At the bartender's demand, Lucian only gave a calm reply.
"I'm just a passing Masked Rider—I mean, a passing Masked Fool—just here to grab something and leave. You don't need to know who I am."
Soon after his reply fell, Sparkle, who had been watching silently from the corner, paced forward and stopped three steps in front of Lucian, her eyes beneath the fox mask curving with amusement.
"You new guy? Alright, don't be nervous," Sparkle said, her voice carrying a light, playful tone. "Wanna drink? Big sis's treating you—think of it as a welcome gift for joining the gang."
Lucian looked down, and what entered his sight was a petite, twin-tailed girl wearing a red kimono, black zori sandals, and a small fox mask on her face, just enough to cover her tiny features.
As a veteran player of the game, he recognized her at just a glance.
Sparkle—a loyal believer of the Aeon of Elation, a troublemaker who enjoyed stirring up trouble wherever she went.
"Little girl, how long have you even lived to call yourself big sis?"
Lucian asked indifferently, his golden eyes behind his smiling mask showing no ripple at all.
Seeing his indifferent response, Sparkle didn't mind at all and instead snapped her fingers with a smile before speaking up.
"Hey, bartender! Give our new friend a cup of oolong tea! Put it on my tab."
At this, the bartender didn't say a word and simply pulled out a cup of so-called 'oolong tea' from beneath the counter.
Sparkle took the cup and held it out toward Lucian, but he merely stared at it and didn't take it.
In the next moment, however, he raised his right index finger, and with a soft pop, a tiny flame appeared at his fingertip before he flicked it straight into the cup.
As the flame landed on the surface of the tea—
*Whoosh!*
A half-meter-tall pale flame erupted from the cup, burning fiercely and giving off a strong, choking smell of industrial alcohol.
*Hisss—*
As the fire hissed and licked the air, Sparkle jerked her hand back like lightning and tossed the burning cup onto the counter, causing the flames to scorch a black mark into the greasy wooden surface.
"Whoa!"
Sparkle clapped her hands, showing not even a hint of embarrassment at being exposed and instead sounding impressed, as if she had just witnessed something genuinely exciting.
"Sharp eyes! You even recognized the Masked Fools' exclusive flaming oolong tea?"
Flaming oolong tea?
Lucian had fallen for the same kind of trick once during a gathering in his original world, so ever since then, he had always been wary of being suddenly treated to tea by someone known for always being up to mischief, especially someone like Sparkle.
Sure enough, this world also had a tea that could be set on fire.
"C'mon, it was just a joke~" Sparkle shrugged, her voice returning to its usual lively rhythm. "Gotta keep the place lively. I really do wanna be friends with you, seriously! Look at this dump—it's full of boring old geezers. It's rare to see someone fresh."
In the next moment, she leaned in, lowering her voice and sounding almost coaxing.
"So tell me, what do you actually want by coming here? Who knows... maybe I can help?"
"I heard there's a grail here that can grant wishes," Lucian stated his intentions plainly, holding nothing back. "I wanna borrow it and play around with it. You know where it is?"
*BANG!*
Before Sparkle could respond, a burly man wearing an angry mask slammed the table and stood up, sending cups and plates rattling.
"Oy, oy, the first thing you do here is try to take something?" the burly man said loudly, his rough, mocking voice ringing out. "Rookie, you've got some nerve! All the stuff in this place is loot stowed by us, Masked Fools! And you? You just came in and casually asked for something as if you own it?"
"Rules of the Tavern—rookies gotta 'have some fun' first! Let us see if you've got the right to wear that mask, then we can talk about the so-called grail."
A lanky man in a grieving mask chimed in with a sharp voice, twirling a gleaming dinner knife between his fingers.
"Right? Survive the night—that's the qualification! Hehe..."
A short, chubby man wearing a mask painted with exaggerated tears joined in, his voice greasy and unpleasant.
In an instant, the atmosphere in the Tavern shifted.
Moments ago, they had watched like amused spectators, but now their gazes turned into blatant provocation.
Dozens of Masked Fools, standing or sitting, all fixed their attention firmly on Lucian.
Every one of them had crawled through pranks, betrayal, and life-and-death encounters, but making fun of newcomers was one of their greatest joys.
"Ahh, newcomers don't know the rules."
Amid the gradually heated atmosphere, the bartender finally spoke up, his voice filled with fake pity.
"Gentlemen, go easy on him, alright?"
Just as the bartender finished speaking, the burly man charged first.
"HAAA!"
He let out a low roar, his massive body rushing at Lucian like a crazed bull, bringing a gust of foul wind with him.
Almost at the same time, the lanky man flicked his wrist, sending the dinner knife shooting toward Lucian's ribs like a silent silver streak, aimed at a vicious angle.
Meanwhile, the short, chubby man cackled as he pulled out some sticky, bubbling green substance from who-knows-where, ready to throw it at Lucian's feet.
Seeing the green substance, the other Masked Fools let out excited, twisted laughter.
In their eyes, the newcomer would become either a pile of sludge or a hilarious spectacle in the next second.
In a place filled with lunatics, anything could happen, so without enough strength, stepping into this place was no different from suicide.
Sparkle, seeing the fun had finally begun, immediately backed away to watch the show, clearly having no intention of helping the newcomer and simply wanting to escalate the chaos to see how capable the newcomer really was.
Lucian, being suddenly ganged up on by three Masked Fools, stood still without moving so much as the corner of his coat.
Facing the brute's overwhelming charge and fist, the sneaky flying knife, and the strange bubbling blob—
"Hmph."
Lucian let out a cool, dismissive snort as the power of the Path of Elation erupted from his body, bursting outward in a surge of reddish energy shockwave.
*BOOM!*
In that instant, the shockwave swept across the entire room, sending every Masked Fool—whether picking a fight or merely watching—blasting backward.
"Fuck!"
"Ahh!"
"What the heck?!"
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
A series of crashes echoed through the room as all the Masked Fools were sent flying by the shockwave.
Among them, the three Masked Fools who had picked a fight with Lucian were the most miserable.
Now, the burly man's arm, thicker than an average man's thigh, was covered in a web of fractures starting from his fist, spreading rapidly across his entire body—from skin, muscle, to bone—everything sliced as if by countless invisible blades.
He simply fell apart silently, without even spraying any blood, collapsing into countless tiny pieces of flesh that clattered onto the floor.
As for the lanky man, his dinner knife had actually flown back and pierced straight through his throat, killing him instantly.
"Ahh..."
Meanwhile, the bubbling green substance that the chubby man had been about to throw splashed onto his own body instead, dissolving him into a puddle of rotting flesh.
Compared to the three of them, the other Masked Fools were luckier—they were merely sent flying, crashing into walls, tables, and chairs as they groaned in pain.
Sparkle was also caught by the sudden shockwave and hurled away, slamming into the wall.
"Oww... that really hurt..."
Sparkle complained as she struggled to stand up.
Helplessly thrown aside by a newcomer despite having used her power of Elation to defend herself in time, she couldn't help but feel as though an Emanator of Elation had just burst into this place.
Soon after this casual thought flashed through her mind, however, she froze.
At the same time, the other Masked Fools, seemingly having the same thought she had, also froze, as if they had been turned to stone.
In the next instant, they stared at the piles of flesh, the throat-stabbed corpse, and the puddle of rotting flesh wriggling weakly on the ground, then shifted their gaze toward the newcomer who stood calmly near the bar counter.
As faithful followers of Elation, they knew well the power that came from the Path of Elation—and what the newcomer had unleashed was, without a doubt, the power of Elation, which proved that he was one of them.
However, what made them freeze was not the fact that he was actually one of them, but that the power he had unleashed just now was not something an ordinary follower, or even a Pathstrider, could unleash.
Needless to say, such a realization left only one possible being—an Emanator!
In other words, the newcomer was actually an Emanator of Elation—someone directly chosen by THEIR beloved Aeon as THEIR chosen!
"H-He's Aha's Emanator!"
""OOOOOOHHH—!!!""
As soon as they heard 'Aha's Emanator,' they immediately stood straight, shouting in awe and excitement.
"Praise Aha! Praise the Emanator! Praise the Elation!"
"Praise Aha! Praise the Emanator! Praise the Elation!"
"Praise Aha! Praise the Emanator! Praise the Elation!"
In an instant, although for a different reason, the atmosphere in the Tavern became lively once again.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next chapters early at: patreon.com/VALRRR]