Starting with Firefly, Speedrunning Worlds, Part 18

This was hilarious.

"I hope the Game Master or Producer can be forced to step in directly!"

Firefly took out her transformation device, but she was in no hurry to make a move. She still needed to wait a little longer.

Her gaze shifted to the Herta puppet beside her. Hopefully, she would not disappoint her!

Back at the Desire Grand Prix, Tsumuri was still explaining the rules and rewards.

"In short, any wish can be granted."

"Now then, please write down your wishes."

The moment her voice fell, before anyone present could react, a pen and a wish card suddenly appeared in each of their hands.

Once they came to their senses, quite a few people eagerly wrote down the wishes they wanted granted.

Kurama Neon was holding her pen, ready to write, but for some reason, she hesitated.

She wondered if the Rider who had saved her last time was here. Her gaze swept over the surroundings, but she could not tell who it was.

None of them seemed quite right.

Perhaps they were not here at all?

And compared to that Rider who had saved her, Kurama Neon found herself thinking of Firefly, who had been living with her these past few days.

Without all those troubles, she had been very happy.

If she could find true love and keep living like this, that would be wonderful.

She really was greedy!

No longer dwelling on it, she noticed that everyone else had already written down their wishes. Kurama Neon hurriedly wrote down the wish she wanted granted and handed the wish card to Tsumuri.

Tsumuri accepted the wish cards with a professional smile and collected them all. Only then did she officially announce the start of the Desire Grand Prix.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, everyone found that the floating platform they had been standing on had turned into a forest.

This was the Desire Grand Prix's miraculous method!

The place they were in was a large circular section of forest covered by the Jamato Territory.

At that moment, Tsumuri's voice rang out once more.

"Contestants, the Desire Grand Prix officially begins!"

"The first round that will decide your fate."

"The first mission is the classic treasure hunt."

"Please reclaim the treasure chests stolen by the Jamato and obtain the items inside."

The Stellaron Hunters Do Not Belong to the Desire Grand Prix

Time passed in a flash.

In the Riders' exclusive lounge of the Desire Grand Prix, after going through the first introductory round, there were far fewer contestants left.

It had also taught those who had come with the mindset of simply having fun a proper lesson: this game was not as simple as they had imagined.

Anything could happen!

Especially Sakurai Keiwa, whose gaze at Ukiyo Ace was filled with resentment. He had clearly gotten the top-tier Boost Buckle at the start, yet that fox had tricked it away from him under the excuse of saving someone.

Buffa, Azuma Michinaga, also kept a gloomy expression on his face.

Only Kurama Neon still looked carefree, carefully wiping an exquisitely beautiful card in her hands.

"Miss Na-Go, can you tell me what that is in your hand?"

At some point, Ukiyo Ace had appeared beside Kurama Neon. His gaze locked onto the exquisite item in her hand as he asked thoughtfully.

Hearing Ukiyo Ace's question, the others nearby also looked over curiously.

"This? It's nothing. Just a gift from a friend!"

At Ukiyo Ace's question, Kurama Neon became wary. Ukiyo Ace was a fox who knew how to deceive people—Tycoon had already been tricked by him.

So she instinctively put away the Light Cone in her hand.

If it had not been for the Light Cone Firefly had given her during that last round, she might have gotten hurt.

People's hearts were dangerous!

For the sake of fulfilling the wish in her heart, she had never expected that her greatest enemies would not be the Jamato, but the Riders beside her.

Before she had adjusted her mindset, she had nearly gotten into trouble.

"I see."

Ukiyo Ace nodded and did not ask any further questions.

But he could not have been mistaken. When Na-Go had been ambushed by an older man earlier, an unfamiliar invisible force had protected her.

So it was difficult for him not to care.

However, as a fox, he would not keep pressing the matter. That would only make people dislike him more.

"Right, there's something I wanted to ask..."

After hesitating for several seconds, Kurama Neon finally couldn't hold back any longer and voiced her question to everyone.

She had been watching for quite a while and had seen everyone transform, yet she had not spotted the Rider who had saved her last time.

"Has anyone heard of or seen a Rider called Stellaron Hunter Sam?"

After saying that, Kurama Neon swept her gaze around, primarily looking toward Ukiyo Ace and Azuma Michinaga.

Those two had already been present in the previous Desire Grand Prix, so there was a good chance they knew of his existence.

"Stellaron Hunter Sam? Who's that? I've never heard of him."

"Could there be other Riders besides us?"

Faced with Kurama Neon's question, nearly everyone present looked confused and said they had never heard of him. Even the Game Master standing nearby was the same.

However, his movements paused, and the way he looked at Kurama Neon became thoughtful.

"Yeah, yeah, I want to know where he is too."

"That Rider in silver-white armor should have been part of the Desire Grand Prix too, right? Why haven't we seen him this time?"

Hearing Kurama Neon's words, Sakurai Keiwa also spoke up to ask.

As far as he was concerned, that Rider should have had something to do with the Desire Grand Prix. Geats and Buffa from the previous round had both appeared, so his lifesaver shouldn't have been absent!

Compared to that lying fox, that Stellaron Hunter seemed far more trustworthy.

Yet he had not appeared at all this time, which left Keiwa somewhat disappointed.

He had originally wanted to thank him properly.

However, as Sakurai Keiwa described Stellaron Hunter Sam, the other Riders had yet to react when Ukiyo Ace's expression instantly darkened.

Having his victory interrupted once again had thrown his original plans into disarray. Whether it was his undefeated legend being shattered or anything else, none of it was good news to him.

Ukiyo Ace was also beginning to wonder whether that inexplicably appearing Rider had been arranged by the organizers.

He turned and calmly glanced at the Game Master, Girori, before quickly returning to his composed appearance.

After all, he was a fox—and two thousand years old. Keeping his emotions hidden was only natural.

But Azuma Michinaga beside him could not manage that.

His face had turned so grim it looked as though he wanted to kill someone. Thinking of the humiliation that mysterious Rider had inflicted upon him, he could barely restrain his emotions.

His heavy breathing was loud enough for almost everyone present to hear.

He also desperately wanted to know who that bastard was, and he swore he would pay him back.

"Unfortunately, he does not belong to our Desire Grand Prix!"

"Our organizers were also very surprised by the existence of Stellaron Hunter Sam."

At that moment, Girori stepped forward and explained.

If it were the organizers openly rigging things, the audience would not approve. He had no intention of taking the blame for that.

Though the outcome last time had indeed been what he wanted to see.

The failure of Geats's undefeated legend had drawn tremendous ratings and entertainment value, bringing even more future people to watch the Desire Grand Prix.

But in a sense, although Geats had lost to that Stellaron Hunter, the other party had not been a contestant, so it did not entirely count as a defeat.

In the eyes of many Geats fans, his title as the undefeated God of War had not vanished.

After all, anyone could see that Stellaron Hunter was far too powerful, on an entirely different level. He had been a complete accident!

Still, it was only now that Girori learned that this Rider was called Stellaron Hunter Sam!

Stellaron Hunter...

He did not belong to the Desire Grand Prix, nor did he belong to this world.

If he truly was, as his name suggested, a hunter who hunted Stellarons, then this would be troublesome.

What was a Stellaron?

The first thing that came to mind was a special kind of celestial body—a planetary core.

A celestial body consisting almost entirely of a metallic core.

Ordinary celestial bodies like Earth were generally covered by a mantle, while planetary cores, due to collisions or other reasons, were left with only their metallic cores.

More typical planetary cores included Psyche and TOI 849b.

For instance, the planetary core TOI 849b, discovered in July 2020, was an enormous planetary core.