After the trio's playful banter it was time to strategize.
Pei Guang: "Not a big problem. Now that we have our first Aether Spirit, we're entering the tournament next, right? But having just one might not be enough."
Piggy Hero snorted in response: "Hmph hmph! Hmph hmph hmph!"
Pei Guang picked up the Warp Trotter: "What? You're saying you're enough on your own? No way! Whether it's a single battle or team match, you can't win with only one Aether Spirit. What if you run into one that specifically counters you?"
Piggy Hero: "Hmph hmph! Hmph hmph hmph!"
Pei Guang: "Exactly~ That's why we need a team. Don't worry, you're special. Even if you're treated like a mascot, you're still coming with us. Besides, your abilities make it clear you're no mascot. I've already decided who your teammate is going to be."
Giovanni, watching Pei Guang with a smile, offered a gentle reminder: "Mr. Pei Guang, just a heads-up—this round of Aetherium Wars only allows data of combat units from Herta Space Station, Belobog, and the Xianzhou Luofu. Units from other planets are not allowed. Of course, special entities like the Warp Trotter, which can be found in all worlds, are an exception."
Pei Guang waved his hand: "No worries, I'll make sure they're from those three maps. I might use cheats in single-player games, but when it comes to competitive online games, I never cheat!"
It was true: while Pei Guang liked to exploit in-game mechanics and weird bugs, he never used external programs.
Giovanni seemed to recall something and added, "Also, powerful lifeforms from the Echo of War aren't allowed either. Aether Spirits used in the festival tournament must come from within the set limits. That's to ensure fairness, and I hope you understand."
Pei Guang: "Of course, fairness is the core of competitive games. But now that you mention it, we can't use them in matches… so does that mean we can use them when capturing new Aether Spirits?"
Giovanni was caught off guard by Pei Guang's observation, then laughed. "Of course! The festival allows the use of powerful Aether Spirits to help newcomers collect more. And if you'd like to spar with other players outside the tournament, that's allowed too."
Pei Guang: "That's all I needed to hear! March, Stelle, Piggy Hero! Let's go catch some powerful Aether Spirits!"
March 7th: "Powerful Aether Spirits? Wait, Ah Guang, you're thinking—"
Pei Guang: "Exactly. What others can't collect, we can. Even if we can't use them in matches, we can still use them for sparring outside the tournament!"
Stelle: "Let's go!"
The trio moved efficiently—since the Echo of War could serve as a teleport point, they quickly arrived at the Echo of War in the Xianzhou Luofu.
Inside, Pei Guang stood with Piggy Hero on his head and an Aether Coin in hand, scanning Phantylia. But during the scan, he realized a problem: the data size was too large, and the Aether Coin couldn't process it.
"Tch! This is tricky..."
Watching Phantylia casually fan herself while attacking, Pei Guang knew this would be tough. He wanted to collect her as an Aether Spirit, but it looked like the current version of the Aether Coin couldn't store a memory of a Lord Ravager?
March 7th: "Ah Guang? What's wrong? It's not working?"
Pei Guang: "Yeah! Hardware can't keep up.
Stelle looked at Pei Guang: "Look, right? We're using Aether Coins, but Silver Wolf uses Aether Editing. If our coins can't handle it, why don't we call Silver Wolf over and have her use Aether Editing to add Phantylia in?"
Pei Guang: "Huh? You know what, that might actually work. Let me get Silver Wolf over here."
A few minutes later, Silver Wolf arrived. When she saw the Aether Coin in Pei Guang's hand and Phantylia in the distance, her expression was one of shock.
Silver Wolf: "You're saying... you want to turn Phantylia into an Aether Spirit? That's a Lord Ravager… this is... amazing!"
Originally, it hadn't occurred to Silver Wolf to turn Phantylia into an Aether Spirit, but after meeting Pei Guang and hearing his idea, she had only one thought: more playable Aether Spirits!
No one could resist the idea of turning a Lord Ravager into an Aether Spirit. But an Emanator was still an Emanator, and even though this was just a memory form in the Echo of War, scanning all of Phantylia's data and making her usable in Aetherium Wars was still quite a hassle for Silver Wolf.
After all, since the founding of Aetherium Wars, no one had ever imagined someone would scan an Emanator's data—let alone a Lord Ravager's. For an Aether Coin, the data size was far too much. Even if you could defeat her, it wouldn't be enough to scan her.
But with Silver Wolf, it was different. She had already fought Phantylia and obtained part of her data, and the memory version of Phantylia had her power suppressed. Under these conditions, getting her data and turning her into an Aether Spirit wasn't that difficult.
After spending half a day, Silver Wolf succeeded.
Silver Wolf: "Check your Aether Coin: Phantylia's data is already uploaded. Ahem~ As payment, I'm keeping a copy of her data too."
Pei Guang: "No need to be polite, we're all on the same side. Just enjoy using her. By the way, Silver Wolf, are you entering the Tournament Festival this time?"
Silver Wolf nodded: "Of course! How could I miss an event like this? Hehe~ And I know you're entering too. I'm looking forward to competing with you and your team in the finals! But first, I'm going to take Phantylia for a spin. I swear, once she's out, the whole Aetherium scene's going to be shaken!"
Silver Wolf was about to leave, but then she paused and turned back to Pei Guang: "I made some tweaks to your Aether Coin. As long as it's not stronger than Phantylia, you'll be able to scan and collect new Aether Spirits. But besides Phantylia, what else do you want to collect?"
Pei Guang: "What else? Of course I want the Doomsday Beast and the Stellaron-corrupted Cocolia. With those two, I'll have four Aether Spirits: Piggy Hero + Phantylia + Doomsday Beast + Mother of Deception. I think we'll be able to easily defeat and capture any regular Aether Spirit."
After hearing that, Silver Wolf's expression grew serious. She felt a bit relieved now: she was thankful that the Aetherium Wars tournament restricted players to designated Aether Spirits from limited areas for fairness.
If players could use anything they caught, she couldn't imagine how anyone would beat Pei Guang's team.
While Pei Guang was gathering Phantylia's data, over on the Astral Express, Dan Heng handed an Aether Coin to Pom-Pom.
Dan Heng: "Pom-Pom, I heard from Ah Guang that you're joining the Aetherium Wars too. It'd be hard for you to go catch Aether Spirits, so I collected one for you. This Aether Spirit was made using my data. It's pretty fun—go try it out."
Pom-Pom looked excitedly at the Aether Coin in their hands: "Thank you, Dan Heng-passenger! Pom-Pom won't let you down!"
So what Aether Spirit did Dan Heng give Pom-Pom? It definitely wasn't his real combat data: that would be too dangerous if leaked.
Instead, he uploaded data from his pink fluffy bunny mode. Not strong in battle, but with that form, Pom-Pom would definitely be one of a kind in the universe.