Chapter 56: If You Encounter Danger, Just Shout That Milk Dragon And Belial Will Avenge Me
"Come to think of it, what was your initial purpose for creating these two rings?" Stelle asked. She sat cross-legged, idly playing with the twin metallic bands. She slipped them from her left hand to her right, then tossed them back again, watching the faint spatial distortions ripple through the air. It was actually quite fun.
"For sneak attacks," Rekka replied without missing a beat.
"Sneak attacks?"
"Yeah. So I can punch someone directly through the screen."
Specifically, he wanted to punch Polka Kakamu right in her smug, mysterious face.
"Right now, the only issue is that the spatial coordinates haven't been fully resolved," Rekka muttered, tinkering with a mess of wires and glowing components. "After a few minor adjustments, they'll be ready for field use."
Stelle had personally experienced just how terrifyingly capable Rekka became in his Erudition state. Any piece of equipment, furniture, or apocalyptic weapon she could imagine, he could effortlessly whip up, no matter how absurdly complex the blueprints were. Whenever he granted everyone's random wishes while walking the Path of Erudition, he was essentially vacuuming up vast quantities of knowledge and practical experience.
In reality, that brain-development potion from their last chaotic experiment wouldn't necessarily have summoned the Lord of Silence, Polka Kakamu. But Rekka had deliberately stimulated his own memory, forcefully dragging up forbidden schematics for the Aether Phase Engine. That was the bait. That was what made Polka kill him. This entire sequence of events was actually part of his grand, chaotic plan, and everything had unfolded exactly as he had anticipated.
He was merely using his daily resurrection cheat to test the legendary Emanator's capabilities.
When it came to a pure battle of wits, Rekka was absolutely certain that Polka couldn't handle him. At most, the Lord of Silence could only strike when he was locked into a Path state with notoriously poor physical stats, like Erudition.
Back when he had randomly transformed into Nanook, he hadn't intended to specifically hunt Polka down. After all, if the Aeon of Destruction casually scanned the cosmos for the whereabouts of a single Emanator, wherever that divine consciousness swept, total planetary annihilation would follow.
Now, however, Rekka had already found a crucial clue to cracking the Polka Kakamu problem.
She had killed him three times, but the data she gathered was still insufficient. For the first two deaths, Polka hadn't chosen to strike when he was physically at his weakest. Instead, she attacked when he was processing the most intensive, overwhelming amounts of information.
In his Erudition Path state, the sheer volume of data his brain processed per second was terrifying. That information poured in like a raging torrent, cascading through his consciousness like a digital waterfall. And the exact timing Polka chose was always the split second he touched the absolute boundary of some forbidden knowledge, when his mind was at its most hyper-active, and his physical defenses were practically non-existent.
The third time, involving the potion, was due to special circumstances. In that hyper-elevated state, Rekka could essentially be considered a mini-Nous. It wasn't about predicting the future; it was about fixing the future in the exact direction he observed. No matter what, Polka couldn't tamper with an event where the probability of failure was absolutely zero. Even if the Lord of Silence could turn a one-in-ten-million accident into a guaranteed, hundred-percent kill, it still had to be a situation where the probability was greater than zero to begin with.
But the Lord of Silence was an old fox. If he truly wanted to deal with her, he had to lay out a flawless, foolproof plan. She might not possess all his information. Hell, even Nous the Erudition might not be able to calculate exactly what Rekka was, considering Rekka himself didn't even know what he was half the time.
Rekka absentmindedly snapped the final casing into place, finishing his latest creation. He placed a sleek, heavy silver cube onto the table.
Stability Anchor. Function: Absolute restriction of Imaginary Energy.
Within its active radius, no entity could manipulate Imaginary Energy beyond the baseline laws of physics.
"Stelle, I'm going to teach you something. Come here," Rekka called out, waving her over.
"What are you going to teach me?" Stelle leaned in, her golden eyes blinking with curiosity.
"Remember this, alright? If someone captures you in the future, just look them dead in the eye and shout that Milk Dragon and Belial will avenge me." Rekka held up a single, serious finger.
Stelle tilted her head, thoroughly lost. "What in the world are a Milk Dragon and a Belial?"
"Combined, they are characters that appeared in incredibly abstract, brain-rotting internet videos. In short, if I hear someone say these two specific words to me, I'll definitely know exactly who captured you. Just treat it as a highly classified code that only I can understand," Rekka explained, his tone completely deadpan.
"After all, if some mysterious villain contacts me to say you're in trouble, and then immediately asks me who the hell Milk Dragon and Belial are, then that guy asking the question definitely has a huge problem."
If Milk Dragon was already in trouble, then Belial was coming to give the kidnapper a grand, explosive send-off. It was a classic Rollo Tomasi trap, a completely fabricated piece of information designed solely to catch a rat.
"Why not just say the actual names directly?" Stelle asked, scratching her cheek.
"Because saying real names isn't safe." Rekka tapped his temple. "Only I can understand this kind of abstract meme. Others will be completely confused. And if they feel uneasy about a detail they don't understand, they'll be forced to ask. The moment they ask, the trap springs. There's definitely a problem."
"Wow. Sneaky," Stelle noted, nodding in slow appreciation.
"How can you call that sneaky? This is the fundamental survival wisdom of a Trailblazer walking the dangerous galaxy." Rekka picked up the newly made silver cube and tossed it across the table to Stelle. "When you're out and about, you must be on your guard at all times. Especially a dummy like you, who's highly likely to get sold to the IPC and still help the scammer count the credits."
Stelle scrambled to catch the silver cube, nearly fumbling it before securing it in her palms. She bounced it lightly, surprised by how dense and heavy it felt.
"What's this new gadget? Can you hit people with it?" she asked, already winding up her pitching arm.
"It's a Stability Anchor. If you encounter enemies that use annoying long-range attacks to kite you, or ones that just look ridiculously tough, just throw this thing hard onto the ground. Within a massive area around the impact zone, no one can use fancy cosmic abilities. Everyone is forced to fight with pure fists and physical physique. Path energy will be severely restricted. Even the healing bonuses from Abundance and the shielding from Preservation will be completely shut down."
Stelle's eyes widened. "This thing can disable Path energy?"
"Yes, the effective range covers an area about half the size of the Astral Express." Rekka nodded, looking quite proud of his handiwork. "If you encounter an enemy that is particularly arrogant about their magical fighting skills, throw it on the ground. Then everyone gets to stand on the exact same starting line for a fair, brutal fistfight."
"Then what if the enemy is particularly good at fighting even without using Path energy?" Stelle asked, ever the pragmatist.
"Then run," Rekka answered crisply, without a single ounce of hesitation. "If you can't beat them in a fistfight, run away. It's not shameful to survive. Just remember the secret code, and don't forget it when you get nervous."
"I won't forget. Milk Dragon and Belial, right?" Stelle patted her chest in solemn assurance. "Although I don't understand what it means, it rolls off the tongue quite well."
"Yeah. I'll go tell Dan Heng and March 7th the plan in a bit." Rekka stood up and stretched his arms above his head, his joints popping. "We're about to head to the next planet for our Trailblaze."
"Trailblaze, huh..." Stelle murmured, looking down at the heavy cube in her hands.
"Yeah. To be honest, I actually lack a deep sense of security, so I absolutely must make full preparations in advance," Rekka sighed, looking entirely serious.
At this exact moment, Stelle had absolutely no idea that the full preparations Rekka spoke of actually involved a secretly constructed, planet-level extinction cannon designed for highly specific target identification.
"You? Lack a sense of security?" Stelle stared at him, deadpan.
"Is it strange?"
"It's not strange..." Stelle thought for a moment, trying to find the right words. "It's just that you usually seem... uh, how should I put it? Like you can do literally everything. You can make this, craft that, fight monsters, fix broken machines, and even fish people out of impossible situations. It always feels like absolutely nothing in the universe can stump you."
Rekka smiled, a faint, knowing expression crossing his face. "Knowing a lot doesn't mean you're safe, Stelle. On the contrary, the more you know, the more you realize exactly how many terrifying things in this universe can easily kill you. Come on, let's go tell Dan Heng and March the code. Everyone needs to have the exact same story straight, so we don't mess up at a critical moment."
The two of them strolled out of the room, walking one after the other down the corridor toward the Parlor Car.
The doors hissed open.
"Everyone, stop what you're doing. I have a very important announcement," Rekka declared, clapping his hands loudly to attract the attention of the two people lounging in the car.
"What is it now?" March 7th looked up from her camera, her pink hair bouncing as her face instantly filled with deep, practiced vigilance. "Aren't you on the Path of Erudition today? What kind of chaotic trouble are you causing this time?"
"What do you mean, trouble?" Rekka placed a hand over his heart, looking deeply offended. "I am simply providing everyone with essential security."
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