“That’s it? That’s barely anything.”
Withdrawing the threads from her hand, Sienna watched the few Honkai Beasts in front of her begin disintegrating on their own, now that she’d drained the Honkai Energy from their bodies.
She’d hurried over full of excitement, flashed her Herrscher status for a second, and got them eating out of her hand just like that.
Once they were all gathered in front of her, Sienna released her threads.
They wrapped around the beasts closest to her, siphoning Honkai Energy to replenish both herself and Cecilia.
“You. Come here.”
After managing to choke down what amounted to a tiny appetizer’s worth of Honkai Energy, Sienna singled out a Zombie mixed in with the beasts.
“Meow~”
The low-level Honkai Beasts only provided a pittance of energy.
As for the Zombies, even weaker than the beasts, Sienna had completely ignored them during her little ‘snack’ just now.
Called out by name, the Zombie in the cat-eared cap trembled as it shuffled toward her.
Watching one of its own get taken out by a higher-up, even this low-grade claw Zombie, devoid of its own consciousness, still felt fear.
It was just the most basic survival instinct kicking in.
Of course that only applied when the threat was from the same side.
Face off against humans, and even the strongest ones would charge in without a second thought, consequences be damned.
“So you can feel fear? Even better.”
Patting it on the shoulder, Sienna wore the expression of a company boss sizing up a fresh graduate.
“Don’t know what you were like before you became a Zombie. But from now on, you’re with me.”
With her abilities, she didn’t have to worry about running into any Honkai creatures not already under another Herrscher’s control.
But the Sienna Kaslana identity?
The advantages and perks it brought were just too damn many.
Suggesting she head to an area with stronger Honkai reactions?
Say that to anyone and they’d think she’d lost her marbles.
“Whether you become the fourth Herrscher of Dominance is up to your own fate.”
She desperately needed a subordinate with freedom of movement, someone who could diligently gather Honkai Energy for her.
After cleaning up the remaining Honkai Beasts, Sienna led the Zombie to the bank of a river.
Placing a Dominance Core into the claw Zombie’s hand, Sienna promptly kicked her into the water.
Sienna had no idea if the birth of a new Herrscher of Dominance would get picked up by Schicksal’s sensors.
So she chose a spot underwater, where detection would be blocked, to test the fusion between the Core and the Zombie.
The current here was relatively calm.
If the experiment failed, Sienna could just jump in and fish the Core back out.
The only problem was, the river wasn’t even fully thawed yet.
Even with her Kaslana constitution, diving in to retrieve stuff would leave her frozen stiff.
Didn’t take long.
Bubbles started surfacing.
Bam!
A black figure burst from the water, landing directly on a tree by the bank.
“Meow~~”
As if showing off her newfound power, the cat who’d leaped from bottom-tier Zombie to Herrscher let out a loud yowl.
“Nice. Now that’s what I call spirit.”
Seeing she’d successfully developed a new partner—er, tool—Sienna finally felt like she could really start cutting loose.
“Meow?”
Having gained a Herrscher Core, and with it, the dawn of her own consciousness, she looked around at everything.
She could feel that her Honkai Energy reserves hadn’t increased all that much.
But her status within the Honkai faction now?
Basically the same as the big shot standing under the tree.
“Come here, let me see how you’ve developed.”
Since Sienna was the strongest among all the Herrschers of Dominance right now, this cat, the newest member, still had to listen to her.
“Meow.”
Hearing Sienna’s call, the cat on the tree immediately hopped down in front of her.
“Show me your abilities.”
Compared to before, when she was just a lowly claw Zombie, the empowered her looked much more like a real cat-eared girl.
Her clothes seemed more refined, and the cat-ear accessories on her head looked a bit more mechanical.
At Sienna’s command, she raised her two clawed hands.
Ice and fire elements materialized on them.
At the same time, her body began to turn transparent.
Seconds later, she’d vanished completely from Sienna’s sight.
“So she’s got all the abilities of an enhanced claw Zombie, essentially.”
The ice and fire on her claws came from a Ruin Guard; the invisibility was from a serval.
“Can you talk?”
“Meow~”
After she de-cloaked, Sienna tried to communicate.
“Being able to understand what I’m saying is good enough.”
First time recruiting a subordinate, she wouldn’t ask for much.
“Now, go clear out the rest of the Honkai Beasts in this area. Bring back all their energy.”
She’d already pretty much swept through her assigned cleanup zone earlier.
Couldn’t be bothered to hunt down the stragglers herself.
Perfect for the newbie to practice on.
“Meow~”
Acknowledging the order, she nodded and dashed off swiftly toward a certain spot.
“Don’t be too flashy.”
Watching her retreating figure, Sienna called out a reminder.
“Cecilia… what do you think I should name her?”
Pacing around in a circle a few times, Sienna couldn’t come up with a name for her new subordinate.
She thought about using names from other games she’d played before.
But if she went with Cheshire?
Hair color was wrong.
One was purplish, the other was white.
Calling her Kal’tsit?
Age-wise, that’d just feel way off.
Other characters with cat traits just didn’t seem to fit, either.
Finally, at her wit’s end, Sienna had to ask for help.
“How about Vanilla?”
Seeing how the girl’s behavior was so cat-like, Cecilia went with her own preference, using a pet-naming approach.
“That’s perfect. We’ll go with that. I’ll buy a carton of vanilla ice cream when we get back.”
The snowy environment, combined with the name.
Immediately made Sienna think of food.
“Meow.”
Having become a Herrscher of Dominance, siphoning Honkai Energy from others felt as natural as walking or raising a hand.
No thinking required; her body just did it automatically.
Compared to Sienna, who had to create threads to absorb energy from other beasts, Vanilla’s method was much more… direct.
Relying on increased speed and agility, she hunted down targets in the woods.
Then, she’d simply sink her sharp metal claws into them.
Draining their Honkai Energy dry in an instant.