Chapter Seventeen: Approval to Study the Third Herrscher Core / Chapter Eighteen: Chen Ran's Payback to MEI

The host has exited the simulation scenario. Congratulations, host, you have received a reward.

Because the host voluntarily exited this time, the Valkyrie gunfighting knowledge that should have been obtained has been downgraded to Valkyrie hand-to-hand combat knowledge.

Based on the system's calculation of your consciousness-bearing capacity, the optimal time for the next simulation is in 12 hours.

The system's cold voice echoed in his mind. Chen Ran instinctively surveyed his surroundings.

He was also synchronizing No. 666's memories.

During the few days Chen Ran had spent in the simulation, No. 666 had not been idle.

Having been granted knowledge of biology by the system, No. 666 quickly completed Blanca's task with outstanding results.

After that, Blanca assigned several more small tasks in succession, all of which No. 666 resolved. Its accumulated knowledge in biology was not much inferior to Mobius's.

What it lacked was research into Honkai.

And to Chen Ran's surprise, No. 666 had not actively tried to cling to Mei the way it had clung to Kevin. On the contrary, aside from necessary work-related contact, it had not spoken a word to Mei.

Did it have risk-awareness management too?

This AI was brilliant.

But he did not dwell on it.

The First Research Institute where he was stationed should meet the conditions to launch the Divine Right Plan.

The current Flame-Chaser already possessed three Herrscher Cores. Vill-V was probably still busy breaking out of prison and had not yet been commissioned to design Divine Keys.

In other words, if he proposed the Divine Right Plan now and worked to persuade Mobius, there was actually a chance of launching it.

And with Mobius's abilities, the Divine Right Plan might not necessarily fail.

Only...

Chen Ran suddenly realized something: with Mobius's desperate desire for the evolution of life, it was impossible that she had never considered fusing humans with Herrscher Cores.

Otherwise, there would never have been the so-called Fusion Warrior Plan.

After all, whether fusing humans with Herrscher Cores or with Honkai Beast genes, the methods and principles were fundamentally similar.

That meant Mobius had most likely considered using this method to gain control over a Herrscher's authority. But through biological calculations, or perhaps even human experiments already conducted, she had determined that it was impossible.

That was why the Flame-Chaser had settled for the next best option, using weapons as a medium to turn the cores into Divine Keys.

Did that mean the previous civilization's conclusion was that the Divine Right Plan was destined to fail?

Raiden Mei had succeeded because her body possessed a natural stigmata, and stigmata technology had been created by the Previous Era.

He decided to seek some advice.

At the very least, he needed definite data.

Having made up his mind, Chen Ran went to find Blanca.

"Doctor, Chen Ran says he has a question he would like to discuss with you."

Blanca did not stop Chen Ran from seeking out Mobius with a question.

She viewed the people in the institute as juniors. The Flame-Chaser might not truly need kindness, but Blanca was undoubtedly a kind person.

Mobius's brows furrowed slightly.

"If he has a question, he can send an email. Blanca, I believe I've said that before."

Blanca tactfully explained, "Doctor, you check your emails a little too infrequently. Even orders issued by upper management are copied to me first."

Mobius did not like reading emails.

Or rather, she disliked anything that seemed troublesome to her.

Still, since Blanca had brought someone over, she would reluctantly receive him.

She sat sideways in her office chair, her arms folded over her chest, her figure proud and alluring.

"Go on. What is it?"

Clearly, she did not take Chen Ran's discussion very seriously. With her accumulated knowledge of biology, dealing with one person would be effortless.

Chen Ran sat upright and said, "Doctor, I would like to ask whether the First Research Institute has conducted experiments involving the fusion of human bodies with Herrscher Cores. If so, did they all fail?"

Mobius's gaze sharpened slightly.

Blanca's expression changed. "Where did you hear that?"

"I didn't hear it anywhere. It was a guess."

Chen Ran paused before continuing, "During my time at the First Research Institute, I've heard some things about you, Doctor. You are deeply interested in evolved lifeforms, and humanoid Herrschers are undoubtedly the highest-order lifeforms discovered so far."

"With your personality, Doctor, it would be impossible for you not to have conducted related experiments. The most basic approach would be extracting Herrscher genes and integrating them into human clone embryos so they could develop together. The fastest approach would be fusing a Herrscher Core with a human."

Chen Ran had seemingly revealed Kiana's creation process by accident.

But it did not matter. Kiana could not possibly exist in this era.

His words made Blanca let out a subconscious sigh of relief, but Mobius's brow furrowed even more deeply.

She finally began seriously assessing the young man before her.

Black hair, Asian, from Shenzhou, a refugee, several years younger than Blanca, yet somewhat handsome... those were all judgments she made with her own eyes.

From an ordinary person's perspective, age was the standard by which one judged another's accumulation of knowledge.

But that rule applied to mortals, not to the realm of geniuses.

She began to take him seriously. "What are you trying to say?"

"I want the relevant data."

He said, "I want to attempt an experiment based on the plan."

Mobius narrowed her eyes slightly.

She did not ask Chen Ran about his motives, just as she herself disliked being asked about hers.

"That experiment was a disgrace to me, so I destroyed all the data. But if you want to conduct experiments, I will specially permit you to research the Third Herrscher Core."

Chen Ran's guess had not been wrong. Mobius had indeed conducted experiments involving the integration of Herrscher Cores.

The experimental design was not difficult; it could even be called extremely simple. Its potential payoff was also immense. As long as it succeeded, they would gain a Herrscher controlled by humans.

But the experiment had failed again and again.

Although Mobius did not provide any supporting data, Blanca explained to Chen Ran why those experiments had failed from beginning to end.

"For that plan, the Doctor first used prisoners with no Honkai Energy compatibility. They undoubtedly died. Afterward, she selected soldiers who volunteered to become test subjects and possessed high Honkai Energy compatibility, but those soldiers developed physical rejection reactions toward the Herrscher Cores."

"Moreover, the Honkai Energy concentration within Herrscher Cores was too high. The experiments still failed."

"After that, the Doctor continued selecting test subjects. Yet even after using an exhaustive approach, not a single experiment succeeded. Even the calculated data was meaningless." Blanca said, "Even those who barely fused with Herrscher Cores failed to display the expected authority and still died two minutes later."

"Although upper management did not criticize experiments like this, many people had already begun voicing objections. That was also why so many people left the First Research Institute."

Clearly, Blanca wanted to persuade Chen Ran not to continue.

But how could Chen Ran possibly stop?

Chen Ran's Repayment to Mei

The Divine Right Plan could ultimately succeed.

That was not confidence born of self-consolation. It was reality.

But considering the differences between the Previous Era and the Current Era, he quickly guessed the key to success: emotion.

Just as the core of the Sirin Plan had been using emotional bonds to overcome the Herrscher consciousness's manipulation, the core of the Divine Right Plan likewise relied on emotional amplification to defeat the Herrscher consciousness.

In the story, Wendy had actually succeeded.

If Cocolia had not caused Bronya's betrayal, Wendy would have become the next Raiden Mei.

In other words, the Divine Right Plan centered on Wendy had still succeeded after two years in the end. But what Chen Ran wanted to do was accelerate that process.

He did not want to use all of New Zealand as the price, even if it was only a simulation scenario.

To create a Herrscher, aside from a Herrscher Core, a high-concentration source of Honkai was indispensable. In particular, obtaining Honkai Energy without sacrificing an entire city was a technical problem.

That was also a problem Chen Ran had to solve.

As for the compatibility between a Herrscher Core and its host, that was not something he needed to worry about.

The Herrschers of this era had not been granted authority by Elysia. What he needed to do was determine the difference between their Herrscher Cores and the Herrscher Cores in the simulation scenario.

Only by comparing those differences could he formulate a complete experiment.

After being granted permission to observe the Third Herrscher Core, Chen Ran claimed protective suits that isolated Honkai Energy, following Blanca's reminder.

However, he claimed two sets.

"Senior Blanca, I want to choose an assistant. Is that allowed?"

Chen Ran was not a genius.

His college entrance exam scores, which had nearly kept him out of a top university, proved that.

A so-called genius was someone who could effortlessly touch realms incomprehensible to ordinary people.

So God truly was unfair when creating people. Some people might really be God's illegitimate children.

But the knowledge granted by the system allowed Chen Ran to play the big shot for a while.

He would not complete this experiment alone. That was not the most efficient method. The Finality would arrive in several years, and wasting time on this was not worthwhile.

So he sought outside help.

What the Flame-Chaser lacked least were geniuses, and in his understanding, the greatest genius was right beside him.

"Mei, I've obtained permission to observe and study the Third Herrscher Core. I think you would be interested in it too."

He said with a grin, "Your advice helped me greatly last time. You can consider this my repayment."

Mei raised her brows slightly.

"Fine. I like this kind of repayment."

Contrary to what most people believed, Mei could have chosen not to join the Flame-Chaser.

Her father was a top physicist on the Mu Continent. After being rescued by the Flame-Chaser, she could have gone to the Mu Continent to pursue more advanced academic research.

But the reason she stayed was because she longed to open the door to the field known as Honkai.

And now, Chen Ran had actually acquired permission to observe a Herrscher Core. Mei had no desire to refuse at all.

Although she could also guess that Chen Ran must have had other motives for being so generous.

Within the Flame-Chaser, researchers curious about Herrscher Cores were not uncommon. On the contrary, there were many of them.

If Chen Ran put his permission to observe the Herrscher Core up for an internal auction, he could sell it for up to a million dollars.

If he wanted more than that, why not simply bribe Mobius directly? Mobius was not someone who disliked money.

But Mei had her own guess as well.

If he found someone else, it would be difficult to say who would hold the initiative.

To open the door called "Honkai" more deeply, what did it matter if she temporarily followed Chen Ran's orders?

Sure enough, Chen Ran said, "I need you to help me calculate an experiment."

"What experiment?"

"An observational experiment calculating the fusion of a Herrscher Core into a human body."

Without hiding anything, he laid out the so-called Divine Right Plan in detail.

"With our current combat capabilities, dealing with increasingly powerful Herrschers is undoubtedly becoming extremely difficult. So humanity needs stronger forms of combat life. Machines or Herrschers would both work."