In The Honkai World: Transforming Into An IF-Route Valkyrie

Fu Hua lifted the Book of Fuxi from the wooden chest. The Book of Fuxi, responding to her movement, settled naturally into her arms. Fu Hua gazed at the face before her — so like Fuxi's, yet somehow younger, smaller.

A feeling of deep familiarity kept rising in her heart, yet she couldn't reach into her Heart Lake and find the memory that went with it. Blank. Ash-grey. Nothing.

[It seems you don't remember either.] Fuxi reached through the psionic link and gave Fu Hua a gentle pat. [The Book of Fuxi is an Armed ELF we once built — to take care of you in our place.]

[We used the finest materials we could find, but even so, we couldn't outrun time.] Nuwa looked through Irene's eyes at the Book of Fuxi resting in Fu Hua's arms.

[…But I can't remember any of it.] A faint sadness threaded through Fu Hua's voice. [How much have I forgotten?]

[It'll come back. And besides — I think she would know quite a lot, wouldn't she?] Irene joined in to comfort Fu Hua, and gestured toward Little Senti.

At that moment, Little Senti was staring at the Book of Fuxi cradled in Fu Hua's arms. She reached out a hand — then stopped it mid-air, looking faintly awkward. When she caught Irene's gaze turning her way, she immediately stiffened her expression.

"Ahem. An antique is an antique — nowhere near as composed as me." Little Senti kept her face carefully blank as she looked at Irene, then lowered her eyes to the Book of Fuxi in Fu Hua's arms. "Alright, old relic — stop staring. You're out of energy. You can't wake up yet."

"I think I can handle that part." Irene looked at Fu Hua. "I'm still a Herrscher, after all. Topping up some energy and doing a bit of emergency maintenance shouldn't be a problem."

Besides, the ELF's designers were right there inside her head. She could just ask them what to do on the spot.

"Then I leave her in your hands." Fu Hua handed the Book of Fuxi to Irene without a moment's hesitation. The instant Irene took her, Nuwa and Fuxi in her mind began directing her on what to do.

"Irene, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Little Senti watched Irene press her hand directly into the Book of Fuxi's body. "You're practically shoving your fist through her — are you really sure that's okay?"

"Relax. Absolutely fine. Honkai energy pulled straight from Imaginary Space — guaranteed pure and undiluted." Irene was utterly unconcerned. So this was what it felt like, she thought — this was the sensation the others had been chasing every time they shoved their hands into things.

"Just trust Irene. She doesn't do things carelessly."

"I never said my student might make a mistake."

"Mm…" Something like voices were drifting into her ears now — two of them, it seemed. One sounded like that blockhead, though the tone was a little off. And why were there two?

In the pitch-black world, light began to bloom before the Book of Fuxi. With her power supply restored, her systems began their startup self-diagnostics.

"See? There she goes."

If the first voice was the blockhead, did that mean this one was the blockhead's friend come to rescue her? Just how long had she been asleep?

At the very least, the last time she'd been awake, people still traveled everywhere on foot and called out to each other with their voices — technology like this certainly couldn't have existed back then.

It wasn't as though a blacksmith could have fixed her with a hammer.

Gradually, the Book of Fuxi began to feel her hands and feet again. The power supply was flowing. She pushed herself up and opened her eyes.

"Blockhead… long time no see." The first thing the Book of Fuxi saw when she opened her eyes was a white-haired young woman she didn't recognize. And… two blockheads?!

The Book of Fuxi's eyes went wide. She ran a quick visual system diagnostic. "Wait — is something wrong with my vision? Why am I seeing two blockheads?"

"It's a bit complicated." Fu Hua glanced at Little Senti, then looked back at the Book of Fuxi.

"Oh for — you old relic, let me handle this." Little Senti rolled her eyes, then reached over and scooped the Book of Fuxi out of Irene's arms. "Come on, I'll explain it to you."

The Book of Fuxi looked at Little Senti, raised an eyebrow, and instinctively glanced back at Fu Hua. "Mm…"

"Oh — so Blockhead, you didn't use Fenghuang Down's Zeroth Rated Power completely, which is why your soul has split into two?"

"That's right." Little Senti nodded, then put on an expression of considerable vexation. "And that's how things ended up like this. Who would've thought that an incomplete use of Fenghuang Down could cause this kind of mess?"

"It's not like this kind of thing has never happened before — though back then it was just simple doppelgangers." The Book of Fuxi nodded at Little Senti, then turned to look at Fu Hua on the other side.

"Who knew it could turn into such a disaster? Right, you old blockhead?"

Well, she still didn't fully understand what had happened — but she already understood one thing: the little blockhead currently holding her was not the real blockhead.

The one on the other side, who seemed to know nothing at all — that was the real blockhead. The resemblance in appearance and presence was striking, yes, but the way she spoke, the way she carried herself, and the fact that this one clearly knew everything — that was far too obvious.

She still didn't know how much time had passed. But she knew Blockhead's nature well enough: no matter how many years went by, if Blockhead could ever change even a little — she'd eat that little ball she always used to make, right here and now.

And she knew perfectly well what Fenghuang Down's fundamental logic was. However you looked at it, even if Fu Hua had gone through some experience in recent years that had completely changed her personality — the basic logic of Fenghuang Down couldn't be rewritten. Fu Hua simply couldn't know that much. So she was certain: the one on the side who knew nothing was the real blockhead.

"I really didn't expect things to turn out this way." Fu Hua nodded. Her own hollow vessel becoming a Herrscher — that was something nobody could have predicted.

"Exactly. Nobody expected a fragment of the old relic to split off." Little Senti nodded in emphatic agreement. "But Little Xuan — the fact that you're awake is genuinely wonderful."

"Mm." Fu Hua nodded too, looking at the Book of Fuxi. A brief flicker of hesitation crossed her eyes — and then she offered a greeting anyway. "Long time no see… Little Xuan…"

"Alright, alright, Blockhead." The Book of Fuxi heard the name Fu Hua used and smiled up at her. "I'm fine, aren't I? From now on, we can live together properly again.

"Though look at the state of you — you still haven't been taking care of yourself. I left you so many things, you know. Don't tell me all we have left is Fuyun Temple."

As she spoke, the Book of Fuxi made a somewhat effortful attempt to climb onto her yin-yang orb and hover. The moment she rose — the orb wobbled and drifted straight back down.

Little Xuan was about to say something when a wave of weakness swept through her body and she simply flopped forward. Irene, seeing this, scooped her back up and pressed her hand in again, continuing to channel Honkai energy.

"Hey — what are you doing?" The Book of Fuxi squirmed with vague discomfort.

"Hold still — I'm still charging you." Irene gave the Book of Fuxi a pat on the head. "Your battery is genuinely critically degraded. It drains as fast as it charges."

"Add in the thousands of years of time, and the complete lack of maintenance." Irene looked up and glanced at the two of them. "Back then it might have just been battery degradation and low charge — but now the list of problems is very long."

The Book of Fuxi's body was indeed built from Soulium — but she had lain dormant for thousands of years, and the various components inside had all aged under time's erosion.

Honkai energy could prevent corrosion and moisture and mold — but it absolutely did not prevent aging. After this much time, many of the more delicate parts had long since deteriorated.

That included, but was not limited to, the propulsion system and weapons system. Even the visual system and levitation system had been affected. Though it wasn't severe enough to completely prevent the Book of Fuxi from moving — she just couldn't ride her yin-yang orb and hover, while basic locomotion was still possible — a total factory overhaul was essentially unavoidable.

Otherwise, the Book of Fuxi would likely be left with nothing but the most basic motor functions.

"Ahh — nothing to be done about it, I suppose. It has been so long." Hearing Irene's assessment, the Book of Fuxi stopped struggling and simply lay in Irene's arms, letting her charge away.

"You can't blame me for this." Little Senti scratched her head with some awkwardness. "The technology of that era was what it was — it's not like I could have hired a blacksmith to maintain the Book of Fuxi.

"One good swing of the hammer and I probably would've been left collecting the pieces in a bag."

"Soulium isn't that easy to smash." The Book of Fuxi shook her head, then tried, with some difficulty, to lift her hand and clench her fist. "Though right now it seems Soulium is about the only thing that isn't damaged."

"A major overhaul is definitely unavoidable." Irene shook her head at the Book of Fuxi. "I'm not expecting you to be combat-ready, but swapping out this battery of yours — the one that leaks as fast as it fills — that's a necessity."

"Ahaha." The Book of Fuxi scratched her head, eyeing the cascade of error messages popping up in her field of view. "It should be reasonably repairable, I think — I also have the technical documentation for my own repairs. Want me to pass it to you?"

"Don't worry, it'll be fine." Fu Hua crouched down with concern and touched the Book of Fuxi gently. "The technology we have now will definitely be able to fix you."

"As for Soulium, if you need it…" Little Senti thought for a moment, then pointed outside. "We could strip down one or two Keys of Domination. I'm pretty sure there are a few of them in the vegetable patch outside — if that vegetable patch is still there."

Back then, nearly all of the surviving Keys of Domination had ended up in Fu Hua's hands. Dismantling them for the Book of Fuxi's sake wouldn't be something to grieve over.

Fu Hua had no objections to this either. Setting aside the fact that it was for the Book of Fuxi's sake — those Keys of Domination didn't have much use anymore.

The group of Herrschers currently at St. Freya certainly wouldn't be interested in Keys of Domination, and the most important part of any Key was the core inside it — not the Soulium casing.

Once stripped, the cores could be repurposed and installed wherever they could do the most good.

"Oh — you mean those in the vegetable patch?" The Book of Fuxi nodded. She knew about the Keys of Domination planted there.

The vegetables in that patch had originally been the neverold greens Fu Hua most liked to eat — one of her only food sources, something she prized enough to ward off the crimson ibises by planting several Keys of Domination in the soil.

Now that the ibises were no longer a concern, those Keys had no use. Stripping them down to repair herself was perhaps a bit wasteful — but there didn't seem to be a better purpose for them.

Using a Divine Key as a scarecrow had already been absurd enough. At least using it to repair herself was a somewhat legitimate application.

Irene, still channeling energy with one hand, opened a conversation with Nuwa and Fuxi in her mind: "Do either of you have suggestions for repairs or upgrades? Preferably things that I can actually carry out."

"Mm, Irene — you're not completely hopeless with machinery, are you?" Nuwa hesitated a moment, then continued, "It depends on whether we need combat capability — oh, wait, that's not really a requirement anymore."

When they'd built the Book of Fuxi, they'd allocated very few of her modules to self-defense firepower — the goal had been to ensure she could operate independently for as long as possible.

The Book of Fuxi's purpose was to be with Fu Hua — but just in case, some minimal self-protection capability had to exist.

As for now — whether that self-defense capability existed or not made very little difference. Better to strip it all out. That would at least free up some space.

"I agree." Fuxi nodded as well. "The space freed up from removing those modules can be used to replace the battery directly with a Honkai energy reactor."

"I've looked at Anti-Entropy's technology. You have the means to build one — just squeeze it in there, and it would work perfectly."

Between the two of them, the repair and upgrade plan for the Book of Fuxi was settled in a few quick exchanges — or rather, purely an upgrade, given that Little Xuan's current state was such that completely replacing her with a new system would have been more straightforward.

In the past, they'd made far too many compromises because of the limitations of technology and materials. Now, there was no need to compromise at all. If something called for the best, they'd use the best.

The two of them then began directing Irene on exactly what needed to be done. Listening to them, Irene scratched her head with a growing headache — and suddenly felt as though she were about to grow a new brain.

Between the mechanical terminology and the upgrade specifications, Irene felt her head genuinely starting to give out. It turned out she wasn't cut out for engineering. And for the first time, she truly understood that Nuwa and Fuxi were, in reality, some of the greatest scientists who had ever lived — not just the two bickering sisters depicted in every fan creation.

"Alright, alright, both of you stop for a second." Irene shook her aching head and turned to look at Little Corruption, who was wearing a faint smile and seemed to have been waiting for exactly this moment.

"Okay, I know you're ready. Go ahead."

"Those are the words I've been waiting for." Little Corruption gave a nod, then handed the two of them compressed Corruption virus packets she'd already prepared. "With Irene's psychic energy as the medium and your souls as the anchor, these Corruption viruses should let you manifest in the physical world for at least two hours.

"Go enjoy the world outside~"

The two of them immediately nodded — and snapped the cards in their hands.

In the outside world, two figures appeared abruptly beside the group, taking shape in the air.

"Hm?!" The Book of Fuxi stared strangely at the figures that had suddenly appeared — and then her eyes went wide once she saw them clearly.

A scream tore through the entirety of Fuyun Temple.

"Blockhead — GHOSTS!!!"

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