The promised third collapse, where is it?!!

"Sounds like a real power-tripping clause. What else?"

Little AI retorted, "[Host, why not update your character panel first?]"

"Right, I remember you saying you were curious about what I could do."

Fu Li didn't want to offend her, so he opened his character panel and started drawing and writing on it.

Kikyo's rating was low because it was incomplete. Once its gestation was finished, it would undoubtedly rise to the highest rank.

After observing the character panel Fu Li had written, Little AI summarized, "[You're a B.]"

The boy glared, "Hey! Why are you calling me names, Duck Head!"

"[Host, just tell me if you're B-rank or not!]"

"Yes, yes, yes, but I'm not just any B-rank! I'm a B-rank, broken through!"

"[Alright, alright.]"

Prometheus leaned in, her delicate hand with its articulated joints adding another stroke to the overall evaluation.

Overall Evaluation: SB.

"[B-rank, broken through, Super B-rank, SB. Makes perfect sense.]"

She nodded with great seriousness.

"You little...! "

To dare use SB to refer to her greatest host, this was no longer something a mere little AI could do. He had to strike hard!

Fu Li, his mind filled with righteous anger, rolled up his sleeves, ready to teach this unscrupulous cybernetic imp a lesson.

"[Eek.]"

Little AI adorably covered her head and squatted down defensively, though the sound was a bit too flat.

Fu Li, who was almost charmed to death, suddenly frowned.

"That's not right."

He looked suspiciously at Prometheus. "The concept of 'Super' was first proposed by Kiana. You were in hibernation then, so where did you get this information?"

Noticing that she had accidentally exposed herself, the young girl internally cursed her bad luck.

As expected.

"Alright then!"

Fu Li quickly realized the problem. "Not having the right to link with the host anytime doesn't mean you can't observe the real world through my eyes, right? If I had actually believed your 'little fairy' inequality and done something… explosive when no one was around…"

"[Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!]"

Little AI's eyes darted around, her attempt to whistle inaudibly looking exactly like Fu Li's from earlier.

Glancing at that face, which was identical to Bronya's, and combining it with the chaotic mess of the three families bickering and annoying each other in the first half of the night, Fu Li felt a surge of anger.

He turned sideways and, on his own, erased the extra 'S' from the overall evaluation.

A small hand reached out from the side again.

"What? Trying to scribble more nonsense?"

Little AI said sincerely, "[No, there's something I must let the host know.]"

As she spoke, she wrote "Lightning Stigmata (A)" in the permanent slot of the character panel.

Then, she floated in front of her host, leaned down, and reached out to pull down his pants.

"Ouch! What are you doing?!"

Fu Li was clearly taken aback by her combo. He leaped backward, clutching his pants and warily eyeing Prometheus.

Is she that desperate? Shouldn't she get a body first?

And by current human definitions, would having relations with an AI count as self-defense?

"[Then you take them off yourself.]"

Little AI didn't add any more venomous remarks this time, but instead urged him earnestly to quickly take off his pants.

The girl understood the saying "once bitten by a snake, one fears a well rope for ten years." Since she had started the joke too aggressively, regaining trust was the most important thing.

"...How much should I take off? Underwear too?"

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

At least I won't lose out on this.

"[Underwear is not necessary, just enough to expose the inner thigh.]"

Fu Li did as he was told, then stared at the purple patterns in silence.

His expression was strange. "I'm quite sure I don't have a habit of getting tattoos, and this pattern… isn't this Mei's natural Stigmata?"

Natural Stigmata, jointly developed by scientists of the previous era, were super Honkai antibodies that could grant their holders astonishing Honkai Energy adaptability and resistance.

Like the Hyper-mutation Factor, this thing existed widely in every modern person's gene pool. In theory, anyone could activate it with the right trigger.

Of course, theory is theory, and reality is reality.

If natural Stigmata were that easy to activate, Schicksal wouldn't have bothered developing Artificial Stigmata that drastically shorten a Valkyrie's lifespan after transplantation.

And Raiden Mei was one of the rare few who had awakened their innate Stigmata.

As for her attribute, if you were good at physics and chemistry, it would be electromagnetism, one of the four fundamental forces. If you were a complete slacker, it would be "left zero, right fire, thunder god help me." She's the type with a very high ceiling and a very low floor.

The reason a hundred thousand volts doesn't kill anyone is because Pokémon is for children and Ash was too fierce. In reality, it would carbonize a dinosaur!

Prometheus, having finished writing down the effects of the Lightning Stigmata, waved her little hand, and the panel appeared before Fu Li.

After reading the description, which had already been shown in the previous chapter, the boy raised an eyebrow: "These effects feel significantly watered down compared to Mei's Stigmata."

And what was with that note? Was it implying that if I collected all the Stigmata, I could transform into an artificial Herrscher of the End?

If this were a novel, this would clearly be the start of the main storyline.

Little AI corrected him: [The Host's Stigmata have not been watered down; they have simply abandoned complex applications and thoroughly maximized a single function.]

As the ultimate anti-Honkai method passed down from the previous era, the functions of natural Stigmata could generally be divided into memory inheritance, ability bestowal, and imaginary resonance.

Fu Li's clearly abandoned memory inheritance and imaginary resonance, and instead amplified, boosted, surged, and maximized the ability bestowal characteristic to the extreme! It turned into a drill piercing the heavens!

The saying goes, the fewer words, the more powerful the effect. Unconditionally ignoring 80% of lightning attribute effects, even against the Herrscher of Lightning born from the Third Honkai, Fu Li would— well, he'd still have to kneel.

His basic foundation was too weak. Even if 80% were ignored, the remaining 20% would still leave him charred inside and out.

That is, if the Herrscher of Lightning was willing to use it.

"Then the question is,"

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

His tone wasn't as aggressive anymore.

Prometheus blinked: [The Host is asking a question he already knows the answer to.]

"Alright."

Fu Li took out the Kikyo pendant from his collar and affectionately 'Mua'd it: "I thought it was 'wife material' for the future, but it turns out it's 'installments for the future.' This fight wasn't in vain!"

Ling, who was sleeping in the pendant, shivered unexpectedly and muttered, "Pah! Scum!" and "Even the Divine Key isn't safe from this trash!"

Then, she rolled herself tighter in her little blanket.

Seeing Fu Li put away the Kikyo again, Little AI asked tentatively: [Host, you're not angry anymore?]

"Not angry this time."

Having gotten what he wanted, Fu Li didn't want to play coy anymore. He pondered for a moment and warned, "Next time you see a similar situation, you must tell me."

Even though the Lightning Stigmata was always active and exerting its effect, whether the holder was aware of its existence could determine the outcome of a battle.

To give a simple example: if the enemy attacks from all directions with no blind spots, with wind, lightning, rock, and even a dual attack of ice and fire.

Fu Li, knowing about the Stigmata, would unhesitatingly charge towards the lightning attacks, enduring the lightning damage to break through the enemy's defenses.

If he didn't know, he'd have to randomly pick one out of five, with a high chance of taking the full brunt of the damage.

[If the Host didn't remind me, I would have told you anyway.]

After saying this, Prometheus noticed Fu Li was once again sketching on the character panel.

She curiously leaned over to watch and saw that after a long period of thought, he deleted Fleeting Slash from the skill bar and then, with a smug look, added Sword Technique (A) to the active skills.

The girl was speechless: [Host...]

"What? My slashing techniques are already that awesome!"

Fu Li crossed his arms, his face full of "it's only natural." "Besides, I know so many sword techniques, I can't list them all, right? Using Sword Technique (A) to unify them is more concise and clear."

[Ah, yes, yes, yes.]

Little AI replied perfunctorily: [Heaven did not give birth to my Host, and the way of the sword has been like anal fissures for eternity.]

"No, you should have witnessed my prowess in battle against Kikyo and Bronya, right? Awarding it an A-rank wouldn't be excessive, would it?"

[Not excessive, not excessive, my Host is the most amazing! Also, 'Sword Technique' sounds a bit underwhelming. I suggest changing it to 'Super Ultimate Divine Technique Unrivaled Zero Style - Severing Thoughts of Yin and Yang, Karmic Wind God Flash, Two Hundred Yojanas of Eternal Future Slash!' ]

Little Mama replied in a tone like coaxing a baby.

"Ugh, so perfunctory!"

The girl with scarlet eyes looked at the big boy who was still muttering. Little AI's lips curled up: [Host, ten minutes are up.]

"So soon?"

Fu Li was startled, then seriously reflected: "It's already time after introducing just two system functions. It seems I need to be more efficient next time."

[My dear Host, is there a possibility.]

A hint of teasing flashed across her young brows. Prometheus parted her lips: [That the End-of-World Assistance System only updated these two functions this time?]

"Huh?"

Fu Li was stunned, and Little AI took the opportunity to disappear without a trace.

Her smug little glance before disappearing seemed to say: Host, guess why I specifically wanted you to try out the character panel's writing function first?

"So, you're just buying time!"

He muttered, wiping his face, but a smile couldn't be hidden as he looked out at the night sky.

Meanwhile, in outer space, 380,000 kilometers from Earth—

The sky was filled with stardust, illuminating the eternal cold and oppressive atmosphere of the universe. The pale land stretched endlessly to the edge of the world. The sun still released its light and heat in the distant sky, but it couldn't warm people's cold hearts.

This was the forbidden dark side of the moon, and at its center stood a majestic, pale temple, as if emerging from nothing.

Bathed in starlight, Prometheus, who had just bid farewell to Fu Li, slowly opened his eyes.

A woman approaching came into view, as expected.

The woman was tall and slender, dressed in a white coat, with long, dark purple hair cascading over her shoulders. She looked like a meticulously crafted jade statue from Langhuan.

She was undoubtedly beautiful, yet as rational as ice that had stood alone for ten thousand years.

If Fu Li were here, he would have blurted out, "Mei?!" upon seeing her.

Aside from the small glasses perched on her nose and her profound, sea-like intellectual aura, the only difference between them could be described in terms of age.

Both were naturally stunning beauties, both possessed unparalleled national beauty;

Both were graceful and elegant, both were fruitful and prosperous.

"What did you gain?"

She smiled faintly.

"Nothing."

Prometheus shook his head in response to the question from the older-sister-like Mei. "His guard is still strong. Even though he appears calm on the surface, he can still accurately detect the subtle clues I intentionally reveal."

"Character panel."

The girl said expressionlessly, "The skills listed on the character panel are all ones he has used so far."