Stellar Train: I Open a Small Shop on the Train-Chapter 164

ADa had already sent the customers out.

Aether continued speaking.

"You guys can get off work for today. I've got some personal matters to handle."

Upon hearing this, Ada called the other employees and left the shop.

Bang! The shop door was shut.

Lumina glanced back at the tightly closed door and swallowed hard. This felt... ominous.

Aether clenched his fists, bones cracking audibly.

"Stupid Lumine! Prepare to die!"

A series of screams echoed from Aether's teahouse.

Pedestrians nearby heard the commotion and quickly ran to call the patrolling Millelith.

When the Millelith opened the shop door, they were shocked by the scene in front of them.

There, they saw—

Lumine was sitting on a wooden chair, and beneath it lay Aether, bruised and battered.

Lumine clapped her hands.

"Tch~ I thought you'd be more impressive. This level? I can handle you with one hand."

Aether lay face-down beneath the chair, on the verge of tears.

Damn it! When did my annoying little sister get so strong? I can't beat her at all!

Lumine noticed the Millelith and quickly explained.

"No worries, no worries, he's my brother. We're just messing around, it's fine, really. Don't trouble yourselves, good sirs."

The Millelith compared their appearances—they really did look quite alike.

So—

The Millelith waved and withdrew their team.

After they left, Lumine stood up and clapped her hands again.

"Ah, refreshing. Paimon, let's go. Time to head back for a nap."

Without looking back, Lumine walked out of Aether's teahouse.

On the way out, Paimon even grabbed two cups of bubble tea from the counter.

Amphoreus.

Tribbie, Trianne, and Trinnon returned to Okhema.

Not long after their return, Aglaea arrived with Phainon and Castorice.

"Ms. Tribbie, Ms. Trianne, Ms. Trinnon, you're back," Castorice greeted politely.

Trianne stood with her hands on her hips.

"Yup, we're back. Castorice, you and Tribbie, Trinnon, and Phainon are going to Xuanfeng City tomorrow, right?"

Castorice nodded.

"Yes, Ms. Tribbie. When the time comes, we'll need your help to open the gate."

Trianne waved a small hand.

"No problem! Open it as much as you want, open a hundred times if needed!"

Castorice gave a wry smile.

"Ms. Trianne, the Gate of a Hundred Worlds isn't something that can be opened casually. Every time takes a toll on your body."

Trianne puffed up proudly.

"I'm not like before anymore! Now I really can open it as many times as I want!"

Aglaea added from the side.

"That's right, Ms. Trianne can now freely open the Gate of a Hundred Worlds."

Castorice and Phainon were confused.

"What do you mean by that?"

Aglaea explained.

"We visited Stelle and her group's train. While we were there—"

She recounted the story of how Ye Yun had given Trianne medicine.

After hearing it—

"I think we should find a way to repay this favor," Castorice said.

Phainon agreed.

"Yeah, if it were a small favor, it wouldn't matter between friends. But this one... is way too big."

Aglaea thought for a moment.

"I remember there are a lot of treasure chests around Okhema City. Let's go find some. They contain something called Star Jades.

Those can be exchanged for Star Coins. Later, we can go buy stuff from Ye Yun.

But let's leave that for now. You two get some rest—you're heading to Janusopolis City tomorrow."

Castorice and Phainon agreed and left the Hero Bath.

The next day arrived.

Stelle and Dan Heng arrived early at the Hero Bath.

Before long, Hutao, Amber, Eula, Ayaka, and Yoimiya stepped out of the teleportation portal.

Hutao looked around.

"So this is Okhema? Looks pretty nice~"

Amber glanced around.

"This seems to be a bathhouse? All bathing areas, huh."

Stelle nodded.

"Yup! This is called the Hero Bath. Only heroes get to bathe here. Pretty cool, huh?"

Hutao gave a thumbs-up.

"Cool! So when are we heading out? I thought there was a fight involved?"

Dan Heng replied.

"Still waiting for a few more people. Don't be in such a hurry."

The group relaxed and played around the bath for a bit before Mydei, Phainon, and Trianne arrived.

Mydei noticed the extra few people and asked Dan Heng:

"Who are these?"

Dan Heng introduced them.

"They're our friends, joining us on this trip to Janusopolis City."

Mydei nodded and greeted them all.

Phainon, standing to the side, urged them on.

"Let's save the friendly chit-chat. Time to head out."

Trianne stepped up beside them.

"Everyone ready?"

The group nodded.

Tian stretched out her hand.

"Gate of a Hundred Worlds—Open!"

A portal glowing with holy light appeared and sucked in Stelle, Mydei, and the rest.

Through the gate, they arrived in a ruined building.

Tian stood beside them.

"All done! This time I'm coming with you. If anything dangerous happens, I'll open the gate and get everyone home safe!"

The group began exploring Janusopolis City.

As they walked, Hutao's eyes lit up. She tugged Stelle's sleeve.

"Stelle! Look over there! Isn't that a treasure chest?"

Stelle followed her finger and indeed saw a wooden box.

"Let's go check it out."

Stelle led Hutao over and opened it.

Inside were 5 Star Jades and some materials.

Stelle picked up the Star Jades and called to the group.

"Everyone! Hold up a second—I've got something important to say!"

Mydei, Phainon, Dan Heng and the others returned.

"What is it, Stelle?" Bai'e asked.

Stelle opened her hand to show the 5 Star Jades.

"There are treasure chests here. Should we split up or work together?

If we work together, we split the Star Coins evenly after converting them."

Hutao, Amber, and Eula immediately agreed.

Seeing that everyone was on board, Xing said:

"Great. We'll split evenly at the end. Let's form groups—this place is big and there should be lots of chests. Splitting up will be faster."

Mydei, Phainon, and Dan Heng formed one group.

Hutao, Ayaka, and Yoimiya formed another.

Stelle, Amber, Eula, and Tian formed the third.

Castorice's group focused on dealing with the Conflict Titans.

The other two groups focused on chest hunting.

Hutao zoomed around Janusopolis City on her wind-fire wheels, taking out any Titan minions she ran into with one shot.

Ayaka and Yoimiya followed behind at a slower pace, just opening the chests.

Yoimiya watched Hutao's impressive display with awe.

"Liyue is full of hidden talent. She's about our age but already this strong..."

***

Ayaka spoke.

"You might not know this—Master Hu is the 77th head of Liyue's Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, constantly traversing the boundary between life and death, dealing with all sorts of demons and spirits.

Also, the Geo Archon of Liyue is the Parlor's consultant and has watched Hu Tao grow up since she was little."

Yoimiya responded in surprise.

"I see! No wonder Hutao is so powerful—she was taught personally by the Geo Archon!"

Ayaka smiled.

"In terms of spear techniques, yes, she was taught by the Geo Archon. But the main reason for Hutao's strength is actually her equipment.

Her gear was made by Ye Yun's shop, and it's extremely valuable."

Hearing this, Yoimiya got excited.

"Is that so? Then we need to find more treasure chests! I want a set of powerful equipment too!"

Ayaka nodded with a smile and led Yoimiya to continue searching for treasure chests.

Meanwhile, the minions of the Titan of Strife had all been taken care of by Hutao, so the two could safely loot the area.

Elsewhere...

Stelle, Amber, and Eula had arrived at a grand hall.

Stelle stood in front of a control panel, controlling a giant stone hand flying around in the air.

"Hehe~ This is fun! Oho~ There's a monster—take this punch, bang! Eliminated!"

Eula stood guard with her greatsword, while Amber had her bow ready, a flaming arrow nocked and waiting to be released.

While playing, Stelle's head got a little itchy and she reached to scratch it, but her grip on the controller slipped, and the stone hand slammed into the central platform.

She quickly lifted the stone hand again. As it rose, a spiraling staircase revealed itself underneath.

Amber, with her sharp eyes, called out:

"Stelle! Something's there—it looks like a secret room. Should we go check it out?"

The mention of a secret room lit up Stelle's eyes like dollar signs.

"A secret room?! There's gotta be treasure! Let's go!"

With the Judgment of Shamash slung over her shoulder, Stelle jumped straight down toward the platform.

Amber and Eula quickly followed.

They descended the spiral staircase and stepped onto an elevator, which brought them down into a hidden chamber.

Inside were three luxurious treasure chests.

Stelle drooled with excitement and rushed to open them. As she did, radiant light spilled out, illuminating her face.

She looked inside and grabbed all the Stellar Jades—ninety in total across the three chests.

"This is a huge win!"

"Whoa! So many Stellar Jades! Quick, check if there are more nearby!"

Amber and Eula were also thrilled and began searching the chamber thoroughly.

After confirming there were no more chests, the three returned to the platform via the elevator.

Stelle carefully stored the 90 Stellar Jades.

"Let's keep going and see what else we can find."

—

Meanwhile, Dan Heng, Phainon, and Mydei had found the Titan of Strife and engaged it in battle.

The trio was stronger overall, but the Titan of Strife had a broken ability—an insane regeneration factor.

Mydei took the lead, clashing head-on with the Titan.

Dan Heng and Phainon supported from the side, looking for openings to strike.

Once again, they wounded the Titan badly, only to see it quickly regenerate right before their eyes.

Mydei frowned.

"Dan Heng, Phainon, you two fall back! I'll hold it off!"

But before he could make his move, a voice came from above.

"Yoohoo~ Running into trouble? Want this Parlor Master's help?"

The three looked up to see Hutao standing on a flaming wheel, smiling down at them.

Just then, the Titan, now fully healed, hurled a spear at Hutao.

She somersaulted out of the way.

"Wow, sneak attack? Not very sportsmanlike! Time to teach you a lesson!"

She spun her spear in a flourish, flames bursting from its tip.

"Take this!"

In a flash, Hutao appeared in front of the Titan and plunged her spear into its body.

The Titan roared in pain and reached for her, but Hu Tao released the spear and flipped away.

Landing smoothly, she formed a hand seal, a smirk on her lips.

"Try this new trick I developed—Firetip Spear... explode!"

With her shout, the embedded spear exploded in a burst of flames, severely wounding the Titan.

But even that wasn't enough—it began healing again.

Hutao summoned another fiery spear into her hand.

"Dang, this big skeleton heals crazy fast! No wonder you guys are having trouble.

Well, let's see how many times you can regenerate! Come on!"

She charged again, with Mydei, Dan Heng, and Phainon joining her.

Soon, Ayaka and Yoimiya arrived and joined the fight.

With six of them attacking at once, the Titan was overwhelmed, unable to fight back effectively.

Before long, Stelle, Amber, Eula, and Tian also arrived.

Seeing the battle, Stelle shouted:

"Out of the way! Galactic Fire Hero, coming through!"

Hearing her, everyone cleared a path.

Stelle leapt high, raising her Judgment of Shamash.

"Judgment of Shamash, unsheathe!"

The Titan took the full force of the blow and collapsed.

Stelle landed and eyed it cautiously.

"Whoa! What is this thing? Took my 'Heavenly Fire Unsheathe' and it's still alive? Is it a Bloomed Emanator? Doesn't look like one..."

Trianne explained:

"This is the Titan of Strife. It can infinitely regenerate its injuries."

Stelle rolled up her sleeves and turned to Trianne.

"Trianne, open a gate—get them outta here."

Trianne was puzzled.

"What are you going to do?"

Dan Heng caught on.

"Miss Trianne, open the gate. Stelle's going to finish it off. Her next move is too dangerous—it might hurt us too."

Trianne understood.

"Got it! Right away!

Hundred Realms Gate—open!"

Everyone leapt into the gate and vanished.

Left alone, Stelle faced the fully recovered Titan.

"Healing fast, huh? Let's see how you recover when I vaporize your cells!"

She gripped her weapon tightly.

"Second Stellaron—activate!

Judgment Of Shamash, Unsheathe: Annihilation!"

—

Back at the top of the Ochema Garden, Trianne and the others returned.

Mydei and Phainon looked nervously toward Janusopolis City.

Hutao reassured them.

"Don't worry. Stelle's got this."

Dan Heng nodded slowly.

"Yeah."

Suddenly, the ground trembled violently, and Mydei and Phainon's eyes widened in shock at what they saw.