Caelus sat in his carriage, looking rarely dazed.
Cyrene did not speak, simply accompanying him quietly. Having experienced the events of the previous world, her Partner had some insights and thoughts that he needed to process himself.
Caelus was not actually spacing out. He was just talking to the System.
["Ah, a perfect thesis! I almost couldn't resist switching you to the Path of Destruction just now!
In that cesspool of a world, if you had ascended to godhood and used the power of nothingness to give all living beings a safety net, sparing them from torture after death and forcing them to find the meaning of their lives in the endless void, in just a thousand years, you could have collected enough 'existence of life' to return to your main universe. By ascending there, you could have reached the Seventh Rank directly!
Then you could slowly balance nothingness and existence. I would have given you some high-reward Seventh Rank missions to save up enough points to buy a Universe Merger and fuse Warhammer and Honkai: Star Rail together.
Leveraging the cosmic-level upheaval and the collapse and restructuring of the rules during the fusion, you could have perfectly merged nothingness and existence, walking a path entirely your own.
After that, you could use it to reverse-cover the fusion process, assimilating both universes into your body to become your self-manifested universe!
That way, you would reach the Eighth Rank directly, and I would graduate! It's a fantastic method. I would get at least an 85! And because the graduation project was finished so quickly, my score would probably go up by another ten points or so."]
The System rambled on, still feeling it was a pity Caelus had not taken that path. Otherwise, it could have been the first to complete its graduation design with an almost perfect answer.
By then, even the instructors who previously disliked it would have to look at it in a new light. It could have even become one of the top genius systems in these endless eons.
Despite this, the System would not force Caelus to choose that path, nor would it issue mandatory missions regarding it.
After all, the System would not interfere with what kind of path the Host wanted to walk.
If the person themselves did not approve of the path they were taking but forced themselves to walk it, they likely would not even reach the Seventh Rank, let alone the Eighth Rank that symbolized graduation.
"Sorry, but I don't think that path is right for me," Caelus said.
["It's fine. As long as you feel it's not right. The worst thing is someone who thinks a path suits them just because of a little persuasion and then forces themselves down it."]
The System had just been venting its feelings. It continued, ["I was just letting off a bit of steam. My personal emotional module is quite rich, after all. Remember, only the path that is right for you is the one you can truly walk. Paths chosen by others or paths that only seem right are not the ones you should take."]
"Mm, thank you for supporting me."
["Hey! We're friends! No need to be so polite. We are individuals who progress together. I collect the information I need for graduation and growth from you, and you need my help to walk your path step by step and grow to higher levels.
Neither of us owes the other anything. We need each other. There is no superior-subordinate distinction or mandatory requirement. Since you don't think it's right, then don't do it. I can understand you."]
Caelus nodded and said nothing more.
["Alright, the next world you're returning to is the Honkai world, right? We're almost there."]
As the familiar sensation rushed over him and the surrounding darkness vanished, Caelus regained his senses and found himself standing on the rooftop of a tall building.
Below were endless streams of pedestrians and vehicles. Above was a clear blue sky and a bright sun.
Cyrene stood to the side and looked out, seeing the writing throughout the city. Based on her memories, she said, "According to the records and memories, this seems to be the Far East."
"The Far East? Why am I here?"
Caelus was puzzled. Even if there was some deviation in the travel, the last place he had left from was Europe. How did he end up in the Far East?
["Coincidentally, the storyline of this world is about to start developing. It has been several years since you left."]
"Several years? That fast?"
["Time ratios are very strange. Sometimes you spend only a day in one world and a year passes here. Sometimes you spend thousands of years in another world and only a second passes here. It is not even fixed, so unless there are consecutive missions, you won't have an accurate time conversion."]
"So the storyline is about to unfold. Do I have no missions?"
["It is just a small part of the beginning of the plot. It has nothing to do with you. If you were in the beginner phase, you could indeed intervene in this beginner task, but you are no longer in the beginner phase. If you want to participate in the mission, you will have to wait until the middle of the story."]
"Mm, I understand."
Caelus glanced at the unfamiliar city and crowd beneath his feet, and just as he was about to leave, he paused. His gaze then shifted toward a distant street, where he saw a young girl running with a piece of bread in her mouth.
With that appearance, if Bianka grew up, she would probably look like this girl. White hair, blue eyes, and that powerful physical constitution inherited through her bloodline.
Caelus stopped his departure. He observed the girl in the distance, partly out of curiosity about this girl who looked almost identical to Bianka, and partly because he wanted to test whether this matter would involve that Overseer of Schicksal.
If that Overseer of Schicksal truly had any schemes or plans involving this girl, then he himself, as the most unstable factor, would definitely put the Overseer on high alert.
In such a situation, that guy would uncontrollably focus too much attention on him.
And then he would know whether there were any schemes involving this girl.
Caelus made no attempt to hide his presence, simply standing on the rooftop and watching with great interest.
Meanwhile, the girl, who was currently dashing toward school with bread in her mouth, had no idea what was happening.
She was only worried that if she arrived late, Mei would be bullied by those bastards again.
She was a knight who had sworn to protect her! How could she let the princess in her heart be bullied by others?!
Thinking of her beloved, who might once again be facing everyone's hostility, a raging fire burned in the girl's heart.
Relying on a physical constitution that matched her monstrous strength, the girl finally ran into the school before the class bell rang and immediately burst into Mei's classroom.
The teacher in the classroom calmly watched as the white-haired girl suddenly popped up to stand up for Raiden Mei, who was being bullied.
As for why he did not intervene even though the class bell had already rung?
A transfer student had inexplicably appeared in the middle of the semester, and even the grade director had hinted vaguely that this was the principal's arrangement.
So how could he possibly have the authority to deal with someone at that level? He was just an ordinary employee!
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)