Invited, In Honkai, Grinding Stats to Level Up

After all, the Sea of Quantum is too mysterious; a person drifting within it would make for a good research subject.

However, after performing a simple facial cleansing on the individual, Otto unexpectedly found the person's appearance to be somewhat familiar.

Upon discovering the silver necklace on the person and opening its simple mechanism, revealing a family photo, Otto instantly understood everything—

While the Sea of Quantum is mysterious and dangerous, according to existing information, it also contains many world bubbles that are similar, yet different, from the Eigenworld.

Therefore, it's not impossible for Otto Apocalypse, who walked the correct path in some world bubble and eventually married Kallen and had children, to exist, right?

Upon realizing the identity of this unconscious youth that Bianca had unexpectedly brought back, Otto couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions.

As a long-forgotten storm surged within his heart, Otto's gaze towards the youth shifted from that of amused interest towards an interesting lab rat to something rare, carrying a hint of concern.

Of course, to avoid making a mistake and also to see what kind of future awaited himself and Kallen on the correct path, Otto used a simulated Feather of Dust.

However, to Otto's disappointment, it seemed that due to some accident the child had encountered, their memories were somewhat confused and disjointed.

In this situation, Otto didn't see many of the child's memories, but he spent considerable effort stabilizing the youth's spirit.

Fortunately, in one memory fragment, Otto saw his middle-aged self leading this frail child to mourn before a small grave, carefully wiping the unremarkable tombstone.

On the tombstone, there were only a few unremarkable words—

"Tomb of my late wife, Kallen."

Although he confirmed the answer he sought from the subsequent conversation between father and son, Otto couldn't find any joy in the information he received—

Due to injuries sustained in her early years, Kallen passed away shortly after giving birth.

How could Kallen's body be so weakened by childbirth alone that she would pass away?

Clearly, the Otto of that world had made the same choices, only to make a different one in the end.

Upon reaching this conclusion, Otto, though his mind was in turmoil, had already subconsciously placed this child, who had arrived in this world less than half an hour ago, onto that special list, ranking him at the very top, far surpassing even his most beloved granddaughter, Theresa.

Even after several days, as Otto looked at the family photo again, his mind was still filled with a thousand thoughts, making it difficult to find peace.

However, none of those myriad thoughts could affect Otto in the slightest. He simply stared at the family of three in the photo, his gaze gradually drifting away...

Click...

Suddenly, with another whirring sound of mechanisms, the pendant in Otto's hand sprang open again, the layer inlaid with the photo flipping up to reveal the third layer.

"?"

Otto, who had stopped after seeing the family photo and lost interest in examining the simple silver necklace, blinked, his gaze instinctively drawn to the revealed content.

It was a line of very simple writing, crooked and shaky, indicating the writer was in a poor state.

However, this single line of shaky, small writing caused another surge of emotion within Otto—

"Child, grow up well, Mom loves you."

There were no expectations for the future, no goals set for the child, only the most sincere care from a mother who couldn't accompany her child as they grew.

"Kallen..."

Looking at this line of small writing, Otto seemed to see Kallen, her face as pale as parchment, gazing lovingly at the infant in her arms from her sickbed. The nails of one hand were deeply dug into his palm, but the hand holding the necklace remained as steady as a mountain, causing not the slightest damage to the necklace.

Meanwhile, You Lan Dai Er and Rita, who had been running, had returned to the dormitory.

"Lady You Lan Dai Er, please wait a moment. Rita will prepare lunch for you right away."

Glancing at the clock and seeing that there was still time, Rita smoothed her breathing and prepared to head towards the kitchen.

However, before Rita could take a step, You Lan Dai Er grabbed her arm—

"Rita, we've already spent a lot of time at the medical department today.

If you start cooking now, you won't have time to rest.

There's still some of yesterday's dinner left. I'll heat it up a bit, and we can just grab something to eat and then get some rest."

Pulling Rita's hand and pressing her onto the sofa, You Lan Dai Er quickly headed into the kitchen.

"Lady You Lan Dai Er..."

Rita habitually tried to say something, but was directly interrupted by You Lan Dai Er—

"Rita, you've already expended a lot of energy taking care of the injured. Rest well now so you have the energy to study this afternoon.

If our training isn't sufficient, we won't even be able to protect ourselves on the battlefield, let alone save people like him who need help.

And one more thing... Don't call me 'Lady'!"

Before her words even fell, You Lan Dai Er had already disappeared into the kitchen, bustling about preparing lunch.

"..."

Hearing the sound of the refrigerator door opening and the microwave operating from the kitchen, Rita, who was indeed a bit tired, put away her thoughts. She leaned back slightly against the sofa, taking advantage of this rare moment of free time to rest.

Although the address was unlikely to change, Rita agreed with the first half of You Lan Dai Er's statement.

Gwen's pale and weak face flashed through her mind, and Rita couldn't help but sigh softly.

Compared to the impetuous You Lan Dai Er, the more meticulous Rita had already vaguely guessed the doctor's identity, and because of this, Rita couldn't help but worry about Gwen's future.

That child's physical foundation is very poor. I hope the Bishop will go easy on him...

After an unknown amount of time, Gwen's dormant consciousness slowly revived. Fragmented and illusory images flickered past, like a string of dreamlike bubbles appearing beside a ghost slowly ascending from the dark seabed.

However, although these dreamlike memories had left a faint imprint on Gwen's consciousness, he felt as if he were enveloped in a heavy fog, with an indescribable heaviness upon him.

The memories, which flashed and vanished like bursting bubbles, were quickly submerged in the dense mist.

It wasn't until the darkness gradually gave way to light, a blinding white that was almost harsh, that Gwen instinctively closed his eyes, attempting to shield his face with his hand.

However...

He couldn't move his hand.

The feeling of restraint on his hand made the newly awakened Gwen feel extremely uncomfortable. He struggled instinctively, only to feel a piercing pain.

Stimulated by this cold pain, Gwen's consciousness rapidly cleared.

Blinking his eyes forcefully, Gwen's mind, as his eyes adjusted to the strong light in the room, recalled everything that had happened before he lost consciousness.

Without time to sort through the still chaotic memories in his mind, he surveyed the room with eyes narrowed against the light they couldn't fully adapt to.

After a quick glance, confirming he was still in the single hospital room, Gwen closed his eyes and began searching for the two "golden fingers" that could help him escape danger.

Even though they seemed to have been crippled by him, it didn't stop Gwen from relying on them as his sole support.

Even if he might possess the common buff of powerful soul power after transmigration, Gwen, with his self-awareness, didn't believe he could withstand Otto's "Feather of Dust" combo on his own.

Soon, Gwen's worry about needing to enter a mental space to access his golden fingers disappeared—

The chat group's blue-gold interface appeared in his vision as he willed it.

Clicking on his avatar with his consciousness, the upgrade system interface popped up. Gwen breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at his exceptionally conspicuous EX-rank Mental stat.

Currently, this was Gwen's only reliance to withstand the "Feather of Dust" combo.

Although it was also dangerous for Otto to realize he wasn't controlled by the Feather of Dust, it was still better than having his secrets completely exposed.

As for acting and fooling Otto, that old fox who was over five hundred years old?

Gwen, with the self-awareness of an ordinary university graduate, knew he couldn't do it.

After confirming that he had indeed obtained the two golden fingers and that it wasn't a hallucination, Gwen, relieved, finally had time to sort through the somewhat chaotic memories in his mind.

Getting his palm smacked for getting math problems wrong on a test?

His own.

Waking up before five in the morning for intensive morning drills?

His own.

Accompanying an adult to sweep a grave in the snow?

After a moment's thought, Gwen determined he shouldn't have swept a grave like this.

It must have belonged to the original owner of this body, right?

Or perhaps it was false memory implanted by Otto into this experimental subject?

Gwen speculated on the origin of these memories while quickly organizing and distinguishing the newly acquired ones in his mind.

As for the worst-case scenario, that Otto had already subjected him to the Feather of Dust combo while he was unconscious...

Gwen could only sincerely hope he hadn't encountered this most dire situation and continued to open the chat group, searching for ways to invite others.

If he was truly going to be locked up as a guinea pig, Gwen could only try to see if he could hide in the worlds of his fellow group members.

However, before Gwen could find a method to invite others, the hospital room door was pushed open. Gwen, having mostly organized his memories, reluctantly opened his eyes, meeting the gaze of the newcomers—

Based on Gwen's estimation, he was most likely at Destiny headquarters right now.

For an ordinary person to pretend to be asleep in front of doctors, nurses, or Valkyries... Gwen felt it might not be a wise choice, as it would only increase others' suspicion.

To Gwen's slight relief, the person who appeared in his vision was not the blond young man he least wanted to see, but rather You Lan Dai Er and Rita, whom he had met briefly when he first woke up.

"You're awake?!"

Seeing Gwen open his eyes again, You Lan Dai Er's small face immediately lit up with joy. She instinctively wanted to step forward but remembered that she had seemed to hurt Gwen last time, so she stopped herself. She stood by the bed, wanting to get closer to Gwen to see him, but worried about causing trouble again. A hint of hesitation appeared on her small face, which Rita, still standing at the foot of the bed, noticed with a slight gleam in her eyes.

Looking at the adorable expression on the little Dumb Goose's face, Gwen, whose complexion had regained some color, gave a gentle smile and said, "Hello, You Lan Dai Er... that's the name, right?"

After sorting through his memories just now, Gwen's proficiency in that unfamiliar foreign language had increased dramatically. Although not as fluent as Chinese, he could already communicate to some extent.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Hearing Gwen say her name, the blonde girl's small face immediately broke into an excited smile as she introduced herself—

"Hello, my name is Bianca You Lan Dai Er Atagina. You can call me You Lan Dai Er. Of course, Bianca is fine too. Whichever you prefer, either works."

"Hello, sir. My name is Rita Rotswisser, Deputy to Lord You Lan Dai Er. You can call me Rita."

Seeing You Lan Dai Er's somewhat clumsy self-introduction after a long time, a smile flashed in Rita's eyes. But after You Lan Dai Er finished introducing herself, she curtsied by lifting her skirt and introduced herself.

"Bianca... Rita..."

After organizing her memories, she found that most of the newly acquired ones were blurry and unclear. She could only choose to feign amnesia, slowly speaking the two names in a language that still felt somewhat unfamiliar, then smiling and nodding.

"Hello, my name is Gwen. It's a pleasure to meet you both."

"We're also very happy to see you awake."

Seeing that Gwen was in good spirits and her complexion had improved significantly after waking up this time, You Lan Dai Er felt joy. Suddenly, as if remembering something, she slapped her forehead with her small hand.

"Right! After the patient wakes up, we should find a doctor first!

Rita, I'll go find the doctor. You take care of Gwen!"

With that, You Lan Dai Er rushed out the door again in a flurry. In the blink of an eye, Gwen could only see a wisp of flying golden hair disappear around the corner.

"I apologize, Mr. Gwen. You Lan Dai Er is a bit too excited. Please excuse her."

Rita could only offer an apologetic smile and say sorry.

"It's alright. I can tell she's genuinely happy about my recovery."