The Captain Just Wants to Go Home and Play Games

Nine years—even if it were just a pet dog raised at home, you'd grow attached.

Not to mention that I never had friends to begin with, and finally found one who doesn't know Kaguya's identity, someone I can tease and act shameless with, without worrying about anything, playing however I want.

Chapter 19: An AI That's Become Sentient?

Houraisan Kaguya—the heroine of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter—is a Moon Princess who fled to the ground after being convicted for consuming the Elixir of Immortality, possessing the abilities of Eternity and Moment.

Rumor has it that since arriving on the ground, she's been holed up at home, thus also gaining the ability to automatically generate trash and stay indoors.

Unable to accept the "surprise," Kaguya replied on the computer:

"Why? You're about to start your second year of high school—is it because of your studies?"

"Listen, studying is just a means; living happily is the goal. After you graduate, Her Highness the Princess can specially hire you to play games with me. The pay is negotiable—Her Highness the Princess has mines at home."

"..."

The string of messages popping up was actually within Mo Yi's expectations. Though they were only online friends, over so many years, their bond wasn't weak.

Mo Yi had no choice but to reply:

"It's not the issue you're talking about. It's because of some unavoidable reasons—I have to focus my energy on other games, so I won't have much time to spend on Honor of Kings."

Well, this was already somewhat tactful. After all, once he became an Official Player, he had no idea what kind of games he'd encounter. Whether he'd even have time to queue up for Honor of Kings was hard to say.

After all, the shortest time a single match of Honor of Kings takes is twenty minutes.

For someone with free time, twenty minutes is nothing—watch a show, catch up on an anime, or just space out and it's gone. But for a busy person, they don't even have time to eat, let alone spend twenty minutes on a game—it's practically a waste of life.

Houraisan Kaguya: "..."

So he was going to ditch her just to play a new game and open the door to a new world all by himself?

Houraisan Kaguya definitely couldn't take that lying down!

"Hu Xiao Kai, you're actually not taking me with you?! (Expression: Angry, blood-dripping kitchen knife)"

This matter was really hard for Mo Yi to explain. After thinking it over, he replied:

"I haven't even played this game yet. I don't even know what it'll be like, let alone whether I can play with others."

"Well, just think of it as me going to play a game like the Main God Space."

Explaining it this way, Mo Yi was a bit hesitant. Talk like this sounded like a joke no matter how you heard it, but it was the truth.

Of course, Mo Yi had no idea that the jokes he'd always thought the other party was telling him were actually true—she was a genuine Moon Princess, an otherworldly princess with tens of thousands of mines at home.

The Main God Space—a hardcore shut-in like Houraisan Kaguya naturally knew what that was.

"Is it real?"

Since Mo Yi had put it that way, based on past experience, if he could take her along, he wouldn't have refused repeatedly.

But Kaguya didn't want to lose her only gaming friend. Any relationship needs maintenance—just like Mo Yi and Kaguya's bond. If they stopped playing games together, over time, the connection would naturally fade. That was unavoidable.

Kaguya rarely thought seriously, then clapped her hands and muttered to herself: "I've got it—"

Then, an invisible shift emanated from her, enveloping her room.

This was Kaguya activating her ability to manipulate "Eternity and Moment," cutting off the time in her room from the outside world. No matter how long passed inside, to the outside world, it was but an instant.

After activating her ability, Kaguya began typing rapidly on the computer. The screen was no longer the Honor of Kings interface but a dense mess of mysterious code.

With her ability to manipulate time and her immortality, the one thing Kaguya never lacked was time. If she needed to learn knowledge or skills, she could stretch a single second of normal time into infinity, only ending that second once she had fully mastered what she wanted to learn.

Thus, she could master virtually any knowledge or skill in the world that required no special prerequisites, only time to study.

Having lived for who knows how many years, she had mastered countless skills—whether scientific knowledge or mysticism, everyday arts like tea ceremony and flower arrangement, or swordsmanship, spearmanship, and archery—she could be called a grandmaster in all of them. This was tied both to her ability and her perfectionist nature.

What she was about to do now was develop a black-tech software that could transcend dimensions, allowing her and Mo Yi to communicate beyond just Honor of Kings—a comprehensive communication app like WeChat, capable of sending messages, voice, and video.

Simple messaging couldn't satisfy Kaguya's perfectionist streak. Once she decided to do something, she had to do it to the utmost.

Who knows how many months passed? Kaguya had lost count of how many times she'd died from overwork and resurrected. Fortunately, everything around her was affected by her Eternity ability, never changing, never getting dirty or smelly. Otherwise, she might have just resurrected only to be suffocated by the stench.

"It's done."

Resurrecting once more from overwork, refreshed and energetic, Kaguya looked at the painstakingly crafted communication software "Eien-tei Online" and let out a satisfied auntie smile. She waved her hand to dispel the ability, returning to the outside world's time.

Then she sent the communication software "Eien-tei Online" to Mo Yi, typing: "This is the communication software I poured my heart and soul into. Accept it."

On Mo Yi's end, he was still thinking about how to explain to his only friend why he couldn't take her along to play the game, when suddenly she sent him a file.

Mo Yi: "??"

Mo Yi was instantly dumbfounded. The voice chat channel in Honor of Kings could send files?

What kind of black tech was this?!

Out of trust for Her Highness the Princess, Mo Yi still clicked it.

"Ding-dong—"

Just then, the interface of the Little World Game in Mo Yi's mind let out an alert.

"Detected expansion software—Eien-tei Online. Download?"

Mo Yi was even more baffled now—this was the first time the Little World Game had ever encountered such a situation. Wasn't Eien-tei Online just the file name Her Highness the Princess had sent over?

Speaking of which, the name Eien-tei seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite recall where he'd heard it.

That wasn't the point, though. The point was that something Her Highness the Princess had sent could actually catch the Little World Game's eye, even to the point of downloading it—this was like a heifer doing a handstand!

From this perspective, his earlier guess about her being a hardcore shut-in was way off the mark.

This was no ordinary shut-in; this was a top-tier shut-in!

Could she really be the world's number one princess, Hatsune Miku?

Or maybe she was an artificial intelligence that had gained sentience!

As for whether to download it, was there even a question?