"Uh... where am I?"
Rovel struggled to pry his eyes open, consciousness slowly seeping back into his mind like water into dry earth. He was still in the Elysian Realm, it seed. He hadn't logged out of the ga.
The first thing to swim into his blurry vision was the familiar face of Klein. She was checking his condition, and upon confirming he was awake, she turned her head slightly.
"Dr. Mobius, Rovel is awake."
From a nearby sofa, Mobius rose. She pinched the bridge of her nose, a flicker of exhaustion in her eyes before she smoothed her expression into one of cool neutrality. She took a mont to compose herself before walking over to his bedside.
"When did you arrive?" she asked, her voice crisp. "And how did you manage to run into that madman, Kalpas?"
"?" Rovel's mind felt sluggish as he tried to piece together the fragnted mories from before he blacked out.
He rembered it now. He had swung his sword at Kalpas. The result was as predictable as the sun rising.
Kalpas hadn't even bothered to dodge. He'd simply raised a hand, catching the blade with an air of utter indifference. Then, with a casual application of force, the high-quality wooden sword had splintered into a dozen pieces.
He could still hear the man's low, rumbling chuckle. "Are you challenging ? Hehehe... I accept!"
Then, nothing. A wave of incinerating heat had washed over him, and his world simply went black.
'How pathetic…' Rovel thought, a flush of sha creeping up his neck. Kalpas hadn't even truly made a move, and he was already down for the count. The man's sheer presence had been enough to overwhelm him.
Honestly, he really was weak to an almost comical degree. It seed Kalpas had been right about him after all...
"It was just like last ti," Rovel explained, pushing the embarrassing mory aside. "I was suddenly pulled into the Elysian Realm. This ti, however, I ended up in the deeper sectors, which is how I ran into him."
"And what, precisely, did you say to him?" Mobius's eyes narrowed, a glint of suspicion within them. "Why would he actually attack you?"
She knew from his last visit that Rovel possessed an unusual amount of knowledge about the Previous Era. Logically, he should have known better than to provoke the most volatile of the Fla-Chasers.
"That's not it," Rovel admitted, scratching his head in embarrassnt. "I attacked him. And then... I fainted from the heat."
"..."
A heavy silence fell over the laboratory. Mobius stared at him, her expression unreadable. Klein, ever the professional, simply stood by, her face a perfect mask.
"W-what's wrong?" Rovel asked, the sudden stillness in the air feeling strangely unnerving. Did sothing happen while he was unconscious?
"It's nothing," Mobius said, her tone a little too casual. She turned away, dismissing the topic entirely. "In the future, stay away from Kalpas. He's nothing but a madman."
Watching her walk away, Rovel felt a prickle of suspicion. Sothing was off. It seed that compared to the last ti he saw her...
"Dr. Mobius," he began, a thought clicking into place. "Did you get... smaller? Could it be that..."
Sensing he was about to guess the truth, Mobius cut him off without turning around. "A minor miscalculation during an experint two days ago. I died. It happens."
He couldn't be sure if it was his imagination, but her words seed to carry a hint of urgency, spoken just a fraction of a second faster than her usual asured cadence.
"Oh, so that's what happened," Rovel said, nodding as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
Seeing that he had accepted her explanation without question, Mobius let out a long, almost inaudible sigh of relief.
"Oh, right," Rovel said, as if suddenly rembering sothing important. "I obtained this by chance. I don't know if it might be useful for your research."
He retrieved the 'Taiyi' sample he had won from the random prize wheel and walked over to her, holding it out.
"It's a type of unknown Honkai beast factor. I was wondering if you've ever seen anything like it."
"'Taiyi'?" The na alone was enough to recapture Mobius's full attention. She took the small vial from his hand, her earlier annoyance forgotten.
She held it up, examining it carefully. As she tilted the vial, the substance within swirled under the laboratory lights. It flowed not like a liquid, but like a miniature galaxy, a cluster of starlight moving with an inexplicable, rhythmic grace.
"Could it be 'Varuna'?" she mused aloud, then imdiately dismissed the idea with a shake of her head. "No, the Varuna factor doesn't possess this kind of rhythm..."
The confirmation that 'Taiyi' was a Honkai beast factor completely unknown to her was enough to ignite the fires of her scientific curiosity. All thoughts of Kalpas and Rovel's foolishness were instantly purged from her mind.
Without another word, she swept past Rovel, taking the 'Taiyi' sample deeper into her laboratory to begin her analysis.
Left to his own devices, Rovel turned to the only other person in the room. "Klein, you're working hard as always."
"Is there sothing you need?" Klein asked, her gaze lifting from her console, puzzled by the sudden small talk.
"Can you quietly tell what happened while I was out?" Rovel asked, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
"MANTIS have exceptionally good hearing," Klein reminded him, her tone flat and helpful. "Whispering will not conceal your words from Dr. Mobius."
"Uh..." A chill traced its way down Rovel's spine. "Right. Then I guess I won't ask."
He decided it was best not to press the issue.
'So, did Kalpas bring here?'Rovel rubbed his chin, pondering the situation.'I never told him I was from Mobius's lab.'
No matter how he thought about it, it didn't make sense. If Kalpas were to dump him sowhere, it would more likely be at Su's doorstep. As for whether his pathetic attack had truly provoked the man, Rovel knew that was missing the point entirely.
When facing a being like Kalpas, cowering would only earn his contempt. Only by bravely, foolishly, swinging his blade could he hope to earn even a sliver of the man's respect. It was a calculated risk, born from his knowledge of the Fla-Chaser's brutal philosophy.
Of course, there was another reason. He wanted to prove to Kalpas—and to himself—that he was not a 'weakling'.
It was just a sha he had failed so spectacularly, not even managing to draw a real counterattack.
'It was a charge worthy of Don Quixote himself!'he thought, a grim smile touching his lips.'Oh, great and terrible windmill of fear, I shall never yield!' He could only offer himself such wry consolations.
"Dr. Mobius happened to be leaving the lab when she saw Kalpas carrying you," Klein explained, her voice cutting through his thoughts. "She simply brought you back with her."
"So that's how it is," Rovel murmured. "Where is Kalpas now?"
Klein gave him a long, searching look. "What are you planning? Surely you don't intend to go looking for another fight?"
"Ah, well, since Snake is busy with her research and I have nothing to do," Rovel said with a shrug, "I figured I might as well ask Kalpas to train ."
"Let Kalpas... train you..." Klein's professional facade finally cracked, a hint of genuine admiration shining in her eyes.
She had to admit, this Descender was quite the character. He was the first person she'd ever heard dare to call Dr. Mobius 'Snake'so casually, and now he was the first to actively seek out Kalpas for training. She had seen countless trial-takers enter the Elysian Realm, and ninety percent of them lacked the courage to even face Kalpas. The other ten percent had likely crossed one of his many lines, and then... there was no'then'.
"Don't worry, I understand his temperant," Rovel said, waving a reassuring hand. "I won't provoke him."
After a bit more pestering, Klein finally relented, providing Rovel with Kalpas's current coordinates. Fortunately, the man wasn't lurking in the deepest, most dangerous sectors of the realm. He was sowhere on the outskirts, perhaps resting.
When Rovel finally found him, Kalpas was sprawled across a massive, reinforced tal shelf, looking less like he was resting and more like a dormant volcano.
As Rovel approached, Kalpas let out a soft huff, the sound like stones grinding together. He didn't even open his eyes.
"Rovel. What do you want?"
Hearing Kalpas speak his na so readily stunned him for a mont, but he quickly recovered, stating his purpose with a clear voice.
"...I want you to train . I want to... beco stronger."
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