Chapter 122 - Luna's Gate Clear

Luna stared at the purple potion in her hand with an expressionless face. The second she had pulled it out of her bag and everyone looked at her, she knew that it was already too late.

Everyone else had likely already pulled up the description.

The gears in Luna’s mind started to turn at maximum speed. Was there anything she could do to skirt on past this situation?

Probably not.

She blinked once, twice, and then silently put the potion back in her bag without changing expression.

Not a single word was spoken for a good ten seconds.

Mary’s face flushed red and she stared down at the table. She felt awkward, since she was the one who brought up seeing it.

“U-Um…S-Sorry…” Mary quietly mumbled.

“Pfft!” Suddenly, Martin burst out laughing, “Bahahaha!”

“Do you…Do you know the Little Bomber, Ms. Luna?” Water asked.

“Does she know the Little Bomber!?” Martin rhetorically asked, “I’m thinking they know each other very well! Hahaha!” He belly-laughed.

“Are her potions as delicious as rumored?” Amelia asked.

“Hey! Hey! What ever happened to that bouncy ball! I need answers!” Larry said.

“Yeah! I need to know too!”

“Hey, she won’t blow us up, right?”

Suddenly, the meeting that was dying down reignited like gasoline to a flame. As she was bombarded with questions, Luna sat there in silence.

Though outwardly calm, Luna was screaming internally. She had just been cruising through the gate meeting as usual and it didn’t even click in her mind that her potions all had strange descriptions until it was too late!

After over a dozen questions were thrown at her, Luna finally opened her mouth to speak.

“I think that we’re done here?” She asked with a steady tone.

“Right! Everyone,” Jean took the chance to stand up, “We’re all busy people, we can talk more after tomorrow’s gate clear. I think we’ve had quite a successful meeting today.”

Luna internally thanked Jean, there’s a good reason she was the party leader!

“So soon!? We were just getting to the interesting part!” Martin said.

“Yeah, we’ve already been here for over an hour; I’m sure everyone has some last minute preps they need to make now.” Jean said, “Let’s all try to meet at the gate an hour before the designated time.” She clapped, “Meeting over!”

As soon as Jean said those words, Luna stood up and quickly exited the restaurant without a second thought. Before anyone even noticed she had vanished, she was in her car.

Luna shut the door and bowed her head on her clasped hands and closed her eyes.

After a moment of silence.

“WAHHHH!” She screamed, her face turning bright red.

…

Luna arrived home, sighing as she entered the apartment. Immediately, she smelt the familiar scent of strawberries in the air.

That brightened her mood.

Stella was in front of her cauldron, brewing some type of potion. She seemed focused, so, Luna didn’t bother her just yet.

But! Let it be known! She was 100% going to whine to her! It was so embarrassing when she pulled out that potion! All she wanted to do at that moment was crawl in a hole and bury herself!

So, Luna took a seat on the couch and stared at Stella, waiting for her to finish her potions.

…

After around an hour, Luna saw Stella starting to bottle the liquid. She didn’t have the new bottles yet as Adam was still making them.

Immediately, she stood up and angrily(?) approached Stella.

Stella heard the footsteps and flinched, turning to see a pouting Luna. She knew it was wrong, but her mind immediately thought that Luna looked adorable.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Luna crossed her arms and glared at Stella with a pouting lip as she stood in front of her, not saying a word.

“You’re back?” Stella asked cutely, hugging Luna, “How was the meeting?” She smiled.

Hearing her voice, Luna instantly felt a little better, but, she wouldn’t show it yet.

“You…!” Luna started trying her hardest to sound angry, though, to Stella’s ears it sounded like Luna was just pouting, “You actually made the antidote’s name so embarrassing!”

“The antidote…?” Stella said before she remembered. In only half a second, everything clicked into place, in her mind, she was already imagining the looks Luna got when she showed her antidote. And thinking of that, she couldn’t keep a steady face, she burst out laughing, “Bahahaha!”

Stella clutched her stomach and continued to laugh. At some point, physical tears were rolling down her cheeks and she became out of breath.

“It’s not funny!” Luna shouted.

“Bahahaha!” Stella obviously didn’t agree with Luna’s statement and laughed until it hurt.

All Luna could do was sit there and glare at her partner with a pout.

…

Even after Stella finally cooled down, Luna was still in a pouty mood. So, Stella embraced her and gave her plenty of kisses.

“Hmph…” Luna definitely felt way better now, but, she wouldn’t let Stella off so easily, “I want steak today.” She said.

“Okay~ I’ll make it happen. Is a New York strip good?”

“…Two!”

“Fine, you glutton, I’ll make you two, happy?” Stella smiled.

“Hm…” Luna still felt a little reluctant. She felt like she could get more from this deal, so, she lifted her chin slightly, jutted her lips and stared at Stella expectantly.

“Hehe~” Stella giggled and leaned in, “Mwah!”

Finally, Luna smiled.

“…One more?” She asked.

“Mwah!” Stella obliged and then asked, “So, how was the meeting?”

“Other then the ending, it was fine. Nothing unusual I guess.” Luna shrugged.

“Got it,” Stella nodded, “And do you need any more potions?”

“Um…I don’t think so. I’ll be fine.”

“Okie~”

“What potions did you make?” Luna asked, looking at the half-filled cauldron.

“Still just the same old low-tier mana potions. They’re my most profitable at the moment.” She said, “Want a sample?” She asked, lifting a small amount out of the cauldron with external mana.

“Just a sip then…” Luna said, licking her lips.

Stella nodded and brought the cup to Luna’s lips.

The delectable sweet taste of the potion danced on Luna’s tongue.

“…Another?”

“Pfft, alright.”

After a few more samples, Luna finally decided she should stop.

“You’re getting better at projecting mana.” Luna commented.

“Hehe, thanks, it’s really useful.” Stella smiled.

“I bet,” Luna nodded, “Alright, I’ll leave you be for now. I’ll be on the computer if you need me.”

“Okay~ Have fun, I’ll be here, brewing potions.” Stella said and hugged Luna.

Luna returned the hug before heading to the bedroom.

The best thing she could do was relax and clear her mind before tomorrow’s gate clear. So, she decided to play a sandbox game.

…

The next day, around two hours before the gate clear started, Luna put on her shoes and got prepared to head out.

“Stay safe, okay?” Stella said with complete seriousness as she hugged Luna, “Are you sure you don’t want to keep a dynokali potion on you?”

“I’m okay, thank you, it’d be way more dangerous if I kept it on me.” Luna replied with a smile, “I’ll make sure I don’t get injured.”

“Good.” Stella nodded, “If you come back with even a scratch then I’ll punish you.”

“Punish? How?” Luna tilted her head curiously.

“Hm…I’ll leave it a surprise. But! You definitely won’t like it!”

“Pfft, okay,” Luna nodded, “Then…Do I get a reward if I come back uninjured?”

“Yes!” Stella nodded, “I’ll also leave that as a surprise,” She smiled, “But, you’ll like it a lot.”

“Got it.” Luna smiled.

“When will you be back?” Stella asked.

“I might be back for dinner? I don’t know. It’ll probably take anywhere from six to eight hours to clear the gate.”

“That long? Haah…Alright, then, I’ll be waiting. If I don’t get sleep tonight, it’s your fault!”

“Mhm,” Luna nodded, opening her arms, “Alright, I’m heading out.”

Stella jumped into those arms and the two kissed.

“Come back soon.”

“I’ll try.”

With those words, Luna left and headed to her car.

After the front door shut, Stella stared at it for a few moments and let out a deep breath. Even if Luna was strong and had completed many mid-tier gates before, she couldn’t help but worry.

Honestly, even if Luna was an S-rank or known as the strongest awakener ever, she’d still worry.

And Stella didn’t think that’d ever change.

“Mm…If she’s going to be gone for that long…Then, I guess I might as well get that done with.” Stella mumbled, pulling out her phone.

She sent a text directly to Ashley.

…

Luna arrived at the meeting area. The gate looked like a portal floating in mid-air. The floor directly under the gate had corrupted and mimicked some of the terrain inside the gate, it was stony without a single blade of grass.

Around it were a few association members guarding the entrance. Luna showed them her awakener’s card before approaching the other members of the party; They were casually chatting with each other.

They were just missing Robert, the explorer, and Pearl, the priestess.

When Luna approached the group, Mary and Jean turned to her,

“Hey, Luna! Robert’s on his way and Pearl is just getting some stuff blessed real quick.” Jean said cheerfully, “How’re you feeling about this gate?” she asked.

“Hm? Just normal, I guess.” Luna shrugged.

“Hey! Hey!” Martin said loudly, “Luna, I’ve got to ask, did you bring any bouncy potions?”

That drew everyone else’s attention.

Now that they knew Luna had direct contact with the Little Bomber, they could pester her with questions! Plus, since they were still waiting for party members to arrive, there was no rush!

Luna maintained her expressionless face and shook her head,

“I didn’t. I don’t think they’d be too effective for this gate.”

“Really?” Mary chimed in, curious, “Why not?”

“They only last for five minutes,” Luna answered, “With how large this gate is, it wouldn’t get much use.”

“Oh!”

“Really? Just five minutes?” Jean commented, “I guess that makes sense, it can’t be easy to change properties of things like that.”

After Jean’s comment, Luna realized she had unintentionally shared information about the bouncy bouncy potion that Stella hadn’t yet.

Though, after thinking about it for a moment, Stella likely didn’t care. In fact, she’d probably encourage it just so people got more curious about it.

“So! Ms. Luna,” Mary started, “What happens when applied to the bouncy ball?” She asked.

“…” Luna didn’t reply for a moment. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to answer, but, that she couldn’t.

In fact, Luna herself didn’t know what happened when it was applied to a bouncy ball! The one time she tested out the potions, Stella had a ‘eureka moment’ and distracted Luna!

And after that, she practically forgot about those potions!

Luna made a mental note to ask Stella to let her try out those bouncy potions again when she got home.

“Ah! She probably can’t tell us!” Martin chimed in, “I’d bet that Raccoon asked her not to tell anyone!”

“That makes sense.” Someone said and the others nodded.

“Ms. Luna,” Martin looked at her, “Can I be honest for a moment…”

“Yes?”

“Your girlfriend is a troll! Hahaha!” He belly laughed. He didn’t say it in a disrespectful manner at all, it had admiration in it if anything, “I can’t believe she got the association to tweet that!”

“Oh yeah, that was crazy!” Amelia chimed in.

The conversation continued, most of it being about Stella. Though, Luna didn’t particularly mind. No one was saying anything distasteful and seemed to quite like her. It actually made her feel a little happy that people were saying good things about her girlfriend.

Sometime during the conversation, the last two party members arrive and the mood changed from the casual one they were enjoying to a more serious and focused one.

Everyone looked completely different than usual. They were all in their combat equipment.

Luna herself was wearing full C grade equipment that was easy to maneuver in. Since they didn’t have a porter, she wore a bag on her back, keeping all her potions close to her.

She wore a black leather jacket and white crop-top with a sports bra underneath. Covering her legs were tactical pants with an emergency dagger sheathed at her waist. For shoes, she wore sturdy steel-toed boots. And her main weapon was a retractable staff with good mana conductivity, she kept that attached to her belt, next to her dagger.

“Alright, everyone.” Jean clapped her hands, drawing everyone’s attention, “Anyone not ready? Raise your hand.” She asked.

No one raised their hand.

“Good, then, drink buff potions now.” She said.

Luna drank one of each buff potion she had and smiled.

Even if Stella wasn’t here with her physically, with these potions, it felt like she was at least here spiritually.

[You feel faster; The speed of a cheetah resides within you.]

[You feel stronger; The strength of a gorilla resides within you.]

[You feel tougher; The defense of a turtle resides within you.]

[You feel more focused.]

[You feel more perceptive.]

[You feel more at peace.]

“Now,” Jean started, “Let’s enter.”

One by one, everyone started to enter the gate.