Stellar Train: I Open a Small Shop on the Train

Ye Yun focused his eyes and looked closely.

[Item: Ascension Core

Description: A divine artifact from a high-level sci-fi adventure world, capable of upgrading the rank of any item.

Can upgrade items up to below the Aeon tier.

Price: 2 million star coins.]

After reading it, Ye Yun said:

"This is an Ascension Core. It can unconditionally upgrade any item below Aeon level.

For example, your second Stellaron Core, or your Judgment of Shamash."

Upon hearing that, Stelle's eyes lit up with joy.

"Frog-tastic! This thing's that OP?!"

She touched her chest.

"The Stellaron Core? What would it become after being upgraded?"

Ye Yun shrugged.

"I don't really know either. If you're interested, you could give it a try."

Welt spoke up at that moment.

"Stelle, it's best not to upgrade the Stellaron Core. That thing is a seed of disaster. If it goes out of control after the upgrade..."

Stelle waved her hand nonchalantly.

"It's fine. I'll check if Big Bro Arceus is available. If he is, I'll ask him to come back and guard my life."

Hearing that, Welt didn't say anything further.

He knew Arceus's power. With Arceus around, there'd basically be no danger to Stelle.

Stelle cleared her throat and shouted into the air a couple of times.

Not long after, Arceus appeared outside the train, holding a dragon's head in his hand.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

That's a Doomsday Beast, right? That look—it's definitely a Doomsday Beast!

But soon, everyone calmed down.

What were they even surprised about? Just a Doomsday Beast. To Arceus, that's no more than a fly.

Stelle waved.

"Big Bro Arceus! Are you free? I need a favor!"

Arceus nodded. Stelle saw this and told him the situation.

After hearing her out, Arceus opened a portal and tossed the dragon head inside.

Then he walked into the shop.

"Let's begin, Arceus."

Arceus nodded and pressed the Ascension Core against her chest.

At that moment, her second Stellaron Core suddenly detached from her body and enveloped the Ascension Core.

The Stellaron Core began absorbing the core's energy, growing stronger and stronger.

Over half an hour later, the Ascension Core had completely vanished, and the Stellaron Core returned to Stelle's body.

All at once, Stelle sensed that she could now control her second Stellaron Core.

Previously, she couldn't use its power directly.

She had to rely on the Judgment of Shamash to absorb its energy, then use that weapon in combat.

In short, the Judgment of Shamash was the medium.

But now things were different.

Stelle could directly tap into the energy of her second Stellaron Core—and its power was now ten times greater than before.

When going all out, Stelle could temporarily reach Emanator-level strength.

A legitimate mid-tier Emanator, not just some entry-level Emanator.

She was now overflowing with confidence, itching to go fight a few squads of the Antimatter Legion to test her strength.

Seeing everything was fine, Arceus turned and left without a word.

Himeko gave Stelle a once-over and smiled.

"Stelle, I guess this counts as a blessing in disguise?"

Hu Tao chimed in.

"Totally. The enhancement didn't work, and instead, you got a top-tier drop.

Now even I'm tempted to go open a trash can or two for fun."

Stelle waved her hand.

"Do it! Didn't you see me get a drop just now?"

Hu Tao thought for a second, then calmed down.

"No, I'm saving up to open a platinum-tier one.

Gold-tier's not enough for me anymore.

Counting the 200,000 you still owe me, I only need 300,000 more. I'm almost there. Almost."

Afterward, everyone played around on the train for a while before going their separate ways.

Kanna joined the group of the seven little ones, turning them into a group of eight.

Tribbie, Trianne, and Trinnon weren't included—they were usually busy with their own affairs in Amphoreus and only occasionally came over to play.

Kobayashi started casually chatting with Himeko and the others.

Tohru followed Xiangling back to Wanmin Restaurant to help out in the kitchen.

At that moment, inside the Wanmin Restaurant's kitchen...

Tohru was holding a kitchen knife and chopping vegetables rapidly.

At first, she wasn't used to using such a large Chinese-style cleaver, but gradually she found it much more effective than the knives she used before.

Her chopping speed grew faster and faster—as expected of a dragon, she had natural talent for this.

After a busy evening and finishing up with the customers—

Xiangling brought Tohru out to the dining hall for a late-night meal.

Xingqiu, Chongyun, and Xinyan were already seated at the table, having waited for a while.

Xiangling led Tohru over.

"Thanks for waiting, everyone! Let me introduce—this is my assistant, Tohru."

Tohru looked at the group.

"Hello, my name is Tohru."

Xingqiu gave a slight nod.

"Hello, Tohru. I'm Xingqiu.

Xiangling, Tohru, have a seat—let's sit and eat while we chat."

Xiangling and Tohru sat down.

Xiangling looked toward Xinyan.

"Xinyan, how's it going with Sister Yun Jin?"

Xinyan smiled happily.

"I've learned so much about rock from her!

It's just a shame that Sister Yun Jin isn't willing to perform on stage anymore.

I was hoping we could rock out together on stage."

Xingqiu replied,

"She probably has her own reasons for that.

By the way, when do you plan to hold your own concert?

The neighboring nations already have their own celebrities now."

Xinyan thought for a moment.

"I'm not like Barbara or Furina. I play rock music—this line of work doesn't attract nearly as many fans as theirs."

Xingqiu said,

"That's fine too. The entire universe has a huge population—if you're truly outstanding in your field, there's no shortage of potential fans."

Xinyan pondered that.

"We'll see. I think I still need to learn from Sister Yun Jin a while longer."

Meanwhile...

In New Snezhnaya, inside La Signora's residence.

La Signora had gotten in contact with Topaz and was currently chatting with her.

The two had never met in person. La Signora added Furina on WeChat first by asking a servant for her contact and then had Furina introduce her to Topaz.

After a brief chat, Topaz suggested that La Signora try going the acting route.

Given La Signora's style, she might not be well-suited as a singer, but acting could be a much better fit.

La Signora thought about it and decided to follow Topaz's advice.

After all, according to Furina, it was thanks to Topaz's help that she, Barbara, Ayaka, and Nilou had become so popular.

Topaz had been helping them with promotion and public relations behind the scenes—because in this industry, even the best wine needs advertisement to be known.

Topaz sent over a script. It was for a film crew currently shooting in Penacony, and she encouraged La Signora to audition for a role.

La Signora downloaded and printed out the script, then went to report the matter to Barnabas.

The Tsaritsa was very supportive when she heard it.

"Go for it. If you succeed, we Snezhnayans will finally have our own celebrity."

Soon after...

La Signora went to Ye Yun's shop and used his portal to travel to Penacony.

***

Inside Penacony.

La Signora boarded the city rail headed toward the filming location.

The train sped along as the scenery outside the window changed constantly.

No matter how it changed, everything was dazzlingly prosperous.

La Signora was inwardly stunned.

To think she had once believed that New Snezhnaya was already incredibly beautiful—she didn't think there could be a place more impressive than it.

But now, seeing Penacony, she was completely taken aback by its brilliance.

Compared to this, Snezhnaya felt like the countryside, and Penacony was the real city.

With a quiet sigh, La Signora acknowledged to herself that Snezhnaya still had a long way to go.

Riding the city rail, she arrived at the entertainment complex where the film crew was based.

As soon as she stepped off the train, she spotted a company employee not far away holding a sign with her name:

[Rosalyne]

La Signora walked up to the woman.

"Hello, I'm Rosalyne. Did Miss Topaz send you to pick me up?"

The employee nodded.

"Yes, Director Topaz asked me to escort you to the set for your audition. This way, please."

La Signora followed the woman as they moved through the entertainment complex. This area was specifically designed for shooting films and TV shows.

It could also be considered a film base, though it wasn't entirely closed off—some tourists could come and visit during regular hours.

About ten minutes later, La Signora arrived at the designated film set.

Since she was introduced by Topaz, both the director and producer treated her with great courtesy.

Even though they were often fawned over by various performers, they knew their place—compared to Topaz, they were nothing more than small fry.

If Topaz wanted to pressure them, she absolutely could.

The show being filmed was a fantasy series.

The protagonist was a magic apprentice who grew stronger step by step, eventually defeating an evil sorcerer with the help of their friends.

La Signora was auditioning for the role of the evil sorcerer.

This choice had been made by Topaz after carefully analyzing La Signora's aura and appearance.

Unsurprisingly, La Signora passed the audition with ease and landed the role.

She chatted with the director and producer for a while, and they personally walked her to the door.

Looking at the thick script in her hands, La Signora's lips curled into a faint, unexplainable smile.

This was her first real step forward.

Her agreed salary wasn't particularly high: 1 million credits per episode, totaling 36 episodes—that made 36 million.

Of course, that was pre-tax.

After taxes, it would be around 25 million at most.

She checked the time—it was still early.

Thinking for a moment, she decided to stroll around the entertainment complex and observe how others acted.

Just as she was about to leave, the same staff member who had led her earlier came running over.

"Miss Rosalyne, please wait a moment."

La Signora turned around at the sound of her name.

"Oh, it's you. Is something the matter?"

The staff member adjusted her large round glasses, giving off a somewhat clumsy, cute, and slightly silly vibe.

"My name is Aya. I'm the agent for Director Topaz's newly launched entertainment project.

Director Topaz just assigned me to be your exclusive agent moving forward."

La Signora smiled and nodded upon hearing that.

"Alright then—I'll be in your care, Aya.

Come, walk with me around the complex."

Aya nodded and followed her.

As they strolled, La Signora started looking at clothes. Though tempted, she didn't buy anything due to her tight budget—she decided to wait until she finished the show to treat herself.

Night fell.

Aya and La Signora parted ways and returned to their respective homes.

Topaz had rented a studio residence near the entertainment complex for La Signora—a standalone villa, which Aya would also stay in most of the time.

Later, when La Signora officially joined the crew, she'd definitely be staying there. But for now, she needed to report back to Tsaritsa.

She returned to Ye Yun's shop through the portal.

From there, she traveled back to Snezhnaya.

Upon arrival, she summoned a Fatui soldier and asked around, learning that the Tsaritsa was in a meeting room holding a conference. La Signora quickly made her way there.

When she reached the meeting room, the door was still open. The meeting hadn't started yet—everyone had only just taken their seats.

Childe sat on the sofa and, upon seeing La Signora return, teased her.

"Well, well, well~ isn't this our superstar from Snezhnaya? How did it go? Did you pass the audition?"

La Signora rolled her eyes at Childe in annoyance, then turned to report to Tsaritsa, who was seated at the head of the room.

"Your Majesty, I successfully passed the audition. The total payment is 36 million credits, but that's before taxes. I'll have to pay tax on it."

The Tsaritsa smiled slightly upon hearing that.

"Good. Well done, Rosalyne."

Who in the room was the happiest apart from Her Majesty?

Naturally, it was the Rich Man.

The Rich Man stood up excitedly.

"La Signora! Well done! I just happen to be short about 20 million credits for the Ice and Snow World tourism project.

You'll be turning over that payment, right? You will hand it over, right?

You're the Fair Lady! You're an Executive of Snezhnaya!

You're one of the Tsaritsa's most trusted people!

You'll hand it over, won't you?

How about depositing it into our Snezhnaya government account?

I think that sounds reasonable.

Childe, Rooster, what about you two?

You won't oppose it, right?

Alright then, it's settled!"

The Tsaritsa couldn't help but chuckle at the Rich Man, who had been babbling on.

Lately, the Rich Man had been so worried about funding that even some of his hair had turned white.

There was no helping it—he was short on money! Severely short! He had great project ideas in mind, but without money, he couldn't make any of them happen.

And now, seeing La Signora come back with tens of millions, he went straight in for the grab.

La Signora chuckled too.

"Don't worry, I'll hand over the entire amount."

The Rich Man felt instantly relieved and gave her a thumbs-up.

"See? You all see that? That's what I call dedication!"

The Tsaritsa spoke up at this moment.

"Rosalyne, keep 2 million for yourself. Hand over the rest. After all, you earned it through your own hard work."

La Signora was about to refuse, wanting to hand it all over—but then she paused.

She wasn't alone anymore. She now had Aya working under her.

According to Aya, they would need to hire more people later on, like makeup artists, and would definitely need funds for that.

La Signora thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright. Director Topaz arranged a professional agent under her for me.

The agent said we'd need to set aside some money to hire makeup artists and others.

Also, things like socializing and managing our online presence will cost money too.

I'll keep 2 million—that should be enough."

The Rich Man nodded.

"Exactly. Celebrities are a product. You need packaging and promotion. That money is necessary."

Then, La Signora took her seat, and The Tsaritsa officially started the meeting.

This meeting had been called at the request of the Rich Man.

The purpose was to explain the Ice and Snow World project to everyone.

According to him, once it's launched, it will surely attract a lot of tourists.

Snezhnaya had a great natural environment, largely undeveloped and pristine.