"???"
"What are you spacing out for? Greet her," Fu Xuan said, nudging Chen Li with her elbow.
"Greet who?"
"This is Miss Elysia, the General's honored guest. Qingque was responsible for receiving her yesterday and gave her a brief tour of Central Starskiff Haven. Qingque took the day off today, so you need to show her around the rest of the Haven, or take her somewhere else. In short, make sure she has a good time."
"Me? Show her around?" Chen Li pointed at himself, then at the cheerfully smiling Elysia beside them.
"Or should she be the one showing you around Starskiff Haven? You're a Xianzhou local. She is the General's honored guest; receive her with care," Fu Xuan reminded him again.
"You're the Master Diviner of the whole Divination Commission. Besides me and Qingque, is there really no one else?" Chen Li was losing his composure.
While he was using the offline Herta puppet as a pillow, drinking All the World's Evil, and cheerfully approving the grand revival project of the Galaxy Rangers, he saw a message from Fu Xuan. He had assumed it was something serious to warrant such a stern tone calling him back to the Xianzhou. He never expected it was just to have him show Elysia around Starskiff Haven or the other Skydomes.
This...
Logical, this was just too logical!
"Of course not. It's just that you two are the most idle," Fu Xuan said, shaking her head. One was a library guard, and the other was a guard for the library guard.
Fu Xuan genuinely meant well. After all, a cushy job like this with a travel allowance wasn't easy to come by. Of course, Fu Xuan did have actual business with him.
"Chen Li, my..." Fu Xuan pulled Chen Li to the side, just about to speak. She had wanted to talk to him about it yesterday, but he had taken the day off, so Fu Xuan still had no idea where her white stockings had gone. They weren't really put up on display, were they?
"My, what a handsome young man. Is he the one accompanying me around the Xianzhou today? Thank you so much, Lady Diviner." Elysia walked over before Fu Xuan could finish her hushed conversation with Chen Li and swept her into a hug.
"No, you don't have to be so polite. Put me down," Fu Xuan said, her short legs dangling as Elysia lifted her up.
Fu Xuan's body proportions were perfect, so theoretically, her legs were quite long. But that was only if one ignored the Lady Diviner's legally-loli height. At least, in front of Elysia, she had no height advantage whatsoever and was even treated like a child.
This was the real reason Fu Xuan was unwilling to show Elysia around Starskiff Haven; this girl was just this enthusiastic every time they met. It wasn't that Fu Xuan disliked Elysia. Who could dislike such an enthusiastic and guileless young woman? The problem was that our Master Diviner Fu Xuan was still concerned about her non-existent dignity.
"Lady Diviner, you're so cute!" Elysia said happily.
"I am not a child! I'm old enough to be your elder!" Fu Xuan said sternly after wriggling free from Elysia's embrace.
"Oh, is that so? But I'm already over 50,000 years old this year."
"Huh?"
"So in my eyes, Lady Diviner, you're still a child. And children should act like children. Come, let big sister give you another hug."
"Anyway, Miss Elysia is in your hands now. Please ensure she has a pleasant tour. Here, this is the access pass." Fu Xuan shoved a pass into Chen Li's hand and then fled as if escaping for her life.
"..."
Fu Xuan had run off, but Chen Li couldn't. Not that he needed to; he just found the situation a bit absurd.
"Miss Honored Guest of the General, should I kowtow to you?" Chen Li tilted his head.
"Of course, there's no need for such grand ceremony, Mr. Chen Li, most outstanding intern Diviner of the Divination Commission," Elysia said with a smile.
"Sigh..." Chen Li pressed a hand to his forehead.
Wasn't it a bit much to ask him, someone not very familiar with the Xianzhou, to give Elysia a tour? And right now, he was getting a strong sense of déjà vu, like Hu Tao asking the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's consultant, Zhongli, to kowtow to the Conqueror of Demons.
"What's wrong? Do you have something important to attend to? If you're busy with work, I can ask Lady Diviner Fu Xuan to find someone else for me," Elysia asked, leaning closer to Chen Li.
"Nothing important, I just feel that lying down is more comfortable than standing. Why don't we find a random place and lie down for the day?" Chen Li suggested.
"The breeze is perfect right now, and the sky is clear. How can we waste such a time by lying flat? Let's go, let's go." Elysia, who had been unwilling to trouble Chen Li thinking he was busy, immediately changed her expression upon hearing he just wanted to lounge around. She grabbed his hand and took off running.
"Where are we going? I'm an out-of-towner too, I really don't know where the fun places are," Chen Li explained while being dragged along. Although he had an agreement with Big Herta to verify the definition of a "god," she still had two more hours to squat in her trash can, so there was no rush. And approving the Revival Cards wasn't difficult either; he just needed to glance at who was being revived and approve it as long as it wasn't outrageous. It was a simple task he could easily do while doing something else.
"We'll go wherever the path takes us. The Xianzhou is so beautiful, I want to see it all," Elysia said.
"Then could you at least slow down?"
"I can't. After all... time waits for no one. If we don't enjoy the present, we'll get old."
"True... Grandma Elysia, who's over 50,000 years old."
"...That's my Stand's age, not my age."
"Oh, so you've awakened your Stand?" Chen Li asked.
"Not yet, but I will eventually, won't I?"
"I wouldn't be so sure. Speaking of which, what's this about you being glanced at by the Aeon of Pure Beauty? Can you complete the Trial of Beauty today? Are you even going home?" Since he had run into Elysia, Chen Li didn't forget to ask about these important matters. The Thirteen Flame-Chasers on the Xianzhou were all projections, and they needed Chen Li to pay a renewal fee for them to continue staying.
"It's a long story..." Elysia's pace slowed, and she began to recall the first time she was glanced at by the Aeon of Pure Beauty.
---o---
"You mean, you were just standing at the highest point, looking at the bustling crowds and the cloud-like starskiffs of the Xianzhou, and the Aeon of Pure Beauty just glanced at you?"
"That's right."
"So what does the Aeon of Pure Beauty look like?" Chen Li asked curiously.
"I forgot. I only remember what I said at the time."
"What did you say?"
"Wow, what a cute girl!"
"???"
Elysia embarked on the Path of Beauty. Elysia was glanced at by the Aeon of Pure Beauty. Elysia made a move. Elysia began the Trial of Beauty...
Chen Li felt this was far more unreasonable than him being targeted by the Aeon of Erudition just for forging a single Curio. But then he remembered that the Aeons were a group of special individuals who didn't play by the rules, and he felt at ease again.
"You might really be able to awaken a Stand that records your future. Perhaps the Path of Beauty saw your future, and that's why it opened the Trial of Beauty for you so readily. Or perhaps you saw your own future, understood your own destiny, and now, within this new fate, you intend to walk an even more beautiful path..." Chen Li trailed off.
If one could step onto the Path ruled by an Aeon, they would receive a distant perception from it, like a glance cast across galactic light-years. That's why even if an Aeon dies, its Path continues to function normally.
As it stood, there seemed to be two ways to become an Emanator. One was to be personally granted the power by an Aeon. The other was, in a situation where the Aeon was uninvolved (either having fallen or completely slacking off), for one's own will to overlap with the Path, and for that will to be strong enough to walk further down the road and draw sufficient power from the Path.
The former was quite common; the Generals of the Xianzhou Alliance and the Lord Ravagers under Nanook were all examples. The latter was also not unheard of. For example, the Emanator of Nihility, Acheron... and perhaps Diamond, the Emanator of Preservation in the IPC's Strategic Investment Department. After all, it was common knowledge that Qlipoth, the Aeon of Preservation, had no interest in the IPC or the wall-building materials they transported. So Diamond must have become an Emanator through his own efforts.
While the power of a Herrscher from the Honkai Impact 3rd world might be insignificant before an Aeon and its Path, Elysia's will was worthy of recognition. In the Honkai: Star Rail world, one usually grew stronger after gaining the recognition of a Path, not the other way around. Therefore, in this world, willpower was extremely important. And in this aspect, Elysia was exceptionally gifted.
For instance, Chen Li had no doubt about Elysia's determination to collect all the cute girls in the universe. After all, this was a ruthless person who wanted to get close to even the Aeon of Pure Beauty!
Wasn't that Pure Beauty? That was the purest of Beauty!
"Perhaps this is an opportunity..." Chen Li murmured.
"What opportunity?"
"The opportunity to become an Aeon."
"Who?"
"You."
"Me?" Elysia pointed a finger at herself in disbelief, suspecting Chen Li had misspoken.
"Aeons were people before they ascended, and you're a person too. Why can't you become an Aeon?" What? Some Aeons weren't people before they ascended? Don't worry about that! As long as at least one, "Lan," was a person, it's fine.
"By that logic, beautiful girls are people, and you're a person too. Why can't you become a beautiful girl?" Elysia asked.
"You want to see? I can transform."
"Really?" Elysia's eyes lit up.
"Fake. In your dreams," Chen Li rolled his eyes at her.
"Hmph..."
"Speaking of which, Elysia, you've received the Trial of Beauty, and Vill-V has become an Emanator of Elation under Aha's backroom dealings. In that case..."
"In that case?"
...
"Mobius, you old hag, you're the most useless one of all!" Chen Li said, pointing at the white-lab-coated Mobius.
"Huh?"
---o---