"Uncle Welt! What took you so long! I was almost done for by that Doomsday Beast thing!" March 7th pouted, grumbling at Welt, who was walking ahead.
"My apologies. I was indeed a bit late. The Astral Express also needed protection, and I spent more time than expected dealing with matters on that end," Welt apologized sincerely to March.
"Hey! Uncle Welt! I was just kidding! I didn't mean to blame you," March 7th said, waving her hands frantically as she saw the earnest look on his face.
"But still, Wende was hiding his skills so well, he really scared us all," March 7th added teasingly, glancing at Wende, who was carrying the unconscious Stelle on his back.
"Haha, you never asked me before," Wende replied with a smile. If he weren't carrying Stelle, he would have shrugged helplessly.
But it was true. When he had first transmigrated, he had holed himself up in his train car, never stepping out, his mind completely focused on understanding this new world.
If it weren't for the appearance of the game system, he probably wouldn't have even wanted to get off the train!
"That's true. You were like a total shut-in before. If I hadn't brought you meals every day, hmph! You would have starved to death on the train!" March 7th said, crossing her arms, her delicate little nose pointing to the sky.
"But I seem to remember it was mostly Pom-Pom who brought me food, right?" Wende recalled the tiny Conductor standing at his door with a food tray. It had truly startled him at first.
Due to his line of sight, he hadn't seen Pom-Pom at first glance and thought the train was haunted!
"Hmm? Are you saying I never brought you any?!" March 7th's big, blue-pink eyes opened wide, staring daggers at Wende's handsome face.
"Er... that's true too. Thank you, Little March," Wende said, turning his head away to avoid her burning gaze.
"Hmph! That's more like it! Now, what should we eat when we get back to the station?" Seeing Wende concede, March 7th nodded in satisfaction. She took out her phone, which had regained its network connection, and began browsing the space station's food delivery app.
"Sigh..."
Wende sighed helplessly, watching March 7th's focused gaze dart across the various delicacies.
"Are you alright?" Dan Heng, walking beside him, noticed his reaction and asked with concern.
"Ah, don't worry, I'm fine," Wende said with a smile, shaking his head.
"Just a little envious..."
"Envious?" Dan Heng raised an eyebrow.
"Of course, I envy how carefree Little March is."
"Yes... that's true. It is something to be envious of," Dan Heng nodded in agreement, not refuting Wende's thought.
"By the way, your medical skills..." Dan Heng looked at Wende. On Stelle's back, two lightning needles were still embedded.
"Oh, my master taught me."
"My master is from the Xianzhou Alliance, a doctor of incredible skill. I studied under his guidance for a time, so I know a little about Xianzhou medicine," Wende fibbed without batting an eye. What master? He had transmigrated here directly in his own body. The first people he ever saw were the crew of the Express.
He had no background and no identity in this universe. He was an out-and-out unregistered person!
"Is that so." Dan Heng lowered his head in contemplation, his thoughts unreadable.
"Speaking of which, when will she wake up?" Himeko had walked up beside Wende at some point. She looked at Stelle on his back and asked softly.
"She should be fine once she's had enough rest. Her pulse is very chaotic right now. If it weren't for Uncle Welt's intervention, the situation could be much worse," Wende said frankly. Without Welt's decisive action, who knew if the Stellaron would have gone berserk.
For the Stellaron to have stabilized within her body was already a miracle. As for whether such a violent reaction would happen again...
He could only say that it depended on whether "that one" wanted it to.
.......
"Achoo!"
Inside some small, unknown spaceship, Kafka, sitting in the pilot's seat, let out an involuntary sneeze.
"Oh? I didn't think you could sneeze," said Silver Wolf from the co-pilot's seat, chewing on a piece of bubble gum. Her tone was one of amazement, as if she had just witnessed the miracle of pulling nine 5-stars in a ten-pull.
"Of course I can sneeze. After all... I'm a normal person, more or less," Kafka said, rubbing her nose. She glanced in the direction of the Herta Space Station, her expression meaningful.
"Tsk~ You and your riddles," Silver Wolf grumbled at Kafka's cryptic behavior before lowering her head and diving back into her game with full concentration.
......
Real World
Players progressing through the main storyline were finally encountering their first "BOSS": the Antimatter Legion's anti-astral weapon, the "Doomsday Beast"!
"Hot damn! This BGM! They really are a music company disguised as a game company!" Kakaya exclaimed, feeling the awesome combat music. Even though he'd heard it several times, it felt new every time!
[Not an animation company???]
[Not a film company???]
[Not a breeding farm???]
"This user has been muted. Viewers, please moderate your comments."
[Lol, who trolls during a first-time clear?]
Ignoring the chaos in the bullet comments, Kakaya eagerly began his first official challenge on the live server!
Even though he'd fought it countless times on the test server, his heart was still pounding with excitement!
It was only when Kakaya glanced at his battle party that he noticed something was wrong.
"Huh? Where's my Wende? Where's my big, strong Wende? Why has he been replaced by Himeko?"
Kakaya's head was full of question marks. Hadn't he put Wende on the team? Why was he forcibly replaced by a trial Himeko?!
[Look, the devs uninstalled their own cheat program!]
[Kakaya's first defeat is officially booked!]
[Rofl! How embarrassing!]
Ever since getting Wende, Kakaya had been constantly showing off all sorts of flashy moves. Things like clearing the Tramplers with Wende without taking any damage, or performing the miraculous art of going from a sliver of health back to full!
Wende already had the highest base HP, and this kid had doubled down, dumping all the early upgrade resources he could get onto Wende. This led to a situation where no one else on the team was high-level!
And to make matters worse, Kakaya had declared before the stream that he wouldn't do any gacha pulls until after the first boss, otherwise there'd be no sense of challenge. So now, he had no other characters to use.
Looking at the trial Himeko, Kakaya wanted to cry but had no tears.
"This is bad. Am I really about to suffer my first defeat?!"