"Kid, are you trying to bind everyone together using the simplest method?"
That night, just as Wende was about to mentally curse the Dragon's entire family tree for the ninth time, the Dragon, with a complete lack of self-awareness, once again activated its "flashbang."
"No, I'm just trying to see what else I can do. Can't I just be bored? And can you please turn down the brightness of that damn system screen? Do you have to wait until I'm about to sleep to lecture me on life philosophies?"
Wende glared at the Dragon with an impatient look. It really, truly had done its best to hinder his rest as much as possible… Don't Aeons need to sleep?!
Alright, they probably didn't, but other Aeons weren't him.
"Sigh, I just wanted to remind you that you seem to have been discovered by certain Aeons. I never thought my good intentions would be taken for… forget it, you can go back to sleep."
The Dragon put on a very hurt act and then turned off the system screen.
"…"
Wende's dead-fish eyes remained open, his purple irises as still as an ancient well, before he slowly closed them.
Trying to provoke him? Sorry, it was useless against him!
Another bright light shone directly onto Wende's face.
"Forget it, I knew it. I'll just tell you directly. A large computer has calculated you, but it probably won't interfere with you. That's all, I'm out."
Wende kept his eyes closed, acting as if he couldn't care less about the Dragon's warning.
"Hello?"
"Hello!"
"HELLO!!!"
"…"
Seeing Wende's completely checked-out attitude, the ancient Aeon thought of a way to break the deadlock in a single instant.
.
.
…
That's right. It began to use the screen's one-flash-per-sentence feature to have a disco party in Wende's head.
"Alright, alright, you win. Anyone who didn't know better would think I was playing some explosive dance music in my room."
Wende hurriedly called a stop to the Dragon, who was on the verge of getting seriously hyped up. He admitted defeat. Just stop the raving!
"Sigh, whatever. I'm doing this for your own good. The followers of that big stone have already started discussing you. But it seems they don't have any plans, so you can rest easy on that front… They probably discovered something too, but are just keeping their mouths shut… I suppose that's what you call businessmen… Tsk tsk, the followers of the most honest and simple Aeon are the most calculating bunch in the universe. How ironic."
"So how do you know all this?"
Wende cut straight to the chase. Wasn't it always inside his body? How did it know so much about what was happening in the real world?
"Sigh… Those glasses that Order left you aren't meant to be used as a telescope! Since you're not using them, I'm just borrowing them for a bit. And don't you dare ask why I know how to use them. I know a little bit about everything in this universe. I'm not directly controlling you! Remember that! Don't let your imagination run wild!"
As if afraid Wende would get the wrong idea, the Dragon quickly explained, but it only served to make one more suspicious the more it tried to explain.
"Remember, don't let your imagination run wild!"
"Yeah, yeah, right. Can you just get lost? I need to sleep!"
Wende waved his hand at the Dragon in annoyance. Seriously, why was it nagging like an old mother? Were all old-school Aeons like this?
"Tsk, fine. I won't disturb you then. It's not like you'll be getting any sleep tonight anyway."
The Dragon said with great feeling, though its words seemed to carry a hidden meaning.
"? What do you mea—"
"!"
Wende felt a bone-chilling cold surge up from under his bed.
---o---
The next day.
"Teacher Wende, is Master Jingliu on leave again today?"
Mei, who was in the middle of a simulated battle with Wende, asked with a puzzled expression. For some reason, she felt like something was off.
"That's right… After all, your Master Jingliu needs to suppress her Mara-Struck condition from time to time, so it's not convenient for her these few days."
Wende replied to Mei's question without batting an eye. Although Mei felt something was a bit strange, she didn't overthink it. After all, in the game, Master Jingliu was indeed troubled by the Mara-Struck condition.
"Oh right, yesterday, Principal Theresa told us in class that Teacher Wende seems to want to take us to see another world. Is it really okay to do that?"
Mei recalled what Theresa had said in class the previous day, her tone laced with a hint of worry.
Was it really a good idea to recklessly shuttle people from two different worlds back and forth? Wouldn't that cause problems?
"Don't worry, there won't be any problems. Besides, Mr. Welt will be leading your team. you can fully trust in his capabilities."
Wende smiled a little helplessly. After all, the current Mei was still a girl with a very strong sense of curiosity.
With the new miHoYo ID cards, all miHoYo employees could now come and go from miHoYo Planet as they pleased. Because of this, they now basically spent their days in the Honkai world and returned to miHoYo Planet at night to mess around. When they were tired, they would just go back to the Express or their school dorms to sleep. The commute was incredibly convenient.
It was because of this that the group's unusual behavior the day before had attracted Theresa's attention, and Welt had simply told her about the contract.
Anyway… with Welt, a walking glimpse into the future, around, the Honkai world was actually doing just fine. For some unknown reason, ever since the Express had parked in orbit around Earth, the overall Honkai energy on the planet had calmed down significantly—a phenomenon that had never occurred before.
As a result, the frequency of Valkyrie deployments had dropped considerably, and many incidents could be resolved without their intervention.
Therefore, Kiana and the others had been attending classes nonstop lately, with few opportunities for actual combat on missions. It was for this reason that Theresa had approached Welt to ask for his help.
But clearly, her thoughts didn't stop there. The simulation systems at St. Freya Academy were already advanced enough to almost perfectly substitute for real combat. Missing a few training opportunities wouldn't be enough to make the Valkyries complacent.
Evidently, Theresa was looking at the bigger picture… but also not that big… because her goal really did seem to be just letting the three little ones go out and "broaden their horizons." Was that all there was to it…?
---o---
"Hey, chicken-coop head, have you had any dreams these past two days?"
Tesla, who was analyzing the anomalous data from the center of the Sea of Quanta, suddenly lifted her head. As if remembering something, she spoke to Einstein, who was behind her looking like she was on the verge of ascending to immortality.
"Dr. Tesla, have we even slept these past two days?"
Einstein replied numbly.
"Is that so… Maybe I was hallucinating? Ever since that Wende sent us back from that planet, I keep feeling like some machine with a glowing red light is watching me, but I just can't remember what it is…"
Tesla shivered involuntarily, looking like she had seen a ghost.
"Hmm… I keep imagining I see a blob of slime. Does that count?"
"Uh… never mind I said anything."