Chapter 189: A Trip to the Elysian Realm
"The old fossil inside the Realm?" Little Senti thought of Fu Hua on this side of things, and a mischievous glint crossed her face as she looked at Elysia. "Think I can fool him for a bit?"
"Hmm, hard to say~" Elysia caught on immediately and jumped straight into the scheming party chat. "Herrscher energy isn't exactly easy to hide — but then again, Fu Hua herself has Fenghuang Down, so that could mask it a little."
"And I imagine Fu Hua never in her wildest dreams expected she'd one day become a Herrscher. It should be possible to keep it under wraps."
Irene squinted at the two of them — Elysia and Little Senti — falling in together at a frankly alarming speed. Conspiring like a pair of... ahem. They'd reached a consensus awfully fast.
Then Irene, very naturally, sidled over herself. "Here's what you do — first, dial back the eye color. Then have a little chat with Master, borrow the body for a bit, and I guarantee no one will be any the wiser."
And just like that, Irene joined the conspiracy in progress, already brainstorming how to get Little Senti to give the old fossil of the Elysian Realm a proper fright.
Fu Hua, standing nearby listening to all three of them scheme, wore an expression of profound resignation. What was she supposed to do? The three of them had so naturally and seamlessly formed a united front.
"Anyway, it's all the same, all the same." Little Senti waved a hand, then looked back at Elysia. "Where's the old fossil right now? I'm going to go mess with him."
"Hold on, let me get you the coordinates." Elysia grinned, then sent Little Senti the rough coordinates and navigation method for the data space Fu Hua was currently occupying.
Fu Hua rarely came out on his own, unlike Elysia who liked dropping in on everyone all the time. He was probably just sitting in his own space right now.
"Heheh. I'm going to give him such a surprise." Little Senti rubbed her hands together, then glanced at Fu Hua standing nearby with that long-suffering look. Before she could even say a word, Fu Hua turned away.
A silent, physical refusal to cooperate. Little Senti could only shrug at that — if Fu Hua wasn't going to play along, she'd just have to go in solo.
"Heheh, here I come, you ancient old fossil."
Wearing her most devious grin, Little Senti stepped through the portal, leaving behind the conspiratorial duo of Elysia and Irene — and everyone else who still hadn't quite figured out what was going on.
"This is going to be entertaining," Rin said, jacking into the database and sculpting herself a compact little camera out of data, which she hoisted onto her shoulder. She also fashioned herself a snapback cap and put it on — though with her ears in the way, it sat somewhat awkwardly. She then pointed finger-guns at Irene and Elysia. "Welcome to Elysian Realm TV. Your field correspondent is heading in now."
"We're counting on you~" Elysia nodded and gave Rin a thumbs-up in return. "Big close-ups, dramatic zoom-ins, full rolling footage the whole time."
"Understood. Leave it to me." Rin gave a firm nod, then casually tore open a data rift and slipped through.
"Miss Irene." Klein, who had followed Irene in, was currently hauling a very reluctant-looking Nuwa and Fuxi behind her. She looked at Irene. "If there's nothing you need me for..."
"I'll take Nuwa and Fuxi to report to Dr. Mobius."
"We do need to check in with Dr. Mobius as well." Nuwa nodded, holding Little Xuan, though her expression made it clear she wasn't exactly thrilled about it.
"Klein..." Elysia looked at Klein in silence for a moment, then raised a hand in greeting. "Long time no see."
"Long time no see, Miss Elysia." Klein gave a polite greeting in return. "Is there anything you need?"
"No, no, nothing like that." Elysia shook her head. "I see — so that's why Dr. Mobius has been so on edge lately. It was because of Klein, wasn't it."
"Oh? Now I'm curious." Irene raised an eyebrow. The whole thing had been brief, and Mobius had bolted before Irene had a chance to see much more of a reaction.
Though the bolting itself was proof enough that Mobius had gotten cold feet — and Mobius getting cold feet was a genuinely rare sight.
"Well, she's been a little anxious, I suppose." Elysia tapped her chin thoughtfully. "And lately, even the ELF Klein — the puppet Klein, I mean — hasn't been visiting the lab much."
"ELF Klein?" Klein raised an eyebrow, as if she'd just heard something unexpected. "Dr. Mobius used Dr. Einstein's technology to build an Armed ELF modeled after me?"
"Hm?" Einstein and Tesla, who had come down with the group and were quietly observing their surroundings, both turned to look at Klein when they heard their name.
"Are you referring to us?"
"No, no, not you — their Einstein." Irene shook her head. "There was a Dr. Einstein in the Previous Era too — though no Dr. Tesla, I'm afraid."
"Ah." Tesla raised an eyebrow and jabbed a finger at Einstein. "And why is that? Why does Chicken Nest Head get one, but not me?"
"Probably because Dr. Tesla hadn't quite... ripened yet back then." Irene wore a wickedly amused smile as she gave Elysia a nudge with the Bodhi imprint.
Elysia very obligingly pulled up a portrait of the Previous Era's Einstein from her memory archive and projected it for everyone to see.
The image that appeared before them was nearly identical to Einstein — except for a single red tuft of hair sticking up from the top of the head. The assembled group let their eyes travel back and forth between the portrait and the real Einstein, whose head was, notably, no longer home to any such red tuft.
"Ah. I see." Einstein nodded, apparently having understood exactly what Irene had meant by saying Tesla hadn't ripened yet in that era.
"..." Tesla's expression went through several transformations. She had clearly also understood. Her gaze moved from Einstein's head to the portrait and back again.
"Well. That is genuinely surprising." Himeko pulled her attention away from the portrait and looked at Irene. "Maybe it's a coincidence in some sense — still rather interesting, though."
"The coincidences don't stop there, actually." Irene's gaze drifted between Mei and Himeko. "You could almost call it another kind of parallel self."
"We have counterparts too?" Himeko and Mei both noticed the direction of Irene's gaze.
Elysia nodded as well and pulled up images of Himeko and MEI from the memory archive, projecting them for the two women to look at.
At first glance — the resemblance was striking. Unmistakable. But looking longer, you began to notice the differences, too. And yet these were undeniably another version of them — as though they had walked a different road.
"The world is full of coincidences, isn't it?" Irene smiled at the two of them. "Welcome to the Elysian Realm — the training ground the Previous Era left behind for the present day."
"The heroes who never became heroes in their time await you here. I believe what lies ahead will have something to offer each and every one of you."
Everyone exchanged a glance, then looked to Irene. Kiana scratched her head. "So what do we do now — go through that door like Little Senti just did?"
"I think they've probably already noticed you've arrived." Irene nodded. "I should also tell you — this is a data space. An almost perfectly simulated data space."
"All of your abilities — including Herrscher Authorities — can be used freely here. It's hard to get proper practice in the outside world, right? In here, go all out."
"Every instructor here is passionate and deeply familiar with your abilities. They'll be able to give you precise, tailored guidance. Trust me."
Mei thought for a moment, then said: "Irene-nee, when you say 'deeply familiar with our abilities' — is that because they've been on the receiving end of them?"
"Well~" Irene winked at Mei. "You shouldn't put it quite like that. Just go — the future is waiting for you, and so are your instructors."
"You won't find a better training ground anywhere else. And I'm sure some of you will find unexpected gains waiting for you here."
"Shouldn't I be the one doing the introduction right now?" Elysia put her hands on her hips and looked at Irene in mock indignation. "I'm the fairy of the Elysian Realm, you know."
"Shouldn't guiding people be my job? How did Irene end up giving the whole welcome speech?"
"Oh, it doesn't matter how it gets done~ It all works out the same." Irene waved it off. "Go on, then. Go explore the past you want to know."
"I'm sure Dr. Tesla and Dr. Einstein want to know what the Previous Era truly went through — and they'll also want the schematics for the Moonlight Throne. Its creator is here in the Realm as well."
"Oh." Einstein and Tesla's eyes both lit up the moment they heard that. The Moonlight Throne was their single most powerful anti-Honkai weapon.
As Irene had said — if they wanted to prove to Kevin that they could cross the threshold of Finality on their own terms, they needed the firepower to back it up.
And in many cases, firepower is justice, and gun barrels are order. Enough firepower and most problems stop being problems. The Moonlight Throne was the biggest gun in Einstein and Tesla's arsenal.
Unfortunately, their existing data on it was already quite substantial — they had filled in a lot of gaps and had a working unit. But the single biggest remaining problem was that they had no suitable power source to sustain the Moonlight Throne in long-term operation. They had built the cannon, but couldn't keep it firing continuously. That made it far less useful than it needed to be.
To think they might be able to solve that problem here. This place was well worth exploring.
Elysia nodded as well, stepping gracefully aside and extending one hand — like a forest fairy pointing the way into a secret grove.
"Everything you seek is here. All of the past awaits within."
"Welcome, noble and pure souls. Welcome to the Elysian Realm."
— Elysian Realm · Between Fleeting Lives —
"Hah..." Watching the data fragments drift and scatter around him, Fu Hua let out a slow breath. He had been about to get back to training when he suddenly sensed someone enter.
Fu Hua looked up toward the direction of the arrival — and saw another version of himself hop in from outside through the data stream.
"Hmm?" Fu Hua turned to face the newcomer. "I didn't expect you to have time to come here. Is there information you need to sync?"
He hadn't been to the Elysian Realm in tens of thousands of years. In all that time, he figured there must have been more than a few occasions where he had used Fenghuang Down.
And he understood Fenghuang Down's side effects perfectly well — memories burned in exchange for power. But that didn't mean there weren't exploits to take advantage of.
For instance — she could sync up the memories she had previously stored. It wasn't the same as firsthand experience, but at least it would let Fu Hua understand what had happened to her before. In theory, memories obtained that way could even serve as ammunition — a minor little loophole, really.
"Sort of." Little Senti scratched her head. She had come intending to mess with the old fossil, but now that she was actually standing in front of him, she wasn't quite sure how to go about it.
Keep up the act a bit longer? But the moment the memory sync started, the whole thing would blow up, right? If she remembered correctly, that sync was two-way.
This whole thing was originally something Dr. MEI and Vill-V had cooked up together — designed mainly to ensure that in moments when he truly had to burn through all his memories with Fenghuang Down, he wouldn't be left with absolutely nothing, turned into a vegetable who didn't even know how to speak.
"Something the matter?" Fu Hua looked at Little Senti's hesitant expression. "If you didn't come to sync memories, is there some other problem?"
"Nothing like that~" Little Senti looked at him. "I just happened to have some free time, and Irene brought me back here for a visit."
As she spoke, Little Senti quietly let a thread of her Herrscher energy seep out. The old fossil ought to be able to detect it — she just didn't know how to put on the whole ancient, world-weary act he had going on, since the way he talked was just so impossibly stiff and formal.
But once the old fossil sensed the Herrscher signature coming off her, he'd definitely be surprised. That should count as a successful prank, more or less.
Meanwhile, Rin — lurking in a data crevice via her Corruption Authority, camera in hand — gave a resigned shake of her head. What had she been thinking, trusting Little Senti to pull off any kind of entertainment value?
"Irene, is it?" Fu Hua nodded. So that was why he had a visitor out of the blue — Irene had brought her along. "How far along are things outside right now?"
"Mm, roughly the Herrscher of Sentience stage, I'd say." Little Senti looked at him. "There were two reasons for coming this time — one is that Irene wants to put everyone through some trials here. The other is to ask Mobius whether she has any way to locate the Herrscher of the Legion directly within a crowd."
"The Herrscher of the Legion..." Fu Hua sighed, looking at Little Senti. "So the current era has reached that point already." He clearly had no fond memories of the Herrscher of the Legion.
"Exactly — that thing is like a cockroach that just won't die." Little Senti watched Fu Hua, who still didn't seem to have noticed. "Once it hides itself in a crowd, it's not like we can just blast the whole crowd to smoke out the Herrscher — so how would anyone know which one it actually is?"
"..." Fu Hua's brow furrowed as he looked at Little Senti. Had he really changed that much over all these years? And there was something else — a nagging feeling that something was slightly off.
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