This Is Honkai Impact 2? (Fourth Update, Please Vote)
Could I be on the worldline of Honkai Impact 2?
As he watched Milia and the other two leave, Gwen suddenly recalled where he had seen the name Wuse Huohuo before, and a dangerous thought flashed through his mind.
Though they belonged to the same Honkai series, according to the comments Gwen had seen, compared to Honkai Impact 3, the neighboring Honkai Impact 2 was a hellish setting where immortals roamed everywhere, damage was measured in trillions, and dying together counted as victory.
But the next moment, Gwen forced that dangerous thought back down—
As far as Gwen knew, the simplest way to determine whether a worldline belonged to Honkai Impact 3 or Honkai Impact 2 was to see whether Siegfried or Cecilia had survived the Second Honkai War.
And from what Gwen had learned over the past year or so, Cecilia had died in battle more than a decade ago, while Theresa was the principal of St. Freya Academy.
Besides, Bianca, that golden Kiana, was constantly wandering around right in front of him. How could this possibly be Honkai Impact 2? Haha...
Though he comforted himself this way, the sudden appearance of someone who seemed to be a character from Honkai Impact 2 still made Gwen unable to stop thinking about it.
After all, if this was Honkai Impact 2, or if it had incorporated Honkai Impact 2's worldview, then most of Gwen's previous plans and calculations would need to be overturned. He might even have to revive his youthfully ambitious version of the Ark Project. He could hardly avoid thinking about it.
However, Kevin's reminder temporarily pulled Gwen out of that line of thought, which was destined to yield no answer—
Rather than wasting time worrying over a character who seemed to have appeared only in Honkai Impact 2, he would be better off hurrying to improve his strength.
Only sufficient personal strength would give him the confidence to face the storms and changes of the future.
As for whether this was Honkai Impact 2 or Honkai Impact 3... there was no point in thinking about that now.
Once he became capable enough, he could go to the Far East and see whether there was a chuunibyou savior named Penglai Si Jiuxiao. That should settle the matter once and for all.
For now, he should focus on improving his strength...
After all, Gwen was no longer the rookie transmigrator from over a year ago, who could only lie in a hospital bed and worry helplessly. He was now an A-Class Knight with a cheat that could still steadily increase his strength.
Once he clarified his current position for himself again, more than half the shadow hanging over Gwen's heart dissipated.
Calming his mind, Gwen contacted Kevin and asked humanity's strongest man to help him analyze the flaws and weaknesses in the energy usage of that Ground Splitting Slash from the morning—
Though he had used that move based on his own grasp of energy and the information transmitted by the Light Shadow Stone, Gwen had no idea how much of the original version's power and Spirit Resonance his imitation actually possessed.
Kevin did not understand Ground Splitting Slash, but he understood energy usage far better than Gwen did. He could offer at least some advice.
And Kevin did indeed provide the opinions and suggestions Gwen had hoped for.
After summarizing the experience from his first highly imitated version of Ground Splitting Slash, Gwen pulled out the strange syllables Fu Hua had sent him and began listening to them.
Perhaps because he had already gotten started before, the music that sounded extraordinarily bizarre to others carried an indescribable rhythm to Gwen.
Though Gwen immersed himself in it, he retained a thread of awareness and carefully sensed the changes in his body.
Time passed bit by bit, but even with the powerful mental strength Gwen had developed through practicing the Spirit Awakening Scripture, he found it difficult to detect where that unusual change was occurring.
"Perhaps... the change is too slight to notice in such a short time?"
As he pondered this, Gwen recorded his current condition in full. Then, no longer fixating on it, he devoted himself entirely to the practice of Heart Resonance—or rather, Divine Melody.
In the Sea of Quantum, Kevin watched Gwen and gave an almost imperceptible nod—
Though Gwen's earlier absentmindedness had been rather inexplicable, his excellent self-regulation allowed him to quickly return to the right track.
But... could he truly blend together the essence of those who had come before him, gathered within him, and wield their power?
Kevin questioned himself thus, and hoped for it just the same...
The afternoon was theoretical class time for the advanced trainees. Having temporarily ended his Heart Resonance practice, Gwen prepared to head to the training room and practice Form Essence—
The techniques within Form Essence were exactly what Gwen urgently needed right now. And through analogy, they might even help him comprehend the ultimate techniques within the information transmitted by the Light Shadow Stone.
Furthermore, in Gwen's view, practicing Form Essence should also help temper his Sword Heart and comprehend Soul Essence—
If he had not even properly learned the sword, what right did he have to speak of wielding all weapons as though they were swords?
And besides... although he had outgrown his chuunibyou phase, faced with this general outline of all martial arts in the Honkai world, Gwen still rekindled a little of his old wuxia dream.
As Gwen left his home and headed toward the training room, a small figure who had arrived at his doorstep looked at his retreating back, her face showing a hint of conflict—
After clearing up the "misunderstanding" with her grandfather, Theresa had once again shared lunch with him after several years.
After lunch, Theresa had wanted to meet Gwen, the hero her grandfather had chosen, and see for herself whether he possessed such qualifications.
Then, Theresa saw Gwen's back as he headed toward the training room.
"Looks like a very hardworking child, just like Bianca..."
Though Bianca's incessant nagging could get annoying, that did not mean Theresa disliked hardworking children.
"..."
Letting out a soft breath, Theresa abandoned the idea of going back for an afternoon nap. Moving her short little legs, she too headed toward the training room—
"The young ones are working this hard, so I can't fall behind as their senior...
"At the very least, I need to be a little more useful than before..."
After Otto revealed the truth of the world to her, an indescribable sense of urgency had also risen in Theresa's heart. The training she had gradually set aside was once again placed on her schedule...
After an entire afternoon of training, Gwen unusually felt mental exhaustion before his body felt particularly tired—
For Gwen now, practicing sword forms for an entire afternoon did not place much burden on him. Yet comprehending the subtleties within them consumed an enormous amount of mental energy.
And the mental exhaustion brought with it a tremendous improvement in Gwen's techniques, while also giving him a clearer understanding of the profundity and depth of these twenty-one forms.
Just as Gwen walked out of the training room, preparing to have a good meal that evening, the door of the training room beside him suddenly opened, and a petite girl emerged from within.
Though surprised to encounter Theresa here, Gwen did not pretend not to see her. Instead, he took two steps forward and greeted her.
"Hello, Senior Theresa."
Theresa's Attention
Though Theresa still had the appearance of a little girl, Gwen knew perfectly well that the Theresa before him was already past forty, older than the combined ages of both his lives. Calling her senior therefore caused him no psychological burden whatsoever.
Upon hearing Gwen's heartfelt "senior," Theresa immediately found the young man before her much more pleasing to the eye—
At least he was much better than that Siegfried. What a polite, good child...
After mentally stomping on Siegfried once more, Theresa wore a somewhat reserved smile on her little face. She puffed out her chest, trying to make herself look more mature and dependable.
"Hello, Gwen."
"Senior Theresa, you know me?"
Gwen, who had already been prepared to introduce himself, asked with slight surprise.
It was perfectly normal for Gwen to know Theresa. After all, Theresa was a former S-Class Valkyrie who appeared in textbooks, and both You Lan Dai Er and Rita, who were around him, knew her. They even had photos together and mentioned her from time to time.
But why did Theresa know him?
A few doubts could not help rising in Gwen's heart.
"Yes, I heard your name from Grandpa. He thinks highly of you..."
Theresa nodded and casually explained. Looking at Gwen's training uniform, she asked curiously,
"Were you training in the training room all afternoon?"
Though Theresa herself had spent the entire afternoon in the training room, she was still somewhat surprised that Gwen could persist for that long—
Though she had not accepted the S-Class accolade back then, Theresa's strength was there for all to see. It was only reasonable that she could spend half a day fighting those enemies in a virtual training room.
Yet Gwen had only become an A-Class Knight a few days ago and had trained for less than two years—less time than many reserves had even received training. That he could do something like this could not help but surprise Theresa—
Even the exceptionally gifted members of the Caslana family should not be this exaggerated, right?
"Yes. I gained something from my exchange with Fu Hua, a student from the Far East Branch, so I spent the afternoon practicing some techniques."
Gwen nodded in confirmation, then asked with some surprise,
"Senior Theresa, were you also training in the virtual training room for half the day?"
"Yes. The equipment at headquarters is ultimately better than that at St. Freya Academy... that is, the Far East Branch. Even I can conduct some relatively effective training here."
Theresa kept a straight face, trying hard to control her expression—
While the equipment at St. Freya Academy had indeed been one reason she had not trained actively before, the more important reasons were that she had lacked a clear goal and had been lazy. Naturally, she could not tell such things to a junior who respected her so much.
"Mm..."
Gwen neither agreed nor disagreed, merely smiling and nodding. Yet inwardly, he felt somewhat puzzled—
In Gwen's perception, when Theresa mentioned Otto, she showed none of the discomfort or dissatisfaction he had expected. Instead, she was utterly natural, as though she had forgotten what Otto had done.
However, though he had doubts in his heart, this was clearly not the time for Gwen to get to the bottom of such a matter. He could only keep it to himself.
Seeing that Gwen did not press the issue, Theresa also let out a small sigh of relief and hurriedly changed the subject.
After chatting for a while, Theresa, who was quite satisfied with this polite and talented junior who would inevitably bear great responsibilities in the future, simply invited Gwen to dinner—
It was not that Theresa had suddenly developed the thought of an old cow eating young grass. She merely felt it necessary to understand this young man and see what kind of person her grandfather had chosen.
At the same time, Theresa wanted to see what Gwen thought of Siegfried, who had in fact already become his opponent—
Though she had accepted Otto's explanation, Siegfried was still Cecilia's husband. Theresa could not simply abandon him.
Moreover, now that Gwen had effectively inherited the Caslana family, certain messes he needed to handle had also been left behind by Siegfried.
Because of Cecilia, Theresa and Siegfried had gotten along quite well back then. She knew many things and wanted to see whether she could help.
Of course, Theresa was not exceptionally wise, but she would not bring up such matters the moment they met. She simply treated Gwen, this junior, to dinner and took the opportunity to observe him, to see what sort of person her grandfather's chosen candidate truly was.
However, after eating her fill, Theresa did not find what she had wanted to see. Instead, her favorable impression of Gwen rose considerably—
Knowing Theresa's preferences, and having heard some details from Rita, Gwen ordered several dishes Theresa had not ordered because she was accommodating him as a guest, such as a series of dishes centered around bitter melon.
Of course, while Gwen taking the initiative to order bitter melon dishes she liked greatly increased Theresa's favorability toward him, it was not enough for her to abandon her intention of observing him.
On the contrary, Gwen's apparent "thoughtfulness" made Theresa pay even more attention to him—
"What a sensible, good child. But being too sensible isn't good either. If he always keeps the pressure to himself, then adds the pressure from outside, it would be terrible if he eventually broke down under too much pressure...
"Sigh, he's another child who needs attention..."
Lying on her stomach in bed and looking through Gwen's file, Theresa lightly swung her freshly washed little feet, still carrying a trace of moisture. Her carefree, little-girl-like movements paired with the worried expression on her face vividly illustrated what a gap moe was.
While Theresa worried about Gwen's mental health, Gwen, in his home not far away, was also paying attention to Theresa—
"Mm... I ordered dinner according to what you mentioned before, Rita. You could tell Senior Theresa liked it very much..."
After tapping away at his communicator, Gwen sent the message to Rita, who was on the other side of the planet.
After returning home, Gwen had received a message from Rita, whose mission had temporarily reached a lull, letting him know she was safe.
Gwen had also told Rita about meeting Theresa and mentioned the bitter melon dishes he had ordered for dinner.
"Oh?"
In the camp that was gradually settling down, Rita, who finally had a moment to rest, raised a delicate eyebrow as she looked at Gwen's message. Her legs, which had been pressed together, swayed slightly and crossed,
"You even remembered something Rita mentioned casually back then?"
"Yes. You were so engaged when you talked about it, Rita, so I remembered it..."
A relaxed smile on his face, Gwen lightly tapped his fingers as he replied to Rita's message.
"Mm..."
Looking at Gwen's message on the terminal, Rita's lips quietly curved upward. Resting her cheek on one hand, she did not know how to respond for a moment.
A Trap? Or a Joke?
Before Rita could figure out how to reply to Gwen, a figure who hurried into the tent interrupted her thoughts—
"Captain Rita, there are some matters here that require your attention..."
Before you continue