"Whether or not your worlds have a concept of day and night, let me start by wishing you a good morning, afternoon, and evening! I'm your old friend Ye Yan, and the Aeon secret I'm bringing you this time goes by the name of [Elation]."
"Countless Aeons fill the universe, a dazzling array of stars. I'm sure you've all heard of their many deeds."
"Now then... would you like to hear the little secret... that nobody knows about the Aeon of Elation?"
On the Xianzhou Luofu, in a milk tea shop across from the [Sleepless Earl] teahouse.
A young man in a black brocade robe, his features delicate and handsome, was talking to himself at the work counter.
"Yes, I really would!"
A laughing mask appeared before Ye Yan, letting out a laugh distinctly characteristic of Elation.
"[Elation] and universe. Savor those two words... they don't sound all that different. What does that tell us?"
"Aha, it tells us Elation is a fucking awesome Aeon!" The mask suddenly grew excited.
"A monastic Aeon tells no lies. Amitabha." As Ye Yan spoke, he slapped the mask.
"?"
The mask tilted to the right, feeling as though it had been played.
"Boohoo~ Aha's lost all face!"
After a long silence, the mask swayed as it spoke, then vanished before Ye Yan, grumbling and cursing.
"Fooled you~"
The mask appeared again, but when it saw that Ye Yan showed no reaction whatsoever, its laughing expression turned sorrowful, and even its color changed to pure black.
"Boohoo~ Aha's lost all face!"
"I feel like I just heard that."
Ye Yan stood up, conjured a bottle of Immortal's Joy Tea out of thin air, and tossed it to the mask, which was still shedding little pearls of tears.
"All according to plan!"
Catching the Immortal's Joy Tea, the mask laughed heartily and disappeared again.
Looking out over the empty teahouse, Ye Yan began contemplating the philosophy of life.
The laughing mask was, naturally, an incarnation of Aha, the Aeon of [Elation]. As the universe's ultimate god of amusement, these days Aha spent every day thinking up ways to trick him out of a cup of milk tea.
Why not just ask Ye Yan for one? Where would the fun be in that?
Of course, anyone who could play along with Aha like this was no ordinary person.
In fact, he didn't even count as human...
He was merely an ordinary Aeon of [Eternity].
When had he come to this world?
He could no longer remember. All he remembered was logging in when version 2.7 launched, getting Sunday to E6 in a single ten-pull, and dropping dead on the spot before arriving here.
After drifting through the universe for who knew how long, a thought about [Eternity] flashed through his mind, and just like that, he ascended to Aeonhood.
He had even awakened a system. It hadn't assigned Ye Yan any missions; instead, it stuffed him full of life-saving skills, then fell silent and went offline for good.
[Shackles of Eternity]: Select a target and seal the Imaginary Energy they possess. (Hint: The universe is filled with mysterious, unfathomable Imaginary Energy. Why not be bold and select the entire universe as your target?) [Gift of Eternity]: Select a target and throw them into a designated black hole space to experience eternity! [Moment of Eternity]: Select an area and stop the flow of time within it. (Hint: You know what I'm going to say.) [Awaiting unlock...]
After reading through these three fixed skills, Ye Yan rubbed his chin. They were all quite practical.
The Path of [Eternity] was broad. Someone like Ye Yan had become an Aeon with an infinite lifespan-wasn't that a kind of eternity too? Besides, he was already the Aeon of [Eternity], so he was eternity itself!
All things could be eternal!
As such, Ye Yan's strength ranked among the Aeons' T0 tier.
He wouldn't claim to stand alongside [Nihility], but he was comfortably above [Elation] and could pin [Destruction] down and beat him up.
Nanook had really lost all face!
After becoming an Aeon, Ye Yan wandered the universe like this, with nothing to do... every day, he did nothing but sleep.
Why did his Path seem a little similar to [Nihility]?
[Nihility], IX, probably couldn't be bothered with him either. After all, IX spent every day slacking off in the universe, doing absolutely nothing. There was no reason to bother with the sudden appearance of the Path of [Eternity].
Something seemed a little off...
As long as Ye Yan was alive, he wasn't straying from the Path of [Eternity].
Didn't that mean he could do other things?
He didn't have to imitate [Nihility] and laze around all day!
These thousands of years in the universe had been nothing but time squandered and wasted! He had to find something proper to do!
And so, all manner of amusing stories about the Aeon of [Eternity] began to spread throughout the universe.
"Good morning, Mr. Ye Yan!"
As Ye Yan was lost in thought, a clear, lilting voice interrupted his recollections.
A girl who radiated the air of a slacker pushed open the door and walked in, humming a little tune.
"Well, if it isn't Miss Qingque. What would you like to drink?"
Ye Yan immediately changed his tone and handed Qingque a menu with a professional smile.
"One boba milk tea, extra boba and less sugar."
"Three minutes."
Ye Yan changed into his work clothes and went over to the work counter.
Because his Path was unusual, his experience as an Aeon might have differed from that of his colleagues.
He had committed too many sins... ahem, after being an Aeon for so long, he occasionally wanted a change of pace and a return to an ordinary person's life.
He needed to find a good place to slack off...
Ye Yan's first choice was the Xianzhou Alliance. Places like the [Zhuming] and [Yaoqing] weren't comfortable to live on. Only the [Luofu] felt like home.
His original plan had been to buy a home on the [Luofu] and lounge around like a corpse, but how would that be any different from being an Aeon?
It went against his philosophy of slacking off!
Slacking off meant not doing proper work while you were supposed to be doing proper work.
That made his objective very simple.
Working at a teahouse would certainly do, but it would hurt his reputation.
So Ye Yan opened a milk tea shop himself. As the owner, he would have a better excuse to slack off.
To fit in better, Ye Yan had even specially fashioned himself a body-the one he was using now.
It had about half his strength. Too much energy would make this body explode.
The shop had been open for so long, and Qingque was the only one who occasionally helped him look after it.
After all, the [Sleepless Earl] was right across the street. With a better option available, there was no need to choose the worse one. Ye Yan didn't care about those sales, either, as long as nothing interfered with his slacking off.
Even as an Aeon, he still held a slacker's heart.
Ye Yan smacked his lips. Why wasn't there a Path of [Slacking Off]?
He looked up at Qingque, who was sitting on the sofa scrolling through her phone.
If there were a Path of [Slacking Off], this girl would be an Emanator at the very least.
Taking a fresh cup of boba milk tea out of his system space, Ye Yan handed it to Qingque.
"Mmm~ Delicious!"
Qingque took a few more sips, then asked Ye Yan for a takeout bag.
"I'll save it for the Divination Commission. Hehe."
"Give Lady Fu Xuan my regards." Ye Yan tidied the counter. He still had to maintain a good image in front of others.
Hmm... do I really have an image to maintain?
Ye Yan began doubting himself.
"You know what? One of these days, I'll have that venerable old Diviner try your boba milk tea."
Qingque couldn't understand why Ye Yan's shop had remained so lukewarm after all these years. It seemed as though she was his only customer.
It almost made her want to put in a good word with Fu Xuan and have that venerable lady come patronize the milk tea shop.
"Sigh~ My luck at the tiles has been pretty bad these past few days. I've barely won any games, and then there's that headache of a performance summary." Qingque started chatting with Ye Yan about everyday matters again.
"How about you write one for me?"
Qingque's eyes darted as she came up with a sneaky idea. She was even addressing him politely now.
"I don't know how to write a performance summary."
Ye Yan brought Qingque a plate of fruit. It wasn't as though he didn't know what she was capable of.
From enrollment to graduation, she had scored exactly sixty on every exam. She was an absolute master at controlling her scores, even more impressive than someone who deliberately kept their grades low.
You're telling me a genius like that can't write a performance summary?
"Come on, you know I spend every workday playing [Imperial Jade]. What performance do I have to report?" Even Qingque's tone softened. She really didn't want to write this performance summary. She could play several games in the time it would take.
The main problem was that she had nothing to write about!
Qingque's work at the Divination Commission amounted to managing the library. Recently, she had even been reassigned to watch the entrance. Occasionally, she ran errands for people. It was all inconsequential busywork.
"You have my sympathy for one second."
Ye Yan had none of these worries. He did feel a little sorry for Qingque.
"Enough about that! You might not know this, but these past few days, I keep feeling like someone's watching me. I suspect it's the Lord Diviner!"
"What makes you say that?" Ye Yan's interest was piqued.
"Lately, for some reason, odd jobs keep finding me whenever I have free time. The main thing is, they're personally assigned by Her Venerable Ladyship, so I have no way to turn them down."
"Days packed with work are suffocating. If this keeps up, I'll have to visit the Alchemy Commission for medical help in a few days."
Qingque rubbed her temples. "I really envy you, Mr. Ye Yan."
"Envy me?"
Ye Yan thought for a moment, then slowly said:
"Then... would you like to take over for me?"
"Huh?" Qingque froze, wondering whether she had misheard. She asked again to confirm, "Can I?"
"Of course. To tell you the truth, I've booked a tour, and I'll be boarding in a few days."
Ye Yan reckoned it should be almost time for the main storyline to begin. He needed to show up ahead of time and become a familiar face.
"That makes sense. You're not a local, after all, Mr. Ye Yan." When Qingque first met Ye Yan, he had said he was a wanderer traveling the universe.
"So, does that mean I'll be in charge of this shop from now on?"
"More or less. But this trip won't be long. I'll be back in a few weeks."
After seeing Qingque off, Ye Yan looked around to either side. Once he confirmed no one was there, he flipped the sign hanging by the door to "Closed."
Work hours were over. Time to clock out!