Chapter 165 165: Successor
Welt looked at Kevin's departing figure, then turned to Irene: "Irene, is this really okay?"
"What's wrong with it?"
Irene turned to Welt. "Can you and I stop him? Can you persuade him not to execute his plan?"
"Ultimately, what Kevin is trying to do is merely a form of justice—a kind of extreme justice that you cannot accept." Irene turned to look in the direction Kevin had left.
"Justice cannot be persuaded. You can only use your own justice to prove that yours is more correct than his."
Here, there was actually only one villain, and that was the Honkai. Kevin couldn't be considered an enemy; he merely represented another form of extreme justice.
A final, necessary correctness. And correctness could only be defeated by correctness. No one could directly persuade Kevin. No one at all.
"..." Welt clenched his fists. "I understand. In that case, let's head back. There's no longer any need to continue guarding this place."
"What's the situation outside?"
"The Herrscher of Wind appeared, and then we beat up Otto. Oh, right, and the Second Herrscher revived."
"What?" It was as if several question marks flashed across Welt's head.
The birth of the Herrscher of Wind wasn't too big of an issue; Herrschers would appear sooner or later, it was just a matter of time. He had stayed here for so long, it was about time another Herrscher appeared.
But what was with the rest of it? Beat up Otto? The Second Herrscher, the Herrscher of the Void revived? Were these things that could be casually spoken of together? Just what in the world had happened during these years when he wasn't in the Proper World?
"Ah, don't worry. Sirin is on our side now." Irene looked at Welt. "So there's no need to worry. When you see her later, don't put on a bad face."
"..." Welt opened his mouth, and finally pushed up his glasses. "I understand."
"Good." Irene pointed towards the outside of the vortex. "Then let's head back. Speaking of which, you've been on hiatus for almost a year now. My little Theresa hasn't read a new work of the Homu comics in over a year."
"Under those circumstances, how could I possibly have time to update?" Welt opened his mouth.
He had thought about many things he might encounter after getting out, but the one thing he had never expected was that he would actually be urged to update his manga here.
"It's just a joke, don't mind it." Irene wore a smile on her face and waved her hand. "I don't think Theresa knows yet that you're the author."
"I haven't snitched either~"
"Given the current situation, it's very difficult for me to muster the mood to draw manga." Welt shook his head. With internal and external troubles, plus the pressure from Kevin, how could he have the mind to worry about manga?
"I know, I just wanted to help you relax a bit." Irene nodded. Demanding Welt to draw manga at a time like this was indeed making things difficult for him.
"However, I still have to tell you one thing. I've already examined your body, and your body is now going to have a very hard time continuing to bear the Core."
Irene looked at Welt, the smile on her face gradually fading. "The Adaptability between you and the Herrscher Core is extremely, extremely low. And after using Honkai energy and Authority for such long periods over these years, your body's condition has deteriorated to an absurd degree."
"You should be able to feel it, right?" Irene tapped Welt's chest. "Isn't the feeling after being subjected to Active Polarization by me this time much worse compared to the last time?"
"..." Welt reached out and touched his heart.
It was indeed so. Last time, after he was subjected to Active Polarization by Irene, he almost immediately welcomed a sensation that could be called a rebirth. But now, Irene's Active Polarization could only bring him a sense of comfort, but it was far inferior to the last time.
"Your abilities have truly been drained dry, and the same goes for your body's potential." Irene looked at Welt.
If Welt hadn't come directly to the Sea of Quanta after receiving Active Polarization...
...but had instead recuperated and gradually adapted to the Herrscher's Authority in the Proper World, perhaps the situation would have been much better. But unfortunately, that wasn't the case. He came to the Sea of Quanta and explosively used Honkai energy to construct such a massive Bubble Universe maze, and maintained it in real time.
The massive expenditure of Honkai energy and the invocation of his Authority caused Welt's physical condition to deteriorate day by day. His body had no time to adapt to the Authority.
"What I can tell you right now is that, even if you maintain the status quo, the time you have left to live will not exceed two years." Irene crossed her arms and looked at Welt.
"If you want to reconstruct a body, the situation actually won't be much better either."
"...Then what does Miss Irene suggest?"
"Find a successor. Your Honkai Adaptability and Honkai Resistance are still too low. Have you taken the injection?"
"No." Welt shook his head.
When he entered the Sea of Quanta, Tesla and the others hadn't yet researched how to mass-produce or manufacture the enhancement injections, so he hadn't received one.
"Then my suggestion is that after you get out, you should look for a good successor for yourself." Irene looked at Welt. "Then go get an injection and let your body recover for a while."
It wasn't that Irene absolutely insisted on making Bronya the Herrscher of Reason. It was just that Welt's physical condition was truly too unsightly to accept. Even if Welt were to reconstruct his body, it wouldn't solve this problem.
He would merely be changing into a vessel that was already unsuited for it, stuffing the Core back inside this vessel, and then continuously repeating the result of collapse.
"Does Miss Irene have a suitable candidate in mind?"
"It's nothing more than picking someone from St. Freya or Anti-Entropy one by one. You can just pick whichever one pleases your eye." Irene shrugged. "Could it be that you have other choices?"
"If you truly want to pick an absolutely perfectly adapted candidate, then if you have the guts, go learn from Cocolia. Fully charge this thing up, and then toss it into a city. I guarantee it'll produce an adapted candidate."
Hearing Irene's words, Welt rolled his eyes. He also realized that he had indeed just asked a stupid question. Yeah, where else could he possibly pick from?
The only trustworthy ones were the people around him, as well as the people with Irene at St. Freya. Could it be that he would go pick someone from Schicksal?
As for learning from Cocolia, that was even more out of the question. What could that kind of stunt possibly produce other than a Herrscher that hates humanity? It was only Cocolia who had a screw loose in her head, thinking that she could find a suitable candidate this way and even brainwash them.
"Then that settles it." Irene also followed suit and rolled her eyes. "If you really can't pick one, you can just give the Core to Sirin. That girl once had six Cores; bearing this one of yours would be more than enough."
"Let's forget about that. I still can't quite trust her." Welt shook his head. "I'll go ask around myself."
Tesla and Einstein should have a way. If it really came down to it, he could just hand the Core over to them. As top scientists, the two of them should be more capable of playing around with the Core than him.
"I think they should be coming over soon." Irene pointed outside. "Let's go. A world we've been separated from for over a year—it's time to go back."
After Irene finished speaking, she took the lead and walked towards the vortex. Welt turned his head to glance at the maze he had created. His gaze lingered on a few of the Bubble Universes for a moment before he turned his head and followed Irene through the vortex.
- Haiyuan City
The Hyperion gradually docked at Haiyuan City. This place was originally an Anti-Entropy research base, so the Hyperion docked here directly.
It was just that because of the sudden riot at the Eye of the Deep, the massive eruption of Honkai energy and quantum energy caused all other researchers here to evacuate, making this place look like an empty city.
Before fully understanding the situation, such a massive eruption of Honkai energy and quantum energy was definitely not something they should casually come into contact with.
Confirming that the cause of the eruption in the Sea of Quanta was unknown, the researchers originally stationed here evacuated immediately.
Himeko and the others disembarked from the Hyperion and headed straight for the Eye of the Deep under the guidance of Tesla and Einstein. And right at this moment, Irene just happened to be walking out from the Eye of the Deep together with Welt.
"Yo, you're here." Irene greeted the group.
When they came out, they didn't see Griseo and Kevin; it seemed they must have already left.
"Look at how fast you ran." Theresa, carrying Judah on her shoulder, walked toward Irene with a smile on her face, but Irene felt that something seemed a bit off.
"Ah, what's wrong? Theresa."
Just as Irene asked this question, a golden chain extended over and bound Irene's hands.
"?" Irene looked at Judah's chains wrapping around her hands, a look of confusion on her face. Then, a massive force was transmitted, pulling Irene so hard she bent over. Theresa looked at Irene.
"Explain to me right now, just what exactly are you doing? Who is that Kevin?" Theresa tugged on the chains. "You should be able to tell us some things now, right?"
Theresa couldn't hold back anymore. Regarding Irene's concealments from them over these years, she could no longer ignore the fact that every single time, Irene had paved the way for them without their knowledge.
Because Irene didn't say anything, and Seele didn't say anything either, they hadn't even realized that Irene had once again silently resolved an incredibly massive problem.
"Ah, so it was because of this." Irene nodded. "There are indeed some things that should be said. I will explain everything you want to know, one by one."
"Alright, we'll wait for your explanation." After nodding, Theresa dragged Irene towards the direction of the Hyperion by the chains. "Then let's go."
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, let go first, let go!"
On the other side, Tesla and Einstein glanced at the boisterous group, and then looked at Welt. Tesla patted Welt's body.
"It's just good that you came back alive. But why does it feel like your body's condition has gotten even worse?"
"Miss Irene gave me a tune-up." Welt looked at the concerned Tesla. "But Miss Irene said that I can't continue using it anymore. My body can no longer handle it."
"So you need to go find a successor?" Einstein looked at Welt. "Well, have you thought it through?"
"I don't know." Welt shook his head. "But what Miss Irene said isn't without reason. I truly perhaps should consider the issue of finding a successor."
"Do you have any suitable candidates, or..."
"If you're talking about a successor, we actually do have a candidate worth considering." Einstein turned her head to look at Bronya, who was currently leaving along with Theresa.
"Hmm, what do you mean?" Welt followed Einstein's line of sight and looked at Bronya. "Is there something very special about her?"
"Does using the Star of Eden without any side effects count?" Einstein looked at Bronya. "Her Honkai Adaptability is pretty decent; her Resistance is slightly lower."
"No, the Resistance issue isn't too severe. We also have Honkai Resistance Enhancement Reagent now, so that's not too big of a problem."
"At the same time, she is also considered a hacker in her own right. Coupled with the fact that her brains should be pretty good, she should be very suitable." Einstein looked at Bronya and laid out everything she knew.
"Of course, I also want to see if it's really possible to stack up synergies?"
"What's that?" A trace of confusion flashed in Welt's eyes. "What do you mean by stacking synergies?"
"It's nothing. I just discovered an unexpected pattern—that the Herrschers born nowadays are almost all located in Miss Himeko's villa."
Einstein shrugged. Anyway, this whole thing was quite bizarre. The Herrschers that had appeared so far were all related to Himeko, or rather, to St. Freya.
Himeko's villa housed a whole bunch of Herrschers. Although she was a scientist and didn't really intend to talk about metaphysics, the facts were right there. Whether it counted as metaphysics or not was seemingly hard to say.
Moreover, if you had to pick a suitable—or potentially suitable—person right now, Einstein thought about it over and over, and for a moment, it seemed she really could only pick Bronya.
For others, they would have to go test their Honkai Adaptability and Honkai Resistance, and also see if they had the brains to utilize the abilities of the Herrscher of Reason.
But they had indeed seen Bronya's capabilities: picking up the Star of Eden and using it instantly, pretty decent Honkai Adaptability, and Honkai Resistance that could be supplemented at any time and wasn't too big of an issue.
As a hacker and a weapons master, her brains were naturally good. As for her personality, she was willing to go up alongside everyone to rebel against Schicksal. As a Valkyrie who had received Schicksal's—or rather, St. Freya's—education, there was no need to worry too much about her stance either.
How should one put it? The more you thought about it, it truly seemed like Bronya was the only choice at this moment. If you wanted to pick another suitable person, it really wouldn't be easy to find one.
Tesla, standing to the side, also seemed to have thought of a similar matter. The more she thought about it, the more dazed her expression became. Finally, she turned to look at Einstein. "Tsk, it seems like there really isn't anyone else we can pick."
"If we really have to pick, there are definitely others, but there's no harm in letting her try it out first, right?" Einstein shrugged and looked at Welt. "This is all the advice we can give."
"Alright, I understand." Welt still hadn't figured out what Einstein meant by 'stacking synergies' just now, but he trusted the judgment of both Einstein and Tesla.
Welt turned his head to look at the Sea of Quanta. "Then this is perfect. I think I should have a suitable testing method."
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