March 7th's arrival made the already chaotic scene even more chaotic.
Hearing March's lovely voice, the artist from the Family showed a charming smile.
"From the voice, it sounds like a cute little sister~ Come now, join the embrace of Harmony, and let us sing together~"
The artist didn't care who had come: she would use her own talent and the recognition granted by Harmony to turn the few people before her into part of it.
Sensing the opponent's attack, March 7th instinctively took a few steps back. "This feeling—ugh, awful. But it's fine! I'll show you just how amazing I am!"
Unlike Pei Guang, March 7th, though a bit spoiled, still retained much of her nature. And with the "big sister" in front of her being so cute, she couldn't bear to hit her hard.
So, she immediately used her Six‑Phased Ice, aiming to freeze the opponent in place.
While March 7th was locked in battle with the Family member, Pei Guang's armor received a communication from Xipe Cake.
"Can you hear me?" Xipe Cake's cute voice echoed in Pei Guang's ears.
Because this set of armor had already been harmonized by Xipe Cake, she could directly communicate with Pei Guang's consciousness through it.
Pei Guang replied, "I can hear you. What's up?"
Xipe Cake said, "I can feel that you're facing lots of enemies, want me to give you a bit of power~? With my strength, you can defeat the enemies without hurting the Sweet Dreams Troupe~"
Listening to her, Pei Guang thought for a moment and then answered, "Sure! Honestly, with so many people around, it's gotten a bit troublesome. But even after all this fighting, they still haven't sent out the Sweet Dreams Troupe."
Xipe Cake answered sweetly, "Alright~ Oh, remember: be gentle with the Sweet Dreams Troupe, okay? They don't have physical forms. If they die in a dream, that's it—really dead~"
Back when that Bloodhound harmonized with Pei Guang, Xipe Cake had already used her power to capture that person's energy.
How to describe it? The power carried a strong sound of Order.
Order was supposed to be part of Harmony, but this sound of Order was too loud: it made Xipe Cake think this particular Harmony had a strange taste.
Now, Xipe Cake was preparing to lead everyone in the Sweet Dreams Troupe to rebel against the Family, granting the Sweet Dreams Troupe a sense of true selfhood, so they could also join in Harmony.
Pei Guang had brought many Sweet Dreams Troupe members that the Family had mobilized for battle. Xipe Cake could feel that some of them had already developed self-awareness.
If Pei Guang accidentally killed them, it would be such a shame.
As for the Family members? They weren't that important. They already possessed the power of Harmony.
Sure, there were some noises mixed in, but who said Harmony with a bit of noise isn't still Harmony?
First, let more life forms accept Harmony. As for those who already had, let them have some fun with Pei Guang~
Xipe Cake could've helped clean up the noise, but there was no need.
First, the noise posed no real danger to Penacony at the current stage; second, it let Pei Guang have more fun.
What if the noise led him to get new missions? Wouldn't he be thrilled then?
If she went ahead and removed the noise too early, making Pei Guang lose his "mission fun", the other brothers and sisters would totally blame her!
Pei Guang gave Xipe Cake a positive answer: "No problem~"
Xipe Cake replied cutely, "Mwah~"
To outsiders listening in, Xipe Cake's voice might just sound like barking, but in Pei Guang's ears, she was simply being adorably sweet.
The moment Pei Guang agreed to her request, his system received a new notification:
[Congratulations, player has obtained the 'Harmony' Class Trial Card]
[Note: Through the power of Harmony, you can forcibly control the consciousness and body of others. However, be aware this action lowers affection levels of affected units. Further gameplay features await exploration.]
Pei Guang glanced at the people whose affection would drop.
Well, every single person he knew, except those already part of his Harmony faction, would have their affection decrease if he used control.
Across the universe, no matter how far, the affection could even drop remotely?
He wasn't surprised.
After all, as someone who had gamed for years, it was common that in games with affection systems, if you just farted inside a dungeon, an NPC a hundred thousand li away would immediately lose affection for you.
He had spent this entire playthrough raising so many people's affection and had accepted countless still-unfinished affection quests: if everyone's affection dropped now, all that effort would be wasted.
Still, he quietly memorized the Harmony features.
If there was ever a second, third, or even fourth playthrough, or while playing Simulated Universe or Memory World, he'd definitely go big with it.
Giving up on the forced-control feature, Pei Guang began testing out the other Harmony mechanics.
After some experimentation, he found it quite fun.
This power could distinguish friend from foe: for instance, he could now mark his own side as allies, so the Family's harmonized units wouldn't treat them as enemies.
He could also grant the power of Harmony to beings willing to accept it; with this strength, they'd become part of Harmony and be recognized as allies by the Family.
There were even more advanced uses, like optimizing someone's condition to their best state, and… issuing orders.
Yes, Pei Guang noticed a new command function in the system. It felt a bit like controlling units in a real-time strategy game.
However, unlike normal games, this wasn't forced: the commands could be refused.
During command operations, with the target's permission, he could gain temporary visual access.
The system even clarified that if affection reached a certain level, Harmony could allow sharing of life and skills, cleansing allies' abnormal statuses, absorbing damage for allies, and performing advanced commands like coordination or summoning.
Unlike the "Trailblazer" class he obtained after being hit by the train, this Harmony felt much more like a powerful support-type class.
Its abilities were incredible, but precisely because they were so incredible, Pei Guang couldn't help feeling slightly annoyed.
Since Harmony was only a "trial class," Pei Guang could view all these functions, but many were unusable.
For example, the "shared connection" ability that unlocked at a certain affection threshold showed a row of grayed-out portraits—but he couldn't tell who they belonged to.
And because it was just a trial, Pei Guang couldn't see what limitations these skills had.
It was like the teleportation granted by the Trailblazer class: very powerful, but usable only twice a day.
Resonance Space had no limit on uses, but you couldn't engage in combat within it.
Now this Harmony… it felt just like a shady developer dangling bait in front of the player, telling Pei Guang that the Harmony class is amazing.
"Come on, switch to it, and you'll get to use all these cool abilities!"
But those ability descriptions only said they were "powerful," never stating what their restrictions were. That really annoyed Pei Guang.
Still, since it was a trial class, naturally he could experience a few "trimmed‑down" versions of the abilities.
For example, intra‑team voice communication within a set range, adjusting ally attributes, marking new allies, syncing certain skills, issuing commands to close companions with high affection… all of these had reduced‑power trial versions he could try out.
Pei Guang said, "Wow! It's a full‑on mash‑up— they even patched in these player‑bait gimmicks!"
The phrase "full‑on mash‑up," which netizens often used, Pei Guang now felt it for real. After all this time, he was sure this mash‑up would also bring along the annoyances he disliked.
Still, he didn't particularly resent these settings: after all, they did make the gameplay experience richer.