Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Noldrei knew that ideologies like racism hadn't simply vanished. Even among the general populace, there were still those who thought only of slaughtering other ethnic groups.

It was to be expected. Years of education and history were steeped in this kind of collective hatred.

But the world had, more or less, progressed. There would be no more atrocities like turning people into soap. That kind of collective racism was the most insane and uncontrollable form of all.

Noldrei understood clearly that racism itself was a primitive form of proto-Proliferationism.

What was it, if not a way to "produce" a governable populace? It was nothing more than a primitive act of armed proto-Proliferationism, built on the principle of slaughtering anyone who disobeyed or acted against the ruler's interests, thereby solidifying the collective.

It's just that people in the future would do it more subtly, with more "freedom," and more openly, by leveraging humanity's own desires to subvert its will to resist.

However, he hadn't anticipated that even with the world's history having progressed this far, collective racism would still manage to rise from the ashes.

'Those who are bullied often end up taking on the colors of their bullies. Is this what they call 'corruption' in the legends?'

Some aspects of Far Eastern culture were quite insightful. It was entirely possible for the oppressed to become the oppressors. Then, with just a little prodding from behind, the weaker party could be nudged in a desired direction.

And the backlash? The consequences of such actions could be delayed for a very long time. By the time they manifested, the instigators would be long gone, making it difficult for the backlash to ever reach them.

Unless, of course, that person remained in a position of power. Theoretically, increasing the human lifespan could make the backlash more precise and severe.

"I truly didn't expect the Current Era to still have this kind of conflict. It seems what you said wasn't entirely true, was it?"

After emerging, Elysia had first investigated the reason why that Herrscher, Welt Yang, had taken action. The greatest conflict of this era was between humanity and the Honkai, a burden Noldrei had shouldered all by himself.

Her instinct was to immediately focus on the Herrscher.

"Welt is a man of principle, and I have quite a few of them here. They aren't idiots; they just live by their own code. And while I may look down on that code, I have no intention of forcibly changing their minds. The internal contradictions of their principles will do that work for me."

Noldrei was quite lenient with people like Welt and Fu Hua. Even though he often complained that they worked against his policies, he never considered taking any action against them.

Elysia shook her head with a hint of regret. "The only problem was that in the Previous Era, we were never given enough time for these internal conflicts to fester. Every Honkai Eruption would strike at a critical moment, intensifying its assault on human civilization. We were forced to fight the Honkai while rife with internal strife, and through that constant attrition, we were eventually driven to extinction. The Herrscher struggles in the Current Era aren't nearly as life-or-death as they were in the past, but that's a good thing, isn't it?"

But that wasn't Elysia's biggest concern.

According to the history of the Current Era, Schicksal's Valkyries and Otto had held up the world for the past five hundred years, but civilization's progress during that time had been quite slow. Even so, this slow progress during the age of capital far surpassed the previous thousand years of feudalism.

And now, Noldrei had kickstarted the next era. How vast would the gap in progress be this time?

And the Herrschers born from this new civilization... just how powerful would they be?

These were all questions Elysia needed to consider.

"By the way, where is Hua? I haven't seen her," Elysia said, wanting to check on her old friend. She wanted to see how Hua was doing lately, and what she looked like as a giant panda.

"She went back to Shenzhou. With something this big happening, she had to go back and stabilize the situation. And this incident is no small matter, so she needs to be there to assess things and calm everyone's nerves."

Noldrei knew full well that Shenzhou was extremely sensitive to the resurgence of military power in the Far East.

It seemed that many people from Shenzhou would be joining the administration of Academy City soon.

But Noldrei didn't care who was on the administrative board. Anyone who came here would become a new type of human, where concepts like bloodline, culture, and ethnicity were all torn to shreds.

Wasn't that already the case? In just one short year, the people from the Far East within Academy City had completely stopped identifying as such.

Most of them believed the only reason Academy City didn't expand was that it needed to maintain the "disguise" of being a Far Eastern entity.

Elysia fell into deep thought.

'Is this what he calls peaceful global development? It feels a little different from my understanding of 'peace.'

Noldrei's thoughts returned to Welt's situation. He was a little worried that Welt might become overly stressed and undergo a negative psychological change.

"Ely, do you think Welt might get too anxious and develop an unhealthy mental state? He's always been so resolute in fighting the Honkai, and he was calm and rational even when dealing with enemies like Schicksal and Otto. He could even cooperate with Otto when necessary, even though Otto was, in a way, responsible for his adoptive father's death. Welt managed to endure even that..."

Noldrei was genuinely concerned now.

"But everything has a price. The longer you endure something, the more you need an outlet to release that pressure. A man of principle is liable to break at some point. When that happens, I just don't know if Welt will go too far as a Herrscher."

Elysia noticed that Noldrei didn't seem too worried about him losing control of his Herrscher powers, but something else entirely.

"What are you worried about?"

"I'm worried Welt will become conservative. A lofty moral compass can make a person as staunchly conservative as a Puritan. After the spirit suffers a painful blow, one either changes the external material world or represses one's own spirit. If repressed too much, it forms something like the 'perfected' state of a Buddhist monk."

Noldrei chose his words carefully as he explained. "Welt is a man of principle, no doubt about it. But he's also someone who trusts human morality to an extreme degree, which makes him fundamentally very conservative. For example, despite his power and influence, he's not promiscuous or self-indulgent. His views on love are as pure as a teenager's. In his dealings with others, he insists on mutual trust and support, and he would never be the first to break an agreement. His political ideals are even rooted in a very simple, faithful belief in liberty and equality."

"Welt's puritanical life philosophy is completely at odds with the North American way of life."

"You know, Welt... he's actually a pretty lonely person."

Noldrei's heartfelt sigh took Elysia by complete surprise. She'd had no idea he cared so much about the mental well-being of his people. From his usual demeanor, she never would have guessed.