Kiana blinked at her and asked with a smile, "Doesn't it look good?"
"I rember saying it was very pretty."
Kiana's new outfit was indeed beautiful—refreshing and striking at first glance. It suited her perfectly.
"I think this feels more comfortable."
The hand Acheron had been using to stroke her smooth hair stiffened for a brief mont. She asked with concern, "Is sothing wrong with your body? Why don't you go see Ruan? I can handle things here."
"Hey, hey, don't get so nervous." Kiana quickly reassured her. "I'm perfectly fine. I just felt like changing up my style once in a while. That's not a problem, right?"
"I know, but..." Acheron pressed her lips together. Thinking about everything they had gone through together, her voice lowered slightly. "I worry about you."
"If you keep dwelling on heavy topics like that, you'll beco heavy too!"
Kiana pulled her away and decisively changed the subject. "By the way, how's the Ark doing now? Didn't they say they wanted you stationed there before?"
So of the people had returned to Izumo for a visit.
But none of them had moved back.
Although Izumo was once again suitable for habitation, the world they were familiar with was gone. It had beco ruins.
And after such a long voyage, most people had grown accustod to drifting between the stars, trading with countless worlds.
"The Ark? There's no rush," Acheron replied. "The cooperation between the Ark and the Luofu has already been finalized. It's currently docked at the Xianzhou Luofu for technical exchange."
If it were rely a shallow trade agreent, it wouldn't have lasted this long.
The Luofu was clearly showing goodwill.
As for deeper diplomatic ties, those would require careful consideration. At the very least, both sides needed a better understanding of one another. Given the nature of long-lived species, without an unexpected catalyst, this ambiguous state could easily last decades—or even centuries.
"So the Ark will be staying at the Xianzhou for quite a while?" Kiana asked curiously.
"That's roughly the idea."
Acheron kept an eye on matters concerning the Ark. Although she was no longer as forgetful as before, in other people's eyes she had walked too far down the Path of Nihility.
Only particularly important matters were discussed with her in detail. Everything else was summarized briefly.
They assud that if they said too much, she might forget.
Acheron herself had never been interested in managent. Sirin was doing an excellent job, and everyone else's capabilities were evident to all.
She was content to maintain the current situation.
After all, when her intervention was needed, Sirin would never hesitate to call on her.
"After things settle down here, should we go back to the Ark and see everyone?"
"...We'll talk about it then."
The revival of the Ambrosial Arbor seed to be happening around this ti. The Luofu would not remain peaceful in the coming period.
However, if they wanted to deepen their connection with the Luofu, this would indeed be an opportunity.
Others' minds surely turned faster than hers. They would know better what should and shouldn't be done.
"Forget it. Let's think about how to integrate the badge into the Stigmata system instead."
"...Why not ask Ruan?" Acheron suggested.
"Ruan?"
Kiana hesitated for a mont. Ruan seed very busy lately. Her replies had been sparse. After realizing how occupied she was, Kiana had reduced how often she contacted her.
Ruan had said she would reach out when she was free, so Kiana hadn't taken it too much to heart.
She knew Ruan was busy.
"What's wrong?" Acheron noticed the hesitation in her expression and was surprised. "Did you two have an argunt?"
Though the possibility was small, it was the first thought that crossed her mind.
"No, no. It just feels like she's been really busy lately." Kiana scratched her cheek, slightly embarrassed. "Asking her for help over sothing this minor makes feel kind of useless."
Propagation, Abundance, Honkai—and the Simulated Universe developed in cooperation with Herta and the others—Ruan already had more than enough on her plate.
"How do you know she'd be unwilling if you haven't asked?" Acheron was montarily taken aback.
"Ruan would never refuse . I know that as long as I bring it up, she'd definitely help." Kiana shook her head. "But I don't want to waste her ti on things like this."
She was well aware of how many matters Ruan was handling.
If her workload weren't so heavy, she most likely would have co to Jarilo-VI with her. There was no way she wouldn't be curious about what was happening here.
"Why do you think it's wasting her ti?" Acheron couldn't help asking.
"Because she really is busy right now." Afraid Acheron wouldn't believe her, Kiana even began listing everything Ruan currently had to do.
Acheron listened thoughtfully from the side.
"So I'll try to figure sothing out myself first. If I really can't find any direction..." Kiana's voice grew softer and softer. If only she had skill points to invest in scientific research instead.
"If I want to connect two completely unrelated things, I'll have to rely on myself."
The last ti, the teleportation ability had appeared so mysteriously. Kiana had a feeling that to incorporate the badge into the Stigmata system, she would need to use that golden crystal again.
Which ant returning to the ntal world.
"How about asking Miss Herta?" Acheron suggested.
"Who?"
"Herta." Acheron said, "She's very curious about you. She most likely wouldn't refuse your request."
When they were at the space station not long ago, Herta had shown no attempt to conceal her desire to study her.
Although she had been rejected.
But if they asked her for help, she would probably agree—because she had already developed so curiosity toward Honkai.
Part of the reason she responded to the Astral Express's request this ti was due to the Honkai phenonon on Jarilo-VI.
So asking her for help would be perfectly reasonable.
Besides, Herta had managed to construct sothing like the Simulated Universe. Adding new elents into an existing "system" might earn them valuable suggestions from her.
Ruan's primary focus was life sciences.
Herta was different.
Strictly speaking, when it ca to exploring the true nature of sothing like Honkai, Herta was the better candidate.
"Herta? Ahaha... I've rejected her so many tis. It'd feel so awkward to ask her for help now."
Every ti she t Herta, she seed to be firmly turning her down. The first ti they t was when Herta ca to Ruan's reclusive planet looking for her.
Back then, Herta had directly proposed studying her.
Kiana had refused without hesitation.
The next ti was when she brought Acheron to the space station to see Ruan. Herta once again requested to study her.
Rejected again.
And then there was just recently.
Herta's frequency of asking had clearly increased—almost to the point where every ti she saw her, she would bring it up.
Even after being refused, she showed no particular reaction.
She would simply ask again after a while.
Herta's line of "Let study you" had practically beco her daily greeting.
"If she really cared, she wouldn't keep repeating that line after you've rejected her so many tis," Acheron said dismissively.
Although they hadn't interacted much, Herta and Ruan were sowhat similar in certain respects.
Most people, after being rejected—let alone twice—would never persist.
But Herta clearly didn't mind.
Asking cost her nothing, after all.
"That may be true..." Kiana still felt awkward. She knew very well what kind of personality Miss Herta had.
She was the sort of person who could casually accept a "Then beg " without batting an eye. In her world, there were probably only things she personally found interesting.
"I'll try to figure it out myself first."
After thinking it over, Kiana decided to give it another shot on her own. This ti, she wouldn't focus on how to force the badge into the Stigmata system.
She was going to enter the ntal world again.
Once she had an idea, she acted on it.
Although she still didn't know what that place truly was—or how to return to that state—if she kept trying, she would eventually find a way.
With that thought in mind,
Kiana began searching for a thod to reappear in the ntal world and see that golden crystal once more.
Several days passed in the process.
Finally, after yet another attempt, Kiana felt her body beco incomparably light, as if she had shed a heavy shell.
Human emotions were left behind along with that discarded weight. Her appearance did not change.
This ti, when she entered the ntal world, she was not in the form of the Herrscher of Finality, but dressed in Soulbound Lovebirds.
Because of that, she retained a gap for thought.
And felt more deeply.
A warmth and purity.
Like returning to the womb that nurtures life.
Unlike the pitch-black silence of her first visit, this place was a vast expanse of pure white. With her arrival, drifting colors began to scatter through the space.
That resplendent golden crystal was there.
As if shackles had been undone, sensations and mories from her ti in slumber flooded into her mind. Even more knowledge gathered along the hem of her dress.
Kiana's expression remained indifferent. There was no shock, no confusion.
She simply walked slowly toward the golden crystal.
This was the root of everything.
And also...
She raised her right hand. The white-gloved fingertips stopped less than a palm's breadth from the crystal.
Streams of golden radiance flowed out from it.
They traced along her fingertips and converged toward her chest. Even Kiana's azure eyes seed dyed by that power.
It was as though she were continuing sothing left unfinished before. But unlike last ti, she was not blank-eyed, acting purely on instinct.
There seed to be no concept of ti here.
And she seed to be only one final step away.
When the golden crystal vanished from before her eyes, they had already been completely suffused with brilliant gold. From her chest blood a light identical to the crystal's radiance.
It was complete.
In a daze, her body felt as though it were falling from the sky. Like a drop of rain descending from the heavens, she silently plunged back into the heavy shell of her body and rged with it.
She opened her eyes as if waking from a great dream.
Kiana clutched her chest, her breathing uneven. The mory receded just like the fading gold in her eyes.
Until it completely drained away.
"That was..."
She rose with lingering unease. She vaguely rembered doing sothing very important just now—but she couldn't recall what it was.
She had fused that golden crystal into her body.
That was all she rembered.
What was it?
Why had she done that?
She could no longer rember.
Her mories lted away like snow into water.
She tried to recall them, but nothing surfaced, as though a thick barrier blocked her sight.
Considering the heaviness in her body, she felt as if she understood sothing. Pressing her lips together, she chose not to pursue it further.
"I went in for the Stigmata system, and ended up doing nothing at all."
After checking the system and finding that nothing had changed, Kiana sighed and got out of bed.
Acheron was nowhere to be seen.
She wasn't in the house.
Jyahnar was still next door. Kiana thought about asking her, but decided against it. Most likely, she wouldn't know either.
Jyahnar seed to know more than her only because of the information carried within Honkai. As a Planet-class Honkai Beast, she could decipher the aning behind those ssages.
"The root...?"
Pressing her right hand against her chest, Kiana murmured the word. Aside from her own actions, it was the only thing she still rembered.
Forget it.
She would check what was happening outside first.
Just as she was about to leave, she picked up her phone and realized Acheron had left her a ssage.
It had been sent several hours ago.
Which ant Acheron had already been gone for quite so ti.
The ssage said she had seen Kiana asleep and hadn't wanted to disturb her, so she left a text instead.
As for why she left—
Welt had ssaged her not long ago, ntioning that Herta had arrived in this world and asking if she wanted to et her.
Acheron had likely rembered their previous conversation and gone to the Overworld to see Herta.
"Herta..."
After reading the ssage, Kiana was no longer in a hurry. She sat down, thought for a mont, then sent a new ssage asking where she was.
She had intended to use the crystal to achieve what she wanted.
Instead, after entering the ntal world...
The crystal had fused with her.
If she wanted to study what it was and learn how to use its power, she would need to explore it alone for so ti.
So asking Herta for help seed like the optimal solution.
Soon, her phone chid.
[Acheron: Everwinter Hill]
[Acheron: Use Phase Shuttle to co to .]
"Why did they go there?" Kiana muttered in confusion.
After replying "Okay," she put her phone away and used Phase Shuttle to arrive at Everwinter Hill.
A blast of frigid wind and snow greeted her.
Then Acheron reached out and took her hand, pulling her to her side. This was once the place where the Stellaron had been located.
"Yo~ Long ti no see." A familiar voice ca from ahead. A Herta puppet entered her sight. The doll planted its hands on its hips. "How about letting study you?"
Kiana sighed helplessly. "How about no?"
Not seeing anyone else, she looked at Acheron in confusion. "Where's Welt? And the people from the Astral Express?"
"You ca too late. I've already finished talking with them," Herta said, completely used to being rejected. However, a hint of confusion appeared on the puppet's face. "Why do I feel like sothing about you has changed?"
"I changed clothes." Kiana answered confidently, without the slightest hint of guilt. "Isn't that obvious?"
"Changed clothes? Tch. Whatever. It's not like you're going to let study you anyway."
Herta had originally wanted to continue, but rembering that Kiana would refuse regardless, she had no way of finding out the reason.
After all, Kiana wouldn't cooperate.
Honestly.
It wasn't like she was going to do anything excessive.
Was it really that necessary?
—
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