Chapter Forty-Seven: [Vortex Music]

“If you have no family, the Black Demon Hound’s first ability will affect you directly,” Camille continued anxiously. She felt that encountering a Black Demon Hound at this stage was an extremely frightening prospect.

“Mm. That isn’t something we need to worry about too much. The academy should put a hood over its head,” Xia Xiu said, stroking his chin.

Camille gave Xia Xiu a serious look, then sighed and reached out to click the authorization box.

After all, Camille was merely Xia Xiu’s guild leader and friend. That relationship meant she could only offer advice as a friend. Taking harsher measures would exceed the bounds of what a friend had the right to interfere in, and would only drive a wedge between them.

“Thanks,” Xia Xiu said with a smile. His gratitude was not only for Camille’s authorization, but also for her concern.

“Be careful,” Camille said worriedly.

“Haha, don’t worry.”

After Xia Xiu accepted the Black Demon Hound mission, the members spent the remaining time discussing what equipment they should eventually add to the dimensional interlayer.

At Camille’s suggestion, the club members decided that, in the future, they would each contribute part of their academic credits toward establishing a common club fund.

The fund would be managed by the club leader. The members had to be informed of every transaction involving the fund, and they had the right to use the money as well as question the purpose of any expenditure.

The meeting lasted for more than an hour.

“Well, let’s end today’s meeting here. I’ll get the necessary credentials approved as soon as possible. In the meantime, you can all accept a few missions yourselves...” Camille pushed up her glasses and announced the end of the meeting.

“Of course, I still think everyone would be better off accepting some ordinary missions.” Camille glanced at Xia Xiu, who was grinning mischievously, and continued, “I’ve already authorized everyone to enter the dimensional interlayer. You no longer need a token; you may come and go freely.”

“Ah! It’s finally over.” Ushas stretched lazily.

“Then the meeting is adjourned. Everyone may go home.”

With Camille’s announcement, the club members began leaving one after another.

Camille followed Ushas toward Three Portlands’ commercial district. After bidding farewell to everyone, the ghost Lifenel flew toward the Deer College dormitories. That left only the traveling frog Muji and Xia Xiu at the scene.

“Care for a drink?” Xia Xiu asked with a smile as Muji stood awkwardly before him.

“Ribbit... I’d be honored.”

Muji hesitated, then nodded. He happened to have something he wanted to discuss with Xia Xiu.

...

Three Portlands, Prometheus Plaza, Block 44.

An open-air restaurant.

“Hey, brother. Here’s your extra-large iced energy drink, and here’s one for your frog friend.” Quinn, a green velociraptor dressed in a brightly tie-dyed shirt and bell-bottom trousers, with several flowers tied around his head, carried over two bottles of fizzy iced energy drink and set them before Xia Xiu and Muji.

“Thanks. What style of music is today’s band playing?” Xia Xiu asked Quinn.

“Oh, they’re a rhythm band made up of lizardfolk. No lead singer. What matters to them is the coordination between their instruments. If you think they play well, leave them a tip. It isn’t easy running a band these days,” Quinn explained.

“If they’re good, I certainly won’t be stingy with my wallet,” Xia Xiu said with a smile.

“Hey, brother, I like your generous spirit.” Quinn split open his mouth, exposing a row of sharp teeth, and grinned.

The traveling frog Muji watched their cheerful exchange with an odd expression. Unless he was mistaken, the velociraptor before him had a ninety-nine percent chance of being a member of Vortex Music.

And now, the scion of the Heavenly Lineage who had driven Vortex Music into hiding, preventing it from appearing on Terra’s primary plane, was chatting and laughing with one of its members as though they were old friends.

Was this world truly so insane?

After exchanging a few more words with Xia Xiu, Quinn happily wagged his tail and left.

“Do you find it strange?” Xia Xiu picked up his fizzy energy drink and took a long sip through the straw. He then addressed the stunned Muji in a leisurely tone.

At that moment, a band consisting of four lizardfolk began to play. Their rhythmic music flowed into the ears of every listener present. It seemed almost magical. Whenever the beats and notes leaped into a furious rhythm, Muji could feel his own senses pulsing along with them.

“They’re all members of Vortex Music, and you...” Muji stared in confusion at the blond youth lounging in his seat, listening to the music while drinking his beverage.

“Vortex Music is a small anomalous organization formed around the philosophy of Terra’s musical giant, the King of Cats. It cares nothing for race or social status, only for the love of music. The music performed by its members invariably possesses some kind of meme effect. The most common is sensory resonance, just like what this band is producing.”

When the music reached its first climax, Xia Xiu narrowed his eyes and savored part of the pleasure brought by the sensory resonance. He continued carelessly:

“You see, this kind of sensory enjoyment is similar to a meme drug, except that it doesn’t have the aftereffects of one. That was why Vortex Music spread throughout every country alongside Terra’s medieval technological explosion. Its enthusiasts could be found everywhere among the common people.”

“Did Heaven try to stop it back then? No. The pursuit of pleasure is the nature of all highly intelligent species!”

“Unfortunately, they went too far. At the Stoker Music Festival, they recklessly played highly contaminating meme music. In a vast plaza filled with one hundred and fifty thousand people, every member of the audience underwent collective demonic degeneration and mutation. The subsequent investigation revealed that it had been caused by a band devoted to an evil god. There had been one hundred and thirty-four bands performing at the festival.”

With the straw between his lips, Xia Xiu lazily took another sip of his energy drink.

“A failure rate of one in a hundred and thirty-four, yet the consequences were so catastrophic.

“The Cathedral Council’s solution at the time was to cut everything off at the root. Innocent or not, everyone was expelled from Terra’s primary plane. Anyone who dared touch Vortex Music was put to the sword.”

“That decision was far too arbitrary. The other supernatural factions cursed Heaven for a long time afterward, and some of them are still cursing it now.”

Hearing the unmistakable note of complaint in Xia Xiu’s voice, Muji ventured, “So you disapprove of the Cathedral Council’s decision?”

“No. You misunderstand. I support what they decided back then.” Xia Xiu shook his head.

“But it would be a shame to destroy all of this. It’s better kept in a supernatural district like Three Portlands. Leaving it in the mundane world would be too dangerous. Oh, and Quinn—the velociraptor—doesn’t know that I’m from Heaven. Don’t tell him. I have no desire to eat roasted dinosaur.”

Xia Xiu finished the last sip of his energy drink and placed the cup on the table. At that moment, the music stopped as well.

“The reason I’ve told you all this is simply to make one point clear: I’m not quite like those old fossils. I know how to be flexible...” Xia Xiu spoke to the traveling frog Muji with deliberate emphasis.

“...Ribbit!?”

Muji’s expression changed as he looked at the blond youth before him. The next sentence made him even more terrified.

“Oh, you can safely give a recording of this conversation to your elders. Don’t worry—I won’t charge you a royalty fee.”