The snowman shook off the snow from his body.
Holding a black-and-white lance, he suddenly felt a bit at a loss.
"What the heck, there's an incomplete version?"
The snowman tried to summon the Divine Key—Cosmic Juggernaut—in his mind.
Soon.
A burst of white light suddenly flashed in front of him, and then a door appeared.
[You may leave a beacon at your current location and travel to the beacon at any time]
[Since you have not left any beacons before, the system has randomly placed an initial set of beacons for you at the Herta Space Station]
"So that means I can use Cosmic Juggernaut to go straight back to the Herta Space Station right now?"
Half-believing it, the snowman opened the door.
At the Herta Space Station.
The snowman walked out of one of the stalls in the men's restroom, scratching his head while looking at the staff member next to him who was in the middle of relieving himself.
"Ah? You… you!"
The staff member who was relieving himself suddenly saw a snowman, immediately shuddered a few times, quickly zipped up his pants, and ran out.
Zeig: "…"
Then, the snowman silently retreated back into the icy wilderness.
The cold wind howled.
The snowman stared at the door in front of him, very dissatisfied.
"Then how can I make Cosmic Juggernaut complete? It can't just be a door, right?"
[Replying to host, currently unable…]
"Bang bang bang—!!"
[…]
Zeig shook off the snow on his body, then frantically pounded the side of the door with Abyss Flower.
"There's stuff on the side here, it's just invisible."
"Bang bang bang, bang bang bang—!!"
Zeig kept groping around, the outline seeming very large, but only this door was visible to him.
[Please stop your current actions, host…]
"Bang bang bang—!!"
[…]
The constant pounding actually caused some outlines around the door to slowly become visible.
"See, I told you there was something there."
Zeig climbed right up, touching and rubbing here and there.
Knocking here, hitting there.
"Bang bang—bang bang bang—!!"
[…]
Soon, a rusty outline finally appeared before Zeig.
It looked a bit like a scrapped train locomotive.
It seemed only that door was barely usable.
[The system can upgrade Cosmic Juggernaut (Incomplete Version) to Cosmic Juggernaut (Unstable Version)]
[Please stop your current actions, host]
"Huh?" Zeig was stunned. "It can be upgraded?"
"Then… then upgrade it."
[Cosmic Juggernaut changing form…]
"???"
Soon, the rusty train locomotive once again emitted a blinding light.
Its size seemed to shrink a little.
After the white light faded.
The scrapped train locomotive had evolved into…
a tractor on the verge of being scrapped.
Zeig: "…"
"Tell me, where exactly did the upgrade happen?"
[Replying to host, it can now be driven]
"…"
Zeig plopped his butt down on the tractor's driver seat, gripped the rust-covered control lever, and pressed the start button.
"Rumble rumble… chug chug chug… bang… chug chug chug… bang… chug chug chug…"
A chaotic engine sound roared to life, rising and falling.
The tractor swayed and jerked forward, belching black smoke as it drove through the icy wilderness.
Zeig: "…"
"Chug chug chug… bang… chug chug chug… bang… chug chug chug…"
At this moment, Zeig was like an old grandpa driving a scrapped tractor, sitting in the driver's seat contemplating life.
He completely failed to notice that something was moving in the snow pile ahead.
The tractor lurched erratically toward the snow pile, and from within the pile, a tuft of blue hair poked out.
Hearing the tractor's noise, a head emerged.
He stared at the massive object ahead and exclaimed in shock:
"W-What the… how can someone be driving a tractor on the snowfield?!"
This man named Sampo quickly jumped out of the snow pile, staring dumbly at the old grandpa in the driver's seat.
"This old grandpa… wait, no, that person—yes, it's him, it's him! It's definitely him!"
Sampo happily stood in front of the tractor waving his hands, trying to get Zeig's attention.
"Hey hey hey, stop for a second, stop, I…"
"Bang—!!"
The tractor ran straight over old Sampo's body.
Sampo: "…"
"Huh, did I just hit something?" Zeig scratched his head, still fiddling with the various buttons on the driver's seat.
"Oh, this one's for reverse, right?"
Just as Sampo finally managed to crawl out, a huge shadow once again enveloped him. In a daze, he said, "Ah?"
"Bang—!!"
A loud crash came from the rear of the tractor again.
Zeig turned his head and glanced at the back of the vehicle. "What was that noise?"
The tractor slowly reversed, and midway, a "crunch—crunch!!" sound came from underneath.
It seemed like something had snapped.
After the tractor drove away, old Sampo crawled up once more.
He quickly held his arm, incredulously resetting his own bones with crunching sounds:
"Why does a tractor that's about to be scrapped have this kind of mass?"
But right then, a familiar shadow enveloped him again.
Old Sampo reacted quickly, slipping away like oil on his soles. After running far enough, his heart was still pounding with fear.
He looked back and suddenly realized the tractor was coming again, and there was a huge white circle of light right in front of him.
"This white circle… it's a space-time warp gate, no way?" Sampo stared at the white circle in shock.
While he was dazed, the tractor's rumbling sound approached once more.
Sampo hurriedly ran ahead, waving both hands:
"Hey, hey, wait a second, wait a second, buddy!"
"Bang—!!"
Sampo: "…"
The tractor ran over him again.
But this time, Zeig saw Sampo.
Sitting in the driver's seat, he widened his eyes: "Holy crap holy crap holy crap, I hit someone, I'm done for!"
He actually panicked a little, just about to get off the tractor to check the situation, but the entire vehicle had already driven into the white circle.
The cold wind howled.
"Rumble rumble… chug chug chug… rumble rumble rumble… chug chug… bang…"
After passing through the white circle, the tractor continued driving across the snowfield.
But the surrounding snow seemed much thinner.
"Bang—!!"
The tractor seemed to have hit something again.
This time, Zeig directly gripped Abyss Flower, got off, and checked.
He discovered it had hit a crate.
"Ah, a crate. I thought it was something else."
Just as he was about to leave, the Abyss Flower in his hand emitted faint fluorescence, and a healing light slowly seeped into the wooden crate.
"Hm?"
Noticing the anomaly, Zeig walked over to the crate and opened it.
Inside lay a girl with a dazed, adorable expression.
"You… who are you?" The girl blinked upon seeing Zeig, asking nervously.
"And who are you? Hiding in a wooden crate to scam people?" Zeig frowned. "Look at me driving this little tractor—how do I look like someone with money?"
The girl shook her head, looking aggrieved:
"I… I'm not scamming… I, I also forgot what I was doing here. It seems like I don't remember anything."
Zeig looked suspicious but still pulled the girl out of the crate and asked:
"You even forgot your own name?"
The girl clenched her hands, her pretty face flushed red, very embarrassed as she said:
"As for my name… I still remember that."
She raised her head, her features delicate and clear:
"My name is… Cyrille."
…