Even now, a lingering sense of absurdity swirled in Fuli's mind.
It was supposed to be a simple Fragmentum afterimage left behind as a sparring partner. How the hell did it seamlessly swap out for the legendary Flawless Flying Light herself without him noticing?!
Damn you, hand of destiny! You're just deliberately screwing with a pure, innocent youth like me, aren't you?!
But if you asked him whether he wanted to do it again?
Oh, Destiny! Please show no mercy! Ravage me harder!
"Sigh..."
Every time Fuli recalled his aloof, fairy-like Master leaving without saying goodbye, he couldn't help but let out a long, wistful sigh.
Top-tier looks, a spectacular figure, unparalleled swordsmanship, and absurdly high compatibility with him. Most importantly, she wasn't familiar with Kiana, Mei, and the others, meaning he didn't have to worry about triggering a domino effect that would instantly transform the thriving Hyperion camp into a romantic bloodbath or a palace-intrigue warzone.
Her only flaw was that her Mara-struck episodes were slightly too terrifying and unhinged, complete with yandere laughter that echoed in his ears for three days straight. But Fuli chalked that up to a skill issue on his part—if he were stronger, he could have pinned her down better.
Where was he ever going to find such a high-quality "sparring partner" again?
"A-Li! A-Li! Earth to A-Li! You big idiot!"
"Huh?"
A crisp voice yanked the boy out of his disappointment.
Looking up, he saw his beloved white cat standing with her hands on her hips, staring at him with burning intensity.
"What's up?"
"Don't 'what's up' me!" Kiana shook her head vigorously, her long white hair dancing wildly in the air. A few playful strands brushed against Fuli's nose, bringing with them the faint, refreshing scent of lavender.
"Let's settle this once and for all!" the girl declared, artificially raising her pitch to maximize the provocation. "We'll use the final rankings of this Wardance to determine who the true King of the Hyperion is!"
"A usurpation of the throne? Bring it on!" Fuli instantly caught the rhythm, a wicked smirk surfacing on his lips. "I thought you didn't learn anything during those few months in the Far East, but it seems you've truly grasped the essence of their culture."
Sitting quietly nearby, Mei just turned a page of her book. Both she and her father, the Anti-Entropy Executive Ryoma Raiden, were Japanese-Americans, so that stray shot didn't bother her in the slightest.
"Hmph! If you, the 'Primeval Lord of Heaven' Fuli, can sit on the throne, why can't I, the 'Great Kiana Equal to Heaven' claim it for myself?" The white-haired Tuna crossed her arms confidently. "What's the matter? Too scared to accept my challenge?"
"You're only picking a fight now because you know my starting score is deep in the negatives, you stupid paramecium!" Fuli waved his hand magnanimously, overflowing with bravado. "No problem! A true hero faces challenges at any time, under any disadvantageous conditions! Watch this Great King use a series of absolute, crushing victories to show you exactly who the undisputed master of the Hyperion is!"
Suddenly, the mature Bronya, who had been sitting quietly on the side, spoke up. "This sounds interesting. Count me in."
The young woman crossed her long legs, clad in ultra-thin, transparent black pantyhose. Her black professional skirt rode up slightly from her posture, outlining an incredibly enticing curve.
"However, I have no interest in being the 'King'," she added flatly. "Let's change the victory condition to: 'The loser must unconditionally fulfill one request from the winner.' This applies to all parties. How about it?"
"Oh, that's actually way better!" Kiana's beautiful eyes lit up, and she smashed her fist into her palm excitedly. "I'm changing mine to that too!"
So we aren't fighting for the title of King anymore? Then what was all that passionate grandstanding about?
Yunli, who had been spectating the entire exchange, was completely bewildered. As a young girl who hadn't yet fallen in love, she naturally didn't understand that this seemingly childish bet was actually just an excuse for couples to flirt.
"Fulfill one condition, huh..." Fuli stroked his chin. "Are there any restrictions? Like, it can't violate the person's core moral principles?"
"No restrictions!" Bronya replied decisively.
"Absolutely not!" Mei was the first to object. Since she hadn't signed up for the tournament, she had no skin in this game, but playing with such high stakes? What if things got out of hand? The Herrscher of Thunder definitely did not want her hair dyed the same color as Mobius's.
"Shoo, shoo." Bronya waved her off with mild disgust. "People without entry qualifications shouldn't interfere—"
"Hmm?" Miss Raiden hummed softly, miraculously producing a brand-new Energy Conversion Ring from thin air and toying with it in her fingers.
"...But then again, I suppose adding some restrictions would indeed be more prudent," Bronya finished without missing a beat, swallowing the second half of her sentence.
As Sima Yi once said, a true leader must have the magnanimity to tolerate what others cannot, for only then can they achieve greatness! Bronya reasoned internally. A great woman knows when to yield. For the sake of cultivating the Star-Shattering Initial Strike and breaking into the Critical-class faster... I shall endure!
Unfortunately, the flames of war, once ignited, couldn't be extinguished by a few words of compromise.
"Adding restrictions makes it boring," Kiana disagreed. "Besides, the Flamescion's Everlasting Flame team—consisting of myself and Director Topaz—is invincible! Snatching the Wardance championship will be as easy as taking candy from a baby!"
"Honestly, true." Fuli nodded in profound agreement. "Our Come, Sweet Misery team will never bow to anyone! Even with an apocalyptic starting score, and even facing the combined might of Flamescion's Everlasting Flame and Dimensional Boundary Breakthrough, we shall remain unrivaled in this world!"
(Dimensional Boundary Breakthrough was Bronya's team name).
"Confidence is a good thing." Yunli lounged in her grand armchair, enjoying the meticulous service of an automated massage machine while popping a crystal-clear grape into her mouth. "But don't forget, our opponents this time are no pushovers."
"Oh? Care to elaborate?" Fuli perked up.
"For example, you've got the Galaxy Ranger Boothill and the Knight of Beauty Argenti teaming up as Guns and Roses. Then there's the IPC's Lady Asta partnered with Anna Schariac in The Stars' Unspoken Song." The artisan maiden swallowed her grape and continued lazily, "Even that unlucky kid Yanqing signed up. And unlike our little sparring session, there's no holding back this time. A Critical-class limit-breaker like the Luofu's Sword Champion is more than enough to give us a massive headache."
"Eh?" Fuli put on a dumbfounded expression. "Are you implying, Miss Yunli... that you can't beat little bro Yanqing?"
"How is that possible?!" The girl rolled her eyes beautifully before sighing, her tone filled with pragmatic helplessness. "But how should I put it... If we're talking about a pure contest of skill, compared to that guy, I really am still lacking just a tiny bit of refinement."
The current strongest Sword Champion of the Alliance, who was slated to automatically inherit the title of Sword Master the moment he reached S-Rank, didn't earn his reputation through modesty or a gentle demeanor. He earned it by personally traveling to every major Xianzhou bubble-world, challenging every top-tier swordsman vying for the title to one-on-one duels, and physically beating them into total submission.
At this, the treasured Yunli flashed a sly smile. "However, that premise only applies if we're strictly talking about swordsmanship."
Who was she? A Baiye! The absolute apex of forging grandmasters on the Zhuming!
Given ample preparation and a full set of top-tier gear, never mind her little bro Yanqing, she'd even dare to hoist her greatsword and clash head-on with an Emanator-class entity!
"True that." Fuli deeply agreed. In the previous timeline, the two of them had literally teamed up to challenge the Emanator Shuhu.
Of course, clashing head-on ≠ winning.
But realistically speaking, how many ordinary S-Rank powerhouses could actually arm-wrestle an Emanator-class entity head-on and hold their ground, even for a short time?
"Huh?" Fuli's zero-hesitation agreement completely threw Yunli for a loop.
She narrowed her eyes, stood up, and circled him before asking in astonishment, "Wait, bro, you actually believe me?"
"Of course I do!" Fuli gave her a thumbs-up, his smile bright and clear.
Having undergone silent completion via multiple supreme-tier Stigmata and genetic fragment optimization, the boy's facial features had grown increasingly refined and harmonious. When he smiled, the corners of his eyes curved slightly, and his long eyelashes cast a small shadow, radiating a sincere, warm morning glow.
What was most special was that, despite his looks reaching a borderline illegal level, his crimson eyes held absolutely no aggression, exuding a natural, effortless affinity that subconsciously drew people in.
"..."
The treasured Yunli was momentarily dazzled by this clean smile—one potent enough to instantly KO the Heavenly Strike General Feixiao. Her heart skipped a beat, and a faint blush involuntarily crept onto her cheeks.
She shyly turned her face away, muttering softly, "Alright, alright, seriously... You're an outsider, so how come you have more confidence in me than I do in myself?"
Perhaps feeling that this made her look like she was yielding, the naturally fierce and competitive artisan maiden quickly straightened her back, shifting her tone back to its usual aggressive-yet-cute default:
"Hurry up! Stop bantering and check what your starting mission from the Matrix of Prescience is! We need to prep so we can go do missions together and earn some points!"
"On it." The boy obediently pulled up his personal terminal panel. His eyes scanned the screen as he slowly read the text: "Initial Mission: Defeat Jingliu—Uh, Status: Completed?!"
The moment the words left his mouth, a crisp notification chime rang out.
He hit the answer button, and before the holographic screen could even fully unfurl, Yanqing's excited, awe-filled voice practically burst through the speakers:
"Amazing, Brother Fuli!"
As a high-ranking official and the Luofu's Sword Champion, he had clearly used internal channels to learn the name of the mission Fuli had just completed.
"What? What?! Defeat Jingliu?!" The previously dazed Yunli snapped awake instantly, darting over in a single bound. "Did that woman sneak back onto the Luofu?! And you defeated her? You beat her up?! She's an S-Rank limit-breaker! A ruthless monster capable of trading blows with an Emanator! How did you win?!"
"Yeah, yeah!" Yanqing echoed from the holographic screen, his handsome, ethereal face plastered with identical curiosity and thirst for knowledge. "I know it might be incredibly rude to ask, but I am truly, incredibly curious... How exactly did you manage to defeat Grandmaster Jingliu, Brother Fuli?!"
The young Yanqing possessed transcendent swordsmanship and was hailed throughout the Luofu as a prodigy rarely seen in decades. Even though his strength and achievements were fully deserving of the praise, and despite General Jing Yuan repeatedly teaching him that the universe was vast, years of continuous victories had inevitably made the youth a bit full of himself.
That was until Jingliu returned to the Luofu. With a single strike, she cured Yanqing of his arrogance, instilled a deep sense of humility, and left him with severe psychological trauma.
Ever since then, the boy had practically idolized his unparalleled Grandmaster. It was precisely because of this that he understood that, even though he was just one step away from the title of Sword Master, there was still a massive gap between him and Jingliu. She wasn't some unlucky monkey pinned under a mountain by Buddha for five hundred years, unable to level up. He was improving, but his equally genius Grandmaster was naturally growing stronger every day too.
"Well, about that..."
Faced with two pairs of eyes sparkling with an intense thirst for knowledge, Fuli awkwardly scratched his cheek.
He couldn't exactly tell them the truth—that his Master's Mara-struck waist technique was indeed fierce and tricky, and that she had ruthlessly squeezed him dry. And that, thanks to his superior stamina, he found an opening in the latter half of the night to launch a counter-thrust?
Then again, speaking of seniority... should he be calling Yanqing his grand-disciple now? Or his martial nephew? The former was a normal relationship, but the latter sounded somehow more... stimulating.
The boy fell into strange contemplation.
Kiana knew nothing of the twisted thoughts running through this guy's head, nor did she care how he had defeated this person named Jingliu. After all, in the girl's heart, her A-Li was omnipotent anyway. She only cared about one crucially important thing.
"Points! What about the points?!" Kiana eagerly leaned in close, her fragrant breath brushing directly against his face. "How many points did you get for beating that Jingliu?!"
"Let me check." Fuli looked down and carefully reviewed the mission reward details. A moment later, a bizarre expression crossed his face. "Why is it only 20,000? Did you guys miss a zero?"
"Actually, no." Yanqing shook his head. He had specifically contacted him to explain this very issue. "As you all know, the main objective of this Wardance is to eradicate the peripheral factions of World Serpent scattered across the region. In other words, the deeper the target's connection to World Serpent, the more points you get for defeating them."
"According to our investigations, Grandmaster has absolutely zero ties to World Serpent. Furthermore, based on the Matrix of Prescience's calculations, the likelihood of her causing substantial harm to the Luofu is infinitesimally small. Still, it counts as eliminating a potential destabilizing factor, so after a comprehensive assessment, 20,000 was the assigned point value."
"Makes sense." Fuli nodded, entirely unwilling to dig any deeper.
He was scared too! It was his own fault that his method of "defeating" Jingliu wasn't exactly orthodox. Some things were better left unweighed; put them on the scale, and the consequences would crush him.
If the details ever leaked, he'd probably have to preemptively stage an "I'm leaving the Hyperion" drama, then find a hole to hide in and start a new life under an assumed identity. His real name, Fuli, would be completely burned. He'd have to use Lan, Tayzzyronth, Ouroboros, Nanook, or Akivili—whichever Aeon name sounded coolest at the time.
Eager to change the subject, the boy couldn't help but add, "Also, your Grandmaster really isn't that old, you don't need to keep calling her 'senior'."
"?" The pure, innocent little bro Yanqing looked thoroughly bewildered.
Meanwhile, Kiana, who had been rubbing her hands together, ready to make a huge splash on the leaderboard, now felt incredibly conflicted. It felt like meticulously planning a grand strategy to change history, only to realize you had joined the completely wrong faction.
"Jackal and the Heliopolis Life Sciences, defeating Jingliu... It's only been two days, and A-Li's score went from negative 100,000 to around negative 50,000. At this rate, can I even win?" she muttered.
"We will win!" Bronya's face was dead serious. "The competition just started, how can you give up so easily? We still have a massive forty-thousand-point lead! Idiot Kiana, you need to step it up!"
The young woman wasn't worried at all that her cheap older brother would demand something perverted like 'pushing her down' if he won. To put it bluntly, if he wanted to do that, he could do it anytime, anywhere.
What she was terrified of was Fuli blackmailing her into doing something absolutely psychotic—like forcing her to use her Ether Editing ability to turn into a catgirl and feeding her catnip; or reading her browser history aloud in front of the entire Hyperion crew.
Just recently, this bastard secretly signed her up for a kindergarten Taekwondo tournament. When caught, he actually argued righteously, "My little sister is only fourteen! How is a fourteen-year-old not a baby?" The craziest part was that the kindergarten principal actually agreed, letting the girl enter the ring to absolutely massacre the toddlers, forcefully bringing home the runner-up trophy.
What? Who won the championship?
Naturally, it was Sirin, who was also signed up by a certain unscrupulous bastard, and who used a single Gates of Babylon portal to Banish Bronya out of the ring.
Kiana suddenly remembered something. "Wait, wait! According to the rules, aren't there supposed to be smart drones recording our missions 24/7? Didn't they say they'd edit the footage into VLOGs and upload them to the Luofu's official website?"
"That was Mobius's terrible idea," Mei sneered. "Under the guise of letting the audience score us from multiple angles—voting for 'Most Popular', 'Best Hype Moment', or 'Most Touching Team'—it's purely an excuse to gather intelligence on the participants."
"I thought it was just to increase engagement and make the event more fun. So that's what it was?" Kiana blinked, gaining a deeper understanding of just how bastardly these people were. She asked hesitantly, "Then should we..."
"We can provide our own VLOG footage; we don't have to use their official drones," Bronya replied casually, clearly having already figured out a countermeasure. "When the time comes, we'll just ask the Savior of Light to help edit it. Guaranteed to be flawless."
In this regard, Lord Kyuushou was an absolute powerhouse!
"But I heard that if you use the official drones and win first place in the various categories, there's a chance you can invite Miss Robin or Lady Eden to produce a custom BGM for your video..." Kiana scratched the back of her head, looking incredibly tempted.
This girl proclaimed herself a ten-year veteran fan of "Baby Robin", but she wasn't an extremist; she also really liked the equally ultra-popular superstar Eden. Mostly because she had huge... assets.
"I can find a way to contact Robin; we just need to prepare the payment," Fuli said casually. "As for Eden, I've only met her once, but I can ask my little grand-aunt to check."
"No need," Bronya said without looking up. "I can handle Sister Eden."
Oh right! Fuli raised an eyebrow, recalling the time he ran into Eden at Tiresias's place. The world-class superstar had specifically thanked him for taking care of Bronya.
He asked curiously, "You guys know each other?"
Yuya, who had been quietly listening on the sidelines, suddenly raised her hand and excitedly interjected, "Miss Eden, who originally came from North America, and Lady Cocolia are very close best friends! We used to get free concert tickets all the time!"
"Were best friends," Bronya corrected coldly. "They've drifted apart in recent years."
Indeed, it was impossible for anyone to harbor ill will towards the young Cocolia—the hero who bravely reported her corrupt superiors and constantly risked her life to protect civilians during the Second Eruption. Eden was no exception back then. She had even generously opened her purse, using her superpower of wealth to sponsor the struggling Cocolia, allowing her to gain a foothold in Anti-Entropy.
Unfortunately, people change. When the scales of a dragon began to grow on the former hero, the two once-close friends gradually drifted apart.
But that had nothing to do with the children. Even today, Bronya still really liked the elegant, gentle older sister who visited the orphanage every so often; and Eden deeply pitied the Silver Wolf of the Urals, who was forced to become an assassin at such a young age.
"Anyway." Seeing that everything was settled, the only thing left was to head out and work.
Fuli patted Kiana and Bronya on the shoulders, adopting the earnest tone of an old father. "You two take care of yourselves out there. If you run into anything you can't handle, contact me. To hire me, you only need to give me half your points and loot after it's done. How about it? Hmph, I'm pretty generous, aren't I!"
Tuna: ( ﹁﹁ )
Duck: (ᗜ ˰ ᗜ)
The girls originally thought someone had genuinely grown a conscience and learned how to care for others, but halfway through, they realized something was very, very wrong.
Fuli ignored his two class enemies, turning around to huddle up with his treasured Yunli to study the specifics of her initial mission and formulate a plan. They weren't going to just blindly charge in relying purely on their strength.
Need he remind them of the "Place of Three Intertwined Paths" next door? At first, many people thought Dan Heng unleashing his Imbibitor Lunae powers would be enough for a speedrun. The result? It transformed into a deathmatch of three Paths! Emanator-level big shots took turns showing up, and even several Aeons got dragged into the fray.
The universe was incredibly complex, and human hearts were unpredictable. Who knew if behind this seemingly mundane mission, there was some big shot—or several—fishing across the cosmos, waiting for willing prey to take the bait?
And upon investigating, the eyes of the Fuli-Yunli combo filled with absolute astonishment.