Backlund, at the Masked Fool Tavern.
Recently, two very unusual guests had arrived — a Miss Wraith and a Mr. Living Corpse.
They came to the tavern under the amused gaze of the bartender — the Masked Amon — and soon after, they rented one of the private rooms long-term.
According to them, they had been rescued by a "gentleman" while fleeing from pursuit, and after hearing that this place was his property, they decided to stay for safety.
They found Bartender Amon to be a truly fine man — civilized, polite, and impeccably well-mannered. In short, a perfect gentleman.
——
Another two weeks passed quietly.
Nothing particularly significant happened during that time.
Every Tuesday night, Klein would enter the Simulated Universe three times in his dreams. He saw countless strange sights — a down-and-out bounty hunter, a merchant trying to sell him products — and he learned that the creature he once fought was called a Phantom — The Plunderer.
This deepened his understanding of that universe — and of concepts like Paths and Aeons.
Once, he was even thrown onto a planet swarming with insects — bugs larger than humans, blanketing both sky and earth.
He was instantly ejected the moment he arrived.
The reason? His level was "too low."
He agreed with that assessment. That planet looked like something only a demigod could survive on.
In these three runs through the simulation, he didn't encounter the Phantom again, nor the fierce, ancient-style female warrior. The final boss in each run was instead a "normal armored human," supposedly an 'Entry-level Employee (50%) of the Interstellar Peace Corporation.'
Klein didn't understand what that "50%" meant, but those enemies were far easier than the previous Phantom — no special powers, slower reflexes. After failing a dozen times, he could eventually win.
Perhaps because the difficulty had been lowered, he didn't gain any new Relics. Instead, his existing ones were strengthened after every run.
Each enhancement made the equipment feel sturdier and more reassuring — a comforting sense of safety he hadn't felt in a long time.
Meanwhile, the Tarot Club had held three more meetings.
Justice and The Hanged Man still had no new diary pages.
Only The Devil continued to supply entries — though most were Roselle's erotic little tales.
Occasionally, he'd provide one or two pages of the Masked Fool's diary, but they were always meaningless daily notes.
Life was calm — the most amusing event being when Klein returned to the security company and nearly jumped out of his skin after catching Star playing mobile games with Rosanne over a linked connection.
He'd had enough shocks for a while.
Audrey had befriended two new Beyonders known as No-Brain and Unhappy, secretly infiltrating their circle for observation.
Alger, on the other hand, had followed his childhood friend Qilangos back to the mainland — intending to kill him at the right moment to cover something up. Klein didn't know what. But during one Tarot meeting, Sairris had casually asked if Alger was the one who'd once sold Qilangos a defective hook.
The Trash Cake occasionally went to play with Susie, and their relationship had become quite good. However, whenever Susie tried to rename it, it firmly refused — it loved its name just the way it was.
——
Then, one day, Sairuis suddenly received a message.
A message — from another universe.
He broke out in a cold sweat.Not because he had received it, but because of what it contained.
After all, even Xipe had already crossed over here — so Sairuis had no doubt that the Aeons like Aha and Fuli had come too.
If Aha could cross worlds, then connecting to another planet's network — or even another universe's — was hardly surprising.
What unsettled him was the content of the message: a single line and a 30-second video.
Orochi Ruan (Note): "Shall I come to your aid?"Orochi Ruan (Note):Attached video (30s)
Sairuis instantly broke out in a sweat again.Damn it, who's plotting against me now?!
He only needed one second to realize the culprit.
"Aha, you banana-fed freak! I swear I'll—"(A long, incoherent stream of censored curses followed.)
The rumor was that the four geniuses who created the Simulated Universe had successfully built a device capable of crossing into this world.
A transdimensional travel device — something that could only exist with the secret aid of a certain unnamed Aeon.
Due to limited resources, they decided to send Screwellum), an intelligent machine, to scout first. After all, he had plenty of bodies to spare.
[The GOAT]
They could've sent one of Herta's dolls instead, but all agreed Screwellum's personality was far better suited to interacting with people.
His arrival would surely herald a new technological revolution.
——
Outside Backlund, a mechanical portal quietly shimmered open.
From it stepped a gentleman in a black tailcoat. His outfit wasn't flashy, but it radiated a subtle, inborn nobility.
What astonished the onlookers was that beneath the refined clothing, the gentleman was clearly a machine.
Of course, calling him a robot would be considered offensive — the proper term was intelligent automaton, or synthetic lifeform.
The moment he stepped through the portal, a dozen burly men burst out from the bushes, surrounding him.
Leading them was a young man with an expressionless face; standing just behind him was a muscular middle-aged man in a white bishop's robe that did little to hide his brawn.
The young man bowed deeply.
"Welcome, Your Eminence."
As the priests' fanatical gazes fixed upon him, the gentleman's gentle, composed voice echoed clearly in everyone's ears — translated by a mystical item known as the Synesthetic Beacon.
"If thought precedes language," he said softly, "then no words can truly define this joy."
The gentleman placed a hand on his chest and bowed slightly in return.
"My name is Screwellum. It's a pleasure to meet you, friends from another universe."
——
(End of Chapter)