Big Cousin Acheron

"...Are you sure you want to spar with me using that sword?"

Acheron looked at the Salted Fish Blade in Liu Bai's hand, and an unusual expression finally appeared on her face.

"As a sword, its design is certainly... interesting? My homeland had similar swords during its peaceful years."

"Mm... Can't be helped. After all, this is the best sword I can produce."

"The best sword... I see—but you do not even know how to hold a sword, do you?"

Acheron immediately saw that Liu Bai's stance was completely improper. If she had to put it into words, it was like someone who had only watched others do it and then tried to imitate them.

"Let me teach you the most basic way to hold a sword first. We will start here and learn step by step... You seem a little impatient."

"Mm, because it's unknown? Acheron, what do you think of Stellarons?" Bai adjusted his stance under her guidance while chatting with Acheron.

"They are disasters capable of easily destroying a planet's civilization... not to mention the Destruction Legion that often follows in their wake."

Acheron answered casually.

"But you need not worry. This place is an unknown distance away from the known universe. Even if a Stellaron of unknown origin were to fall here, the Destruction Legion could not possibly reach it. This planet may already lie beyond the Amber King's walls... Did your and Miss Firefly's flight accidentally enter some kind of wormhole?"

"...?"

Liu Bai's movements paused.

"Um, Acheron, you said the Destruction Legion..."

"This place is beyond the gaze of the Aeons. The Destruction Legion are the Aeons' claws. What could an Emanator do on a planet even the Aeons cannot see? Of course, if an Aeon truly focused its gaze here, that might not necessarily be a bad thing."

Acheron spoke in a calm tone, saying something remarkably reassuring.

"..."

A question suddenly occurred to Liu Bai.

This mod was called "Stellaron Crisis," not "Destruction Descends."

He had only taken the Destruction Legion as the hypothetical enemy because of the game's plot.

Uh... no, it should not be that bad. A mod's design could not be that ridiculous, right?

"...Acheron, wait for me a moment."

Sure enough, that still needed to be made.

"Mm."

Acheron nodded indifferently and looked up at this place supposedly called the "World in a Bottle."

Immortals' Ship pocket-dimension technology?

Acheron touched the long sword at her waist... By instinct, she felt she could not cut through it.

It resembled pocket-dimension technology and spatial folding, yet was not quite the same.

"...What are you two doing here?"

Liu Bai returned to his room and found two people inside trying to find somewhere to hide.

"Planning to be perverts?"

"Mm-hmm." Guinaifen nodded in agreement without thinking.

"You actually nodded?" Bai was startled. "Little Gui, you have that kind of character setting?"

"Ah, no—"

Guinaifen's rebuttal came to an abrupt halt.

Firefly was looking at her with an incredibly gentle, indulgent gaze.

...If she said one more word, she would probably be tied to a stone and sunk into the waterfall beside them, right?

"Miss Gui and I merely wanted to clean your room for you, Mr. Liu Bai... What kind of pervert would act in broad daylight?"

"...That's true."

Any one of the girls in his home could pin him to the floor and drain him dry. If they wanted to sneak around, they could do it at night. There was indeed no need to do so in broad daylight.

"Then I'll leave it to you. I'm just here to get something, and I'll leave once I have it."

Liu Bai felt that something was off.

Was the blanket on his bed a little messier than before?

...Forget it. They were all minor issues. He should get his things and leave.

He had a feeling that if he kept dwelling on it, nothing good would come of it.

After seeing Liu Bai off, Guinaifen let out a sigh of relief.

Then, when she turned around, she found Firefly beside her struggling to pick up the entire blanket.

"Uh... Is that how people in your homeland fold blankets?"

Having narrowly escaped disaster, Guinaifen scratched her head.

In the end, Guinaifen had still made a vow, except it was, "If Liu Bai doesn't ask, I won't tell."

"This? Mr. Liu Bai's blanket is too messy, so folding it would be troublesome. In comparison, the blanket in my room has already been folded. Wouldn't it be more convenient if I took this blanket back and brought mine over?"

Firefly wore an innocent smile.

Your calculations are so loud the entire Immortals' Ship could hear them!

Big Cousin Acheron

Having suddenly realized that the friend she had always regarded as an innocent little sister was not only a big bad wolf but also somewhat perverted, Guinaifen felt deeply conflicted.

The only consolation was probably that she had not known Firefly for very long, so even after discovering this other side of her, it did not feel too bad?

If this had happened with Chang Chang instead, she truly would have been heartbroken.

Guinaifen sighed as she cleaned the table.

As for the dishes, the people who had eaten had all conscientiously cleaned them up. She only needed to wipe the table.

"Little Gui."

"Ah, Boss Liu, what is it?"

Guinaifen turned around, looking somewhat exhausted.

"...What are those glasses of yours?"

Guinaifen noticed a pair of black glasses on Liu Bai's nose.

"Mm..."

Guinaifen: Constitution 4, Strength 4, Agility 6

"Hey, hey, hey! Boss Liu, those aren't X-Ray Glasses, are they?!"

Guinaifen covered the private parts of her body with a slight shudder.

"...Why do you immediately think of X-ray vision when you see a pair of glasses? What kind of impression do I have in your eyes?" Bai was speechless.

"Although you're serious, you have a few perverted elements?"

"Huh? Where?"

"You should ask the beautiful girl monsters whose clothes you stripped off."

"..."

He wanted to refute her righteously, but he had nothing to say.

They were monsters, but they were beautiful girls.

They had everything beautiful girls ought to have... Thinking about it that way, there was nothing he could do about being considered somewhat perverted...

It seemed that the only thing separating him from being a true pervert was taking off his clothes together with the Honkai zombie girls.

But was stripping clothes fun... It really was fun, and the happiness came from the bottom of his heart.

Liu Bai felt conflicted as he suddenly realized he was only one step away from becoming a true pervert.

And... he suddenly really wanted to make X-Ray Glasses.

"...They really aren't X-Ray Glasses. Try them."

Liu Bai took off the glasses and handed them to Guinaifen.

"Though I'm not sure whether you can use them, I really am innocent."

"I was only joking..." Guinaifen helplessly put on the glasses that had been forcibly handed to her.

In theory, Guinaifen should have been an NPC unit. However, the combat power glasses Liu Bai had alchemized from a pile of useless Gacha Machine rewards could be equipped by NPCs—yet in the game, NPCs would have no reaction at all unless there was a special plot set up for them to wear such glasses.

"Mm... Liu Bai, Constitution 3, Strength 3, Agility 3... What is this?"

She could see it.

"A small item that gives a rough idea of someone's strength, though only roughly. Combat is not just a contest of attributes; there's also technique, skills, and strategy—but generally speaking, people with strong basic attributes are not too weak in other areas either. And the gap between these numbers rises exponentially."

"Oh... So what are my numbers?"

"4, 4, 6. It doesn't look like there's much difference between us, but I definitely can't beat you."

"The gap is smaller than I imagined... Are you going to see Miss Acheron?"

"Yes."

"...I'm super interested."

After learning that Acheron might be an Emanator big shot, Guinaifen was brimming with excitement.

This was an Emanator. An ordinary person might not see one even once in their lifetime, much less from this close.

Taking Guinaifen with him, Liu Bai returned to the open space outside.

"You have returned. Those glasses?" Acheron also noticed the glasses on Liu Bai's nose.

Her tone was full of confusion.

He had said he was going to handle something, yet he came back wearing glasses?

"Boss, Boss, how is it? How is it?"

"...Where's Deathwing?"

"Huh?"

Acheron: Constitution 10, Strength 12, Agility 12

10/12/12.

Calling her Big Cousin was completely appropriate.

No, weren't those numbers far too terrifying?

Liu Bai thought about it. Even if her skill set had been weakened, in the original game environment, those numbers would already let her steamroll everything, right?

Her stats were absurdly overpowered.

...Though her figure was also absurdly overpowered.

Since things from the same modpack gave Acheron these numbers, then...

"...Your gaze is somewhat discourteous, sir."

Acheron's tone remained as calm as water.

"Will today's practice continue?"

"Of course it will."

Acheron began teaching you the skill "Swordsmanship."

Far East, Narusaki Shrine.

"You have all read the letter sent by Anti-Entropy, correct?"