"I've received the mission completion notification on my end."
Jonathan glanced at the mission prompt panel, paused for a moment, then spoke.
"My soul's anchor has now transferred to these two legs. Driving them is difficult for the time being — but if you continue supplying Soul Force, I should be able to keep them moving."
As he said it, a faint note of regret crossed Jonathan's face.
"Though — unfortunately, without lungs to breathe with, I'm unable to use the Ripple for now."
Listening to Jonathan's words, Anthony looked down at the two legs standing in the golden sand — and felt his expression do something deeply complicated.
Honestly. He had to be honest with himself here.
The longer he stared at this scene, the harder it was to keep a straight face.
There was a very specific energy to it — like Satoru Gojo getting bisected at the waist, only for his lower half to stand right back up and immediately resume the fight against Sukuna. That exact flavor of unhinged redemption arc.
...Come to think of it, there's no way this chat group is ever going to drag Satoru Gojo into this, right? ...Hm. Actually, when you think about it carefully — that's entirely possible.
Anthony smacked himself lightly on the side of the head and tried to steer his brain back on topic — only to catch sight of a transfer notification popping up from the group chat.
[Group Member · Founder of the Golden Spirit has transferred 1,500 Points to you.]
For a moment, Anthony just stared.
He lifted his head and looked over at Jonathan — and met a gaze that was entirely, genuinely serious.
"I have no use for these Points at the moment. Even if I invested them into strengthening my Ripple, I can't use the Ripple in my current state..."
Jonathan paused to consider his words before continuing.
"As capital toward my own resurrection, this amount is nowhere near sufficient — I'll still need everyone's help for that. So as things stand, I thought... these Points might serve a better purpose in your hands."
"I trust that you'll find far broader uses for them than I would."
Anthony studied Jonathan's expression — that same unflinching sincerity — and after a brief pause, gave him a slow, deliberate nod.
"Thank you. I'll do my best not to betray that trust."
No point in refusing. He was genuinely, desperately short on Points right now — that was just the truth.
Of everyone in the chat group, he had the single largest Point deficit. He needed to sustain his own lifespan, fund the revival efforts for his fellow members, and urgently invest in his own ability upgrades — Jonathan had gotten one thing exactly right: the Points in his hands would have very broad uses indeed.
"It's fine," Jonathan said, smiling. "My Ripple is out of commission for now anyway."
Anthony waved it off without missing a beat.
"Don't worry about it. The Ripple being on ice isn't a problem — we'll get you a Stand when the time comes."
"A Stand... I'll have one of those too?"
Jonathan blinked, clearly caught off guard — and then asked.
Of course he already knew what a Stand was, having read through everything Anthony had sent him. Still, the idea of having one himself was apparently a different matter entirely.
"Absolutely. I'm honestly pretty curious what yours will look like — and what DIO's face is going to do when he sees it."
Anthony exhaled and gave him a clean, direct answer.
It was written into the lore, after all. Every member of the Joestar bloodline would awaken a Stand once the Arrow did its work. The moment DIO got around to stabbing himself with it, Jonathan was due for his awakening as well.
Anthony was quietly mulling this over when a new prompt window blinked into view from the chat group.
[Notice: Maximum traversal time reached. Your Soul Foundation will be forcibly recalled by the Primordial River.]
Time's up. Back to the Primordial River. Back on the clock as a resident Earth-Bound Spirit.
Anthony sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"We should have a relatively peaceful development window ahead of us... Either way, start thinking about how to prepare. I'll spend that time trying to gather the resources for your resurrection."
"I will do everything in my power."
Jonathan answered without hesitation. In the same instant, a flash of white light — and once again, Anthony felt that sensation, like being struck solidly over the back of the head with a blunt object. His vision burst into white.
And then, a heartbeat later, the kaleidoscopic surface of the Primordial River spread out before him once more.
"Back again..."
With a quiet, tired exhale, Anthony took stock of everything he'd come away with from this trip.
First: 3,500 Points.
Compared to the grinding poverty of his recent life, this was nothing short of a windfall. An outright haul. Anthony, holding what felt like an embarrassing fortune by his own recent standards, found himself fighting down the urge to get a little misty-eyed.
And beyond that — there were the returns from [The Angler].
His Affinity Level with the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure world had spiked clean up to Level 2 off the back of this one operation.
For now, though, it wasn't particularly relevant. A Level 2 Affinity with that world wasn't going to reel in any Arrows, and the income it generated was a far cry from the Cyberpunk 2077 world's efficiency. Not much practical use for the moment.
That would change once the day came when he could actually fish up something like the Bug Arrow. Then the Affinity Level would start pulling its weight.
After tallying up his returns, Anthony glanced into the group chat — and found that since the livestream had cut out, the others had apparently been quite busy.
[AAA City Female Ghost: Anthony's rich now. The mission Points all went to him too. We're not even on the same social tier anymore.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: What do you mean by that.]
[AAA City Female Ghost: Hah, already pretending not to understand. This is exactly it — the moment someone makes money, the wealth corrupts them, and this is what they become...]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: ?]
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: I just got here and you're all already at each other.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: @Wordsmith of the Great Yan, Sis Jie! See what she's doing to me!]
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: I think it's quite fun, actually.]
Hopeless. Absolutely hopeless.
Anthony stared at the blatant persecution playing out in the group chat and tugged at the corner of his mouth.
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: That said — have you figured out what you're going to do with all those Points?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: The most pressing thing right now is figuring out how to scrape together 10,000 Points... but fishing my way there alone is going to take until the end of time.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: So I've got another approach in mind.]
[Wordsmith of the Great Yan: Mm. Having ideas is a good thing. Do your best.]
As expected. Sis Jie really was the best.
She hadn't even asked what the plan was. That kind of unconditional trust — it actually did make him a little emotional.
Anthony let out a breath, then opened the [The Angler] panel.
He changed the Bonded World to [Arknights].
[Currently Bonded World: Arknights]
[Current Affinity Level: 2 (1+1)]
[Current Probable Loot Pool: Low-grade Workshop Equipment · Mid-grade Workshop Equipment · Low-grade Originium Technology Products · Ham Bompom...]
A quick scan of the probable loot pool, and Anthony had already made up his mind.
The immediate priority was powering himself up.
As for the 10,000 Points — well. Where better to get them than by robbing DIO's place, obviously.
Fleece the sheep from the sheep. That was the principle.
Which meant he needed to get strong fast — reach the minimum threshold required to walk into DIO's house and make off with everything that wasn't bolted down. That was precisely why he'd switched the Bonded World to Arknights.
Because the bizarre little Originium tech gadgets you could fish up from that world had a genuinely surprising number of theoretical applications on souls specifically.
Very mysterious. Very useful.
And now, to speed up his fishing rate — Anthony turned to the Ability Tree for The Angler and pressed his finger down on the first glowing orb.
Something like a spark of flame seemed to bloom at the point of contact.
[Ability · The Angler's Throne]
[Effect: You may place your Angler's Throne at any location. While active, the Angler's Throne will dramatically reduce your fishing time.]
[1,000 Points paid. Ability unlocked.]
The orb lit up — burning bright. Anthony felt a surge of energy pass through his soul, like a current arcing through him.
In the same instant, the quality of his soul seemed to grow heavier. Denser. As though something had taken root inside him — something that could be set down at will, manifested outward, made into an extension of his very being...
Responding to that call, Anthony spoke quietly.
"Angler's Throne!"
And at his voice, a sleek, elegant seat materialized from the essence of his soul — graceful in its curves, gleaming with the clean brightness of fine ceramic, its form approaching something close to perfect...
Majestic. Dignified. Truly, genuinely imposing.
So imposing, in fact, that Anthony stared at the toilet sitting in front of him — and couldn't stop the question mark from crawling across his face.
"What — why in the HELL is it a toilet?!"
____
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