After hearing Sol's story, Yuuji dismissed most of it almost instantly. If he wanted to finish the test quickly, he couldn't let himself be swayed by superstitions and had to be completely critical about it.
Once he did that, the answer to the problem and its solution came almost instantly.
"Your daughter is right" Yuuji finally said.
"W-what?" Sol was stunned for a second before reacting. "Lord Envoy, you cannot say such blasphemies, the Fire God might be listening"
"They are not blasphemies, they are simply the truth. First, let's clear something up, the Fire God and the glowing mushrooms, what you call God's Children, have nothing to do with each other. And the Fire God isn't conscious, so he isn't angry with you" Yuuji explained.
"Lord Envoy, no matter how advanced your race may be, to simply deny our beliefs like that is..."
"I'm not having this conversation" Yuuji interrupted him. "Let's let the data speak instead."
To Sol's confusion, Yuuji suddenly disappeared from the place, sinking into what appeared to be his own shadow, only to reappear in the same place five minutes later.
"W-what? Are you also blessed by a God, Lord Envoy?" Sol asked, his eyes shining with reverence.
"Technically, I'm blessed by Hera, but that doesn't matter right now" Yuuji dismissed the matter. "Read this"
"What is this?"
"They're studies about the Sun that Mona translated into your language" Yuuji replied.
Sol nodded and began reading, full of doubts about Yuuji's intentions.
In reality, Yuuji didn't know if this would work, but he tried what seemed like the most efficient method to solve the current problem anyway. In a story, it probably wouldn't work and would only cause more problems, but based on what Far had said about the king knowing whether Yuuji was lying and the strange things Sol had said when they first met, Yuuji took the liberty of assuming that besides his control over fire, he must have some kind of mental powers related to truth or information.
Sol went through the pages he had been given at incredible speed, as if a simple glance was enough to read each page, and only 47 seconds later, he finished the enormous pile of papers.
"T-this is fascinating" Sol muttered, surprised by all the new information. "So much information, so much truth filling my brain, I am at least eleven times more powerful than I was a minute ago"
"What?"
"O-oh, I'm sorry about that. It seems I got too excited and was being disrespectful" Sol apologized when he realized he was muttering nonsense and Yuuji didn't understand. "The truth is that, just like the entire royal lineage before and after me, I have Cerebronite blood, a race that feeds on information and converts it into power to become stronger. I have learned to use it to detect lies and know more than others, which has allowed the royal family to maintain its position since ancient times thanks to both its superior power and wisdom.
Just reading this makes me feel several times more powerful, which proves not only its veracity but also its quality. This is pure science and real data beyond anything I could ever have discovered on my own.
With this... I see it.
The Sun is merely a gigantic astronomical phenomenon, but that doesn't make it any less fascinating, a celestial body that cannot have offspring or bestow blessings. However, the light emitted by the Children of God is clearly solar, so it has to come from somewhere. For millennia, the roots of these mushrooms, seeking to absorb more sunlight, have burrowed deeper and deeper into the planetary crust, growing stronger through thousands of years of evolution and their need for survival. They eventually weakened it to the point where the Sun's light and heat can penetrate much more easily than before."
'That saved me a lot of time explaining' Yuuji thought, surprised but satisfied. 'Is this the normal setup?'
[Since Gid gave you a day to complete all the missions, it makes sense that they can be completed quickly and have a way to do so quickly]
'I suppose you're right' Yuuji mentally agreed.
"Then, if we want to save Flabia, the first step is to destroy all the mushrooms and their roots so that the situation doesn't get worse.
Tell me, Envoy of the Supreme, do you have any way to repair the planetary crust once that is done?" Sol asked, as excited as a little child.
"I can, but it will take some time"
Mercury's volume is about 18 times smaller than Earth's, and the fact that it only concerns the exterior rather than the planet's entire mass down to the interior makes it even smaller. Even so, manipulating such a large area would take Yuuji a long time.
"I see. You said earlier that you were short on time. Then, please help the capital, this is where most of the population lives, and come back to help once you've finished your test."
"...Seems like a good plan" Yuuji agreed after thinking about it for a moment. "When do we start?"
"Please wait a moment, Lord Envoy. I will go get some help"
...
"Die!"
"Damned mushrooms, free Flabia from its horror!"
"You will pay for pretending to be Children of God!"
"I'll help the Envoy help us!"
Yuuji was currently lying face down on the ceiling of the underground area of Flabia's capital. While he expanded his senses through the earth to their maximum range and repaired every possible area, he could hear the shouts of father and daughter as they dealt with all the mushrooms in the area.
Even Yuuji was surprised by their speed and efficiency. When Sol said he was several times more powerful than before, he wasn't lying, and his daughter, someone who had reached the answer to the problem even before understanding how the Sun or solar energy worked, was incredibly intelligent, which in their race translated directly into power. After reading the same documents as her father, she became even more powerful, becoming several times stronger than him.
Despite their somewhat psychotic shouting, there was actually no destruction or flames flying everywhere. Instead, they had millimeter-level control over their power. They flew through the air using flames from their feet, and merely touching the glowing mushrooms caused them to perish instantly, all the way down to their roots, turning them into ash.
While they did this, Yuuji took care of repairing the entire crust using [Building] + [Earthbending].
Thanks to everyone's incredible efficiency, in a little over an hour, the entire ceiling of the capital had returned to the state it had been in thousands of years ago, before the glowing mushrooms spread their roots.
'Now what?' Yuuji thought.
As if they had heard him, at that moment, a portal identical to the one that had brought him there, bright yellow with a darker-toned swirling spiral inside, opened beneath him. Trusting it, Yuuji let himself fall through it.
As soon as he left, Sol and Luna, Sol's daughter, arrived at the portal.
"Lord Envoy!" they both shouted, but it was already too late.
Sol sighed. "The Lord Envoy really is busy, he didn't even stay so we could thank him"
"Father, should we continue with the rest of Flabia?"
"No. Without being able to repair the crust, removing the roots of the glowing mushrooms will only leave more cracks. We'd better wait for the Envoy to return at some point"
"But then..."
"Don't worry about that" a voice interrupted them.
Both turned around on guard, but upon seeing the newcomer, they immediately recognized him and stopped.
Standing in midair, a teenage-looking man with spiky black hair and a long coat that appeared to be made from the hide of some unknown species kept his hands in his pockets nonchalantly.
"We pay our respects to The Supreme Governor of the Galaxy, Gid Lucione Deviluke" they both knelt respectfully.
"Long name, I like it" Gid smiled. "You don't have to worry about the rest, I'll take care of it."
"Supreme Governor, can you repair the planetary crust with your superior powers?"
"I can destroy it with one hit, but repair it? Impossible. Luckily for you, Deviluke is known as a technological empire, and my daughter is a genius."
Gid smiled confidently as he pulled several small spider-like devices out of a subspace and threw them onto the ceiling before disappearing from the place.
...
While Gid disappeared from Flabia, or Mercury, Yuuji had already appeared at his next objective.
This planet was basically yellow, with a fog that barely allowed him to see beyond a few dozen meters and cracked ground covered in what appeared to be gravel.
[Venus, Master] Mona confirmed.
"As expected, we're going in order" Yuuji nodded, confirming his thoughts.
This time, Yuuji didn't waste too much time observing the place. Although he did so for a moment and kept a piece of the ground as a souvenir, he crouched down to sense as far as he could.
This time there was no hollow world, but there was also nothing identifiable in the distance, which made Yuuji frown. He had to move and keep searching for quite some time before he finally managed to find something.
After flying around aimlessly for a while, he found a small spaceship, about the size of a beer keg, shaped like a cube with four thin legs, one on each horizontal face, keeping it a few centimeters above the ground.
Yuuji approached and carefully touched the ship.
"Hello, is anyone there?"
As soon as he touched the ship's door, noises could be heard from inside, and it wasn't long before it opened. Two small green aliens with high-pitched voices emerged, although that was probably due to the difference in size. They looked quite adorable, with large heads and eyes and black hair.
"Human, we need help" one said.
"We can pay for your rescue" the other added.
"How do you know I'm human?" Yuuji asked curiously.
"Do you take us for fools, human? Who would enter the Solar System without knowing the races that inhabit it?" one asked disdainfully, but given his endearing small size, he failed to offend Yuuji.
"This isn't the time for that, we need help. Our ship is damaged and our captain is injured" the other interrupted.
"I can help your captain. Where is he?"
"The human can help? How?"
"Hurray!"
Ignoring his companion's doubts, one of the aliens celebrated and ran into their small silver cube-shaped ship, bringing their captain out on a stretcher a few seconds later.
Yuuji didn't know enough about alien health to recognize what had happened to him, but it didn't matter. He pulled out a weapon and, before either of the two conscious aliens could react, shot him.
The bullet entered the alien, transforming into a light green energy that spread throughout his small body, healing every visible or invisible injury.
Once the energy entered his body, the captain opened his eyes almost instantly.
After looking around with a scrutinizing gaze, he quickly understood the situation and sat up on the stretcher.
"Terran, as captain of the Nani crew, I am immensely grateful for your help, and I promise that we will compensate you in the best way possible" the captain said gratefully, barely recovered. "However, I would like to ask for your help with another matter, if possible."
"What happened?" Yuuji asked.
"Unfortunately, our ship is destroyed. It was involved in a space accident where only the cabin survived. At the moment, we can't go anywhere"
"How did that happen?"
"The truth is that a student made a mistake with the fuel. He accidentally put in one with properties that reacted negatively with Venus's natural gas, resulting in a violent explosion that left us stranded here.
Even if I managed to get the ship working, starting it would mean triggering another explosion. At this point, I can only ask for your help in taking us to our destination.
Damned student. I knew paying him a salary was too much, we should have just let him complete his university credits" he explained without hiding his anger toward the culprit. "Ah, I know saying 'our destination' might sound troublesome, but the truth is that our destination was already the nearest alien outpost in this system"
'Nearest alien outpost?' Yuuji realized. "Are you, by any chance, heading to the alien hotel in Japan on Earth?"
"Exactly, fellow Terran. I'm glad you know it. If you can take us there, we will reward you generously. Of course, only if it's possible, we don't want to cause you any trouble"
Surprised by the small alien captain's exaggerated chivalry and formality when speaking, Yuuji quickly opened a Gate to his hotel.
"Yuuji? What are you doing here?" Upon suddenly appearing, the receptionists immediately noticed him, and Yui was the first to react.
"Boss, are you coming to stay? We can give you a special discount."
Yuuji smiled and stroked Eme's hair before shaking his head. "It's not that, I brought customers"
"Customers? Oh, Nanites" Run reacted upon noticing the small green aliens.
"Thank you very much for the trip, fellow Terran. Please tell us your name so we know who we are eternally grateful to."
Although surprised at suddenly appearing at his destination, Captain Nani quickly reacted and began thanking him, followed by his two crew members, who bowed behind him.
"Yuuji Rito. This hotel is mine, so if you want to thank me, just leave your gratitude at the hotel" Yuuji replied. "Run, they have a problem with their ship. Can you call Mikado?"
"Right away" Run nodded.
"What about me? What about me?"
"You, take the ship to the basement and store it there for now, okay?" Yuuji smiled.
Eme nodded while lifting the several-ton metal ship over her head and carrying it away with ease.
"See you later, Yui... or perhaps not."
After dealing with that, Yuuji disappeared from the place, returning to Venus. Where the ship had previously been, there was now another yellow portal like the previous one, which he had no hesitation in crossing.
Skipping Earth, it took him directly to Mars.
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+10 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)