Saint Freya Is Full of Talent / A Sudden Turn of Events

"Honestly, is your focus on saving Sirin or me...?" Elysia smiled helplessly.

A few days later, the Valkyrie assessment arrived as scheduled, and Rita also took the headquarters' private plane to St. Freya on the day of the assessment.

Of course, Xia Ling didn't get to see Rita, because Rita was personally received by Theresa, while Xia Ling was relegated to logistics by Theresa.

After all, Theresa didn't want Xia Ling to appear too much at headquarters. Although strictly speaking, Xia Ling's identity issue was no longer a problem, who knew what Otto was thinking?

From this perspective, Theresa understands Otto quite well, because Rita did indeed come with the purpose of testing Xia Ling.

Rita looked around the venue but couldn't find Xia Ling, and could only sigh inwardly.

Her original idea was to find a way to buff the virtual battle system used for the exam, allowing it to spawn monsters without limit, and then see if Xia Ling would step in to save the day.

However, since Xia Ling didn't show up at all, this idea naturally fell through, and Rita could only proceed with the original plan and observe Kiana's physical and mental state first.

"First, there were the battles against other Valkyrie... Kiana almost crushed her opponents of the same level, which was in line with expectations."

"A battle against Mei and Bronya... huh?"

Rita looked at the three people who were going back and forth on the battlefield with some surprise.

"This strength... weren't they going all out just now?"

"Her strength seems to be even higher than I expected... Logically speaking, she shouldn't have grown to this level at this point in time, but... it's no big deal."

Seeing Kiana overcome all obstacles and ultimately defeated by Fu Hua with a "slight advantage," Rita silently increased the data strength of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast she had prepared by another level.

Unlike in the original work, it would be pointless for Rita to personally test Kiana's limits at this point. Instead, she could manipulate the final test to see how Kiana would perform against an enemy far stronger than herself.

"Well, Rita, these students did pretty well, didn't they?"

At that moment, Theresa suddenly spoke up.

"Of course, Lord Theresa, your students are truly a wealth of talent."

"However, the final round of assessment seems to have been completed in a virtual combat device?"

"Yes, we usually conduct stress tests in this assessment to see how well students can withstand stress under extreme conditions."

"So, how much pressure will this be?"

"Generally speaking, for these B-rank Valkyrie, we will assign multiple Temple-class..."

"No, what I mean is, isn't it a bit inappropriate to directly assign students data from Emperor-class Honkai Beast?"

Rita suppressed the urge to smile and reminded her.

Theresa's words came to an abrupt end.

Because she discovered that a huge creature that shouldn't be there had appeared in Kiana's virtual training arena.

At the same time, a data error alarm also sounded.

"Wait, why is it Ganesha? The database shouldn't be able to generate modules for Emperor-class Honkai Beast, right?"

Theresa's voice sounded somewhat surprised and uncertain.

Of course not, because this data is from Durandal's dedicated training database.

Rita's smile remained unchanged.

"Lord Theresa, don't panic. Forcibly deactivating the synchronization device could harm the trainees."

Rita reassured the somewhat flustered Theresa: "How about we get the other two team members to help us deal with it first, and then we'll try to stop the out-of-control program from the outside?"

"Okay, we'll do as Rita says."

Theresa immediately contacted Mei and Bronya, who were in the same area, but by the time she got through, the two had already run off to fight alongside Kiana.

Chapter Thirty-Six: A Sea of Talents -St. Freya

"The Emperor-class Honkai Beast Ganesha, back then, it took two A-rank Valkyrie to defeat this guy. Although this is just a data point and doesn't have the same overwhelming power as the original, but..."

Before Rita could finish speaking, she realized that the situation was somewhat different from what she had imagined.

She originally thought that even with the help of her teammates, this enhanced training data would keep Kiana and the others running around in circles.

As it turned out... they didn't seem to be having much trouble?

If Xia Ling were here, she certainly wouldn't be surprised by this.

Ganesha Hi-maru in terms of rank, Hi-maru of skills, and strength... it's far inferior to Hi-maru.

In particular, the three Kiana present were in their prime, equipped with Valkyrie armor and unaffected by debuffs.

Aside from being a bit too tanky, this Ganesha, with its incredibly long attack animation and long wind-up time, really couldn't do anything to them.

"This Honkai Beast is too clumsy, although it is indeed a bit tough."

While dodging the attacks of the Honkai Beast, Kiana can also leisurely make a few sarcastic remarks.

"Without the attack speed bonus of 60 and the no-cast-time attack, this kind of attack method that doesn't even require prediction is indeed easy to dodge."

"It feels... not as good as Hi-maru."

"So what exactly is this Hi-maru' that we're fighting?" Bronya suddenly pointed out the crux of the problem. "Sister Xia Ling only said that it was an enemy she had fought, but she didn't say what level the Hi-maru was."

"Bronya previously thought that Hi-maru was Emperor-class Honkai Beast, but now it seems that she underestimated it a bit."

"If that's the case..." Mei's voice was somewhat hesitant. "Could it be that Sister Xia Ling is the real, unseen mastermind?"

"Mei... the seemingly unassuming big boss you mentioned just stole my chicken wings yesterday..."

"Uh, looking at it this way, Sister Xia Ling doesn't seem to have that kind of aura of a strong person? For example, that Rita, she doesn't look like someone to be trifled with."

The three, feeling no pressure in the fight and even gossiping about Xia Ling, completely failed to consider Rita's feelings outside.

"Lord Theresa... given the abilities of these three students, why didn't you apply for the A-rank Valkyrie assessment for them?"

"Rita, you don't know this, but all three of them only transferred in the year before last, and their academic performance is far too poor..."

"I see... So who is in charge of their daily training?"

"Himeko." Theresa didn't hesitate to assign Xia Ling Himeko's task to Himeko.

"Himeko- senpai... Ah, I remember now, it was the Stormtroopers back then..."

Rita didn't think much of it. Perhaps it was because Ragna had such a deep influence on her back then. She had heard that Himeko was Ragna's teammate, so Rita had no doubt about Himeko's abilities.

"No wonder. If it were Himeko -senpai teaching, she could indeed produce such outstanding students."

Seeing that Rita didn't pursue the matter further, Theresa breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Rita saw this action.

Lord Theresa is clearly hiding something... It seems we still need to investigate further.

"If Xia Ling wasn't seen this morning, it means Theresa must have arranged for her to work in the logistics department."

"So... due to the malfunction during today's exam, the subsequent exams were delayed until the evening, which means... this is an opportunity."

Rita, now clad in the Shadow Iron Armor, concealed herself in the shadows, holding the painting Xi had given her in one hand, with the Shadow Iron Armor's companion, a mechanical dog named Carbon-based Hunter, at her feet.

Rita believed her concealment was flawless, and in fact it was. Few people traveled this road at this time, and the Shadow Iron was a Valkyrie armor specifically designed to target humans. Along the way, no one noticed her.

The only problem was that she was holding Xi's painting scroll.

Not far away, Xi and Xia Ling were whispering to each other on the channel.

"Xi, is Rita still in that spot?"

"You're still here, aren't you going to leave?"

"There are still people here, I'm afraid that if I'm halfway through a fight, a complete stranger will suddenly appear."

"Oh dear, poor Rita has been standing there for half an hour. Why don't you just leave?"

"What, are you feeling sorry for him?"

"We can't just eat someone else's cake for free."

"Alright, I'm a little hungry too. Let's finish this quickly so we can go home and eat."

Xia Ling stretched her body, then pretended to have just come out of the teaching building, and walked out unhurriedly.

"They're finally here!" Rita exclaimed, her spirits lifting.

Then, she slowly unfurled the scroll in her hand, and a figure in blue appeared before Rita.

"It seems that Little Xi used a lot of Honkai Energy in this painting."

Following Xi's instructions, Rita injected a Honkai Energy into Mokuren's body.

"Go, attack that short girl with black hair, fight until you trigger your self-annihilation state."

"Once you trigger this state, you can start running away."

According to the mechanism that Xi had told her before, this warrior will trigger a very difficult-to-catch state when his Honkai Energy is at 40%, which can be used to get rid of the pursuer.

Watching Mokuren dart away, Rita bent down and gently stroked the Carbon-based Hunter beside her.

"Let me see... just how strong Miss Xia Ling is... If one painting isn't enough, then you'll have to come out with me too."

On the other side...

"Holy crap, what is that?!"

Xia Ling almost had a PTSD attack as she watched the figure rushing towards her in the darkness.

Although she knew which painting Xi had given Rita, the way Mokuren rushed over did evoke many unpleasant memories of her experiences during the trials.

Having entered a state of "self-annihilation," Mu Mokuren was impossible to hit or run away from. Whenever this happened, Xia Ling, the most mobile of the three, would be the one to restrain him. Therefore, she and this guy were old rivals.

Fortunately, the version in front of her was a weakened version drawn by Xi, so it didn't put too much pressure on Xia Ling.

Immediately activating her talent, Xia Ling quickly jumped back to create distance. She took out Crescent Rose from her backpack, casually unfolded her weapon, and confronted Mokuren from afar.

"The target engaged the enemy without armor or weapons, and her startled state is generally normal. Wait, she seems to have pulled a folded weapon out of her backpack?"

"Hmm... Add a new entry to the observation log: carry a folding weapon with you at all times."

"This person known as the Mokuren Warrior seems to have the ability to accelerate and become intangible, which would be difficult for ordinary people to deal with. However, according to intelligence, Miss Xia Ling also seems to have acceleration-type abilities."

In the shadows, Rita was still dutifully fulfilling her duties as a recorder, completely unaware that the scene before her was actually a rehearsed drama.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Sudden Changes

In the darkness, the warhammer and the crimson scythe clashed, frequently producing crisp metallic clangs.

Because of Xi's presence, Otto's probing of Xia Ling was turned into a complete exhibition match without Rita's knowledge.

The reason why Xi presented Mokuren's portrait at the time was after an emergency discussion among them.

After all, Xia Ling's acceleration and spatial abilities are traceable, and she has never really hidden them. The fact that Mokuren, known as the "Sami Runner," allows Xia Ling to legitimately use these two abilities, instead of being tested a second or even third time by Otto because her abilities are not fully utilized.

As for the level of effort put in... since it's an open-book exam, and even the question setters are our own people, it's more than enough to keep our skill level at an A-rank level.

"Hey, who are you anyway? Are you from Anti-Entropy? Last time Anti-Entropy invaded, they at least specifically asked for people by name. Why are you attacking me without saying a word?!"

"You, you're coming at me again? If you keep this up, I won't hold back anymore!"

Hearing Xia Ling's somewhat distressed voice, Rita smiled slightly and continued taking notes.

"The target has a high level of morality. Even when faced with a sudden attack, he remained calm and tried to communicate. He did not seem to have a strong desire to attack and was not a belligerent person."

"Hmm... given the strength Miss Xia Ling has shown so far, we probably don't need the Carbon-based Hunter to come out with her. It wouldn't be good if they actually hurt her."

"But judging by the time, it seems that it's time to trigger self-annihilation. Uh, I was just about to take it seriously when the other party ran away. Miss Xia Ling must be furious."

Just as Rita had expected, the moment Xia Ling's scythe was coated with a red light, the figure in front of her suddenly blurred, and then, as if its collision volume had been erased, it instantly passed through the wall.

This strange ability seemed to startle Xia Ling, who froze on the spot.

"Holy crap, is this a ghost?"

"No way! I don't care if you're human or ghost. You think you can just run away after you've finished fighting? You stop right there!"

Xia Ling was furious. Seeing Mokuren Lie, who had transformed into a blue figure, pass through the wall, she vanished into thin air and reappeared dozens of meters away.

However, even with her spatial abilities, Xia Ling still "almost" caught up with Mokuren. Each time she teleported, she would be a little further away from him, and the distance would increase as the number of teleportations accumulated.