In the end, thanks to Kiana, Herta, and the others stepping in quickly enough, the incident of a Lord Ravager attacking the space station came to a close without further escalation. Zero casualties.
And only then, late into the night, did Kiana finally return to her room.
"The station assigned you a room too, didn't it? So why are you still following me…?"
Looking at Xingxiao, who remained right on her heels, Kiana asked in exasperation.
Xingxiao merely lowered her head slightly. "My lady, as an Emanator, I have no need for sleep."
"And as your attendant, it is only proper that I remain by your side at all times."
That's not what I was asking!
Kiana raised a brow. "What danger could there possibly be inside the space station? Aren't you being a little too dramatic?"
She felt like something was off with Xingxiao.
Of course Kiana knew that Emanators did not need sleep.
In fact, plenty of sufficiently powerful Pathstriders no longer required food or rest either.
But she liked sleeping!
Following her around even when she went to bed—what else was that if not obsessive behavior?!
Xingxiao fell silent for a moment, then said with grave seriousness, "That Herta seems very suspicious."
Kiana: "...?"
"She is merely an Emanator of Erudition, and yet she dares call herself your guardian."
"As the future Destruction, you should not be allowed to be approached so casually by someone like her."
Clearly, Xingxiao had a huge problem with Herta.
The only reason she had chosen to apologize earlier was because she was showing Kiana respect.
Kiana pressed a hand to her forehead.
Right now, she suddenly found herself missing the Xingxiao from earlier—the one who would start fighting at the drop of a hat.
At least that Xingxiao had not gotten hung up on nonsense like this.
"Fine. If you absolutely insist on squeezing into my room, then I'm afraid you'll just have to sleep on the floor."
As she spoke, Kiana started searching around the room for a blanket.
She was definitely not the sort of person who would give up her bed just because the other party happened to be a pretty girl.
After rummaging around for a while, Kiana finally pulled out a blanket from the back of the cabinet, one printed with the Herta logo.
It was obviously one of the station's standard-issued supplies.
"Here. Make do with this." Kiana tossed the blanket to Xingxiao.
"You may not need sleep, but if you're going to stay in my room, at least pretend a little, alright?"
Xingxiao caught the blanket and lowered her head to inspect the cartoon pattern printed on it, her expression turning faintly complicated.
"My lady, this pattern on the blanket…"
"Oh, Herta's doing," Kiana said with a wave of her hand. "Pretty much all the station's daily-use stuff has her branding on it. You'll get used to it."
Xingxiao was silent for a moment. In the end, she said nothing. She simply spread the blanket neatly in the corner of the room and sat down primly on top of it.
Yes. She clearly still had no intention of actually sleeping.
Watching her sit there so stiffly, Kiana could not help saying, "...You really don't have to do this."
But Xingxiao's answer caught her off guard.
"Actually… the Ravager God gave me another task."
At once, Kiana's attention was diverted.
Oh?
Nanook had given Xingxiao another task?
And judging by her expression, the task was probably related to Kiana herself.
Thinking back to everything Nanook had done in both the Simulated Universe and reality, Kiana decided she could at least hear Xingxiao out.
Xingxiao's face remained calm as she said, "The Ravager God instructed me to cultivate with you."
For a moment, the two of them simply stared at one another in silence.
Neither spoke.
But Kiana merely gave a soft snort.
She was not the sort of person who got easily led astray.
The "dual cultivation" Xingxiao was talking about most likely really did mean cultivation.
Sure enough, Xingxiao's next explanation immediately confirmed her guess.
"The Ravager God instructed me to help you perfect the Authority of Destruction."
Kiana instantly perked up.
Nanook wanted to help her power up?
Now that was excellent news. Faced with an opportunity like that, there was no way Kiana would refuse.
After all, as things stood, Kiana's current persona seemed to have reached a bottleneck.
At her current level of displayed strength, she was no longer at a stage where simply bluffing people could keep pushing her upward.
Even the so-called Character Adjustment had already dropped in price to 50,000 points.
Originally, before Xingxiao brought up this so-called dual cultivation, Kiana had already been planning to exchange for a Character Adjustment and test the waters.
But since Nanook apparently intended to invest in her, then naturally she would try this first.
"So how exactly are we supposed to cultivate together?"
Kiana immediately sat down across from Xingxiao, her eyes shining with anticipation.
Xingxiao gave a slight nod and raised her right hand. In her palm floated a cluster of flickering Destruction energy.
It was pure Authority of Destruction, without the slightest impurity, as though it had only just been received directly from Nanook.
Hmm… considering Nanook had indeed shown up, maybe it really had been given by him?
"My lady, please open your Path and allow me to guide this power into your body," Xingxiao said.
"Open my Path?" Kiana blinked.
That sounded a bit abstract.
Still, she did as instructed.
Quite some time had already passed since she became an Emanator. By now, Kiana had absolute control over her own Path.
So she closed her eyes and slowly released the restraints on it.
The instant she did, it was as if Xingxiao vanished from before her eyes.
And as though to confirm Kiana's suspicion, a power belonging to Harmony suddenly welled up in her heart.
Yet to her surprise, Kiana discovered that this Harmony did not seem to be coming from Xingxiao at all.
It was truly, genuinely coming from herself.
Kiana suddenly thought of the Stellaron in the system shop.
It was something unlocked during her conversation with Kafka.
Back then, she had bluffed Kafka by claiming she was the true orthodox heir of Destruction, and that had unlocked the ability to use Stellarons as consumable items.
"System, exchange for one Stellaron," Kiana muttered inwardly.
[Ding! Spend 100 points to exchange for one Stellaron?]
"Confirm."
In an instant, a Stellaron materialized in front of Kiana.
"My lady, why is there a Stellaron inside your body?" Xingxiao asked, her voice tinged with surprise.
As a Lord Ravager aligned against Harmony, Xingxiao herself naturally had countless ties to that Path.
But in her view, Kiana was the noblest and purest orthodox inheritor of Destruction—how could she possibly be tainted by something as lowly as Harmony?
At that moment, however, Kiana had no mind to answer Xingxiao's question.
Because she had finally understood why Nanook had sent Xingxiao to cultivate with her.
Kiana suddenly reached out and grabbed Xingxiao by both shoulders.
"Xingxiao, I need you to help me cultivate!"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 126)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter134)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 87
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 79
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 73
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 49
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 45
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 45
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 31
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 27
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 26
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