TN: And we're back! sorry for the week long hiatus, it was not intentional since I had to get my right leg in a cast after tripping 3 floors down a stairwell (like an idiot ://) and be unable to use my PC setup upstairs BUT I should be OK now.
Anyways, Thanks for Arcanic Madness, WeissAkumu and WolfWTF for becoming as Supporters!,
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That worked out nicely.
At the very least, it would make the Aeons understand this much: if you dare to smash my stall and delay my money-making—even an Aeon is getting slapped twice across the face!
Sylvester nodded, seizing the chance to press the point. "Eh~~ Your attitude's not bad at least. Remember this: voyeurism plus malicious competition is not allowed around here."
"Foreign Aeons just arriving at the Luofu might not know our local rules. I'll let you off this time."
"…"
HooH fell silent for a long while.
THEY were perfectly aware that the human before THEM was mocking THEM.
While gods did not place great importance on humans, it was impossible for THEM to be completely ignorant either. In order to maintain Equilibrium, THEY had observed countless humans—virtually every type imaginable, THEY had seen at least a few.
But THEY did not care about the disrespect in Sylvester's words.
Because the battle just now had already proven that caring was pointless.
HooH endured Sylvester's verbal teasing and justified THEMSELVES inwardly.
A ripple of intent entered Sylvester's mind.
"What I did was neither voyeurism nor malicious competition. Everything was for the sake of Equilibrium."
"That Curio allows a person of the present to return to the past. The disturbance caused by this tiny butterfly wing—after fanning for twenty years before reaching today's starry sea—whether it fades without a trace or triggers a catastrophic storm, even gods cannot predict."
"Stopping him was the most direct and least costly solution."
Sylvester waved a hand dismissively. "I know. Of course I know. But I can't just take that kind of undeserved hit, can I?"
"And besides, my customer drew that Curio fair and square by luck, just to fulfill his lifelong wish. What did he do wrong? Crushing his hope outright like that—your Aeon-style methods are way too overbearing."
Sylvester refuted HooH's reasoning, though he was not incapable of understanding the risks THEY mentioned.
So, he offered a solution.
Hands on his hips, Sylvester smiled cheerfully. "Ah, but I'm not some kind of devil. I can forgive an Aeon's arrogance. And I also happen to have a way to deal with the time issue. As long as you do as I say, we'll call this matter settled."
Seeing the smile on the human's face, HooH inexplicably felt a sense of foreboding.
THEY had a feeling that Sylvester's proposal would not make THEM comfortable.
But unfortunately, after losing the previous bout, how could the initiative still be in THEIR hands? THEY were nothing more than a pitiful, weak, helpless little Aeon.
A sigh rippled through the cosmos as HooH said helplessly, "I will comply."
Sylvester clapped his hands happily. "Excellent. Now that is an Aeon who serves the people."
He gave HooH a thumbs-up. "You can manifest—good potential to be loved by the people of the Xianzhou."
After all, being a god to the Xianzhou was a very practical position. A useless god truly got no worship at all.
Putting away his playful tone, Sylvester explained Aventurine's situation in detail.
"Aven—uh, the guy going back to the past. His goal is to save his family members who are about to die."
"Other than that, he won't do anything else. The two people he's saving are just ordinary folks with no power whatsoever, and the planet they're on will soon become an uninhabited wasteland anyway."
"And he can only stay in the past for two hours. After that, the only historical change will be the survival of those two people. In other words, it's basically impossible for this to have any meaningful impact on the universe."
Sylvester paused. "Mm… of course, if for an Aeon, two extra people eating rice for twenty years counts as a major impact, then pretend I didn't say anything."
"It does not. Aeons do not care about rice," HooH's intent replied. Even with the best temper, it was hard not to react to that.
They could tolerate disrespect—but not being underestimated!
Did humans not know that gods also had dignity?
Still, the temporal impact being minimal was indeed good news. HooH thought wearily.
"Oh? That's actually pretty decent—more broad-minded than I expected," Sylvester teased.
"Ahem. But I also understand that statistically speaking, there's still an infinitesimal chance something unexpected could happen. And that's where you come in."
Sylvester stared at HooH, smiling warmly as he confirmed, "I remember that Aeons aren't bound by time, right? Especially ones like you, with the ability to repair the universe—it should be even easier. Correct?"
"…"
Looking at that smile, HooH felt a chill—no, a divine chill—crawl through THEIR being.
For a moment, THEY even felt the urge to lie and brush him off.
But after hesitating for a long time, THEY still answered dejectedly, "Yes. Contact with past selves is possible."
That was exactly what Sylvester wanted to hear. He clapped his hands together and laughed. "Perfect! Then this is easy."
"Pass everything that's happened over the last twenty years to your past self. Then have your past self compare events one by one, eliminating them case by case."
"Keep an eye on the two people to be saved around the clock. Ignore trivial stuff; step in directly for anything major. Wouldn't that solve everything?"
Highly satisfied with his own 'exhaustive method,' Sylvester smiled. "It's a bit troublesome, sure—but for an Aeon, that's child's play, right?"
"…"
If HooH had a head, THEY felt that THEIR veins would be bulging right now.
Yes—this wasn't that difficult.
Tracking a person's interactions, the people they influenced; then tracking who those people influenced, repeating the process at least ten times, and resolving every possible hazard—while it involved thousands upon thousands of people and events and was extraordinarily tedious…
Truth be told, this was the kind of work THEY did all the time. THEY were long used to it.
But to do it as Sylvester described—watching two humans every single day for twenty years, settling their problems—
What would that make THEM?
An Aeon lowering THEMSELVES to secretly act as a human bodyguard? A nanny?!
What?!
Since the birth of the first star—before life had even had time to emerge—through endless ages, THEY had never heard of such a thing, let alone seen an Aeon do it!
Even Aha, for all THEIR carefree absurdity, had never crossed a line this outrageous!
And HooH did not have Aha's "I-don't-care-about-anything" mindset!
This was utterly unacceptable…
"So?" Sylvester folded his arms and tilted his head casually. "You in or not? I'm still in a hurry to go back and sleep. You agree, and we'll put the whole 'attempted malicious destruction of my Curio' incident behind us."
His tone was lazy—but the sharp glint in his eyes showed he wasn't asking for an opinion at all.
"…Fine," HooH agreed.
This was not a treaty under duress.
This was—for Equilibrium.
The Aeon comforted THEMSELVES as such.
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