Then! There Is Only One Answer!!

[Ding~! Daily quests have been refreshed.]

[Daily Quest: Spend at least thirty minutes in the same room with any Valkyrie/Flame-Chaser (alone or not). ]

[Quest Reward: Stellar Jade * 150, Random Item Reward * 1.]

[Current Stellar Jade Balance: 2500]

Xu Ziling glanced at it. This quest wasn't difficult. It was the same old daily system quest: "With any Valkyrie/Flame-Chaser...". The content was also extremely simple. Although it was written as a man and a woman alone in a room, which could be easily misinterpreted, the quest didn't specify what they had to do in the room. Just sitting there and waiting would count towards completing the time.

He could finish it with Elysia while eating lunch, or if Mobius woke up tonight, he could go to the Research Institute with her and complete the task.

Xu Ziling preferred tasks that could be completed silently without disturbing anyone. He couldn't help it; the previous system quests, "Wailing" and "Ambiguous Pose," had truly frightened him. He was genuinely afraid that the System would suddenly pop up with a daily quest like "I'm not lying" one day.

So, that's enough self-deprecating humor for now. As for what's next...

[Ding~! Detected that the Herrscher's quest has been completed in stages. The following data is now updated—]

[Herrscher's Quest: The Godhood Attainer of the Honkai World]

[Quest Requirements: Survive in the Honkai World for thirty full days (8/30), hunt one Honkai Beast of Chariot-class or above (?/1)]

The System's prompt pulled Xu Ziling's wandering thoughts back. He looked at the System panel in his vision and couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion. He had only been in the Honkai World for just over eight days, not counting today?

He felt like he had experienced so much in these past few days, as if months had passed. However, compared to the dark and hopeless time as a "social animal" before his transmigration, Xu Ziling naturally preferred his current increasingly fulfilling life.

But despite his feelings, what was that question mark in the System quest's notes?

[Ding~! Host has defeated the first Simulated Herrscher of this era. The kill condition for the Herrscher's quest has been exceeded. However, the survival quest's time condition has not yet ended. To put it bluntly, the current time period the Host is in has not reached the plot point, so the quest rewards cannot be directly issued.]

[However, the Host's combat achievements in confronting the Honkai this time cannot be ignored. Therefore, the System's quest module will automatically modify the original rewards of the Herrscher's quest and stack them with the rewards for exceeding the requirements. The stacked rewards will be issued after the Host has survived for 30 full days.]

[Original Herrscher's Quest Rewards: Star Rail Pass * 10, Stellar Jade * 1600, Dungeon - Simulated Universe Unlocked. System Shop Unlocked, Simulated Universe Survival Guide * 1]

[Stacked Herrscher's Quest Rewards, while maintaining the original quest rewards, will additionally include—"Random Limited 5-Star Character" character abilities, and the title—"Way Ahead"!]

[Note: "Limited 5-Star Character" generally refers to a situation where, after the Host draws a certain Limited 5-Star Character, their character abilities are randomly selected based on strength/applicability/rarity. The selected character abilities will be directly strengthened to the Host's own; if the selected character is already at max constellation and soul, the Host can also replicate a Limited 5-Star Character for auxiliary combat through the thoughts and memories contained within the constellations (characters replicated at max soul can only exist as comrades. They can possess some of the original owner's memories and thoughts, but the Host should distinguish between virtual and reality and not talk to a replicated combat character...)]

[Note 2: Title - Way Ahead: Purely for display, with no practical use. However, if the future Host happens to meet a golden-haired foreigner one day, they can use this title to inflict white true damage that ignores armor and defense on them.]

Limited 5-Star! Way Ahead!

Upon seeing this reward and title, Xu Ziling's heart trembled. As a player who had played all three games (Genshin, Honkai, and Honkai: Star Rail) before his transmigration, he deeply understood the storm hidden beneath these eight words.

However, delving deeper into this topic would deviate from the main point. Moreover, no matter how luxurious the Herrscher's quest rewards were now, he had to wait until he completed the survival quest's time requirement before he could claim them. Therefore, Xu Ziling suppressed his excitement and shifted his attention elsewhere.

For example... according to the System's quest description, the strange person who claimed they did nothing wrong last night was actually a Simulated Herrscher? ...No wonder they could withstand the physical beatings from the Pillar Men, and even became more resilient the more they were hit.

In fact, if it wasn't for the last moment when Xu Ziling exploited the loophole in the strange person's words, causing them to doubt themselves and have an emotional breakdown, leading to their incomplete core losing its final chance to condense. Otherwise, Xu Ziling, relying solely on his physical strength, couldn't be sure he could have defeated them.

The physique of the Pillar Men was indeed incredibly powerful, but as long as they couldn't overcome sunlight, they could never reach the pinnacle of strength. And if Xu Ziling were to face a fully realized Herrscher wielding Authority, under their unreasonable Honkai powers, Xu Ziling would have no escape. In that case, he could only try throwing the Galactic Lottery from his System inventory and hope the opponent triggered the lottery's kill threshold.

Fortunately, things did not escalate to such a serious extent.

And looking at the bright side, not only did he bring back a "true flawless person" who mistakenly believed she was being chased by an evil organization, forcing her to stay at the Research Institute; by defeating the Simulated Herrscher, Xu Ziling, in a sense, seemed to have curbed the development of the Honkai and cut off the opportunity for the birth of the first Herrscher?

[Mm, the Host's assumption is correct.]

The System, rarely serious when it came to the main storyline of the Previous Civilization's Honkai, responded in its somewhat silly voice, like a cunning strategist, saying:

[I took the time to analyze it last night... The strange person you defeated yesterday was indeed a standard Herrscher template. However, at the last moment, the Honkai itself, for some unknown reason, withdrew the power infusion to that strange person, causing them, who should have been born as a Herrscher, to only grow to a height less than an Emperor-class Honkai Beast. Your defeating them, in a sense, did indeed curb the birth time of the first Herrscher.]

[However, Host, you cannot be complacent just because you curbed the birth time of a Herrscher. If the Honkai loses one strange person, it will naturally nurture another... In this world, the birth of a Herrscher is irreversible. Even if you can use some special means to postpone their birth before things become irreversible, Herrschers will inevitably be born.]

Mm.

Xu Ziling was not surprised by this. After all, if it were as simple as defeating a Herrscher core before it fully condensed to prevent their birth, the Honkai wouldn't be so terrifying. He had stopped it once, but he couldn't stop it every time. The Honkai would always find a suitable candidate.

Compared to this, Xu Ziling was more concerned about...

System, you said you can analyze the Honkai just now?

[Mm... I'm also constantly updating...]

That's not important... consider it a bit of my curiosity. System, I want to know, between you and the "Honkai Will" of this civilization era, who is stronger?

[...Huh?]

If the System had a physical form, it would definitely be scratching its head in confusion right now.

After a long pause, the System stammered:

[Should... mm... should be me who's a bit stronger... but I'm not sure. After all, I... I'm just the Star Rail Cultivation System, I don't know much about the power levels here... However, Host, just in case, in the future, if you really need to face the Honkai Will directly... I... I might be so scared that I'll hide inside your body. I'm telling you in advance... Don't say I'm a deserter! This one thing... I really can't help it...]

Seeing that the System was about to panic again, Xu Ziling thought to himself that he really had a loose tongue. He quickly comforted it, It's okay, it's okay, my dear System, don't be nervous. My dear System is not inferior to that Honkai Will at all. After all, everyone has their own expertise. Even a top scientist has to hide from a top serial killer, right? It's okay, I don't blame you.

[Mm... Then... thank you.]

Sigh.

Looking at the System like this, Xu Ziling inexplicably felt tired, but also inexplicably felt that coaxing a child like this felt good. At least he didn't dislike it.

"Ding ding ding~"

Just then, a dinner bell rang from the kitchen. Xu Ziling looked towards the kitchen on the first floor of the small building with some confusion. He remembered that after Elysia finished making meals before, she would excitedly go find Serpent or himself to taste them. Why was she using a dinner bell this time?

After glancing at Klein, who was washing his face in the bathroom, Xu Ziling walked towards the kitchen and asked Elysia:

"What's wrong?"

However, Elysia was sitting at the dining table in the kitchen. After glancing at Xu Ziling, she quickly averted her gaze, propped her face with one hand, and continued to press the dining bell on the table with her right hand, making a "ding ding ding" sound.

Seeing this, Xu Ziling pondered for a moment and said:

"Hmm... Sister Ellie, are you troubled by something?"

"Sister Ellie?"

Elysia's eyes lit up, seemingly pleased with the nickname. But she quickly realized her gaffe and coughed tactfully, putting on a slightly displeased expression. Without looking at Xu Ziling, she muttered to herself, "Wow~... So there are people at home? I've been making breakfast for so long and no one's come to eat. I thought no one was home."

Hearing this, Xu Ziling paused, then gave a helpless smile and said:

"Sorry, there have been a lot of things happening lately, and I've overlooked the care Miss Elf has shown to the Research Institute. If the Doctor isn't awake by noon, I'll cook. You deserve some rest too, Miss Elf."

"Mhm?~ But you should still call me Sister Ellie. I feel like the nickname 'Miss Elf' is more suited for online use."

Elysia smiled, then beckoned to Xu Ziling and said, "I've already put away Dr. Mobius's portion to keep warm. Come and have breakfast~... Oh, right, Little Ziling, has the girl you brought back yesterday left already?"

"Mm... she decided to stay with us for now."

Xu Ziling answered truthfully, then added, "She just woke up and is in the bathroom washing up. She should be out soon."

"Mm..."

Elysia's powder-blue eyes darted around. She quickly got up and peeked towards the living room from the kitchen doorway, then quickly closed the door and returned to Xu Ziling's side, saying with a hint of urgency, "Little Ziling, Little Ziling, while that girl named Klein isn't here, quickly guess what I found when I was cleaning Blanca's room yesterday?"

"Found what?"

Xu Ziling was a bit bewildered by Elysia's sudden question, but he patiently followed her train of thought and said, "Could it be a congratulatory card she left for us? But I don't think... Senior Blanca is the type to be careless. If she were to write us a card, she would have given it to us the night she left.

So, it must be some small memento from her life? And Miss Elysia, after getting her permission over the phone, you excitedly showed me this highly commemorative gift... Is that how it went?"

"Wow..."

Elysia blinked her eyes and then said, "As expected of you?~ You... perfectly dodged the correct answer."

"Ah, this..."

"But it's not far off. It is indeed something written on paper. Little Ziling, come quickly and take a look. I have a feeling we're about to do something bad."

As Elysia spoke, she glanced again at Klein, who had just finished washing her face outside the kitchen. Seeing that no one was around, Klein fell into a state of [Emptiness]. Confirming that Klein was too preoccupied to notice them, Elysia mysteriously pulled a letter envelope with gold-embossed patterns from her pocket and handed it to Xu Ziling.

The envelope showed signs of being opened, clearly indicating Elysia had already read it before Xu Ziling.

After Xu Ziling took it, the envelope, which strongly resembled a university acceptance letter, also bore several gilded characters with gold-embossed patterns—

[Mobius Research Institute — Acceptance Letter]

Seeing this, Xu Ziling, who had been filled with doubt and confusion moments before, felt a jolt in his heart. Recalling the crucial clue "in Blanca's room," a very bad premonition quickly surfaced in his mind!

[Dear Student Klein, Hello.]

[Based on our joint observations with your school over the recent period, Student Klein perfectly meets our enrollment standards in terms of both moral character and academic knowledge. Coupled with the recommendation from Chiyu Academy's direct admission quota, our institute has decided to specially recruit you as an intern postgraduate student under Dr. Mobius.]

[Please do not be concerned about why you can directly enter the workforce and pursue postgraduate studies, bypassing university. Your efforts and achievements during your three years of high school have already proven your capabilities. If you are interested, please visit the Chiyu Academy Admissions Office before the college entrance examination to obtain the specific time and location for reporting to our institute for an internship with this notice.]

[Note: Please remember that the knowledge within the Mobius Research Institute is absolutely on par with any university in this world. Since you now have the power of choice, please do not let your future self regret the choices you make now.]

[—End—]

[—Official Seal of Mobius Research Institute & Chiyu Academy]