Cultivating in Honkai!

Not a lot of changes occurred to Saint Freya.

Ever since the 'false alarm' pertaining to a major eruption a year ago, they found nothing else. Nevertheless, the Far East Branch was penalized and had their budget cut down. The failure to find the false alarm's cause ultimately lied on them, to which they failed.

Unbeknownst to them, it was the headmaster who experienced a lot of changes.

For once, the talisman-paper embedded with [Sword Light Refraction] broke down the imitation feather inside her mind. It made her recall the true events during the second eruption.

It wasn't only Schicksal who took action. Anti-Entropy put aside their deep-seated grudges and fought the Second Herrscher along with them.

Having these parts of her memories erased and rewritten caused Theresa to doubt her grandfather.

Is he hiding more from me?

It did not help that the 'spheres' contained information related to the Previous Era technology. There, she found the identity of the feather: Fenghuang Down, Eighth Divine Key.

It is the weapon held by the revered Empyrean, a Previous Era Flamechaser known as Immortal Jingwei.

In the end, Theresa decided to investigate things on her own. There weren't any opportunities to do so until now.

Fu Hua, an A-Ranked Valkyrie, needed to be escorted to Siberia. It was an order that came from the headquarters.

Whether Theresa is wrong or not, she asked her most trusted valkyrie to tail Fu Hua. This was the only opportunity she got after one year.

Everything was done under the radar—an unofficial mission, per se.

"Why does it feel like she is aimlessly finding something..?"

Himeko put down her visor. It is an advanced honkai-tech that works like a binocular, but is much more effective.

"She is aimlessly finding something."

A voice affirmed her murmurs.

Her entire body tensed up. She swiftly reacted and pulled out a Pri-ARM pistol from her waist. It is far too late to go for her main weapon.

Two seconds passed. She saw the appearance of the visitor just now.

'I didn't sense him!'

Being able to silently appear beside an A Rank Valkyrie is a horrifying thing. It is an enemy far above their pay grade.

Himeko's scrutiny did not last long. The young man with short black hair has a remarkable, borderline ethereal appearance. It is a kind of natural charm unpresent to all she had seen in her life.

In short, his handsomeness is off the charts.

The young man's cape fluttered as he turned to look at her.

"How do you typically defuse tense moments?" He asked.

"By not appearing unnoticed, darling."

His eyes widened slightly.

'She's still the same…'

His heart skipped a beat. Meeting with the major characters from the game is a great accomplishment for him. Shi Tian previously refrained from recklessly contacting them.

One, there is no need to. Two, he was weak at that time; trying to change their fates is difficult. It is bes tto do so once he grew stronger...

Which is now.

His hands remained behind his back.

"I expected the little miss principal to take action. It seems like you didn't do anything for a year?"

It was Himeko's turn to be surprised.

"You are that thief."

"Thief? Did you see a thief giving you good stuff?"

"...Fair point." She paused for a while before asking, "What do you want? There are not a lot of generous people in the world."

Shi Tian smiled at her response. He could see the tension hidden beneath Himeko's relaxed looks.

"There is not a lot of time left. Honkai will grow stronger, major eruptions will happen in the span of months, and humanity will face their last trial."

He described the 'future' based on the game. The entirety of the third major eruption up to Kiana's embrace only took two years. It is a far cry from the somewhat peaceful facade that can still be put up now.

"I gave the small principal a chance to see the truth… or in short, I am looking for allies." He made a quick correction. "Anti-Entropy is one of them. I cannot trust Schicksal due to the virtue of your Overseer. The entire Second Eruption is directly caused by him. I need to say no more."

Himeko fell silent. The huge chunk of information he gave straightforwardly was processed by her.

"I am not the type to be easily swayed by words." She said.

Shi Tian threw a smartphone in her direction. It is incapable of connecting to other networks, basically an isolated device where the evidence is in place. It contains a lot of "evidence" of Otto's wrongdoings, and by extension, a part of Schicksal.

"If you happen to be swayed by my words, feel free to approach the ME Corp. We'll talk about the rest of the details then. Until then, aunt."

Swoosh-!

A gust of wind came.

Moments later, he was gone.

Himeko dropped the gun and returned it to her holster. She examined the smartphone on her other hand, and then his departing words.

"Aunt…"

She was very offended.

*****

Talking to Himeko is thrilling.

Another milestone was reached. Meeting her in reality made me realize how gorgeous she was compared to the women of my previous world. Heck, everyone here is very very very beautiful.

Letting Kiana try on her battlesuits strengthened this feeling.

No wonder honkai ended up favoring girls in this world.

These thoughts are a flash in the pan.

Using a mastery-less auxiliary technique, my physical body turned transparent. I am now invisible to the naked eyes. All of the physical body's operations are concealed beneath the small film.

Then, the method of sheathing one's aura came next. My spiritual qi and mental fluctuations are thoroughly sealed. The concealment effect of [Sword Light Refraction] is simply exaggerated compared to [Sword Nurturing Pagoda].

Except for Sin Mal's strange eyes that can slightly pry it open, no one else managed to see through it.

Zoom-!

Crack-!

The sound of mirror breaking emerged. The distance of five kilometers is traversed with a single step.

The girl in front jumped in a startled manner. She turned her entire body to my side, barely enough to catch my hand. The shoulder pat failed.

Fu Hua. Realmless. Sword Heart. Foundation Establishment Body, severely damaged. Suspected Purple Mansion Mind, severely damaged. Mortal Soul, maintained by the presence of honkai energy.

Numerous information flashed in my mind. My knowledge was swiftly sorted out, and even some parts I was unaware got filled in.

The permanent [Encompassing Eyes] draw judgement both from my knowledge and peeking through the causal lines.

I stopped when it came to the part about her three sizes…

Desolate, indeed.

"Are you looking for me?"

Looking at her eyes, I knew she recognized me.