Veld was wearing the IPC sales representative's signature black uniform, making him easy to recognize.
March and the others spotted him at a glance.
And Veld also recognized them immediately. He enthusiastically came up to greet them and said, "I knew you would definitely come!"
What Veld said next fully confirmed his identity as a gaming addict, "Come on, come on! Let's talk about Aetherium Wars. I've been a veteran player for eighteen years! Whatever you want to know, I'll definitely tell you everything."
Qingque narrowed her eyes at Veld from behind, feeling this person had "potential."
Afterward, Veld gave everyone a detailed introduction to the game Aetherium Wars and showed an unusually high level of enthusiasm.
And when it came to getting people into games, he was tireless, hoping the three from the Xianzhou would also start playing.
Qingque and Bailu naturally agreed happily, while Yanqing did not hesitate for long either. Still, his interest in games really was not that high.
Not only did Qingque get into Aetherium Wars, she also wanted to drag Veld into playing Celestial Jade, hoping this promising new card-playing friend could spread Celestial Jade throughout the IPC and make it shine again.
The group chatted happily with Veld, and afterward, carrying the unique excitement of a veteran player successfully recommending a game to newcomers, Veld brought everyone to the venue for this Interastral Tournament Festival and prepared to help them register accounts there.
The festival venue was set up at Belobog's old weapon testing ground, though after Nero's Fragmentum Factory was established, the land had already come under the factory's management.
At this moment, the place had already been fully arranged as an event venue and looked extremely luxurious.
Promotional ads, central screens, battle arenas, colorful lights, spectators, cheers, all of it stirred people's emotions.
Right then, a deep male voice sounded from nearby.
"Not bad, not bad... everything is proceeding according to plan."
"Huh?" Hearing the voice, Veld froze for a moment, then immediately turned toward the source of the sound and stared in surprise. "Isn't that..."
The others noticed something strange about Veld, so they looked over too.
They discovered that at some point, a man in a black tuxedo had arrived nearby. His silver-gray short hair curled slightly, and he wore a red, white, and black mask over his face, making it impossible to see his appearance.
"Mr. Giovanni! Is that you?" Veld asked.
"Hm?" Giovanni turned around upon hearing the voice and let out a light laugh. "Ha, Veld! I was just wondering where you'd gone.
"Oh, and you've even brought four beautiful young ladies and one upright gentleman!" Giovanni walked past Veld and came before the group. "Welcome to my arena!"
After speaking, Giovanni slowly turned his head, the hollow eyes of the mask looking toward Stelle and March.
"If I'm not mistaken, you two should be Stelle and March 7th. Mm... and three friends dressed in Xianzhou clothing as well. Did you all hear about the Interastral Tournament Festival and come to show your skills?"
"Hey, look at that mask. Pretty cool, huh!" March quietly said to Stelle.
Meanwhile, Qingque leisurely said, "Ah, rare vacation time, and it's even an interstellar trip on the company's dime, so of course we've gotta have fun. So where do we sign up?"
"Hahaha." Giovanni laughed and was just about to continue speaking, but after making only a single sound, he stopped again and turned to the side.
At the same time, a pitch-black greatsword flew over carrying two people.
Black Cutter stopped in front of everyone, then Nero grabbed Huohuo and jumped off the sword.
When everyone saw Nero and Huohuo, they smiled and gathered around them.
"Nero! You found Black Cutter again?" Bailu asked.
Nero nodded. "Yeah. After returning to Jarilo, I sensed it, so I called it over."
"How did things go?" Yanqing asked.
"The Mirror Holder was very cooperative, but as for Phantylia... there was a small accident..." Huohuo said. "But it was resolved smoothly. Nero was really amazing."
"The accident means...?" Yanqing asked again.
"Mm... I made Phantylia bigger again. Did Jing Yuan tell you about how Phantylia used the Ambrosial Arbor's fruit to create a body for herself?" Nero looked at Yanqing.
Yanqing nodded.
"Mm, I just helped her make a body again. I think she was pretty happy about it."
Yanqing paid no attention to Nero saying he thought Phantylia was happy and continued asking, "And then?"
"Having a divine body is a very necessary step. It's to help her adapt to her job position. For that, before leaving, I even specially snapped off a branch from the Ambrosial Arbor.
"The result was pretty successful. Phantylia really did use the power of Abundance to create a divine body for herself, and afterward she happily flew up into the sky.
"I advised her not to get too excited. Anyway, she's already gone to the position where she should be now."
Yanqing nodded.
He did not know much about Nero's Fragmentum Factory, so after hearing there was no problem, he stopped thinking about it further.
'...Wait, how did he snap off a branch from the Ambrosial Arbor?'
The slow-to-react Yanqing fell silent, while Stelle and March, who knew what the inside of Nero's Fragmentum Factory was like, along with Bailu who had heard Stelle describe it before, all wore strange expressions.
Images of Phantylia suffering even appeared in their minds.
For example, maybe Phantylia was not happily flying after regaining a divine body at all. Maybe she was trying to escape, yet no matter what, she could not get out of Nero's grasp.
Or perhaps the scene of Nero forcing Phantylia to create a divine body,
After being injured and suffering losses at Nero's hands, Phantylia absolutely did not want to have a physical body again in front of him.
Yet Nero pinned her to the ground and forcefully shoved the Ambrosial Arbor branch into her.
'Good heavens!'
'Too cruel. Too terrifying!'
Even Fragmentum monsters would probably be scared out of their minds after seeing such horrifying scenes. It really did not feel like something kind-hearted Nero could do!
But why... did these images and thoughts not feel out of place in their minds at all?
"So what exactly is that Phantylia's current job?" Qingque asked from the side.
"Mm..." Nero organized his thoughts a little before saying, "Right now, Phantylia is providing energy for Nero's Fragmentum Factory. Hehe... I threw her into the factory furnace!"
Qingque, "Huh?"
Yanqing, "Huh?"
March, Stelle, Bailu, "..."
'I'm really not surprised at all...'
Nero did not notice his friends' expressions, or maybe he simply did not care what they were thinking right now.
He just continued grinning and said, "Look, after Phantylia obtains the power of Abundance, she'll constantly regenerate. And as a Lord Ravager, her body definitely contains huge amounts of energy.
"I threw her into the furnace together with the outer-universe flames, then used the IPC's technology to guide and convert the energy for the factory to use.
"During this process, Phantylia will constantly be consumed, but because of the power of Abundance, she'll also constantly recover."
"And since these powers come from two different Paths and two Aeons, even if she can't become a perpetual motion machine, I believe Phantylia can still last inside the furnace for dozens, hundreds, or even tens of thousands of Amber Eras."