Alicia is the Real Golden Finger in Honkai!

"I watched your entire assessment earlier and found some issues.

Come to the training room, and I'll help you correct them."

On one hand, she wanted to avoid the slightly embarrassing way of addressing him from before. On the other hand, the straightforward Yolandale could only think of training as the best way to help Gwen.

As for whether Gwen needed to rest after just finishing his assessment, Yolandale, whose brain was still overheating, temporarily ignored it.

Beside Yolandale, seeing her like this, Rita couldn't help but show a very subtle smile, her eyes revealing a rather ominous gaze.

However, realizing Gwen seemed to be looking at her, Rita immediately returned to her usual gentle and polite smile, reminding him:

"Lady Yolandale, Mr. Gwen just finished his assessment and is still a bit mentally fatigued. I think perhaps we could have a cup of tea and chat in this place..."

"Ah, yes, yes, yes!"

Realizing she might have caused trouble again, Yolandale's pretty face flushed crimson once more, and she quickly lowered her head to apologize:

"I'm sorry, Gwen, I forgot you just finished your assessment..."

"Heh, no need, no need. You were doing it for my own good, weren't you?"

Gwen smiled and patted the still very young and naive little goose's shoulder to comfort her.

"Besides, by my appearance, you can't tell that there's anything wrong with my condition."

"Mhm..."

Nodding, Yolandale still said:

"I know a place called Salt Snow Ice City that has delicious ice cream. How about I treat you?"

Although she said she would treat him, Yolandale's subtly bobbing throat betrayed a hint of her true intentions...

Chapter 17 Prometheus: ( ? ? ? )

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, another two months had passed.

During these two months, Gwen had become quite famous within Schicksal headquarters—

This was partly due to his male identity, and partly due to his mission efficiency, which was only slightly inferior to that of the youngest A-rank Valkyrie—

Twelve years ago, during the Second Honkai Outbreak, Schicksal, led by the strongest Valkyrie of the time, Cecilia, and the entire Wolfsnow Squad, paid the ultimate price to eliminate the Second Herrscher, Sirin.

However, the death of the Second Herrscher, Sirin, did not mean the complete end of the Second Honkai Outbreak—

After the Second Honkai Outbreak, the global Honkai energy concentration increased to varying degrees, and the incidence of small and medium-sized Honkai outbreaks greatly increased. Schicksal, having lost its elite forces, found itself increasingly short-handed.

To this end, Schicksal even lowered the assessment standards for Valkyries. The A-rank assessment standard was even delegated to Saint-level Honkai Beasts, in order to have more Valkyries to deal with the increasingly frequent Honkai disasters.

However, even so, the problem of Schicksal's manpower shortage still could not be fundamentally resolved.

Against this backdrop, Yolandale, who had been promoted to A-rank at such a young age, responded to all the subtle doubts with her combat achievements, earning the trust of all the Valkyries—

As an A-rank, Yolandale, with an unimaginable attendance rate and combat efficiency, led a team to wipe out all Honkai events within a continent in the span of one month.

Of course, if Gwen remembered correctly, the future S-rank "Goose" had once led a team to quell Honkai events on a global scale.

But with the super "Goose" still just an A-rank little flat-chested girl, Gwen still had plenty of missions to take—

It wasn't that Gwen wanted to compete with Yolandale for achievements or anything. Gwen continuously took missions simply to hone himself and to better master the power he possessed.

And through these continuous missions over the past two months, Gwen had, as he wished, successfully integrated the three powers within him. His combat power was now incomparable to when he first participated in the assessment.

During these two months, Gwen had also found opportunities to try transforming—

Of course, it was only life-sized. Considering that the role he was currently playing had not yet earned absolute trust from Schicksal, Gwen had only used his "Artificial Collapse" once when dealing with an Emperor-class Honkai Beast that was outside of intelligence reports.

Although his power could not compare to when Nexus was still in the world of Ginga, after transforming, Gwen could easily deal with Emperor-class Honkai Beasts that had previously forced him into a bloody battle, and even take them down with a single ultimate arrow storm.

During this period, the only time Gwen activated his Gene Lock was also when facing an Emperor-class Honkai Beast.

However, the former was something Gwen could directly control; he could transform whenever he wanted.

But for the latter, at least for now, Gwen had no clue how to control it. He was still in a passive state where he could only activate it when pressured by a life-threatening crisis.

Gwen did not feel discouraged by this—

He was just an ordinary person, not a "Terrifying Upright Ape." There was no need to compare himself to a freak who could unlock once, stabilize his unlock in three fights, and reach the third stage in five fights.

Moreover, Gwen had a feeling that his Gene Lock seemed to have some unknown connection with the light Nexus had left within his body.

When he could skillfully control his Gene Lock in the future, this light power of his would also undergo some changes.

It's just... it would take a little more time...

Gwen wasn't too anxious about this, just completing missions and training step by step.

"This is your physical examination report."

Amidst the sound of the printer, Prometheus's voice echoed in the laboratory. The projection of the gray-haired, silver-eyed mechanical loli had a calm expression as usual:

"According to the results, your body is still in a period of rapid progress. All aspects of your data have shown significant improvement compared to last week."

As for the material rewards Otto had promised Gwen, he had not defaulted on any of them; they had all been delivered long ago.

For instance, the laboratory Gwen was currently in, although not large in area, was like the saying "a sparrow is small but has all its vital organs." It was equipped with all sorts of instruments, sufficient to support Gwen's daily check-ups and other operations, and to a considerable extent, protected Gwen's privacy.

Of course, apart from some clearly abnormal data that was concealed, Gwen's physical examination report still needed to be uploaded to the Schicksal system—

As an A-rank operative, Schicksal naturally equipped Gwen with armor and weapons, all of which needed to be adjusted based on Gwen's own physical data—

Currently, Choukai was responsible for assisting Gwen with these tasks—

Although this wasn't her primary field of expertise, with the armor's design already complete, making minor adjustments based on the user's condition was merely a matter of Choukai putting in some effort.

"Hmm, it seems the benefits of unlocking my Gene Lock haven't been fully utilized yet."

Nodding, Gwen could feel his own progress and wasn't surprised by the result as he said with a smile.

Immediately after, Gwen changed the subject:

"Speaking of which, Prometheus, how do you feel about this place? Are you comfortable living here?"

"As an AI, there's no such thing as comfort or discomfort,"

Prometheus replied calmly.

"Hey, you can't say that,"

Gwen said with a smile, looking at Prometheus, whose small face showed almost no fluctuation.

"You see, back at the base, you could only use a few remaining pieces of equipment, and there wasn't much for you to do. You could only stay there alone, waiting for later arrivals to self-destruct, or to fall silent forever after the equipment failed.

After I woke up, you had someone to talk to, and you could also use the still-functioning instruments to do things. You gained a bit more of a sense of being alive.

Later, you followed me away from there and came to a new world. Now you have so many pieces of equipment you can use, allowing you to do even more. Don't you think it's more meaningful than your days in the dark, lightless base?"

—To prevent information discrepancies caused by a lack of communication, which could cause unforeseen trouble for the plans of other pioneers, Dr. Mei had programmed the Prometheus subroutines in each base to shut down if the initiator was not a pioneer from the previous civilization.

Therefore, if it weren't for the appearance of Gwen, an anomaly outside of this setting, Prometheus would have already shut down completely.

"..."

Listening to Gwen's words, Prometheus's usually calm small face showed a (???) expression, giving a reply that made Gwen's smile freeze:

"So, you're saying I should be happy to have more work?"

"Uh..."

Completely taken aback by Prometheus's response, Gwen chuckled dryly and explained:

"Too much work is obviously not good, but if you do nothing at all, just staying alone in a dark, lightless base, your consciousness would go mad.

Compared to that, having at least a little something to do gives you a sense of being alive..."

Saying words he barely believed himself, Gwen tried to persuade Prometheus.

Chapter 18: Saving the Wayward Girl

"But I'm not human. I'm just an AI."

Prometheus's consistently calm words almost sank Gwen.

"Hey, don't be so narrow-minded about species.

I'm not Dr. Mei, I won't assign you that much work."

Giving up the struggle, Gwen waved his hand and forced a smile, saying:

"When you have free time, you can find things to do yourself, like pretending to be a normal AI and chatting with people.

I have other arrangements this afternoon, so I'll be going now."

With that, Gwen picked up his jacket and left the laboratory.

In the laboratory, Prometheus's projection flickered twice before disappearing after watching Gwen leave.

What Gwen didn't know was that during their conversation, the Summoner in his pocket, which stored Prometheus's core data, had flickered a few times.

"Hmm? Miss Amber?"

Leaving his small laboratory and preparing to find Choukai, Gwen looked with some surprise at Amber, who had raised her hand to initiate a visitor request.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Gwen."

Nodding to Gwen, Amber explained her purpose:

"Bishop Otto has invited you to his office for afternoon tea."

"Uh... okay."

Although he wanted to say that Schicksal Headquarters wasn't exactly Cassell College and didn't have a principal's afternoon tea event, considering Otto's boundless power within Schicksal, Gwen simply nodded and followed Amber to Otto's office.

"Gwen's here? Have a seat anywhere.

I still need a few minutes. There's food on the table, help yourself."

Otto, who was working at his computer, casually greeted Gwen upon his arrival. He didn't immediately stop his work but turned to Amber and said:

"Amber, you can go back to work too. I remember the Far East Branch has another funding request; handle it."

"Yes."

Amber, treated entirely as a tool, responded impassively, bowed her head in acknowledgment, and turned to leave.

Otto didn't keep Gwen waiting for too long. He quickly finished his work, stood up, and moved from behind his desk to the sofa next to Gwen.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Otto's face held a hint of sincere apology as he explained, "I've been busy with the design of the fourth-generation armor recently, and there's been a slight issue with my schedule."

"Heh heh, the armor designed under Bishop Otto's leadership has reduced the casualties of so many frontline soldiers. It's only right that I wait here for a bit."

Shaking his head, although Otto had never put on any airs in front of him and had always appeared with a kind and approachable image, Gwen wouldn't argue with Otto over such a small matter:

"Besides, the things you have here, Bishop, are also very hard to get outside.

The only thing that can compare to them is what Rita made herself."

"Haha, I'm glad you like it."

Otto nodded with a smile, chatted with Gwen for a couple of sentences, inquired about Gwen's recent life, and affirmed Gwen's active participation in missions and his efforts in clearing Honkai.

After a brief chat, Otto finally got to the main point:

"Gwen, I wonder if you remember the incident where Schicksal's archaeological team was attacked when the ruins you were in were excavated?"

"Of course."

Gwen nodded, the smile disappearing from his face, and said sternly, "If I hadn't successfully entered the Collapse state under the threat of death back then, I would probably be nothing but bones now, blown to pieces by the missile barrage."

"I've also been having people investigate this matter, and today we finally have a lead—"

Otto nodded, operated his terminal, and sent a file to Gwen's terminal:

"Take a look. If nothing unexpected happens, this is the mastermind behind that attack."

"Mm..."

Nodding, Gwen also opened the email Otto sent.

Then, the first thing that caught his eye was a bust shot of a blonde woman and the name "Cocolia."

"..."