Star Rail: Can't You Let Me Farm Commissions in Peace?

"Why should hope be entrusted to the next generation?"

Mei lowered her eyelids. After a long while, she suddenly let out a cold, crazed laugh.

"That belongs to this generation, Elysia. If it must belong somewhere, then it must belong to us—to our generation."

"Honkai? A selection device created by a higher-dimensional civilization? None of that matters. What matters is that I will never allow myself to fail. Entrust hope to the next civilization? What nonsense."

"Why should something that belongs to me be left behind for them? Admit my failure, let others stand upon the lessons of my failure, and turn me, Mei, into someone else's stepping stone? I have never been such a kind and weak person."

"Shirou Emiya, I will put an end to this farce. Whether it is the Cocoon of Finality or higher-dimensional lifeforms, I swear... I will personally bind them to my operating table and use my scalpel to slice apart every piece of them, one cut at a time. I will make them understand... the consequences of offending someone like me."

That was pretty violent.

But...

It was a pretty good idea.

Shirou Emiya narrowed his eyes. Just as he was about to say something, Mei suddenly raised her gaze. Her emerald pupils met his without warning. Their focus seemed somewhat hollow, as though she were looking through him at something deeper. A moment later, she suddenly laughed again.

"I am not as naive as Elysia and the others, Shirou Emiya. I will definitely help you obtain whatever I promised you. In this partnership, as long as you do not betray me, everything I have promised will surely be fulfilled for you."

"I do not expect any so-called romance. To me, achieving humanity's evolution and completely escaping the Honkai catastrophe that turns people into monsters is more important than any other desire. So I understand very well... when you appeared before me and displayed the abilities you possess now, you became the helper I needed most—the most important helper who will help me reach my ideal evolution."

"Shirou Emiya, I will ask you one final time. Do you have the resolve to dance with a venomous snake like me?" Seven.

Would you refuse the chance to become a grass python hero?!

The resolve to dance with a snake?

Was he changing careers to become Xu Xian?

Fuck... who would hesitate if they got an opportunity like this?

Everyone mocked Xu Xian as a grassland hero, but everyone envied him for being a genuine grass-python hero.

Although Mei was a cold-blooded scientist, she still retained her humanity and moral bottom line. She had the flavor of a bad woman, but she was genuinely good to those around her whom she acknowledged.

She was ruthless toward enemies, toward people she did not care about, and even toward herself. But she treated assistants like Blanca and Klein very well. She could even put up with a pink loudspeaker like Elysia constantly buzzing in her ears.

All he could say was that this was tsundere behavior.

You might say she was outdated, yet this little tsundere still made your heart itch.

Bad woman + lunatic + tsundere...

Subarashii! A woman with such a complicated composition! Clearly, she was top-tier among women! If Hypermutation Surgery could be completed without side effects, there would even be the dual pleasure of both mature and loli forms, plus an Artificial Collapse binding form...

Yeh, I was so excited I pitched a tent!

"A side effect of playing too much poker. Bronya has harmed me—I actually lost my composure like this... From today onward... I should look for Serval instead."

Over the next few days, Mr. Emiya mostly worked as a porter for Mei's laboratory. At the same time, he secretly poached several major talents from Flame-Chaser. Mei was naturally among them, and under Shirou Emiya's earnest invitation, Hua—who had been recuperating at a Flame-Chaser branch after Himiko's death—was also poached.

Welt, who had spent several days in the Honkai world, seemed to have developed some interest in the ninja world as well, so he came along. The two veteran Trailblazers threw themselves wholeheartedly into the Trailblaze operation.

With each passing day, Shirou Emiya could feel the traces of the Trailblaze Path becoming more solid, while the threshold of Imaginary energy he could draw upon continued to rise. All he could say was that, as a key for using Imaginary energy, the passage opened by the Path was indeed more practical.

With Orochimaru's assistance, Mei swiftly began categorizing the ninja world's vast body of common knowledge and biological foundations. When he saw this true grandmaster of biology integrate the biological basics of the ninja world from the material he had described, he finally made up his mind to completely sever his present self from his past self.

Konoha?

Could it give him knowledge that was actually useful?

Ninjutsu? The moment a technique became even slightly advanced, they wanted nothing more than to hide it away and enjoy it alone...

Thinking of how he had needed to steal techniques to obtain his teacher's jutsu when he was young... and had been warned and scolded for a long time afterward... compared to how these people laid their knowledge bare before him without reservation, the difference in caliber was obvious.

"I can never go back, Sensei."

"Tsunade, Jiraiya, Nawaki... I hope each of you takes care."

Just as everyone began busying themselves with their respective work, an event he had nearly cast from his mind finally arrived late upon the Land of Whirlpools.

The Mist Village Ninja Army from the distant sea, roughly eighteen hundred strong, crossed the ocean aboard around fifty large ships.

The Cloud Village Ninja Army from the far-off mainland, along with a hidden contingent from Iwagakure, totaled more than twelve hundred men.

Though no particular signal had been set to initiate the operation, the moment they neared the borders of the Land of Whirlpools, they launched a surprise attack on the patrolling Uzumaki clan members without further ado.

Everyone's objective was clear. From the very start, they had come to wipe out the Land of Whirlpools and divide its wealth. There was no need for many orders as the numerous squads split up and began preparing to sweep the entire island clean of the country's citizens.

But the Uzumaki Clan had long been prepared as well. Aside from the people stationed at the borders, all clan members had already been evacuated from the villages outside the capital. Even clean water sources had been fouled with excrement and stones. Fields that could not be harvested in time were burned to the ground. Any metal objects that could not be carried away were buried as deeply underground as possible, leaving the invaders not a shred of resources to aid them.

Did they think they could get even a little benefit from the Land of Whirlpools? Impossible!

Even inside the houses left behind in the villages, the villagers had set as many traps as possible before leaving, all designed to disgust those who came to loot.

When the allied forces of Kumogakure, the Mist Village, and Iwagakure pushed deeper into the Land of Whirlpools and discovered that there was not a single person, possession, or supply left in the villages, nearly everyone's mentality exploded...

They had come here openly to rob the place. Yet after so many people charged in so aggressively, not only had they gained nothing, quite a few had nearly fallen victim to the villagers' traps. On top of that, there were no supplies or clean water left in the villages, and these ninjas who had come to make a fortune could not help but curse in fury.

Before they had earned any money, they had already burned through several days' worth of rations.

They had not even captured a single Uzumaki clan member, leaving them without a target to vent their anger on.

Thus, forcibly suppressing their rage, the allied forces of the three villages gathered under the direction of several jōnin commanders, then moved together to surround the capital of the Land of Whirlpools.

With the enemy at the gates, the Uzumaki clan members standing behind the battlements swiftly used the detection ability of Mind's Eye of the Kagura to calculate the total number of ninja troops from the three villages...

"No fewer than two thousand, nearly three thousand men. Those villages really think highly of my Uzumaki Clan."

The old Uzumaki clan chief was almost angered into laughter. Earlier, he had still held onto a faint hope that these people had merely gathered to extort some wealth and resources. Perhaps the Land of Whirlpools would be badly weakened, but it would not truly come to national destruction.

But upon seeing nearly three thousand men, all hesitation vanished from his heart. Since these enemies had invaded with the goal of completely exterminating and slaughtering the entire Land of Whirlpools, there was naturally no need for them to show even the slightest mercy.

"Leave every last one of these bastard dogs from the ninja villages here! Let them be buried here forever, and let everyone know that the Land of Whirlpools... is not some stray dog by the roadside for others to bully!"

Seeing the ninja world's allied army outside, so aggressive and utterly undisguised in its murderous intent, the Uzumaki clan members also erupted with fierce anger. They had lived quietly in a corner of this isolated island, yet they had still drawn the baseless greed and slaughter of these wolves and tigers.

The Uzumaki Clan had always been fierce by nature. With national hatred and personal grudges all stacked together at this moment, everyone was immediately roused, wishing they could rush out through the capital gates and slaughter those bastards outside.

"I, Uzumaki Ashina, command you to rise in the name of the Uzumaki Clan's chief!"

"Asura Giant God!!"

The sky...

Suddenly grew much darker.

The ninja allied forces watched the "mountain" that abruptly rumbled up from beneath the earth, and terror began rising uncontrollably in their hearts.

When the towering mechanical giant stood upon the land,

they felt as if they had seen a god.

Some superstitious people immediately fell prostrate to the ground and began to pray.

Even the commanders of the three-village allied forces felt fear unconsciously eroding their hearts when they saw that towering mechanical construct, as majestic as a deity...

"Why does the Uzumaki Clan... have something like this?"

"What is that thing? The intelligence we got from Konoha mentioned nothing like this!"

"Damn it, did Konoha deceive us?!"

"Should we retreat? That thing doesn't feel like something we can deal with..."

"Find a way to hold it back. I'll contact the Mizukage immediately!"

After the commanders discussed it, although the supermassive mech before them felt impossible to resist, they would certainly be held accountable if they fled back to their villages in such a disgraceful state. So they gritted their teeth and ordered the ninjas currently present to find a way to stall it while they quickly reported the situation to the supreme leader of the entire battlefield.

"Kill!"

"Kill them!"

"Slaughter these bastards!"

Atop the battlements, countless Uzumaki clan members climbed onto the walls. Looking at the Asura Giant God standing upon the earth, they roared with fervor.

"Neuron Synchronization at ninety-five percent. All units, attention. Entering full synchronization now. Link start----!"

"Let's go all out, Kirito-brother."

"Please watch closely, Kenshin. My... utmost effort!"

"Shunsheng, let's burn our lives together!"

"Only by surpassing our limits can we have a chance to reach the summit----!"

"Mikasa! Right now, I feel invincible!"

"As long as you're here, I can do anything!"

Wave after wave of wailing and howling echoed through the Asura Giant God's voice channel. Amid those cries, Neuron Synchronization reached its peak, and the gathered Chakra and spiritual power finally ran through the entire Creation Engine.

"Asura Giant God, sortie----!"

Accompanied by their synchronized roar, the mountain-like giant mech finally raised both arms high above its head, then smashed them down without hesitation at the center of the ninja village allied forces.

"Scatter!"

The order rang out. Though terror spread through the ninjas' hearts, they still did not dare flee the battlefield in defiance of their commanders. Aside from serving as the main combat force, the jōnin often acted as battlefield overseers. If anyone showed an intention to flee, they might not be smashed into pulp by that mechanical monster, but the jōnin would still cut off their heads with a single stroke.

Since that was the case...

They might as well fight for a sliver of survival beneath that giant, seemingly clumsy creature.

"Earth Style----!"

Facing the Asura Giant God's Iron Fist Sanction, the men of Iwagakure showed no intention of fleeing. Instead, they immediately formed up without hesitation, completing the hand seals for Iwagakure's signature ninjutsu with astonishing coordination.

"Million Stone Flow Wall----!"

In only an instant, hundreds of thick earthen and stone walls rumbled up from the ground, blocking the path directly before the mech's iron fists.

Just as Konoha possessed the brainwashing Will of Fire, Iwagakure's Will of Stone was even more outrageous, having brainwashed every ninja into willingly becoming expendable material for the village—unyielding stones that had to remain steadfast and unmoving.

"Earth Style----"

"Earth Tremor Core----!"

Before the mech's attack could arrive, the second group of Iwagakure ninjas had already unleashed a second combined ninjutsu. Beneath the Asura Giant God's feet, a massive pit hundreds of meters wide suddenly appeared, and the enormous machine that had stood upon the earth immediately sank more than halfway into it.

"Nicely done!"

"Kumogakure ninjas! It's our turn!"

Seeing Iwagakure's ninjas display such might, Kumogakure's ninjas naturally refused to be outdone. They quickly organized into squads and almost simultaneously began forming the hand seals for the same Lightning Style technique.

"Lightning Style: Lightning Ball----!"

Piercing crackles of electricity began ringing through the air. Dazzling lightning gathered in the hundreds and thousands, bombarding the Asura Giant God trapped in the pit at the same moment.

"Useless, useless, useless------!"

The Uzumaki clan members inside the giant mech roared. Their spiritual wills reached a high degree of unity, passing their concentrated intent through the λ-driver system's judgment and turning it into a tangible physical shockwave that condensed around the iron fist before it was unleashed without hesitation.

"Iron Fist Sanction----!"

The physical impact carried by that iron fist directly struck the rock walls inside the pit. The transmitted force spread out in an instant, blasting the entire earth into the air and violently plowing out a curved pit hundreds of meters long.

And every ninja, every ninjutsu in the path of that strike vanished without a trace...

"Monster..."

"That thing can't be beaten at all!"

"Where is the Mizukage? Why hasn't the Mizukage acted yet?"

"I don't want to die! Ryoko, after this war ends, I'm going to marry Ryoko!"

"Lord Ōnoki, it seems this is as far as I can go."

Cries of grief, screams of agony, shouts of despair, and sobs of collapse intertwined across the battlefield. The commanders of the Three Great Ninja Villages had naturally seen the strike unleashed by that giant mech. If they had not been farther away just now, and if they had not sensed the danger and escaped in time... they would now have become floating bits of blood and flesh alongside those cannon fodder soldiers.

"Retreat, Sir Daran. That monster is no longer something we can handle."