The continuous, powerful assault made the sleeping Fuli subconsciously want to open his eyes, but an indescribable mighty force acted like invisible shackles, tightly binding his body.
This force permeated every cell in his body. It wasn't just his eyelashes, which felt as heavy as if weighed down by lead; even his fingers felt as though they were nailed to a cross, unable to move a millimeter.
"Ah Li Ah Li Ah Li Ah Li Ah Li Ah Li LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU!!!"
In his chaotic and muddled senses, the completely suppressed boy heard waves of noisy, piercing whispers ringing in his ears.
The voice was filled with endless obsession and madness, like a blazing fire threatening to burn everything to ash.
"Ngh..."
Fuli felt like a lone boat in a stormy sea. Every slash and hack from the "enemy" was like a heavy hammer smashing against his senses.
Like a surging tide completely engulfing a soul, the domineering waves came one after another, ceaselessly grinding over his trembling nerve endings and thoroughly drowning his consciousness.
Dense webs of space-time, like spider silk—silent yet incredibly tough—eroded his mind.
They spread from every corner of his body, gradually converging into a torrent that constantly battered his defenses.
"Stop..."
Under this surging tide, Fuli tried his best to resist time and time again.
His voice grew weaker with each attempt, carrying a trace of trembling and a hint of uncontrollable despair, as if he had exhausted all his strength just to squeeze the words out from the depths of his soul.
But the moment the sound emerged, it was interrupted by the screaming of the culprit whose face he couldn't see clearly.
"YOU ARE MINE YOU ARE MINE YOU ARE MINE YOU ARE MINE YOU ARE MINE BIG SISTER CAN'T TAKE YOU AWAY BIG SISTER CAN'T TAKE YOU AWAY MEI CAN'T TAKE YOU AWAY THE CLASS MONITOR CAN'T TAKE YOU AWAY NO ONE CAN TAKE YOU AWAY!!!"
With those frantic and domineering words, the other party swallowed all his resistance.
What on earth is happening?
Fuli's mind was in chaos, like a forest ravaged by a storm—disorganized and messy.
Why is it like this?
He tried to sort out his thoughts amidst the confusion, but found everything was blurry and elusive.
Time quietly passed in this chaos and confusion until the dawn broke, and the sound of waves crashing against the shore echoed between the sky and the sea.
"Hi~ Good morning! Are you happy to hear my voice♪?"
"Hi~ Good morning! A good mood for the day starts with seeing you♪~"
With the help of the Little Fairy Alarm Clock recorded with Elysia's voice, Fuli, lying in bed, finally startled awake from that chaotic dream.
He subconsciously climbed up from the bed, which was soaked with sweat, looked around, and scratched his head.
"Was that... a dream just now? That dream felt a bit too real..."
The boy's voice carried a hint of the grogginess and confusion of someone just waking up. He scratched his messy black hair, walked to the window, and opened it.
The warm breeze of the Pacific Ocean couldn't wait to pour into the room, refreshing the indoor air.
Well, that was just Fuli's psychological feeling.
The Hyperion's air purification system was sufficient to ensure the air inside the ship was fresh enough, perhaps even more fragrant due to the faint energy dissipating from the Well of Urd mixed within.
But what could herald the arrival of a new day better than inhaling the sea breeze deep into one's lungs first thing in the morning?
As for dreaming about yellow (lewd) things, Fuli pondered it for a moment and didn't take it too much to heart.
The current time was mid-June 2014. A full three months had passed since the thrilling Third Eruption.
During these three months, he had been hanging out with super beautiful girls like the "Starting Trio" all day. Occasionally, a noble and elegant knight-princess like Durandal would come over to visit, and Theresa and Himeko would drop by every few days to mooch off them.
Fuli was, after all, a sixteen-year-old Bro. But with Prometheus and Dr. Mei checking the posts 24 hours a day without interruption, he didn't even have a chance to sneak around and do anything.
Even with intensified exercise to divert his attention, it was excusable to occasionally dream about crossing swords with someone.
"It's just... why was it Kiana?"
The person in the dream calling him "Ah Li"—among the people Fuli knew, only that girl did that.
"What a pity. It would have been great if I dreamed of my cousin."
He muttered softly, "Bianka or Mei would have been fine too. At worst, swap it for Kallen."
After all, he promised his brother he'd take care of her. Besides, the peak of human modeling was truly beautiful to look at.
"Little Brother, what are you saying? What do you mean 'swap for me'?"
"Whoa, you scared me!"
The white-haired beauty hanging upside down from the ceiling poked her head out, causing the boy's heart to skip a beat.
"Sorry, sorry."
Kallen smiled heartlessly, her silver-white hair shining exceptionally bright in the skylight.
Fuli looked up at the time and found it was already seven o'clock.
"I'm going to take a quick shower, then go eat."
"Go ahead then. Do you need Big Sister to help you with anything inconvenient?"
Her pale, slender hands gestured in the air, Kallen's smile particularly ambiguous.
"You getting out is the biggest help to me! Go! Go!"
Fuli shooed away the Saintess, who had been letting herself go more and more recently for some unknown reason, with a look of disgust. He took off the male-style cat-ear pajamas Kiana had purchased according to her own tastes and walked into the bathroom.
After washing away the sweat caused by that weird dream, the boy changed into casual clothes and went out to the dining room.
"Moyomo~"
As soon as he arrived, several Cat-cakes clustered around him intimately.
Once Fuli was seated, they worked together to bring up the prepared breakfast.
Mei had recently implanted a cooking module into some of the Cat-cakes' programs, so the girls no longer had to rely on Mama Fuli's exquisite skills all day to satisfy themselves.
Of course, here we refer to cooking—you bad kids, don't get the wrong idea.
"Mhm, mhm, delicious. The Cat-cakes' cooking skills are amazing, so amazing."
"Hmph, hah!"
After casually teasing a "Mei-cake" (modeled after Mei) that was staring at him with sparkling eyes, Fuli tucked in his napkin and began to gorge himself on the Western-style meal on his plate.
A gust of fragrant wind hit him, and a white-haired dumpling sat down next to him, kicking her little feet.
"Ah Li, Ah Li! This young lady will tell you a joke!"
Kiana, who had snatched the Mei-cake from the boy and hugged it in her arms, bobbed her head, looking just like a cheerful lark that didn't know the meaning of sorrow.
She said loudly, "Once upon a time, there was a fool who liked to say 'No.' No matter what anyone asked him, he would say 'No.' Have you heard this joke?"
Fuli frowned, a trace of thought flashing in his crimson eyes. "You seem to have told this joke before."
"No!"
Kiana retorted loudly.
"You have told it."
Fuli's tone carried a hint of certainty.
"I really haven't!"
Thinking back again and confirming it was her first time, Kiana shook her head with a rattle.
"You definitely have."
Fuli, having eaten and drunk his fill, picked up a napkin to wipe the corners of his mouth. He casually opened the lottery panel of the Finality Coordinator System.
He grabbed Kiana's fragrant and soft little hand and pressed the [10x Draw] button once, and the [Single Draw] button four times. As he let go of her and leisurely walked away, he didn't forget to leave a sentence behind:
"Think about it carefully yourself."
Watching the boy's retreating figure, Kiana scratched her head foolishly.
"I really haven't told it..."
And it's strange, why are there so many zeros added to the end of the count above Ah Li's head?
She took off the glasses she had put on a whim—the Strange Object that allowed one to see "Do Count/Experience"—and felt depressed as if something was blocking her heart.
Bronya, who had been watching the whole process, walked over and sat down. "You really haven't told it?"
"Really, I haven't!"
Single-celled organisms are so carefree; she immediately put the matter of the increasing count aside.
"It feels like a memory problem."
The little girl tilted her head, her collagen-rich face glowing under the skylight. "How about this: Bronya will test Idiot Kiana's memory."
"Bring it on!"
Kiana rubbed her palms together, eager to try.
"Listen well. Pig is A, Dog is B, Cat is C."
Bronya silently picked up a piece of tender, juicy steak from Kiana's plate with her chopsticks, while slowly retreating backward. "Cat is?"
"C!"
"Dog is?"
"B!"
"Pig is?"
"A!"
"Pig?"
"A!"
"Pig?"
"A!"
"Congratulations, you've learned to answer before the question is finished."
Bronya, having moved to the doorway, nodded. The corners of her mouth curled up in an imperceptible smile. "It seems your memory is fine. Brother was just pretending he heard it to tease you. He's too bad; I suggest revenge."
"If there's revenge to be had, I'll take it on you first, you Bad Girl calling people piglets!"
Kallen's projection poked her head down from the ceiling, glaring at Kiana with a look of 'iron not becoming steel' (disappointment). "We are both Kaslanas, so why is this child so stupid?"
Just because you have an external brain beside you, you just give up thinking? I don't know who you inherited this terrible habit from!
"Huh?"
Kiana looked at her blankly.
Three seconds later—
"BRO! NYA!"
Although her reflex arc was slow, at least she reacted eventually.
...
Compared to the chaos in the dining room, the atmosphere on Fuli's side was very relaxed.
At this moment, he was sitting on an alloy suspension platform extending from the edge of the Hyperion's deck, gazing at the ocean while checking the ten items drawn by the hand of Kiana, the European Emperor (super lucky person).
...
...
Rusted Katana +18 (D)Handy Geng's Homemade Amphibious Fishing RV (D)Type 59 Medium Tank - Super Magical Modification (B)Holographic Intelligent Live Streaming Drone (D)Face-Preserving Pill (D)Diary Written in Blood (C)Inferior Hogyoku Fragment (C)Love Potion (C)Origin Bullet (C)System Mall Item Exchange Voucher (B)Spell: Acala's Flame Boundary (B)Skill: Maiden-Embracing Kill (German Suplex) (B)O Sun, Become Armor (A)Strange Object: Cupid's Bow and Arrow
The above were the products of this ten-pull plus four singles.
Fuli pointed and criticized with dissatisfaction, "Why is there a pile of props again? And among the only two skills, one of them is something with unclear meaning like 'Maiden-Embracing Kill'."
I finally used Kiana's little hand to reward myself after so long, and this is it? Just this?
[ The Host is clearly acting like he got a bad deal after getting a bargain. ]
Prometheus couldn't stand his face. With a flip of her delicate, jointed hand, she pulled up the data for the Sun Armor.
[ Name: O Sun, Become Armor (Kavacha and Kundala) ]
[ Rank: A ]
[ Classification: Armor ]
[ Effect: The Invincible Golden Armor. A conceptual permanent armor fused with the flesh, a manifestation of the concept of light. ]
[ It proportionally reduces all hostile physical attacks, magecraft, curses, and interference concepts below S-rank (excluding S-rank), causing the wearer to suffer only one-tenth of the original damage. ]
[ Upon liberation, the armor can transform into a pure shield of light for defense. It can withstand the output of a Sequence Rank for 5 seconds. However, after using this liberation, the armor will enter a damaged state. The damaged state has a cooldown of one week, during which it cannot be used. ]
[ The Golden Armor's only weakness is that it cannot defend against attacks from within the body. However, it possesses a support function to heal one's own injuries by consuming energy. Even fatal wounds can be healed by the Golden Armor over time. ]
[ Aside from that, whether in passive or liberated state, the Golden Armor's energy consumption is extremely high. Reducing high-level attacks will consume an additional massive amount of energy. Please be prepared to be drained dry, Host. ]
[ Note: Indra, f* you! — Sun God Surya ]**
"Whoa!"
Sitting on the edge of the deck, Fuli exclaimed in awe. Because the deck had been cleaned too thoroughly by Bronya, who was on duty today, his butt slipped, and he almost fell directly into the Pacific Ocean.
Stabilizing his body, he slapped his thigh. "This thing is awesome-plus!"
This is exactly what you call: Because I'm too afraid of dying, I put all my points into Defense.
It was true that the Golden Armor couldn't weaken attacks above S-rank, but it could reduce the power of Critical-grade offensives by ninety percent.
"Combined with my combat experience and excellent configuration."
Touching his chin, Fuli muttered to himself, "Hmm, ordinary Critical-grade attacks definitely can't kill me. If I encounter lightning attributes, I guess I could tire them to death?"
Imagine encountering a lightning attack: the Sun Armor shaves off 90%, then the Thunder Stigmata weakens it by another 80%. What kind of god-tier shell is this?
Not only that, once he collected Stigmata of wind, space, earth, ice, fire, and other attributes later, each weakening the corresponding attack by 80%—who in this world could break Fuli's defense then?
[ Host... ]
Prometheus looked with disdain at this coward who maxed out defense.
"I can't help it! In my past life, I was only Critical-grade, and that was only by exploding my potential right before I died."
Fuli shouted, "Getting the Sun Armor just means people can't beat me to death; there's still a considerable distance from being able to counter-kill."
He wouldn't become blindly arrogant just because he was a reincarnator.
[ If the Host could match his words with his deeds in this regard, I wouldn't have anything to worry about. ]
Dr. Mei scoffed at this.
This guy. Two formal battles. One, he overturned a Herrscher of Thunder with intensity comparable to the Previous Era. Two, he transformed into the burning Third Divine Key and pierced through the Brahma Beast controlled by a super AI.
He's never tough with his mouth, but never cowardly when it's time to throw down.
This is basically a mental patient + troublemaker!
"What are you doing?"
A cool voice interrupted Fuli's bickering with the Lunar Duo. He looked to the side, his vision momentarily captivated by the girl before him.
Purple long hair, smooth as silk, draped over her shoulders. Skin white and tender as new snow. Crimson-purple eyes, exquisite and beautiful features. On her long, straight legs, she wore black thigh-high stockings, highlighting a small section of snowy-white "Absolute Territory" that was incredibly alluring.
Slurp!
Wait, no, it's Mei!
The girl paced over to the boy and sat beside him with her legs together.
Slender fingers tucked the hair blown by the sea breeze behind her ear. She turned her profile toward him, smiling brightly.
She is the beauty of the human world.
Harboring great dreams.
A sincere heart turned into concrete action.
Once success is achieved, come back and pursue her.
The beautiful scene of youth made Fuli, who had just had a good dream, admire and sigh in praise. He only snapped out of it amidst Dr. Mei's teasing laughter. "Nothing, just got some good stuff."
"Similar to that Light Cone you gave me last time?"
"It should count as a reinforcement-type product."
The boy pretended to fumble in his chest pocket and handed over the Face-Preserving Pill he had just drawn in the ten-pull.
Mei took it, a stream of data analyzed by the Soulium computer flashing through her eyes.
"A pill that allows humans to retain their youth forever, solidifying their appearance to the state it was in when taken."
She looked thoughtful. "The technical content is around D-rank. Configuration is not difficult at all. The problem is the materials are unheard of; we need to find suitable substitutes. The upside is, if it can be mass-produced and popularized, it can indeed harvest quite a few leeks (suckers/money) from ignorant women."
Why ignorant?
Face-preserving implies only the face is preserved.
Time flies. The elderly yellowing, the "old person smell," loose skin, stiff bodies—health deteriorating every day while the face remains youthful and beautiful.
That image, that contrast... just thinking about it was creepy.
Hearing this, Fuli pulled a face. "I won't allow you to speak about the Hyperion's big spenders like that!"
These are all family! I'm definitely harvesting these leeks!
"I've even thought of the slogan: Second one is half price!"
"You."
Mei looked dotingly at the big boy raising his arms and shouting. She thought to herself, At worst, I'll spend some effort to release a matching after-sales service later.
Anyway, cosmetic surgery on the human body surface requires no technical content. Might as well squeeze out some more profit while at it.
"And then? Is there more?"
She asked again, her smiling face looking just like a little wife waiting for her husband to hand over his paycheck.
"There is."
Fuli waved his hand, and a small katana frequently flashing with blinding light was grasped in his hand.
Compared to her previous calmness, Mei let out a rare "Eh?" of surprise this time.
She took the Rusted Katana +18—which had looks if you wanted looks, and special effects if you wanted attack power—into her hand. After examining it carefully, she raised her alluring eyebrows.
"The material is just ordinary iron, the kind of goods ordinary people can buy with a little money... But why is it so sharp? This is completely on par with the mass-produced equipment configured for basic combat units by medium-sized factions."
"Because this is a +18 Small Katana that came out of Kiri's Equipment Reinforcement Machine..."
Recalling his Dungeon & Fighter (DNF) career, Fuli sighed with emotion.
Back then, who wasn't one of the eight million Arad Warriors who had entered and exited Seria's room?
" simply put, you can understand the '+' at the end as a special kind of reinforcement."
The unlucky guy who had shattered equipment countless times explained, "Every successful reinforcement can make the weapon sharper. Even if it was originally just a tattered small katana, if it succeeds more than twenty times in a row, it's enough to become a divine weapon rivaling the Tenka Goken (Five Swords under Heaven)."
"This is worth researching."
Mei stood up abruptly, walking toward the back with the katana. "According to you, this sword was reinforced through something called an 'Equipment Reinforcement Machine,' right? I will try to analyze the reinforcement principle of this weapon to reverse-engineer the structure of said Reinforcement Machine."
"Oh."
The boy, not understanding the difficulty involved, nodded. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he hurriedly shouted, "Remember to make the Reinforcement Machine NOT break equipment! Damn it, that woman Kiri ate my +13 Double Dragon Demon Slayer wu wu wu..."
As he spoke, sorrow rose from his heart, and he couldn't help but cover his face and weep.
While wailing, he suddenly realized something and called out to the girl's retreating back, "By the way, Mei, about that thing I asked you to investigate earlier—is there any result?"
Which thing?
Naturally, the matter of the Herrscher of Reason Stigmata reacting to Kiana.
The day after the birthday party, when Fuli mentioned this to Mei, the girl said she needed some time to investigate.
A month had passed since the birthday party. She should have researched a result by now, right?
"..."
Meanwhile, on the front side that Fuli couldn't see.
Hearing his words, Mei's expression wavered extremely rarely.
Lightning circled her heart to calm its violent beating. The girl, standing still, bit her lower lip, pretending to be no different from usual.
She turned around and nodded.
"Regarding the matter you asked about, Fuli, I have made some progress."
She took the initiative to step forward and, seemingly calmly, held Fuli's hand.
Then she lifted the hem of his shirt at his lower abdomen. There, the Herrscher of Reason Stigmata was blooming with a faint pink light.
"What's going on?"
Fuli was puzzled. Why is this thing reacting to Mei too?
"You remember Kiana's unprovoked rampage earlier, right? Afterward, during a comprehensive physical examination, I discovered that something seemed to have been implanted in her body."
Mei spoke the lines she had prepared long ago. "It was precisely that thing that caused her loss of control. Specifics still need investigation, but your Reason Stigmata was sensing exactly that."
"So that's it."
Fuli realized, "Then the reason I reacted to you—"
"I just mixed some nano-robots into my body. The Stigmata is reacting to them."
Mei explained, "As for Theresa, it was reacting to the artificial Honkai Beast core in her body."
She shrugged. "After all, simply controlling Theresa because she is an android would be too abstract. Normal reproduction between men and women also counts as 'creating people,' so why doesn't the Reason Stigmata just be more direct and control all of humanity? Conceptual bullshitting doesn't work like that."
Projecting the Root (Akasha), Emiya Shirou; insta-killing the Root, Diarmuid; controlling the Root, Lancelot; the Root Origin itself, Ryougi Shiki; entering and exiting the Root, Kokutou Mikiya... this matter is also recorded among the Type-Moon Four Heavenly Kings.
"That does seem to be the logic?"
It was only an A-rank Stigmata. Not to say it wasn't strong, but if it really reached that conceptual level, it would indeed be too heaven-defying.
"Yes."
Mei, having successfully changed the subject, breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. She then added, "Unless you are in a sh*tposting forum."
...