Chapter 139

Kevin believed Ai Yue's words without a doubt and accepted this premise directly. "So, in the end, what we'll be facing is actually this special being?"

"Yes, in order to achieve its own goals, it follows certain rules and experiences to create Herrscher, giving them the ability to manipulate the laws of physics,"

Ai Yue said, "And this time, the Herrscher obtained more power from that special being for some reason."

"The First Herrscher's ability is to imbue things with 'principles' based on their own observations, and then reproduce them through Honkai Energy,"

Su analyzed from the side, "If we want to strengthen this situation, it means that the Eleventh Herrscher can directly master the powers of other Herrscher by observing and learning them?"

"So the Eleventh Herrscher observed the Second Herrscher's powers through some channel, and that's how he learned to open the Imaginary Gate?"

Elysia continued, turning her gaze to Ai Yue, "So, where did he learn that from?"

"I have to admit, this was a slight oversight in my plan."

At this point, Ai Yue also felt a little scared. "I didn't expect that he could observe the operation of the Herrscher authority by analyzing the device I created. If she really gained control of the Second Herrscher's power, things probably wouldn't have ended so easily."

Judging from the situation of the Herrscher of Domination, Ai Yue was already certain that the Herrscher after him would gain more powerful powers. However, he initially thought that the Herrscher's original powers would be strengthened, and he never expected that the Cocoon of Finality would grant the Eleventh Herrscher the ability to "learn".

If I hadn't prepared a backup plan in advance, dragging the opponent into the battle from the very beginning and greatly depleting and weakening the Herrscher's energy, if the opponent had really developed, this matter might not have ended so easily.

"I have a question,"

Eden asked from the side, "Is it possible for us to continue to deal with the Herrscher using similar methods? Although we have indeed experienced many twists and turns this time, we have to admit that this can greatly reduce the losses."

In the battle against the Eleventh Herrscher, apart from the injuries suffered by the Fused Warrior, the biggest loss was to Queen's drone swarm. However, even though Queen's drone swarm lost more than 90% of its strength in this war, it was insignificant compared to the damage that human civilization had suffered before.

Even such losses are nothing to Queen herself—she only needs to keep the logistics system running at full capacity for eight months to replenish the drone swarm to its pre-combat size.

"Unfortunately, this opportunity only came about by chance."

Ai Yue glanced at Elysia, then shook his head. "You could say this is a special kind of 'loophole.' Once you've used it once, it's hard to expect it to work a second time."

Although the Cocoon of Finality has no intelligence, it definitely has its own operating logic, and Ai Yue does not believe that the same method can succeed a second time.

"So, the last question is still about the Herrscher authority."

Dr. Mei asked, "What is the current state of this power? The Herrscher Core is still within you, so are you able to control it?"

Everyone looked at Ai Yue at that moment, waiting for his answer.

Clearly, this is what they care about most—if Ai Yue can really succeed, then it means that they truly have a Herrscher of humanity.

Ai Yue smiled and then snapped his fingers.

An invisible wave emanated from him, spreading outwards in all directions. Everyone affected by the wave could clearly feel their energy being drained.

"Although it's not as good as the original, it's much better than the Divine Keys."

117

Chapter 117 Young Man, Do You Yearn for a Miracle? (4,000 words)

Ai Yue is currently in a very strange state.

The core of the Herrscher is still inside him, but the "authority" to operate the Herrscher authority has been dissipated along with Prometheus's artificial soul. This means that although he has the experience of controlling powers, he cannot operate the powers as freely as the other party.

However, just as he said, although he has not yet reached the level of a genuine Herrscher, since his Herrscher authority and Herrscher Core are still relatively complete, Ai Yue is undoubtedly a level above Herrscher Core that are controlled through technological means.

In other words, he can now be called a "half-step Herrscher".

"That name sounds weird,"

After hearing Ai Yue's explanation, Elysia couldn't help but show a subtle expression, "It would be better to call him 'quasi -Herrscher's or 'pseudo -Herrscher '."

"Considering that this kind of thing can only happen in one isolated case like Ai Yue, then the form of address is irrelevant, right?"

Dr. Mei added, "More than that, I'd like to know if there have been any changes in your body recently."

Previous Herrscher were all physiologically significantly different from normal humans, but this only lasted until the Seventh Herrscher. After that, the Herrscher behaved much like ordinary people.

Based on reasonable speculation, Dr. Mei believes that this is because the Herrscher live too short a lifespan—from the Eighth Herrscher to the Eleventh Herrscher, the average lifespan of all of them is difficult to reach 72 hours, which is in stark contrast to the Herrscher used to wreak havoc for months at a time.

"Based on the existing data, there isn't much difference compared to before becoming Herrscher,"

Ai Yue said, "As for deeper changes, we may need to observe and analyze them over a longer period of time."

"Then, this matter is completely over."

Dr. Mei breathed a sigh of relief, "Although there are still many issues to be addressed, at least everyone can get a good rest today."

At this point, she gave Ai Yue a rather resentful look. "Doctor Ai Yue, considering that the aftermath of this matter was basically caused by your arbitrary actions, shouldn't you come back and personally report to the United Earth Government?"

"Ouch, my head suddenly hurts so much..."

Before Dr. Mei could finish speaking, Ai Yue immediately frowned and showed a pained expression. "I'm sorry, I might need to rest for a bit. I'll be going now."

After saying that, he rushed out the door without looking back and disappeared from everyone's sight in the blink of an eye.

Kevin remained silent for a moment, then looked at Dr. Mei: "Should I go and bring him back?"

"Forget it, let him be. After all, he really deserves the most credit for this."

Although Dr. Mei looked troubled, she shook her head and said, "Leave the rest to me."

"I'll head back once Sakura and the others have fully recovered."

Kevin then said, "Don't overwork yourself. The hardest part is done, and I'll help with the rest."

Upon hearing Kevin's words, Dr. Mei smiled and then temporarily ended the communication.

"Wow, you two really have a great relationship,"

Elysia walked over with a mischievous smile. "So, when are you planning to have a baby?"

"Elysia, what's wrong with you too..."

Kevin paused for a moment, then gave a helpless smile. "This isn't up to me. Go find Mei yourself."

"Your story and Mei's story are exactly the same,"

Elysia sighed, "Well, it seems I can't rely on the two of you for this. I'll think of another way."

He then left the central hall and disappeared somewhere.

What other solutions are there?

Upon hearing her words, Kevin suddenly felt a chill run down his spine for no apparent reason—he had a vague feeling that something bad was about to happen, but he couldn't immediately imagine what Elysia would do.

Never mind, I'd better go check on Sakura and the others first.

After greeting Vill-V and the others who remained in the lobby, Kevin headed towards the room where the wounded were being housed.

At that moment, Cosmo opened his eyes in the life support pod.

Where am I...?

In the last second before losing consciousness, Cosmo vaguely remembered that he was venting his anger wildly in the wilderness. At that time, he had accumulated powerful strength enough to cross the limit by constantly absorbing the genes of Honkai Beast, and then transformed into a terrifying and ferocious monster.

Strangely, under these circumstances, he was still able to maintain a degree of rationality. Although this level of rationality did not allow him to control his body, it still allowed him to receive information from the outside world through the monster's senses.

Then what happened? It looked like a white light...

Recalling the blinding light that seemed to pierce his soul, Cosmo instinctively wanted to shield himself with his hands. Only then did he realize that his arms had returned to normal. Not only were the monster's limbs back to normal, but even his hands, which had been twisted from overusing his strength, had returned to their original state.

He then realized that he was no longer in the Australia wilderness, but back at the Star of Light experimental base. Through the transparent front cover of the life support pod, he could see a familiar figure busy inside.

"Ai Yue... Waaah!"

Cosmo recognized the figure at a glance. He instinctively opened his mouth, but felt a burning pain in his throat and couldn't help but let out a painful groan. Fortunately, Ai Yue noticed his condition at this moment and then opened the hatch and released him.

"Don't say anything yet, go sit over there."

Seeing Cosmo stagger out of the room, Ai Yue stopped him from doing anything further and then handed him a beaker filled with a pale green liquid. "Drink this stuff."

Cosmo didn't voice any doubts and downed the liquid in his glass in one gulp. Feeling the cool liquid flow down his throat, he gradually calmed down from his initial confusion and euphoria. "We succeeded, didn't we?"

"Of course, well done."

Ai Yue patted him on the shoulder, "Don't worry, everyone else is fine too, they'll wake up soon."

"That's good."

Looking at Desdrobia's peaceful sleeping face in the life support pod, Cosmo breathed a sigh of relief, but then looked at Ai Yue, "About what happened before..."

"I know everything."

Ai Yue smiled, looking completely unconcerned. "He's quite handsome, isn't he?"

Having absorbed Prometheus's memories, Ai Yue also learned about what happened on the battlefield, and of course, he also kept in mind Cosmo's Overweight Hypermutation.

"You knew all along?"

Cosmo's hand trembled slightly, and his voice lowered, "So, what will happen to me after that?"

The technology of Fused Warrior was once banned within the Moth to Fire, mainly due to the potential for it to go out of control. Even now, there are still quite a few people who oppose this project.

Therefore, Cosmo was well aware of the criticism and suspicion he would face for his uncontrollable behavior on the battlefield, and the worst-case scenario was that he might even be imprisoned in that mysterious prison.

Even though he doesn't know why he has recovered now, once the Moth to Fire that state, he will ultimately not escape the final reckoning.

"Of course, we should take the holiday first."

Ai Yue smiled, not realizing what the other person was talking about, "Don't worry, there won't be any other missions for a while."

"Huh?"

Cosmo paused for a moment, then explained, "No, I mean, my state on the battlefield."

"What happened?"

Ai Yue scratched his head. "Didn't I tell you? He's quite handsome."

"That's not the problem!"

Cosmo then realized that Ai Yue had completely missed the point, and his tone couldn't help but rise eight octaves, "I can't control that form, so, what if the Moth to Fire does... you know?"

"Uh, you're worried about that?"

Ai Yue finally realized, "Oh right, I don't think I've told you that yet."

He finally revealed a serious expression. "So you plan to finish 'Mutated Weapon' before the holiday, is that right?"

What is Mutated Weapon?

Upon hearing this cool term, Cosmo paused for a moment, then looked thoughtful. "You mean, there's a way to solve this problem?"

"Of course there are,"

Ai Yue directly projected a bunch of mature solutions to show the other party, saying, "The reason I haven't told you yet is simply because the time isn't right."

Due to Vishnu's unique nature, Cosmo differs greatly from other Fused Warrior.

The "Overweight Hypermutation" of other Fused Warrior may have been determined the moment they completed their Fused Warrior surgery. Even for powerful Fused Warrior like Sakura or Aponia, the appearance of their Overweight Hypermutation was predictable from the beginning.

After all, the power of the Overweight Hypermutation originates from the genes of the Honkai Beast. Therefore, with the Honkai Beast genes fixed, all of this can be calculated.

Even for Kevin, if he hadn't accepted the "Brahma Project," his Overweight Hypermutation would have been a predictable outcome—the only uncertainty was whether his Overweight Hypermutation would make him stronger or weaker.

After all, "Parvati" is just an Emperor-class Honkai Beast. The reason Kevin was able to become the strongest among the Fused Warrior is because his own strength was powerful enough.

However, because Cosmo possessed Vishnu's ability to grow indefinitely, he had a "growth potential" that no other Fused Warrior had.

This growth potential allows Cosmo to continuously enhance his power, but it also makes his Overweight Hypermutation full of uncertainty.

If Ai Yue were to perform the "Mutated Weapon" editing surgery on him under these circumstances, the result would be that his growth potential would be artificially locked, thus blocking his future.

Therefore, Ai Yue did not intend to tell him about this until Cosmo himself entered a relatively stable "maturity period".

However, now, Cosmo is able to trigger "Overweight Hypermutation" on its own, transforming into a beast completely different from "Vishnu". This means that the opponent's accumulation has reached a certain limit and has embarked on a path completely different from "Vishnu".

At this point, performing the editing surgery on Cosmo's Overweight Hypermutation can avoid the problem of artificially blocking its growth potential.

However, there is actually an even better option now.

"You mean, both Sakura-senpai and Dr. Mobius underwent 'Mutated Weapon' surgery?"

Looking at the records that Ai Yue showed him, Cosmo couldn't help but have his eyes light up. "So that's how it is. No wonder Sakura-senpai's slash was so fast... So can I do it too?"

Looking at Mobius and Sakura's cool Bio-Armor, Cosmo couldn't help but smile longingly. Although it was still far from being realized, he had already begun to imagine just how cool his own "Mutated Weapon" would be.

In short, let's start with a pair of big wings!

"Sure,"

Ai Yue nodded, then deliberately showed a slight hesitation, "However, there is a new plan now, I wonder if you are interested?"