Suke, who had held expectations for Mabel, realized he was truly a fool.
It was one thing for the person to be unreliable, but for their power to be unreliable too? That was another matter entirely.
He had originally thought he could meet the Flame-Chasers of Elysia's world one by one today. After all, he had received help from two of them (the ring and the collar). There was also the matter he mentioned before about helping Elysia collect Herrscher Cores to craft equipment.
Having watched too many "peak insanity" matches, his hands were itching too; going to stomp some noobs occasionally would be nice.
But now, gazing at that deep cosmic void across the door, Suke felt it was all muda (useless).
"Elysia, is behind this door really your world?"
"It should be... right?"
"I can sense familiar Imaginary Energy. Although Miss Pink Elf is just an ordinary person now, this intuition won't be wrong~" Elysia said, pressing her finger against her lips.
Fine, let's assume for now that behind this door is the universe where Elysia's world resides. But how exactly was he supposed to take Elysia, find Earth, and land?
Forget Earth; with a single glance, Suke didn't even see a habitable planet. Was he supposed to gallop through the void on a horse?
Hiss, actually, that didn't seem impossible.
Suke remembered the Stable he had recently built on the farm. The reason he hadn't built it in the past was that Stardew Valley was enclosed on all sides. There weren't many people, nor were there urgent matters requiring him to race against time on horseback. A slow-paced life, you know?
But the situation was definitely different now.
"Wait, Brother."
"Abi senses a strange gaze peeping this way from the other side of the door!"
Just as Suke was considering whether to go back to the farm to ride a horse, Abigail suddenly frowned. Holding the glowing Silver Key, she felt somewhat uncomfortable. Perhaps in response to the anomaly she sensed:
On the other side of the door, a phantom of a mechanical head, seemingly crafted from metal and vacuum tubes, slowly emerged!
At the moment that phantom appeared, the deep cosmic space displayed before Suke, Abigail, and the others froze in unison, like a movie scene where someone had pressed the pause button!
[[Variable]: "Gate of Return" has intervened in the model.]
[Warning, Warning. Universal trajectory has shifted. Re-initiating calculation number 982,451,653,131.]
[[Query] Who are "you"?]
[[Query] Where are "you"?]
[[Query] Where are "you" going?]
[[Query] "You"...]
Bang!
The cold, synthesized mechanical voice rang incessantly, but before Suke and the others could even respond, Mabel, who had sobered up at some unknown point, suddenly kicked open the door of the inner room!
Wearing a face as gloomy as a forced-overtime worker, she arrived in front of the door Suke and the others were surrounding. Under Suke's stunned gaze, she stepped over the threshold without hesitation! She went straight into the seemingly frozen universe on the other side!
[[Variable]... Error, Error, [Variable]... Error, [Unknowable] has forcibly intervened.]
"Gibbering on about what? Do you know you disturbed Mabel-chan's sleep?"
[Error, Error, Number does not exist in the Unknowable, Error, Existence is non-existent and immeasurable, Error—]
Before Suke could react, the mechanical head phantom disappeared along with Mabel. And merely three seconds after they vanished, Mabel reappeared on the other side of the door and walked back.
If one observed carefully, they could see that a corner of the hair ribbon on Mabel's head was damaged, and her red-and-black Lolita dress was slightly wrinkled.
But that mechanical head phantom was nowhere to be found, and the frozen universe on the other side of the door resumed its normal operation.
Suke: "?"
No, wait, he hadn't even reacted yet. Wasn't this pacing a bit too fast?
If Suke wasn't seeing things, that mechanical head just now was the Aeon of Erudition, Nous, from Honkai: Star Rail, right? Although it is indeed the same universe where Elysia's world resides, the location deviation of this door opening was way too massive!
"Hey, Farmer, aren't you going to care about me a little?"
Mabel placed her hands on her hips, looking dissatisfied. One had to know, she deliberately paused in front of Suke after walking out of the door just so he could notice the damaged ribbon on her head. That was the spot she had specifically chosen to be damaged. Because it was conspicuous enough!
"?"
"Care about you for what?"
Looking Mabel up and down, Suke truly didn't know what there was to care about regarding someone whose hairstyle wasn't even messed up. Her face wasn't red, she wasn't panting; she looked less tired than when Abigail dragged her around the square during Spirit's Eve.
What did she want him to ask? Did she want to eat a sour plum?
"...Fine, Farmer, you have a cruel heart!"
"From now on, Mabel-chan won't wipe your ass for you. When something happens, you'll know to beg Mabel-chan!"
Mabel glared, her face turning alternate shades of red and white, before she finally spoke as if laughing from anger.
"Don't, don't, don't!"
Seeing that Mabel seemed truly angry and turned to leave, Suke hurriedly utilized his flexible stance and grabbed Mabel: "No, wait, I haven't even figured out the situation yet. You should at least explain it!"
"I just saw you casually elbow a machine head, and then suddenly you're all puffy with anger. If you're going to be mad at me, at least let me know why, right?"
"?" Mabel turned around, looking at Suke with eyes full of suspicion regarding his IQ.
"Farmer, you know what world is behind this door, right?"
"I know."
"Then you recognize what that thing Mabel-chan just disposed of for you was, right?"
"I recognize it. The Aeon of Erudition, Nous."
Suke felt baffled. Although the Aeons in the Star Rail world were extremely powerful—and the latest intelligence before his transmigration even added layers of ridiculous characteristics like 'One Proof, Eternal Proof' spanning the multiverse—according to the power-scaling discussions summarized by battle-obsessed forum dwellers, compared to the 'All-in-One' Bubbles, they should still be far inferior, right?
"Farmer, I told you to listen to Mabel-chan's stories properly before. Even now, you still haven't reacted to what the 'Essence' of the heavens is?"
Mabel was speechless with rage. She was now like a teacher discovering that a student had already forgotten the material taught just last lesson.
"Use your cerebellum that's about to be occupied by muscles to think! If you follow that power-scaling logic in your mind, who do you think is the strongest enemy you've encountered so far?"
"The strongest enemy..."
Suke fell into a brainstorm.
"Is it... the Trinity Yhwach?"
Suke tentatively reached a conclusion. Although 'Old Ha' crashed and burned, if nothing else, the fact that he could fight three heroes alone was truly fierce.
"Is it hell!"
"Although that's technically correct, it shouldn't be like that. Didn't you hear me ask you to cite a wrong example?!"
"Did you forget this thing??"
Mabel laughed in anger instantly. She fished out a yellow pyramid with a long eye, which she had refined into a prism, from her pocket and shook it in front of Suke's eyes.
Oh, right, how could he forget Grandma Bill!
This was a true God Bill who could destroy infinite multiversal timelines with a snap of his fingers. Although his ending was pathetic because he was a villain in a children's animation, his display of power was not lacking in the slightest.
"What is 'Essence'?"
"'Essence' is Father and Mother, Knowledge and Ignorance, Saint and Thief, Coming and Going."
"In the distant past, there were four existences who resided high in the heavens by virtue of 'Essence' incomparable to others, so much so that They themselves became a kind of Essence."
"You can tentatively call them the 'Wooden Lord', 'Stone Buddha', 'Clay Celestial', and 'Paper Saint'."
"These names aren't unfamiliar to you, are they?"
Mabel sighed, not caring whether Suke had listened or not, and continued:
"Just like that previous time—Abigail, who accessed my Essence, clearly had a higher output than your little lover Witch, yet she couldn't do anything to her for a while because she possessed the 'Wooden Lord' Essence."
"As long as the 'Essence' is sufficient, the output depends entirely on imagination. In other words, however strong you think you are, that's how strong you are."
That exaggerated?
Suke understood somewhat. Although he had met so many monsters and demons that he no longer believed in materialism, he didn't expect this idealism to be so idealistic!
If he upgraded the Statue of Yoba and then gave it to Little Yuki to elevate her Essence, and told her this secret, wouldn't she be able to...
"...Anyway, you just need to know that Mabel-chan didn't come out completely unscathed."
"That machine head possesses quite a lot of Essence, although it couldn't use those Essences before going to the Land of Return."
"But Farmer, you must know that to prevent it from interfering with your journey later, Mabel-chan made a sacrifice!"
"Then what do you want me to do for you?"
Seeing this, Suke became serious as well. He was prepared to agree even if Mabel made some excessive demands.
"Let Mabel-chan think..."
"Farmer, you're already mass-producing that wine called [Ancient Fruit Wine], right? Remember to brew it and send Mabel-chan a thousand bottles!"
Suke: "?"
A thousand bottles. One bottle sells for 3000 Gold after aging. That adds up to three million Gold! That was nearly one-third of his current net worth!
You bastard, why don't you just go rob someone!
"At most one hundred bottles."
"No, no, how is one hundred bottles enough to drink! Have you seen the Starfruit Wine you brewed before? Mabel-chan drinks twenty-something bottles a night..."
"How about seven hundred bottles?"
"Seventy bottles."
"???"
"Fine, fine, fine. Farmer, you're ruthless. One hundred bottles it is, deal!"
Seeing Suke speak such cold words with an emotionless face, Mabel knew that bargaining wasn't very feasible. She could only accept this deal with a bitter look.
"Hehe~ Farmer, don't forget to send them to me when the time comes~"
Taking off the damaged butterfly ribbon from her head and fishing out a brand new butterfly knot from her bosom to tie on, Mabel-chan was brand new again. Thus, Mabel hummed a song and leisurely left the inner room.
Why does it feel like I've been set up by this black-hearted boss?
Watching Mabel's departing figure, a feeling of suffering a massive loss struck his heart. Turning his head, what immediately entered Suke's eyes were the innocent and guilty looks that Abigail and Elysia tried their best to conceal but failed to hide.
Theoretically speaking, this door should have been opened last night, right? Was that Aeon of Erudition that slow? It didn't notice for a whole night, but insisted on discovering this door only when he arrived?
It turns out you all colluded to wait for him here!
"Well, sorry, darling~"
"This is the necessary 'medical fee' Boss Mabel mentioned, but I really couldn't afford it, so I could only..." Perhaps truly unaccustomed to lying, Elysia held his arm and spoke embarrassedly.
Sister Elysia, this is different from what we agreed on! She completely ignored Abigail's hint with her eyes from the side.
"Abi... Abi says she doesn't know anything. Will Brother believe Abi?"
Abigail put away the Silver Key and similarly held his arm embarrassedly, seemingly wanting to muddle through by acting cute.
Suke: "..."
Take a guess?
____
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