Then Didn't I Come Here for Nothing? / Hesitation

Gwen smiled and nodded in agreement. As he spoke, he took another gulp of his energy drink to replenish his body's depletion.

With his eyes half-closed as if resting, Gwen brought up his status panel—

"Gwen—lv1

Strength—S933

Endurance—S993

Dexterity—S989

Spirit—EX

Energy—B798

Energy System: None"

"Energy and dexterity have improved significantly, while strength and endurance have improved as well. It seems Headquarters' virtual training room doesn't work solely on the mental level as I thought. The body gets corresponding training too."

Looking at the changes in his stats, Gwen nodded to himself.

If fighting in the virtual training room could also raise his attributes, then Gwen would not need to worry about being unable to improve his stats in the next few levels because he could not find suitable opponents.

"And... the improvement in energy...

It seems that the Honkai Energy enchantments I used in the simulation can also count as energy training...

But the energy system... does it mean I need to further improve my control over Honkai Energy and achieve an energy cycle before it can count as an energy system?

Or is it because Honkai Energy in the Honkai setting has no clearly defined cultivation or advancement system, making it impossible to count as an energy system?

Which means... I can only obtain structured powers from other worlds through the shop or the gacha machine?"

Then Didn't I Come Here for Nothing?

Gwen's aimless thoughts eventually came to nothing because there was no way to verify them. Meanwhile, Anna's messages to You Lan Dai Er and Rita received no replies.

Neither Gwen nor Anna found that strange—

After all, they were on a mission. It was perfectly normal for them not to have time to check their terminal communications.

Only after the phantom pain in Gwen's body had mostly faded did he leave the virtual training room with Anna.

Although Anna had been a little upset with Gwen for getting himself injured during training in the virtual training room, after returning home, she still cooked dinner for him herself as a celebration.

"Mmm...

This tastes really good, Instructor Anna~"

After tasting Anna's cooking, Gwen gave heartfelt praise—

It was not as good as Rita's, but it was excellent by ordinary standards.

"Can't even food shut you up!"

Hearing Gwen deliberately emphasize the word "Instructor," Anna's pretty face, which had just been smiling because her cooking had been praised, flushed faintly. She lightly tapped Gwen on the head with the spoon in her hand and scolded him playfully.

"Mm-hm~"

Seeing Anna's adorably irritated expression—though she usually did not put on an instructor's airs, she still found it difficult to completely shed the burden of being a young lady—Gwen smiled, shrugged, and continued asking,

"Why haven't I seen you show off your cooking before, Anna?"

"Wasn't Miss Rita around before?

Of course I wouldn't make a fool of myself..."

Although she had been lively when she tapped Gwen just now, Anna, who had taken etiquette classes since childhood, still carried the elegance of a young lady when she ate quietly. Her smile was sweet.

"Come to think of it, Gwen, you're the first person besides my home economics teacher and my mother to taste something I've cooked..."

"So that makes me your first Experimental Subject, Anna?"

Gwen's smile faded slightly as he asked in a serious tone.

"What, do you have a problem with that?"

Anna, who knew Gwen well, immediately saw that he was fooling around. She deliberately put on a stern little face as well, lifted her chin slightly, and spoke in a mock-tough tone.

"I demand the compensation I deserve!"

Gwen lightly slapped the table, venting his "outrage."

"Though I do not acknowledge your unreasonable demands, I am still willing to hear what you have in mind."

Anna remained "unmoved" and continued acting "tough."

"Since you've used me as an Experimental Subject, I should receive some compensation, shouldn't I?

For example, based on today's experiment, you could provide my future dinners."

Gwen wore a serious expression as he laid out his "reasonable request."

"In your dreams..."

Hearing that, Anna finally could not maintain the icy expression on her little face. She rolled her eyes charmingly and ended their little game.

"Eat up. It'll get cold soon..."

"..."

Gwen did not press the matter further. He chuckled, stopped at the right moment, and continued enjoying the delicious dinner before him.

After a month of living together, Anna had come to understand Gwen's growing appetite. She had deliberately made extra, and the dinner was enough to satisfy him.

Just as Gwen was eating heartily, a faint voice suddenly reached his ears—

"If you really want it... it depends on my mood. If you behave well, it can be a reward..."

"Hmm?"

Suspecting he had misheard, Gwen raised his head in confusion and looked at Anna, only to see the girl lowering her head and eating.

However, even though he could not see Anna's expression, the faint redness of her little ears told Gwen that he had not imagined it.

Pretending that he believed he had misheard, Gwen lowered his head and continued eating.

Although Anna, seated across from Gwen, relaxed slightly, she also felt inexplicably disappointed. Yet she no longer had the courage to speak again.

Just then, another equally faint voice, carrying a trace of amusement, reached Anna's ears—

"Then I won't hold back..."

"!"

In an instant, Anna felt her little face burn. She did not dare raise her head to look at Gwen, afraid that if she met those smiling eyes, even her usually proper table manners would fall into disarray.

After dinner, Anna chatted casually for a few sentences before using the excuse that Gwen should rest early and leaving.

"Ah..."

Watching Anna's retreating figure, which carried a trace of fluster, Gwen took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

Leaving aside things like parallel worlds and the butterfly effect, in the future Gwen knew, Anna would be chosen by Honkai and become the Herrscher of Ice of the Current Era.

If this world did not differ much from the Honkai world Gwen knew, then the Herrschers of the Current Era had a chance of retaining their human selves.

In the original future, although Anna had not fallen immediately, she had also failed to reclaim control. In the end, she was killed as the second recorded case of a fused Herrscher.

If possible, Gwen hoped to change that future—

It was not because he had some childish thought like, "A beautiful girl like this should belong to a transmigrator like me," nor because he had already fallen for Anna...

After a month, Gwen considered his relationship with Anna to be no more than friendship. In his view, the jokes during dinner tonight had already been somewhat risky.

Gwen simply felt that the future Anna would have to face was too heavy for a girl he liked so much. He did not like it.

And in the foreseeable future, Gwen might have the ability to change that future.

Since that was the case, why not make preparations in advance?

Before transmigrating, I could only watch the story unfold on the screen and do nothing. If I transmigrated and still did nothing even after gaining the ability to act, then didn't I transmigrate for nothing?

Having established a conviction beyond merely surviving, the faint gloom in Gwen's heart vanished completely. He turned, closed the door, and returned to his room.

What Gwen overlooked, buoyed by the rapid growth of his strength, was that his brief unusual expression might have been captured by surveillance cameras hidden somewhere unknown.

As it happened, Otto, who had been closely observing Gwen, saw the scene.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..."

Void Archives, who had interacted with Otto more recently than it had in the previous ten years combined, sighed.

"Look at that expression, listen to that sigh..."

"..."

Otto, who suddenly felt that Void Archives had become somewhat noisy lately, silently gave the fellow a mute package. Looking at Gwen's now-closed bedroom door, he could not help falling into deep thought.

It might be rash to conclude, based only on a few seconds of sighing and expression, that beneath Gwen's sunny and gentle exterior lay another face.

But based on Otto's understanding of himself, it was not impossible for the child of his parallel-world counterpart to be like that.

"Whew..."

After thinking for a long time without reaching an answer, Otto let out a long breath and set aside the concern for now—

It was not a bad thing for a child to think more. It was better than being nothing more than a simple Caslana and sacrificing his life in unnecessary places...

As long as he could feel the sincere emotions of the girls around him, Otto believed he would not go to extremes...

HONKAI

Does it look familiar?

This kind of disaster is spreading across the world right now!

You might be the next to encounter it.

Unless you can make the most important decision of your life!

Prove to everyone that you possess the resolve and courage to fight for humanity!

Join the ranks of Humanity's Revolutionary Alliance!

Become an elite of the Humanity's Revolutionary Alliance!

Witness lifeforms from the stars!

Let these extraterrestrial lifeforms witness humanity's courage!

For the future!

For humanity!

Come join us!

The head of Humanity's Revolutionary Alliance's recruitment office watched the promotional video and could not help asking, "Mr. President, will a promotional video like this really work?"

Li Ka said, "Don't worry. Young people these days love this stuff."

Hesitation

Gwen, who had only guessed that he was a pawn in some plan and might be under some degree of surveillance, had never imagined that Otto would personally observe him so often. He knew nothing of Otto and Void Archives' conversation.