Chapter 191: Better to eat with the previous chapter

191.

"so what?"

You sit cross-legged on the ground, with your arms clasped across your chest, and look seriously at Smiling White-haired No. 1, Unhappy White-haired No. 2, and Smiling Purple-haired No. 1.

"What is going on? Can't an administrator explain it to me?"

As for whether Magical Girl Merry is a man? It doesn't matter. Nowadays, Magical Girl has long been a profession. Boys and girls can be it. If necessary, old men and women and inorganic creatures can also be it.

Hythloda looked at Hades, and then he looked back at you, pretending to be serious: "Okay, let's greet each other formally. Nice to meet you. I'm Administrator 03, Hythloda."

"This unhappy person is Administrator 02, Hades."

Seeing Hades turning his head and snorting, he couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Well, it's come to this, Hades, there's no point in you pretending to be reluctant."

After all, you know the whole past, including his and Hades' personalities.

"Of course I know you are Hythlodad and Hades." You gestured with your hands and feet. "I mean, according to the plot of the game, shouldn't you be waiting for reincarnation in the sea of ​​stars? Why are you here... uh, acting as game administrators?"

After Zodiac is defeated by the Warrior of Light, the soul in his body will be released and return to the underworld - which is what you call the sea of ​​stars. The fact that Hythloda is here means that the plot has passed the part of defeating Zodiac.

As for Hades...he had already beaten him back to the sea of ​​stars before the Warrior of Light attacked Zodiac.

After a pause, you lean back with a look of disgust on your face: "You're secretly spying on the players' actions in the game. Wow, so perverted."

"Don't ask me." Hades' expression became even more evil. "Nothing good ever comes of being associated with Ashem."

"Didn't I tell you before?" Hythrad tilted his head. "It's a job offer after retirement... Well, to be honest, we were quite surprised when we suddenly received the invitation."

It was something about Ashem... Although he didn't know the situation, he and Hades still agreed. After all, this friend always made them worry.

"Compared to this..." He frowned, "You looked very handsome when you summoned your weapon just now--"

"Hehe, it's my dream and I have the final say." You smiled smugly. If it weren't for the lack of time, you would have thought of a gun to attack people.

You look at the man who calls herself Mary: "Thank you for saving me. Next time I come, I will remember to give you a giant vampire." This is not called ingratitude, this is called, uh... I can't think of a word, anyway, you will give the other party the most special white giant vampire as a thank you gift.

It doesn’t matter whether you accept it or not, you have to send it anyway.

"Well, this is a dream world after all." Merlin casually summoned a round table and chairs. "I am a man with nightmare blood. It would be too embarrassing if I lost at home."

"Sit down." He smiled like a gentle older brother. "Don't you want to know the details? In my dream, we will have a long time to talk slowly."

You rub your arms. On the surface, nothing seems wrong, but your intuition tells you that this person is weird... Uh, is Administrator 01 such a gentle person? I can't tell that this person is not pretending to be you, and then preparing to make a big deal for you, right?

With a little caution, you checked the chair from top to bottom, and only after making sure there was no problem did you sit on it with confidence.

"By the way, my name is Merlin."

"Merlin, the great magician." He paused, revealing a look of triumph. "And this chair is enchanted with the spell 'You can't leave unless you agree to my request.'"

No way? How can there be such a stupid magic trick? You don't believe it and try to stand up from the chair -

The chair and you are motionless.

You sighed and drank the hot tea in front of you. "Tell me, you put so much effort into playing the game and then dragged me over. What do you want to do?"

"Let me make it clear first, I am a professional freeloader waiting for death. I was identified many years ago as a grilled sausage, and I will explode if I am under too much pressure."

"So don't mess with me, or you'll just have to wait for me. Always wait for me."

"Don't worry." Merlin looked innocent, "It's something you can do."

*

In order to protect their homeland, humans once sacrificed half of their compatriots and summoned the dark god Zodiac to resist the end of the world.

After avoiding the doomsday and becoming the will of the planet, new life has been born on the planet.

Some people want to sacrifice new life to Zodiac in exchange for their sacrificed compatriots and peel their souls from Zodiac's body; others want to entrust the future of the planet to the new life. They believe that returning to the past through sacrifice is just escaping from pain, and humans should walk with suffering and take the first step from now on.

"I know that." You raised your hand. "Mommy...well, I mean that Venis didn't agree with another sacrifice, so she chose to become Hydaelyn, the God of Light, to fight against Zodiac. In the end, she narrowly defeated him and became the new will of the planet."

"...After Hydaelyn defeated Zodiac, he split the world and Zodiac into fourteen parts. Similarly, the souls of the ancients were also split into fourteen parts." Hades paused, "Including Ashem, who is still on the planet, looking for a better way."

You see, on every planet there is a weakened Ancient One - reincarnated into a new human version.

The ancients who were not nerfed wanted to revive Zodiac and combine the fourteen worlds into one, and successfully nerfed seven planets - and then the protagonist of the game, the Warrior of Light, had most of Ashem's soul.

“So what’s the relationship between me and Ashem?” You scratched your head, confused. “Although I got some memories in the dream just now, they were all given to me by ancient people who couldn’t keep up with the latest versions. It felt like I was watching someone else’s story.” There was no sense of immersion.

"That's not right." Hythloda shook his head. "Those memories were not given to you by others. They originally belonged to you... Well, except for the part about Elpis. We met Ashem after we returned to Amauroti."

"We all thought that Ashem's soul was divided into fourteen parts..." Hades sighed again, his brows furrowed, making the wrinkles between his brows more obvious, "It turns out that a small part of the soul and Ashem's crystal fell into the space-time rift."

"Didn't I tell you in your dream?" Hythlodald smiled, "We can recognize the color of your soul. No matter what you look like, we will be able to recognize you when we meet again."

"It doesn't matter if you are one-fourteenth of Ashem, one-fifteenth of Ashem, or even if you are an Ashem without any memory. Your soul core is still the color we are familiar with."

“As long as we can meet again…” He winked at you, “we can create new memories.”

"Rather..." Hysrad laughed as if he had thought of something, "It would be really fun to have a few Ashem as friends."

Hades thought for a moment, and then he leaned back slightly, "...That's simply hell!"

"So..." You looked at the others and asked sincerely, "I just had a dream and you were watching me, right?"

Hythlodaeus shifted his gaze and began to study how many leaves the flowers in the sea of ​​flowers had; Hades became very busy and had to make several small movements to take a sip of tea.

"I'll tell you the rest." Merlin, who had been listening, put down his teacup. "A broken soul that falls into another world shouldn't become a complete individual again. Each world has a different system and energy, and instinctively rejects invaders."

"But what fell into the space-time rift with you was not only the crystal that carried Ashem's power and memories, but also Zodiac...ah, it should be the obsession of your former compatriots."

"Even if one voluntarily chooses to become a sacrifice, abandons the body, and transforms one's soul into a part of God, there are still residual emotions, reluctance, pain, and resentment..."

"The energy system in your world is very interesting." Merlin raised his hand and conjured a flower, "whether it's the magic that everyone can create, or the special energy that can materialize emotions."

"And this kind of energy, combined with negative emotions..." He crushed the flowers in his hand, "became the ancient man you just saw."

"You fell into another world together, repelling and merging with each other."

"It just so happened that at this time, a new world consciousness noticed you, and his world just happened to lack a protagonist."

"So He tore you apart, but you clung to each other for too long, so He cut a part of each other to save you."

"After obtaining the necessary core, He used the crystal of Ashem and combined it with his own power to complete the incomplete soul. Finally -" Merlin tilted his head and smiled, "He created you."

"By the way..." He added hot water to the cup, "If that world is divided into games, it is a Western fantasy RPG, and your identity is a brave hero favored by the gods."

"But that god is from the Kulu mythology system."

Merlin took a sip of hot tea and smiled. "So your power is also mixed with the power of Zodiac and Kulu. This allows you to see the colors of other people's souls, go back in time, and also makes your spiritual power taste weird."

"The separated ancient people also got a bit of Kruger's power. After all, the energy of that mythological system is highly contagious."

"ah……"

You take in too much knowledge all at once and you feel like your brain is not enough. When you want to say something, all you can come up with is meaningless words.

Hiss... All the wrinkles in your brain developed from writing documents for so long disappear at this moment, making your brain return to its youthful state and become smooth and round.

"An interesting birth process, isn't it, Hades?" Hythrad poked Hades with his elbow while trying to hold back his laughter, and said jokingly, "No matter which Ashem, he is very popular with the world consciousness."

The "Ashems" who stayed were loved by Hydaelin, and the "Ashems" who left were loved by other world consciousnesses.

"Tsk, he's a troublemaker wherever he goes."

Ignore the two friends from your past life who are watching the show, and restart your brain, starting to translate what Merlin said:

The reason why I can see the color of souls is because of Hythloda, right? Because he became a part of Zodiac after the sacrifice... Hiss, the wish in my dream came true in this way, hell, tap the chair, Hythloda will forgive you.

Does your spiritual power really taste weird? Do you think Sichuan pepper popping candy ice cream tastes okay? What's wrong with that? According to the stereotype, shouldn't your spiritual power be fish juice with fresh houttuynia cordata and sea salt?

So are those multi-legged creatures you catch while fishing actually your "relatives"? Sorry, but you brothers and sisters smell so good, especially when you're teppanyaki with some chili.

According to Merlin's analysis, your soul is composed of a small part of Ashem's power and soul, a part of the ancients' thoughts, and an unknown amount of Cthulhu's power...

I totally understand!

You hammered your palm and suddenly realized, "So I'm a Lego player!"

*

"So what do you want, or what do you need me to do?" You scratched your head. "According to what you said, I should be fighting monsters in the Czar world, right? But I'm living in Mihua now."

You still have to live in fear. How can this be the behavior of a protagonist loved by the world?

"I'm a man who's more suited to watching than participating." Merlin didn't answer you directly, "Generally speaking, I won't do anything. I like the stories created by humans more than humans themselves."

"The world you once lived in was a new and extremely fragile world."

"Before the world consciousness dissipated, it entrusted you, a young child, to the Lord of Chaldea, hoping to give you a good ending." Merlin spread his hands, "Coincidentally, I am a fan of that child."

"In the beginning, I wanted to hand you over directly to the Time Government. Well, there are overlapping businesses with Chaldea, and there are also some very good people among those who take care of people."

He paused and smiled even more brilliantly.

"I have thought about it. If the Government of Time disagrees, I will ask Okita Souji, Oda Nobunaga and others who are staying in Chaldea to go to the Government of Time Headquarters."

You know what, you really want to see this lively...

"But at that time, the government of time was unable to take care of itself because most of the sword spirits were contaminated by the Dark Fall... In the end, they turned to Yog-Sothoth for help. He agreed to restart time and space, and the reward he asked for was to let you become a judge."

He takes care of you like this? I see. The God who cares for you is Him.

"Chaldea has also observed that the group of ancient people's obsessions that separated from you are invading the low-magic world in the form of games to obtain specific energy."

"In order to help the troubled Lord, those heroes tampered with some data and changed the souls that the other party originally wanted to pull into your parents."

Merlin said that the obsession - for the sake of convenience, you suggest calling it the Boss monster - had its power reduced by more than half, so it could only steal the world's energy by affecting the world line to avoid being discovered by the world's consciousness.

The initial game setting of the boss monster is "Love War between Red and Black, Dokidoki's Journey~". Emotions are also an important energy, especially those stolen from people that the world consciousness values.

It's just that your parents were not the ones He chose in the beginning, and they would never act according to the tasks He gave them. Not only did they mess up the entire world line, but they also allowed people who should have died to survive.

A love game has been turned into a game where the emperor goes to war and you all become his subordinates.

If the world consciousness is still unable to detect such a big commotion, it can choose to dissipate on its own.

The boss monster was discovered as expected, but the new world line created by your parents - the world consciousness feels pretty good, much better than the world line created by the brother consciousness in the parallel universe.

So He replaced the Boss monster as the game manager and recommended your parents to other world consciousnesses, saying that if you are not satisfied with your own world line and want to be more resistant to changes, you can try these two people - after all, world consciousness cannot affect its own world.

The timeline of the scientific world itself is very chaotic, so the world consciousness retains the function of reading game files.

But your mom was busy developing the Dark Empire at the time and directly rejected the DLC released by World Consciousness. Your dad thought that it would be better to find some fun in other worlds instead of work and rest.

Then your mom dropped a pregnancy stone—I don’t know where the boss monster must have dug up that item—and asked your dad to use it and have a baby to play with.

The Chaldeans, who were worried about your next home, suddenly had an idea and sent you there. After all, although your parents are, well, a bit eccentric, they are good people at heart... probably.

Your unscientific power will be suppressed by the world's consciousness, and there is no need to worry that you will cause trouble. Moreover, the low-magic world is also safer... as long as you don't have enemies.

Anyway, with so many people and the world's consciousness watching you, they will not let you get lost halfway.

After you were born, your parents discovered: Hey, it’s quite fun to play with children.

The world consciousness of the scientific world spied on the way you played the game and found out: Hey, you have the style of your parents, so it turned around and recommended you to other world consciousnesses.

The Boss monster that was looking for players who were easy to control so that they could be thrown into other worlds to steal energy also noticed you. After seeing the soul of Ashem in you, he realized: Hey, Ashem who is willing to help others, isn’t this the perfect player?

You opened your mouth, hesitating to say something, but your parents are really good to you - after removing the unreliable parts, you finally said sincerely: "... Then I thank you."

If you have the chance, you will definitely go to Chaldea and bring the golden river vulture with you.

"Some of the things in the system mall were created by Hades and I, and the rest were sent by the consciousnesses of various worlds." Hythrad paused, "Well, they were sent special products that they didn't have much use for and there were too many of them."

"As for your career... we are only channeling your own strength. Those side quests are to give you more ties."

"After your game is over, Hades and I will return to the sea of ​​stars." He smiled, "Well, who knows, you may see a new version of us next time we meet."

"Will we ever meet again?" You were a little worried. "Hythrad, Hades, you won't be able to survive without me and the Ashems."

"Also, next time, don't recommend a negative five-star tourist attraction like Huangjin Township to your former colleagues, understand?"

"Tsk..." Hades looked grumpy and wanted to refute something, but he finally held it back and brought up another topic, "Hydaelyn... You've already seen in your dream what Venis wanted to say to the new student Ashem."

“Even if you’ve seen it in the game.”

"I know you are not Ashem, and no one will ever be Ashem again. It is an insult to everyone to equate the Ashem of the past with the new you."

It is also denying the image of his friend in his memory.

"But..." He turned his head away, his tone still awkward, "If you need help, for the sake of Hythrad, I can reluctantly provide assistance."

"Hades means that he is happy to help you solve your problems." Hythloda smiled, "We are all happy to see old friends who are still doing well after rebirth."

"Well, let me introduce myself again." He held out his hand to you. "Hello, I am the soon-to-be reincarnated Hythrad. Can we be friends?"

“…Hades.”

You feel a little melancholy, perhaps because of the remaining emotions in Ashem's soul, or because you just got all of Ashem's memories.

"Hello." You grabbed the hands of Hythlodad and Hades, "I'm ○, nice to meet you."

Ashem will not regret knowing you, the Warrior of Light will not regret knowing you, and neither will you.

“I think we’d be great friends.”

No matter how many times we meet again.

"If possible, let's go eat square grapes together next time."

Accept this invitation that may never come true.

Friends who are familiar yet unfamiliar to you, friends you meet for the first time and are destined to part.

*

"...Excuse me for a moment." Merlin raised his hand with an innocent expression, "Have you forgotten that there are other people here?"

"oh."

You naturally withdrew your hand and answered seriously: "Then let's talk about what you want me to do."

"It's very simple. You just need to defeat the final boss and put an end to this story." Merlin held his chin with one hand. "After all, I have been monitoring it all the time. Well, it's normal for readers who have been following it all the way to look forward to the ending of the story, right?"

"That's no problem, but..." You hesitated, "After completing the game, can I still return to those worlds?"

Apart from anything else, the crops you planted under the spell are ripe, but you haven’t had time to harvest them yet!

"Also, what are the important items I got from each world?" You poked at the edge of the round table, "Also, if the PC game can come true, then the other games I've played won't also..."

Merlin skipped your first question: "The stories of some worlds were not recorded in time, and these worlds disappeared for various reasons; some new worlds were not strong enough and needed a complete story line to support their growth..."

“The consciousness of these worlds will entrust the stories of their own worlds to humans who are compatible with them in the form of inspiration, hoping that they will create these stories in various forms.”

"Well, sometimes I get inspiration and write a world line but end up with a bad ending..." Merlin spread his hands, "Unfortunately, the last two worlds you went to were of this type."

"The Four Souls Jade and the book in your hand are both items that can change a world. That person probably wants to use these things to recreate the world in his memory." He paused, "The last one... maybe he wants to give himself a brain."

Oh, that’s right, the boss monster is a bunch of emotions, but it has no brains... But the white robe design was chosen because the core of Zodiac is the members of the Fourteenth Committee wearing white robes, right?

“Then…” You started tentatively, “Is it okay for me to wake up first?”

"No need to wake up." Merlin stood up, waved his magic wand, and opened a passage in front of him. "Just go in directly."

"Ah, it's a multiplayer game." He put something that looked very familiar to you on the round table. "You should know how to summon your teammates, right?"

"There's no magic on the chair. I was lying." Merlin said calmly, "I just put some time-limited glue on the chair and the ground."

Why is this magician so bad? He is so bad!

When you think about the fact that you can’t beat the person in your dream, you can only be cautious in your heart. It’s best not to let him find the opportunity, otherwise you will definitely pull out the flower on his ear.

You glanced at the thing the other person threw at you. Oh, it's the relic your parents left you. Now look at it again...isn't this a broken Ashem crystal?

"Big... probably?"

You just know that there is a unique spell created by Ashem in the crystal, which can shake out the right person to fight monsters, but you don't know how to use it...

I'll let you look through Ashem's memory...it's broken, so I can't find it right away.

"Help! Help!"

You turned your head sharply and put your hands together in front of your chest. "Please, Emet-Selch, great Hades, could you please perform that again for the friend you just met?"

"The ringing finger is the shaking one."

"…What on earth did you remember?"

Hades once again showed an expression as if he had eaten an extremely sour lemon. He sighed deeply, and as Hythload watched the show and looked expectant, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers:

"I am recording here a dear person, a person who traveled all over the world and spent his life connecting to the stars on earth. If it passes through your hands, even if the world is separated and people's hearts are forever separated, I believe that destiny will not lose its direction.*"

"Your journey is not over yet. Keep going, hero."