Kiyono Inori taught Elysia Cat some special fairy magic.
In theory, Elysia's fairy magic level was two full tiers higher than Kiyono Inori's, especially once you stacked it with the authority of the Herrscher of Origin.
A beautiful girl owner teaching fairy magic to her own fairy was basically showing off in front of an expert. But the pink pig-cat did not know that. At this point, she did not even know that she herself was a Herrscher of Origin.
All the pink pig-cat knew was this:
As long as she copied what her beautiful owner showed on the screen and drew the magic circle on the floor, she could travel to another planet and look at the stars out in space!
That was enough.
The so-called magic circle was actually fairy magic that Kiyono Inori had hastily recompiled after she and #4 dismantled the Parallel Universe Intercom, saw the circuitry of the curio, and combined it with the circuitry of the Transform-Into-Cat Magic Wand.
She even added Full Auto Energy Gathering and Enhancement on top of it.
In theory… it could cross worlds.
But if you asked Kiyono Inori whether this magic circle could really cross worlds, or how the fine control during the casting process was supposed to work?
She could only say she had no idea.
After all, it was only theoretical!
If even she, a Fairy Magic: Proficient, felt that it should work in theory, then for a Fairy Magic: Master like the pink pig-cat, it should obviously not be a problem. Everything depended on Elysia's on-the-spot performance.
Saving the world!
Strolling among the stars of the cosmos, tempted by the life of a galactic street drifter!
The magic circle was compiled by #4 Polka Kakamond, a genius famous across the entire universe, so in theory it was absolutely feasible!
The beautiful owner coaxed and deceived in equal measure.
On the other side, the pink pig-cat had already become completely convinced that as long as she drew this magic circle properly, she could cross into another world.
Stelle Cat and March Cat both looked kind of unreliable. Leaving the task of saving the world to them was too risky. Without me, this family would fall apart!
A huge sense of responsibility welled up in her heart.
The pink pig-cat used her little paws to open Kiyono Inori's backpack, pulled out a pen from the pencil case inside…
And immediately ran into the ultimate crisis.
As everyone knows, cat paws are very clumsy.
Elysia Cat often fought with soda cans just to open a drink. Let alone doing something as delicate as drawing with a pen using her paws.
Forget drawing.
These cat paws could not even hold the pen at all!
Seeing Elysia Cat on the screen trying to tame a wild fountain pen and getting her paws completely stained with ink, Kiyono Inori hurriedly reminded her.
"Elysia, hurry up and use your fairy magic! Aren't beautiful girls capable of anything?"
"Blah blah blah, but I've always written by hand! Turning into a cat makes everything so inconvenient!"
The cat's innate skill: Hiss activated.
When a beautiful girl turns into a cat, she gains a whole set of cat skills and becomes more childish than in human form, more clingy to her owner. Hissing was, of course, one of the core logics of being a cat.
After messing with the pen and ending up with ink all over her face, the pink pig-cat doubled down.
"Damn it… it's just a pen! I learned how to write when I was three or four! How could the wisdom of a fairy lady be defeated by a mere pen!"
On the screen, Elysia Cat used her triangular little mouth to bite down on the pen, tilted her head, and shakily began to draw the magic circle.
Kiyono Inori froze.
Such incredible precision! Holding a pen with a cat's mouth and still drawing such a perfect circle?!
The beautiful owner was shocked.
If she were the one turned into a cat trying to do this, the circle would be completely warped beyond recognition. Looking at it this way, the pink pig-cat's stats were really high. Was this the power level of the Previous Era's No. 2?
So then—
Why did you not just use fairy magic to control the pen?!
Because she felt that she normally wrote by holding a pen with her hand, she could not bring herself to use fairy magic to control it from a distance. This Fairy Magic: Master plus Herrscher of Origin skill set was being completely wasted!
And also… how could you use something as counterintuitive as Cleaning Magic, yet still believe in a magic circle that could cross worlds?
Kiyono Inori did not even know where to start complaining.
After finishing the first stage of the magic circle, Elysia Cat spat out the pen, rolled her sore neck, and meowed.
"Fairy magic has to be done with feeling. And this is a magic circle that crosses worlds. If I controlled the pen from afar, it would definitely fail. I have to carefully feel the flow of fairy magic!"
"…Yeah. Just go with your instincts."
Kiyono Inori said dryly.
In truth, halfway through she had already noticed that although it looked the same as the plan she had provided, internally it was probably no longer the same magic circle she had designed.
Wait, why was your magic circle sparkling and glowing?!
She did not understand, but she was deeply shaken.
…
Herta Space Station, Monitoring Room.
The flow of time inside and outside the Emperor's Scepter was extremely subtle.
Inside the scepter, Kiyono Inori had already fought #4, the Lord of Silence, reached an agreement, and opened a video call with Elysia Cat. For the people of Herta Space Station, however, only a few minutes had passed.
War.
In a short span of time, Herta Space Station faced war twice. The previous invasion by the Antimatter Legion had not even fully faded, and many pampered researchers were already suffering from post-battle trauma.
And this time, the challenge facing Herta Space Station was even greater.
The Antimatter Legion was more aggressive than before, and behind them followed a large alliance of interstellar pirates led by the Wingweavers.
What made things even worse was this:
Lady Herta herself was on the station. But after she went to intercept the Catastrophe Vanguard heading straight for the Azure Star, all the Herta puppets on Herta Space Station suddenly shut down.
An Emanator of Destruction: Iron Tomb.
Many researchers proposed this guess. After all, being able to knock out the entire Herta network of #83 Herta likely required another genius, or an Emanator specializing in information warfare.
And considering the ferocity of the Antimatter Legion…
The answer was obvious.
…
Standing in the monitoring room, Asta watched the Antimatter Legion and Wingweaver pirates wandering aimlessly through various compartments, forcing herself to maintain a calm, poker-faced expression.
Stay calm, Asta, stay calm.
If the acting station head showed fear at a time like this, it would confirm all the rumors about Herta Space Station. Once that happened, many researchers would panic and flee, leading to even greater losses.
The enemy was only a few hundred ordinary Voidrangers from the Antimatter Legion and about a hundred Wingweavers.
In terms of scale, the researchers of Herta Space Station should not have been pushed into such a miserable state. As defenders, they had home-field advantage.
But because all the Herta puppets suddenly went offline and rumors were left unchecked, every front line fell into an absolute disadvantage within minutes.
"According to satellite observations, there are no longer any Antimatter Legion coordinates in the star sector. In other words, these waves of enemies are all there is. Hold on, everyone. Lady Herta will be back soon!"
Asta said, forcing confidence despite her unease.
In theory, even if Lady Herta did not return, the station's existing forces were enough to defeat these small fry. But morale among the researchers was extremely low. Many had already written wills and uploaded them to the interstellar network.
Please let Lady Herta be safe and come back quickly.
The girl prayed silently. The collective shutdown of the Herta puppets was just too outrageous. In truth, Asta herself had been badly frightened.
Just as the station's researchers were gripped by panic, the train crew temporarily docked at Herta Space Station began to move.
"Stelle, you're awake." Himeko looked pleasantly surprised as the gray-haired girl rubbed her eyes and walked into the observation car.
"Himeko, listen, I need to tell you—"
"Stelle, listen, I need to tell you—"
The red-haired big sister and the gray-haired girl spoke at the same time, staring at each other in silence. In the end, Himeko yielded.
"…It's good that you're okay. Go ahead, Stelle."
"Mhm!" Stelle nodded. "My beautiful owner said the Stellaron Hunters were not lying! That something called the Xianzhou is facing an extinction-level disaster caused by a Stellaron. Himeko, where's Dan Heng? Is March awake? We have to hurry to the Xianzhou and save the world!"
Himeko froze.
Beautiful owner? Stelle, you were just born, right? Did someone corrupt you back on Jarilo-VI?
That was her first reaction. Stelle was a member of the train crew, after all, and Himeko treated her like a child. During childhood, mental and emotional health were extremely important.
Only after a few seconds did Himeko understand what Stelle meant. Her eyes widened.
"Stelle… you just woke up, so you do not know yet. Our train crew is in crisis too."
The Astral Express was docked at the support platform of Herta Space Station.
Simply put, this was the very point where the Antimatter Legion and the Wingweaver pirates boarded the station. The Astral Express had already endured several waves of attacks and was now split into two groups.
Himeko and Pom-Pom stayed behind to guard the train.
Dan Heng followed the trail of the Antimatter Legion to investigate the situation inside the station and search for March 7th, who was still somewhere within.
Welt had originally planned to go with Dan Heng, but just before departure, the crew detected traces of the Catastrophe Vanguard. For the sake of the billions of lives on the Azure Star, Welt chose to try intercepting the high-speed Vanguard instead.
Stelle was stunned.
She leaned forward and peeked outside. On the platform, Voidrangers wandered about, along with strange winged creatures whose heads vaguely resembled chickens.
"No time to waste. It's time to save the world!"
Stelle raised her hand. Jin Lajitzde: Memoirs floated into the air.
"Hmph. Even without trash can materials on hand, the bond of trash cans will not be severed by something like this!"
"Tatalov! Jin Lajitzde!"
"Tatalov and Jin Lajitzde merge as one! Aha! Time for some joyful mayhem!"
"P47 Supervisor's Can!"
Jin Lajitzde: Memoirs contained trash cans that Stelle had already summoned. She could draw on their power at any time, though their strength was about thirty percent weaker than those obtained through temporary gacha draws.
Because they lacked the buff from the Path of Elation.
A thick Attendance Log appeared in the gray-haired girl's hands, its pages flipping dramatically without any wind.
"This is the ultimate trump card of the P47 Supervisor's Can. Even without trash cans as vessels, the trash cans can cross time and space. Here we go! Attendance: Team-Building Overtime!"
On the surface, it was team building. In reality, it was overtime work at the team-building site. This move summoned a massive number of trash cans from the Interastral Peace Garbage Station.
For the sake of performance reviews.
Security Can, Fieldwork Can, Team Leader Can, Temp Worker Can, Lone Wolf Can, and Rat Can all responded to the call, joining the defense of Herta Space Station.
Himeko's face went completely blank.
She had already seen these trash cans on March's videos, but witnessing them in person still made her want to complain. What even is this? Why are so many trash cans appearing out of nowhere?
The cans bore corporate emblems, and their lids were dyed to look like company uniform caps. Just as Himeko was overwhelmed with complaints and did not know where to start, a voice rang out.
"Supervisor, the Can Spirit Summoning has already transmitted the relevant knowledge to me. Regarding the campaign to reclaim Herta Space Station, this humble Rat Can has a plan to offer."
From Himeko's perspective, the trash can was making gurgling noises she could not understand, but it somehow carried the heavy scheming aura of a villain.
"Oh? This time we have a strategist trash can?" Stelle crossed her arms smugly. "You're going to tell me how to save the station and find March, right?"
"Hehehe, precisely…"
The Rat Can crept up to Stelle with a sinister grin and began sharing its plan, its backup plan, the backup plan's backup plan, and contingency schemes numbered from 001 to who knows how many.
Extremely detailed.
"Um… how much longer is this going to take?"
Stelle looked like she was about to lose it. Her mood was exactly like getting halfway through the main story, only to suddenly be hit with a Forest Book-style side quest lasting dozens of hours.
"Hehehe, Supervisor, my plans are always thorough. To summarize simply, it should only take about ten to twelve hours."
Stelle scowled.
The gray-haired girl took a deep breath, jumped up, and kicked the Rat Can straight off the train. It rolled and rolled, unable to stop.
"Supervisor, you refuse good advice and insist on your own way. Disaster awaits, disaster awaits!" The Rat Can cried out with the tragic air of a loyal minister ignored by a stubborn ruler.
"Who cares! Ten to twelve hours is longer than the entire main quest of Aetherium Wars!" Stelle waved her hand. "Objective: reinforce the station and find March! All units, move out!"
"Charge! For performance reviews!"
The trash cans Stelle had summoned surged into Herta Space Station, engaging the Antimatter Legion and Wingweaver pirates in intense corridor battles.
"Hahahaha! Rat Can, you dared compete with me for the specialist position. This feels amazing! I really want to record this embarrassing moment forever and pass it down as a family heirloom!"
The Lone Wolf Can was barely holding back laughter.
"I see. Our Supervisor dislikes lengthy plans. In that case, I must further refine my explanations so they are more concise. This will surely be useful next time."
The Rat Can reflected deeply, improving its strategic skills. But then it suddenly noticed something familiar about the monsters it was fighting.
Bright crests atop their heads. Wings on their backs.
The Rat Can was reminded of its dear friend and sworn enemy from before its transmigration:
The Monster Cadre: Rooster Crest.
Minus the overalls, middle-parted hair, and basketballs, and plus vines and withered branches tied to Abundance. Aside from that, these monsters looked exactly like the Monster Cadre: Rooster Crest!
…
PS
Abundance Wingweavers.
An ancient enemy of the Xianzhou Alliance dating back to the era of the ancient nation, before the Xianzhou set sail. They are an Abundance people distinguished by the wings growing from their backs.
Their homeworld was smashed by the Aeon of the Hunt and the leader of the long-lived species, the Blazing Emperor.
Later, around Star Calendar year 5700, the Emanator of Destruction demanded that the Zhuming Xianzhou abandon resistance and change course to assist her in striking the Wingweavers' world.
In short, they are an extremely unlucky Abundance faction. At present, the entire species survives as mercenaries and pirates across the cosmos. Within their tribes, there seems to be a legend about the Child of Prophecy.
The Child of Prophecy is said to excel at singing, dancing, rap, and basketball.
They will lead the Wingweaver tribes to greatness once more and restore their homeland, Muldrasil.
…
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Let me know if I got a name wrong. I know basically nothing about MyGO.