Millia and conversation with the group.

Two days late—sorry about that. I ended up running out of battery on the 24th, and the 25th was my mom's birthday. I spent the day with her and barely had any time.

I won't ramble too much here. I only slept three hours last night, and I need to get some rest since I'm hitting the road early tomorrow. Good night, everyone, and enjoy the chapter!

(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori.

[...]---[...]

When we arrived at the Proto-A's cafeteria, we sat around the main table.

And by "main table," I mean the one we always used. They were all identical — rectangular, with backless chairs. The only difference with this one was that I had modified the chairs to be more comfortable.

I had plans to redesign the Proto-A's interior now that there was no longer a malevolent gaze looming above the clouds. I wanted to make it feel less like a "gray military ship" and more like a "home/ mobile base."

Curiously, everyone had fallen into a kind of thoughtful silence after my words.

Once seated, I lifted Alalia from my head and placed her on the table. She created a small wooden chair that latched onto the edge, just to my right, at the far left end of the table. The dryad looked a bit better after my words — and after crying a few liters of sap.

It was normal sap, unfortunately. I analyzed it and then burned it away with Shadowflame to clean my hair. If it had any magical or special properties, I would've kept it in my inventory.

The seating order was as follows: I was in the lower-left corner of the table; Alalia, with her attached chair, sat at the left end; Jinn was on my right, followed by Dylan and Gilbert to her right.

On the opposite side, facing me, was Charlotte, with Ísis to her right and Robyn across from her father.

Charlotte had insisted I sit at the head of the table, but I refused. I didn't care where I sat when I was surrounded by friends.

With a snap of my fingers, several dishes, foods, and drinks appeared on the table, emerging from the VoidBag.

"I'm a bit hungry. We can eat while we talk," I said — a lie, since I wasn't hungry at all, but no one objected. "Just… let me do something first before we start."

"Millia?" Jinn asked.

I nodded. I wasn't surprised she knew — she could sense part of my emotions through our connection.

Again, no one opposed my words.

I turned my attention to the VoidBag and easily found what I was looking for: the Slime Staff.

Pulling it out, I held it in my right hand.

I'd never actually analyzed this thing either, had I?

I remembered how expensive it was to analyze right after obtaining it — and that was all.

Was it absurdly expensive to analyze? Of course. Even now, I probably didn't have enough SP. I hadn't checked how much I'd gained after the Blood Moon. But thinking back, I realized I'd never tried to analyze the staff again — or something had always distracted me, like Simon's earring…

How many items like that had I overlooked? Was Dylan's Water Bolt, the one he used on Jille, one of them? Maybe something in Winterhord? Did I miss anything in Shahrabad?

Again — I had no idea...

I brushed those thoughts aside — which, admittedly, sounded a little too convenient. Why ignore it now instead of just doing it? But this time, the reason was good.

I wanted to see Millia.

Slowly, I guided my mana into the Slime Staff — a fine, gentle thread, as if knocking softly on a door.

The other times I tried, there had been no response. The staff had sealed itself during the storm — a protective measure from the runes when they sensed that thing's presence.

This time was different.

After that "knock," I felt something stir inside.

I let out a relieved sigh when it happened.

I'd had a theory that the "void" in my left shoulder, arm, and eye could be recognized by the staff as part of that damned eye, keeping the seal in place. Thankfully, I was wrong.

The runes and mystical symbols on the Slime Staff began to glow — and, in the next moment, Millia appeared in front of me, atop the table.

She looked different. Her size was almost the same — maybe slightly larger, but barely noticeable. However, her color, both in her gel and her core, had changed.

Where her gel was once a light green with darker patches, it was now a soft, spotless pink. Her core, once a rocky gray, now shone with a metallic silver tone.

She seemed confused for a moment, spinning her body as if "looking" around.

After a quick inspection, I felt her "gaze" settle on me. Her small body began to tremble, and "drops" started sliding down her gel — as if she were crying.

"Devas!"

Then she leapt toward me, shouting.

Her voice was feminine and childlike — unmistakably that of a little girl.

Strangely, I could partly recognize it. It sounded like a fusion of my own childhood voice — slightly more feminine — and someone else's I couldn't identify.

Childish, yet carrying a faint noble tone.

Even so, it still vaguely resembled my own.

I raised my right hand to catch her, but to my surprise, Millia wrapped herself around my hand and used the back of my palm to propel herself onto my chest. When she hit, her gel splashed and spread, wrapping around my torso in a sort of gooey embrace.

That was new. She hadn't been this flexible — or this fluid — before. Even her core had flattened slightly with her body. Wasn't that supposed to be solid?

"You're okay! I thought… I thought…" Her words trailed off as her voice turned tearful, her body trembling harder until all that was left were soft sobs, her gel dripping all over my chest.

I could feel her worry and relief overflowing. It was a cry of happiness.

I could sense her emotions far more clearly than the Terrarians' — probably because she instinctively projected them through her mana, the way slimes communicated.

"It's alright, I'm here…" I murmured.

Slowly, I placed my hand on her back — or what counted as one — as if comforting someone in tears.

I let her cry silently until she calmed down.

While waiting, my mind wandered in an odd direction: if I got a coin for every time I saw someone cry something other than tears, I'd have three coins.

Not a lot — but strange for it to happen three times in the same week.

I nodded to the others, signaling they could start eating. No one did.

After about three minutes, Millia began to calm down. Slowly, she released me and dropped into my right palm. I lifted her up to eye level.

…Déjà vu.

"I like the new color. It suits you," I said with a faint smile.

"…I like it too." The childlike voice came from within the little slime. "It reminds me of Mom. Am I pretty?"

"The prettiest of them all." I didn't hesitate to answer. "The cutest and most amazing slime there is."

I felt her joy expand outward. A soft hum resonated from within her gel, spreading in waves.

The way she spoke was fascinating.

She vibrated her core at the frequency of the words while imbuing a certain "intent" into her mana, which coated the sound waves, vibrating and radiating outward.

"And my voice?" she asked. "Is it good? I didn't have much time to practice before…"

Her voice faltered, her body going still.

"…I wanted to surprise you." She sounded sulky and sad, her body puffing up slightly, like she was pouting.

"Surprise me with your voice?"

"Mhm…" she nodded. "I based it on yours, but I thought it was too masculine, so I mixed it with Aunt Alice's and tried to imitate how the children I saw talked."

I'll admit, knowing that her voice was inspired by my own childhood one hit me harder than I expected.

"I wanted to wait for the right moment to jump out of the staff and surprise you, but… I started getting sleepy." Her tone was drenched in melancholy and sadness.

The way she expressed emotions made everything crystal clear — not just to me, who could feel them, but even to the others, judging by their reactions.

"It was the same drowsiness I felt when Mom and Dad left me in Aunt Alice's garden. Suddenly my thoughts got slow, and then… nothing."

"I tried to stay awake, but I couldn't. Even when I tried to get out of the staff, I felt it blocking me. I only managed to catch a glimpse of the outside before everything went dark."

"The last thing I felt before falling asleep was the gaze of something evil… I've felt that presence before — when Mom and Dad left… I thought that when I woke up, I'd be alone again…"

Her melancholy and sadness were swallowed by raw fear.

Millia's small pink body trembled and shrank, as if just remembering that gaze — and the possibility of waking up with no one around — terrified her completely...

How strange… the room darkened. The colors faded.

"Devas…" I felt Jinn's hand on my arm.

I turned my eyes from Millia to her. Jinn's eyes were beautiful.

My right pupil contracted and throbbed.

When had the Transparent World activated?...

Something trickled down to the tip of my nose.

My head was pounding.

"What?" I asked.

She didn't answer verbally — she only pointed downward. I followed her gesture.

Below, the floor wasn't a floor.

Color was absent.

Dozens of thousands of hungry eyes stared back at me.

"Oh… sorry." I apologized once I realized what I was doing.

It seemed the side effects caused by the birth of the Shadow Puppet were worse than I'd thought. My mental and emotional state were a bit unstable.

And this headache wasn't helping either...

I felt my face grow slightly warm. Damn, how embarrassing...

"Go home, all of you." I ordered. The eyes vanished — along with the shadow that covered the ground.

I closed my "second right eye" and deactivated the Transparent World. My headache eased almost instantly.

Honestly, that ability was ridiculously overpowered, but the amount of information that flooded in when I used it was a bit inconvenient.

I burned the blood running down from the scar that had reopened on my forehead to the tip of my nose with the Shadowflame. I didn't bother worrying if more would spill — the wound had already closed again.

I heard a few audible sighs of relief, but I ignored them and focused on Millia.

The small slime "looked" at me, a trace of surprise seeping from her. The fear was fading considerably.

"Your left eye… what happened to it?" She shaped her own gel into a small pink hand and pointed toward my "second right eye," then to my left arm.

"Your arm looks strange too. I can't really tell — my vision gets fuzzy when I try to focus on those areas — but something feels wrong... You fought while I was asleep, didn't you?"

She connected the dots easily. Clever, as always.

"There was a fight." I didn't lie. "These are just some of the injuries I got, but I won."

I brought Millia slightly closer to my face as I spoke. Then, without hesitation, I gently lied:

"Just like I'll always win. Just like every time you leave the Slime Staff, you'll find me there. You'll never be alone again — I promise."

The little slime's emotions rippled, as did her body. The fear faded, replaced by relief. Then came happiness, mixed with sadness.

"…Liar… It's bad to make promises you can't keep. You're only saying that to make me feel better."

A faint smile slipped onto my face. She really was too smart.

"You're right — making promises you can't keep is bad." I nodded in agreement. "But I will keep this one. No matter what — or who — nothing will stop me from keeping it. You'll never be alone again."

Millia didn't reply verbally. She just "looked" at me for a moment before shaping her pink gel into a ":D".

I could feel she was happy with my words.

I really was a terrible person.

[…]

After my short talk with Millia, I introduced her to Ísis, who was the only one that hadn't met her yet.

The two got along well — not that I expected otherwise — and now Ísis was quietly chatting with Millia while they both ate sweets and talked about shades of pink and a possible party.

It was so cute it almost gave me diabetes.

Meanwhile, as we ate, the "adult" conversation began.

"So, what's the real extent of your injuries?" Dylan was the first to ask after finishing his plate. "Not the summarized version you gave earlier."

I had suggested eating while we talked for that exact reason — I could feel that some of them hadn't eaten yet.

I hummed softly while spinning a butter knife between my fingers.

"Again: physically, I'm fine. Not a hundred percent, of course. My body feels… uncomfortable, that's the best word for it. Nothing really hurts, but I feel kind of feverish, kind of cold, and somewhat distant — like my vision is a few centimeters behind where it should be."

"The heat and cold come from how my mana and vitality are right now. That, and the 'void' trying to devour me."

I explained as best I could. Then I pulled up my status, opened the debuffs, and asked Jinn to project an illusion so everyone could read them.

Charlotte, Robyn, Gilbert, and Dylan took a few minutes to read everything. Ísis was still distracting Millia, so she didn't look.

"What the fuck?…" I heard Robyn mutter.

I ignored the incredulous looks — the kind that asked whether they were staring at someone who should already be dead — and continued:

"As for the more metaphysical side: my mana is, as you saw, kind of trying to roast me from the inside out. Same with my vitality. That's because I used the ten mana and life crystals I had stored."

Alalia reacted first.

"Ten?! No wonder you're like this… I'm surprised you didn't explode! How did you not explode?!"

"Right… what exactly are mana and life crystals?" Gilbert asked, giving me a worried look. "Judging by the name, I'll guess they're like Mana Stones, but stronger — they actually increase your mana instead of just refilling it? And the Life Crystal does the same for vitality?"

"Yeah… roughly speaking, that's right," I answered.

"Not even close!" Alalia shot back instantly, slamming the doll's hands on the table. "A Mana Crystal and a Life Crystal are the purest forms of the planet's mana and vitality — crystallized! Mana Stones can't even compare to them."

"And they don't just increase mana and vitality," she continued.

"Absorbing a Mana or Life Crystal requires a complex ritual that connects you to the surrounding nature. Only then can you safely absorb it, expanding your mana and attuning it more closely to the world itself. That used to be something only Fae who had achieved great deeds were rewarded with, long ago."

That… I didn't know. The item description hadn't said anything like that. Sure, it mentioned that one method of absorbing them was through a ritual — but it also said I could just eat them.

Even my status didn't mention being more attuned to the world. But that actually explained a lot.

Was that why everything felt so harmonious to me now? I thought it was because of the Transparent World.

Dylan, who had been jotting down parts of the conversation in a small notebook, paused. He lifted his eyes from the pages and asked:

"Any chance that ritual might have backfired since you're not native to Terraria? And how powerful are those crystals, exactly?" He looked at me, then turned his gaze toward Alalia.

"It shouldn't—"

"I didn't do any ritual — I just broke and absorbed the crystals," I cut in. Alalia looked at me like I'd just grown a second head. Dylan let out a tired sigh. "As for how powerful the crystals are, each one increased my mana and vitality by ten percent. I don't know if it's the same for the ones Alalia's talking about."

"Ten percent?… I can see why that was such a great reward for the Fae. With ten crystals, that would basically double— no. Is it compounded?"

I answered his question with a nod. His eyes lit up blue.

"One hundred and fifty-nine point five percent, then. Incredible…"

While Dylan scribbled something in his notebook, I turned to Alalia.

"You know the crystals. Do you know where more of them exist?" I asked. Besides helping me, they'd be incredibly useful for everyone.

Unfortunately, life wasn't that simple.

"I do… but not many," she answered slowly. "I know where the last seven are — three vitality and four mana. I can help you retrieve them later."

"The last ones?" Charlotte joined in. "You just said those crystals were the pure essence of the world's mana and vitality. Please don't tell me the planet's dying."

The doll shook her head.

"Nothing like that. It's because of the seal around the world," she began to explain.

"These crystals form when a portion of the planet's vitality and mana leak directly from its heart. Even I can't create something like that without paying a price. With the planet sealed, the amount that leaks is minimal — thinner and weaker — so the crystals I mentioned probably won't be as effective as the ones Devas used. Maybe half, or even less."

She paused before adding, "And those seven were the only ones that existed when I woke up, five hundred years ago."

"Seven… still better than nothing," I muttered. "Can Terrarians use them?"

Depending on that, it might be best for others to use them instead. We could dilute the crystals and try to make something like a potion that slightly boosted mana and vitality — or at least stimulated their growth.

I didn't want to touch those crystals again anytime soon, not until my body normalized.

"Yes and no. All living beings can use them, but I highly doubt anyone besides you could do it without the ritual."

"And this is where you tell me you don't know the ritual because you're a dryad, so you've never needed to use crystals or deepen your connection with the world?" I guessed.

Alalia opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again and raised both hands in surrender.

"In my defense, that was something only the elder dryads and the Empress of Light knew. It's not like I got any lessons on it before being kicked into the future…" she pouted, the wood of her cheeks puffing out slightly — oddly impressive, actually.

"But it shouldn't be that hard to create something similar!" she said quickly. "I have more authority, as I am now, than the elder dryads and the Empress of Light ever had back then. With me supervising, it should work easily — at the very least, it won't go wrong!"

"Something to think about later, I guess…" Dylan didn't sound too convinced. His expression turned thoughtful a moment later.

His eyes stopped glowing blue as he stopped writing and looked up at me.

"Speaking of rituals… what was that… thing? That shadow looked like something out of a dark ritual. You gave us a brief summary earlier, but we were in the middle of a battle and…" He paused, then added quickly, "If it's something you don't want to talk about, you don't have to."

Everyone's attention sharpened. I noticed Ísis glancing at us from the corner of her eye, and even Millia seemed to be listening.

I drummed my fingers on the table as I organized my thoughts on how to explain it. Cleared my throat and said:

"No, I'll explain. I said I would." I looked at Jinn. "Can you bring me the Codex Umbra?"

With two gentle taps on the Relic of Knowledge, the book appeared in her hands before being passed to me.

The aura around the book was almost tame by now, after spending so much time near me, but it must've still been unsettling to the others, judging by their frowns.

Robyn seemed the most affected — her tail of nightmare energy coiled around her right arm, the tip stopping at her palm, where an eye emerged from the shadows, staring at the book.

Curiously, the eye had lost much of its orange hue, now looking more reddish or orange-red.

I had no idea why.

"That thing's disgusting… Who the hell made it?" she half-said, half-hissed, her voice thick with disgust.

"A disturbed man," I answered simply. "It's something I got as a stream reward back in Winterhord, for killing the hallucinations."

I realized, a bit too late, that Ísis had no idea what being an alien or a "stream" even meant. She looked confused but didn't comment.

I'll explain it to her later… maybe.

"Inside the book are the experiments of its creator, Maxwell. Dylan was right when he said the Shadow Puppet looked like something from a dark ritual — I took the ritual from here." I waved the book lightly. "Or at least the base of it, since I made a few modifications."

[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]I still think you should've burned that thing… It gives me chills.(Iron Man shivering emote)

[MoonPrincess]It's on par with the filth of those yokai artifacts that rely on human sacrifice rituals. What a nasty little thing…(Japanese princess disgusted emote)

[TheRainWitch]That really does sound like something pretty evil...

I ignored the messages as they faded into pixelated air.

I didn't explain what the ritual actually was — it would've been a waste of time, and frankly, I didn't want to tell everyone exactly what I'd done.

Jinn would probably ask later, as would Ozma. I could explain it to them — privately.

"In short, one of the side effects I'm dealing with is that my emotions and mind are a bit unstable, thanks to the Shadow Puppet's birth," I continued explaining my current state. "Nothing serious — it's just like I feel a little distant and, at the same time, too close."

"Like you're high?" Robyn raised an eyebrow.

I blinked.

"No?… I don't know, actually. Never used any drugs."

Even at my worst, I'd never touched anything stronger than alcohol.

Dylan kept writing, his expression slightly furrowed. I could sense Jinn mentally recording everything as well, just in case it helped me recover later.

I wasn't explaining things just to talk — the people who could actually help me unfuck myself were all in this room. Showing them what the problem was might help us find a solution together.

Shrugging, I went on.

"As I said before the battle, the Shadow Puppet is me. I am the Shadow Puppet." I tilted my head to the right. The Shadow Puppet tilted its to the left, emerging from within me.

I could feel everyone tense — more out of reflex than actual fear. They clearly didn't like the Shadow Puppet much.

Can't blame them.

Ísis, Millia, and Robyn were the most affected.

It was the first time Millia and Ísis had seen the Shadow Puppet, so their reaction wasn't unexpected — more surprise than anything else, maybe with a hint of discomfort from Ísis.

Robyn, out of all of them, reacted the most visibly. She flinched for a moment, her ears flattening as the orange-red eye on her tail's tip vanished, and her three tails coiled protectively around her body.

I heard her murmur, "So that's what was staring at me earlier…" before taking a deep breath and slowly calming down.

I still needed to look deeper into that connection she'd formed with nightmare energy. It didn't seem negative, but all that sensitivity, combined with her heightened senses and instincts, could backfire later.

Seeing too much could be just as bad as seeing nothing at all.

Straightening my head again, I concluded:

"Anyway, you don't have to think too much about it. The Shadow Puppet's the least of my problems. It's not even really a problem — the symptoms I'm having because of it could be seen as the equivalent of a tattoo's fever, a reaction of the body — or in my case, the mind — to something unusual."

And, in a way, just like many tattoos are done by someone drunk out of their mind with no clue what they're doing — and who regrets it the next morning — the Shadow Puppet could be seen the same way.

But I preferred not to think of it like that.

Regrets were a slow and agonizing kind of death while you were still alive...

After finishing my explanation, I paused and took a sip of water from my glass.

I handed the Codex Umbra back to Jinn, who stored it inside the Relic of Knowledge.

I had already gone through the physical and metaphysical parts — those involving my mana and vitality — and also the mental and emotional ones.

Only the most fucked-up part was left: the "void" itself.

I wondered for a moment whether I should show them or not. Sure, everyone had read the Nightwither's description, but most of them had never actually seen what the "void" was.

Staring into the abyss was always a risk. But sometimes, facing it gave you resistance to the horrors below.

After a moment of hesitation, I decided it was better for them to get an idea of what the "void" looked like — and there was no better time than now, in a controlled environment, with both Alalia and me present.

I flexed my Aura, drawing it outward. A dull gray glow surrounded my body, subtly reflecting the lights of the hall.

It was almost the same gray as usual — slightly darker, I'd say — but this time, there were completely black, "void" holes on my left shoulder and arm. Not to mention where my left eye should've been.

Around those holes, dozens of red symbols, marks, and veins spun in fast, almost aggressive spirals.

Occasionally, purple flares of Shadowflame pulsed around my Aura, and the symbols fused with the marks and veins, forming eye-like shapes that stared into the voids — before unraveling again.

...That was new.

While the others stared at my Aura with mixed emotions, I pulled up my status to check Echo Humanitatis. Almost everything was the same, except for two changes.

The description now included: "Humanity despises stagnation. The void is stagnation. Humanity abhors the void."

And under its functions, a new line had been added: "Resists and automatically attacks anything related to the 'void.'"

A minimal change — the rank hadn't shifted — but an extremely effective one.

Something similar had happened with the Shadowflame, specifically its fourth ability:

-//-

Ability (4) – Orange:The Shadowflame has its damage and temperature increased against beings with attributes [Fallen], [Fallen Angel], [Angel], [Good], [Evil], and [Divine].

Any being connected to the Christian Pantheon (DXD) will struggle to resist the Shadowflame.

The being known as the "God of Light (Remnant)" will take increased damage from the Shadowflame.

[NEW!] The inner heat of the Shadowflame's fire withstands the "cold" that comes from the "void."

-//-

Again, a subtle but useful change. The Shadowflame seemed to fear the "void" deeply, wanting it gone at all costs.

The phrase "to a moderate extent," right before [Divine], had also disappeared.

Seems like burning 'The Eye's' flesh during the battle helped the flame understand divinity better — even if it was that fucked-up, twisted divinity of that fucked-up, twisted eye.

God, how I hated that thing…

I also felt that the flame was on the verge of awakening another ability.

It wasn't far off — probably after I let it devour part of 'The Eye's' corpse.

I'll throw some pieces into the fire later...

…What are the odds I could eat some too, without everyone judging me? He tried to eat me, so it's only fair I return the favor!

While the thought of eating part of 'The Eye' was proposed by the less sane part of my brain, the sane part focused on how everyone reacted to seeing the "void" in my Aura.

Alalia and Jinn didn't seem surprised — expected.

They, along with Melissa, were the ones who took care of me while I was unconscious. Dylan probably handled the more assistant-type duties rather than physical ones.

I wasn't entirely sure about Melissa — I knew she had helped, just not how much.

Even so, both Alalia and Jinn frowned as they looked at the empty holes.

Millia seemed curious and sad, and I could feel her "gaze" tracing over my wounds.

But it was everyone else's reaction that truly caught my attention. Their eyes were wide open.

Their pupils dilated, and their gaze went blank — unfocused on everything else. It was like they had fallen into a trance; not a single thought visible behind their eyes.

I instinctively activated the Transparent World — and turned it off a second later. I understood what was happening almost immediately.

Out of everyone, Dylan was the only one who reacted differently.

His eyes glowed blue for a fraction of a second before tears of blood streamed down his cheeks. He snapped back into focus, pupils contracting in terror as he turned away, breathing heavily — looking ready to vomit.

I pulled my Aura back into my body right after that.

A second later, everyone else came to their senses, looking around in confusion.

"What… happened?" Robyn asked, hesitantly.

I opened my mouth to explain, but Dylan spoke first:

"Our minds couldn't comprehend what that was. I could feel my brain failing to 'read' the void, so it started shutting itself down to protect me." His voice came out ragged, eyes torn between horror and fascination as he stared at me.

I tossed him a healing potion and a cloth — one of the smaller ones I'd made from larger batches. Dylan didn't hesitate to drink it.

"Thanks," he said, wiping his face.

"Wait… we almost died?" Isis raised her voice a little. "Like, actually died?!"

"No. You just shut down because your brains saw something so alien, so foreign, they decided to pull the plug." I shook my head, rubbing my temple. My head hurt like hell… "Maybe if you stared for long enough, you'd end up with mental scars, but that's about it."

"That doesn't sound much better…" Charlotte muttered, glancing between Dylan and me. "Why did only Dylan's eyes bleed?"

I let Dylan answer that one. I had my own theory, but I wanted to hear his confirmation.

And he did confirm it:

"Because my innate magic tried to understand and record the void — and overloaded. That's what woke me up for a moment, giving me a chance to look away."

A dry laugh escaped his lips.

"I stared into the abyss and blinked."

[...]---[...]

Millia is back!

As always, good night and happy reading!

PS: What the hell happened to Webnovel? Seriously—why is it nothing but AI slop and AI-translated Chinese novels now? I'm not asking for top-tier fanfics like A Nascent Kaleidoscope, Annihilation Maker, Meta Essence Gacha in Marvel, or HP: A Magical Journey. Something decent would be more than enough, but it feels like it's all AI, Chinese MTLs, and bloodthirsty psychopathic protagonists with Pokémon-style harems.

What the hell, man?

Sorry for the rant. Good night.