"Hey, hey, hey... Teacher Adrian, what are you up to?" All eyes locked onto him. Could he actually crack this seal?
As Adrian laid his hand on the crimson barrier, Stelle blurted out, "No... don't do something like that!"
Adrian blinked. ? Don't make it sound like I'm the one pulling shady moves here!
"My Lord..."
Freesna and Blake exchanged uneasy glances. To spring them, he'd have to blow his cover wide open.
"Huh? Did I hear that right?" March 7th rubbed her ears, baffled. They'd just called Adrian My Lord?
In the next instant, the barrier shattered like glass under a hammer.
Seeing an Aeon-forged trap that had snared Emanators pop so effortlessly at Adrian's touch, Welt and Dan Heng pieced it together in a flash. They stood frozen, pinned by the weight of an unspoken truth. The bewilderment in their eyes lingered for a heartbeat before melting away like mist.
"Eh? Eh? Ehhh?!" March 7th was the only one still reeling. "Teacher Adrian... you've got some kind of hidden power too?"
"By the laws of the universe? Absolutely."
Adrian's gaze swept over the group before settling on the quiet Stelle. After a long pause, the words she'd been choking back finally tumbled out: "Wait... you really are an Aeon?!" So she had been the first to clock it—the true seer among them. In a way, Stelle had sniffed out his secret before anyone else.
"Eh... Ae? As in Aeon?" March 7th whipped her head left and right, staring at Adrian, then at the suddenly subdued crew. Hmm... brain's drawing a total blank here.
"So yeah, I don't exactly love blowing my cover..."
For now, Adrian took a casual sip of his milk tea. Even outing himself as an Emanator called for some heavy explaining—let alone dropping the Aeon bomb on a bunch of mortals who could barely wrap their heads around it.
...
Once Welt and Dan Heng had filled in the gaps, March 7th finally caught up. "Sigh... Never would've pegged Teacher Adrian for a double-life kinda guy. I thought Emanator was already a bombshell... didn't see this level of explosive coming."
She was itching for more details, but Blake stepped up first, thrusting a pre-copied volume of the Book of Eternal Virtues into Adrian's hands.
"Whoa... So that's what Pontiff Blake was scribbling away at? He saw it coming and even whipped up a review copy?"
"Aeon... Time to update the Eternity think tank's files."
No one could've imagined it: the unassuming guy who obsessed over milk tea was actually the Aeon of Eternity in the flesh.
Stelle threw her hands up. "Totally blindsiding. An Aeon's got game on the acting front..."
"Or maybe we've just been too shortsighted." Welt turned inward for a moment. The Aeon of Trailblaze, Akivili, had roamed the stars alongside the Nameless—proving that not all gods kept their distance from humanity. Looking back at Adrian's track record, he stood apart from your run-of-the-mill Eternity Emanators. Why hadn't they seen it sooner? One, he played the part too convincingly—no tells. Two, the think tank's Eternity intel was woefully thin, only refreshed after his second ride on the Express.
Welt remembered how Adrian had been slapped with the "worst Nameless" label... and now he suspected the guy had fudged data on other Aeons himself. No shock that his identity was a front, but... big deal? After the Herta Space Station fiasco and the Jarilo-VI Trailblaze trek, he'd long since slotted Adrian in as an honorary Express crew member.
Chatty, always footing the bill for free sweets, teaming up with Pom-Pom on daily meal prep... a hardworking Aeon like that? First of its kind.
And the real kicker: it all clicked why Adrian could down Himeko's coffee without flinching.
"You've gotta become an Aeon just to handle Himeko's brew..." Stelle muttered through gritted teeth. Talk about a steep entry fee!
"Coffee..." Blake trailed off, flashing back to his first time on the Express. He hadn't realized Freesna was hooked on it too.
"Heh! You clueless stand-in for Blake... how could you grasp the magic in that dark sludge? It's just hot water steeped with grounds, a lazy stir from the staff... and bam—that melt-in-your-mouth richness hits. Pure bliss you can't even fathom?"
"Sigh... Exactly why you're no fit for an Eternity Emanator gig. I quit as Pontiff—find a replacement."
Freesna tossed her head back with smug pride. Adrian could stomach Himeko's coffee, and so could she! By that logic... she was top-tier Emanator material.
"Damn elf! Trash my rep all you want, but don't you dare question my loyalty to Eternity!" Blake gnashed his teeth, yanking a thermos of leftover coffee from his pocket and gearing up to chug it.
"Hey, hey, whoa—easy there, Pontiff Blake!" Stelle and March 7th lunged to intercept him just in time. One swig down that road, and it was a straight shot to regret city... Wait, how's he even got leftovers?
The "prime suspect" in all this—Adrian—just pressed his lips together in a wry line. He couldn't exactly spill: every cup of Himeko's brew packed a mini black hole's kick, neutralized only by his Aeon perks. Aeons did have taste buds... well, at least he did. Otherwise, even Aha wouldn't mooch milk tea off him without a fight.
Boom!
A tremor rocked them from the Divination Commission's direction, and then... a familiar silhouette vaulted into view.
"Ah, right—almost spaced on this guy..."
The Abundance Mystical Deer had snapped its icy restraints, zeroed in on the Ambrosial Arbor's vibes from the Artisanship Commission, and bounded straight over. It swept its gaze across the group: three new faces, but the rest rang a bell from earlier scraps.
Freesna and Blake shot each other a look. If not for this Abundance freakshow, Adrian's secret stays buried! So...
Out of nowhere, the dim-witted deer backpedaled, a rare spark of self-preservation flickering as it eyed a bolt from the Commission.
...
Boom! Another rumble—Master Gongshu had torched every last Ambrosial Arbor branch in the Artisanship Commission and come barreling to the rescue.
"Looks like we won't even get a swing in..."
No breather for the enemy this time. Outgunning the Arbor's raw Abundance juice, Freesna unloaded a cannon blast that painted the Mystical Deer into oblivion.
With the deed done, Freesna and Blake didn't stick around. Spotting Master Gongshu charging in, they spun on their heels and bolted.
"General Jing Yuan warned that the Ambrosial Arbor packs some unfathomable immortality arts... That deer looked like basic wildlife, but even lethal hits knit right back together."
"I see why the Xianzhou swore to The Hunt—wiping Abundance clean is the only play."
Welt's face darkened. "Immortal spawn like that? Let it spread unchecked, and whole ecosystems crumble under the weight..." On second thought, Eternity sounded downright cozy by comparison.
"No surprise the Xianzhou drift the stars in their fleet, never dropping roots on any world..."
Master Gongshu nodded approvingly. "Mr. Yang's got a sharp eye for it. Shame our ancestors, back when they chased Medicine as Seekers eight millennia ago, couldn't spot the trap. A little foresight, and maybe they'd have spat out that Lifeseed Plague Lord's 'gift' on the spot."
"But for a whole civilization to thumb their nose at immortality's siren call? Sigh... The irony's thick— the wise fade to dust, while fools cling on forever."
His gaze drifted toward where Blake had vanished. "Eternity... The Xianzhou stumbled hard into Abundance's lure, but choosing The Hunt's path might still redeem them yet."
"Thanks for the assist, everyone. I hear you're bound for the Alchemy Commission next—it's right up against the Ambrosial Arbor. From the looks of things, that's gonna be a hot zone."
"Off with you all—stay sharp. This old man's rooting for a clean run."