"Okay, calm down first," Xin Yu reminded himself internally. "If I directly ask if he has a daughter, it'll seem incredibly abrupt, maybe even like I have ulterior motives."
He needed to think before speaking, unlike how he used to just blurt things out.
"Alright, kid. I'm not good at beating around the bush, so I'll just ask directly: who exactly are you?"
Siegfried frowned, looking at the young man sitting on the bed. When he had brought this boy into the cabin, his vital signs were completely stable. Although his body was charred black, the burned outer layer of skin had rapidly sloughed off shortly after. In less than two hours, even his lost hair and eyebrows had grown back completely.
This level of recovery ability couldn't be described as human. But if he were a Herrscher, he shouldn't be this weak, relatively speaking.
And judging by the boy's rational appearance, he probably wasn't one of those monsters corrupted by Honkai Erosion either.
"I... I'm a traveler. It's just that the places I travel to are much farther away. To put it simply, I have the ability to travel between various parallel worlds."
Siegfried didn't question the plausibility of Xin Yu's ability. After all, he had just finished fighting a Herrscher who controlled space. As for the parallel world theory, while it still sounded highly sci-fi, Siegfried, having been a main combatant in Schicksal, actually had some slight understanding of related knowledge, knowing about a phenomenon called World Bubbles.
"Although it sounds hard to believe, sometimes, people tend not to believe the truths that sound utterly absurd."
Siegfried tentatively accepted the young man's words for now.
However, Xin Yu's sudden appearance had completely disrupted Siegfried's original plan. He had intended to go into hiding after defeating the awakened Herrscher of the Void, letting the Kiana who woke up think he had left.
Doing so would prevent his presence from easily awakening the Herrscher of the Void within her, and it would also stop Kiana from remembering that she was the one who destroyed her father's arm, preventing psychological scars from forming in the child's heart.
But the problem now was the unexpected addition of the heavily injured Xin Yu. Under these circumstances, Siegfried couldn't possibly leave. This person of unknown origin seemed dangerous; he couldn't just hand him over to Kiana to care for.
And in this situation, he also couldn't let Kiana, just a child, start wandering around alone. So, he had no choice but to stay.
Fortunately, Kiana was still young. Siegfried had managed to casually brush off the matter of his severed arm for the time being. But he couldn't stay by Kiana's side long-term because of this. The Herrscher of the Void's hatred for him would still be a trigger for her awakening.
Only by leaving Kiana's side could the Herrscher of the Void's consciousness remain dormant.
"...Kid, your sudden appearance has really caused me quite a bit of trouble."
Siegfried sighed and scratched his head. In that situation, it was hard to say who was right or wrong. It could only be called a coincidence.
Especially when he remembered Kiana's tearful crying face upon seeing his severed arm, Siegfried felt pangs in his heart.
He already thoroughly considered her his own child. No qualified father's heart could remain calm upon seeing his child weep bitterly for him.
"...Did I cause some trouble? Do you need my help?" Xin Yu asked.
"It's nothing, just some original plans got disrupted. But it's fine, just delayed things a bit."
"Right, what are your plans next?"
"Hmm... None."
"I see. Well, that's that. Once you've recovered, leave as soon as possible. My daughter and I will be leaving here soon too."
"This time, it counts as 'not getting acquainted without a fight,' right? To meet in such a vast space across so many worlds can be considered a kind of fate... How about this, Uncle: I see you've lost an arm. I can prepare a bionic prosthetic arm for you. Although it definitely won't be the same as a real hand, it should allow you to live normally."
"..."
Siegfried didn't agree immediately. He frowned, contemplating whether there might be some trap involved, as this was something intimately attached to one's body being offered by someone else.
But then he looked again at the young man's clear eyes, possessing a clarity (naivety) usually only seen in students just entering society.
"Then I'll trouble you."
Xin Yu got off the bed and looked down at the ill-fitting clothes he wore – likely given to him by Siegfried. Then, under Siegfried's slightly surprised gaze, the clothes on Xin Yu's body seemed to come alive, squirming and shifting. When the movement stopped, his clothes had transformed from ill-fitting casual wear into a complete set of a black trench coat and black trousers.
Xin Yu first glanced around, picked up a few long pieces of wood from beside the fireplace, and then walked over to Siegfried.
"This might hurt a bit. Try to endure it."
Siegfried gave a carefree smile, indicating he didn't mind. He had already endured all sorts of pain.
How could mere physical suffering compare to the loss of his wife and daughter?
Pain, like insects gnawing, along with an itching numbness, emanated from the severed part of his left arm. It was enough to make an ordinary person scream, but it only caused Siegfried to frown. Although his face turned a little pale, he didn't cry out.
The pieces of wood in Xin Yu's hands had already transformed – first into pristine white bone, then fine nerves, followed by flesh and skin.
Only after the pain subsided did Siegfried recover from his daze. He moved his left hand and found that the newly attached hand felt no different from a real one. It moved smoothly without any sense of obstruction, almost as if the arm had simply grown back.
Siegfried touched his left hand, finding the texture identical to a real hand, except he couldn't feel any pulse beating within it.
"This is a prosthetic hand made to be as realistic as possible. It looks like it has flesh, blood, bones, and nerves, but those are actually fabricated. If someone were to study this left arm, they'd find that those components have absolutely nothing to do with biology. They're just substances that look similar but are entirely different."
Xin Yu had realized earlier, when trying to change one fruit into another, that with his current cultivation level, he couldn't perform modifications or transformations related to biology.
What he could currently do was transmute inorganic matter. This seemed to involve the erosive nature of Honkai and the transformative properties of Nihility.
Anyway, that was the situation. Biological manipulation would likely require him to advance further, perhaps to the Golden Core stage.
However, crude, forced changes without finesse were actually possible. But whether anyone would survive such a process couldn't be guaranteed.
After all, the only known successful case so far was himself.
"Thanks, kid! Truly worthy of someone who can travel between parallel worlds. That's amazing!"
Seeing the smile on Siegfried's face, Xin Yu thought their relationship was probably familiar enough now. He could ask.
"By the way, old bro, in another world, I made a friend named Kiana Kaslana. According to her, she seems to be looking for her missing father. His name is the same as yours, Siegfried Kaslana."
Siegfried's movements instantly froze. He looked up, his expression serious and stern.
"What is your relationship with her?"
Xin Yu scratched his head, thought carefully, and then said:
"Hmm? Oh, it's pretty good, of course. She even discussed marriage with me... Uncle, why does your expression suddenly look so terrifying?"
"...Skyfire! Unsheathe!"