"This is... the Second Divine Key: Cosmic Juggernaut." Shun stared in shock at the massive object that had appeared vividly before him. He never imagined Su would give this to him.
"That's right. This is the Second Divine Key: Cosmic Juggernaut." Su wasn't surprised that Shun recognized this Eternal Calamity Key at a glance even some Flame-Chasers had never seen it.
Special existences like Shun and Elysia who were unique across multiples couldn't be judged by common logic. He still remembered how, after Elysia used her authority to plant the seed called "humanity" for future Herrschers, Mei, Vill-V, Mobius, and Su himself had discussed Elysia's abilities.
In the end, they concluded it was something like "wishes come true," or a form of equivalent exchange but with a cost far lower than the wish granted. Even top Previous Era scientists like Mei and Mobius looked as if they'd eaten a fly when reaching this conclusion. This ability essentially took their intellect, threw it in a washing machine, spun it dry, and stuffed it back in.
But when Eden learned the answer, she was delighted instead. She said, "This suits Elli's style perfectly. Someone like Elli should have this dreamlike ability."
Ending the recollection Su had somewhat sensed Shun's precognitive ability. Though he hadn't known Shun as long as Kevin due to separating early, the saying went that faith was power. At times like this, believing was enough.
Su stroked the black-and-gold body of Cosmic Juggernaut and said, "This is an old friend who's been with me for fifty thousand years." From the start of Project VALUKA, Su had almost never stopped using this Divine Key. One could say his understanding of Cosmic Juggernaut might even surpass that of its designer and creator, Vill-V.
Now suddenly handing it over to Shun, Su felt a pang of reluctance in his heart. But there was no choice at this moment, Cosmic Juggernaut was useless to him.
To help this era's humanity fight Honkai, he had already given away Eden's Star, Abyss Flower, Void Archives, even Judgment of Shamash. Naturally, this Cosmic Juggernaut was no exception.
Su paused, then continued, "Now, I entrust it to you. I hope you can use it well to oppose Honkai."
Hearing Su's words, Shun's mind was still a bit dazed. What was going on? They'd barely met and chatted a few sentences, and this old man was already dumping gear on him? Wasn't this supposed to go to the dog trustee?
"Huh? What are they talking about? Seele doesn't understand a single thing..." The Estonian girl who had wandered into a high-level conversation stood at attention. Though her ears were listening, Seele indicated she understood nothing! No problem just smile at times like this.
"Seele, pinch me. I feel like I'm still in a bubble world in the Sea of Quanta this world is fake." Shun leaned his face toward Seele. After all, about a year later when the silly goose came here for Cosmic Juggernaut, Su had put her through a proper test before handing it over.
Seeing Shun's exaggerated reaction, Su couldn't hold back a small laugh. He said, "Relax. A gentleman's word is hard to take back. Since I've said I'd entrust it to you, I won't take it back."
"No tests or anything?" Shun asked next. He really couldn't fathom how such a pie-from-the-sky opportunity had fallen to him. He hadn't skimped on big guarantees in his usual pulls either?
"Of course not." In his heart, Su thought: If it were someone else, since I don't know them, I'd need a test to see their true character. But you don't I already understand?
Shun understood Su's attitude. It seemed he was serious... Then the question arose. "Then why me?"
Hearing this, Su thought for a moment and casually gave a reason. "Because you and my disciple Arthur both have innate Stigmata. I feel you're very similar to him I see his shadow in you. That's why I want to entrust Cosmic Juggernaut, which I no longer need, to you."
Su stopped there abruptly. The art of speaking lay in leaving blanks. Su was like this Shun just had to rack his brains guessing Su's meaning and let his thoughts "deify" themselves. Meanwhile, Su had many things to consider.
Moreover, Su had some understanding of Shun's limited omniscience-like ability. He believed Shun would definitely find a reason to convince himself.
Because when he applied to join Fire Moth, it was Shun who approved it even though Shun had been dead for nearly two years by then. In fact... that approval had been left by Shun seven years earlier, and it even bore Mobius's stamp. So when Su first entered Fire Moth, it was Mobius who brought him in, leaving Su who was meeting this giant of the biological world for the first time utterly flattered.
But Mobius's gravitational aura was too heavy not even band players dared approach, so Su never mustered the courage to speak to her. Only later, when his life mentor-like Sparxie brought him back, did he learn Mobius was his good friend's widow.
He still remembered Shun's approval note: "No rush. Let him stew for a while. Only after Su truly experiences what Honkai is should we let him in."
Clearly, even back when Su was in medical university, Shun had arranged everything perfectly for him. (PS: The Previous Era timeline is very vague, so I'll set it here first. Using Griseo's age as reference in the game, when Blanca joined Snake Lab, Griseo was born. But here, I set Griseo as born around the Third Honkai. Then Griseo became a MANTIS around the Tenth Honkai, at about 11 years old. Push the timeline back accordingly. That way, Su finishing medical university in a few years and becoming chief surgeon as a genius makes sense.)
So that's it Su, this old man, saw a bit of his disciple's shadow in me. That's why he thought of passing Cosmic Juggernaut to me.
But wasn't this just Su's old-age presbyopia? Or does the Honkai world have that "Takeuchi face" thing too? Did I face-crash with Arthur? But a Han Chinese and a Celt face-crashing? Isn't that a bit ridiculous?
It couldn't be that right after meeting, he saw the golden-quality beautiful character hidden under my skin? Now I'm golden-spirited too. Looks like Brother Su really knows how to judge people.
Just like that, Shun successfully convinced himself. Truly, Hai-ge's value was still rising.
"Then it's settled. I've already transferred Cosmic Juggernaut's authority to you." While Shun was dazed, Su had already gone through the motions, pretending to transfer permissions.
What Shun didn't know was that he held corresponding authority over the Second through Sixth Divine Keys. If he wanted, he could just drive the thing away.
"Try connecting mentally with the Second Divine Key. I'll assist from the side to link your spirit with Cosmic Juggernaut. Once your mental power connects, Cosmic Juggernaut can provide computational support for you."
Shun nodded and said, "Okay, I'll try." In truth, Shun didn't fully understand this mysterious thing called mental power. But fortunately, his first teacher Misteln was a master of it nicknamed Little Aponia so Shun was quite sensitive to mental power. Misteln had killed him countless times in illusions.
As Shun's spirit connected to Cosmic Juggernaut under Su's assistance, a system prompt rang directly in his mind.
"Detecting mental power access... Identity verification in progress... Verification successful... Authority confirmed, Code: 002 Shun. Welcome back, Mr. Shun."