Return to Reality What Theresa was thinking was that this matter absolutely couldn’t be allowed to reach her grandfather Otto’s ears.
Ever since the Second Honkai War, Otto’s image in Theresa’s mind had changed.
By now, Theresa no longer trusted Otto nearly as much as before and had become far more guarded against him.
In secret, Theresa had even been cooperating with Anti-Entropy and quietly attempting to locate some technologies left behind by the Previous Era.
Theresa herself had no idea that Otto had already secretly altered portions of her memories long ago.
If completely changing them hadn’t caused memories that contradicted reality to continually give Theresa an intense sense that something was wrong, eventually leading her to remember everything— Otto might even have wiped Theresa’s memories all the way back to before the Second Honkai War.
Otto hoped that Theresa would always remain his best granddaughter.
Still, perhaps this kind of growth wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
After reminding everyone to keep the matter confidential, Theresa decided that it was time to leave the Stigmata Theater.
The new weapon Kiana had obtained could be taken away for analysis, but they also had to be careful not to let her grandfather find out about it.
Before they parted, Bronya looked seriously at Seele and said, “Seele, Bronya will definitely find a way to bring you back as soon as possible.
“Bronya promises that Bronya will definitely succeed.
“But until then, Bronya and Seele can still contact each other through this Stigmata Theater.” Bronya didn’t actually want to leave either, but remaining inside the Stigmata Theater wouldn’t allow her to investigate anything.
Only after leaving the Stigmata Theater and returning to the outside world could she begin investigating.
Since the Stigmata Theater could allow them to communicate with each other, perhaps it could also provide a way for her to bring Seele back.
Seeing the determination in Bronya’s eyes, Seele nodded.
“Seele…
Seele will do her best to wait for Big Sister Bronya to come and get me.” Although she said that, Seele didn’t really want to leave yet.
After all, in the real world, she had always been trapped deep within the lightless depths of the Sea of Quanta.
Being able to meet Big Sister Bronya again after so long and watch performances in a theater like this was far more enjoyable for Seele than the real world.
But she couldn’t do that.
Seele couldn’t be so selfish.
Seele was very sensible now.
She knew that Big Sister Bronya and her friends still had many things to accomplish in the real world, so she didn’t voice what she truly wanted.
She prayed in her heart that although they were leaving now, they would be able to enter the Stigmata Theater again someday.
Bronya also had many things she wanted to ask Seele.
Suppressing those thoughts, she submitted a request to leave the Stigmata Theater.
In an instant, Bronya disappeared from the theater.
The entire theater became empty, as though Seele were the only one left.
The stage lights went out one by one, and eventually, Seele also departed.
“System, how much Prayer Energy have I collected so far?” Xiao Shi immediately asked the System after the Stigmata Theater ended.
“Host, you’re amazing!” the System exclaimed in surprise.
“After subtracting what has already been used, there are currently 316 units of Prayer Energy remaining.
We earned 102.” Hearing this, Xiao Shi felt somewhat relieved.
She had earned quite a lot, more than she had originally expected, although she still hadn’t recovered her initial investment.
But since she could earn her first batch of Prayer Energy, she would only earn more and more in the future.
The System was also generous with its praise.
“Host’s decision to adapt the plot of Honkai Impact 2nd into plays for the Stigmata Theater was truly a genius design.
“Especially the format where the Stigmata Theater personally pulls audience members onto the stage to perform.
It tugs even more strongly at the heartstrings of those below the stage while making the actors upon it feel their hearts race, thereby producing even more delicious energy.
“We haven’t even reached the true climax of the story yet, and we’ve already earned this much!
“Hehehe, I can’t even imagine how much we’ll gain when Host presents the ending of the Retrospective Chapter right in front of them!” The System laughed aloud as it spoke, seemingly unable to wait to see that scene.
Compared to Honkai Impact 2nd, the world of Honkai Impact 3rd was simply far too wonderful!
Everyone had to experience the shock brought by the happy ending of the Honkai Impact 2nd world!
Xiao Shi needed to plan how to use the Prayer Energy next as soon as possible.
She continued keeping her consciousness within the Stigmata Theater, working overtime to rehearse the upcoming performances.
Every performance had to be rehearsed beforehand precisely to prevent bugs and other issues from occurring.
There were already many differences between the plots of Honkai Impact 2nd and Honkai Impact 3rd, and Honkai Impact 2nd had retconned its lore even more severely than Honkai Impact 3rd.
There were many contradictory settings between the earlier and later parts.
Xiao Shi had to find ways to reconcile them or decide which version to use.
For example, even in the first act just performed, the plot within the Stigmata Theater differed considerably from the way events had developed in the real world.
The beginning of the second act would jump directly to three or four years later, to the scene where sixteen-year-old Kiana encountered the outbreak of the Third Honkai Impact at Chiba Academy.
Xiao Shi had decided to finish this portion of the story as quickly as possible because it didn’t differ greatly from the plot of the Honkai Impact 3rd world.
However, she could still find ways to optimize the specific content of the performance.
A theatrical performance was like a movie—it needed setup at the beginning before it could deliver a climax at the end!
After seeing the key plot points Xiao Shi had arranged, the System couldn’t help drawing a sharp breath.
“As expected of Host.
You easily accomplished something I could never do.
“Even stories they have already experienced can be performed in a fresh and exciting way, linking the past and future together with every part tightly connected.
Host, hurry up and finish preparing it so you can serve it to them!” There seemed to be an endless amount of work to do regarding the Stigmata Theater.
Apart from staging the plays, another extremely important matter was inviting more audience members into the Stigmata Theater.
It wasn’t that Xiao Shi didn’t want to invite everyone on Earth into the Stigmata Theater all at once.
The System’s capabilities were simply limited.
Transforming people’s Emotional Energy into Prayer Energy was the System’s core ability.
However, accomplishing this transformation required something known as a Port.
The number of Ports was limited.
By attaching itself to Xiao Shi, the System could slowly repair itself.
As it repaired itself, the number of Ports would also increase.
To avoid wasting Emotional Energy, Xiao Shi couldn’t issue invitations recklessly.
She could only pull people who had received Ports into the Stigmata Theater.
Furthermore, according to the System, those in the world of Honkai Impact 3rd who possessed great fortune—or, in other words, the protagonists of this world—could produce far more absorbable Emotional Energy than supporting characters, who in turn produced far more than ordinary audience members.
Every Port was difficult to obtain, and once bound, it couldn’t be replaced.
Therefore, every audience member had to be invited with the utmost caution.
★ ★ ★ Shilling time!