Passing through that transparent teleport gate, no one knew how much time had slipped by. By the time Stelle opened her eyes again, she was somewhere else entirely.
Scorching, dry winds slapped against her face, and a faint, mechanical-style background track hummed in her ears.
"This is the sheer cliff north of Belobog, the coldest place around. The Creation Engine left behind by our predecessors is there as well."
That was how Bronya had introduced Everwinter Hill.
But.
Forget sheer cliffs. Forget Creation Engines. Stelle did not even see a single snowflake.
"Trash Can Sage Jin Lajitzde, where the hell did you dump me? Is this even Jarilo-VI anymore?!"
Stelle shouted angrily, puffing up in protest, but Jin Lajitzde did not answer. After all, he had already been assassinated by Aha. Instead, the unknown mechanical constructs around her began to move.
Screech, clank.
Accompanied by the grinding of gears, the machines stood up. Just by size alone, they were almost as massive as the Doomsday Beast she had encountered at the Herta Space Station.
"…!"
Stelle pulled out her bat.
But her instincts warned her that, given the overwhelming difference in scale, the bat would probably do nothing against this robot.
"External intrusion detected. Automatic antivirus protocol initiating!"
Clearly, the machine was about to attack.
How was she supposed to beat this thing?
Stelle instinctively thought of the Trash Can Heroes. As long as she summoned enough of them, nothing had ever stood a chance against her so far. But there were no trash cans anywhere around here.
Which meant the answer was obvious.
Her gaze fell on the loot dropped by Aha.
A mask, and a spherical die.
In the story of Jin Lajitzde's Memoirs, enemies' dropped equipment, if used wisely, could allow trash cans to defeat foes they otherwise could not handle. So Stelle put on the mask and hurled the spherical die at the sluggish robot.
Stelle stared wide-eyed.
Nothing happened.
The ridiculous ball just rolled along the ground, rolling and rolling. No explosion, no fairy summoning, nothing at all.
"What is this? Ever since I summoned Jin Lajitzde, I have not felt any of that so-called power creep from the strongest Trash Can Hero. My luck has dropped several tiers instead!"
"Is it because I just pulled a gold earlier?"
Stelle chattered nonstop while complaining, but at this point she was already being chased by the massive machine.
Just as she dodged one of the robot's slow attacks and was about to test whether her bat could deal any damage, her heart suddenly thumped violently. Her vision blurred, and she clutched her chest, dropping to one knee.
"Tatalov! Jin Lajitzde!"
"Tatalov and Jin Lajitzde combine into one. Aha! It is time for joyful mischief!"
"Card draw, Trash Can Hero!"
"Barrel of Order!"
Strange lines reflected across the surface of the mask Stelle wore. They stretched and reassembled, forming a magic circle, and a blinding light engulfed her.
When the light faded.
Stelle was still Stelle, still wearing her Trailblazer outfit. Her appearance had not changed at all. But her presence had.
Barrel of Order, the second-generation guardian of Jin Lajitzde and Tatalov. Adept with blades, spears, guns, rifles, sniper weapons, basically anything that could be called a weapon. Possessing extraordinary combat skill, it was said he once dislocated the limbs of a massive Vidyadhara with his bare hands.
Endless desire corrodes this world. All beings lose themselves. Humans become like trash cans, and trash cans become like humans. Thus comes the Barrel of Order.
…
Stelle felt a strange power surge within her body, and she unleashed Galactic Baseballer's Training at the mountain-sized robot.
Her figure flickered like a ghost, slipping through the joints of the machine. The ground shook, and the towering robot crashed down.
It struggled to stand, but with its weak point shattered, it could only tremble helplessly.
"Whoa. Is this really me?"
Stelle's face lit up in amazement.
She got it now. With the mask plus the spherical die, she could inherit a Trash Can Hero's skill set directly, even without any trash cans nearby.
Now, ask yourself.
When antivirus software realizes it is under attack, what does it do? Of course, it runs an even more thorough scan on the entire system.
And so, the Absolute Safety Formula activated.
One mechanical construct fell, but as gears screeched again, three more machines began warming up.
Surrounded, the girl grinned excitedly. After all, she was a Stellaron child who had once received a glance from the Aeon of Destruction, Nanook.
"Combat. Feels great."
…
When Kiyono Inori guided the Penacony General-Purpose Intelligent Mechanical Wind Puppet into the same hard drive partition as Stelle, she found that the Absolute Safety Formula here was already growing exponentially.
In simpler terms, it had gone from antivirus software to an entire antivirus family bundle, and it was only getting worse.
"Hmph. The locals of Jarilo-VI are so rude."
Kiyono Inori was getting annoyed.
Other transmigrators usually boarded the Astral Express from a space station, met the crew, and then explored Jarilo-VI step by step.
But her experience?
She came looking for Stelle, got treated like a panda and hunted by the locals the moment she landed, accidentally threw hands with a deranged Cocolia for several episodes, and now even old Sampo was joining the chaos.
This Absolute Safety Formula was derived from scepter-based calculations, but it worked just like antivirus software you downloaded onto your computer.
It duplicated itself into an antivirus family bundle.
And in the end, the headache belonged to her, the system owner.
Screech, clank. As gears turned, mechanical constructs began auto-generating beside her.
Her administrator account was still busy clashing with Cocolia elsewhere. What she had here was just a piece of software.
Approaching units flagged as malicious intruders would cause the system to identify her actions as high-risk behavior and automatically isolate her in quarantine space.
"Eh?"
Kiyono Inori sighed softly.
A five-star weapon appeared in her hand, Blossoms of the Past. It was time for her least favorite phase again, close-range combat.
Just as she was about to cast Fairy Magic: Immaculate Firmament to wipe out the antivirus bundle, a distant battle cry rang out.
A woman's voice.
Not Sampo. Sparkle?
Why was Sparkle on Jarilo-VI? What had trash cans done to this timeline?
Kiyono Inori froze.
A gray figure flew past her and slammed into the ground behind her, sending ripples through the data space. Several of the formula's robots shut down.
"Heh. Finally found a local."
Stelle slowly rose from the smoke, flashing what she thought was a cool smile, though it looked pretty silly. "Why are there robots everywhere here? The more I fight, the more there are. Do you know how to get to Everwinter Ridge?"
"…Stelle."
So the external intruder aligned with Elation was Stelle. Even for someone like Kiyono Inori, who had considered countless possibilities, this was far beyond expectations.
How did you even step onto the Path of Elation?
She immediately scanned with the Emperor's Scepter, but the scepter's system layer had just been attacked and was currently offline.
"So you are… born at the Herta Space Station, joined the Astral Express, and your first trailblazing journey was on Jarilo-VI, the Galactic Baseballer, right?"
Kiyono Inori asked cautiously. Based on her understanding of Stelle, this was when Stelle would normally shout something ridiculous.
Stelle stepped back, eyes wide. When she had turned into a cat before, she had reacted just as dramatically. Her next line back then had been something like, who are you and how do you know everything about me.
"Who are you? How do you know all this about me?"
Different wording, same meaning.
Hearing this, Kiyono Inori looked thoughtful. It really was Stelle, but somehow she had become a follower of Elation.
Or maybe even an Emanator. After all, breaking through the Emperor's Scepter's system layer was not something an ordinary Pathstrider could do.
To make communication easier…
Scepter: Self-Editing.
Using the scepter's ability, akin to changing a file icon on a desktop, Kiyono Inori transformed into the form Stelle was most familiar with.
Her appearance from her own world.
"Hi. My adorable Stelle Cat, did you miss me?"
She brushed her hair back and smiled.
"You, you…"
Stelle gaped, glancing around nervously before finally looking at the robot she had just smashed.
"Wah. What is this place? Why are there scary, suspicious robots everywhere? Meow meow meow!"
She let out an exaggerated, cutesy meowing whine.
Kiyono Inori stared blankly.
"Um, excuse me for asking," she hesitated. "Stelle, what exactly are you doing?"
"Damn it. I do not know why, but I feel like in front of my beautiful owner, I should show my soft and cute side. That way I will get more affection, meow."
The Stellaron child dropped to her knees in regret.
Kiyono Inori fell silent.
Thinking back, the mission summary had said something like Stelle Cat summoned trash cans to defeat magical pets. But in her hospital room back then, Stelle Cat had been well-behaved.
She had really acted like a good kid. Getting rubbed by a cat's head against the front armor had not felt strange at all. She had thought it was just childish innocence.
So it was all an act.
"Damn it. I thought it was just a dream. I kept dreaming weird things after that, about a new world and all that. And now you are actually real?"
Stelle looked deeply regretful. Mostly because her fighting style against the robots earlier had been way too violent, and she felt it ruined her cute kitten image in her dreams.
"New world… that must be the Stellaron's influence. You probably dreamed of Cocolia, the Supreme Guardian of Jarilo-VI."
Kiyono Inori pondered. "Do Stellaron children and Stellarons really produce this kind of strange reaction? I am curious about the mechanism."
While she was thinking, Stelle shamelessly hugged her leg.
"Please, beautiful owner, send me to Everwinter Hill already. I have to save the world. The world is about to end, meow."
"You are right, but what exactly are your hands doing?"
Stelle's hands were roaming, making Kiyono Inori visibly uncomfortable. Using a humanoid form against a humanoid cat was new territory. Was Stelle Cat's affection skill still active?
"Sorry. It is just slippery and cold. I could not help it, meow."
"That is normal. It is made of metal."
With that, the uneasy girl ended the disguise and returned to the Penacony General-Purpose Intelligent Mechanical Wind Puppet.
"Huh?" Stelle gasped. "It really is metal. If I lick it, will my tongue freeze again?"
"You already licked the railings in the Underworld, did you?"
Kiyono Inori had a headache. Had Stelle been glanced at by Aha while licking railings and thus become a Pathstrider of Elation?
Stelle did not answer.
"You are too devious, beautiful owner!"
She pointed accusingly. "The same trick will not work twice on the Galactic Baseballer. You set a trap, tricked me, ambushed me. Change back. Do it now, meow!"
She meant changing back from the mechanical puppet to her original appearance. Not even one year old yet, and already this lewd.
Absolutely not.
"I am not changing."
The mechanical Kiyono Inori remained expressionless. "Do not think you can make weird demands just by sounding righteous. And did you not say you were going to defeat Cocolia and save the world?"
"Oh. Right. Do you have a way?"
Stelle finally caught up.
"Cocolia is just ahead." Kiyono Inori pointed. "Left turn, right turn, then right again, in that folder. Oh, and take this Flame Lance. And stop calling me that."
"Okay, beautiful owner." Stelle examined the lance. "Why are you giving me this?"
Kiyono Inori sighed deeply. "How do I put it. It is an important item for defeating Cocolia."
At least in theory.
Whether Stelle could even use it was another question.
After all, Stelle now had the Path of Elation, and the power she had just shown far surpassed a Stellaron plus Cocolia.
…
"All right, Stelle. The Stellaron of Jarilo-VI is right here. Show me the power you gained. I am looking forward to it."
Kiyono Inori stepped aside, giving Stelle center stage.
"Inori, you…"
Stelle hesitated, then corrected her usual form of address under her owner's pressure.
"You know, I am just an ordinary high school girl. I am not good at fighting."
Kiyono Inori said it naturally.
"Hmph."
Stelle let out a cool snort, the corner of her mouth lifting into a confident smile. This was her moment to show off.
She was no longer the lonely girl without trash can companions.
The mask appeared in her hand, glowing. Kiyono Inori's gaze sharpened.
No doubt about it. This was the power of the Path of Elation. What kind of blessing had that Aeon given her, and to what extent? She would observe carefully.
"Tatalov! Jin Lajitzde!"
"Tatalov and Jin Lajitzde combine into one. Aha! It is time for joyful mischief!"
"Card draw, Trash Can Hero!"
"P47 Supervisor Barrel!"
…
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Let me know if I got a name wrong. I know basically nothing about MyGO.