"——"
A strange murmuring echoed in her ears.
It was a mode of communication unique to the Aeons, carrying information incomprehensible to bystanders, funneled directly into 'Silver Wolf's' mind.
Then, 'Silver Wolf's' face contorted into a rather marvelous expression.
This guy had made a special trip just to remind her to change the appearance of the Kālacakra Skyplume.
Lan, you bastard...
Are you really that bored??
She had initially thought it was something of dire importance. For a split second there, 'Silver Wolf' had even started considering how she'd have to throw hands.
As it turned out, this guy had come all this way just to nag her to hurry up and hand-craft a skin for the Spiritus.
It was honestly a bit much to take.
I mean, yeah, it looks exactly like General Yao Guang's Kālacakra Skyplume, but did Your Lordship really need to drop by in person for that?
'Silver Wolf' let out a couple of awkward, dry chuckles.
It was clear that Lan really looked after the Xianzhou Alliance—looked after them in every sense of the word. A direct intervention like this to solve a problem probably wasn't a first-time occurrence, either.
The Alliance itself might not even realize that Lan's appearances were for their sake.
One could only say there's a reason the Xianzhou Alliance, with its mere eight thousand years of "young" history, managed to leapfrog into becoming one of the top powers in the cosmos.
It was just like Amphoreus now.
Even though Amphoreus's own level wasn't quite there yet, it was backed by Divine Herta, supported by two Emanators—Khaslana and Demiurge—and watched over by an Aeon like herself behind the scenes.
Amphoreus was currently standing right at the precipice of a meteoric rise.
But she was getting sidetracked.
After finishing THEIR reminders, Lan muttered one last thing before taking THEIR leave.
This time, however, the nagging actually counted as serious business, because Lan mentioned Yaoshi.
The gist of it was: if 'Silver Wolf' ever wanted to seize the Path of Abundance and integrate it into the Path of Permanence, she could call on THEM anytime.
It was a blatant, open hit-list move against Yaoshi.
To this, 'Silver Wolf' expressed a lack of understanding and had no intention of following through—at least, not for a long time.
Setting aside the fact that Idrila the Beauty was right there, practically waiting to be swallowed up, there was still the Path of Nihility waiting for her to deal with it.
There was no way a living Aeon would be next on the chopping block; Yaoshi hadn't even done anything to offend her.
Rather than plotting against Yaoshi, she figured it was better to think about how to guard against Aha suddenly pulling some massive prank on her.
--+--
While 'Silver Wolf' was busy overthinking all this nonsense, the entire network of Punklorde had absolutely exploded.
Though these hackers had never ventured beyond their world, they knew a thing or two about the happenings of the universe through the interstellar network.
They knew exactly what kind of existences the Aeons were.
And when they truly came face-to-face with the overwhelming majesty of an Aeon...
Every single one of those hackers, to a man, fell dead silent.
Because... the Aeon who had descended wasn't Aha, nor was it Nanook. It was Lan, the one who represented Vengeance and The Hunt!!
Given the social climate of Punklorde, anyone with even a shred of status began trembling, mentally tallying up their sins. They wondered if they had somehow managed to offend a native Galaxy Ranger.
Of course, the chaos belonged to them.
Inside this dim, underground game parlor, both the owner and the young Silver Wolf realized one thing clearly:
That Aeon's gaze had been fixed on the older sister who had just crawled out of the Originium.
While 'Silver Wolf' herself was of average height, the childhood Silver Wolf was noticeably tinier.
Little Silver Wolf tilted her head back, staring up at the older girl before her with a look of pure confusion.
"She looks just like me?"
For a pint-sized squirt like her, she didn't really grasp the whole "Aeon" thing.
Besides, since there were no outsiders around, she just thought it looked cool. She figured if she could get an Aeon to look at her one day, that'd be pretty badass.
Then, she tossed the matter of the Aeon to the back of her mind and focused her attention on this older sister who looked so much like her.
'Silver Wolf' gave a light huff and smiled.
"Heh heh, yep. And not just the face. Look at the hair, the eyes... what kind of relationship do you think we have?"
She was intentionally trying to tease the kid. She folded her arms, leaned down, and gave little Silver Wolf a playful wink.
In response, the little sprout tilted her head, thought about it for a good long while, and then shouted:
"Mama—!"
Cough...!
'Silver Wolf' lost it, breaking into a fit of harsh coughing.
In all her wild guesses, she had never imagined a day where Silver Wolf would call her "Mama."
It was a bit too much to handle.
So, she reached out and pinched little Silver Wolf's cheeks:
"What 'Mama'? Call me Big Sister."
"Mwuuh... Shi-shister."
After obediently chirping "Big Sister," Silver Wolf was finally released.
She raised a hand to rub her cheeks. She didn't know who this woman was, but she remembered that this sister had crawled out of the Originium right after she made her wish.
The mask in the lady's hand was still there.
So, little Silver Wolf looked up, her expression a mix of expectation and demand, and held out a small hand toward Bai Ming.
"You're here to grant my wish, right? My game."
The combination of those chubby cheeks and that little expression was actually quite cute.
Bai Ming couldn't resist reaching out to ruffle the little girl's head a few more times.
"Don't worry, I'll definitely help you fulfill your wish."
Silver Wolf had every intention of resisting, but unfortunately, as a mere tot, she stood no chance against the hands of an adult.
As she spoke, Bai Ming raised a hand and gave a gentle tap behind Silver Wolf.
The power of Elation transformed into threads of light, rapidly sketching the form of a humanoid robot in mid-air.
Bai Ming modeled it after Bronya's Project Bunny, using the color scheme and design from the Herrscher of Reason. Of course, it couldn't turn into a motorcycle. Children aren't allowed to go street racing, after all.
Beyond basic guard and combat functions, the biggest feature of this Project Bunny was its network connection—complete with a "Youth Protection" clause, naturally.
It would allow Silver Wolf to play many games unavailable on Punklorde while filtering out websites unsuited for children.
As a giant gaming rig, Project Bunny could swap control schemes at will—be it controller, keyboard and mouse, VR, or full immersion. If she wanted it, it could do it.
Soon, as the armor plates solidified and the unit fully activated, Project Bunny registered Silver Wolf as its sole master.
Then, right before their eyes, it cloaked itself, even hiding its physical volume.
If it weren't for the solid link established with Silver Wolf, allowing her to clearly sense its presence, she would have thought her eyes had played tricks on her.
Kids are easily distracted. With such a novel, massive toy suddenly appearing, Silver Wolf's attention was instantly snatched away, causing her to forget all about having her head rubbed.
Seeing Silver Wolf expertly hop onto the massive mechanical palm and start tinkering, 'Silver Wolf' finally turned her attention to the adult who had been silent this whole time.
"You the owner of this place?"
"I am."
"Get me some of your specialties. I'd like a taste."
As 'Silver Wolf' spoke, she started heading toward the stairs of the basement, acting as if she were the one who owned the place, leading the way back up to the shop floor.
The fast-food joint wasn't large. Including Silver Wolf, it was just the owner and one employee. Since it wasn't mealtime yet, there were no customers at all.
Watching 'Silver Wolf' pick a seat to wait for her food, the owner opened her mouth to say something, but ultimately just turned toward the kitchen.
'Silver Wolf' looked out the glass window of the diner. A chaotic, dilapidated street filled with gaudy neon signs met her gaze.
Old skyscrapers practically blotted out the world, and dazzling light pollution flooded her vision. Just looking with her eyes, it was impossible to tell what kind of place this really was.
Punklorde.
A world that was, relatively speaking, somewhat insular. It wasn't that it was cut off from the world, but rather that the resources to step off the planet and into the cosmos were tightly controlled.
The runaway growth of information technology coupled with a lagging physical industrial system meant that native hackers mostly spent their lives fighting one another on this world, creating Punklorde's unique hacker culture.
However, 'Silver Wolf' didn't have much interest in this stereotypical cyberpunk world.
It was just boring, honestly.
Truth be told, Punklorde's hacking techniques, paired with Aether Editing, were incredible. If they could step onto the galactic stage, they'd definitely go far. It would be a lot of fun.
But the tragedy lay in the fact that because of the extreme wealth gap, the vast majority of hackers could never leave their own world.
The boundary between data and reality was indeed blurred here, but not everyone could just hand-craft a long-range wormhole whenever they felt like it, like Silver Wolf could.
And based on the legendary figures mentioned in Silver Wolf's character stories, the only one who could likely open wormholes and run around wherever they pleased was Silver Wolf herself.
In that case, the title of the universe's number one genius hacker probably wasn't just hyperbole.
While 'Silver Wolf' was lost in thought, a steaming burger combo was placed on the table.
A classic set: burger, fried sides, and a soda. The presentation wasn't exactly refined, and the cooking was just okay.
'Silver Wolf' took a bite of the burger. The sauce was laid on thick, and the flavor was decent enough; for a roadside dive, you couldn't ask for much more.
The owner didn't leave after serving the food, though. Instead, she sat down across from 'Silver Wolf.'
She looked at the girl before her. The resemblance to the little brat she'd taken in was uncanny. But this girl hadn't come from anywhere else; she had crawled out of that Originium.
If Silver Wolf hadn't specifically wished for a game, she would have suspected the kid's wish was for a family member.
But then again...
The moment this lady appeared, she had drawn the gaze of the Aeon of the Hunt.
That forced her to be on guard. That was the Hunt—the god in charge of Vengeance. Having such an Aeon linger here, glancing at this girl... heaven only knew what that would bring upon Punklorde.
The fact that the owner wasn't shaking like a leaf was a testament to her nerves of steel.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL