The King of Cosplay in the World of Honkai Impact 3rd

"These are things that Schicksal cannot fully achieve in cultivating Valkyries."

Besides mass production, it also has strong economic benefits.

This is something Valkyries cannot fully achieve.

"More importantly," Otto said, "mechs can be used without scruples in conventional human warfare, but Valkyries cannot!"

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Siegfried asked impatiently.

"What do you want me to do by telling you this?"

Siegfried knew some of the reasons why Anti-Entropy had risen so quickly. It was just that he didn't have the time or the inclination to pay attention to this issue.

"I need Valkyries," Otto finally got to the point. "I need more Valkyries!"

"Schicksal's strategy is quality over quantity."

"And due to Anti-Entropy's challenges, our resources and finances are also tight," Otto said with a sigh. "As you can see, we can't screen and train Valkyries on a large scale like we used to."

"So every Valkyrie is exceptionally precious."

"Do you understand what I mean?"

"Let's get to the point," Siegfried said. "If you keep rambling, I won't have the patience to chat about all this nonsense with you."

"The point is, do you know about souls?" Otto said like a charlatan. "I know this isn't easy to explain."

"But where the soul resides, even if the body dies, the soul remains."

Siegfried really wanted to look at Otto as if he were an idiot. He truly didn't believe this was real. But Otto had lived for a very, very long time! If he were to follow a normal person's lifespan, the current Otto should have been frail and unable to walk.

He should have been lying in a box with his eyes closed, leaving his affairs to posterity.

But he wasn't!

Otto was still alive, and he was living like a young man, full of energy and vitality.

If it couldn't be explained from a normal perspective, then it must be explained from other perspectives. For example, from perspectives that seemed very theological.

"Don't look at me like that," Otto said. "I've done a lot of research on souls."

"It's less that the current Li Pu is Cecilia alive, and more that she is her reincarnation."

"Cecilia is dead, and her soul has reincarnated as that Li Pu."

"I used some special machines to awaken her past life."

"If you want Cecilia to be resurrected."

"Then stay by her side and constantly awaken Cecilia's memories, emotions, and skills."

"The current Cecilia only has a portion of her past life's memories and emotions, and not many skills."

"But as long as someone stays by her side, telling her stories, or stimulating her through other means."

"She can reach a state of complete awakening, and Cecilia can return."

"Oh?" Siegfried still sounded a bit confused. "Since you have such machines, why didn't you go further? To completely awaken Cecilia's memories?"

"Because Cecilia is just one of Li Pu's past lives," Otto said again. "Not all of them."

"Do you know who the earliest possible past life we can trace back to is?"

"Who is Li Pu's past life, and also Cecilia's past life?"

"Who?" This time, Siegfried felt a bit interested and asked, "What kind of person."

"King Arthur!" Otto said. "Although King Arthur was also an outstanding Valkyrie, the era she lived in is too far from ours."

"The machines have randomness. Between King Arthur and Cecilia, there might have been some reincarnations cached in between."

"What if one of the intermediate reincarnations was a dog?"

"Would you be willing to see Cecilia turn into a dog?"

Chapter 44: Is It Really That Funny?

One of Otto's clever tactics.

Is that his words can neither be fully believed nor completely disbelieved.

If you don't believe him, you'll definitely miss some very important things. But if you believe him completely, you'll definitely fall into the pit he's dug for you.

.['　　So, besides how much of Otto's words can be believed, it also depends on how you act.

Siegfried pinched his chin. He didn't want to spend too much time with Otto. Besides the revenge for his wife, there was also the revenge for his daughter. However, Kiana was currently at St. Freya, and Cecilia was also there.

At the same time, St. Freya was considered Otto's territory.

It was never a wise choice to have a conflict with someone on their own turf.

Over the years, he had experienced so many things.

Siegfried had also become somewhat patient and tolerant, and wouldn't fall out with Otto right now.

Now that such a situation had arisen, Siegfried was naturally even more curious and felt a sense of eagerness. He was naturally willing and very happy to see Cecilia truly return.

But with Otto's words, Siegfried always felt that Otto was hiding something.

And this hidden thing might also be very important.

So what exactly is this?

Siegfried walked along somewhat absentmindedly. He hadn't gone far before he saw Cecilia sitting imposingly on a bench not far away, legs spread wide, hands resting on the edges of the backrest.

This...

This isn't right, is it?

Siegfried frowned slightly. This was definitely not something Cecilia would do.

Cecilia was a very well-bred woman. How could she sit like a big man? If it were Cecilia, she would be sitting there gracefully.

Besides, she would never occupy the entire bench by herself.

'She's not Cecilia! She's just a girl who looks exactly like her, or rather, identical to Cecilia.'

'And this girl is extremely ill-bred!'

Siegfried quickly came to another conclusion.

At least Otto hadn't lied about this matter; this girl wasn't Cecilia. But she had the same face as Cecilia, almost the same strength and aura.

So, at least one other thing could be confirmed: this girl might be Cecilia's reincarnation.

Otto hadn't lied about this either.

So what was it that Otto had hidden?

Siegfried had a feeling that the answer was about to reveal itself – Otto's casually mentioned "return." What did this return mean? If Cecilia returned, where would this girl herself end up? What would be the relationship between her past and present lives?

Siegfried suddenly felt as if Otto had pushed a morally complex and rather tricky problem onto him.

And Otto could just sit back and reap the rewards.

If Cecilia returned, he would gain an S-rank Valkyrie. If Cecilia didn't return, cultivating this girl would also result in an S-rank Valkyrie.

So, no matter how he looked at it, he was the one taking the fall.

'This Otto, as cunning as ever.'

Siegfried sneered inwardly. He, Siegfried, was no reckless fool who would jump into a pit dug by Otto!

He planned to go...

'Huh? What's that?!' Siegfried suddenly saw faint starlight emanating from Cecilia. Soon, Cecilia's entire body was covered in a strange luminescence.

After just a few seconds...

'Damn...' Siegfried changed his mind almost instantly.

'I think Otto was right.'

'We have to let Cecilia come back!'

Li Pu had transformed back!

Yes, that's right, Li Pu had transformed back!

Actually, it wasn't as complicated as Li Pu had thought, requiring a specific trigger or method to transform back. His process of changing from the character Cecilia back to himself was quite simple.

It was to lower his Synchronization Rate with Cecilia.

Synchronization Rate was the key factor for Li Pu to transform into the character Cecilia.

Although the System kept emphasizing "understanding," this "understanding" didn't mean he could transform into the character. It meant how much combat power he could unleash after transforming into that character.

The more "understanding" there was, the more "theoretical" combat power could be unleashed.

It was theoretical combat power.

After this simulated battle, Li Pu directly discovered that even if you understood a lot, if your true heart had a significant gap with the character's settings, you still couldn't unleash combat power. It could even have negative effects.

Cecilia was the strongest S-rank Valkyrie: powerful, brave, strong, majestic, and benevolent.

But he, Li Pu, was questionable on the bravery front to begin with.

Due to the obvious timidity and retreat shown during the simulated battle, he was completely unable to unleash Cecilia's combat abilities. It even had the opposite effect, leading to him being instantly defeated.

Although it was quite embarrassing, Li Pu also discovered a problem.

If he wanted to transform back, he just needed to do the opposite of Cecilia, right?

Or rather, just lower this Synchronization Rate?

Sitting here, Li Pu had no intention of thinking like Cecilia, nor did he intend to imitate Cecilia's behavioral patterns. He even deliberately suppressed Cecilia's emotional fluctuations and did things that seemed very unladylike.

As expected, after this effort, he quickly felt strange changes in his body.

It felt exactly the same as when he had first equipped it.

After just a few seconds.

Li Pu quickly reached down...

"Welcome back, my brother!" Li Pu finally felt relieved and let out a sigh of relief. It seemed okay; there were no side effects that he feared the most.

Things like not being able to transform back were weak. What if only his little brother had returned...

That would be so awkward!

Li Pu stood up, patted his pants, and looked around. He had felt like someone was watching him from somewhere just now.

But why couldn't he see anyone now?

Was he overthinking it? After being caught once, he was always afraid of being caught again.

"Forget it~" Li Pu said, clasping his hands behind his head. "I'll just go home. I'll take a day off today and rest."

He still needed to figure out how to equip King Arthur.

Once he figured it out, he could switch between two characters. Plus, he could try out the Transformation Dance the System mentioned for equipping.

He wanted to see if that thing actually worked.

"Mom turned into that pretty boy again," Kiana suddenly said from behind a trash can. "Seriously, what is Mom trying to do by turning into that?"

"Huh? Kiana?" Siegfried was startled. He looked back and realized Kiana was standing behind him without him knowing when.

"What... what are you talking about? Have you seen her?"

"Of course," Kiana said, sounding a bit displeased. "The Principal said some things, and Mei said Mom used some special equipment to disguise herself as that pretty boy. It seems she has some special thoughts and doesn't want to show herself."

"The Principal said that Mom was very sad about a past mission, so she decided to fake her death and live in seclusion."

"The Principal didn't go into detail, but living in seclusion..."

"She's not even living in seclusion anymore, and she's still disguised like that."

"Seriously, no, I have to go see her."

"Where are you going?" Siegfried asked, grabbing Kiana. "It's not good for you to go over there like this. Cecilia must have her own reasons."