"But I remember you said you were from five hundred years in the future. Could the Priest have found a way to travel through time?!" Karel blinked, then grew a little excited.
"If that's the case, why don't you talk to the Priest and have him take us all five hundred years into the future? After hearing you tell so many stories about that time, I've wanted to see it for ages!"
"How could time travel possibly be that easy? You could even say it's impossible." Kaino rolled his eyes. "And I remember telling you, didn't I? The history where I came from is different from what happened here."
"You did? Oh, I remember now." Karel nodded. "You seemed to say that the Priest where you came from was a huge villain, Theresa was a forty-eight-year-old old lady, and Saintess Kallen was executed instead of dying peacefully..."
"Um, Kaino, do you think there's a possibility..." Karel hesitated before continuing, "Could it be that you never traveled through time at all, and that injury made you..."
"Damaged my brain, right?" Kaino rolled his eyes at that. "Leaving aside the fact that my memories are clear and logically consistent, the Priest examined me too. He said there was nothing wrong with me, didn't he?"
"That's true, but..."
Karel was still conflicted.
"No buts. We'll talk later." Kaino sighed and put the dishes in his hands back in the kitchen.
"I'm going to see the Priest. I'll tell you about it when I'm done talking to him. Oh, right, you're washing the dishes today!"
"Huh? Don't do this to me, I'm the only one?" Startled, Karel looked at Kaino with an embarrassed smile. "Um... Kaino, you're not in such a hurry to see the Priest right now, are you?"
"I'm not, I didn't, I'm in a huge hurry!"
Promptly rejecting Karel's plea for help, Kaino quickly left the kitchen without looking back and headed for the Priest's room on the second floor of the Orphanage.
"Priest?"
After lightly knocking twice to announce his arrival, Kaino pushed the door open and walked in.
"Hm? Oh, Kaino, you're here."
The Priest was seated at a table, tinkering with something. Hearing the door open, he turned around.
And because he had turned, Kaino was able to see what he had been working on atop the table.
A golden box.
"Priest, hasn't Void Archives been repaired yet?"
Kaino recognized the box. The Priest had told him it was a God Key. According to his explanation, repairing it might reveal why Kaino had arrived in this place five hundred years away from his own time.
"Not yet. I still haven't figured out the effect that final counterattack from the Herrscher of Corruption had on it before she was sealed again."
As he spoke, the Priest unconsciously sighed.
"If its creator were here, or someone who knew enough about the Erosion Herrscher, solving this problem should not be difficult. But I am neither, and the technology contained within it is far too advanced."
"Though we can use the power of your Stigmata to analyze it, this is still going to be a lengthy process."
"Then did you call me here so we could continue analyzing it? But I remember you saying last time that further analysis wouldn't reveal any useful information."
Kaino voiced his doubts as he lowered his head to look at his chest.
Ever since waking up in this Orphanage, a Stigmata mark had appeared on Kaino's chest. It was probably an innate Stigmata.
The Stigmata looked like two intertwined snakes. In the gap between them was a hollow diamond-shaped block, making the entire mark resemble a vertical eye.
It looked rather eerie and unsettling.
Still, although its appearance was hardly appealing, the benefits it brought Kaino were unbelievably great.
First were the gifts he should theoretically have possessed, yet had never displayed before the Stigmata awakened—exceptional resistance and adaptability to Honkai energy, as well as terrifying physical strength, unique to the Schariac and Kaslana bloodlines.
The Orphanage lacked the professional equipment needed to determine just how high Kaino's Honkai energy resistance and adaptability were. Yet when Honkai energy existed within his body, not only did it cause him no discomfort whatsoever, it even made him feel rather comfortable.
From that alone, it was clear that those two qualities of Kaino's were absurdly high.
That could be understood as the Stigmata returning talents that had always belonged to Kaino. That much made sense.
But the abilities that followed left Kaino utterly unable to understand.
Analysis, projection, and creation; control over Imaginary Space; mastery over lightning and magnetic fields; control over fluids; control over low temperatures; control over creation and annihilation; and the ability to directly draw Honkai energy from Imaginary Space.
Simply put, they were the powers of the First through Sixth Herrschers, along with the ability all Herrschers possessed: drawing Honkai energy.
During the stage performance, the spotlights in the sky and the curtain that descended at the end had both been constructed by Kaino using the first ability.
Come to think of it, Kaino remembered Ziegfried mentioning that the Second Herrscher, Sirin, possessed all six of those powers at her peak. That had nearly made him suspect that he himself was the clone made using Kiana's cells.
Of course, although he possessed the powers of the First through Sixth Herrschers, the Stigmata's abilities were subtly different from theirs.
For instance, there was the matter of strength. In Kaino's estimation, the abilities corresponding to the First through Sixth Herrschers were not equally powerful. The first and sixth were the strongest, while the second through fifth weakened in sequence.
Here, strength referred to maximum output and efficiency in utilizing Honkai energy.
However, since he had no point of comparison and had never truly operated those abilities at full power, Kaino had no idea whether they were stronger or weaker than those of real Herrschers.
As for why he had never operated them at full power...
"Kaino, has the rate and maximum amount at which you draw Honkai energy from Imaginary Space increased recently?"
The Priest spoke up.
"No. It's the same as ever—not an inch of improvement." Kaino sighed. "Thanks to it, I can't use any of my authorities at maximum output now."
The Stigmata allowed Kaino to ignore the concentration of Honkai energy around him and draw it directly, steadily, and rapidly from Imaginary Space like a Herrscher.
But perhaps precisely because it gave him an additional stable route to obtain Honkai energy, even if Kaino soaked in a Honkai energy reaction pool, his absorption speed might not even match that of someone absorbing it in a normal environment.
After observing him, the Priest explained that Herrschers did not rely on their own bodies to draw Honkai energy from Imaginary Space, but on the Herrscher Core within them. Kaino, on the other hand, had to rely on his own body.
Put simply, a human body was single-threaded, and drawing from Imaginary Space forcibly occupied Kaino's one thread, leaving him almost unable to draw energy from the outside world.
Normally, that would not have been a problem. After all, this method was much more efficient than absorbing energy from outside. Who would constantly jump into a Honkai reaction furnace for no reason?
But the part that had screwed over Ziegfried was that this thing could not be switched off. Once it absorbed energy to a certain concentration, it stopped absorbing, and Kaino could not actively draw more either...
That made Kaino well-suited for sustained combat at medium to high intensity, but against top-tier enemies, he might collapse outright.
If they could find a Herrscher Core or something similar and place it in his body, perhaps turning Kaino into a dual-threaded system would free him. Unfortunately, the core inside the God Key seemed impossible to remove...
"You are already fourteen, and you possess six authorities. Even if you went out alone, you would not face much danger."
The priest said, "So I have a suggestion. Would you like to make a trip to Shenzhou?"
"Shenzhou?" Kaino was puzzled.
"Yes, Shenzhou." The priest nodded. "Unlike Europe, where Schicksal is located, Shenzhou is not particularly advanced in its technological applications of Honkai energy. But it has its own system for drawing, storing, and using Honkai energy from the outside world. Of course, over there, they call Honkai energy True Qi."
"If you can learn more efficient methods of using or drawing Honkai energy in Shenzhou, it would be greatly beneficial to you personally."
Kaino hesitated, then nodded. Though he had formed deep bonds with his companions here during his years at the Orphanage and felt reluctant to leave, he would eventually have to depart and set out on the road home.
So leaving early or late made little difference.
"Then I'll leave tomorrow?"
"...At least give yourself some time to say goodbye to the children first?"
The priest smiled and shook his head.
"Aha... It's just that I don't know what to say. I've never really said goodbye to anyone before."
Kaino gave an awkward laugh. He had no idea how long he would be gone this time. By the time he returned, all the children in the Orphanage except Theresa would probably have been adopted.
Though maybe not? Karel and the others seemed to have the same idea as Theresa of staying at the Orphanage forever.
"You can decide when to leave yourself. Aside from that, I hope that while you are in Shenzhou, you will look for the Red Sparrow Immortal."
"The Red Sparrow Immortal?" Kaino blinked. "I remember that in the first act of 'Saintess Kallen,' Saintess Kallen was defeated by the Shenzhou immortal, Chi Yuan..."
"Yes, that's right. The Red Sparrow Immortal's methods of using Honkai energy are exceedingly refined. Back then, she easily defeated Schicksal's eastern expeditionary army, as well as the Saintess wielding the God Key, Oath of Judah. If you wish to learn how to draw and control Honkai energy, she or her students should make excellent teachers."
"Furthermore, it is said that the Red Sparrow Immortal has lived for a very, very long time. Her knowledge should be considerable as well."
The priest said, "Void Archives' recovery remains a distant prospect, but perhaps the Red Sparrow Immortal can also help you find a way home."
"But do not place too much importance on it. It would be best if you find her, but if you do not, then so be it."
At that, the priest sighed.
"About twenty years ago, the Saintess and I went to Shenzhou to search for the immortal in hopes of sealing the Herrscher of Corruption. But when we arrived at the immortal's former residence, we found it had been burned down, and the immortal had vanished without a trace."
"In the end, the Saintess and I could only deal with that Herrscher on our own. As a result, the Saintess passed away two years later, and Void Archives was damaged because of it as well."
The night passed without incident.
The next day, Kaino rose very early. When the sky was only beginning to brighten, he climbed out of bed. Careful not to wake Karel, who was sleeping in the other bed, Kaino quietly opened the door and left.
"Phew."
Letting out a long breath, Kaino walked out through the Orphanage gates. After wandering around the vicinity and casually clearing out the nearby Honkai Beasts, he slipped into the woods on a nearby hillside.
With a casual wave of his hand, invisible Wind Blades swept out from his fingers and slashed at the small trees nearby.
Chopping firewood was Kaino's job at the Orphanage.
The Orphanage founded by the Priest did not exploit the children living there. In the past, Kaino would handle tasks like chopping firewood after breakfast.
But it was already December, and the weather was growing colder. Before leaving, Kaino intended to chop more wood to make winter easier for the Orphanage. That way, Karel, the only boy left there after he departed, would not have to work himself too hard.
Karel did not have an innate Stigmata like Kaino. If he had to chop wood in the dead of winter, wouldn't he freeze half to death? And if he froze half to death, someone else would have to chop the wood, wouldn't they?
Besides, Kaino did not intend to change his decision to leave today, so he would need the daytime to pack his luggage.
Thinking that, Kaino released even more Wind Blades.
Before long, Kaino had cut the entire grove into firewood. Then, with another wave of his hand, a black hole appeared beneath the fallen wood, swallowing it all before depositing it in the Orphanage warehouse.
"All done!"
After stretching to loosen up, Kaino headed back. Though he had risen early, he had spent quite a while chopping wood outside. Breakfast at the Orphanage had probably already begun.
The Orphanage was not like home. If you missed breakfast, your parents would not thoughtfully prepare something for you.
...Ah, at home, wasn't he the one who did the cooking?
"Huh, you've already started eating?"
The moment he stepped inside, Kaino smelled something delicious, and the dining table was already full.
"What were you doing, Kaino? Karel said you were already up when he woke up this morning." Theresa was the first to speak when she saw him. "Hurry over and eat. We have sandwiches and thick soup."
"I got up early today, so I went to chop wood first."
Hearing Theresa's words, Kaino washed his hands with a powerful rotating wind as he took his seat and began eating.
"This is quite a feast."
Seeing the food on the table, Kaino could not help exclaiming in surprise.
It was indeed only sandwiches and thick soup, but unlike their usual simple breakfasts, both the sandwiches and soup were packed full of ingredients today.
"The priest said he's going into town today to buy another batch of supplies for the winter, so he took out all the remaining ingredients." Theresa answered with a smile. "So not only breakfast, lunch will be very lavish too."
"I hope your idea of lavish isn't a bitter melon banquet."
He tossed out the comment casually and began digging in, ignoring Theresa's reddening face.
"Children, there is something I believe I need to tell you." After breakfast, the Priest clapped his hands and addressed everyone who was clearing the table. "Kaino will be leaving the Orphanage soon."
Everyone froze at once.
Kaino stared blankly at the Priest. What was going on, Priest? Why were you selling me out?!
"Huh? Kaino, you're leaving?" Karel was the first to react. His eyes widened as he looked at Kaino. "Did you find your home? When are you leaving? Will you come back to see us?"
Theresa, Mikhail, and the others began stirring as well.
"Wait, wait, one at a time." Kaino hurriedly spoke up, afraid he would be drowned in the sea of questions. "I haven't found my home. I'm going to Shenzhou on the Priest's advice to find someone who might know how I can get home. I'm not going home right now."
"So of course I'll come back. Shenzhou isn't that far from here for me. Forget anything too far ahead—when you perform for Christmas next time, I should come back to watch, as long as you don't put on 'Saintess Kallen' again. I've already seen that show several times."
"As for when I'm leaving... I plan to leave today."
"You're leaving today, Kaino? That's too sneaky! How are we supposed to have time to prepare a gift for you?"
Theresa crossed her arms and glared at Kaino before looking at the Priest. "You knew too, didn't you? You were the one who suggested it to Kaino. No wonder you decided to buy supplies today—you were planning to have a big meal before Kaino left."
The Priest hurriedly raised both hands in surrender, speaking helplessly. "Little Theresa... Kaino did tell me, but I specifically suggested that he wait a few more days before leaving, didn't I?"
Theresa turned back to glare at Kaino.
"Aha, I just... wanted to give you all a surprise, okay?"
Before you continue