to make sure the technique didn't leak.
No one knew her father's mentality better than she did.
Before, she'd been under Big Sis's protection, and there were bigger issues going on—so marriage was off the table.
But now? She'd basically handed him the perfect excuse on a silver platter.
"Damn it. This is a disaster! Is this another one of your schemes, Canaria? No wonder you got exiled!"
Forcing a fake smile, Karyou stood up.
"Nice wine. I'm taking it."
She grabbed the whole bottle, turned to leave, and waved a hand without looking back.
"No need to see me out."
Ryo watched her go, scratching his chin with a thoughtful look.
"She left right when I was just getting the hang of it… What a shame."
Still, since she was gone, there wasn't much more to say. He took a deep breath, adjusted his mindset, and went off to plan the Harvest Festival with Black Rabbit and the others.
.
.
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