Emerald-green hair with a natural curl cascaded down her back. Her petite body was wrapped in a black-and-green ceremonial dress, and within her snake-like vertical pupils flickered a dangerous gleam. Upon spotting An Xora, she subconsciously extended her pink tongue and licked her lips.
"A pleasure to meet you, my dear master. Mebius is delighted to be of service to you."
Mebius spoke slowly.
Of course, judging by the dangerous tone and aura she exuded, anyone who didn't know her would instinctively keep their distance.
An Xora, naturally, had no such concerns.
He stood up and walked over to Mebius, looking down at the petite girl who barely reached his chest. Then he took the Sesha Gene out of the system space and handed it to her.
"Do you still remember the fusion warrior technology? Can you perform the procedure independently?"
"Of course," Mebius replied calmly as she accepted the vial containing the Sesha Gene.
"All the relevant techniques are perfectly preserved in my mind. Even if they weren't, as long as I knew such a technology existed, I could reverse-engineer it step by step with my intellect."
"Compared to all those techniques," she continued, "this intellect is my most valuable asset. Also…"
She moved closer, pressing her body against An Xora's side, wrapping both hands around one of his arms. Her delicate face leaned as close to his as possible.
"After asking about the prices for manifesting Ruan Mei and Herta, you seemed rather disappointed, Master…"
"Why? Could it be that manifesting me, Mebius, is some sort of grievance to you?"
Feeling the supple, serpentine softness of her body, An Xora shook his head decisively.
"Not at all. Not even a little."
Who said Mebius was inferior?
Mebius was amazing.
One of the characters An Xora had been obsessively fixated on in his previous life—sure, in pure research capability, geniuses like Ruan Mei and Herta from the Star Rail world were stronger.
But as for who An Xora personally preferred?
Without question—Mebius.
And it wasn't as if Mebius's scientific prowess was lacking. She was simply being compared to monsters who appeared only a handful of times across tens of thousands of years on a galactic scale. In truth, even within Honkai Impact 3rd—a setting already heavy with sci-fi elements—Mebius's achievements in biotechnology were nothing short of world-shaking.
Compared to a technologically "normal" modern world like Jujutsu Kaisen? That was pure dimensional suppression. Even if you gathered every top scientist on Earth, they probably wouldn't reach even one-tenth of Mebius's research capability.
"So," An Xora asked, "do you have any thoughts about the new world?"
"One Punch Man."
Mebius gave her answer without the slightest hesitation.
"Not a bad choice," An Xora nodded thoughtfully.
"A modern setting is far more convenient for research than the Arknights world. And with your abilities, if you study monsters and S-Class heroes there, you might even develop a Fusion Warrior Technology 2.0."
At this, Mebius rolled her eyes in clear disdain.
"Has it occurred to you, Master, that your system never placed any limit on how many times the traversal function can be used?"
"In other words, from the very beginning, there was no need to agonize over which world to go to. We only needed to pick the one most suitable for early development."
"We can establish a research base in the One Punch Man world first. If we want to study monsters, we study monsters. If we want to study Terrans, we hop over to the Arknights world and grab some. If we want to study magical beasts, we go to the DanMachi world and capture a few."
"Or we could be even bolder," she added with a sly smile.
"I'll do research in the One Punch Man world, while you go to other worlds to live off your looks, do whatever interests you—and maybe bring back some experimental materials along the way."
"In this regard, we're actually very free."
Hearing her explanation, An Xora finally realized it.
The system really hadn't placed any restriction on world traversal. That meant both he and his avatars could freely travel between worlds.
All worlds listed by the traversal function were interconnected for them. In that case, agonizing over which world to choose truly was meaningless—they could simply check them out and switch whenever they wanted.
With that in mind, One Punch Man was clearly the best choice among the three as an initial foothold. Compared to Terra's chaos or the god-infested DanMachi world, the monsters of One Punch Man were practically a minor issue.
After all, the strong ones were handled by a certain bald hero, and the weak ones posed no threat to An Xora or his avatars. And since humanity there still maintained a stable social order, it was clear that city-destroying monsters were actually quite rare under normal circumstances.
"Then One Punch Man it is."
An Xora opened the system's traversal interface and selected the One Punch Man world.
Instantly, a portal appeared in front of An Xora and Mebius.
Only An Xora and those he authorized could see or pass through this portal—unauthorized individuals wouldn't even be aware of its existence.
The two stepped through, and the scenery around them warped.
When they came back to their senses, they found themselves in an unfamiliar city. A bustling street lay just ahead, while An Xora and Mebius stood in a narrow alley.
"So this is the One Punch Man world?"
Mebius surveyed the surroundings with interest, then walked toward the street.
"First, we confirm which city we're in," she said, "then determine the current point in the timeline and see whether the original plot has begun."
It was worth noting that the One Punch Man world had no concept of nations. The entire world was divided into twenty-six major cities, named after the English alphabet—from City A to City Z.
"That's easy enough," An Xora nodded.
"We can just ask someone."
The two exited the alley and casually questioned a few passersby, quickly confirming both their location and the time.
"We're currently in City Y," An Xora concluded.
"And the Hero Association was founded two and a half years ago. That means there's still half a year before the plot officially begins."
In the original story, Saitama had already been active as a hero for three years when the plot started. The founding of the Hero Association coincided with the beginning of his training and hero activities. In other words, when the association reached its third year, the story was about to kick off.
With half a year remaining, there was no immediate need to worry about the Monster Association or other major antagonists appearing too early.
The only real problem was—
How to acquire a laboratory and a large amount of funding as quickly as possible in a world where they currently had no money at all.
Fortunately, that problem was hardly an obstacle.
Mebius was already holding a large golden chalice in her hands—
The Holy Grail An Xora had previously purchased from the system shop.
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