Chapter 379: Can't Keep Up With Her Senpais' Train of Thought
Tony Stark sank back into deep thought. If Wolffy could get away with building a few dozen artificial suns, then surely a few dozen artificial moons would be equally impressive coming from him?
A moment's reflection killed that idea, though — comparing the two head-to-head, a sun was simply the flashier build by a wide margin.
The moon just didn't carry the same weight, the same presence, in basically any category you could name.
So artificial moons were out — nowhere near enough to leave the chat group genuinely stunned.
Wandering Earth wanted something to help domesticate the life on its surface — should he try building something to accelerate plant growth instead?
Yeah, no. That wasn't realistic either. Compared to a genuine jack-of-all-trades like Wolffy, Tony had to admit botany just wasn't his lane.
Was this boast destined to join the long list of promises he'd never actually deliver on?
He'd talked a big game in the group more times than he could count by this point, sure, but this time he'd actually wanted to prove that even his empty boasts could occasionally turn into something real. And here he was, completely out of ideas.
That was the source of Tony's frustration right now — not a single lead to chase.
After several more minutes of careful thought, Tony concluded the smart move was probably just to lie low for a while.
Eh, whatever — this wasn't the first time he'd talked himself into a corner. He was used to it by now. Nothing to be embarrassed about.
Compared to Yukari's own track record of empty boasts in the group, this barely even registered. Whatever chaos he stirred up, Yukari would inevitably out-chaos him regardless. No need to sweat it.
That thought alone visibly lifted Tony's mood — turned out he was pretty good at talking himself down.
Nobody in the chat had any idea that, in the span of a mere ten minutes, one particular rich playboy had gone through this entire elaborate internal saga.
By the time all that was over, the actual chat had already drifted through several unrelated topics — as usual, one stray offhand comment was all it took to send the whole conversation careening in a new direction.
Kaguya-sama: Just noticed the Dimensional Chat Group's calendar of holidays seems to follow China's, over on the other side of things. So if New Year's Day's already passed, shouldn't Lunar New Year be coming up before too long?
Kaguya-sama: Wonder if there'll be another group event around Lunar New Year?
RawrSoFierce: Lunar New Year, huh... I'd guess so? It's a much bigger deal in China than New Year's Day, honestly.
Edward Newgate: Lunar New Year? Some kind of festival celebrating spring's arrival?
My True Form Is Cola: Hm... Lunar New Year is basically China's version of New Year's, Whitebeard-ojii-sama. You don't know that one?
Edward Newgate: Gurararara! I'm from the One Piece world, remember — not knowing is hardly strange. My side of things doesn't even have a "New Year" concept at all.
Edward Newgate: Might exist somewhere in the other seas, sure, but out here in the New World, I've never once seen a country celebrate anything like it.
Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit: Group event? Is that the same thing mentioned in the pinned announcement — the free crossing events? Will Ahri get to join in too, when that happens?
Kaguya-sama: Absolutely — group events are open to every member, no exceptions. Even someone as physically massive as Little Sphere gets to come along.
Eternally Seventeen: Lunar New Year, huh... should we be stocking up on firecrackers or something? Festive!
Street-Corner Illustrator: Personally I think actual bombs would be way more exciting. Firecrackers don't do much besides make noise, right?
RawrSoFierce: ...Ringing in the new year with live ordnance, sure, why not. Eriri, are you turning into some kind of weapons-obsessed girl on us?
Street-Corner Illustrator: Ahem! Honestly I have been feeling the urge to start a weapons-themed manga lately — my current series is just about wrapping up, good timing.
My True Form Is Cola: Wait, wrapping up already? That fast? It's only been, what, ten months? Not even eight?
Street-Corner Illustrator: I update fast — five chapters a week, twenty-four pages a chapter. That's twenty chapters a month, and I'm already past a hundred.
Street-Corner Illustrator: It's a slice-of-life series, honestly a hundred-plus chapters is about the right length to wrap it up. I'm not the type to milk it for cash and stretch the plot out forever like some artists do.
My True Form Is Cola: I see... though, five chapters a day? Isn't that a little unhinged?
Street-Corner Illustrator: It's fine, really — I could actually draw two or three chapters in a single day if I wanted. It's mostly the plotting that eats up the time, that's why the pace looks slower than it could be.
RawrSoFierce: If five chapters a week counts as "slow" for you, I feel like every manga artist on the planet would want to strangle you.
Street-Corner Illustrator: Eh? Why would they want to strangle me?
RawrSoFierce: Because you've spoiled the readers rotten. Once someone gets used to five chapters a week from you, going back to someone else's one-chapter-a-week pace is basically unbearable.
Kaguya-sama: Eriri's probably already earned herself a lot of quiet resentment from her fellow artists at this point, lol.
Street-Corner Illustrator: Ummm... should I maybe scale back to four a week, then?
Eternally Seventeen: That's basically no different from five, though?
"..."
Watching her senpais chat away in the group, Ahri — barely five or six days into the Dimensional Chat Group — found herself struck by just how unpredictably their conversations jumped around.
Ten minutes ago they'd been discussing the creatures living on Wandering Earth's surface. Now, somehow, they'd landed on Lunar New Year, and from there careened straight into manga publishing schedules.
Was this just because she was too new to keep pace with everyone's train of thought? Too new to catch the rhythm of it all?
In a crude little shelter somewhere on the continent of Valoran, Ahri sat looking at her own handiwork — gaps between the bamboo slats letting in faint glimpses of the world outside.
Not bad, honestly, for something thrown together in just five or six days.
She glanced down at the skewered rabbit meat in her hand, the faint aroma of it stirring up her appetite.
She took a small bite, chewed, swallowed, and murmured to herself, "The pinned announcement mentioned group events come with free world-crossing, plus some kind of event gift package on top of that."
"And that event gift package apparently gives out the most Points in one shot, aside from actual group quests — anywhere from several hundred to several thousand Points at once, minimum."
Even just a few days into the group, Ahri hadn't yet fully mapped out everything about it, but she'd already picked up on one clear pattern: Points mattered, tremendously. Even the group's genuine powerhouses — the ones strong enough to blow up stars — never once turned their noses up at more of it.
Maybe, given enough Points, she could grow stronger too.
And if something like what had happened to her a few days ago ever happened again —
She'd actually be able to handle it herself, next time.
☆☆☆
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