330: Handsome for Only Three Seconds

Thinking back to the battlefield he had seen in the mirror sea of Dongyun City, Lin Lan let out a silent chuckle.

Splitting steel warships and Gundams with bare hands, assassinating in silence from the shadows, and wielding strikes of sword energy and physical power that could suspend bodies midair...

Those Limiters really were like cultivators straight out of a fantasy novel—proving once again that the Natlan Empire was far from a mere feudal dynasty like ancient Dragon Empery.

He shook his head, deciding to set those thoughts aside for now.

After all, in order to bring back his shipgirls from each faction, he might end up having to travel to all of them anyway.

Soon, Lin Lan discovered a stroke of good luck: atop the wooden desk in the spacious study decorated in a Dragon Empery style, there just happened to be a set of traditional Dragon Empery writing tools—brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

"Whoa, this saves me a ton of trouble."

Lin Lan walked quickly over to the desk, his face lighting up with delight at the sight of the genuine Four Treasures of the Study.

He had been worried that the villa's study might not have paper or pens, and that he wouldn't be able to draw talismans for Anchorage.

Back in the Ironblood faction, he'd had the jack-of-all-trades little merchant Akashi by his side, like a portable magic warehouse. He'd gotten used to asking her for anything he needed.

But now he realized—he'd have to find a way to get his own portable storage item, like the ones used in the shipgirls' rigging cabins.

It didn't need to be large—just big enough to hold some daily essentials like weapons or hero gear.

He hadn't had time to ask Bismarck while in the Ironblood faction, but now he was in the Eagle Union, which had the deepest understanding of cube technology.

Tomorrow, he'd go ask Little Sara and New Jersey whether the Eagle Union had developed something with similar functionality.

"Commander, are you about to show us your calligraphy skills?"

The little chibi Gridley, true to her role as the port's little reporter from the Eagle Union, instantly recognized the writing tools thanks to her frequent attendance at Dragon Empery cultural events and teased Lin Lan.

Hearing her remark, Lin Lan gave a mysterious smile and turned to the three Eagle Union shipgirls who had followed him.

"Calligraphy? Even better. I'm going to show you something far more exciting."

"Why don't you relax on the sofa by the tea table for now and wait for your gift."

With that, Lin Lan confidently pulled out the chair from beneath the desk and sat down.

As someone from Dragon Empery, it was like muscle memory—he instinctively knew how to use the Four Treasures of the Study.

Although Lin Lan had never formally studied calligraphy in the first half of his life, he'd seen enough short videos to know how the traditional tools were used.

He picked up a teapot from the desk and dripped some cool boiled water onto the purple inkstone. 

Then, he grabbed the black ink stick and began grinding the ink, adding a few drops of water occasionally to maintain the right consistency.

Two minutes later, once the ink looked ready, Lin Lan spread out a beige calligraphy mat across the desk, cut thin strips of xuan paper into talisman shapes, filled a bowl of water from the teapot, soaked the tip of a brush, and began dipping it into the ink to draw the talismans.

His series of smooth, practiced motions genuinely impressed the three Eagle Union shipgirls watching from the sofa.

"As expected of a Dragon Empery native, the way the Commander moves his brush looks exactly like Sister Yixian."

The three girls sat watching Lin Lan's focused back as he drew the talismans. Gridley whispered with admiration.

"Teacher, amazing. Gift—looking forward to it," Anchorage said with a wide-eyed look of awe, resting her chin in her little hands and lowering her voice so as not to disturb him.

"We should totally take a picture when he's done," Gridley added. "But gotta wait till he finishes…"

Naturally, Lin Lan overheard the girls' whispers.

He couldn't help but smile to himself. 

This wasn't really calligraphy—he was just taking advantage of the fact that these three Eagle Union girls had no idea what they were looking at.

If any of his Dragon Empery shipgirls were here, they'd probably nitpick every stroke.

Still, Lin Lan thought to himself that when he reunited with the Dragon Empery shipgirls, he really would love to learn more about calligraphy and other traditional arts from them.

While he was missing his family of Dragon Empery shipgirls, his hands didn't stop moving.

Before long, he had drawn ten ice-binding talismans onto the strips of paper.

"Done!"

After cleaning up the brush and ink, Lin Lan stood up with a smile, admiring the talismans he'd created.

Admittedly, they were kind of ugly, and he had no idea what kind of ancient Liaozhou script the symbols were supposed to be. 

Plus, the xuan paper wasn't even the standard yellow talisman paper used in Liaozhou.

But none of that mattered. As long as the patterns were drawn, the talismans would work.

Seeing him stand up, the three Eagle Union girls quickly gathered around expectantly.

"Commander, this is the 'gift' you mentioned?"

Gridley, already holding up her camera, looked at the talismans on the desk, her lake-blue eyes full of doubt.

It wasn't that she looked down on his calligraphy skills. It was just… the Commander had hyped it up so much, and all she saw were what looked like scribbled paper charms.

The gap between expectation and reality was a little too much for the little chibi.

Seeing the confusion on her face, Lin Lan smiled and patted her head.

"Don't underestimate these talismans... Uh, do any of you have a lighter?"

The three girls looked at each other, then all shook their heads.

"No one? Then let's head to the kitchen—I'll show you what these really do."

It made sense that the girls didn't carry lighters. He certainly couldn't ask them to summon their rigging indoors just for fire.

Since he had already quit smoking, he didn't carry a lighter anymore either.

But he quickly remembered where to find fire. Grabbing one of the freshly drawn talismans, he confidently led the way out of the study.

Passing through the hallway to the kitchen, Lin Lan found only Hammann there, chopping vegetables by the gas stove. 

A pot of boiling water simmered on the burner. Maury was nowhere to be seen.

"Hammann, where's Maury?"

Seeing the tsundere white-haired catgirl in a white apron all alone, Lin Lan asked curiously.

"Obviously at the convenience store buying groceries! Dummy Commander, what do you think we're supposed to eat without any ingredients?!"

The cute little chef slammed her knife down and puffed up her cheeks angrily.

"Right, good point," Lin Lan said, scratching his head with an embarrassed laugh. The kitchen had all the tools—but fresh food still needed to be bought.

Seeing the burner still aflame, Lin Lan didn't hesitate. He turned to Hammann and said:

"Hammann, step back a bit. Let me show you how powerful this talisman really is."

"Talisman?"

Though clearly puzzled, Hammann obeyed and stepped back to stand beside Eldridge.

Lin Lan, full of confidence, walked up to the stove, moved the boiling pot aside, and held the talisman to the flame.

Then he turned to the girls, grinning.

"Now, behold the miracle…"

"Wait—why is it burning so fast? Oh crap!"

The xuan paper in his hand caught fire instantly, the flames racing up faster than expected.

Even the ink couldn't slow the blaze.

Lin Lan realized what had happened in a flash—

The paper was too thin!

Caught off guard, he instinctively tossed the burning talisman to the floor. He had barely sighed in relief when—bam.

The ice-binding talisman burned out and instantly unleashed the ancient Liaozhou elemental power stored within it.

CRACK!

A torrent of ice energy erupted, freezing Lin Lan and the surrounding air in an instant—encasing him in a giant block of solid ice.

All of it happened in the blink of an eye.

Lin Lan, frozen solid in the block, still had a look of shocked disbelief etched on his face. The four Eagle Union shipgirls stared, equally stunned.

"C-Commander!!!"

"Teacher!"

Enterprise, fresh from the shower, had just come down the stairs beside the living room, dressed in a white tank top and short shorts from her rigging cabin. 

She was still brushing out her damp silver hair with both hands.

Wondering where everyone had gone, she suddenly heard Hammann and the others screaming from the kitchen.

"Commander? Under attack?!"

Enterprise froze, horrified. The Commander had been ambushed right under her nose?!

Had a Siren snuck onto the artificial island?

Was it that damn Observer again…?

The tall, silver-haired Eagle Union onee-san instantly pieced it all together, her expression darkening.

With a quick flip, she leapt from the stairs and sprinted toward the screams.

"Where's the enemy? Comman—der…?"

She burst into the kitchen, already preparing to summon her longbow rigging.

But her words died mid-sentence, and her tone shifted to stunned confusion.

Before her eyes, Anchorage, Hammann, Gridley, and Eldridge were all whacking a massive chunk of ice in the center of the kitchen with whatever cookware they could find.

Inside the giant block, still frozen in shock, was none other than the Commander.

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