Chapter 275: Team Building

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“Even though we’re stuck here for now, at least it’s not boring… Thanks for the content, Sora!” Thirty commented.

“He said we’re only supposed to use this channel for emergencies!” someone else complained.

“What’s the big deal now that he’s out of combat? Newtons, create a tipping and betting system for us to play with!!” Twelve replied quickly.

Sora let out a long sigh as he heard both Minny’s questions and his brothers’ reactions inside the [Soul Palace].

His gut told him, ‘If this kid joins the team, he’s going to get us all killed someday…’

As Tian Long slammed against Minny’s protective barrier with all her strength, Sora replied,
“I can’t go into detail about our partnership, but she’s under no such obligation. She’s simply helping me in the war we’re fighting against the nine foreign kingdoms.”

Minny looked at Tian Long who was still banging on the bubble surrounding him. “Woman, why are you displeased?”

Tian Long spun around and said to Sora, “I don’t want this kid on the team.”

Sora tilted his head. “Seriously?”

Tian Long nodded. “Yes. That brat’ll drive us insane in less than a week.”

She turned to the other two. “Don’t you agree?”

Shade was the first to answer. “Let’s just say he’s not exactly pleasant to listen to…”

Karl ran his finger on his blade before giving his opinion. “At least I’ll have someone to spar with if he runs his mouth too much…”

Sora was about to reply, but Minny panicked and spoke first, “No, no, no, don't reject me! I want to join your group! Please!”

Sora smiled. “In that case, I’ll ask you to stop provoking your future allies — today, and from now on. Until I say otherwise, you’re not allowed to speak to our friends. If you want that restriction lifted, you’ll need to show some maturity and stop picking fights for no reason.”

The Stellar Jinn looked confused by Sora’s words, making Sora sigh before adding, “If you want, we can even give you etiquette lessons. Once you graduate from our little ‘private academy,’ you’ll earn back the right to speak freely. For now, your words are a bit too toxic for your own good.”

The Jinn lowered his head, looking sad as he was being scolded. He answered as politely as he could, “Okay…”

Feeling a bit moved, Sora almost regretted being so harsh. He was about to ease up on the terms, but Tian Long shot him a glare. He coughed, got the Jinn’s attention again, and continued, “Aside from that rule, we’ll need your help for future battles against other World Bosses. We’ll also help you grow stronger and recover your powers. What about you? Do you have any conditions?”

Minny looked up and took a few seconds to think.

“I need his help,” he said, pointing at Shade. “To help Lulu grow, I need his [Umbral Realm].”

Noticing Sora’s confusion, he pointed at his planet and added, “That’s her! That's Lulu! To grow, she needs both darkness and light. Your minion can give me the darkness! If you can find someone with the opposite power of your minion, I’ll join your team. Lulu needs to switch between both dimensions to grow!”

Sora winced, seeing Shade take yet another stray bullet — but surprisingly, Shade stayed calm. Sora signaled for him to deactivate his [Umbral Realm], and Shade complied.

Then Sora raised his hand, and light burst around the group. He enveloped them all, transporting them into a world completely opposite to Shade’s — a place overwhelmingly bright, where light was everywhere.

"This is my [Light World]... More or less the opposite of what Shade has. And just for the record, he’s not my minion, he’s my brother."

Seeing the bright space around him, the Jinn ignored Sora and jumped for joy, shouting, "This is exactly what Lulu needs!!"

"She’s absorbed enough darkness for today! Now she needs some light! Please, let her stay here for a while!"

Sora looked at the young Jinn in surprise, but after hearing a message from Shade who was in pain, he excluded everyone except the small planet from his [Light World].

"Thank you so much! The longer she incubates, the stronger I become — and the more useful I’ll be to the team," the Jinn explained, still brimming with joy.

Sora was surprised by those words. 'So that’s how he gets stronger? Just feeding his planet darkness and light?'

As he was thinking, a mocking voice echoed in his mind.

"Eight Hundred Seventy-Six, looks like your Supreme Skill is finally being put to use… You were so proud of unlocking that with your Mythic Class, and now it’s being used as an incubator for a planet! Hahahaha." Nineteen went in hard on his brother through the internal channel Sora shared with them.

Twelve added fuel to the fire, "Imagine going through hell to find a Mythic Class, sacrificing everything for a Supreme Skill, only to watch Sora use it to power up some brat like Minny."

Sora frowned, but didn’t bother jumping into the argument unfolding inside his [Soul Palace]. Instead, he muted the involved players and turned back to Minny.

"Works for me. Lulu can stay in my [Light World] as long as she needs." He looked at Shade. "And you? Is that okay with you?"

Shade nodded, giving his silent approval. The group spent another hour in the World Boss’s territory, finalizing the agreement and learning more about each other’s powers.

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They soon reappeared above the desert and watched the chasm that housed Minny slowly close behind them. The boy didn’t seem to care and immediately asked, "You have so many different powers, Sora! How did you manage to master so many skills with such a short life? Are you secretly thousands of years old? And the chicken on your head — unless my eyes are playing tricks on me, it has luck manipulation!! How did such a blessing fall on a poor little chicken?"

'I don’t think I’ll get bored with him around…' Sora thought, smiling, already affected by the newcomer’s cheerfulness and energy.

He ignored the fight between Hiyoko and Minny, turned to the group, now landed on solid ground, and said, "We’ve stayed here long enough. Next stop: the Egyptian World Boss." Seeing Shade, Karl, and Tian Long nod in agreement, he took flight, rose several kilometers in the air, and headed toward Egypt.

A few hours later, he left Egypt with another World Boss by his side.

The group repeated the feat twice. Then three times. Then nine.

After leaving another battle near a volcano on a Pacific island, Sora exhaled, "Out of the fifteen World Bosses we defeated these last three days, only five agreed to join us. The rest chose to stay in their territories... I thought we’d have more by now, but honestly, I’m glad to have all six of you with us."

The five new arrivals and Tian Long stayed silent as Sora spoke. And if they managed to stay quiet, it was mostly because Minny had been gagged by another World Boss who couldn’t take his taunts and insults anymore.

Sora ignored the young Jinn, who was now squirming in frustration, and continued, “You might not know this, but there are still three known World Bosses left in our territory — including the duo Enkidu and Gilgamesh, who count as one — and two others, both level 300.”

“It’s time for us to take a short break before we face the duo and their army. We’ll attack tomorrow at dawn.”

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Sora watched as the four latest recruits left to power up before the fight, then turned to Minny and Tian Long.

“You’d rather stay with me?” he asked, removing the gag from Minny’s mouth.

The little Stellar Jinn crossed his arms. “We’re the five OGs! The other four are just extras! Of course I’m staying.”

Tian Long, having been spared from Minny’s comments for the past few hours, gave him some advice. “If you treat them like your juniors, they’ll keep going after you. I suggest you grow stronger before provoking them.”

Minny’s face lit up. “Who would've thought such wise words could come from a Heavenly Dragon’s mouth! Thank you so much, big sister Tian! I just have to surpass that eight-headed Hydra so she’ll stop gagging me.”

Sora held back a laugh as he silently watched Tian Long's face turn red from rage. When she attacked the young Jinn and failed to defeat him, she became even angrier.

She stormed over to Sora, pointed at Minny, and shouted, “He’s been with us for less than a week, and he’s already gained 10 levels and become a hundred times stronger than when he joined!! I was willing to accept slow growth by your side, but there’s no way I’m letting this little brat keep looking down on me!!”

Sora was taken aback by the dragoness’s sudden shift and asked, “What do you want me to do about it? Don’t tell me you want me to slow his growth by kicking Lulu out of her incubator…”

Tian Long shook her head. “No need for low blows like that! Just find me a dragon rider and someone with the [Dragon Taming] Supreme skill! It’s urgent!!”

Sora was speechless.

“What the hell?”

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