Life is tough, so Honglong resorts to performing?

Chapter 117 Mindfulness
When Loren finished his performance and returned to the Heart of Lava, the young audience members below, who had come specifically to watch the show, were still immersed in the Red Dragon's performance and found it hard to believe.

It's not that the little red dragon's performance was so elaborate that it reached the level of an art form; it's mainly because the contrast was so striking.

Dude, are you serious? You're really something!
The various emoticons circulating and evolving online have led many people to preconceive of the image of the little red dragon, namely, abstract, funny, mischievous, a part-time couple's blessing, a witness to the sparks of love, and so on.

When they arrived here with this expectation, what did they see? A magnificent display of fire and flight, amazing elemental manipulation, and sparks that rained down in the daytime, which then transformed into butterflies that danced gracefully before their eyes.

Is this right?
With your talent, why don't you go to an art academy to make a name for yourself, instead of staying in the zoo and doing abstract gimmicks?
I thought you were a comedian, but it turns out you're a real talent!
Are you really good at it?

Once everyone realized what was happening, they started uploading the videos and photos they had recorded to the Magic Crystal Network, sharing and commenting with their friends about what they had seen that day. The Red Dragon Spark at the Emerald Leaf Rare Animal Zoo once again made a small appearance on the Magic Crystal Network and spread.

On the other hand, Sisos and Lyra, who watched the Loren flight performance live, exchanged a glance and decided to seize this opportunity to edit together the album trailer and other content to inject vitality into this emerging new wave of online traffic.

Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner, and Loren, who had returned to the inner area, cast an invisibility spell on himself and slowly headed towards the children's theater.

He's going to say those classic lines, "I'll definitely be back," which is kind of funny to think about.

In the children's theater, the third act of the story is currently being performed, and the villain dies from talking too much.

Evans, playing the role of the traitor, believed he had victory in his grasp. He jumped out and stood in front of the fallen goblin, bear goblin, and gnoll, explaining how he had sown discord among them and how fragile the trust among these friends was, which allowed him to defeat them one by one with such a clumsy scheme.

Following the typical children's play formula where good always triumphs over evil, Evans's plan, unsurprisingly, went awry at this moment.

Sure enough, to the children's expectant gaze, the skylight above the theater lit up with a dazzling light. The unicorn, who had been buried and died by Feng Xue in the previous episode because of its laziness, was resurrected, wearing a circle on its head and riding a flying carpet.

"Ah~ I have realized my mistakes, sacred nature has guided my path, allowing me to help you, ah~ my friends~"

Although the unicorn Ella's voice always had a lazy, listless quality, the gorgeous special effects and her appearance still attracted the children's main attention. They began to look forward to how she would defeat the sinister man in front of them.

"Ah~ children, please raise your hands and lend me your strength. I will heal my friends, and united we will not fail~"

Although Ella's tone was weak and listless, the children still obediently raised their hands. Then, the halo surrounding her circled around the children on the ground, and they indeed got up with great spirits.

"Ugh, I'm so tired. I can't let them actually run into this. If they do, it was all an act before, and now they really won't be able to get up."

Ella thought to herself, after all, it was the product of her innate ability combined with the Sloth School. If the others on the ground really got hit, they would be lying more comfortably than she was for a while.

"Luckily, we don't have any lines anymore."

As the people on the ground got up, the unicorn Elaril consciously found a spot in the back and started to slack off. If it weren't for the fact that she only had two rounds of lines and she still had to live in the Emerald Leaf Wonderland, she wouldn't have wanted to be resurrected to perform.

Isn't it better to lie down, watch TV shows, and then sleep?

The three goblins, bear goblins, and gnolls who had gotten up from the ground apologized and forgave each other, then formed a battle formation and prepared to launch an attack on Evans, who was playing the role of the traitor.

Your evil plan has failed!

"We will never believe you again!"

"We will unite, we will help each other, we will trust our friends and will not be provoked by people like you again!"

While listening to the other person's lines, Evans anxiously stole glances at the skylight through which the unicorn had come down.

He was waiting for the red dragon to arrive. If the red dragon didn't arrive soon, he would have to use a different set of lines to end the show, which might make the program less entertaining.

"Come quick, come quick!"

As Evans faced the relentless pursuit of justice, he took a few steps back, took a deep breath, and prepared to deliver his second set of lines when the entire theater suddenly went dark.

The children let out a chorus of "ah!" sounds, while the adults looked up and saw two bright, golden lanterns shining through the skylight.

Those are the red dragon's two eyes.

Hi everyone, how have you been?

The dragon's greeting, tinged with a hint of amusement, combined with his imposing head, immediately drew gasps from the children below.

In children's world, the battle between good and evil is indeed important, but a character's coolness and style are equally important.

Loren's last appearance attracted many child fans who were fans of the villain, and this time, he drew even more gasps from them.

"It's the red dragon! It's the same red dragon from last time!"

"He's really back!"

"I told you he would definitely come back!"

The children pointed to the giant dragon above and excitedly told their parents.

As Loren slightly concealed himself and finally squeezed in through the skylight, he used the flames to illuminate the entire theater, while also displaying his enormous size without any restraint.

Compared to his previous performance in the theater, where he deliberately concealed his physique, Loren's current size makes the theater, which can accommodate thousands of people, seem somewhat crowded.

With its enormous size and majestic, fluid movements, the red dragon attracted the attention of all the children present simply by hovering in the air, making them hold their breath for the righteous unicorn and his friends.

Can you win?
"You have failed, my servant."

Loren addressed Evans below, his voice calm yet authoritative.

"Yes, I have failed, my great master."

Evans bowed slightly to the red dragon that appeared just in time and delivered the lines he had prepared beforehand.

"Please forgive me. My failure interrupted your great evolution. Please do not be angry and fight them. This is your critical moment. We will have plenty of time to deal with them in the future."

"Don't be fooled by their current close relationship; we will return, and the scales of victory will always tip in our favor."

As he spoke, he transformed into a giant eagle and flew towards Loren.

"Don't even think about leaving!"

"Watch this!" The righteous people below shouted out their ultimate moves from the script and hurled them at the dragon and eagle above.

After easily blocking the attack with its wings, the red dragon uttered that line at the opportune moment.
"Ha, I'll definitely be back!"

As the curtain fell, the third act of the story began, and the friends below apologized to each other for their previous behavior.

Thank you for coming.

Outside the theater, Evans transformed back into human form and expressed his gratitude to Loren.

"They are simply doing their own jobs."

Loren spoke casually on the surface, but in his heart he was thinking, "Kids have such high purchasing power. If I don't show up here and look cool, who will buy my new toys?"

"Do you have any good advice for the Jokers from Twilight that you can share with me?"

Evans asked somewhat cautiously, his thoughts finally stirred slightly as the question was raised about visitors from his hometown.

"Without actually meeting them in person, having normal contact with them, knowing how they live, what their personalities are, and just because they are mutants from Twilight City, you expect me to assign them scripts?"

"Do you think this is good? Do you think I can understand them better than you, and can write about what they have experienced?"

Loren didn't hesitate to throw Evans his doubts and questions back, as well as the script work that was thrown at him.

Incidentally, the tactic of promising the young viscount was employed.

Are you kidding me? I've already given you the script for the second episode and even participated in the story you wrote. Now that the number of performers has increased, you're dumping the work on me again?
I'm a plagiarist who transmigrated from another world, not a literary or artistic master with a burning desire for creation. I'm just a very ordinary little red dragon, and all I do is try to make some money.

If the Federation hadn't developed so rapidly, and those two bastard races, the devils and demons, had already monopolized the two most clichéd yet most profitable paths—third-rate dramas that evoke strong emotions and stunt performers—the taxes would have been collected three hundred years in the future. Why would I need to cultivate the path of children's dramas?

This is just a situation where you have no other choice but to find a way out!

Evans had no idea what Loren was thinking.

For the words Loren used to appease him were like a wake-up call to the Viscount of Twilight, dispelling his worries and anxieties and replacing them with unwavering resolve.

Yes, he is the Viscount of Twilight, the little druid from that city full of mutants. He is the one in the world who can understand and empathize with them the most. If he doesn't write for them, then who will?

"Thank you for your guidance. You are truly a friend of Lord Aaron despite the age difference. I will remember your words. As long as I live, you will always be a friend of Twilight City, a friend of the Morric family, and a friend of me, Evans."

Evans bowed respectfully to Loren, which the little red dragon accepted without hesitation.

He wasn't sure what the other person had gleaned from his words, but since they had, it meant he was awesome.

I can enlighten people with just a few words of nonsense; I'm truly a thoughtful little red dragon!

In high spirits, Loren once again concealed himself and flapped his wings as he flew toward the Heart of Lava.

Today's main tasks are finished; it's time to move on to deep meditation and process the magic.

That's how hardworking and diligent I am, Little Red Dragon!
Loren flew back to the Heart of Lava, beaming with pride. Today, he had not only demonstrated his acting prowess, solidified the villain's character in the children's theater, and boosted his merchandise sales, but he had also enlightened the lost young viscount with his profound words. He was truly a model red dragon who was in line with the times and developed in all aspects of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor.

"It's a pity the red dragons don't have a group chat, otherwise they would definitely show off to the other young red dragons and display their elegant account balances."

"I won't tell them where the money came from, firstly because I'm afraid they'll come and steal my business, and secondly because they'll probably think I'm crazy."

On the way back, Loren was bored out of his mind, and all sorts of strange thoughts popped into his head, which he could accurately capture and think about.

"It must be due to the digestion of the Thousand-Day Fruit and the melting of the high-level magic crystal."

Loren pondered. As a mage who had recently been cramming on basic theory and had also worked on the prototype of the magic crystal heart, he was all too familiar with this situation.

This is because the increase in soul strength leads to a further liberation of mental power, while the physical body has not yet caught up and matched it. It will be fine in a couple of days as the body grows up.

Normally, the brain is full of all sorts of random thoughts, but most of them are fleeting. The brain's thinking patterns dictate that most people's thinking focuses on handling the main events and paying attention to some backup events.

Being able to multitask or even do three things at once is already quite remarkable, given the brain's comprehensive computing power and algorithms.

Being too active in one's thinking can make it difficult to complete even one task; in a past life, such people were called people with ADHD.

Loren's current state is that, due to the increase in his soul strength and the mage's powerful mental energy, some of his brain's computing power, or rather his thinking, has suddenly become redundant.

This makes him even better able to capture those fleeting thoughts and ideas. These chaotic thoughts are as disordered as a dream, but Loren currently happens to have a portion of redundant thinking ability, which allows him to clearly perceive these thoughts, as if he were in a lucid dream.

"But all these are just random thoughts and questions. Do I really think about this many things all the time?"

Even Loren, who was multitasking, was somewhat surprised by his current state. It seemed that meditation was not only something he had to do, but he also had to intensify his efforts.

He still has too many distracting thoughts.

Mindfulness is necessary.

While Loren inwardly lamented the need for mindfulness, his superfluous thoughts raced off like a wild horse.

"Speaking of which, if my physical body remains unchanged and my soul strength continues to increase, will I be able to think about dozens of things at the same time one day? Wouldn't that mean I could perform, think about papers, fight, and meditate all at the same time?"

"It sounds very efficient, but it feels like a form of schizophrenia..."

"Looks like I do have some special qualities. After merging with the dragon egg version of myself after transmigrating, I didn't go insane but became a real dragon. All that extra soul strength was hidden away until the nascent form of the magic crystal heart was established and released. I'm really lucky..."

"No wonder the demigod fire demon Ellis reminded me before that I could have the multi-headed dragon surgery or undergo multiple mind training. So this was what was waiting for me all along..."

"Fortunately, this is only a temporary state. The Thousand-Day Fruit and other aspects are showing comprehensive growth. Once my physical body catches up, it should end, unless my soul strength experiences another additional increase, such as absorbing a demigod's relic or something..."

Loren returned to the skull above the Lava Heart arena, closed his eyes, and entered a deep meditative state of channeling his magic.

This time, his concentration during meditation far exceeded that before. After all, in the past, deep meditation was used to help organize magic, but now, organizing magic was for the purpose of meditation and mindfulness.

(End of this chapter)