These Were Far from Enough

An S-rank Valkyrie and a Quasi-Herrscher—the outcome of the battle was beyond doubt.

Perhaps to demonstrate Falling Sakura Slash for Han Jiang, Yae Sakura deliberately slowed down every move.

Han Jiang studied intently from the sidelines. After Theresa knocked a Honkai Beast to the ground with a single spear strike, she called out, "Han Jiang, try it on your own!"

Han Jiang had long been eager to give it a try. He drew the Key of Erosion and charged forward.

The Honkai Beast had already been injured by the two of them and had lost its initial ferocity, making it perfect for Han Jiang to practice on.

Han Jiang did not use his dual-blade style or any other skills, relying solely on the techniques of Falling Sakura Slash.

Just as when he had practiced alone with Yae Sakura a few days ago, Han Jiang attacked the Honkai Beast while Yae Sakura pointed out the flaws in his movements.

Han Jiang unleashed Frenzied Flower Bloom, and cherry blossoms formed from Honkai Energy began drifting through the air.

Each petal that struck the Honkai Beast made a soft "pfft" sound, causing minor interference.

"Flash-step! Leave your Honkai Energy mark on the Honkai Beast!" Yae Sakura reminded him at the right moment.

Han Jiang held his blade before him and moved swiftly, leaving his Honkai Energy on the Honkai Beast before darting away.

The next instant, the Honkai Beast's body exploded, and its massive frame reeled backward.

Han Jiang seized the opportunity, sliding forward as he slashed three times at the Honkai Beast. Each slash released a wave of blade energy.

"Wooo!"

Under Han Jiang's barrage of attacks, the Honkai Beast collapsed and did not rise again, its life coming to an end.

"Ding, Falling Sakura Slash LV UP!"

"Ding, killed the second-floor guardian of Tenshukaku. Reward: 30 Crystals!"

"Ding, detected a left arm containing Child of Dawn (rare energy). Collect to obtain 50 Crystals. Collect? Yes/No."

Han Jiang collected it without thinking, immediately receiving 80 Crystals.

"Not bad, kid." Theresa walked over to Han Jiang.

It looked like she wanted to pat him on the back, but her height prevented it, so she merely patted his arm instead.

"You entered St. Freya High School just over a month ago and rose from C-rank to B-rank. You can definitely be called a genius." Theresa spared no effort in praising him, as though it made her seem more like an elder.

Han Jiang scratched his head and smiled. "I just took shortcuts. How could I count as a genius?"

Yae Sakura shook her head. "Han Jiang learns very quickly. In just a few days, he has already mastered more than half of my Falling Sakura Slash. He only needs more practice from now on."

"I'm only C-rank right now." In St. Freya's records, Han Jiang was rated C+.

Theresa waved a hand. "There isn't much difference between B-rank and C-rank. Come on, let's head up another floor."

Watching Theresa brush it off so casually, Han Jiang felt a surge of frustration.

So you praised me just to put on an elder's airs?

The three of them were not ones to dawdle, and with Hiyori's help, they entered the next floor.

Starting from the third floor, Hiyori no longer followed Yae Sakura and instead stayed with Han Jiang.

The higher they climbed, the stronger the Honkai Beasts and Deadwalkers they encountered became.

Hiyori, this talking accessory, possessed at least some fighting ability.

The benevolent side of the Erosion Herrscher was still a Herrscher.

"Hahaha, now you know how amazing I am, right?" Hiyori laughed loudly from Han Jiang's shoulder after knocking down a Honkai Beast with a fireball.

Han Jiang turned to glance at her. Hiyori immediately stopped talking and covered her mouth, indicating that she would not say anything else.

"I'm getting serious now!"

"One move will decide the winner!"

"Be careful! This will get dangerous if it keeps up!"

Less than two minutes later, Hiyori started shouting again.

There was nothing Han Jiang could do about it. She even took the initiative to chat with him.

"Big brother, why are you bullying me?" Hiyori asked Han Jiang while firing little fireballs.

Hiyori was quite good at choosing when to talk. She only spoke when Han Jiang was not in much danger, or after he had killed a Deadwalker.

"Don't you know what you did?" Han Jiang asked in return.

Hiyori thought for a long time before cautiously saying, "That must have been that other one's doing. Let's go to the seventh floor together, and I'll help you get revenge."

Han Jiang chuckled. "Aren't she and you the same person?"

Hiyori immediately shook her head and hurriedly denied it. "No, no. We're not the same person."

In truth, whenever Han Jiang bullied Hiyori, he was only putting on an act. Who would deliberately bully such an adorable little thing?

After that, only a half-crippled Honkai Beast remained in the room, and Han Jiang began gathering the spoils.

With Hiyori present, Han Jiang could not directly put the materials into the system storage, so he could only choose materials that could be extracted.

When Han Jiang picked up another Scythe Queen weapon to extract Titanium Alloy, Hiyori suddenly said, "These should be enough, right?"

Han Jiang jolted and turned toward her. "What did you say?"

Seeing his intense reaction, Hiyori became cautious and said weakly, "Big brother, aren't you comparing the strength of Deadwalker weapons? You've recorded so many Deadwalker weapons already. That should be enough to calculate the exact values, right?"

Han Jiang relaxed. He could not casually reveal the system to others.

"Not enough, not enough. These are still far from enough." As Han Jiang tirelessly extracted Titanium Alloy, Hiyori cleverly changed the way she phrased it.

Forget it. I should just steal the guardian kills. It's not worth exposing the system over a bit of material. Hiyori's endless chatter had annoyed Han Jiang somewhat, so he decided to temporarily abandon the idea of collecting every last scrap.

Without the step of collecting materials, Han Jiang's speed at killing Deadwalkers increased noticeably.

In the end, the three met up in the third-floor hall again at the same time. This time, two Honkai Beasts dropped down from the ceiling.

They were two bear-shaped Honkai Beasts, identical to the gatekeepers on the first and second floors, each containing the power of 50 Crystals.

This time, Yae Sakura and Theresa each took on one. Han Jiang brought Hiyori over and told her to find the right moment to hit a Honkai Beast with a large fireball.

After explaining the plan, Han Jiang joined the melee.

Because Theresa and Yae Sakura intended to look after Han Jiang, both deliberately slowed their attacks.

This allowed Han Jiang to move freely between the two battles, leaving his own Honkai Energy on both Honkai Beasts.

Once the two Honkai Beasts had been injured to a certain extent, Han Jiang began fighting them one against two.

At first, Han Jiang was at a disadvantage. Gradually, as he found his rhythm, he was able to fight the two Honkai Beasts to a standstill.

After Han Jiang gave the signal, Hiyori fixed her eyes on one of the Honkai Beasts and hurled a massive fireball at it.

Han Jiang seized the chance to use Blade Return, finishing off one of them. He then smoothly dealt with the remaining one using Zero Void Three Flashes.

With 160 Crystals in hand, the three opened the passage to the next floor.

On the fourth floor, they encountered a Honkai Beast that was a fusion of the second- and third-floor gatekeepers. Theresa accidentally killed it in a single move.

The fifth floor held a projection of Hiyori, which Yae Sakura dealt with.

On the sixth floor, Han Jiang suffered some minor injuries. Two Thunder Blade Deadwalkers chased him down and slashed at him, leaving his arm wounded and bleeding heavily.

The gatekeeper on this floor was still a projection of Hiyori, considerably stronger than the one on the previous floor.

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