How could she increase the permanent Finality Progress?
That was the most pressing question right now. In the past, all rewards were tied to Izumo—but Izumo was already maxed out.
At present, Izumo was practically a dead planet.
There was no way she could earn any more rewards there, nor could she obtain secondary rewards from Sirin or the others.
To improve her progress, she had to rely on Izumo.
But Izumo was currently bugged—entangled with Nihility and unable to stop.
Essentially, it was ruined.
A bitter consequence of forcibly triggering the descent of Finality.
"To change Izumo's condition, I must beco stronger. But like Ruan said, if I want to advance further, I have to first fill up the progress bar..."
That too seed completely stuck.
Kiana frowned, biting her finger in frustration. There was no way forward.
Over the past half-year, she had secretly tried many thods—but every ti, the result was the sa. The permanent progress bar didn't move at all.
"No, there must be another way... Kiana, co on, think—think!"
She closed her eyes, recalling everything that had happened so far. After a long while, she finally rembered sothing from long ago.
"Izumo was the world that got bound when I activated the system... but the system never said I could only bind one world, right?"
"...But that's odd. I've traveled through so many worlds, and the system never popped up to say I could bind a new one."
Scratching her head irritably, Kiana rolled over, stood up, took a few steps, and flopped face-first onto the soft hotel bed.
"Is there only one slot?"
"Or... is there so hidden rule I don't know about?"
After burying her head in the blanket for a while, Kiana suddenly slapped the bed and lifted her head. "Maybe I should go see Jyahnar."
Last ti, she had said she would go back—but nearly a year had passed. If not for being unable to find an answer, she might have already forgotten that Jyahnar was still waiting for her in Izumo.
Rolling over to face the ceiling, Kiana stared at it blankly. If she never went back, and one day Jyahnar couldn't stand the loneliness...
Kiana shivered and sat up abruptly.
That joke could get out of hand!
Whether or not Jyahnar had found a way to beco human, she still needed to go back and calm her down.
Having made up her mind to stop going down this dead-end path and return to Izumo, the terminal on her wrist suddenly pinged with a new ssage.
Kiana raised an eyebrow and opened it.
Just one glance—and her calm completely shattered. She stared wide-eyed at the ssage, rereading it over and over, her mouth opening soundlessly.
The ssage was from the IPC.
Specifically, from the bounty departnt.
The long, detailed text could be summarized in one sentence:
They had found the person she'd been looking for.
"F-found her?"
The long-awaited news appeared before her without warning, leaving Kiana frozen for a long mont.
They'd found her?
They'd found i?
...Was this real? Could it be that she'd just been thinking about i too much and dreamt this ssage?
After searching for i for so long...
Was she really found—just like that?
It wasn't just a clue—it was real. They had found i, truly found her. They could even arrange a eting ti.
"...Really found her?"
Kiana swallowed hard, trembling as she read the ssage again from the beginning, analyzing every word.
In a distant border planetary system, a company employee transporting supplies for the Xianzhou had encountered...
It all checked out.
"Acheron..."
Seeing that na, Kiana's mind went blank. She clenched her hand, then deliberately loosened it.
"i... Yes, a eting—I have to et her now!"
Panicking, she hurriedly replied to the ssage, requesting an imdiate eting.
The location?
She quickly discussed the details with the company staff, settling everything in a rush. They agreed that she would be able to et i here—in three days.
"i... i..."
Kiana took a deep breath. She hadn't even seen her yet, but she wanted to calm herself down a little.
"Finally found you!"
But she couldn't calm down at all!
She leapt off the bed and began pacing back and forth across the spacious room. No matter what she did, she couldn't stay composed. Her mind was overflowing with excitent and anticipation.
When she had reunited with Sirin, she had been happy, yes—but never like this. Never so restless, so distracted.
Her entire being felt like it was on fire.
Just the thought that she would soon see i again—that she would stand before her once more—made her unable to contain the joy that kept rising in her heart.
Even the corners of her mouth refused to stay down.
Though her life had changed, and she had t many others since leaving Izumo, Raiden i would always be different.
The first one can never be replaced.
What should she say when she saw i again?
Would i be excited too?
How much would she rember?
Countless thoughts swirled through her mind—so filling her with hope, others with anxiety.
After all... i had been deceived by her.
Together with Sirin, she had tricked i. Kiana had promised to leave with her—but in truth, she had done it to conceal the truth, to protect her.
Because if everything had been explained clearly...
Raiden i would never have left.
And if she hadn't left...
Without a miracle, the current fate of Yae Sakura—who had beco a stigma—would have been her own.
Kiana didn't regret keeping the truth from i back then, but she couldn't deny the guilt and dread that ca with it.
Sirin had told her more than once that her relationship with i was strained—and the root cause was precisely that incident.
i cared about it deeply.
After reuniting, would i bring up the past again? Would she demand an explanation?
And what about all these years that had gone by?
They said i had walked further and further down the Path of Nihility. If she truly sought to use Nihility to return to Izumo, how much did she still rember?
And how much of her own existence had she already lost?
One serious question after another lood before her. Amid her excitent, Kiana had to face a very important issue:
How should she explain herself to i?
Back then, she had lied to her.
She had left her alone on the Ark.
If she couldn't give i a satisfactory answer, then perhaps...
"'I did it for your own good?'"
Kiana scowled and lightly smacked her own head. Saying sothing like that to i as an excuse—did she think i's temper was too gentle to flare up?
"What can I possibly do to make i forgive ... to make her not bring up the past?"
Growing increasingly anxious, Kiana began circling the room again like an ant on a hot pan. Unless she could think of a proper solution, she didn't dare let herself relax.
Unable to think of any good solution no matter how hard she tried, Kiana eventually called Robin out to et her.
Sirin was not an option.
After all, Sirin had been her accomplice in deceiving i, helping her return to Izumo in secret. Because of that, Sirin had been dragged into the ss, and her relationship with i had grown terribly strained.
If she went to Sirin for advice again now...
Thinking about it from i's perspective—if i ever found out that Kiana had once again gone behind her back with Sirin's help—she would probably explode with anger.
So, under no circumstances could she ask Sirin for help!
She still had enough emotional intelligence to understand that much.
She couldn't turn to Sirin, Yae Sakura wasn't around, and Ruan was busy researching the Simulated Universe with Herta and the others...
The only person she could ask for help was Robin.
And Kiana considered their relationship close enough—practically best friends. Asking Robin for advice on emotional matters didn't embarrass her in the slightest.
After all, who could resist being friends with a sweet-talking, high-EQ, gentle, and empathetic girl like Robin?
Just like now.
When Kiana told her that she had found her long-lost friend and probably wouldn't be performing together anymore, Robin didn't get upset.
Instead, upon hearing the news, she smiled sincerely, genuinely happy for Kiana. No matter what, finding a friend after being separated for so long was sothing to be celebrated.
"Don't worry," Robin said softly. "We agreed from the start—this was always about helping you find her, wasn't it?"
"I'm so glad you understand!"
Kiana finally felt her heart relax a little. Robin's calm and supportive response made her completely at ease.
Even though she had been planning to leave eventually, she hadn't known how to bring it up to Robin.
These past six months had been so of the happiest tis of her life, so parting words didn't co easily. She didn't want to see disappointnt in Robin's eyes.
"This is what we agreed on from the beginning," Robin said with a faint smile. "I know you were never going to stay here forever."
Lowering her gaze, she added softly, "And I know that even if you hadn't gotten news about her, you were already planning to leave."
She had noticed Kiana's unusual behavior lately—and after thinking it over, it wasn't hard to figure out what was on her mind.
Of course, saying she wasn't disappointed would be a lie.
Traveling with Kiana over these past six months had been joyful. If she could, she would have wanted things to stay that way forever.
But she was clear-headed.
She knew from the very start that Kiana had stayed for a reason—for her reputation, for her goal of finding soone.
Sooner or later, they would part ways.
She had just never expected the day to co so soon.
"After all... finding her isn't my only goal. There are other things I need to do."
Kiana averted her eyes, unable to et Robin's. She hadn't said it outright, but her words carried hints—and Robin had easily picked up on them.
"I understand," Robin said gently. "So, Kiana, did you call out today to say goodbye?"
"No, no," Kiana quickly denied. "I already arranged to et her here, so I'll still be around for a few more days."
She wasn't planning to leave yet.
The IPC hadn't given her i's direct contact information—instead, they were acting as an interdiary.
Probably to prevent bounty-related issues.
Kiana didn't mind. The network wasn't the right place to talk about such things anyway. If possible, she wanted to have that conversation face to face.
Just two more days.
She could wait!
"So your friend—the one you've been looking for all this ti—she'll be here in two days?"
Robin's interest was piqued.
That ant she might have the chance to et the person who had been on Kiana's mind all this ti.
"Mm-hmm! Two days from now—we agreed to et here!"
"She should already be on her way," Kiana said with a bright smile.
Robin nodded, then tilted her head curiously. "So, Kiana, what did you want my help with today?"
"Help !"
"Huh? You need my help?" Robin blinked. "I see! You want to help decorate the place, right? Of course—reunions are special occasions, it's only right to prepare the setting properly."
Decorate the place?
Kiana hadn't even thought that far, but Robin was right—it was sothing she should take seriously.
She hadn't seen i in so long!
She should definitely make it special—if she set the scene right, maybe i would be touched and a little less angry.
"You really get ! Yes, exactly—I should take it seriously, decorate a little. But actually, that's not the only reason I asked you out today. I also wanted your advice."
"My advice?" Robin's curiosity was imdiately piqued. "What kind of advice?"
"It starts back in Izumo. I told you the story before, rember? But there were so details I never fully explained."
Kiana lowered her head awkwardly, stirring her coffee. In a small, guilty voice, she said, "i was tricked by ."
"Izumo being swallowed by Nihility was practically inevitable. I couldn't accept that, so I wanted to make one last attempt to save it. It didn't go well—I failed. Izumo beca what it is now, and I was corrupted by Nihility, losing both my consciousness and my mories."
"Before that attempt, I lied to i. I told her I'd given up on the idea, and used that excuse to convince her to leave Izumo with . But Sirin and I had conspired to deceive her."
"After boarding the Ark, I sneaked back to Izumo when she wasn't looking... and carried out my final attempt."
Kiana took a deep breath and carefully looked up at Robin. "You know the rest. Because of that, i's relationship with Sirin beca tense. Sirin told that ever since then, i has stayed close to Nihility—walking further and further along its Path, trying to find a way to return to Izumo."
"When we et again, she'll definitely bring up the past... but I don't know how to explain it in a way that won't make her angry."
"Kiana... you really are..."
Robin gave her a look that was hard to describe—half speechless, half exasperated—and silently felt relieved that all the worlds she had taken Kiana to were peaceful ones.
Kiana clasped her hands together pleadingly. "Please, please, help think of sothing! I really know I was wrong!"
Robin sighed softly. "You already know, don't you? When sothing like this happens, the first thing you should do when you see her is apologize."
But still... a Pathstrider of Nihility...
Kiana's friend had walked so far down the Path of Nihility—would she even still rember their shared mories? Would she still have those sa emotions?
Kiana, however, was full of hope.
If they t again, and she realized her friend...
"I know, I'll definitely apologize," Kiana said quickly. "But after that—after apologizing, what should I say to make i let it go? To make her not mad at anymore?"
She wanted to move past it—to put this behind them.
"...Maybe prepare a gift as an apology?" Robin suggested, thinking hard. She had never dealt with sothing like this either. "As long as she can see how sincerely you regret it, she probably won't stay angry."
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