CHAPTER 153: “THINKING ABOUT HOW TO CONFESS TO YOU.”

Bass Archipelago, located in Swan Sea, wasn’t originally Carlotta’s intended destination. She’d rather head to Elven Home to resolve the issue of lacking follow-up movements for elven knight path.

However, Elven Home had contained some unknown incident and closed itself off, no longer allowing any outsiders to enter.

In the past few days, Carlotta had been receiving intelligence reports daily. Although most of the information became useless after leaving Sky Island, occasionally important intel still warranted attention.

The closure of Elven Home was exactly what she learned from these reports. Attempting to go there now would only result in being turned away.

Besides, traveling from Farrel Kingdom to Elven Home remained a long journey.

Farrel Kingdom was located in the southwest of the Northern Continent, while Elven Home lay in the southwest, certainly not a short distance.

Fortunately, the intelligence network provided another useful piece of information, pointing toward Bass Archipelago and indicating that the follow-up portion of the elven knight path could be found here. Thus, Carlotta changed her destination and decided to check out Bass Archipelago first.

Bass Archipelago was arguably the most thriving trade hub in the southern region of the Northern Continent. Humans, vampires, and elves frequently appear here.

Even from further south of the Swan Sea, people arrived occasionally along trade routes from the other continent, the Southern Continent, bringing Southern specialties. This makes the trading atmosphere in Bass Archipelago even more vibrant.

Carlotta didn’t stay in Bor City for too long.

After visiting several trading companies and purchasing some alchemy-related items, she planned to leave the city.

However, as she was about to depart from one merchant house, its manager noticed her considerable wealth and said, "Soon, our city will host an auction. Would the guest like to participate? Here’s a partial list of auction items."

With a smile, the manager handed over a list.

Carlotta originally intended to refuse, but as her eyes skimmed the list, her heart stirred.

She pointed at one item and asked, "Is this Life Source, the signature alchemical medicine from the Life Tree organization?"

Life Tree was an organization composed of alchemists, specializing in researching alchemical medicines. They’d produced many medicines exclusive to their group, whose formulas remained unknown to the outside world.

For instance, this Life Source possessed astonishing healing effects, enabling rapid recovery from injuries. It was considered a divine medicine among adventurers.

Unfortunately, this alchemical medicine was monopolized by the Life Tree organization, making its price exorbitantly high, not something just anyone could afford.

In fact, Life Source, once it appeared, never ended up on ordinary shop shelves. Instead, it went straight into auctions, demonstrating its extreme value.

"That’s correct, it’s indeed Life Source from the Life Tree organization. No one would deliberately create something with the same name."

The manager confirmed it.

This merchant house was called Swan Trading Company. The manager’s name was Jarina Gray, a mature lady dressed in a black dress that accentuated her curvaceous figure. She smiled warmly, extremely hospitable.

"I’m actually interested in this auction. Can I participate?"

Carlotta asked.

"Of course."

Jarina affirmed, saying she could make arrangements.

"Then I’ll leave it to you."

Carlotta smiled.

She truly had great interest in Life Source, and it all related to Stellar Workshop.

Stellar Workshop could perform alchemy automatically, naturally including alchemical medicines.

Providing a blueprint to Stellar Workshop allows it to produce identical items, or even add materials to create upgraded versions.

That’s how the artifact-grade Rose came into existence, and why Illusion Masks could be mass-produced.

Then, what if they let Stellar Workshop take a look at Life Source, a medicine whose production method was exclusively controlled by Life Tree organization, as a recipe? Could they mass-produce Life Source from now on?

Such a wonderful thing gave Carlotta no reason to refuse. She frequently engaged in combat and inevitably got injured. Life Source was undoubtedly a desperately needed item.

After agreeing with Jarina Gray of Swan Trading Company on the auction time, Carlotta left first.

She returned to the carriage parked by the roadside and told Amelia about what had happened.

Upon hearing it, Amelia couldn’t help but show an interested expression. "Indeed, if we have the recipe, we could produce unlimited quantities. We might not even need the same materials, the Stellar Workshop can convert them themselves."

She thought deeply. In this world, many unique alchemical creations exist, whether tools or medicines. They seemed capable of acquiring such items from everywhere and replicating them.

"Then selling them at low prices could bring huge profits."

Carlotta murmured, but quickly shook her head.

That wouldn’t work either. Selling large quantities at low prices would draw attention, easily leading others to suspect Stellar Workshop was in their possession.

The fact that Stellar Workshop could perform automatic alchemy wasn’t a secret.

"It seems we can only use it ourselves. That’s not bad either. And if we sell a small amount occasionally, it shouldn’t cause trouble. We could try it when we’re short on money."

Carlotta Whispered.

She showed the auction list to Amelia.

Unfortunately, the exclusive auction item on the list was only Life Source. The rest were traceable and not particularly rare.

"Just bid for the Life Source. This item’s price is very high, but we should be able to secure it."

Amelia analyzed.

The past auction prices of such alchemical medicines were traceable and could serve as reference.

Ever since entering the Sun Moon Federation, they’d acquired numerous spoils of war, and their amount of Fiel coins was considerable, certainly enough to afford Life Source.

However, the auction wasn’t today, but tomorrow night. They still needed to stay in this city for quite some time.

Carlotta’s group immediately headed to a hotel nearby and checked in for one night.

During this process, Carlotta naturally arranged a large suite for herself and Amelia.

"In this world, no one knows when an accident might happen. The future is unpredictable. We’d better stay close so we can support each other at any time."

Carlotta offered a perfectly reasonable excuse, leaving Amelia with nothing to say.

After leaving Sky Island, their routines hadn’t changed much, still active during night and resting during day. It was currently morning, so shortly after entering the hotel room, they prepared to sleep.

But upon seeing the single bed in the room, Amelia fell into deep thought.

"What’s wrong, Amelia, go to sleep."

Carlotta pulled the curtains shut, removed her Illusion Mask, and sat on the bed.

Her red hair came into view as well. The blonde color Amelia had previously dyed it with hair dye automatically vanished when she used a cleansing card.

So on the second day after leaving Maple Leaf Town, she used Stellar Workshop to refine an upgraded version of the Illusion Mask.

The original Illusion Mask could only alter facial features and had no effect on hair color, making it an ordinary alchemical item.

The upgraded version, however, was a high-grade alchemical item that could change both facial appearance and hair color. Thus, both she and Amelia now wore the latest high-grade Illusion Masks.

Amelia also removed her Illusion Mask. Hesitating slightly, she didn’t know what to say at first.

Only one bed?

So she had to sleep with Carlotta?

Although back on Sky Island, the two had always slept in the same carriage, which wasn’t very wide, meaning they were essentially sleeping very close to each other. Yet now, sharing the same bed in a hotel room made her feel a different kind of emotion stirring within her.

"What’s wrong, Amelia? Are you... shy?"

Carlotta teased, "Are you feeling embarrassed because we’re sharing the same bed?"

Amelia hadn’t expected Carlotta to directly bring this up. Her delicate face instantly flushed a little.

She lifted her hand and brushed her long hair aside, saying, "I’m not embarrassed by something like this. Back on Sky Island, we’ve always slept close together. I was just... um, spacing out, thinking about the future."

Carlotta said, "The future... Come to think of it, I haven’t told you yet. I’m planning to go to the Bass Islands."

Amelia was startled. "Why the Bass Islands now? Didn’t you want to go to the Elven Homeland?"

She walked to the edge of the bed. After a moment’s thought, she climbed under the covers, but didn’t have the nerve to take off her clothes.

Seeing this, Carlotta smiled, then said, "The Elven Homeland is too far. We’d have to cross Farrel Kingdom, then the Vampires, followed by Barnes Kingdom, just to reach the Great Forest, and the Elven Homeland is still deep within that forest. It’s too far."

To the west, there were three nations: besides the Scarlet Kingdom, there were two human kingdoms, Barnes Kingdom and Greg Kingdom, both occupying considerable territories.

Further west lay the Great Forest, the region with the most monsters on the Northern Continent, filled with both danger and treasure.

Carlotta said going to the Bass Islands would work too. That place was practically the Northern Continent’s trade hub, and elves frequently appeared there, so it should meet her needs well enough.

Amelia thought about it and agreed. "The Bass Islands... I remember the last time I went there was as a child, when I came with my parents. We even saw quite a few people from the Southern Continent."

"What are people from the Southern Continent like?"

Carlotta instantly became curious.

Amelia said, "They’re not really different from us. Unless they say they’re from the Southern Continent, we can’t tell them apart."

"I see. Then, are there any distinctive features about the Southern Continent? For example, is their cultivation system the same as ours?"

"It should be the same? I don’t know much about the Southern Continent, and I’ve never been there myself."

"Is there a Western Continent?"

"No, why do you ask? After the Central Continent sank, only the Northern and Southern Continents remained in the world."

"Then..."

Carlotta chatted casually with Amelia, and as they spoke, she slipped under the covers too, inching a little closer toward Amelia until they were almost touching.

They didn’t talk for long. Being nocturnal types, it was already quite late for them, so they stopped talking after a short while and drifted off to sleep.

Just before sleeping, Carlotta calmly took off her outer clothes.

This made Amelia, who had originally planned to sleep in her clothes, pause in silence. Eventually, she took off her outer clothes too. She worried that sleeping fully clothed might give Carlotta a bad impression, like she was guarding herself against her.

But in truth, would Carlotta really do anything inappropriate?

Although when sleeping in the carriage, Carlotta often ended up snuggling close to her in her sleep, and many times when Amelia woke up, one of Carlotta’s legs was draped over her body.

But that was just due to bad sleeping posture, right?

’I shouldn’t overthink it. Besides...’

Amelia didn’t dwell on it much and soon fell into a deep sleep.

That morning, a light rain fell over the city of Por, but it didn’t disturb the two sleeping girls.

When Carlotta woke up, she was surprised to find she had unusually woken up earlier than Amelia.

More importantly, when she opened her eyes, she found herself hugging Amelia tightly, just like a koala clinging to a tree.

This position made Carlotta’s face flush slightly.

’Why am I hugging her? Did I naturally move closer while asleep?’

Carlotta’s heart skipped a beat.

Back when they slept in the carriage, Amelia always woke up before her, so she never knew what scene Amelia saw upon waking. Could it be that every time Amelia opened her eyes, she saw Carlotta clinging to her like a koala?

’Can my sleeping posture really be that bad?’

Carlotta thought about it, but couldn’t really determine such a thing. Who could know what they looked like while asleep?

But the fact that Amelia had never said anything about it, did that mean she didn’t mind?

The more Carlotta thought about it, the more excited she felt.

She liked Amelia, she admitted that to herself. But she’d never expressed her feelings, because she was afraid of rejection. So she’d been gradually nurturing their relationship, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

But when exactly would that perfect opportunity come?

Even Carlotta herself couldn’t be sure. She could already naturally hold Amelia’s hand, and they could sleep in the same bed together. Has the timing already arrived?

Carlotta couldn’t bring herself to confirm it, as she had no experience with relationships, she was a complete blank slate, uncertain of what the right choice might be.

Every time she thought she might just gather her courage and confess, she would shrink back again, afraid of rejection.

People always lose things they shouldn’t have lost, caught in hesitation and fear of rejection.

But... if she confessed, wouldn’t she lose even sooner?

Just as Carlotta was lost in thought, a voice came, "What are you thinking about, Carlotta?"

"Thinking about how to confess to you."

Carlotta almost instinctively gave the answer.

Immediately afterward, she snapped back to reality. Her expression changed drastically as she quickly turned to look at Amelia, seeing Amelia’s now astonished face.