Chapter 721: Nina’s Date

During his off-day with Selene and Yara, Moon kept checking on Honeybun within his beast taming space. The little turtle remained off-grid, still locked in its deep slumber, its consciousness somewhere far away in the vast River of Paths with no change in his condition.

Moon told himself patience was the only option, though the curiosity gnawed at him.

By evening, a yawn finally caught up with him.

Moon excused himself and headed to his bedroom to sleep. Although sleep was barely needed at his current prowess, it was still something he enjoyed to do, and it did help him mentally, even if it was just an hour or two of sleep.

The others called it a night as well, switching off the television and drifting toward their own rooms to rest after the long day.

In his room, Moon stretched out on his king-size bed, ready to let sleep take him, when his phone buzzed on the nightstand.

He cracked one eye open and reached for it.

"Nina," he murmured, reading the contact and the two messages waiting there.

Nina:

"Hey, I hope I’m not disturbing your sleep (●’◡’●)"

"I was wondering if you were free tomorrow for dinner... I wanted to get your advice on something :O"

Moon read the messages, then typed his reply.

"I was actually planning to head back to the Second Sanctuary tomorrow. If you’re in New Avalon, though, we could meet today instead. My place is in Zone C."

The response came quickly.

Nina:

"Yes! I’m not far, we can meet up! Do you want to eat at The Peaceful Gourmet? I heard it’s really good. What do you think?"

"Sure. I’ve been there a few times, it’s a good resturant."

"Great! I’ll be there in fifteen minutes."

Moon reacted to her last message, then rolled off the bed. He changed out of his sleep clothes into something presentable, and headed out, the front door clicking shut behind him.

A few moments later, Selene’s bedroom door opened.

She stepped out into the quiet hallway, her eyes settling on the front door Moon had just left through. She stood there for a long moment, still, her expression unreadable in the dim light.

Then, without a word, she turned, went back into her room, and closed the door softly behind her.

Moon arrived at the restaurant and was greeted the moment he stepped through the doors, staff recognizing him instantly and moving to escort him toward the VIP area. They offered him a private room, but he shook his head and asked instead for a table for two on the highest floor, one with a view of the entire zone.

The worker led him to a prime seat by the window, the city lights of Zone C spread out below, and handed him a menu before stepping back to wait attentively beside the table, ready to take his order the moment he wanted.

Moon gave the menu a quick glance, mentally settling on his meal, then set it down to wait for Nina.

A few minutes later, another worker escorted Nina up to the table.

"Sorry, did I keep you waiting?" she asked, sliding into the seat across from him.

"Not at all. You’re right on time."

They exchanged easy greetings, and Moon gestured to the menu.

"What would you like? Order whatever you want, it’s on me."

They placed their orders, and once the waiter collected the menus and stepped away, Moon leaned back and looked at her.

"So. Tell me, what you need help with?"

Nina’s confident demeanor faltered, a hint of shyness creeping in. She fidgeted with her napkin for a second before answering.

"I need help with... swordsmanship."

Moon’s brows rose, and a chuckle escaped him.

"You’re asking a mage to help you with swordsmanship?"

Nina rolled her eyes, her cheeks coloring. "Don’t tease me! You know exactly how strong your sword skills are. I don’t need to spell it out for you. Everyone saw what you did in that gate."

"True," Moon conceded with a nod. "But why? You’ve got a knight class. It teaches you swordsmanship and everything that comes with it. And once you reach Surpasser, your understanding will deepen on its own, and you’ll gain new skills to go with it. Why not just wait for that?"

"I know that’s how it’s supposed to work." Nina sighed. "But Surpasser is still a long way off. I haven’t gotten my hands on a Sacred-tier spirit art yet, and I still haven’t filled all fifty of my acupoints. I’ve got a little under ten left. It’ll be a while before I break through, and I don’t want to just sit and wait until then. I want to get better now, and there’s no one better to learn from than you."

Moon considered it. "I’m sympathetic to that. But I’m busy most of the time, and I spend most of it in the Second Sanctuary. The problem is I’m stuck where I am right now. I can’t exactly travel out to see you regularly."

"Then I’ll come to you!" Nina’s eyes sparkled at the fact that he hadn’t outright refused.

"You can’t do that either." Moon shook his head. "I got placed on a floating island for my Second Sanctuary spawn. I don’t even know where it is geographically. There’s no way to route you there. It’s really troublesome."

At the phrase floating island, Nina’s shoulders sank slightly, and she sighed.

"That is indeed quite troublesome. Okay, what about on Earth, then? Just an hour or two a week, whenever you’re back or free. And I’ll pay you for your time!"

"Pay me?" Moon asked, amused. "With what, exactly?"

Her cheeks flushed again. "Money? Items? I don’t know, whatever you want. Name your price."

"I already have plenty of money and plenty of items. Unless it’s something that can’t be bought with money, I don’t really need it."

"True..." Nina’s excitement deflated as she realized how little leverage she had. There wasn’t much she could offer a fighter who had just walked out of a gate with hundreds of millions and a Surpasser-tier Beast Soul.

She stared down at the table, looking really dejected.

Moon watched her for a moment, then smirked.

"Why do you look so down? Although I said I don’t need money, I never said no."

Her head snapped up, her eyes lighting up.

"Really?"

"Yes, really." He laughed.