PS: Apologies.
I had planned to publish this chapter yesterday, but I was quite tired and sleepy, so I ended up forgetting.
Enjoy!
— The light above Silver Wolf’s head flashed.
Her LV.
16 tag blinked once—then shot up to LV.
20 in an instant.
Himeko watched it happen right in front of her and frowned in surprise.
Who exactly was this little girl?
Her attacks could drag people into a literal video game, and her power scaling worked exactly like a game character leveling up?
“…” Himeko rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on.
The situation was too bizarre to process all at once.
For now, she decided it would be best to contact Theresa first and confirm Kiana’s identity.
“?” Meanwhile, the girls looked at one another, thoroughly confused.
None of them expected the [Escape from Nagazora] dungeon to finish so suddenly.
Zane had set up two ways to clear the dungeon.
One was reaching St.
Freya Academy.
The other was boarding the Hyperion.
Meeting either condition would finish the dungeon right away.
“Wait, there were actually hidden objectives?” Elysia and the others were left speechless.
The hidden objectives gave out a crazy amount of points.
[Save Raiden Mei], [Defeat the Herrscher of Thunder], [Capture Anti-Entropy Executor Cocolia]…
“…” Kiana stomped her foot in frustration, her cheeks puffed up like an angry blowfish.
She was the one who led everyone to Mei—yet that infuriating Zane had shamelessly stolen all the points for saving her.
Raiden Mei saw Kiana looking as if she had lost everything and blinked her purple eyes in confusion.
What is wrong with her?
“…” Sniff.
Furina felt her nose sting.
She was so touched she nearly cried.
She finally realized why Zane wanted Silver Wolf to bring her along to catch Cocolia.
He did it so she could get the hidden objective reward too.
Now she had more than 8,000 points.
She was now one step closer to getting the 50,000-point Water Flow Staff.
“What kind of egg is this?” Elysia took a pure-white egg out of her group chat storage and held it carefully in her arms.
The others gathered around her curiously.
The egg was pretty big, about the size of two basketballs.
Its white shell was decorated with strange colored patches, and when they looked closely, the markings seemed to move, glowing softly with a steady pulse.
“Whoa, it’s freezing.” Silver Wolf reached out to touch the shell, but quickly pulled her hand back from the cold surface.
“That’s a SEER Spirit Egg,” Zane explained with a smile.
“Once it hatches, you’ll be able to inherit part of the corresponding Spirit’s abilities.
I don’t know exactly which Spirit is inside, but your luck is definitely good.” He had prepared several Spirit Eggs ahead of time.
They could show up randomly after finishing dungeons, from daily check-ins, or sometimes even in the Mall.
As for which Spirit was actually inside this egg, Zane had not checked.
Leaving a little mystery made things more fun.
—•——•——•——•——•——•— “Ahh.
My luck has always been super good!” Elysia’s eyes turned into happy crescents as she gently pressed her cheek against the shell.
“Little one, hurry up and come out.” Maybe knowing she wasn’t meant to cause a Great Honkai Eruption or fight against humanity finally lifted a huge weight from her heart.
She looked much happier than before.
“So, my dear Zane, how exactly do I hatch this?” Elysia asked, brimming with curiosity.
“Just keep it with you and talk to it a lot,” Zane said.
“How long it takes to hatch depends.
It could be a day, or even a whole month.
Usually, the stronger the Spirit inside, the longer it takes.” “Then I’m not in a rush!” Elysia hugged the egg even tighter.
“Little cutie, take all the time you need to grow strong.” Zane couldn’t help but laugh.
‘What a greedy little cat.’ The other girls watched with obvious envy.
If hatching the egg gave her some of the Spirit’s power, then the stronger the Spirit, the stronger Elysia would get.
Just then, a familiar, rushed, and slightly childish voice came through the comms.
“Kiana??
Where is she?
Where is she??” Everyone turned to look at the communication screen.
Theresa’s entire face was pressed right up against it, her round eyes wide open.
Zane quietly nudged Kiana to step forward.
“Uh…” The paramecium opened her mouth, but no words came out.
In the end, she just raised her hand and gave an awkward wave.
Even though it felt strange that her aunt looked like a child, seeing Theresa’s familiar face made Kiana feel oddly comforted.
They really did look alike.
Just in different sizes.
“!!” Theresa’s eyes widened even further as she stared intently at Kiana.
After a few seconds, the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile, but tears quickly filled her eyes.
One tear slid down her cheek and landed on the desk.
Theresa leaned back in her chair and let out a long, heavy sigh, looking like a huge weight had finally been lifted from her heart.
“IT REALLY IS KIANA.
SHE LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME AS WHEN SHE WAS LITTLE.” Her voice broke.
“Wu…
Leaving without a word for years!
This is all that stupid Siegfried’s fault!
Once I find him, I’m absolutely going to smash his head in!” Theresa choked back a sob and clenched her small fists in anger.
Somewhere far away, Siegfried suddenly sneezed.
“Achoo!” “Don’t worry about it, Auntie!” Kiana clenched her fists too, full of anger.
“When I find that deadbeat dad, I’ll smash his head in myself!” “…” Himeko stood to the side and nodded quietly.
Seeing how perfectly they agreed about beating up Siegfried, Himeko had no doubts left.
These two were definitely blood relatives.
Aunt and niece.
No question.
“Um, are you really my aunt?” Kiana scratched her head, unable to hold back the question.
Even though the camera only showed Theresa from the chest up, Kiana couldn’t help but think her aunt looked a little too small.
“Of course I am!” Theresa puffed out her flat chest and pulled out a treasured photo album.
“I used to hold you all the time when you were a baby.
Look, I even have proof!” In the photo—Theresa—with her classic twin buns, held a two-year-old Kiana.
Little Kiana wore a fluffy white dress and giggled as she kicked her chubby feet.
Her tiny hands grabbed Theresa’s twin buns, and she laughed so hard her eyes squeezed shut.
“Alright, alright, that’s enough!
I believe you!” Kiana’s face turned bright red.
She waved her arms wildly, trying her best to block the communication screen.
Seeing a photo of herself like that was just too embarrassing.
Unfortunately, the screen was massive.
There was no way she could cover it.
The other girls covered their mouths and giggled at her.
—•——•——•——•——•——•— Meanwhile, on the Astral Express.
Even though she didn’t really get what Zane was up to, Star Rail Himeko saved the photo from the group chat straight to her phone.
“Welt, I just received a photo.
Do you want to see it?” “Hm?” Welt was browsing the latest cosmic news.
He paused for a moment, then opened the Astral Express Family group chat.
As soon as he saw the photo, his eyes went wide.
Pfft!
He spat his black tea all the way across the room.
“Passenger Welt!” Pom-Pom was sweeping the floor with a mop when an anger mark suddenly popped up.
Welt didn’t care about the angry conductor right now.
“Himeko, where did you get this photo??” “A friend sent it to me.
Why?” “No, it’s nothing…” Welt felt a loud buzzing in his head.
All his strength left him as he slumped back onto the sofa.
He stared at the photo in a daze, quietly repeating two names to himself.
“Kiana…
Himeko…” His student, Murata Himeko, should have been dead.
And Kiana should be on the moon right now.
Sure, this could have been an old photo.
Kiana had spent a lot of time on the Hyperion, so it wasn’t strange for her to have a picture with Himeko.
But something was off about this photo.
The Senba Academy uniform.
Kiana only wore that uniform during the Nagazora Eruption and when she was rescued and brought to St.
Freya Academy.
After that, she never wore it again because it got completely shredded in the battle.
So when was this photo taken?
Could it have been when they first arrived at the Academy after the Nagazora Eruption?
No.
Welt clearly remembered that during the eruption, Kiana took a direct hit to the back from a Judgment-class Honkai Beast while protecting Raiden Mei.
She was badly hurt and knocked out cold.
She did not wake up until several days after arriving at St.
Freya Academy.
There was no way she could have looked this energetic.
And just like that, Welt’s mind went blank.
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