It felt like drifting within the womb.
Gentle water surrounded her on all sides.
Thick and clinging, yet it wasn't unpleasant at all. Instead, it was warm, like soaking in a hot spring.
A sense of utter contentment welled up from within.
That feeling of relaxation made her go limp, as if there was nothing left to worry about. Quietly falling asleep would be the most beautiful dream.
A sudden understanding dawned in Kiana's heart.
She curled her body slightly, hugging her knees, and slowly closed her eyes like a sleeping beauty.
Her divine halo dimmed.
Three snow-white wings, like sheer veils, gently folded inward, wrapping around her.
Time!
It seemed to solidify completely at this moment.
The starry sky of this Domain of Finality had never blinked to begin with.
The shimmering water, gleaming like a gathering of starry rivers, returned to tranquility, becoming like a clean, fantastical mirror, without a single ripple.
Everything seemed like a painting, frozen in this very place—serene and peaceful.
Who knows how much time had passed!
The luminous patterns on the Cocoon of Finality grew increasingly dim.
Its vitality visibly waned, energy depleted, as if approaching its end.
Then it solidified, its texture shifting from soft and pliable to gradually hardening, becoming more rigid and unyielding.
Until, at last, it resembled the shell of a true mythical egg.
No longer stirring even slightly.
It just stood there.
Crack...
A faint sound.
Yet it echoed like the morning bell and evening drum.
Reverberating in all directions throughout the Realm of Finality.
Originally, this place shouldn't have had concepts like direction or distance—such things were meaningless.
However, the Cocoon of Finality had, for Kiana's convenience, made some slight adjustments.
Thus, there was a water's surface, a sky.
There was up and down, left and right.
But that was hardly important!
If it were Kiana herself, she would have done the same.
Now, she had inherited everything from the Cocoon of Finality—including, of course, this so-called Realm of Finality.
It had become her exclusive domain.
Her private garden.
And she loved it.
CRACK—
The enormous eggshell was broken open by a small, jade-white hand.
Then, the shell automatically scattered, like honeycomb, like scales, as if dissolving in the wind, until finally, Kiana's divine form was revealed.
At first glance.
She seemed still herself.
Herself in Finality mode—her complete self.
Still with the triple divine halo, the three wings.
A magnificent gown.
An elegant figure…
But if one looked closer!
The patterns in her eyes, the emblem on her brow, including her arms, her body, her back, even her legs—indeed, her entire being—were traced with faint, shimmering light, all indicating she had transcended the mundane.
On her delicate collarbone, there was also a pattern-like mark.
Like a Stigmata, or perhaps simply an adornment.
One might notice her attire had become even more resplendent. Sacred, noble, coldly beautiful, yet exquisitely crafted.
Every single ornament seemed truly like a piece of the starry sky, a swirling galaxy—all of it alive.
As if every thread of her gown was woven from the most brilliant light of a galaxy, transformed into a hada and draped upon her.
She alone seemed to hold the world within her, bearing the universe on her shoulders, possessing the capacity of an entire cosmos. Just looking at her was enough to inspire awe.
But whether it was her clothing or her aura, these were merely surface appearances.
Her own personal leap was what was truly staggering.
As if every cell was a planet, every tissue a vast nebula.
Even if that was only a metaphor.
The only "unreal" part was that these planets, these galaxies—whether part of Kiana herself, her clothing, her embroideries, her emblems, or even her wings—all of it, entirely, held no living beings.
Each possessed the mass equivalent of a small world.
Compared to before, it was a difference of dimensions. Exaggerated to the extreme.
In fact.
Every star in the Realm of Finality, even the pool of water beneath her feet, carried a concept as distinct as a world.
If they wished to transform into worlds, they could—so long as Kiana, their master, permitted it.
This place was, after all, a miniature cosmos, a compressed slice of the Imaginary Tree and Sea of Quanta.
Like a terrarium carved out from the real world.
It had everything a normal multiverse should have.
Even if only in embryonic form, that in itself was exceedingly rare.
Kiana probably wouldn't allow other living beings inside her own body, nor would she let civilizations of all kinds cling to her garments.
Even in her own perception, she was just herself.
Not some sacred entity formed from the condensation of countless stars.
She was human.
So! She would live life as she pleased. Wasn't that enough?
Wasn't it?
After her evolution, Kiana's potential was limitless. She herself had reached the level of a single universe. That was enough to roam freely within the cosmos of the Imaginary Tree and Sea, enough to converse with them as an equal.
Naturally, she had also come to understand much, much more about the Cocoon of Finality's identity as a creator.
Unfortunately, she did not get to meet the creator of the Cocoon of Finality.
That existence, speculated about and often discussed by many in her past life, had vanished.
Or rather, gone missing.
Having grown bored within the cosmos of the Tree and Sea, he had ventured into the void beyond.
Some speculated that after Su ascended dimensions, the one playing chess with him might have been the creator of the Cocoon of Finality, but that wasn't the case.
Others guessed that perhaps it was Nous who engaged Su in chess, admiring his intellect.
Because before she crossed over, Honkai Impact 3rd and Honkai: Star Rail had already collaborated.
It wasn't impossible.
But that was all a matter for later.
"Hmm..." Kiana murmured softly.
Her gaze turned toward a certain point.
It seemed to traverse endless time, endless space, infinite distance! Finally, upon the Imaginary Tree, she saw vast expanses of space.
There, clearly, was the world of Honkai: Star Rail.
Compared to locating the world of Genshin Impact she had visited before, or the world of Honkai Impact 3rd—without coordinates, it was like finding a needle in a haystack.
Even though Kiana had never been to the world of Honkai: Star Rail, its presence was simply too strong.
At her level, a single glance was enough to spot it. Who was it, on the Imaginary Tree, fencing off their own little playground? Who was it, grouping together so many leaves into one collective?
That had to be the Star Rail Universe.
Astral Rails laid across branches and trunks.
The boundaries between each leaf were broken down, trailblazed into real starry skies, stacked within the greater cosmos.
Why did the greater cosmos sometimes experience localized space-time tremors?
Causing the already disordered and unequal space-time to become even more chaotic?
The answer was simple.
It was, after all, a unified cosmic structure built on concept.
It wasn't truly just a single leaf.
Between leaf and leaf, the Imaginary Space and the Sea of Quanta were omnipresent, entangled with each other.
Even though the real, material space wasn't easily accessible to that layer, it would still, at certain times, be affected.
Therefore!
The entire Honkai: Star Rail universe used the hammer falls of the Aeon of Preservation to mark the beginning of each new Amber Era, to record time—like a night watchman, striking the watch at fixed times to announce the hour.
The only difference was!
Our Amber Lord, when he strikes that bell, does it entirely on a whim.
Thus, according to the setting, an Amber Era could be as short as sixty or seventy years, or as long as two hundred forty or fifty years.
Then, by comparing the Amber Era with the Standard Year of their own world's system, they performed conversions.
In reality, there would still be some margin of error between different civilizations.
But!
This was already quite good.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
20+ advanced chaps on my patreon.
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.