The Real Cheat Is Alicia in Honkai!

A few minutes later, however—

"Ha, it seems I underestimated you."

Otto said to Gwen over the comms upon receiving the report that the target had been completely eliminated.

"It was much easier than I expected," Gwen replied without modesty.

"I was too hasty... Try your hand on that mountain range about thirty kilometers away, at twelve o'clock. Use a force that you feel won't sink the continent."

Otto said with a smile. Although it was a bit awkward that the target wasn't strong enough to test his upper limits, Otto was already quite satisfied with Gwen's performance. He spoke casually with a smile.

"You jest, sinking a continent isn't something that can be done in a short time."

While feigning modesty, Gwen's movements were anything but hesitant. With an almost visible convergence of energy, the Nexus armor on his arms became covered in lightning, and a spiral galaxy-like thundercloud quickly appeared. As Gwen swung his right arm, he smashed it towards the unsuspecting mountain range...

A thunderous roar shook the earth, causing even the Schicksal base dozens of kilometers away to tremble...

For Gwen, using the Authority of Lightning to induce and manipulate electromagnetism for an attack was still a bit difficult. Currently, Gwen's most powerful move was the Galaxy Lightning Strike, which he had copied from Ginga... As for a copied Spear of Sunlight, forget it. When charged briefly, the Lightning Strike had a larger range and destructive power than the Spear of Sunlight.

After smashing the thundercloud nebula above his head onto the mountain range, Gwen turned and returned to the base he came from, not looking at the explosions occurring in the mountain range that was suffering unprecedented devastation...

"Truly astonishing power..."

As evening fell and the rain cleared, under the setting sun, Otto looked at the wasteland that the once magnificent mountain range had become, a look of amazement on his face: "In terms of sheer destructive power, Gwen, you've already surpassed the Second Herrscher from over a decade ago."

"But that's all."

Gwen, having long since returned to his normal state, looked at the desolate remains of the mountains under the setting sun and shook his head lightly. "Currently, all I can do is attack through the direct exertion of Authority. As for the theoretically truly powerful electromagnetism... my control is far too lacking, and it's not something that can be improved with mere training."

"You've already done remarkably well, my friend, especially considering it's only been less than half a month," Otto said, patting his shoulder. He turned and walked back towards the small airship he had arrived in. "I believe one day, you will reach heights you can't even imagine right now."

"Perhaps..."

Looking at the destruction he had personally wrought, a complex mix of emotions surged within Gwen—surprise, fear, and worry... all intertwined, eventually turning into a sigh. He followed Otto onto the airship and left the place. As for the specific data, external personnel would naturally collect it.

Chapter 71: Bad News—It's the Black-Hearted Big Light Orb; Good News—The Big Light Orb is Broken

That night, at Schicksal Headquarters.

After personally witnessing the destruction caused by Gwen and Raiden Mei's fusion, Otto did not linger in North Africa and instead returned directly to Schicksal Headquarters with his people. What Otto was handling was of no concern to Gwen and the others. Upon returning to Schicksal Headquarters, the three parted ways with Otto—although Kiana had accompanied them to North Africa to observe the experiment today, she had actually just been discharged from the hospital that morning— That night, although Gwen's thundercloud did not intentionally increase its lethality, aiming only for sufficient range to hit the hidden Queen, even at its base power, it was too much for the unprepared Queen to handle. The un-strengthened Imaginary Barrier shattered instantly. Its only effect was to prevent the weakened Queen's body from being completely destroyed, though she was still severely injured. Even after Gwen captured her and promptly withdrew the chaotic power from her body, and used Light energy to heal her, Kiana still ended up lying in the medical department of Schicksal Headquarters for nearly half a month. Upon returning to headquarters, the task for Gwen and the others was to help Kiana move— During Kiana's half-month hospitalization, Gwen and Raiden Mei visited her almost daily and gradually bought her all the daily necessities. Now, all that remained was to help Kiana move her belongings to Gwen's home— Kiana had no objections to living at Gwen's place— This was partly due to Kiana's lingering worry that if she were controlled again, no one but Gwen could stop it, and partly due to their previous experience of living together for two nights. In any case, after moving Kiana's belongings from the hospital to the house and buying her a few more outfits, Kiana officially began her cohabitation with Gwen. After dinner, having tutored Kiana at Gwen's home for two hours, Raiden Mei reluctantly had to leave— "Gwen, remember not to bully Kiana," she said as she walked out the door. The gentle breeze on the floating island rustled Raiden Mei's hair, but it couldn't blow away the worry in the young girl's heart, prompting her to continue her admonishment. "Have some faith in me, Mei."

Facing Mei's fourth reminder of the day, amidst Alicia's silvery laughter echoing in his mind, Gwen wore a look of helplessness. Placing his hands on the girl's shoulders, he spoke with earnest sincerity:

"Even if I really wanted to do something, it would be for you, Mei."

"Cough... In short, no bullying Kiana!"

Realizing she might have emphasized it too much, Raiden Mei's pretty face flushed slightly, but she didn't refute Gwen's words, continuing to stress:

"Oh, Senior Mei, don't worry. Although Gwen often speaks without holding back, he still has a sense of proportion."

Feeling Mei's deep concern for him, Kiana stepped forward a couple of paces, grabbed one of Mei's arms, and said comfortingly:

"Besides, even if he really had any bad intentions, I would resist fiercely and hold out until Senior Mei came to save me."

Although Kiana was usually a bit taciturn, after half a month, she could now communicate normally and even crack jokes occasionally.

"Don't make baseless accusations. I'm not interested in idiots."

Gwen also earnestly wagged a finger, solemnly refuting her.

"Where am I an idiot?"

Instantly, the girl's braided pigtails perked up. A childlike dissatisfaction appeared on her small face, her cheeks puffed out, and her blue eyes glared at Gwen:

"I learned the basic manual you gave me in just half a month."

"What's the rush?"

Gwen feigned ignorance:

"I meant, I only like talented beautiful girls like Mei... Or is someone here self-identifying as an idiot?"

"You..."

"Heh heh... Alright..."

With a light laugh, Raiden Mei spoke up, stopping their escalating bickering:

"It's getting late, go to bed quickly. You have to get up early tomorrow. Kiana, don't stay up late, or you won't be able to wake up tomorrow morning."

"Hmph hmph~ This young lady will definitely surprise you all tomorrow."

Kiana struck a haughty pose. This time, Gwen didn't dampen her spirits, instead smiling and saying:

"Then I shall look forward to it..."

Amidst their banter, Mei bid them farewell and returned to her home through a special passage.

After washing up, Mei also lay down on her bed. Although Mei's personal test was completed first, and Gwen took the lead in the subsequent combined test, Mei, not wanting to be just a hanger-on, had also been working hard to cooperate. Thus, Mei quickly fell into a deep sleep.

However, as she drifted off, Mei's thoughts weren't on the day's test, but rather—

Between them... it should be fine, right...

Meanwhile, next door, after seeing Raiden Mei off, Gwen and Kiana didn't have any strange developments. They said goodnight to each other and returned to their respective rooms.

After chatting with Alicia for a bit and saying goodnight, Gwen, who had already finished washing up, got into bed to sleep—

Not!

After blocking Alicia's senses to the outside world, Gwen's thoughts shifted, and he vanished from his room, appearing in the system space bathed in a hazy glow, looking to see if there was any new merchandise—

Although he had been "missing in action" for nearly 100,000 characters, Gwen's cheat hadn't disappeared due to its long absence.

On the contrary, over the past six months, Gwen had used his mission time, especially when he was "traveling" alone in the Far East, to clear out the mountains of various junk piled up in the system space—

Except for some space debris whose disposal might cause environmental pollution, Gwen had swept all these mountains of trash, which had once saved his life, out the door.

After organizing the system space, Gwen looked at the unclear light source in the center, which had previously been buried by the junk. A sudden realization dawned upon him.

However, this realization, which resolved some of Gwen's inner questions, didn't bring a look of enlightenment to his face. Instead, it contorted his features in pain—

The bad news—it was the black-hearted giant light sphere.

The good news—the giant light sphere was broken.

In short, what Gwen called the "system space" was actually the infamous "Main God Space" from his previous life.

However, for some reason unknown to Gwen, this Main God had been blown up. Even the specially installed three-eyed race's causality repair device was broken. Functions like redemption were completely defunct, and only the ability to connect to other worlds was barely preserved, which was also the source of the two batches of "junk" Gwen had encountered...

After receiving this information, Gwen no longer doubted why he could unlock things—

In short, it was all the giant light sphere's fault.

Chapter 72: Otto's Mission

After personally witnessing that Gwen's previous words were not false, Otto officially began to adjust some of his plans.

However, Schicksal's covert movements were unrelated to Gwen.

After successfully completing the experiment of proving his words to Otto, Gwen returned to his regular daily routine—

The only change was that the house gained a new tenant—

At precisely six in the morning, after a simple wash-up, Gwen left his bedroom and entered the living room on the first floor. The girl with white long hair tied into a high ponytail was just leaving her room.

"Morning, Kiana."

Gwen waved and greeted the girl.

"Morning, Gwen."

Kiana nodded and waved back, but didn't say much more.

Although she had been living at Gwen's place for some time now, and their usual playful banter seemed no different from before, the sadness and loneliness hidden beneath the surface of their peace were quite apparent.

Without making them wait long, Mei from next door arrived at Gwen's place through a special passage—

While she hadn't shed her shyness entirely and had moved in with Gwen, the previously opened passage meant that for Raiden Mei, coming over was as simple as walking through a door.

Once everyone was present, the three of them set out together for their morning training.

It had been three months since Kiana was discharged from the hospital and moved in with Gwen.

During these three months, apart from emergency missions, Gwen had spent most of his time at headquarters, acting as a limiter for the two Herrschers by his side.

It was fortunate that Schicksal had Yolandale, who was frequently out on missions, otherwise, Gwen might not have been able to maintain such stability.

It wasn't that Otto didn't intend to send Kiana and Raiden Mei, who were already undergoing Valkyrie training, into battle.

However, Otto wouldn't let them act rashly until they completed their training and reached a certain level of control over their Authority—

Both Kiana, an important part of Otto's plan, and Raiden Mei, also a Herrscher who served as Kiana's experimental subject in Otto's eyes, were extremely precious. They absolutely could not be sent to Honkai outbreak sites under unstable conditions, to avoid any unforeseen events.

Therefore, during these three months, Kiana and Raiden Mei were able to train with peace of mind at Schicksal headquarters—

A month ago, after two months of catching up on prerequisite courses, the two had begun studying alongside the Valkyrie reserves in training.

Carrying immense pressure, Kiana was not as lackadaisical as she had been at St. Freya. Her brain, which hadn't atrophied from Mei's cooking, was fully utilized—

In the training class, Kiana couldn't be considered top-tier, but she was in the upper-middle level. Even with some knowledge gaps due to the two months of remedial classes, she was far from being at the bottom.