"Master, I'm already bored with piloting mechs. Teach me something new?"
In the living room, Seele, after escaping from Acheron and cleaning herself up, clung to Lucian's arm, pestering him for something new.
"Okay, okay, then I'll grant you the blessing of Elation. You can transform into other people with it. It's a method of disguise."
Lucian, helpless, could not withstand Seele's relentless coaxing and thought that it was indeed time to give his disciple a new ability.
"Elation?" Seele raised her brows, then made a bold guess, "Master, are you... secretly also an Emanator of Elation?"
"Hey, keep your voice down..." Lucian whispered while patting Seele's head. "It's enough that you alone know, so I can give this blessing to you alone."
Hearing this, Seele's eyes lit up.
'Just for me?'
Seele thought, her face filled with pure joy and excitement, then tightly clutched Lucian's arm.
"Awesome! Thanks, Master! I knew it—sticking with you was totally the right call!"
Seeing her so happy with just that, Lucian smiled helplessly and extended a finger, touching the center of her forehead.
A flash of red light flickered, and in that instant, Seele obtained a powerful blessing of Elation. Now, with both the blessings of Abundance and Elation, she had more than enough means to cause trouble.
After granting the blessing, the master and disciple lingered together affectionately for a while on the sofa until Seele ran off to show off to Bronya.
For reasons unknown, although they had only known each other for a single day, Bronya and Seele got along extremely well with the thirteen guardians, appearing as close as old friends.
A while later, to celebrate their rebirth and to thank Lucian for granting them happiness, the guardians held a family party in the house. Bronya and Seele were invited to join, making it a night of wild and lively celebration.
Just like the world in Acheron's script, everything was as beautiful as ever.
Perhaps the only difference was that they now knew Lucian actually had other wives besides them in this reality.
Regardless, they didn't think too much about it, since they were well aware that they were latecomers to begin with. Being able to receive his affection and become his wives was already an extraordinary blessing for them.
Knowing all that he had done for them, they felt only gratitude toward him, so how could they possibly throw a tantrum?
If not for him, they wouldn't even exist now.
Even Sirin, who had always been proud and aloof by nature, behaved obediently and had no intention of competing for Lucian's favor.
Seeing that after experiencing death and rebirth, his thirteen wives had all unexpectedly become very sensible, Lucian was extremely glad and grateful.
===
Early the next morning, Lucian's phone vibrated.
Lucian, lying on the reclining chair in the courtyard, took his phone out of his pocket and saw that it was a message from Robin.
As soon as he opened the message, he was greeted by a bizarre monkey sticker, wrapped in a blanket while sleeping, its face showing a smug expression.
Below the sticker was a text.
[Robin: Lucian! Look at this sticker! It's a meme called Slumbernana Monkey! It blew up overnight! Young people in Penacony are all using it! Do you like it?]
Reading this message, Lucian immediately frowned.
'Slumbernana Monkey? Isn't that the bizarre memetic virus that turns people into monkeys or something? Why has it appeared this early?'
Lucian pondered seriously, wondering if this Slumbernana Monkey appearing early was because of him.
He couldn't help it, since Slumbernana Monkey was supposed to erupt during Penacony Paperfold University College's anniversary in a year, and that was when it would sweep across Penacony.
Yet now it had surfaced ahead of schedule and gone viral overnight.
[Lucian: Be careful, this thing is a memetic virus. Don't go spreading it around. I'll be back in a sec to deal with it.]
[Robin: Memetic virus?]
[Robin: I see. Okay.]
Lucian put down his phone and pondered again.
'A memetic virus, huh...'
From what he remembered, Slumbernana Monkey spread rapidly, had immense influence, covered a wide range, and once the infection reached a certain level, the victim would degenerate into a monkey.
It was one of Dr. Primitive's atavism experiments.
Dr. Primitive, Genius Society #64, was obsessed with regressing civilizations back to their primitive states. Many planets that had once been high-level interstellar civilizations were turned by him into prehistoric tribes, causing the natives to degenerate into low-intelligence beings.
Clearly, the impact was enormous.
Later, however, Dr. Primitive was targeted by the Galaxy Rangers and vanished without a trace. Unfortunately, his subordinate organizations were still conducting atavism experiments everywhere to this day.
Fortunately, Penacony was protected by BGM, which granted immunity to negative effects, so no one there would turn into monkeys. Likewise, with the Law of Calamity in effect, the one spreading the virus would not require Lucian to personally intervene, since they would suffer misfortune sooner or later.
Still, the mere thought of a foreign virus roaming freely inside his domain, even if it could not infect anyone, made Lucian feel irritated.
Evidently, Lucian's OCD was acting up.
"I gotta wipe this memetic virus out—out of sight, out of mind..."
In the end, after thinking for a moment, Lucian came up with an excellent idea.
Fight magic with magic.
Fight memes with memes.
'Slumbernana Monkey... Meme...' Lucian thought with a meaningful smile. 'Let Dr. Primitive get a taste of the power of the chicken meme from my world.' {Note: It's a famous meme in China.}
Unlike the Slumbernana Monkey, the chicken meme would not only fail to cause degeneration but would also unite all people into a single will, rallying everyone together. If he could find someone with status, prestige, good looks, and an idol-type face, the effect would definitely be explosive.
However, who in Penacony would be suitable to act as the 'chicken'?
It was a difficult choice.
With this thought in mind, Lucian went to bid farewell to the women in the house, saying that he needed to return to Penacony to handle some important matters, then told Acheron to remain in Izumo and catch up with her sisters.
Once that was done, Lucian activated Absolute Hit, locked onto the coordinates, and teleported back to Penacony.
===
At the same time, in a hidden underground corner of Penacony's Reality, Professor Primon, known as Profnana, a figure garbed in a monkey costume, was skulking about, looking as if he were talking to himself.
"Reca, I want you to help me disguise myself as the dean of Paperfold University. My subordinates must enter as well. I warn you, if you disobey, the memetic virus in your body will flare up, and you'll devolve into a mindless monkey. Not even the Garden of Recollection will be able to save you."
"Damn Primon, you really are vicious... Just this once. Don't even think about eating me for the rest of my life!"
To outsiders, Primon looked like he was talking to empty air, but in reality, there was actually a man standing in front of him.
It was just that this man, Reca, a middle-aged man with brown hair and red eyes, was a Memetic Entity and a Memokeeper of the Garden of Recollection, which meant that he had no physical form, causing ordinary people to be unable to see him.
In Penacony's Dreamscape, Reca was a famous film director, and very few people knew his identity as a Memokeeper. As for why he was mingling with Primon, it was because he had unfortunately been ambushed while investigating Dr. Primitive and had ended up being implanted with a memetic virus by Primon.
For a Memetic Entity like him, a memetic virus was no different from a lethal poison, so, constrained by Primon's leverage and driven by his own crazy desire to shoot an outstanding film, he had no choice but to agree to forge a dean identity for Primon.
"Hehe, you're quite sensible."
Primon spoke with an annoying smile.
"Well then, let me show you the power of Slumbernana Monkey."
"It went viral in such a short time thanks to the hype surrounding Penacony's reconstruction."
"Now, the advantage is mine. I'll definitely regress everyone in the Dreamscape into monkeys! Hahahaha!"
Just as Primon was reveling in his triumph—
*BANG!*
Suddenly, the phone inside his pants pocket exploded, and the location happened to be right beside his crotch, causing his 'eggs' to be caught in the blast and shattered.
"Ugh—AAAAAAAAHHH—!!!"
Primon instantly lost the ability to move, collapsing to the ground while clutching his crotch and wailing.
Seeing this sudden, absurd scene, Reca froze for a moment before revealing a mocking smile.
'Do bad things long enough, and you lose a man's dignity... Ridiculous...'
Reca mocked Primon inwardly, feeling a surge of delight.
"Damn it, damn it…"
Primon continued to curse in pain, unable to think or speak clearly.
He could not understand how his brand-new phone could explode, but regardless, now that he had paid such a heavy price, he would definitely never give up until Penacony was reduced to a troop of monkeys.
"For... the glory... of Dr. Primitive..."
Despite the extreme pain, Primon still managed to utter the slogan.
Hearing the cursed slogan, instead of the usual anger, Reca now felt utterly refreshed.
Seeing the bastard who had threatened him get his eggs blown apart was indescribably satisfying.
===
Penacony, Dreamscape, Dewlight Pavilion.
In the council chamber, Sunday, dressed neatly in white, personally received a distinguished guest—a high-ranking executive of the IPC, Aventurine.
"Oh, Triple-Faced Soul, please sear his tongue and palms with a hot iron, so that he will not be able to fabricate lies and make false vows."
However, before they even greeted each other, Sunday immediately began by using the power of Harmony, performing Harmony's consecration to expose lies and discern truth the moment they met.
Aventurine, who had just stepped inside the council chamber, froze.
He had barely stepped inside, and the other side had already gone all out?
"Is this really necessary, Mr. Sunday?" Aventurine asked with a small sneer. "You didn't even ask my purpose before acting?"
"Because the Dreammaster has said that whenever the IPC wants Penacony's shares, they will send a high-ranking executive—especially someone named Aventurine," Sunday responded calmly, maintaining a gentle smile. "In any case, the instruction the Dreammaster gave me was clear, so there is nothing more to discuss."
Hearing this, Aventurine fell silent, his eyes narrowing in irritation.
Which Dreammaster was that sharp?
What made this even more ridiculous was that the Dreammaster was calling his name directly, making it seem as if he already knew he would be the one to come.
His plan had not even begun, yet they were already this prepared?
No matter how he thought about it, Aventurine could only come to one conclusion: there was a mole inside the IPC who had exposed their plan.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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