When speaking of Silverwing: N-EX, the legendary mathematician Bronya, what's the first thing an old captain would think of?
Did you even need to ask?
It had to be the 3D Zone, of course!
With a dominant presence that felt like a dimension-lowering strike, she became the uncrowned queen of the 3D Zone, the Jerusalem for Honkai players. The 'Overtime Duck' moniker for ATK masters became an enduring classic.
This extended even to fanart; Bronya alone could surpass the combined popularity of the original trio.
Caelus carefully admired the full-body character card.
Predominantly white, the elegantly lined arm guards resembled graceful swans. A long, feather-like cape draped naturally, conveying elegance and dignity. Her slender form was covered by an asymmetrical wrap skirt, perfectly showcasing the results of eight years of development. The single white stocking contrasted brilliantly with the deep blue skirt hem.
On the other side, her bare, jade-like leg exuded a mature and alluring charm.
One look and you knew it was a top-quality delicacy—that duck leg!
One bite would surely leave an endlessly rich, mellow aftertaste!
Drool shamelessly escaped the corner of his mouth.
So, the question arose…
"Does Silverwing: N-EX have Project Bunny?" Caelus asked the System mentally.
"Of course not," the System replied matter-of-factly.
"Project Bunny from that era has already retired, promoted to the Ultimate Chosen Workaholic Bunny. Every day in the E.T. Studio office, it taps away at code, regretting why it ever chose a small body, working emo from dusk till deep in the night."
Perhaps because they were both AI lifeforms to some degree, the System's tone carried a hint of unbearable misery and sighing sympathy.
"It yearns for the notification of a day off at the crack of dawn, only to be hammered into utter despair by new BUG reports sent by Boss Duck. Tsk, tsk, tsk, where would it find the spare time to fight on a battlefield?"
"Ah, that's truly a shame," Caelus sighed deeply, slapping his thigh with a pang of sympathy.
"A Project Bunny in that mental state would be more than perfect for this badge! No, this badge was practically tailor-made for her!"
"?"
The System straightforwardly sent back a question mark.
"I can only say you don't understand overtime," Caelus shook his head mentally, lecturing sagely.
"I believe, at some point, Project Bunny must have felt the urge to scream, 'Damn it, I'll blow up with you!' whether aimed at Bronya or the mountain of BUGs."
"Letting it transform into a Bunny self-destruct bomb at that moment might even boost the power by another level!"
"That... seems somewhat reasonable... but, dude, have some humanity."
Dragging an overworked ghost into being a self-destruct bomb? Was that something a human would do?
Caelus, having embarked on the Path of Elation, had already transcended humanity. The Fool belonged to humanoid creatures, but he genuinely thought he was doing the bunny a favor!
This was giving it an outlet to vent its negative emotions!
Unfortunately, the bunny's luck was bad; it had unknowingly missed a precious opportunity.
How tragic!
How pitiful!
How lamentable!
As for the other question – why Silverwing: N-EX, an S-rank in Honkai Impact 3rd, was only a four-star character in the System – the reason was also simple.
The System's character cards assigned star ratings based on the fundamental level of life essence.
In the Post-Honkai era, whether it was Bronya or Auntie Mei, the Herrscher authorities within their bodies were mostly depleted due to the siphoning effect of the Herrscher of Finality.
Their Herrscher bodies lacked nourishment. The less than one-tenth of authority remaining could only be used as a trump card at critical moments, not even comparable to their novice stage just after becoming Herrschers.
This comparison was purely about Herrscher power, not overall combat capability.
After a few seconds of silent mourning for the bunny who'd just missed her chance at liberation, Caelus focused his attention on the final purple meteor.
[Item: Abyss Flower]
*[Level: *]
[Description: A twin Divine Key forged from the Herrscher Core of the Sixth Herrscher of the Previous Era, the Herrscher of Death. It consists of the outer 'White Flower' and the inner 'Black Abyss'. The White Flower possesses the authority of Creation, granting regenerative abilities. The Black Abyss causes all things to wither, possessing the authority of Decomposition.]
Nice!
Seems like believing in this mystical stuff really pays off!
The weapon needing to be a scythe was just a game setting; in reality, Seele could probably use her stockings as a weapon if she wanted.
A Divine Key crafted from the Herrscher of Death's core – what could be more suitable as a weapon for Seele, who possessed the Stigmata of Death?
In the game, the most suitable signature weapon for a character was often just a manifestation of the character's own power, still a tier below a Divine Key forged from a Herrscher Core.
White Seele or Dark Seele might find wielding a lance awkward, but for the Seele whose essence was Caelus, using any weapon meant starting training from scratch.
However, frequent weapon changes should be avoided. Caelus, with his chip, didn't care about the learning cost for Seele, but time was the main factor.
Only by raising the affinity with a weapon to a certain level could [Divinity Awakening] be performed.
As a Divine Key, if Abyss Flower underwent Divinity Awakening, it would fundamentally surpass ordinary weapons by a whole level.
The main thing to consider... was probably how Seele would explain pulling out Abyss Flower when Welt saw it.
But on second thought, since Old Yang already suspected Seele was from a parallel world, then his parallel world Seele wielding a parallel world Abyss Flower seemed perfectly reasonable, right?
Yeah, totally reasonable!
Having drafted a future explanation in his mind, Caelus shifted his gaze to the four grey meteors that were beyond the system's normal gacha pool.
The first one... huh?
It was actually this thing!
A hint of surprise flickered across Caelus's expression. It was a stone tablet imprinted with two white tigers.
*[Tiger Talisman] *.
The mandate of Integration and Separation. Activating its power allows one to split a person into two individuals based on their light and dark sides.
Using this could definitely separate White Seele and Dark Seele. Could it separate himself and White Seele?
No!
That wasn't how this thing was meant to be used!
The essence of the Tiger Talisman's ability, including the mechanism for splitting individuals, was Yin and Yang.
It balanced conflicting forces, preventing them from clashing and causing chaos – essentially preventing Yin and Yang from harming each other.
Feeling the Quantum and Imaginary powers within his body clash like fire and water whenever they met, a smile slowly spread across Caelus's lips.
What do you call a surprise?
This was a goddamn surprise!
The power of the Tiger Talisman might provide a more significant boost to Seele than even her exclusive Stigmata!
The second grey meteor was also a pleasant surprise.
[Burn! Fire of Youth], from the world of Blazing Teens, ★★★★.
A skill card recording the ultimate techniques of numerous yo-yo masters, including the ultimate skill created jointly by yo-yo expert Xu Hui and his father Xu Bo – Heavenly Silver Dragon!
"Ah, this?"
Caelus was a bit stunned.
The System had warned him not to be surprised by anything drawn from these four slots, but the Blazing Teens world definitely didn't have 'skill cards'.
This meant the System could consolidate and manifest abstract concepts like knowledge and experience during extraction, not just objectively existing items.
The gacha pool was even wider than Caelus had initially imagined.
However…
Although he had pulled something good, practically tailor-made for someone like him holding a wondrous yo-yo, Caelus fell into speechless silence after the initial burst of excitement and joy.
Wasn't this luck... a bit too good?
It felt surreal!
Being so used to bad luck, consecutive wins felt suspicious.
Suppressing his surging emotions, Caelus looked at the last two grey meteors, and that uncanny, ghostly feeling instantly vanished.
[Evil Moving God: Goriking], ★★★★.
An evil power from the world of Madö King Granzört, one of the nine Dark Moving Gods (Jadōshin), formed by cutting the Sword of the Sun into nine pieces.
The title "Evil Moving God" sounded intimidating, but this thing wasn't really a god at all, certainly not on the level of an Aeon; it was just a mecha imbued with evil power.
If not for its origin as part of the Sword of the Sun, purely based on combat power rating, it wouldn't even reach four stars.
[Tarakudo's Mask] ★★★★.
An evil force known as the "Oni" once appeared in Japan. Righteous Japanese samurai crafted ten Oni masks to seal this evil force. The mask seals the leader, Tarakudo.
The wearer can summon soldiers of the Shadowkhan.
Alright!
So, this is what was waiting for me!
"Oww~!"
"Hurts, hurts, hurts!"
"Oof!"
Thoughts moved rapidly in the mental space, but after Caelus exited the deep system space, what happened next was inevitable.
Falling. A fall brought on by the spatio-temporal imbalance during the warp jump, compounded by the train's simulated gravity.
Stelle face-planted. March 7th landed beside her. Caelus promptly crashed onto both of them, greatly mitigating the impact damage for himself.
But he could feel Stelle's pain and the sensation of being crushed, so much for cushioning the fall.
"Abnormal spatial readings. Star Rail stability has dropped to 12%. Docking plan changed: duration extended from seven days to indefinite." Pom-Pom's serious voice suddenly announced.
Welt walked out. "Preliminary analysis results are in. The source of the anomaly is still the Stellaron."
"Pfft, I knew it would be this again..." March 7th pouted and grumbled. The Express getting stuck because of a Stellaron – this was the second time since she'd boarded the train.
"The reason Jarilo-VI became such a frozen planet is likely inseparable from the Stellaron," Himeko frowned slightly.
"It's the mutual attraction of Stellaron bearers!" Stelle declared the law she had just discovered with a serious face, then spread her small hands and asked, "So...."
"So, it means the Express crew has work to do!" March 7th, putting on the airs of a seasoned veteran, patted Stelle's shoulder earnestly.
"Just as I thought, every stop brings an exciting new adventure! What kind of surprises await us this time?"
Slowly opening his eyes, Caelus walked over to Himeko's side. Gazing through the glass viewport at the snow-covered planet outside, he stated confidently:
"I think there's definitely a big surprise waiting!"
The dark, evil powers that the System's broken gacha slots couldn't contain—the escaped Dark Moving God Goriking and Tarakudo's Mask—would land within a few hundred kilometers of Caelus.
And right now, they were both on Jarilo-VI.
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