Chapter 71 World C: Wantenas arrived safely from...

Tenas arrived safely in his first world, and as expected, no guardians landed there with him.

He landed in Yangyan City, a place he knew well. The surrounding scenery seemed almost identical to what he remembered.

But why didn't he see a single person in such a large area?

Tenas secretly raised his vigilance to the highest level, wondering if he would be friendly in this world. Different worlds are different in some ways, such as the fact that he might be a bad guy in some worlds, and the guardians might all turn bad and destroy the world... It's always better to be cautious and wary of others.

After walking for a while, Turner still didn't see a single person. He had already made a preliminary judgment about this world—this world was strange and probably not a normal world.

"Te, Tenas?" Then a surprised voice came, somewhat familiar. Tenas turned around alertly and found someone he knew all too well—Ethan.

No, that's not Ethan. The Ethan in his world has completely different eyes than him, even though their physique, appearance, and combat suit are exactly the same.

But Ethan's eyes weren't as...weathered? That should be the word? You could tell he'd been through a lot. Unlike his somewhat youthful appearance, his eyes were lifeless, like those of someone in their twilight years, with two large, dark circles under them, so deep they looked like they could drip ink.

It should be Ethan, Ethan in this world, his colleague. I don't know if he is also a Guardian. Of course, it would be even better if the Guardians in parallel worlds were people I knew and had some connection with each other.

This greatly reduces the difficulty of borrowing power. A completely unfamiliar world is more unsettling, but we cannot be careless. Familiarity does not mean complete harmlessness.

For example, Ethan in front of him gave Turner a bad feeling, a feeling that this world must be something unexpectedly different... How bad could it be? A zombie outbreak? The end of the world? Extreme cold, extreme heat, and floods? It didn't seem like it.

“Ethan?” Turnas exclaimed in surprise, a faint smile appearing on his face. “Are you Ethan from this world?”

Tenas adopted the same polite and enthusiastic attitude he usually showed to others, such as fans. He then used a montage of lies to combine various scenarios currently unfolding in the world, fabricating a story that sounded plausible but was immediately obvious to anyone from Tenas's world to explain to Ethan why he was there.

I'm sorry, but he won't let his guard down until the other party has earned his trust. Relaxing his guard too early when he sees someone he knows is a dead end.

"A guardian?" Ethan pondered. "I am indeed a guardian, the guardian of Starfall City. But how can I lend you my power? I'm not very good at that. Why don't you come with me to Lord Starfall City, and I'll learn how to lend you my power first?"

Here they come! In this quiet, deserted world, a guardian with a youthful appearance and the soul of an old man in his twilight years has made a request to go and meet the others.

Wait, could this really be some point in the future? Ethan seems to be dead. He doesn't age, but his mind should mature over time, so it's understandable that he'd become like this.

He didn't know if this was a trap, but Turnas was still going to step into it. Even if he fell right into their trap, did he think he could just leave this world whenever he wanted? But he had to wait for Ethan to come to him.

Turner readily agreed.

Ethan opened a portal, and after a moment's hesitation, Tenas followed him inside.

The scene changed quickly, and when Tenas opened his eyes again, he was in a spacious room.

Should it be called a room? Turnas didn't know. The room was filled with countless books, stretching as far as the eye could see. Some burning lamps floated around, illuminating the space.

Surprisingly, when the flames touched the flammable paper, it was as if they were touching air; there was no ignition point.

Tenas's hand moved closer to one of the lights, and as the distance closed, he could feel some heat in his hand; it really was fire.

Ethan walked to a spot not far away, where a figure sat with his back to the two people.

With long, flowing black hair reaching her waist and a slender figure, is the Starfall City Will a female incarnation? From behind, she looks like a beauty, just like his city lord.

When the other party turned around, Tenas immediately realized that he was wrong, terribly wrong—the guardian of Starfall City was a male incarnation.

Maybe she liked his long hair; his face was indeed beautiful. Wow, how come he's taller than her when he stands up? Over two meters tall! But he does look very thin.

"The guardian of Yangyan City?" Xingyun asked his guardian, and only after receiving a nod of affirmation did he lazily lift his eyelids and glance at him.

"How much energy storage device are you carrying?" Starfall asked Turnas.

Turner took it out, still a little uncertain, but that didn't stop him from showing it to the two of them.

"Not enough," Starfall commented after examining it for a while.

"What?" Turnas was taken aback. "What's not enough? Strength?"

“You arrogant fool.” Starfall’s expression was grim, almost clenching his teeth. “Just as repulsive as your city, I mean, this is not enough to support you in absorbing the power we’ve borrowed.”

Turnas: "..."

Okay, he must have lost his mind. The city magistrates had all commented on the arrogance of the Starfall City Will, telling him not to mess with that city will and guardian unless necessary, because in their world, the most powerful city was Starfall City, and all the other city wills in the country combined couldn't defeat Starfall.

“…Then?” Turner asked tentatively.

“I will do it.” Starfall said coldly, controlling something to fly out of the void. “Wait.”

Then the two guardians stood quietly to the side, like stone statues, motionless, until Starfall soon created more than a dozen small devices to store power.

“I’ve already told those guys,” Starfall said to Ethan. “Let’s find a place where we can draw them all at once instead of searching for them one by one.”

Ethan responded and opened a portal, then quickly disappeared.

Tenas keenly sensed something was amiss. Were the people in this world being a little... too eager? Were they so generous in wanting multiple people to borrow his power at the same time?

“My lord,” Turnas said, trying to stop the departing Starfall, “What has happened in this world? Why did you… believe so easily? And even lend your power?”

Xingyun turned around, scanning up and down with an almost harsh, scrutinizing gaze, a cold smile appearing on his lips.

"Don't ask. Knowing too much isn't good. If you ask again, I won't lend it to you." Xingyun gave him one last look: "Anyway, we have no ill intentions towards you. We just... want to help other worlds a little more. Don't flatter yourself. Your personal charm isn't that great."

Turnas, who wasn't being presumptuous, thought: "...?"

Starfall departed, its whereabouts unknown. Ternas remained standing there until Ethan returned to find him and led him to the prepared location.

As Tenas passed through the portal, the first impression he had of the scene before him was its sheer size.

It was like a palace, ornately designed and engraved with mysterious runes, so large that he could not see the end of it.

Ethan led Tenas to the center, where dozens of figures stood in their respective positions. Tenas recognized them as the incarnations of the city's will. They were all staring at him, unblinking and expressionless, which was somewhat frightening.

For a moment, Tenas felt like a sheep being targeted by a pack of wolves, and looking at where he was standing, he wondered why there seemed to be a magic circle engraved on the ground. Had he been sacrificed? He had a strong feeling of being sacrificed.

A line floated up from each city's will, slowly connecting to the device in Tenas's hand, transmitting power into it, and filling all five power storage devices.

Turnas sensed it and felt no problem. There was so much pure power, making Turnas wonder if they had poured all their power into it.

Then Xingyun said a few more words, roughly meaning that since the power has been taken, is there anything else? If not, get out; if so, get out too.

The original sentence was certainly not as rude and direct, but the meaning was clear, and the implication of driving away customers was obvious.

Turner: "...I can't leave."

All city will, including Ethan: "?"

Turner: "I can't travel through time on my own; I need Ethan from our world to help me."

Everyone present: "..."

Starfall gave him a look as if he were an idiot, without saying a word. Ethan reached out and split open a crack, gesturing for Ternas to enter.

Just then, a crack appeared not far away, and Ethan emerged from it, only to find a large group of people dumbfounded: "Uh, hi?"

“Ethan?” Turner asked uncertainly.

"Tenas?" Ethan asked, a little uncertain. The world he had just lived in had been too much of a shock to him; he had forgotten that he even knew someone named Tenas. Speaking of which, what was Tenas's personality like? He had forgotten... His mind was completely occupied by that crazy Tenas, and just thinking about that world gave him a headache.

Seeing that the two of them were both unsure whether the other was their companion, Xingyun was speechless: "Are you serious? Neither of you are sure?"

Turner and Ethan looked at each other, speechless for a moment.

"When are we truly honest with each other?" Ethan asked tentatively.

"The time we turned into dogs, everyone except you turned into dogs." Turner recalled their open and honest interactions; that must have been when their identities were revealed.

The two quickly recognized each other. Ethan was stunned when he heard that it was filled with five devices. He quickly checked it and was then stunned by the pure power. After realizing what had happened, he quickly thanked him.

Seeing Ethan rambling on and on about his gratitude, Starfall realized what was happening and made several more devices for him just in case. Ethan was so moved that his eyes welled up with tears.

Xingyun: “…”

Xingyun glanced at Ethan, who was holding a toy sword the size of his palm and idly gesturing with it. Sensing Xingyun's gaze, Ethan looked up strangely and met his eyes, then looked down and continued playing with the sword, without giving any further response.

...The difference is huge. It's been a long time since I've seen such a vibrant Guardian. Right now, his Ethan is lifeless, and he's the one who most wants the two of them to leave so they can continue with what they just didn't finish.

Ethan couldn't help but talk to Starfall for a long time. He hadn't spoken to his city's will in so long that he couldn't hold it in any longer and didn't even realize that he had blurted out everything that had happened recently.

When Xingyun saw Ethan, it was as if she saw the Ethan from the beginning. She was occasionally stunned. The two of them happily ate each other's meal replacements, creating an atmosphere that was difficult for anyone to interrupt.

Ethan: "..."

Turnas: "..."

In the end, Ethan and Turner left. Before leaving, Ethan said with reluctance, "Lord Starfall, I'll come back to chat with you again next time—"

There was no response from Xingyun.

"Lord Xingyun——"

"……Um."

Just as he passed through the portal and before he was transported to the new world, Tenas suddenly stopped and looked back at the direction of the void.

"What's wrong?" Ethan asked.

“…It’s nothing,” Turner said.

-----------------------

Author's Note: The city doesn't use English because "Starshards" is too long...it takes up too many words.

The next chapter will talk about C. Everyone says that B is already the longest in the world.

I'm too sleepy while writing this, so apologies for the OOC. "This is for Tenas. I was so engrossed in Tenas that I forgot about his original personality... I'd better quickly look up the original text."

In any world, traveling through that portal is a matter of a fleeting instant. However, between different worlds, it takes some time to walk through it.