Honkai Star Rail: I Became the World Tree — Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Misunderstanding Resolved

“Disappear among the sea of butterflies! Illusions of the past!”

Seele flashed forward, her form blurring into a streak of quantum purple as she appeared instantly behind an Automaton Direwolf. With a vicious twist of her massive scythe, a web of glowing cracks spiderwebbed across the machine’s chassis before it shattered into jagged metallic shards and crashed to the cavern floor.

Nearby, Stelle was proving to be even more of a menace. Even a towering, heavy-duty machine like an Automaton Grizzly was reduced to scrap metal with a single, resounding crack of her baseball bat. She swung the weapon with terrifying enthusiasm, sending gears and plating flying into the shadows.

Relying on their overwhelming individual combat prowess, the makeshift vanguard carved a rapid path through the mechanical resistance.

Soon enough, they reached the lowest excavation level of the Great Mine. There, standing amidst the glowing veins of Geomarrow, were the figures responsible for suppressing the recent miner riots: Clara, the towering Svarog, and a very out-of-place Anviel.

Seele ignored the others, her fierce gaze locking directly onto Svarog’s glowing optical sensor. She gripped her scythe tight.

“Svarog! Why did you send your automata swarming into the Great Mine? Are you trying to declare an all-out war on Wildfire?”

Just as Seele’s interrogation echoed off the cavern walls, Stelle suddenly let out a loud, highly disruptive gasp from the sidelines.

“Eh? Anviel? What are you doing all the way down here?”

Anviel blinked her large eyes, looking equally surprised to see the two Trailblazers standing amidst the wreckage.

“Big Sister Stelle? Big Sister March 7th?”

Seele, who had just spent the last ten minutes building up her intimidating momentum and righteous fury, suddenly deflated like a punctured balloon. She looked back and forth between the chaotic bat-wielding girl and the small elf.

“You… you guys know each other?”

Stelle nodded, a wide, easy grin spreading across her face as she rested her bat on her shoulder.

“Yup. We know her. Why wouldn’t we? This is the little sister we met yesterday over at Samuel’s place. I’ll let you in on a secret, Seele. Anviel is a real-life elf.”

Leaving Seele to process that absurd statement, Stelle and March 7th casually strolled right past the imposing, heavily armed Svarog and walked straight toward Anviel.

Seeing the sheer lack of hostility, Bronya quietly lowered her rifle. Judging by the sudden shift in atmosphere, there was a very high probability that a bloody conflict wasn’t going to break out after all.

Stelle crouched down slightly to meet Anviel’s eye level.

“Anviel, why did you come all the way to a dusty place like this? Where’s Samuel? He must have brought you over, right?”

Anviel nodded, a bright smile lighting up her face.

“Mm-hmm. Lord Sacred Tree brought Anviel here. Oh, Anviel made a new friend today! Big Sister Stelle, let me introduce you. This is Clara, Anviel’s very good friend.”

Clara stepped forward slightly, her bare feet silent against the cold metal grating. She offered a polite, slightly shy bow.

“Hello, Big Sisters. My name is Clara. It is very nice to meet you all.”

Stelle nodded with immense satisfaction. Being called ‘Big Sister’ by two incredibly well-behaved and adorable little girls was a massive boost to her ego.

“Hello, hello.”

March 7th felt her heart melting. Seeing Anviel and Clara standing side-by-side was simply too much concentrated cuteness for one cavern to hold. She immediately summoned her camera, framing the two girls in the viewfinder.

“Anviel, Clara, do a peace sign! I absolutely have to take a photo of you two together.”

Hearing the request, the two little girls obediently raised their right hands, flashing identical peace signs at the lens. The camera clicked, capturing the moment perfectly.

March 7th inspected the freshly printed Polaroid, humming in approval.

“Mm, not bad at all. As expected of my flawless photography skills. Anviel, Clara, once we get back to the Astral Express, I’ll print out proper copies for both of you.”

Anviel and Clara nodded eagerly, their smiles wide and genuine.

Dan Heng, who had been keeping a watchful eye on the perimeter, finally stepped forward and asked the pressing question.

“Anviel, where exactly is Samuel? Why don’t I see him around?”

Anviel looked up at the spearman.

“Lord Sacred Tree is back in the Holy City. It seems Big Sister Furina’s Adventurers Guild is about to level up, so he had to be there.”

The Holy City was the Elven city-state located on the Source Continent, serving as Samuel’s primary domain.

Hearing this, Dan Heng crossed his arms, a hint of regret in his voice.

“Originally, we should have leveled up last night as well.”

Stelle shrugged, her expression a mix of nonchalance and lingering annoyance.

“There’s no helping it. Who told us to go and kick the bucket so early? We can just head over again tonight and grind.”

March 7th shivered, rubbing her arms as if warding off a chill.

“Don’t even mention it. I’m still a bit traumatized. The monsters in that ruined market were way too terrifying. I didn’t even know what hit me before I was sent back to the respawn point.”

Anviel raised her hand timidly.

“Um… Big Sister Stelle, Big Sister March 7th… Anviel actually knows what those monsters were.”

March 7th’s eyes widened, and she quickly leaned in.

“You do? What kind of monsters were they?”

Anviel explained carefully.

“They are called Shadow Goblins. They are Level 5 monsters, and they have the ability to turn completely invisible in the dark. However, after they turn invisible, their shadows change and emit faint blue spots of light. You can use those glowing spots to lock onto their positions.”

March 7th slapped her forehead in sudden realization.

“So that’s how it works. I was wondering why I was taking damage without seeing a single enemy on the field. Turns out the sneaky things were just invisible.”

Dan Heng pondered the tactical implications, his expression serious.

“Level 5 monsters… It seems we will have to give up on exploring that specific area for the time being. Even if we can spot their shadows during the day, I highly doubt our current stats are a match for a pack of Shadow Goblins.”

March 7th sighed, tossing her hands up in defeat.

“There’s no other way around it. The enemies over there are all frighteningly strong. And that’s just us Trailblazers. If it were ordinary people going in with zero combat experience, they wouldn’t even be able to beat a basic Level 1 Goblin.”

A few paces away, Seele and Bronya were standing in absolute silence, listening to the conversation with expressions of deep confusion.

“I recognize every single word Stelle and the others are saying,” Seele muttered, scratching the back of her head. “But why does it sound like complete gibberish when they string it all together?”

She nudged Bronya’s arm with her elbow.

“Hey. You’ve read a ton of books, you’re a high-class intellectual. Do you understand any of this?”

Bronya shook her head, her brow furrowed in elegant bewilderment.

“I do not understand either. The concepts they are discussing are entirely foreign to me. I have absolutely no impression of these terms in any of the Supreme Guardian’s archives.”

Seele scoffed, crossing her arms.

“Is that so? Then all that fancy reading of yours was for nothing. In the end, you’re just like me—standing here not understanding a single thing.”

Bronya gave Seele a deeply unimpressed, speechless glance.

‘Heh. How could I possibly be the same as you?’

Stelle, Anviel, and the rest of the crew continued to chat about their gaming strategies for a while longer.

Now that the hostility was completely defused and the misunderstanding resolved, Svarog initiated a new protocol. He commanded the surrounding automata to release the detained members of Wildfire. As for the Vagrants who had instigated the conflict, Svarog’s mechanical voice declared that they would be permanently expelled from the Great Mine.

The Vagrants were the ones who had started the trouble, and those who made mistakes had to face the consequences. Svarog’s punishment was already considered remarkably lenient. It was only because a supreme directive was constantly running deep within his core processor.

[Preserve the Underworld]

Had that command not restricted his logic circuits, Svarog would likely have executed the entire group of troublemakers on the spot.

With the tension gone, everyone began to clean up the battlefield, escort the Vagrants out of the tunnels, and reorganize the disrupted Geomarrow mining operations.

Meanwhile, on the Source Continent, deep inside the Holy City.

Furina, Clorinde, and Neuvillette had just finished a grueling grinding session, collectively slaying exactly one hundred Goblins.

Through their relentless efforts, all three members of the party had successfully reached Level 3. However, looking at their status screens, they realized it would take a significantly longer time to reach Level 4.

The experience scaling was brutal. Going from Level 1 to Level 2 only required 10 experience points. Level 2 to Level 3 required 100 points. But the jump from Level 3 to Level 4 demanded a staggering 500 points.

To make matters worse, after they crossed the Level 3 threshold, the experience yielded by killing a basic Level 1 Goblin had plummeted to a measly one point per kill. In other words, they would have to slaughter five hundred Level 1 Goblins just to see the next level up.

Furina walked at the front of the group, practically skipping across the grass as she made a beeline for Samuel.

Samuel was currently standing beneath the massive, glowing canopy of Irminsul, his hands resting casually in his pockets as he waited for the trio to arrive.

“Samuel, we have returned!” Furina announced, striking a dramatic, triumphant pose. “And I bring glorious news! My Justice Adventure Team’s experience points have finally reached one hundred. Hmph!”

Samuel chuckled, his tone calm and entirely unsurprised.

“Yes, I know. Since you came back so early in the day, you must be here to ask about initiating the Adventurers Guild rank-up dungeon, right?”

Furina froze slightly, her dramatic posture faltering as she thought to herself. ‘Good grief, he read my mind instantly. How terrifying. As expected of the great Irminsul.’

Beside her, Neuvillette noticed Furina’s sudden stunned silence. Stepping forward with his usual dignified grace, the Chief Justice looked at Samuel and took over the conversation.

“Indeed. We would like to formally inquire about the procedures for the Adventurers Guild promotion dungeon.”

The rules of the system were strict. Once an Adventurers Guild’s experience pool reached its current cap, the rank-up dungeon could be unlocked. It was a high-stakes trial. Upon failure, the guild would either suffer a devastating penalty of losing fifty percent of their accumulated experience, or they would be forced to spend a massive sum of premium currency to waive the punishment.