39 Chapter 39 Journey to Star Rail

"It's been 3 hours, and they still haven't returned home. Where are they now?" Drav muttered with a puzzled expression. It had been quite a while, yet Ning Yun'er and the others hadn't come back.

With that in mind, Drav immediately messaged Ning Yun'er to inquire about their whereabouts.

[Drav Itsuki: Where are you right now? Seriously, it's been 3 hours since you left, and I doubt you spent all that time just shopping and sightseeing, right?]

[Ning Yun'er: Ah, Drav! Ehehe, I took them all to Stelle. They were curious after I explained the world of Stelle to them.]

[Drav Itsuki: ...]

It made sense; Drav couldn't detect them. He assumed it was because Ning Yun'er didn't want her time with him to be disturbed by others, but it turned out they had truly gone to another universe.

[Drav Itsuki: In that case, wait for me.]

Drav left the chat and went to Ottovia, Kallen, and the Yae sisters. He had already promised to take them along the next time he ventured to another universe.

"Eh? Teacher, where are you taking us?" Ottovia asked, perplexed by why Drav was taking her away during their study session.

Everyone else was equally puzzled, but Drav just smiled at them and dispelled their doubts, "You all want to join me for in my next journey, right? Well, now's the time."

"Really?! Yatta!!!" Ottovia and Kallen cheered, and the Yae sisters also smiled, especially Yae Rin, who wanted to join in the excitement.

"Grab onto me, or your safety could be at risk if you get separated," Drav instructed. Following his lead, they all held onto him tightly.

Once they were ready, he activated the "visit friend's world" feature from the Chat Group, and Stelle had granted him permission to enter her world. With that, Drav and the others vanished from their current reality in an instant.

Drav only saw darkness and chaos briefly before the scenery changed to a snowy, incredibly cold world.

"T-Teacher!" Ottovia and the others, except for Kallen and Jyahnar, turned pale in response to the extreme cold around them.

Quickly, Drav provided them with temperature protection, which promptly worked to restore their rosy, healthy complexions.

"Do you know where we are, Teacher?" Ottovia asked, curious. She knew Drav could teleport, but this experience was vastly different from his usual teleportation.

"We're in a different universe now, Ottovia," Drav smiled, and his words left them astonished. The concept of a multiverse or parallel worlds was completely foreign to their era.

"We're in a different universe?! Teacher is truly incredible!!!" Both Ottovia and Kallen were fanatically amazed by their teacher's powers.

Unintentionally, Drav's actions increased their obsession and admiration for him.

"Well, since we're here to find my friends, let's not waste time," Drav activated his detection abilities and teleported to Ning Yun'er and the others' location.

He appeared in a dark, cloudless place and realized he had teleported beneath the surface of Belobog. There, he saw Ning Yun'er's party and the Trio Trailblazers.

Especially captivating was the scene where two cute and beautiful girls with pink hair were hugging each other.

"Ahh! Kawaii!!! What's with your cuteness and beauty? Are you my lost daughter, by any chance?" Elysia asked, hugging the pink-haired girl who resembled her.

"M-Mom?" the pink-haired girl responded uncertainly.

"Kya!!! You are so cute!!! Call me mom again!" Elysia's maternal affection grew as she hugged the girl tightly.

"Mom."

"Kyaa!!!"

"This is the first time I've seen Elysia show her motherly side to someone," Eden sighed, amused because Elysia typically avoided being seen as maternal to avoid appearing older.

"But, upon closer look, they do resemble each other a lot, like a mother and daughter pair," everyone there nodded in agreement with Eden's assessment. The unique combination of their cuteness and distinctive beauty made them strikingly similar.

"Could it be that she's really Elysia's long-lost daughter?!" Pardofelis exclaimed, and Elysia, hearing this, pouted angrily and retorted, "I'm still a virgin, okay?!"

"Ahahaha, I'm just kidding!" Elysia snorted before resuming her hugging session with March 7th, who seemed resigned and enjoying Elysia care.

"So, who are they all, Stelle? One of them seems to be your acquaintance," Dan Heng asked with his usual cold demeanor.

Scratching her cheek, Stelle answered, "One of them, the white-haired girl, is my friend, and she brought the others to this planet."

"Friend? Weren't you suffering from amnesia?" Dan Heng questioned with skepticism. Stelle couldn't help but nervously sweat, "Ahaha... there's a special situation that led us to become friends."

Dan Heng merely glanced and refrained from asking further. After all, each person, especially the members of the Trailblazer group, had their own secrets.

"Hey, guys! Don't forget about me too!" Everyone turned to see Drav's group arriving.

"Are they with you too?" Dan Heng asked again, and Stelle quickly nodded.

"My Lord! You truly are someone special. I can even see that you're more exceptional than any gods in this dangerous universe," Aponia stared at Drav with fervent admiration, annoying his two students with her gaze.

Both of them realized the crisis at hand, especially with Aponia's special and beautiful body, which could arouse desire in any man and spark envy in women.

"Well, that's an interesting statement." Does it mean he's even more special than Aeon here? Perhaps she was right; after all, even Aeon couldn't defy their destiny or path.

And with Drav's transcendental power, he could achieve anything, even defy fate if he so desired.

"So, what are all of you doing here now? And, by the way, Stelle, are you still wanted on the surface?" Drav couldn't help but ask, considering that in the game, it appeared to take Stelle only a few days to finally confront Cocolia.

Yet it had been 1 weeks, and Stelle and the others were still underground in Belebog. It appeared that the real world was indeed different from the story.

"Well, is there something wrong with it?" Stelle couldn't help but ask upon hearing that.

"It's really off, you know? In the game, it takes less than a week for you to finally confront the boss. But now, it's been weeks, and you and the other key characters from the plot are nowhere to be found."

"Is it really like that?" Stelle looked uncertain, and Drav explained the plot that happened in the game.

First, the Stelle trio was ambushed by Silvermane Soldiers along with Bronya Rand after their meeting with Cocolia on the following day. This scenario remained the same as what Stelle was experiencing now.

However, with the difference that they weren't almost captured, due to the disparity in power between Stelle and the game version. She was stronger thanks to the points she gained from signing into the chat group.

Here, Stelle also captured Sampo, who was causing trouble, and made him guide their party underground through a secret path, while also extorting money from him.

"Ah! So that's why you guys didn't meet Natasha or even the Wildfire group," Ning Yun'er said. Now it makes sense why it's so different from the original. After all, in the game, the Trailblazer and their friends immediately meet Natasha and connection with the Wildfire group after waking up underground.

"Stelle...are your friends discussing our fate right now?" Dan Heng stared at Stelle in doubt. He felt these guys were really strange, considering what they were talking about.

"Well...my friends already knew our original fate and even our future because of something," Stelle couldn't bring herself to tell Dan Heng that her friends knew this because she had played a game that depicted the adventures of all the Astral Express members, with her as the main character.

No one would believe or even doubt her sanity if she said that. Stelle herself would have reacted the same way if Drav and Ning Yun'er hadn't provided clear evidence of what would happen to her in the future, and if she hadn't experienced it all afterward.

"In that case, should we go meet the Wildfire group now? Of course, we could also confront Cocolia directly without their help, relying on all of us," Drav said with a smile. The forces he brought were formidable, especially Flame Chaser, whose power equaled that of the Herrscher in the previous era.

Drav was very confident that just one Flame Chaser could deal with Cocolia, who had joined forces with Stellaron. Of course, Pardofelis was an exception because she was the weakest and only possessed the power of luck.

"It's better if we first establish contact with the underground faction. I feel it's not appropriate for us to confront Cocolia directly without a reason. Otherwise, all the Belobog inhabitants might see us as killers or villains," Dan Heng suggested after pondering for a moment. Stelle and the others agreed with what he said.

Afterward, their group headed to Natasha's clinic. During their journey, they drew the attention of many, especially the hostile and lustful gazes of the men in the area, due to the presence of the exceptionally beautiful women in their group.

Drav merely snorted and activated his cognitive magic, leaving pedestrians confused and forgetting about their presence. This intrigued the others.

"It's just a small magic trick of mine,"

Drav said modestly. Everyone who heard this could only look at him in speechless amazement. The ability to alter the cognitive perception of most people was powerful in their opinion .

Upon arriving, Drav opened the door and found Natasha busy tending to patients. His group entered, unintentionally capturing Natasha's attention.

"You guys..."

"Natasha...or perhaps I should say, the real boss of the Wildfire group," Drav said with a smile, while Natasha frowned upon hearing it.

"Relax, I've sealed off this conversation. Only my group can hear us, apart from the patients here," Natasha was somewhat relieved. However, she knew that her true identity was already known to many.

"What's your purpose for coming here?"

"It's quite simple. My friend Ning Yun'er, the white-haired woman over there, and I came here to help my friend Stelle. She's the gray-haired woman over there. They, along with their two friends, are wanted after their encounter with Cocolia."

"The supreme guardian? But why? Did your friends perhaps try to assassinate her?"

"Hey! You've got it all wrong! We didn't assassinate her. We just arrived on this planet and met her for the first time without any prior knowledge of her or any grudge against her," March 7th said, irritated with her hands on her hips. Elysia, seeing the cuteness in her irritation, hugged her again.

"Kya!!! You're so adorable even when you're angry or annoyed!"

"Dan Heng, Stelle, help me!"

Dan Heng ignored her and said, "As my friend just mentioned, we met Cocolia shortly after arriving on this planet.

From our initial conversation with Cocolia, we could sense that something was amiss, as she refused our help in dealing with the Stellaron issue on this planet."

Dan Heng then explained the concept of Stellaron and the Astral Express to Natasha.

Natasha thought for a moment and said, "If what you're saying is true, then something is indeed wrong with the Supreme Guardian Cocolia."

Sighing in weariness, Natasha finally made a decision and said, "In that case, come with me to meet the other members of the Wildfire group to discuss our plan for confronting Cocolia."

Afterward, the group dispersed and convened a meeting to discuss their plan. They resolved to meet with Svarog, as he could be one of the few beings knowledgeable about the Stellaron on this planet. Being the oldest robot that existed underground, he might possess valuable information.

"What's your opinion of this world, Eden? Is the fate people are experiencing here more horrifying than what you went through?"

Drav suddenly asked, observing Eden as she absentmindedly gazed at the closeness between March 7th and Elysia.

"Hmm...based on what I've heard, this world went through a war with the anti-legion army and an eternal winter due to the emergence of Stellaron. This caused its civilization to regress from a level where it could communicate with other planets."

She continued: "But honestly, to me, the Honkai still remains a nightmare fate that can't be compared to what this world is experiencing. At least there's no enemy capable of destroying the planet and resetting it in this world, right?"

"You're right. Although you're also wrong about the enemy part. There's an enemy more terrifying than the Herrscher of the End—Nanook, the Aeon of Destroyer. He's a civilization and the destroyer in this universe, while also capable of destroying a star cluster with easily. But I doubt he's targeting this remote planet."

Eden smiled awkwardly, "You're correct, but Aeons, huh? They're truly an existence we never imagined before."

Eden sighed before taking a sip of her wine. Drav found it suspicious that her wine seemed never-ending, considering she had been sipping it for hours.