Star Rail: The Aeon Hunters

"Ow, ow, ow..." Qingni groaned the moment she came to consciousness. "Legs... Arms..." she wriggled her limbs around the Starskiff Seat. "Intact..." the girl hissed in pain as she tried crawling out of the cockpit. "Whoa..." the entire skiff shook and the girl froze.

"Right, should've checked where I am..." Qingni peeked out of the Starskiff and looked around. The Starskiff crashed on a large tori gate, teetering precariously just on top of it. There are also buildings, walls, railings, and... the Big Furnace. "Alchemy Commission," she muttered, looking out for any sign of Cloudknights nearby.

The girl double checked the condition of the Starskiff itself. "Let's see..." she tried turning it on and miraculously, it began to float. "Oh! Still got some life in ya, huh?"

Debris fell down from the gate as the girl slowly maneuvered her Starskiff out of the wreck. She winced a little every time the tail end of it smacked into the site of the gate. Maybe if she's really careful, she can get out of here before the Cloudknights arrived to investigate.

As the Starskiff float above the Alchemy Commission, it began to fail. Qingni can feel the engine failing, the jade circuit flickering and the entire skiff start skittering in the sky. "Oh, Lan's ass, I'm so close!" she cursed, trying to land the Starskiff somewhere that isn't too visible.

"Wait a minute..." Qingni looked at the waters of the Scalegorge Waterscape, an idea came into her mind. "What if I..." she steered the starskiff closer and closer to the water, a grin on her face. "No one will know!"

There was a loud splash and the girl jumped out just in time to see the Starskiff sinking into the depths, joining the old ruins of the Viyadhara. She grinned and waved her hand. "Tell the fishes, I said hi!" she grinned cheekily and turned around. "Ha!" she put both hands on her hips. "And I don't even lost my own Starskiff this time."

The girl paused, smile faltering, realization sinks in.

"Wait! WAIT!!!" Qingni grasped her head and turned back to the water. "That's not my Starskiff! THAT'S NOT MY STARSKIFF!!! QINGNI YOU ABSOLUTE" the girl slapped herself and banged her head on the fence. "Oh! Shoot! I'm so dead!!! Mom's gonna kill me!!!"

Qingni paced around anxiously. "Okay, okay..." she took a deep breath. "Uhh... First off..." she checked her Jade Abacus. "I got... still got 84 hours before I have to return it," she bit her lip. The Starskiff she broke would cost her at least 850k Strales, not to mention the Tori Gate she crashed into, but no one ever needs to know about that part. At least, for the next few centuries.

"Ugh... Alright, how do I get 850k Strales in 3 days?" Qingni sneaked around the tori gate and walked up the stairs to the main part of the Alchemy Commission. "Is that even possible?" Well, the easiest way is just asking her mom to foot the bill and get grounded for a decade or two. The hard way is to get a job or... Illegal Sky Racing???

"Hmm..." Qingni mulled it over as she walked through the deserted Alchemy Commission. "Maybe if I..." she paused for a moment when the realization slowly came to her. "Wait... Why is this place deserted?" she looked around. "I mean, good for me but..." she shook her head. "Ah, whatever, I should scram before someone sees me."

As the girl turned around the corner, she found herself staring at a beautiful foxian woman sitting on a bench. Qingni tried to turn tail and run, but the woman called out to her. "Qingni, didn't expect to see you here," Tingyun called. "Not even going to say hi to Auntie?"

Qingni slowly turned around and walked towards her in resignation. "Hey... Aunt Tingyun..." she muttered. "You were uhh... How long have you..."

"I am honestly impressed you can nail that landing," Tingyun said. "Don't get me wrong, you crashed, but you almost made it through,"

Welp, she's dead.

"Ahaha... yeah..." Qingni sighed a little and bowed. "I'm so sorry,"

"I'm afraid I'm not the person you supposed to apologize," Tingyun tilted her head, a small smile plays on her lips. "Tell you what, I'll let you in on a little secret," she stood up and walked closer to her. "I'm also not supposed to be here, and I really don't want you to tell anyone you saw me here,"

Qingni's eyes widened. "Really?" she looked up at Tingyun. "So like, can we uhh, pretend none of this happened?"

"Why I'll sweeten the deal for you dear," Tingyun tossed Qingni a jade key.

The girl deftly caught it, eyes widening in realization. "Wait... this is..." she looked up at Tingyun. "A Starskiff Key?"

"And I will transfer you the proof of ownership, if only you do me a tiny favor..."

[LINE BREAK]

That's… a sky?

It's hard for Lynx to believe her eyes as she walked down the streets of Starskiff Heaven. The bright blue sky above her, the tall buildings, the flying vehicles zooming across the lanes, the gigantic blue portal at the edge of the horizon. This is… simply unreal…

"We're… inside a ship…" she looked at the ground below her. "This is a ship…" she turned to Stella who also looked around, though not as impressed. "Are we really in a ship?"

Beside them, Clara chuckled. "Impressive, isn't it?" the puppet girl gestured at the sky above them. "The Xianzhou Colony ship even simulates the climate and day night cycle," she looked at the floor below them. "Gravity is also simulated in such a way that... You can easily forget that we're inside a ship,"

Lynx nodded in agreement, taking in the sights. "It is! This is so cool!!!" she did a little jog forward, walking closer towards the railings. "How big is this place?" she looked down into the white void that seemingly stretch on forever.

"The Luofu uses some form of... Bigger on the Inside Spatial Geometry on their ship," Clara explained. "So, in a sense, this place has the surface area of an entire continent," she paused right beside Lynx, looking at all the Starskiff zooming through.

"Wow, you really know everything huh?" Lynx nudged Clara's hips, a grin on her face.

Clara blushed and quickly shook her head. "N-no! I don't know everything, I'm just umm..." she looked down. "I mean, there's still many things I don't understand, like how the Starskiff and Aurumaton work," her eyes lingered on a large starskiff flying past them. "It's hard to imagine that these constructs weren't created using gears and battery."

"It's not?" Lynx tilted her head.

"No, the Jade Technology used by the Xianzhou is something far different than the robots you know of," Clara began. "Part of the reason I want to come here, is that I want to see if I can learn more about Aurumatons and how they work."

Behind them, Stella walked into view, looking at all the Starskiffs zooming past. "Those look cool..." she muttered. "Think you can make one for us? Like, when we go on an expedition on a less populated planet?" she grinned. "It'll be awesome, wouldn't it?"

Lynx nodded in agreement. "Hell yeah! We should have one of these available in the Starnought," she clasped her hands together. "Just imagine, the three of us, whizzing through jungles and deserted plains, going from cities and villages in a vast untouched fantasy land!!"

Clara sighed softly. "I'm not a miracle worker, but..." she looked at the two and smiled brightly. "I'll do my best,"

Stella and Lynx fist bumped, victorious grin on their face.

As they continued on their way, a voice caught their attention. It sounds like a man, performing a storytelling. They quickly followed the voice and found a quaint little tea shop tucked between two large building. A man stood at the corner of it, some people sitting around to listen.

"Oh, storytelling!" Lynx quickened her pace towards the tea shop.

"And as the plague made its roots upon the very engine of our civilization, the Reignbow Arbiter finally heed our call!!!" a man recounted the tale with a dramatic flourish. "Arrow rain forth from the sky, striking at the Abundance with a force of a thousand sun, it banished all within it and turned the tides of war..."

Lynx sat down on an empty seat; eyes wide as she listened intently to the story. She barely noticed Clara and Stella sitting around her, the former waving her hand at the waitress.

"And as the struggle went on, for years, and decades. The Dragon and the Lion finally came victorious... The arbor fell under the hunt and we live to see, yet another blessed life..." the man ended his story with a flourish, while the other patron simply clapped politely.

"Welcome to the Sleeping Earl, my name is Mengming, may I have your orders?"

The child-like voice snapped Lynx out of her musings. She looked around and saw a little girl standing near their seat, handing out menu. Clara already browsed through some while Stella put an arm around Lynx's shoulder and opened a menu for them to read together.

"What do you like, Ms. Explorer?" Stella asked.

Lynx blushed a little. "S-sorry, for being too excited, I wasn't expecting to see a performance here," she quickly browsed through the menu before looking at the young girl. "Do you have recommendation? Not too strong, not too mild, something I can only find in the Xianzhou Luofu,"

Yes of course, the point of a culinary venture in different world is to drink what the locals drink and eat what the locals eat. It be silly for her to ask for anything different.

"There's a gentle breeze today, so it's a good time to try our fresh Hunter Maofeng which is in season. We never neglect this tea in our shop, making sure we pick fresh leaves every morning for the afternoon's brew, and afternoon leaves for the evening... ensuring you only drink the freshest," Mengming spoke, as if reciting something she's read. "What about you? What would you like, outsiders?"

"Hmm..." Stella mused out loud looking at all the different tea. "Something cold, what's Immortal's Delight?"

"A type of bubble drink, it's popular among the youth," the little girl replied. "It's sweet, cold, and served with milk."

"I'll take that one," Stella said with a thumb up. 

"Me too, to go," Clara said beside them.

The girl nodded. "One cup of Hunter Maofeng and two glass of Immortals Delight," she wrote everything down. "Anything else?"

"That would be all, thank you," Clara said with a smile.

Mengming bowed politely before walking back to the shop. Lynx couldn't help stare as the little girl walked away. She seems younger than her, yet she's as articulate is Pela. Is this the so-called educational gab between Advanced Spacefaring Civilizations and a Snowy Country bum like her?

"Phew," Lynx whistled. "And here I thought I started way too early for camping out in my teen years," she muttered. "Children sure start out early here, huh?"

Clara's eyes widened a little. "Oh, right, it slipped my mind..." she turned to Lynx and whispered to her quietly. "Every single Xianzhou Natives are immortals," she spoke. "But outsiders are forbidden to talk about it, a good rule of thumb is that all Xianzhou Citizens are 10 times older than they look."

Lynx blinked, processing what she just said. "Eh?"

"Shhh..." Clara put a finger on her lips. "We'll discuss this later, alright?" she looked back at the shop. "Oh look, there's our drink, thank you..."

Wait, what? Xianzhou Citizens are what now? Wait, what do you mean talk about this later? She can't just drop something like that and leave her hanging.

Something cold pressed on her palm, a large cup of Iced Bubble Tea sat on her hands. She took a sip of it instinctively, eyes widened at the fresh sensation. The sweet, cold, creamy drink mingled nicely with the fresh tangy tea. Sweet chewy bubbles popped in her mouth, almost making her forget about what just happened.

"Mmm..." she slurped a hefty amount before exhaling in relief. "This is great!"

"It is," Stella grabbed the drink from Lynx's hand. "Compliments to the Chef,"

"Wait..." Lynx was about to protest when the waitress put a cup of hot tea in front of her. "Oh, right, I asked for a tea," she picked up the warm drink and gently sipped on it. "Not bad..." she muttered, but still eyeing the immortal's delight in slight jealousy.

After a while, the three finished everything. Except for Clara who simply teleported her drink somewhere. Perhaps so she can enjoy it later with her real body. She then paid for everything, leaving a hefty tip, before continuing on their journey.

"Yeah, about that immortal thing," Lynx whispered. "What do you mean?"

"It means what it means," Clara whispered back. "Everyone here are Immortal, they live for hundreds of years," she glanced around. "Look, we'll talk about this later in the hotel, okay?"

Lynx looked down and slowly nodded. "Okay…" though despite this, she can't get the thought out of her head. The prospect of never growing old and exploring the endless universe with endless time on her hand is simply too enticing to forget just like that.

It wouldn't hurt... to ask around, right?