"Looks like Kevin really is stuck doing time in the Sea of Quanta until the grand finale. If he gets bored, I suggest he go pick a fight with Su."
Elias chuckled to himself.
At this point, every known method of entering or exiting the Sea of Quanta was under the control of Schicksal or Anti-Entropy. World Serpent, without Kevin, had absolutely no way to seize any of them by force.
Even if Grey Serpent was a master manipulator with a silver tongue, Anti-Entropy now clearly understood the severity of the matter—thanks to Elias—and there was no way Welt would hand over the Eye of the Deep.
As for Schicksal… Otto was certainly not someone Grey Serpent could deceive. The Cosmic Juggernaut was a crucial piece of Otto's plan to resurrect Kallen Kaslana.
Naturally, he wouldn't let anyone else get their hands on it.
And as for the Herrscher of the Void—there was no need to even discuss that.
Kiana had yet to awaken, and with Elias personally protecting her, World Serpent had zero chance of exploiting the situation.
Elias: "Kevin, oh Kevin~ looks like you're destined for a life sentence—with no wife, either. Pfft, hahaha~"
No matter how powerful the savior was, as long as he couldn't escape the Sea of Quanta, the Stigma Plan couldn't be executed, which made the situation far more manageable.
Elias was genuinely suggesting Kevin go spar with Su in the Sea of Quanta if he was bored.
"Hmm, I was just joking, but actually, that might be a great idea. Su, who's nowhere near a tenth the strength of the Final Cocoon, probably wouldn't stand a chance against Kevin. Wait—no, Kevin's currently in an energy-deprived state, isn't he? That's not good."
Elias furrowed his brows slightly. Kevin had been soaking in the Sea of Quanta for too long and was starving. In his weakened state, even fighting Su could be a challenge.
He might have to send Kevin some supplies.
As for whether a fully recharged Kevin might become a threat and return to the real world on his own—
That wasn't something to worry about.
Even if Kevin Kaslana gained the power to forcibly break out of the Sea of Quanta, he would still need a coordinate in the real world. Without it, he could never return.
"Welt, I need a favor."
"Oh? Whatever you need, just say the word."
"Head to the ocean near Shenzhou's Guangzhou area and find an underwater abyss called Jiuyou. I remember a Judgment-class Honkai Beast named Chiyou is sealed there."
"W-what?!"
Welt's eyes widened in shock.
He felt like he'd been in a constant state of surprise ever since meeting Elias today.
Does this kid know too much?
But then again, having knowledge wasn't a bad thing.
After all, Elias clearly stood on humanity's side. Welt was curious how he knew so much, but everyone had their secrets—he wouldn't pry too much.
"Keep it low-key. Don't let Schicksal find out. It's okay to take your time. Once you locate Chiyou, just let me know."
"Alright, no problem. I'm also planning to arrange a secret release for Ryoma from prison. Once that's done, I'll have him lead the search for Chiyou. Do you know the exact location?"
"No, only that it's somewhere in the waters near Guangzhou. You'll need to spend some time investigating."
Elias spread his hands helplessly. In the original storyline, it was probably Kiana's absurd luck that helped her find it so quickly in such a vast ocean.
"Oh, right—also prepare some high-concentration Honkai energy crystals for me. At least enough to reach Herrscher-level energy."
"Alright. I'll have people gather them."
Welt nodded. After this conversation with Elias, he felt that the boy radiated just one thing from head to toe: reliability!
If you doubt someone, don't trust them. If you trust someone, don't doubt them. By now, Elias had already saved humanity from the Honkai twice, and Welt had made up his mind: whatever support Elias needed, he would give it without hesitation.
After all, he owed Elias a huge debt.
"Oh right, Welt—how about you just hand over the Herrscher of Reason core to me?"
"...That's seriously out of the question!"
Welt's eye twitched violently, immediately taking back the praise he was thinking earlier. This guy really had no shame. You even want my core—aren't you being a bit too greedy?!
Elias folded his arms, looking like he was doing this for Welt's own good.
"Is it that big a deal? Besides, you're not even really compatible with the Herrscher of Reason core, right? You've barely reached the second realm. Might as well let me try it out."
"...How do you even know so much about the Herrscher of Reason? This is way too detailed."
"Ah, uh… Ahem, I saw the Will of Honkai when I fused four Herrscher Cores on the Moon. After that, I became pretty much all-knowing. Just think of it like that."
Elias averted his eyes with a straight face.
Still, what he said wasn't a lie.
Welt really wasn't suited to be the Herrscher of Reason… If anything, the man was better suited to be the Herrscher of Rock, given his traditional skill of spamming Star of Eden. It was practically engraved in his DNA.
Now, the three realms of the Herrscher of Reason:
First realm: Understanding the structure of things and reproducing them—that's where Welt currently was.
Second realm: As long as the object exists within current human technology, you can recreate it without needing to understand it.
Third realm: Enlightened truth—manifesting fantasy into reality. As long as the theory is possible within the imaginary tree system, the Herrscher can make it real. ("If I think it works, then it works!\")
"Come on, hand it over. Be generous. After all I've done for you, asking for one core as payment isn't too much, right?"
Elias rubbed his fingers together, asking shamelessly.
He felt he had every right to be confident.
What's wrong with asking for a core? He'd helped clean up Cocolia—the inner conflict MVP—and prevented countless tragedies. He even saved Welt from needing to do repeated sit-ups.
Besides, the core from the Herrscher of Thunder that he had dropped had been picked up by Anti-Entropy. Giving him a new one as compensation was perfectly fair.
Come on, Old Yang, just hand it over. It's not like you can use it properly. Once I take care of the future Herrscher of Rock, I'll even let you play with that one.
Elias insisted it was all to maximize combat potential—it definitely wasn't because he wanted to pilot a high-spec mecha or anything…
He held out his hand to Welt.
"..."
Welt was speechless. Somehow, he really was starting to feel like maybe he should hand over the core. Was this kid too good at talking people into things?
"I really can't give it to you right now. The Herrscher of Reason is too important to Anti-Entropy, and I think this old body of mine can still hold on for a bit longer."
"...Would it kill you to rest? You seem to enjoy teaching at the girls' academy. Just hand over the core and you can officially retire. I'll take over the burden."
"Haha~ I'll pass. I believe you've got the potential to inherit the Welt name and spirit, but the Honkai in this civilization has only just begun. I'm not ready to stop just yet."
Welt laughed heartily and patted Elias on the shoulder.
He wasn't someone who clung to power. If he truly found a worthy successor, he would gladly pass on the Herrscher of Reason's power.
But now was not that time.
He could see Elias was still growing stronger, but getting the core too early wouldn't be good for him.
After all, Otto was still alive. If that man's attention were to shift fully onto Elias…
This boy, who had indeed died before Welt's eyes years ago, had now undeniably returned to life. That man—Otto—would go insane trying to uncover every secret hidden in Elias.
After all, the memory-limiting effects of the system weren't perfect.
Strong emotions could break through that barrier.
So could hard evidence.
If Otto conducted a thorough investigation on Elias—say, collecting his DNA and comparing it with the Herrscher of the Void from years ago—
The truth that they were the same person would eventually come to light.
Welt didn't know this part, but his thinking was simple: as long as he could keep that bastard Otto's attention focused on himself, he could buy Elias time to grow in the shadows.
"...Don't worry, Welt. I'm a man who always repays debts and grudges. I already have a plan for dealing with Otto Apocalypse."
"Now that's what I like to hear. Count me in."
"Of course."
Elias and Welt exchanged smiles.
The handshake they shared was clear in its meaning—if you want to take down that bastard Otto, we're friends.
Otto Apocalypse was an extremely cautious man, making him hard to deal with.
But… he was also incredibly arrogant.
He believed everything in the world was within his grasp, and that nothing could go wrong with the plans he personally devised.
Though outwardly polite, he looked down on everyone equally.
Though he called himself a fool, he truly believed no one could surpass him in strategy.
Such hypocrisy, contradiction, pride, obsession, coldness—and depth of emotion… Otto Apocalypse was practically the embodiment of contradiction.
"But I've already grasped his essence. If I exploit that arrogance, tricking Otto isn't actually that difficult. As long as he believes his plan is proceeding smoothly, he won't grow suspicious."
Then, Elias could steadily grow in strength from the blind spots of Otto's plan—and at the most critical moment…
Deliver that bastard one hell of a surprise!
"Sounds like you've already got a strategy?"
Welt asked with great interest.
He didn't have many hobbies, but if you told him there was a way to outsmart Otto, Old Yang would immediately perk up.
Elias smiled and nodded, his crafty expression making him look like a sly white fox.
"Ultimately, I just need to get stronger. And for me, that's pretty simple…"
So long as Elias continued to travel through spacetime, he could grow stronger—but he didn't intend to rely solely on that.
When it came to growing stronger within this current civilization—
The answer, of course, was to become a Herrscher.
"What I hate most is losing. Anything I've lost… one day, I will take it back."
Elias raised his right hand and clenched it tightly.
He had once been an apostle of god, wielding five powerful authorities. But due to a despicable clown, he lost his crown—and all five gems upon it.
"The Gem of Conquest and the Gem of the Void… I gave those to Mei and Kiana, and I'm happy to offer them as gifts. But… the Gem of Serenity, the Gem of Desire, and the Gem of Haste will all return to my hands!"
In fact, reclaiming those was the very reason Elias chose to join St. Freya Academy.
With his knowledge of the story, he knew this was the only place where he'd have the chance to retrieve those three Herrscher Cores!
"Tch. Kids these days are terrifying. In that case, I wish you success. Just remember—if you need anything, just ask. Aside from the Herrscher of Reason core, I'll do whatever I can."
Welt spoke seriously. When it came to taking Otto down, he was always ready to give it his all.
"Alright then, you should head back to Anti-Entropy soon. No more slacking. Let me know once you're ready for the Chiyou operation."
"No problem. Sigh~ Guess it's time to hand in my resignation to Principal Theresa. Hope my paycheck for this month still goes through," Welt joked.
Suddenly, Elias remembered something and said seriously,
"Oh right—Welt, you're the creator of HoYo and Alahato, right? …Send me one of every piece of merch related to them. Thanks."
"Uh, what kind of support request is that? Trying to bribe Principal Theresa?" Welt blinked in confusion.
"Nope, it's just that my Bronya likes them, so I want to give her a gift. Also, I suggest you keep a close eye on my little duck—she's definitely one of the best candidates to inherit the Herrscher of Reason core."
Elias spoke with absolute confidence.
After all, his dear Bronya was destined to become the Herrscher of Truth. Welt better be smart and hand over that core.
Actually, if you wanted to talk about who was the most compatible with the Herrscher of Reason core, it would be the Previous Era's Vill-V.
She had split her consciousness into eight distinct personalities, and even when her evil persona took up half of her total cognitive capacity, each of the others still reached genius-level in their respective fields.
Elias once thought—if this person hadn't divided her mind and instead focused all that brainpower into her engineer personality…
It would have been terrifying. Truly beyond genius, beyond monster, beyond prodigy.
He firmly believed that such a Vill-V could have led the previous era to defeat the Honkai. Heck, she probably could've hand-built the entire AA-ZEUS from scratch.
So yes, the Herrscher of Reason's core was most compatible with [Helix] Vill-V.
But alas, she belonged to the previous era… unreachable.
...
After that—
Welt quickly wrote his resignation letter and handed it to Theresa, preparing to return to Anti-Entropy as its leader. Side note: Theresa did not give him his salary for the month.
Watching the slightly melancholic silhouette of Welt Yang walk out of the gates of St. Freya Academy—
Elias clenched his fist and made a victory pose.
"Nice! That means I'm now the only man left in all of St. Freya Academy! Plan complete!!"
Of course, Elias absolutely did not convince Welt to return to Anti-Entropy just for this reason… well, not entirely for that reason. Maybe half.
He turned around and looked at the all-girls academy where he now stood as the sole male lifeform.
Feeling refreshed and triumphant, Elias thought he truly was living the life of a power-fantasy novel protagonist.
"Alright~ Time to head back to the dorm and cook. Fu Hua is visiting tonight—I need to show off my skills."
Later, back in the Valkyrie dorm—
Fu Hua, who originally said she just came to eat, ended up joining the cooking effort. Although she wasn't great with other cuisines, when it came to Shenzhou-style dishes, neither Elias nor Mei could compete with her.
As expected of one of the top three culinary gods of Honkai.
But while enjoying the over-the-top feast, greedy Elias was still thinking—
If only I could bring the last one into the dorm too…
The Herrscher of Desire, Rita Rossweisse.
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