In A Restaurant In The Middle of Sumeru

Fuse

As it turns out, the Gamer's Hub only takes gamers, so Dori and Angeles couldn't come with me there.

Fortunately, Taiclet has years of experience on me, and he just forced his way into my- well, Luciel's Genshin Impact world and made his own restaurant for us to dine in.

It was a McDonald's, and I genuinely cried while eating my Big Mac.

Taiclet was eating french fries, his mouth full as he chuckled at the sight of my tears, "Seriously, crying because of a Big Mac? I mean, I get it, but those are like, real, actual tears."

"Real, American tears," I replied back as I put a spoonful of the Oreo Mcflurry into my mouth.

Taiclet is a real one, and Angeles is so pure that she can be whatever I want her to be, which is an American. So I could have my mask off without worry.

While I was busy stuffing my face in with fast food junk, Dori, Angeles, and Taiclet were busy watching the footage Taiclet took from my brain.

The footage showed Vagisilious erasing me from existence with her Defiance of Atom spell, and the trio winced.

"Yikes," Taiclet said, "Yeah, that looks like it would suck."

Dori raised an eyebrow as I came back to life magically, "You can do that?"

Angeles, pure, pure Angeles, clapped at my revival and blandly said, "He can do that."

I laughed after swallowing the food in my mouth, "Yeah, I can do that. Though, I wouldn't bet on my dominoes saving me a second time."

Taiclet smiled, "Those are the way losers think. Gamble, gamble, gamble. Keep rushing that high, forget about the consequences."

I adopted the thinker's pose, "Good point, I should gamble more. I'll open my tokens after I finish opening. By the way, free refills?"
"Would it be a McDonald's without a free refill?" Taiclet rhetorically answered, knowing fully well I'm about to refill my cup.

"Can we keep this McDonald's?" I asked.

Taiclet shook his head and apologetically said, "Sorry, nah. This one is tied to only me, and you're not at that power level where the universal laws of player interactions allow me to fuck around here."

God damn it, that fucking sucks.

"How strong do I need to be for that protection crap to be disabled?" I asked, trying and failing in hiding my disappointment.

"Eh, around S, it's actually pretty inconsistent," Taiclet answered, "Now go get your refills and finish your meal, you hear me?"

I mockedly saluted him, "Yes sir."

As I took my cup to the refill station, I could hear Dori and Taiclet talking to each other as I kick Vagisilious's ass in my memory.

"So, Taiclet," Dori said, getting his attention, "As you may or may not know, I'm a merchant, so when I hear about this supposed league of gods outside of my grasp, all filled with potential customers or potential goods I could sell…"

Taiclet seemed amused as he spoke to Dori, "Has Fuse told you about your… Rather unoriginal world, to keep the secret unspoken?"

Dori raised an eyebrow, "Is it meant to be unspoken?"

"Most people don't enjoy knowing such forbidden knowledge."

Dori looked to Angeles, who seemed to shrug when she spotted Dori staring at her, so Dori answered, "This world is from a game or something, and I'm not special at all because there's an infinite amount of clones of me?"

Taiclet nodded and explained, "That's about right. To be more specific, you're one of the "special" characters in that game. But that specialty is what dooms you here, because people like you aren't allowed to join our ranks. Fuse and I were basically background characters before, so we get the cool powers that elevate us to this level."

Dori frowned, "That sure sucks. That basically makes me dependent on Fuse to do my business for me with people like you."

Taiclet hummed, "Well, there is one way that you could reach our level of access… Though, with Fuse on your side, it's better to just get your own system instead of trying to transform your soul."

"Transform my soul?" Dori questioned.

The refill didn't take long, so I got back to my seat. But the conversation was taking an interesting turn, and I didn't really want to interrupt it.

Taiclet elaborated, "What chains you down is your identity as "Dori" which in turn labels you as a fictional character, meaning you'll never be able to access the realm of the New Characters. However, there does exist a means for you to no longer be Dori."

Dori put a chin on her cheek as she pondered the thought, "Hm, are you trying to say that I have to abandon my old life and become someone new? Someone unrecognizable from who I am today?

Taiclet nodded, "Yes, but more than that. It's not enough to change your name and your core character traits. You would have to actually change your soul, your name, your most precious memories. In the ashes of your old self, leaving behind only your basest desire and ego. For you? It's probably greed. After all that, you'll become someone new, and you'll be able to access all the things we have with no restrictions."

Dori's eyes turned disinterested, "Is that so? You were right, it really would be a hassle to start all over again," Dori turned to me, "Fuse, you're going to be stuck with me until the end of time."

I smiled, "That's fine, I'll make so much money for you that you'll be begging me to stop filling your pockets."

Dori chuckled, "Ha! As if that would ever happen."

We all shared a good laugh over it as we finished our food.

Angeles then asked, "Fuse, where are you going next?"

Ah, right, I killed Garbanag, so I have access to my next world now. I should check what that world actually is.

(World menu)

[You cannot freely travel between worlds until your Destiny is fulfilled. However, you are able to travel between worlds you've been to.]

[You are currently on: Luciel's Universe: Genshin Impact]

Possible Destinations:

[Eastern Wall of The Universe]

[Gamer's Hub]

[Garbanag's World: Terraria]

[Lily's World: Pokemon]

…Pokemon?

Well, I guess Dori is getting her wish of going to another world fulfilled pretty soon, then.

And also, Lily… That's basically a 50/50 shot whether she's going to be an American or not.

Well, I look forward to the day I meet her, then.

"Well, it looks like my next destination is in the Pokemon universe," I said, getting some mild surprise out of both Taiclet and Dori.

"Really?" Dori asked, "Is that a safe world? It doesn't really sound like it from the way you described it to me…"

Taiclet snorted, "Pokemon is like, top 10 safest places you can be, depending on the timeline and era you're in. You're better off thinking about packing your bags for a nice and long vacation."

"I'll scout it first," I said, "Better to check where I land than to find out with Dori with me."

Dori accepted that, "Sure, but if there's money to be made in buying things there and selling them here at a markup, I'll be there. Even if I have to drag myself with you."

I nodded in agreement. That's completely fine.

Now that that's done, I should go open my rewards from winning my fight.

[April Fools]

Description: Through space and time, it is destined you two will meet. Just so you could one day fight. But that day has come sooner than He expected.

Objective: Use the Teleportation Stone given and kill Vagisilious.

Reward: Supreme Sovereign of Spirits' Mianguan, 5 Gacha Tokens, Title: Conqueror of Nazarick, 1 Random Fantasy gun.

[Elder's Grace - a gun that's a part of the Crimson Glow Valstrax Light Bowgun Tree set. A-Ranked firepower. Boosted to S-Rank when fighting dragons.]

[Conqueror of Nazarick - Title - For defeating the undefeatable, we crown you conqueror. When fighting against monsters, gain additional Power Ranks.]

[Supreme Sovereign of Spirits' Mianguan - World Class Item - While the Mianguan is equipped by the user, all talisman spells are augmented with the Supreme Sovereign of Spirits' remaining power. Offensive talismans will be able to inflict a curse on enemies, sapping away their mana and mana regeneration. Healing talismans are able to regenerate their target's mana equivalent to the health restored. Other supportive talismans will increase the target's mana regeneration rate. - (Lore) - (World Item Rules).]

Elder's Grace is a weird looking "gun" but I can tell right off the bat that it's a gun that takes normal bullets. I guess I'll just name it… Eh, let's name the weird fantasy guns after cities. Dragons… D… Troit?

Detroit it is.

[Detroit [Elder's Grace] - a gun that's a part of the Crimson Glow Valstrax Light Bowgun Tree set. A-Ranked firepower. Boosted to S-Rank when fighting dragons. This is named after the American city of Detroit.]

I'm sure that'll come in handy, especially as Monroe is now officially soul-bound to me as well, and I'm getting Taiclet to get me more bullets for it.

As for the title, it's neat I guess. I'm probably never going to use it though, honestly. I just don't think about titles that often.

And I don't use talismans, so I literally can't use the Mianguan. It looks ugly, anyhow.

I pulled out my 5 gacha tokens, placing them down onto the table, "All right fellas, anyone want one before I break them all?"

Angeles raised her hand, "May I try one?"

I handed one over to her, "Go wild. Just snap it in half."

Angeles did as instructed, breaking her gacha token.

Angeles blinked, before turning to me, "It says that I gained an epic perk called Tech Support. It claims I can fix any device."

I sighed, "Yeah, that tracks. Everyone I give my tokens to seems to get good luck," I turned to the other two, "You wanna test the theory?"

Taiclet and Dori both audibly snorted, as Taiclet spoke, "Absolutely not."

I shrugged, "Your loss, buddy."

I started to break my gacha tokens.

Mythic Class Upgrade Curse Perk

[Imbalanced Soul - Your soul is incapable of carrying others. Souls in your inventory have a chance to affect your actions against your will. The higher the number of souls in your inventory, the more likely this will happen. To get rid of this curse, you must cut all of your ties to the land of the living. All of them.]

Legendary Curse Perk

[Just Say No - If you are doing something against someone's will, them telling you to not do it might actually work. Can be overcome with a strong will.]

Common Weapon

[Wand of Sparking - A small wooden stick which spits fire. F ranked magic.]

Epic Item

[Hollow Wicker Basket - Once activated, this item will form a shield around you, negating most environmental damage.]

"I got two fucking cursed perks," I announced to the table, "Then I got a lame item and weapon."

Taiclet laughed without any mercy at all, Dori winced, and Angeles patted me on the back.

I described them to my table, and they all collectively agreed that they were pretty bad curses.

I only had a couple of souls in my inventory, so I was only superficially feeling them trying to do something. But the fact that I could feel them in the first place was definitely worrisome. My next destination is the pokemon world, so I assume I won't be doing much fighting there. This curse won't affect me that much, but I definitely need to get rid of it somehow without "Cut all ties to the land of the living," as the curse tells me.

So I asked Taiclet, "Hey, Taiclet, is there any way to get rid of this curse that doesn't involve me doing what the description says?"

Taiclet nodded, "Sure, if you're lucky. There's a veto item in the gacha somewhere, and there are a few people selling them for massive favors in the hub. Then there are a few items that basically turn your curses into monsters and have you fight them to make them disappear. I have a few of those, actually, if you want. Though, I would not bet money on you against a mythical curse. And because of the laws in this universe, you would owe me stuff anyways."

I sighed, "Well, I'll come to you if it becomes a problem, then."

Taiclet is really running me dry for all of the favors that I owe him now. I do wonder what he's going to use those for, though. What kind of projects does he have going on in the background that he's waiting for me to become more powerful to actually assist in?

Taiclet shrugged, "Sure thing, buddy. Anyways, I'll get going now, see you soon."

I waved Taiclet goodbye, "See ya."

Taiclet disappears.

The McDonald's disappears with him, causing the three of us sitting in the chairs to crash onto the floor.

That bastard.

Anyways, I actually had a few things I wanted to do first before I went into the Pokemon world.

First of all, Garbanag's world is currently going through a lunar invasion, and even though I didn't cause it, I did kill the guy who was going to deal with it. So, I do feel somewhat responsible for dealing with the situation now.

Obviously, I'm not gonna fight the lunar invasion. I don't think I would win that fight… Yet.

Instead, I just told the guide a week ago that if anyone wanted to switch worlds, I can bring them all to Genshin. And then I gave them like a week to gather at Dumpster so I could take them.

Dori, of course, took full advantage of this and pre-arranged a hundred or so temporary camps for the other new worlders. Dori will probably somehow become the new mayor of the town they're going to make, honestly.

Well, I actually have to pick them up now. So I told Dori, "Alright, I'll be back in like 5 minutes, get ready."

Dori nodded, "I'm about to make a massive investment, you know. You better not screw this up!"

"How could I actually screw it up?" I questioned, "Bleh, see you."

"See you."

I opened up a portal to Dumpster, quickly entering it to travel between worlds. Landing without issue, I opened my eyes to see basically every NPC with a bunch of chests, ready to move.

I think this list includes a bunch of people who didn't even live in Dumpster in the first place. I see Romeo, the Princess… Santa Claus is here too, surprisingly.

Zach walked up to me, "This is everyone. You said you had a more peaceful place for us to go?"

I nodded, "Yep. I'll probably turn this world into a training ground or something, if you didn't leave anyone behind?"

Zach shook his head, "No, basically everyone we talked to didn't want to stick around to find out what the lunars were going to do to them."

Ah, seems like everyone is reasonable here. That's good, that makes them susceptible to getting scammed by Dori. She's basically the queen of making deals to rational people, while still tilting the scales to herself.

I closed the portal I used to get here, because I needed to anchor the exit to another place, "Alrighty then, once I open this next portal and go in, you'll all meet a short pink-haired girl named Dori, and she'll help you guys out."

I snapped my fingers, and a new portal came up behind me, "Any questions before we depart?"

The Princess raised her hand, "Will we one day return here?"

That… Is a question I have literally no answer for.

But I do sympathize with them. Their homeland is currently being overrun by aliens which I have no answers for right now, and all they can do is flee. It's a fate similar to my own.

I will return to America, and I'll help them reclaim their homeland as well.

"You will all return," I said, "Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not for a few months or even years. But one day, you will return here."

Everyone seemed to be satisfied with that answer, so they all entered the portal, albeit some were very hesitant and reluctant.

Being the good captain I am, I of course entered last…

And my portal was suddenly diverted to a different location. Back to the Eastern Wall of The Universe.

Managing to land on my two feet without falling down, I raised an eyebrow towards the hole in the wall, "Was that really necessary, Skryb?"

"I sensed your victory, and now seemed like a good time to congratulate you," Skryb said, his voice still sounding overly evil, instilling good feelings into no one, "Even more so now that you've apparently met Her. And beaten her quite badly, which I'm quite fond of."

I tilted my head, "Oh, that April Fools quest? It's still like, January, you know."

Skryb chuckled, "Regardless, good work. I have another ally you can gain power from."

Ooh, new powers. That's cool, although I currently have nothing good from this guy yet.

I can feel Skryb's presence becoming muted as another person takes the microphone, "Hey, is this Fuse?"

I nodded, "Who else would it be?"
"Eh, it's better to make sure," The other voice said, "My name is Chorus, nice to meet you."

…I will not lie, Chorus is a fire name. This guy better give me an amazing new ability, or I'm going to take back my mental compliment.

"Nice to meet you, are you American?" I asked.

"Canadian," Chorus answered.

Piece of shit, I don't want power from him anymore.

"Ugh," I let him know of my disagreement with his nationality, "Fine, I guess that's not as terrible as being British."

Chorus chuckled, "Ah, I guess we can both agree on that. I would hate to eat British food."

…Alright, this guy is pretty good.
"So, do you want to give me power straight away?" I asked, "Or do you want to chat about ideals or something?"

Chorus hummed, "Ideals? I don't really have those aside from being a good person. Most of the time."

"Most of the time?" I questioned.

Chorus decided to elaborate, "I was one of Skryb's Villain Players for one of his insane experiments where he pitted two new players against each other to see who would come out on top. The hero, or the villain. I was shoved into the villain role, and I was cursed to hold the spirits of everyone I killed inside my head."

Wow. Holy shit, that fucking sucks. No wonder why I get "Skryb is an evil bastard" signals every time I speak to the dude.

Chorus continued, "I like to believe I'm a good person. I won my match and promptly revived everyone I killed and erased their memories of the time inside my own head. But I feel as though the blood I stained on my hands from my time as a villain and the swamp I'm in at Fair and Balanced Incorporated doesn't make me… Good. I hold onto this delusion that it was against my will that I was forced to participate in that game, but I know that it was still me who swung my sword to kill."

How the hell do I even respond to this guy? That is way out of my depth. And he's still stuck with Skryb?

I know I'm a bit of a murderous bastard myself, as I only see value in American lives, but… Damn, being forced to kill fucking sucks.

"Anyway, enough about me, you still have a journey to finish," Chorus said, then deciding to lay down some wisdom for me, "One day, you might look back on yourself and ask why you had no consistency in your actions. You might kill one day and spare the next. You can indulge in all of your sins during the night and become a paragon of good during the day. Don't bother about consistency, okay? You should do what you want to do, that's the privilege granted to us as parasites."

Parasites?

…No, I think I get what he's saying. We're parasites. We get put onto various worlds with a system that promotes growth, and then we devour everything we want on those worlds and move onto the next. That's exactly what I did to Terraria.

Haha, I like this Canadian. He's pretty smart, I bet he wanted to become an American in his past life.

"Alright, I'll remember that," I earnestly said, "Thank you, Chorus."

"Of course," Chorus said, before the hole swells with power.

"Never falter in your step, because that's what makes you true."

[Chorus's blessing - My soul is heavy, my blade is not. - gain the skill [Abuser of Souls], when active, your attacks will be imbued with the souls in your inventory, greatly increasing the power of your attacks at the cost of painfully destroying the souls.]

Holy shit, an actually good ability! That combos great with my Devourer of Souls perk and my soul mage class!

I told Chorus what I got from him, and he seemed to be slightly upset.

"Abuser of Souls, really?" Chorus disappointedly said, "That's something I would never use, but I suppose it is something that would be useful to someone less morally clean like you."

I shrugged, "Well, yeah. I hope your situation gets better though, my dude."

Chorus self-deprecatingly chuckled, "Not with Fate itself against me. Treasure your ignorance, Fuse."

I laughed, "I'll take your word for it, then!"

I exited the area, a bit happier now that I finally got something usable from Skryb's company.

Entrance of Sumeru City

Aether

From what he heard from locals, it looks like Aether won't be the savior of Sumeru in the same fashion he basically saved the other three nations he's been to. Apparently, someone named Fuse had already fixed most of the issues here alongside the archon of Sumeru, Lesser Lord Kusanali.

Honestly, Aether appreciated it. He didn't want to stick his nose into every single conflict that appeared in front of him. All he was doing right now was finishing his journey through the 7 nations so he could figure out what his sister meant when she said he'll find something at the end of his journey.

So, Aether and Paimon decided the fastest way to find Kusanali was to just try and find Fuse, since he's unofficially the right-hand man of Kusanali. Or a bodyguard, according to some people.

Which was kind of comically easy to find, as the duo found Fuse hanging around the new refugee camp near the Palace of Alacazarzaray.

"Excuse me," Aether said to Fuse, "You are Fuse, right?"

Fuse nodded, "Yeah, who are you?"

"My name is Aether, you might've seen me in an article as The Traveler," He introduced himself, "I was hoping you could help me get an audience to Lesser Lord Kusanali."

Fuse tilted his head, "Eh? Why?"

Aether said, "I'm looking for information about my sister, and I was hoping the God of Wisdom could help me look for it."

Fuse hummed, "Well, I guess that's a reason, but you do realize she doesn't take in just random people, right?"

Aether's eye twitched as he realized Fuse had absolutely no clue who he was.

Aether irritatedly listed out his accomplishments, "...I'm the man who defeated Stormterror in Mondstadt, helped fight Osial in Liyue, fought the Raiden Shogun ONE OF ONE in Inazuma, and have done countless other things while traveling. Am I a random nobody?"

Fuse didn't say anything for a few moments, making Aether think that he had gotten the better of him.

Paimon also chipped in, "You can't forget about me, Paimon! The trusty sidekick to The Traveler!"

It was appreciated, but also not.

Then, Fuse spoke, "That's cool and all, but I have no idea who any of those people are."

Aether and Paimon's mouths dropped.

Fuse continued as if he didn't reveal himself to be living under a rock for the past few months, "If you really want to meet Nahida though, I guess I could point you to someone who could help you… For a price."

Aether sighed, that was basically the best he was going to get, "Alright then, who do I need to talk to?"

"Ah, her name is Dori. Short, pink hair, can't miss her," Fuse said, pointing to the nearby palace, "If you're as famous as you say, then you're probably rich. And if you're rich, she probably knows you."

…They were not rich, but Fuse seemed to think famous equals rich, so they were just going to take that.

To be fair, Aether would've been rich if it were not for Paimon's gluttony devouring through their savings.

Aether nodded, "Thank you, then. Come on, Paimon."

As they moved towards where Fuse pointed, Aether heard Fuse mutter under his breath, "Poor bastards…"

Aether would've gone back and questioned what the hell Fuse meant by that, but Paimon spoke first, "So, Aether, what do you think Dori is like, if she's able to get us an audience to Lesser Lord Kusanali so easily?"

Aether sighed, deciding to ignore Fuse's leaked thoughts, "It'll probably be fine. She might ask us to do something, and it should be easy."

And so, they find Dori, explain their situation, and Dori decides the next month of their life as Dori asked, "Well, there's a little situation happening in Sumeru right now that you could fix for me. So recently, the withering has stopped spreading because Nahida got rid of the root problem, but all of the withering that's still around is still dangerous. So, why don't you go exterminate the remaining withering zones for us? I think the forest rangers nearby could help you."

If Aether had future sight, he would've declined it right on the spot.

But since Aether needed to go meet the archon, Aether accepted the quest to help fight against the withering.

If Aether wanted to be honest, the aranara were kind of nice. But for a month of just running around Sumeru for them? Blagh.

AN:

Fuse sent Aether into a month-long aranara questline for his archon quest. Truly, Fuse is the most evil character I've created.

Also holy shit this chapter was painful to write out for some reason. It's only 4k words, but it felt like a lifetime to write (It was 2 weeks.)

I was gonna add more stuff to this chapter, but it was not meant to be. Oh well, Dottore is safe for another arc.

Anyways, the next chapter is the start of the Pokemon journey. A nice, relaxing vacation arc.