What's the Point of Clothes?

Lin ke looked at her. "So? Where is this teleportation array? How am I supposed to fix it when I don't know a single thing about it?"

'It's alright! I will tell you what the problem is, and it's not a big problem at all!" Lily explained. "Due to the location of this array, and the fact that arrays require a lot of energy, this array was created with that in mind. It draws in the world energy in order to function. However, because this teleportation array is slightly far away from human settlements, it wasn't used often, resulting in the part of the array responsible for drawing in the energy getting… old. So all you have to do is make a new component for the array!"

Lin Ke starts to get confused. "Okay, but how am I supposed to make the new component? I'm not an engineer, I'm an artist."

"Well… You have to be more than just that, you must learn more! Creation is also a form of art!" Lily says philosophically. "Plus, once you get further in this world, you'll learn that there is much more to being an artist, that sometimes, a mere piece of art can be a hidden weapon more powerful than a blade."

Lin Ke nods. Sure, what Lily said was in fact true. After all, he had already seen proof of that multiple times today. Master Sal had managed to lock him up in a painting, fight with his brush, amongst other things. "I suppose you're right."

"Then it's decided, you can begin trying tomorrow. For today, you should just rest up. From tomorrow onward, I will teach you about Runic Inscriptions… The lowest Tier."

As Lily said that, she was in the process of hanging up her drawing. From out of nowhere, she pulled out a hammer and nails, and began to hammer the nail into the cave wall. Then, attaching a string to the top of the painting, she hangs it up to display it in all its glory.

"Look! You all must bow three times to me everyday!" Lily exclaimed.

"Fat chance!" Lin Ke yelled back. "How about you take a bath first?"

"No way! I'm not getting myself wet!" Lily cried.

Lia, who was watching their banter while laughing quietly, suddenly remembered something. "Lily? If you can set up teleportation arrays, can you also teleport items?"

Lily tears her eyes away from her portrait and looks over at Lia. "Yeah, I can, why?"

"Well… Could you please get me my wardrobe…?" She sheepishly asks while blushing. "It's really awkward to… be wearing so little…"

Lin Ke had subconsciously forgotten that Lia was only wearing his shirt and panties, without anything else on, or might have just gotten used to it, nobody knows. However, at her mention, Lin Ke couldn't help take a quick glance at her before quickly averting his eyes.

Lily looks at blushing Lia and with a devilish expression on her face, says "Hehe? What's the point of clothes? They just get in the way anyways. Plus, I'm pretty sure our boy Lin Ke over here likes you better without them."

"Haaaa?" Lin Ke exclaims. "Wh-wh-what are you saying Lily?" He feels his face heat up. "I don't like her more just because she's not wearing much!"

"Ohh? Really now? So you're saying that she's not attractive enough to arouse you?" Lily continues.

"No! I didn't say that! That's not what I meant! She IS really attract-" Lin Ke blurts out in panic. He quickly stops himself and glances over at Lia to see her reaction. However, Lia was currently huddled up in a corner of the cave, with her head buried in her face. Her long hair fanned out around her, the ends lying on the ground.

"Wh-whwhwhwh… I…" was all Lin Ke could make out.

"Lily! Look what you did. Hurry up and get her her wardrobe!" Lin Ke berates, taking this opportunity to change the subject a little.

Lily hesitates and thinks about it… "Hmmm… I'm really not supposed to but… I guess she did paint me this beautiful self-portrait so I should pay her back…Fine, give me a minute or two." Lily says, walking to one side of the cave.

Meanwhile, Lin Ke walks over to the curled up Lia, and awkwardly stands there for a moment, not knowing what to do. "Ermm. Are you okay?" Lin Ke asks slowly. "I'm sorry about that. Lily's insensitive sometimes."

Lia peeks at Lin Ke with one eye. "Mm Mkay." She said. Her voice was slightly muffled by her positioning.

"What?" Lin Ke asks, not sure what she said.

Lia raises her head a little, and says clearly, "I'm okay." Her face was extremely red and was trying hard not to look at Lin Ke. She immediately buries her face into her shell again.

Awkwardly, the two stay there, not knowing what to say next, until, thankfully, Lily interrupts them. "I'm done." She says.

Lin Ke and Lia both glanced over, and to their utmost shock, the entire cave was different. Instead of a cold empty cave with lights hanging from the ceiling, it had completely become a room in a way. There was a rug on the ground, chairs, a sofa, Lia's wardrobe, a table and a bed. All the items matched in color and design. They were all made from a light white-stained wood, and were all perfectly carved.

Lin Ke and Lia both stare around the "room" completely dumbfounded. Lin Ke glanced down at Lia, guessing that all this furniture was probably hers. Lia stood up and walked over to the wardrobe and opened it. Inside it was a large amount of different clothes, underwear, and other things, all neatly sorted, with some folded up, and others hanging up on racks.. She reaches under a stack of folded clothes and pulls out a small silver ring with a purple gem on top. She slips it onto her right middle finger and then turns around towards Lin Ke.

"Could you turn around for a moment? I want to get changed." She says shyly. Lin Ke nods and turns around to face the wall.

"Don't peek okay?" Lia adds.

'Easier said than done!' Lin Ke thought to himself. As he heard the shuffling of clothes behind him, he was tempted to sneak a peek, but held it in.

Meanwhile, at the ruins of the former Quinn Estate, there were a few shadowy figures lurking around its perimeter. Suddenly, from seemingly out of nowhere, a man in a red cape appears in front of one of the figures.

The shadowy figure bows to the man in the fiery red cape. "Elder."

The red caped man nods. "You said you felt a large scale spatial fluctuation."

The figure answers, "Yes, I did. It was a similar signature to the one earlier, and when we investigated, we found that all the items in the room of the Blessed Child of the Artifex family were gone."

"Do you know the location of the other end of the spatial tunnel?"

The figure shakes his head. "No, we couldn't. The signature was unreadable and unlike anything we've ever seen before…"

The man in the red cape frowns. "We need to find them. That damn kid with the cat. When I find them, I'll let them know… The true meaning of hell."