Where's the Promised Third Honkai?!!

"That sounded like an outrageously unfair clause. What else?"

Little AI retorted: Why didn't the host update the Character Panel first?

"Fair point. I remember you said you were pretty curious about what I could do."

Fu Li humored her and opened the Character Panel, scribbling and editing on it.

Kikyo's rating was due to it being incomplete. Once its gestation ended, it would definitely rise to the highest rank.

After reviewing the Character Panel Fu Li had finished writing, Little AI concluded: You're a B.

The boy glared at her. "What the hell, brat? Why are you insulting me?!"

Host, just say whether you're B-rank or not!

"Yes, yes, but I'm not an ordinary B-rank! I'm an exceptional B-rank!"

Sure, sure.

Prometheus leaned over and added another stroke to the overall evaluation with her delicate, jointed little hand.

Overall Evaluation: SB.

Exceptional B-rank, Super B-rank, SB. Nothing wrong with that.

She nodded solemnly.

"Good grief!"

Calling her greatest, most magnificent host an SB was no longer something an ordinary bratty AI could pull off. She needed a serious beating!

With a head full of foul-mouthed nonsense, Fu Li rolled up his sleeves, ready to properly discipline this cyber brat who had no martial ethics.

Oops.

Little AI cutely crouched down with her hands over her head, though her voice was far too calm.

Fu Li, who had nearly been killed by the cuteness, suddenly frowned.

"Something's wrong."

He looked suspiciously at Prometheus. "Kiana was the one who first brought up the concept of 'Super.' You were clearly dormant at the time, so where did you learn about it?"

The little girl realized she had accidentally exposed herself and inwardly cried out in alarm.

Sure enough.

"Well, well!"

Fu Li swiftly noticed the issue. "Not having the right to connect to the host at any time doesn't mean you can't observe the real world through my perspective, does it? If I'd actually believed your little fairy equation and done something fiery when no one was around..."

Whew! Whew! Whew!

Little AI's gaze darted around. The way she tried and failed to whistle was exactly like Fu Li earlier.

Looking at that face identical to Bronya's, then recalling the chaotic mess of The Trio bickering and tearing at each other during the first half of the night, Fu Li felt his anger rise.

He turned aside and casually erased the extra S from the overall evaluation.

A little hand reached over from the side again.

"What? You still want to scribble all over it?"

Little AI said earnestly: No. There's something the host absolutely needs to know.

As she spoke, she wrote the words Lightning Stigmata (A) in the permanent-effects section of the Character Panel.

Then she floated before her host, bent down, and raised her hand to pull off his pants.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

Fu Li was clearly stunned by that combo attack. He leaped backward, clutching his pants as he stared warily at Prometheus.

Was she that thirsty? At least get a whole body first?

Come to think of it, by humanity's current definition, did doing that with an AI count as self-defense?

Then take them off yourself, Host.

This time, Little AI did not add any venomous remarks. Instead, she seriously urged him to take off his pants quickly.

The girl naturally understood the saying, once bitten by a snake, twice shy of a rope. Since her joke had gone too far first, rebuilding trust was the most important thing.

"...How much do I take off? Do I need to remove my underwear too?"

Fu Li was somewhat reluctant, but he still decided to trust her one more time.

Either way, he wasn't losing out here.

No need to remove the underwear. Just expose the inside of your thigh.

Fu Li did as instructed, then stared silently at the purple markings there.

His expression turned strange. "I'm quite certain I don't have a delinquent habit of getting tattoos. And this design... isn't it Mei's natural Stigmata?"

Natural Stigmata were anti-Honkai antibodies jointly developed by scientists of the Previous Era, capable of granting their holders astonishing Honkai Energy adaptability and resistance.

Like Hyper-mutation Factor, this thing existed widely in every modern human's genetic pool. Theoretically, anyone could activate it if given the right opportunity.

Of course, theory was theory, and reality was reality.

If natural Stigmata were so easy to awaken, Schicksal would not have specifically developed Artificial Stigmata that greatly shortened a Valkyrie's lifespan after transplantation.

Raiden Mei was one of those rare natural Stigmata awakeners.

As for her attribute, if you were good at math, physics, and chemistry, it was one of the four fundamental forces: electromagnetism. If you were a pure academic failure, it was basically lightning, heed my call—one of those types with both an extremely high ceiling and floor.

A hundred thousand volts not killing anyone was only because Pokémon was for children and Ash was absurdly tough. In reality, even dinosaurs would be carbonized!

Prometheus had also finished writing the effects of the Lightning Stigmata. With a wave of her little hand, the panel floated before Fu Li.

After reading the description that had already been displayed in the previous chapter, the boy raised an eyebrow. "This effect feels much more nerfed than Mei's Stigmata."

And what did that note mean? Was it hinting that once I gathered all the Stigmata, I could transform into an artificial Herrscher of the End?

If this were written like a novel, that would obviously mean the main storyline had begun.

Little AI corrected him: The host's Stigmata has not been weakened. It merely discarded complicated applications and completely maximized a single function.

As the ultimate anti-Honkai measure passed down from the Previous Era, natural Stigmata's functions could roughly be divided into memory inheritance, ability bestowal, and Imaginary resonance.

Fu Li's had clearly directly discarded memory inheritance and Imaginary resonance, then boosted the ability-bestowal trait! Exploded it! Massively increased it! Wildly increased it! Maxed it out! Turned it into a drill that pierced the heavens!

The fewer the words, the stronger the effect. Unconditionally ignoring 80% of Lightning attribute effects—against even the Herrscher of Thunder born from the Third Honkai, Fu Li would—well, he would still have to kneel.

The gap in their foundations was far too large. Even after ignoring 80%, the remaining 20% could still fry him crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

That was assuming the Herrscher of Thunder was willing to do so.

"Then here's the question."

Fu Li excitedly pulled up his pants. "How did this thing end up on my leg?"

His tone was no longer quite so hostile.

Prometheus blinked. The host already knows the answer.

"All right."

Fu Li pulled out the Kikyo pendant from his collar and affectionately gave it a kiss. "I thought it would be a future wife, but it turns out it can be paid in installments in the future. This fight wasn't in vain!"

Ling, asleep within the pendant, suddenly shivered and muttered, "Peh! Creep!" and, "Scum who won't even spare a Divine Key!"

Then she wrapped herself more tightly in her little blanket.

Seeing Fu Li put Kikyo away again, Little AI asked tentatively: Host, are you not angry anymore?

"I'm not angry this time."

Having gained an advantage, Fu Li could not exactly keep acting spoiled. After pondering for a moment, he warned, "If you see anything similar in the future, make sure to tell me."

Don't be fooled by the Lightning Stigmata constantly remaining active. Whether its holder knew of its existence could determine the outcome of a battle.

The simplest example was this: if an enemy attacked from all directions without blind spots, with wind, lightning, rock, and even ice-and-fire double heaven attacks among them.

Fu Li, knowing about the Stigmata, would charge straight at the lightning attack without hesitation, tank the lightning damage, and crack open the enemy's defenses.

Without knowing, he could only randomly choose one out of five, and there was a high chance he would take the full force of that wave of damage.

Even if the host hadn't reminded me, I would have said so.

After saying that, Prometheus noticed Fu Li had started scribbling on the Character Panel again.

She curiously leaned over to watch. After pondering for a long while, he deleted Fleeting Slash from the skill section, then smugly added Sword Technique (A) under active skills.

The girl was speechless: Host...

"What? What? My swordsmanship is just that amazing!"

Fu Li crossed his arms, his face full of righteous certainty. "Besides, I know so many sword techniques. I can't list every single one of them, can I? Combining them all under Sword Technique (A) is much simpler and clearer."

Right, right, right.

Little AI perfunctorily replied: If my host had not been born, the way of the sword would have been like an eternal anal fissure.

"Wow, that was unbelievably perfunctory!"

Her crimson eyes looked at the grown boy who was still muttering to himself, and Little AI curled her lips. Host, ten minutes are up.

"That fast?"

Fu Li froze, then seriously reflected on himself. "Only two system functions were introduced before time ran out. Looks like I'll need to make better use of my time next time."

My dear host, is there perhaps another possibility?

Mischief flickered across Prometheus's childish brows as she parted her thin lips. This time, the End-of-World Assistance System only updated those two functions?

"Huh?"

Fu Li froze, but Little AI took the opportunity to vanish without a trace.

Before disappearing, that smug little look in her eyes seemed to say: Host, guess why I specifically made you try writing on the Character Panel first?

"So it was to stall for time!"

He rubbed his face and complained, but his gaze toward the night outside the window could not hide his smile.

At the same time, in space three hundred and eighty thousand kilometers from Earth—

Countless star fragments illuminated the eternal coldness and desolation of the universe. The pale land stretched endlessly toward the edge of the world. The sun still released its light and heat from the distant horizon, yet it could not warm people's frozen hearts.

This was the far side of the moon, regarded by the world as forbidden. At its center stood a towering temple as pale as the land itself, misty and solitary.

Bathed in starlight, Prometheus, who had just said goodbye to Fu Li, slowly opened her eyes.

A woman strolling toward her naturally entered her sight.

The woman was tall and wore a white coat. Long dark-purple hair draped over her shoulders, and her entire person resembled a meticulously carved jade statue.

She was undoubtedly beautiful, though her rationality was like a block of cold ice standing alone for ten thousand years.

If Fu Li had been here, he would certainly have blurted out, "Mei?!"

Other than the delicate glasses perched on her nose and the profound, ocean-deep intellectual aura she possessed, the only difference between them could be distinguished by age.

The same heaven-born beauty, the same peerless grace;

The same elegant bearing, the same slender branches bearing abundant fruit.

"How were the gains?"

She smiled softly.

"There were no gains."

Facing the inquiry of this mature version of Mei, Prometheus shook her head. "His vigilance remains strong. Even if he appears calm on the surface, he can still precisely catch every clue I intentionally reveal."

"Character Panel."

The girl's expression remained blank. "The skills written on the Character Panel are all ones he has used so far."