Second Ten-Pull

"Oh, right, my rewards." After kindly burying the dead soldier girl's body, the young man began collecting the compensation he was owed.

"Understood. Ten standard supply chances. Would you like to use them?"

"Use them."

"Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have obtained the Valkyrie Armor—B-rank White Comet. The system kindly reminds you: even if you train, it'll still be White Comet, so you can dismantle it for Honkai Energy."

"Ding! Host has obtained the weapon Katana · Electric Soul. Attacks carry lightning-element damage, and it can evolve up to four stars. Essential during the newbie transition period. Weapons can also be dismantled for Honkai Energy."

"Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have obtained the S-rank Valkyrie Armor—Queen of Thunder's Kirin. You've already guessed it from the name, right? That's right, this is the Valkyrie Armor I prepared for the Third Herrscher. Since Mihoyo never clearly stated where Kirin came from, I'll just assume it was provided by the Honkai. If that gets contradicted later, don't worry about it. After all, Mihoyo's determined to drive fanfic writers insane. This armor can control most of the Power of Lightning, so you can use it to woo the Third Herrscher."

"Ding~ Congratulations, Host, you have obtained the Stigmata - Xiao Yun. Let me tell you a little secret, Host: Xiao Yun is a name specially altered by this system. Her real name is actually Li Er."

"As for the rest, they're all items for strengthening weapons, so the Host doesn't need to worry about them. There are three materials you really need to pay attention to: lenses, shields, and turbines. Powerful weapons inevitably need these materials for strengthening."

"Host, since you obtained Valkyrie Armor but aren't a Valkyrie, this system will give you a special benefit. Since you can already use Honkai Energy and Stigmata, I'll let you use this armor's Power of Lightning as well!"

The young man's mind was a little scrambled. From the system's description just now, he could already tell that White Comet and Queen of Thunder's Kirin were absolutely on two different levels—worlds apart! And then there was Stigmata - Xiao Yun. Xiao Yun! She was that Xiao Yun! Not to mention what Xiao Yun had been like in the history of the Heavenly Dynasty in his original world, or how powerful Xiao Yun was in this world—the important point was that her achievements had definitely been extraordinary. Many Stigmata were determined by the achievements of their owners during life. There was no need to imagine how powerful Xiao Yun was.

"Host, residual heroic consciousness has been detected within Stigmata - Xiao Yun. Would you like to use Honkai Energy to awaken it? Since Xiao Yun is a special Stigmata, 300 Honkai Energy is required for each awakening."

"How much Honkai Energy do I have right now?"

"Because some Honkai Energy was absorbed when Stigmata - Xiao Yun and Queen of Thunder's Kirin appeared, the remaining amount is now 20."

"What about after dismantling White Comet?"

"300."

......For a moment, the young man fell silent.

"Dismantle it! Awaken Xiao Yun!"

After a while, a blue mark resembling surging river water appeared on the young man's left arm. Nothing else happened.

"Xiao Yun?" he tried calling out, but the Stigmata showed no response.

"System, what's going on?"

"Host, Xiao Yun has just awakened from her slumber, but there wasn't enough Honkai Energy to sustain her consciousness, so she returned to her slumber."

"Oh, okay. Then let's keep moving. What's this city called? What happened here? Tell me everything." Heaven knew how he could remain so calm. At any rate, the system couldn't be wrong.

"Okay. Seeing the Host so motivated puts me at ease, too. This city is called Changkong City. A Honkai eruption occurred here just now, caused by the Third Herrscher—the Herrscher of Thunder."

"Where is the Third Herrscher now?"

"She hasn't awakened yet, so don't be afraid. However, she has already begun releasing Honkai Energy; otherwise, this Honkai eruption wouldn't have occurred. And this city also has a Simulated Herrscher. She is the host of the Twelfth Herrscher from the previous civilization—the Herrscher of Erosion. Although the Herrscher of Erosion was defeated five hundred years ago."

"So Herrschers can lose, too? I thought Herrschers were invincible." That was rather surprising. He had learned quite a bit about this world as soon as he arrived, but he was genuinely astonished to hear that Herrschers could lose as well.

"She wasn't defeated through strength, but through emotion. The emotion humans call love defeated the Herrscher of Erosion. However, it didn't kill her. The two of them simply coexisted for five hundred years."

"Love? In this world, the one who could make a Simulated Herrscher develop feelings was probably a Valkyrie, right? An ordinary human wouldn't even be able to approach a Simulated Herrscher."

"Correct. She was Schicksal Organization's strongest S-rank Valkyrie—Kallen Kaslana."

"I really want to ask what Schicksal Organization even is, but it seems we've reached our destination."

Surrounded by dead soldiers were a little girl and two young women. Of the two young women, one was a white-haired twin-tailed bundle, while the other had purple hair and an overwhelming married-woman aura. The young man couldn't help wondering: Were these two really Herrschers?

"The purple-haired girl is the Third Herrscher! Host, find a way to woo her! Then we'll have a foundation to establish ourselves!"

"Woo her, my ass! I don't want to die yet! Also, that girl is the Third Herrscher? I thought all Herrschers looked like old witches or ancient monsters."

"How could that be? Herrschers retain their youth forever. That Simulated Herrscher who has lived for more than five hundred years is also a gentle young woman with an overwhelming married-woman aura, just like this girl."

As they spoke, the young man had already taken up Katana · Electric Soul, which he shortened to Electric Blade. It was a katana, though its somewhat crooked shape was rather unusual. He also activated Queen of Thunder's Kirin's lightning ability. With the two combined, he could kill enemies even without knowing swordsmanship.

The farther the battle progressed, the more dead soldiers appeared. At that moment, the system suddenly said, "Host, give the blade to the Third Herrscher. Her family has attained the highest level of swordsmanship!" Three question marks immediately appeared on the young man's face. Couldn't it have said that earlier?

"Catch!" The young man tossed the Electric Blade over, and the purple-haired girl leaped up and caught it.

When she landed, the purple-haired girl slashed three times in succession, and three dead soldiers immediately collapsed to the ground. As expected of swordsmanship passed down to the highest level—it was countless times stronger than the young man's.

"Host, let's follow them and fight our way out. We can also pick up some Honkai Energy along the way."

"Okay."

Without a weapon, the young man could only use a few fighting techniques he had learned out of boredom to knock the dead soldiers to the ground. Now that he had Stigmata and armor, the effects of his title couldn't be brought into play at all. At most, he could pin the dead soldiers down and beat them half to death, then finish them off with Queen of Thunder's Kirin's power.

"It's already much better this way. If a newly initiated Valkyrie were in your place, a timid one might even be killed by these weakest dead soldiers."

"So these dead soldiers are the weakest? What about stronger ones?"

"There are plenty. Do you want ones that can teleport across the ground, ones that can perform five consecutive jumping slashes, or ones that can use summoning magic?"

"Forget it. These will do. I'll use them to practice." He didn't want to bring disaster upon himself through careless words. If this big shot really took him seriously, she might directly throw out a few of the dead soldiers she had just mentioned. Then no one would be able to save him.

Behind the little girl with the double-spiral twin tails floated a massive robot. It held a shield in its left hand and a cannon in its right. Once the young man and the two girls had gone some distance away, it fired several shots, blasting apart some of the surrounding buildings that were still more or less intact and blocking the army of dead soldiers.