Chapter 169: Children, the Path of Abundance Actually Mellows With Age
"Zzzzzzz..."
Stelle's little head bobbed up and down as she drifted in and out of consciousness. She was dozing off again.
Before sleep fully claimed her, she dutifully repeated the sentence Rekka had told her to chant in her mind, a supposed cure for motion sickness. Pom-Pom had explained that their destination, Penacony, was located in the Asdana system—a galaxy saturated with Memetic Substance. Historically, it was the site of a massive leak from the Memory Zone. Even after thousands of years, the concentration was high enough to cause dizziness, hallucinations, or even memory disorders in unwary travelers.
Stelle trusted what Erudition Rekka said. Mostly.
'So, what was I supposed to repeat again?' she thought drowsily.
"Mei, I don't want to die."
Although Erudition Rekka wouldn't lie to her, he definitely had a mischievous streak. There was always a chance he had a hidden agenda.
And so, lulled by the strange mantra, Stelle slipped into a dream.
"Mei, I don't want to die... Mei, I don't want to die..."
'Mei... I don't want to die...'
But who exactly was Mei?
"Rekka, I had a dream," Stelle announced with a wide yawn a while later.
"I dreamed of a mature big sister with blue-purple hair, holding a long sword..."
Rekka nodded sagely. "I know! You must have dreamed of Raiden—"
Welt's ears, which had been passively listening, suddenly perked up. He finished the name with an air of authority.
"Shogun!"
Stelle blinked, completely lost. "Who is Raiden Shogun?"
"A god from the neighboring continent of Teyvat," Rekka supplied.
"And where is the continent of Teyvat?"
"Genshin," he replied instantly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Rekka stroked his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Speaking of which... I've discovered something."
"What is it?"
"I've realized that people who receive the Abundance's blessing generally get stronger the older they get. Because they've been in the 'game' for a long time, they've consumed more of the Abundance's boons than others. The more they consume, the stronger they become. The Abundance is actually the most value-retaining of the old divine Paths. So, you see, the Path of Abundance is like a fine wine; the older it gets, the more mellow it becomes."
He held up a single, instructive finger.
It actually made a strange sort of sense. One only had to look at the ancient Xianzhou natives; some were old enough to withstand the data-purging cataclysm of the Iron Tomb. If that wasn't a proof of aged divine power, what was?
"Compared to that, we shouldn't run into any major trouble on this trip to Penacony, right?" March 7th patted her chest, full of confidence. "Before, we were either running into a Stellaron or a Lord Ravager. This time we're going to Penacony for an honest-to-goodness vacation! Nothing should go wrong, right? I heard the Planet of Festivities is the territory of Harmony. It's not like there could be another Stellaron, or some Aeon trying to resurrect itself, right?"
March 7th, ever the prophet.
"Uh, yeah, yeah," Rekka mumbled, looking away.
'That's right,'he thought, a bead of sweat forming on his brow.'That's exactly right.'
March narrowed her eyes. "Do you know some inside information?"
"How would I know any inside info? I haven't even been to Penacony," Rekka said, raising his hands to feign innocence.
And that was true; he really hadn't been there before.
But he knew exactly what was going to happen in Penacony. This wasn't a question of having visited; it was a question of having played the game.
March huffed. "You can't even control what you turn into every day. For all we know, you'll turn into some giant monster capable of teleporting across the universe, run over to Penacony, take a bite out of their hotel, and then sneak back before anyone notices."
"How is that even possible?" Rekka protested, though the idea sounded vaguely amusing.
The starlight of the Asdana galaxy was truly beautiful. Brilliant points of light were scattered densely across the pitch-black curtain of space, as if someone had casually tossed a handful of crushed diamonds onto velvet.
And there, at its heart, was the Planet of Festivities.
It looked like a carefully polished pearl suspended in the center of the galaxy, its surface shimmering with a soft, flowing iridescence. Countless tiny specks of light circled around it—spaceships and private vessels shuttling back and forth, as busy and orderly as a swarm of bees around their hive.
"Wow..." March 7th pressed her face against the porthole, letting out a heartfelt sigh of wonder. "It's so bright, so shiny... I want to take a bite."
"You can't bite that," Dan Heng said flatly.
"I know, I know! I'm just using a metaphor!"
Their wonder was quickly cut short, however, as a problem soon appeared.
"Hngh... W-Why can't we get in?" Stelle stammered, looking dejected after being turned away at the orbital checkpoint.
"Because the two of you weren't on the train when The Family sent the invitations to the Astral Express," Himeko explained with a sympathetic sigh.
The registered guests were only Mr. Welt Yang, Ms. Himeko, Ms. March 7th, and Mr. Dan Heng. Stelle and Rekka had joined the crew after the fact.
"At this point, we only have one way," Rekka declared, his eyes gleaming with sudden inspiration. "Stelle, let's go!"
With that, he grabbed Stelle by the arm and marched back toward the train. If he were on a different Path today, this might be a problem. But today, he was Erudition.
'I said I'm the Path of Erudition,'he thought with grim satisfaction.'Who's going to doubt my methods?'
Rekka decided to perform what could only be described as a violent, caustic entry into the dreamscape. He was about to introduce the memetic network of the Asdana galaxy to some... strong-arm tactics.
A second hurdle presented itself: they had no way to connect.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Back on the Express, Rekka produced a hammer and chisel and began furiously carving into a large decorative rock in the parlor car.
"What is this?" Stelle asked, watching the stone chips fly.
"A Dreampool," Rekka grunted between swings. "It's the basic infrastructure inside the Reverie Hotel. You can think of it as a terminal for logging into the multiplayer dreamscape of the Asdana galaxy."
He tossed his tools aside, then reached out into the void beyond the train's window. He scooped up a handful of shimmering Memetic Substance from the universe itself, compressed the swirling light into a liquid mass, and poured it into his freshly carved, DIY Dreampool.
"Alright," he announced, dusting off his hands. "Now we can enter Penacony."
"Eh? But does this count as Trailblazing?" Stelle asked, tilting her head.
"How does it not? If you go to Penacony legally, you're just going to be lying down in the Reverie Hotel anyway. Lying down on the Astral Express is the same thing, and it doesn't even cost money."
"That makes sense," Stelle said, her eyes lighting up in sudden realization. "...Wait a minute, why do I feel like something isn't quite right here?"
"It's right that it feels not quite right," Rekka said with a grin. "This is called smuggling."
"You, you, you, you... We can't do illegal things! Penacony is a world-famous hotel; the security must be extremely strict! You made this broken stone trough... what if it connects to somewhere weird, or we encounter the dream police coming to check on us?"
"They'll check us?" Rekka crossed his arms, an amused smirk playing on his lips. "How would they check?"
'Checking Stelle is one thing,'he mused.'But if they try to run a background check on me and end up pinging Nanook, now that will be fun.'
After casually cleaning up the rubble, Rekka and Stelle lay down in the makeshift Dreampool they'd placed in the middle of the Parlor Car.
"Why did you two run off so fast—"
March 7th pushed open the door, panting heavily from her sprint down the corridor. She froze.
What caught her eyes was the sight of Rekka and Stelle lying side-by-side in what looked suspiciously like a stone bathtub.
Her brain short-circuited for a moment, and she rushed forward, shaking them both. "What is wrong with you two!"
"We couldn't get in, so Rekka casually made something to connect to the Penacony dream network," Stelle explained, pointing at the surprisingly exquisitely carved Dreampool.
"This... huh?" March's eyes widened. She stared at the bizarre setup, then back at her two friends. "Is this... allowed?"
"It's fine, it's fine," Rekka waved dismissively.
March 7th scratched her head, a deep sense of confusion washing over her. She felt like something was deeply, fundamentally wrong with this picture, but at the same time... she couldn't quite articulate what it was.
It wasn't until March herself entered the dreamscape later and found them already there that it suddenly clicked.
Those two had smuggled themselves in
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