"Ha?" Looking at everything with a puzzled expression, Shiro didnât know how to react.
"Oh come on darling, you can act a bit more surprised. Itâs your birthday after all." Mio smiled and hugged Shiro.
"Ah right... I forgot itâs my birthday today." Shiro sighed as she had too many things on her mind lately.
Looking at all the party decorations and the food that set out, Shiro smiled softly.
Naturally, she ignored that Yin was already eating in the corner. Thankfully, Mio knew about Yinâs eating habits so she prepared more than enough food for everyone.
"Now that the birthday granny is here, letâs start eating." Aarim grinned as Shiro felt a vein burst.
"Who the hell is the birthday granny ah!?!"
"Fufufu~ No need to hide it. Isilia already told us." Aarim smirked at her with some wine in her hand.
Looking at Isilia who looked the away from her, Shiro couldnât help but feel betrayed.
Shaking her head, Shiro laughed.
"Dammit. Fine, if weâre eating I better get some alcohol." She narrowed her eyes as Aarim froze.
*COUGH!
"What birthday granny. I mean birthday girl. Yeah ahaha, letâs get the juice." Aarim quickly retreated.
"Itâs quite lively isnât it?" Nan Tian chuckled as he handed her a glass of juice.
"Indeed. Honestly, I completely forgot about my birthday if not for this." Shiro shrugged while taking a sip of the juice.
"Oh my, this is quite nice." She muttered in mild surprise.
"Itâs juice made from one of the fruits found in the demon continent. The look of the fruit is not that appealing, but the juice is nice. Though Iâm surprised that someone with such a good memory like you actually forgot about this." Nan Tian smiled.
"Mn, I guess I just never focused on my birthday. I could have probably gone about my day without knowing that today was my birthday." Shiro shrugged.
"Well with the things that goes on, Iâm not surprised."
"True. I just reached level 500 too. I think Iâll be trying to reach tier 6 once I sort out a few more things. Want to sit down with everyone else?" Shiro asked as they already sat down and prepared to eat.
"Sure."
Summoning Nimue, Iziuel and Attie, Shiro wanted them to enjoy the party as well. Unfortunately, Estrella couldnât join since she was trying to break through to tier 6.
"Happy birthday Shiro." Lyrica called out as Shiro nodded her head.
"Mn, thank you. Next time we should celebrate your birthday when it comes up."
"We might be too busy then with the new age and everything else." Lyrica shrugged.
"Nonsense. Iâm sure we can spare a day for your birthday." Shiro chuckled.
Walking with Lyrica to the main table, she sat down on the best seat since it was her birthday after all.
Looking at the people that had gathered today, Shiro smiled as she felt a warm feeling in her heart.
###
The party lasted all the way until night as they returned to their rooms after eating the cake.
Looking at the presents that were left in the corner of her room, Shiro chuckled since the biggest one was given by her mum. Seeing its size, Shiro could guess that it was probably a giant plush.
As for the smallest gift, it came from Nan Tian. It was a silver bracelet that was adorned with a light blue gem.
However, this wasnât a normal bracelet. When activated with mana, it could instantly teleport your body to a place that youâve been to before in an instant.
According to Nan Tian, he worked on this bracelet with Stanley after Mio told him about her birthday.
Lyricaâs gift was a pair of purple earrings that helped increase mana regeneration slightly but overall, they looked better than their function. For someone like Shiro, picking a gift would be rather hard considering the fact that there wasnât much she couldnât do.
{So how old are you now?} Nimue asked with a smirk.
âHow rude. Donât ask a girl for her age.â Shiro pouted.
{What? Is the 300+ year old girl shy about her age now?} Nimue laughed.
âHush it.â Shiro rolled her eyes.
âYou know, back then, I never celebrated my birthday after becoming the Nanomancer. But now, Iâm surrounded by my family and friends on a day that I didnât put much importance to. It feels nice.â Shiro smiled softly.
{Of course it does. Youâre surrounded by the people you cherish. Itâs a shame that Madison couldnât join us though. Sheâs still in that crystal.} Nimue sighed.
âTrue. But Iâm sure we can do the same thing again next year once she comes out of her crystal.â Shiro smiled.
Looking at the ceiling of her room, Shiro closed her eyes and made sure that the memory of her first birthday as Shiro was secure.
In a single short year, she had met new friends and reunited with family. For her who had lived so long, a single year felt short but it felt much better than her time in Aria.
###
Waking up early in the morning, Shiro did some maintenance on Asharia to make sure that everything was working fine when a few late arrivals surprised her.
"Sis!" Keomi shouted out as she burst into the command room.
"Keomi?" Shiro raised her eyebrow as Keiko was following behind her.
"Sorry weâre late for your birthday. Hais, we ran into a bit of trouble on the way here so it took longer than expected." Keiko sighed as she massaged her neck.
"Oh thatâs fine, what trouble did you run into? With your level there shouldnât be much that you canât face no?" Shiro asked while patting Keomiâs hair since she was hugging her right now.
"It was one of the queens. She wanted to recruit us, we declined then we ran." Keiko replied with a shrug like it was nothing.
"Pft! You actually escaped a queenâs pursuit?" Shiro asked with surprise as Keiko grinned and gave her a thumbs up.
"Yup."
"Mn, Keiko kept creating clones and switching spots with them so the queen was going back and forth trying to get us. Since our focus was not on fighting, it was easy to focus on tricking the queen." Keomi laughed.
"Hais, you two are playing with fire. But Iâm glad that things worked out seeing that youâre now level 500 and Keomi is level 330." Shiro smiled since the last time she saw Keomi she was still in the mid stages of tier 4.
"Mn, we were fighting quite a few demons after all. So whatâs up with this place? Where did you even find such a huge city?" Keiko asked as the technology here was highly advanced.
"I made it. How else do you think I can control it at will." Shiro shrugged while joining at the holograms.
Hearing this, both Keiko and Keomi paused.
"Pardon? Do you have a fever sis?" Keomi asked as she checked Shiroâs forehead.
"I donât. Iâm also level 500 now you know? Making something like this shouldnât be too crazy." Shiro pouted.
{Bullsh*t.} Nimue rolled her eyes since a structure like this was normally beyond what a tier 5 could accomplish.
"I guess. Well considering the mess you caused in Tokyo when you were lower levelled, Iâm not surprised." Keiko scratched her head.
"Pft, youâre not wrong. Also, Keomi, you should go see mum and dad. They havenât seen you in a while after all." Shiro smiled as Keomi nodded her head.
"Mn I will. After fighting for so long, I want to take a break. So tiring to punch skulls everyday." Keomi sighed.
"Thatâs because you always go for the head and shout out headshot. Even when the head is hard to hit." Keiko rolled her eyes.
"Seems like you two had quite the adventure. Iâll get some of the robots to prepare your rooms. Also, Keiko, I want you to meet me again later today." Shiro said as Keiko nodded her head.
"Sure, what do you need me for?"
"Itâs a surprise." Shiro chuckled since she wanted to give Keiko insights on reaching tier 6. Including Keiko, they could potentially have 4 tier 6 powerhouses. She wasnât sure if Lisandra could also become tier 6 so she didnât include her but if she could, theyâll have a grand total of 6 powerhouses including Shiro.
With a fighting force like this, this early on, claiming land at the start off the new age should be a breeze. Of course, she couldnât forget the time it might take to reach tier 6 so it was uncertain.
Glancing out of the window, she could see thousands of houses being created since Nan Tian was working hard on moving everyone to the city. So far, the sect had already finished moving and they were working on Miriel. Once thatâs done, they were going to go to Asakura.
Sending a message to the party, Shiro wanted everyone to meet up in one of the training rooms.
Once she finished using her new skill on them, she was going to challenge the threshold of tier 6 herself.