Author: yup! That's right! Early update let's goooooo!
Before Elysia arrives with her friends, Eden and Aponia.
I am in my Base, attempting to create a cure. However, it's almost near impossible, especially with me doing it all by myself. I have to dig out ores, harvest herbs and other crops, and grind some Honkai beast corpses almost all day and night without sleeping... Ugh... Luckily, I'm a Honkai Machine... Well, more or less. I just forgot and realized 2 years ago that I'm a Quantum being.
But then I think about it and talk to myself while conducting some liquids with different effects, saying, "But if I'm going to base it on game releases... Husk Nihilius is a psychic, and quantum is not a thing yet... Ugh... Confusing.. anyway."
Not thinking of Husk Nihilius' origin, I simply focus on experimenting with this new formula. This one mostly consists of herbal grasses that I have grown myself, and a few I have painfully scavenged from the land, and even from the sea, where I had to swim across to another island just to obtain them.
"Well, it's not all the herbal grasses from all over the world, but only the ones that I can get from my vicinity. Meh," I say with a shrug, taking a small dose into the syringe. I then turn my mechanical head with my eyes, gears making clanking sounds with each turn. I look at the mouse, infected by Honkai.
"Alright, let's see if this works." I inject it with the experimented "cure," but the rat dies shortly in front of me, and I just scratch my golden chin. "Well, I guess combining lots of different herbs will do that. They turn into poison instead... Very well, another failure."
I sigh, look around, and get another capsule and a large boiling pit with tons of salt and some other materials. I drop a small dose of Honkai beast's purple blood, or what I usually call honkai energy, but then again, honkai can be anything, so meh.
"Alright, this and then..." I am about to grab another component for the pot, but as I grab a small jar that I am about to use with my large two golden mechanical fingers, I bump into a small little tuna that I just found offshore and take it with me. I was about to use it for cooking, but now it became a cause of my accidental misfortune as I widen my Mechanical red eyes and say, "Oh no.."
As the tuna drops into the large pot, it glows with purple Honkai energy, sparking with electricity all over the place. Luckily, that doesn't really affect me, just a little fireworks, but I back away a little just to be sure.
After 10 minutes of disco and lighting action in my large kitchen, it finally stops.
I walk closer with each mechanical leg stamping on the metal floor towards the pot. I lean closer inside to see what is inside, and oh my god... I can't believe my eyes.
"What... The hell?" I look inside the pot, and it's all empty. All the purple liquid that I had concocted has disappeared. What's more bizarre is that all that's left is a tuna that is still inside the pot. I keep staring at it with my eyes squinting. The tuna seems... stiff... for whatever reason. I then raise my robotic arm and slowly pinch it just to grab it with my two golden metal fingers and pull it out from the empty pot. I inspect the straight, stiff tuna and twist it around, trying to bend it.
"Hmm.... Well then, this thing became... Hard... Like metal.." I keep looking at it, but I stop since it didn't help much. I needed to test it for what it is capable of now, so I try scanning it with my large Honkai detecting contraption that I have placed in the lab. I activate my roller blades, and gears start turning as I skate towards the lab to investigate the properties of the current tuna.
After scanning, I see the data and mix properties that the tuna has absorbed or mixed with. So, basically, I have accidentally turned the tuna into a metal-hard tuna, I guess due to the property of salt and random hard minerals I have put in. Well, one of the problems is solved; the next problem, or curious question if I say so myself, is: can it handle a real fight?
And so, I go out of the base and head deeper into the forest, aiming for an abandoned city, since Honkai Beasts are more commonly seen in abandoned areas.
Okay, I made it. The place is not that far, but for someone like me, a mechanical robot Honkai quantum machine, a human would probably take 2 or 3 days to come here. But yeah, I made it.
Since the tuna is too small for me to wield, I'll try to throw it like a kunai or shuriken.
I keep walking and walking until I find some archangels for target practice.
"Ah, there you guys are. I was wondering when you all would show up," I say as I spot three archangels. But when they saw me, they flew away, and I was just there like "... Seriously? Whatever, I'll shoot them anyway with this tuna."
I take out the tuna and start aiming. With a clear shot, I start quoting something from my old life about a certain character, but I improvise a little and say, "The archangels are beyond my reach, and so I grasp my Tuna and take aim."
I throw the tuna like a kunai at the Archangel with incredible speed. The shot aims true as it pierces through the Archangel, right through the center of its body, obliterating it. The tuna still flies and slowly hits the ground. The other angels flee even further, but I have my results.
"Impressive. I never thought I would make a literal, salty tuna by accident. But I guess it has durability. Seeing that it still looks very clean and not a single damage, I guess it's still impressive. Judging by its length, if I give it to a human, it could be wielded as a sword," I say to myself and look at the fleeing archangels. I pull out my P90 and shoot two of them, just because I can.
After killing them both, I pick up my Salty Tuna from the ground. It's incredible that I made a weapon that can be seen and can be got in the game. The Salty Tuna itself is one of my favorite weapons ever created in Honkai Impact 3rd, a game made by Mihoyo, or... was it Hoyoverse? I can't remember; it's been 20 or 25 years I have lived in this world. Anyway, I got sidetracked. Alright, yeah, salty tuna, but never thought that would happen.
"Well... Perhaps it's good. I will take anything. Besides, this is a different world, and I have to make anything and make them as useful as possible in order to make this have a happy ending... now about that cure, ugh... how am I suppose to find... oh right I have my very own Void archives with me... the Red archives.... Ugh... alright let's get over with this..." I say to myself and head back to my base, skating for another 2 hours.
Elysia skillfully maneuvers her pink motorcycle with Eden holding onto Elysia, and Aponia holding onto Eden. The three women zoom through the forest, heading to meet Elysia's mysterious uncle.
Eden looks at the trees, then glances at the back of Elysia's head and asks, "So... umm, your uncle lives in this place?"
"Yeah! My uncle is kind of like a hermit! He doesn't really like going to the city. He has his reasons and all~" Elysia giggles and smoothly turns the bike to the side to avoid a tree.
Aponia peeks her head from behind Eden and says, "Ah, Elysia... Could you stop for a bit?" Elysia parks the bike, and Eden and Elysia turn to Aponia. Eden asks, "What is it?"
"Hold on, give me a moment. It's hard to get my phone from my Nun outfit," Aponia says as she struggles to retrieve her phone. The phone was given to her by MOTH, it's an official phone used for emergencies, reporting, and recording. Eden raises an eyebrow, trying to figure out how Aponia managed to hide the phone in her outfit. "How and where did you put your phone in there?"
"..." Aponia doesn't answer and focuses on her phone, scrolling down.
She then looks at Elysia and says, "Dr. MEI message in the group chat saying ... Alright, everyone, I'm here at the meeting place. I think I've seen Kevin. Where are you all?.... That's what it says"
Aponia and Eden exchange puzzled glances, then they flinch as they realize what's going on. They turn to Elysia slowly, and the girl with pink hair smiles innocently. Aponia can only sigh, as she already knows what Elysia did, but she asks for good measure, "Elysia, what did you do?"
"Hehe~ oh nothing~ I'm just helping them out~ I mean, don't they look obvious right?" Elysia giggles, appearing innocent.
Eden is about to say something but stops herself, thinking that she only recently joined MOTH and received a brief explanation from Elysia. Instead, she whispers to Elysia, "Can you tell me the details later, while we're on the way?"
"Hehe, of course!" Elysia gives a playful thumbs up, a smirk, and a wink to Eden. Meanwhile, Aponia doesn't say anything and just sighs, "Well, it's true... But how? Did you make a reservation?"
Elysia turns back to face the front, starts the motorcycle engine, and drives again, with Eden and Aponia at the back. She giggles slightly and says without looking back, "In my uncle's words~ it's called 'all according to Keikaku~'"
(Note: They have a chat group because of Elysia, obviously.)
Meanwhile, somewhere else...
A man at the desk smiles at Dr. MEI and Kevin and says, "Hello, Sir and Ma'am, this is Levando Restaurant. We have reservations under both your names, Dr. MEI and Kevin, correct?"
Kevin and Dr. MEI exchange glances and remain silent for a moment.
Dr. MEI facepalms and sighs heavily, internally conflicted between being happy that Elysia did this sneakily or being embarrassed. The latter seems to be winning, and she blushes slightly, saying, "Umm... Yes, that's us. We would like to see the menu, please?"
This is just some extra stuff that I couldn't write earlier, so yeah.
Anyway, see you all in the next chapter!