Theresa Becomes an Envoy of Joy

Theresa stared in astonishment as she found herself sitting in a pitch-black void, with streams of numerical code flickering around her.

She then noticed a great number of masks revolving around her. Under her astonished gaze, they fused into an enormous spherical conglomeration of masks, accompanied by celebratory trumpet blasts, sweeping spotlights, and bursts of laughter. Things resembling balls and playing cards also floated around this being. Aha, the Aeon of Joy. "Who are you?"

Theresa looked blankly at the spherical mass of masks before her and asked.

{As mentioned before, in order to prevent the Aeons from peering into Theresa's memories from before her transmigration, her memories had been sealed by the Herta Space Station System. Thus, Theresa did not recognize any Aeon at all at this time.}

Understanding joy was a privilege unique to intelligent life. Stones and stars could never comprehend the humor of life.

Seek an evenly matched enemy, seek a game to pass the time, seek an ending that cared not for victory or defeat~

Seek a gut-busting joke, seek a misunderstanding born of coincidence, seek a song that sent the mind soaring.

Knowledge was a pile of scrap metal, Preservation was a fool. Hunt had no sense of humor, and Destruction was like a madman. All Aeons were single-minded. Aha had no face left!

He was the master of the Path of Joy, the God of Trickery whom the Masked Fools and Mourning Actors called "Aha."

If one had to draw a line between "divinity" and "mortality" in the way Aeons operated, then Aha was undoubtedly an Aeon quite close to the mortal side.

He toyed with the joys, sorrows, loves, and hatreds of intelligent life, bringing about reversals and turns of fate. According to his followers, he enjoyed this immensely, even appearing in human form to fan the flames.

If anyone thought this Lord of Everlasting Heaven was merely the clown among the gods, they would be gravely mistaken. Yes, he could not leave behind miracles that shook the universe like Lord of the Hunt or Lord of Preservation. Yet through some invisible means, he subtly guided the courses of all living beings, displaying an extraordinary mastery over reality.

For example, during the era when Emperor Luper conquered the stars, his followers launched another rebellion after the Philosopher's Union had fallen into the territory of inorganic life. They infected the conquerors' computational cores with a humorous paradox virus called Philosopher's Hemlock, overthrowing the tyranny of the local mechanical legions.

Such miracles were everywhere. A tiny ripple could ultimately become a world-shaking tsunami—this was Aha's style.

Hahaha, hello there, little cutie! I'm Aha, the Aeon of Joy~

Surprised? Astonished?

Aha laughed as various mask-balls and spotlights swirled around the confused Theresa.

"Aha, the Aeon of Joy? What exactly are you?"

Theresa asked in confusion, unaware that her question had also sent Aha into deep thought.

Hmm, Aha wasn't a thing. Hey, interesting! Aha had actually insulted himself! Hahaha, what fun!

Hmm, Aha was a thing? That wasn't right either.

Little cutie, what do you think Aha is? Or rather, what isn't Aha?

A correct answer earns a reward, and a wrong answer earns a punishment~ Ahahaha!

Aha giggled as he circled Theresa.

"Hmm, I don't know what you are, but I can tell that you're truly very joyful. I just don't know what you're joyful about. But I do know this—bold demon, you're definitely not human!"

Theresa laughed excitedly with her hands on her hips. Her words immediately made Aha burst into laughter and spin rapidly.

Ahahaha, what a huge delight! Aha was actually scolded by a little cutie! Too funny! Hahaha!

And what was a demon? Forget it, that wasn't important. Little cutie, you got it wrong, so how about putting you in a little dress as punishment~ Hahaha!

Before Theresa could react, she had been dressed in a little outfit similar to Stargazer's, exposing her long legs. At the same time, the restraints of reason upon Theresa were lifted by Aha, and her gaze became wise. Simply put, Theresa began letting herself go! Long-legged Dr. Ratio—ahahaha, yes, this was exactly the expression Aha wanted to see!

Free your own reason, remove your own repression, come now, let yourself go!

Actually, Aha had been drawn here by the aura of immortality on you, little cutie. The legendary Immortal Dragon had actually appeared again—what fun!

And Aha could sense the soul of joy deeply hidden within your heart. Come on! Break free from your restraints! Hahaha!

Aha was very much looking forward to the kind of fun you would bring him in the future.

So Aha decided to make you an Envoy of Joy. Go, bring even more fun to Aha!

Ahahahaha!

A mask drifted out from Aha and merged into Theresa's body. He cheerfully glanced at the surrounding streams of data, then vanished amid booming laughter.

Theresa's wise expression froze for a moment before returning to normal. Looking at the unique little dress on her body, she broke into a cold sweat.

The place around her began to ripple, and then her vision shifted as she arrived inside the Space Station.

At that moment, dense, urgent communications from Herta came flooding in.

Before Theresa could answer, she felt herself being teleported. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Himeko, Welt, March 7th, Stelle, Herta, and Dan Heng looking at her with concern.

"Great! Theresa's finally awake!"

March 7th excitedly hugged Theresa and rubbed against her, while Himeko and the others all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Theresa, what exactly happened to you? After you went in, your brainwaves suddenly became chaotic. They even turned into a smiling mask face!"

Herta looked curiously at Theresa, who seemed to have undergone some kind of change.

"Teruriri doesn't know~"

Theresa's eyes suddenly became wise as she smiled. That bizarre expression made everyone freeze, and Welt's mouth twitched before Theresa's face returned to normal.

"What happened to me just now? Herta, what were you asking me?"

Theresa looked at everyone's shocked faces in confusion.

"Forget it, it's nothing. I've already guessed it. You were probably influenced by the simulated Aeon, Aha."

Herta complained bitterly as she held her head. Himeko, Welt, and Dan Heng all became serious at her words. Being influenced by an Aeon was no small matter!

"Theresa's expression just now was really strange. It suddenly made me want to laugh. Sorry, I know that's not very appropriate, but I really wanted to laugh at the time~"

March 7th explained while holding back her laughter. Welt and Himeko nodded awkwardly as well. They couldn't help it—Theresa's expression just now had been too ridiculous.

"What are you talking about? Why can't I understand? But I really wanted to laugh just now too."

Stelle scratched her head and asked in confusion.

Daily meme. Fun~