Phantylia's first phase was easily defeated by Huohuo and Tail, but just as the two were about to face her second phase, their transformations suddenly wore off.
At the very moment their transformations ended, Huohuo still wore a confident expression—until she turned and saw Tail next to her, felt the power draining away, and suddenly froze.
The girl and the tail looked at each other. Then Huohuo spoke first: "Tail… why are you here?"
Tail: "No idea. But if this king had to guess, it's probably because we ran out of power?"
As the two of them looked at each other, Phantylia had already completed her second-phase transformation. Half-buried before, now more of her body had emerged.
As she felt her strength return, and they saw her becoming stronger, Huohuo and Tail both froze.
Huohuo: "Tail, what should we do?"
Tail: "What else? Run!"
While they had been merged during the transformation, Tail had felt invincible alongside Huohuo. But now that they were separated and their power reduced, Tail didn't believe for a second they could take on Phantylia, even a weakened version.
Huohuo and Tail tried to flee, but Pei Guang and Stelle were faster. They grabbed the two and swiftly exited the domain instance. Back outside at the entrance of the Phantylia weekly boss zone in the Scalegorge Waterscape, once Huohuo and Tail confirmed they were safe, Huohuo glanced fearfully at Tail.
"That was terrifying, I thought we were going to die in there."
Though she was still saying she was scared, Huohuo's state was clearly much better than before.
Tail: "Yeah! And thankfully that one wasn't the real thing. If it had been, we'd be toast. But speaking of that, you jerk—what was up with the transformation thing? Why did it suddenly end in the middle of using it?"
Faced with Tail's accusation, Pei Guang explained helplessly, "It's because it wasn't used for long, so the power stored wasn't enough. This transformation device converts emotions into energy. Huohuo didn't use it for very long, so there wasn't much power stored. And after transforming, Huohuo's emotions were unusually calm, so the power output dropped.
But it's not a big deal: fighting isn't something you do every day. You can store up energy and just use it when you need it."
While observing Huohuo's use of the device, Pei Guang had also noticed this flaw. And how to put it… it might not be a problem for ordinary people, but for him as a player, it was a bit fatal.
Thinking back to the time he'd spent in this world experiencing the game's content: it had already been almost two months, right? And the whole time, it felt like he was either fighting or heading to a fight.
Judging by Huohuo's display of strength, Pei Guang felt this transformation device was basically just a toy—fun, but not exactly practical.
However, in countless games, things that are "toys" to players are often top-tier equipment for NPCs or locals. Pei Guang understood this logic well. That's why he didn't say this out loud to Huohuo.
It was just a personal perspective: no need to use his view to dampen Huohuo's enthusiasm.
And clearly, Huohuo was extremely happy now. Fighting Phantylia side by side with Tail, even if it was just a clone, gave Huohuo newfound confidence in her relationship with Tail.
But having confidence was one thing—being afraid was another. That said, compared to before, she was doing a lot better now. After all, this time she really had something to rely on.
Thinking about all this, Pei Guang looked at Huohuo and encouraged her.
"Huohuo, the fact that you could knock out Phantylia's memory body first phase with so little charge time shows how strong you can be. I believe that once you've built up enough energy, you and Tail can become the strongest human and Heliobus pair: show the other Heliobi and humans what your bond looks like!"
For some reason, hearing Pei Guang say the word bond made Huohuo feel all fired up.
"That's right! We have to let everyone see the bond between me and Tail! Come on, Tail! Let's go back to Fyxestroll Garden and seal up the rest of the unsealed Heliobi!"
Huohuo now had a bit of fighting spirit. Although she sounded mighty, hugging her flag like that still made her look a bit unconvincing.
But compared to how she used to not even dare go near those places, Huohuo had clearly grown a lot.
Seeing the full-of-confidence Huohuo, Pei Guang waved his hand: "Alright, you two go back to Fyxestroll Garden. As for me and Stelle, we're planning to go take a break. As for the Heliobus stuff, it's not urgent if you're handling it. If you run into any outliers that you can't deal with, just contact me. We're the Trailblazers, after all: we take all kinds of jobs."
Huohuo: "Okay! Really, thank you both so much. I…"
Huohuo started to speak some words of gratitude, but Pei Guang waved her off: "No need for that. Just promise me one thing: next time you give us a quest, don't make us eat emotional knives."
Huohuo shook her head quickly: "I won't give you emotional knives!"
Seeing the girl completely misunderstanding what he meant, Pei Guang simply chuckled. Then he added, "Alright~ then it's settled. As your reward for this mission, we get… not having to eat emotional knives~"
At that moment, Pei Guang was in a great mood. He understood that many game stories used emotional pain and conflict to drive drama, but that didn't mean players actually liked those endings.
Especially when he's personally involved, Pei Guang prefers slightly happier endings. He knows his own limits—he's not someone who can save everyone—but as long as the outcome looks pleasing to him, feels comfortable to be part of, and doesn't stab him in the heart when it comes to people he likes, that's good enough.
And seeing how happy Huohuo was now, and thinking about her current combat power, Pei Guang felt like things on her end should be fine. Maybe not invincible, but at least against enemies below the level of an Emanator, if she transformed and held out until he arrived as a player to trigger an emergency mission: that much seemed manageable.
After parting ways with Huohuo and Tail, Pei Guang and Stelle returned to Belobog. By the time they arrived, it was still deep night in the city.
On the dark streets, a few Silvermane Guards were stationed and keeping watch. Influenced by both the Aetherium Wars and the upcoming festival celebrations, even at this late hour there were still scattered visitors enjoying Belobog's unique snowy scenery.
Walking through Belobog's streets, Stelle felt an odd sense of relaxation. She turned to Pei Guang and said, "We went through a lot tonight, huh? If March found out everything we did, she'd be insanely jealous, don't you think?"
Pei Guang spread his hands. "Who could've predicted all that? At first, I just wanted to check if something happened to Fu Xuan, but then it turned into a nested quest. Still, overall it turned out pretty well—got a decent haul~"
After experiencing the Heliobus' powers firsthand, Pei Guang did feel a bit conflicted about having to collect them for crafting, but judging by the number of Heliobi out there and his current collection methods, it'd probably take quite a while to gather 999 of them.
No big deal: he's a player, after all, and has plenty of patience. Whether it's MMOs or single-player, Pei Guang has played a ton of grind-heavy games. Spending a few months farming for a single piece of gear? Been there, done that.
But if he had to name the item that took him the longest to grind? That would have to be the Dazed Set from the level 90 era of DNF. Pei Guang remembered it vividly: he spent a whole year running dungeons to collect the fragments and finally exchanged them for the full set.
So now, with this ultra-crazy 999 Heliobi fusion project, Pei Guang set himself a small goal: to finish it in no less than a year.
With a clear target in mind, he suddenly felt energized!
Listening to Pei Guang and seeing the expression on his face, Stelle smiled too. "Totally~ Let's head back to the hotel. But hey, before we go to bed, want to come to my room? When I was playing Victory Zone with March earlier, I downloaded a few fun games."
Pei Guang's eyes lit up. "Oh? Playing games inside a game? That's awesome, let's go!"
Under Stelle's coaxing, Pei Guang ended up in her room. The two of them sprawled on the bed, happily playing games together. Though they were just simple single-player fighting games on her phone, Pei Guang and Stelle had an absolute blast.
They played until they were exhausted, and by dawn, Stelle had dozed off without realizing it. Watching her fall asleep on the bed, Pei Guang also felt unusually tired.
Go back to his room? Too much effort. Stelle didn't take up much space, and there was still enough room for him to lie down. So he just climbed into the bed.
The moment he lay down, Pei Guang was fast asleep.
NOTE: Today only one chapter