Aoyagi Lantern Tells a Weird Tale

"Yes, I'm back..."

Stretching lazily, Feng Xue half-reclined on the sofa, his eyes slightly vacant. After giving the golden pills to relatives and friends, he had gained some understanding of their effects.

Although the effects varied on each person, even Jessica, who had the worst effect, managed to condense something similar to a relic. Baihe Hua and Rinka even gained Stand evolution and new Kamen Rider forms.

"It seems that the effect of the Golden Elixir depends on the user's understanding of it. In a sense, modern people who are influenced by classical fantasy novels are the most suitable to take this, while it's a bit complicated for foreigners... Jessica was able to condense relics, which, besides the fact that foreigners' understanding of internal alchemy is limited to relics, probably also has the Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill."

Silently summarizing the changes that occurred in the Golden Elixir users, Feng Xue shook the gourd. Even after giving away a large batch to all her acquaintances, she still had five or six left.

However, he didn't plan to give away the rest. He just put one in the Construction Hell as a carrot dangling in front of the donkey, and kept the rest for later use.

Ultimately, the Golden Elixir is indeed highly versatile. In addition to being used as incense, for advancement, and for forming the Golden Elixir, it can even be refined into an external elixir and used as a high-end Flying Sword when infused with sword intent.

Of course, doing that would be wasteful, and it might even turn into a golden healing shuriken, which would be awkward.

After carefully storing the remaining golden pills, Feng Xue began to plan what she should do this month.

While waiting for the cooldown in the Infinite City isn't impossible, Feng Xue has only Weird Tale for less than ten years, and her mentality hasn't yet shifted from a short-lived species that only cares about the present moment. She can't be like those "old men" above the sixty-story level who play cards, chess, chat, and gossip every day. Suddenly having so much free time makes her feel rather lost.

After thinking for a moment, he went to the 114th floor and knocked on Aoyagi Lantern's Room Door again...

"Is there something you need?" As usual, the yokai maid served tea and water, Aoyagi Lantern sat opposite her at the tea table, getting straight to the point.

"Well, the challenge starts in a month. Shouldn't you let me meet my teammates? Don't we all need some time to get to know each other?"

Feng Xue explained the purpose of her visit. Although she said it was to kill some time, she was still a little uneasy if she didn't get to know her teammates beforehand.

Hearing Feng Xue say this, Aoyagi Lantern shook her head and said:

"Although we're all entering that world together, it's best not to approach it with the idea of cooperation. Ultimately, becoming Weird Tale in that world is just the first step in completing the artifact. The real focus is on the struggle after completion. Therefore, even if we cooperate in name, we won't truly reveal our secrets. People like you and me, who have fought each other to the death, actually understand each other better. That's why I'm inclined to cooperate with you. After all, even if a struggle is inevitable in the end, we still have a good understanding of each other from our past battles, making cooperation much easier."

"No, I don't know you at all." Feng Xue raised her hand in a gesture reminiscent of Er Kang, then paused slightly before continuing:

"Did you manage to contact the person I asked you to?"

At this point, a strange expression suddenly appeared on Aoyagi Lantern's usually calm and composed face. As if in response to stress, she raised her hand and pinched the space between her eyebrows before saying:

"The message has been delivered. He wasn't really interested at first, but when he heard it was your invitation, he accepted with a dark face. He's currently challenging the level 119 master; I wonder if he'll make it in time."

At this point, a rare hint of curiosity appeared on Aoyagi Lantern's face. She hesitated slightly before speaking:

"Even in Weird Tale, that kind of being is extremely bizarre and rare. What exactly did you do to it that made it react to you?"

"Hey, that's a trade secret!" Feng Xue gave a mysterious look. Seeing this, Aoyagi Lantern muttered under her breath, "It must be some kind of strange Phantom Object again," before unfolding a piece of white paper:

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. But what you said before was right; we need to let you know about the other floor masters so that we don't start fighting before we've even completed the first step."

"Besides you and me, there are currently eleven people who have obtained the position of floor master. Eight of them belong to the classic Weird Tale, and the other three are rising stars of Infinite City."

"In classic Weird Tale, there are two factions: monsters and gods. The monster faction includes five characters: Dracula, Fenrir, Griffin, Behemoth, and Medusa. The god faction includes Thor, Athena, and Yama, the King Yama."

Although the remnants of the classical school were all infamous monsters, a closer analysis reveals that, while their legends had been circulating for a long time, their rise to prominence was inextricably linked to modern entertainment.

Whether it's Dracula, Medusa, or Behemoth, they are all workaholic actors in modern Western fantasy works. You can always see one or more of them in novels, movies, animations, comics, and games. Fenrir and Griffin are slightly less prominent, but they also frequently appear in various games.

As for the three gods...

Although there is no evidence, Feng Xue believes that they are inextricably linked to the comic book works.

"I always felt that the Eastern Kingdom's contribution to the Weird Tale genre wasn't limited to Infinite City... Speaking of which, now that we've covered the classicists, what about the three new generations?" Feng Xue casually tossed the salt aside, and Aoyagi Lantern continued, "..."

"Those three new generations? They are a water monster, an alien, and a dragon."

"Dragon?" Feng Xue raised an eyebrow. Not the Dragon King, the Dragon Prince, or a Red Dragon or Demonic Dragon, but just a simple dragon? Could this be another supernatural Weird Tale with Single Character Authority?

Upon hearing Feng Xue's meaningful monosyllable, a hint of recollection appeared on Aoyagi Lantern's face.

"Yeah, I remember that guy pretty well. It was probably in the 1980s or 90s, not long after Infinite City was established. He created all sorts of traces of dragons all over Yan Country, like dragon bone fossils, dragon mummies, dragon photos, and so on. As a result, the Weird Tale 'dragons really exist' came about. The other two were similar. One was the Loch Ness Monster Weird Tale, and the other started by making a movie."

As a veteran of Infinite City, Aoyagi Lantern spoke of these three new generation members with the feeling of a fellow villager recounting the childhood memories of college students who came from the village.

Feng Xue, meanwhile, was silently pondering the locations in the Weird Tale these floor masters might be involved in.

Seeing Feng Xue's thoughtful expression, Aoyagi Lantern shook her head and said:

"Don't overthink it. I'm telling you this so you'll have an impression of them and not start a fight as soon as you meet. When I introduced you to them, I only said you're a kung fu master who can transform into Kamen Rider."

"Oh?" Feng Xue raised an eyebrow, while Aoyagi Lantern expressed her helplessness at his feigned ignorance.

"Those who can become the thread master definitely don't only have one or two Trait. Even if they only use one of them normally, they definitely have a lot of supplementary Trait to support them. For example, I'm called Aoyagi Lantern, but do you think I only have this one Trait?"