Kaslana's Way of Survival

"But I remember you're from five hundred years in the future, right? Don't tell me the Priest found a way to travel through time?!" Karel blinked, then grew a bit excited.

"If that's the case, how about you talk to the Priest and have him bring us all to five hundred years from now? I've heard so many stories from you about that time, I've been wanting to see it for ages!"

"Time travel isn't that easy, you know? You could even say it's impossible." Kaino rolled his eyes. "And I remember telling you, the history where I'm from is different from what happened here."

"You told me? Oh, I remember now." Karel nodded. "You said that in your world, the Priest was a big villain, Theresa was a forty-eight-year-old woman, and Saintess Kallen was executed by trial instead of dying a peaceful death..."

"Hey, Kaino, do you think there's a chance..." Karel hesitated, then continued, "Is it possible that you didn't actually travel through time, but that injury you took made you..."

"Made my brain broken, you mean?" Kaino rolled his eyes again. "First of all, my memories are clear and logically coherent. Second, the Priest checked me out and said I'm fine, right?"

"That's true, but..."

Karel was still troubled.

"No more 'buts.' We'll talk later." Kaino sighed, setting his utensils back in the kitchen.

"I'm going to see the Priest. After I'm done talking with him, I'll come back and tell you. Oh, by the way, it's your turn to wash the dishes today!"

"Huh, wait, just me?" Karel startled, then gave Kaino an awkward smile. "Hey... Kaino, you're not in that much of a rush to see the Priest, right?"

"I'm not? No, I am. I'm in a big rush!"

Quickly refusing Karel's plea for help, Kaino left the kitchen without looking back, heading toward the Priest's room on the second floor of the orphanage.

Chapter 9: Shenzhou Has an Immortal Named Chi Yuan

"Priest?"

Kaino lightly knocked twice on the door to announce his arrival, then pushed it open and stepped inside.

"Hm? Oh, Kaino, you're here."

Inside, the Priest was sitting upright at a table, tinkering with something. He turned sideways at the sound of the door opening.

And because he turned, Kaino could see what he was working on.

A golden box.

"Priest, is the Void Archives still not repaired?"

Kaino recognized that box. The Priest had told him it was a God Key. And according to what the Priest had said about it, once repaired, it might reveal the reason Kaino had ended up in this era, five hundred years from his own.

"Not yet. The backlash from the Herrscher of Corruption's final strike before being sealed again left an impact I still haven't fully understood."

The Priest sighed involuntarily.

"If I were its creator or someone well-versed in the Erosion Herrscher, solving this wouldn't be too hard. But I'm neither, and the technical level it involves is far too high."

"I can rely on your Stigmata's power to analyze it, but it's still a long process."

"Then did you call me here to continue the analysis? But I remember you said last time that further analysis wouldn't yield any useful information."

Kaino voiced his confusion, glancing down at his chest.

Ever since waking up in this orphanage, a Stigmata mark had appeared on Kaino's chest—likely a natural Stigmata.

The Stigmata's shape resembled two intertwined snakes, with a hollow diamond in the gap between them, making the whole thing look like a vertical eye.

It was a bit eerie and unsettling.

But despite its unappealing appearance, the benefits this Stigmata brought him were astonishingly great.

First, there were the talents he theoretically should have possessed but never manifested before the Stigmata awakened—traits unique to the Shania and Kaslana bloodlines: high Honkai energy resistance and adaptability, and terrifying superhuman strength.

Although the orphanage lacked professional equipment to measure exactly how high Kaino's Honkai energy resistance and adaptability were, the fact that Honkai energy inside his body caused him no discomfort—and even felt pleasant—was enough to show how absurdly high those qualities were.

That much could be understood as the Stigmata returning talents that were always his.

But the Stigmata's next abilities left Kaino baffled.

Analysis, projection, and creation; manipulation of Imaginary Space; control 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.

In short, these were the abilities of the First through Sixth Herrschers, plus the ability all Herrschers shared—to absorb Honkai energy.

During the play, the spotlight from above and the curtain that fell at the end were both constructed by Kaino using the first ability.

Come to think of it, he remembered Ziegfried once mentioning that the Second Herrscher, Sirin, at her peak, possessed all six of these abilities. For a while, Kaino even suspected he might be the clone made from Kiana's cells.

Of course, while he possessed the abilities of the First through Sixth Herrschers, the Stigmata's actual powers were subtly different.

For instance, there was the issue of intensity. Based on Kaino's feeling, the abilities corresponding to the First through Sixth Herrschers weren't equal in strength. The First and Sixth were the strongest, while the Second through Fifth decreased in power sequentially.

—By "strength," he meant maximum output and efficiency in utilizing Honkai energy.

But since he had no reference point and had never actually run those abilities at full power, Kaino had no idea how his abilities compared to a real Herrscher.

As for why he'd never run them at full power...

"Kaino, has your rate of drawing Honkai energy from Imaginary Space or your maximum capacity increased recently?"

The Priest asked.

"No, it's still the same. Not a bit of growth." Kaino sighed. "Thanks to that, I can't achieve maximum output with any of my Authorities right now."

The Stigmata allowed Kaino to ignore the ambient Honkai energy concentration and, like a Herrscher, draw Honkai energy directly from Imaginary Space in a stable and rapid manner.

But it seemed precisely because of this stable channel for acquiring Honkai energy that Kaino, even while soaking in a Honkai reaction pool, absorbed it at a slower rate than others did in a normal environment.

After observing, the Priest explained that a Herrscher draws Honkai energy from Imaginary Space not through their own body, but through the Herrscher Core within them, while Kaino had to rely on his body alone to extract it from Imaginary Space.

Simply put, the human body is single-threaded, and drawing directly from Imaginary Space forcibly occupied Kaino's thread, leaving him almost unable to absorb from the outside world.

Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, since the efficiency of that method was far higher than absorbing from the environment—after all, who would regularly jump into a Honkai reactor?

But the part that screwed Ziegfried over was that this thing couldn't be turned off, and once it absorbed to a certain concentration, it stopped absorbing, while also preventing active absorption...

This made Kaino well-suited for medium-to-high intensity sustained combat, but against top-tier enemies, he'd likely be dead in the water.

If he could find a Herrscher Core or something similar to implant in his body, it might free up Kaino by giving him a second thread, but unfortunately, the cores in God Keys seemed impossible to pry out...

"You're fourteen now, and you have six authorities on you. Even if you go out alone, there won't be much danger."

The Priest said, "So I have a suggestion. Would you like to go to Shenzhou?"

"Shenzhou?" Kaino was puzzled.

"Yes, Shenzhou." The Priest nodded. "Unlike Europe, where Schicksal is based, Shenzhou isn't strong in technological applications of Honkai energy, but they have their own unique system for drawing, storing, and using it from the outside world. Of course, they call Honkai energy 'True Qi' there."

"If you can learn some advanced ways to utilize or absorb Honkai energy from Shenzhou, it would be very beneficial for you personally."

Kaino hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Though he'd grown attached to his companions over the years at the orphanage and felt some reluctance, he would eventually have to leave and set out on the road home.

So leaving early or late made little difference.

"Then I'll leave tomorrow?"

"...At least stay long enough to say goodbye to the children, alright?"

The Priest shook his head with a smile.

"Ah... I just don't know what to say, okay? I've never really said a proper goodbye to anyone."

Kaino let out an awkward chuckle. This time, he had no idea how long he'd be gone. By the time he returned, the other kids in the orphanage besides Theresa would probably have been adopted.

Though maybe not? After all, Karel and a few others seemed to share Theresa's intention of staying at the orphanage for good.

"Set your own departure time. Besides that, I hope you'll look for the Red Sparrow Immortal while you're in Shenzhou."

"Red Sparrow Immortal?" Kaino blinked. "I remember in the first act of 'Saintess Kallen,' she faced the Shenzhou Immortal Red Sparrow and lost..."

"Yes, that's right. The Red Sparrow Immortal has an extremely high level of skill in using Honkai energy. Back then, she easily defeated Schicksal's eastern expedition army and the Saintess wielding the God Key, Oath of Judah. If you want to learn how to absorb and control Honkai energy, she or her students would make excellent teachers."

"Not only that, but the Red Sparrow Immortal is said to have lived for a very, very long time, so her knowledge should be considerable as well."

The Priest said, "The Void Archives' recovery is still far off, but the Red Sparrow Immortal might also be able to help you find your way home."

"Still, don't dwell on it too much. It'd be best if you find her, but if not, that's fine too."

With that, the Priest let out a sigh.

"About twenty years ago, the Saintess and I went to Shenzhou to try and find the Immortal in order to seal the Herrscher of Corruption. But when we reached her old residence, we found it had been burned down, and the Immortal was nowhere to be found."

"In the end, the Saintess and I had to deal with that Herrscher on our own, and she passed away two years later. The Void Archives was also damaged in the process."

Chapter 10: Parting

No words were spoken that night.

The next day, Kaino woke up very early, crawling out of bed while the sky was still barely light. Tiptoeing so as not to disturb Karel, who was sleeping in the other bed in the room, Kaino pushed the door open and stepped out.

"Huff."

Letting out a long breath, Kaino left the orphanage gates. First, he took a stroll around the orphanage's vicinity, casually clearing out a few nearby Honkai Beasts, then slipped into the woods on a nearby hillside.

With a casual wave of his hand, invisible Wind Blades shot out from Kaino's palm, slicing into the small trees around him.

Chopping wood was Kaino's job at the orphanage.

The orphanage run by the Priest didn't exploit the children living there. Normally, tasks like wood-chopping were handled by Kaino after breakfast.

But it was already December, and the weather was getting colder. Kaino planned to cut extra firewood before leaving to help the orphanage get through winter, so that Karel—the only other boy there—wouldn't be overworked after he was gone.

Karel didn't have an innate Stigmata like Kaino did. If he had to chop wood in the dead of winter, he'd freeze half to death. And if he froze half to death, someone else would have to take over the wood-chopping.

Besides, Kaino had no intention of changing his decision to leave today, so he'd need to pack his things during the day.

With that thought, Kaino unleashed more Wind Blades.

Before long, he had turned the entire patch of woods into firewood. Then, with another wave of his hand, a large black hole appeared beneath the cut logs, swallowing them up and spitting them out into the orphanage's storage shed.

"Done and dusted!"

Stretching to relax, Kaino headed back. Though he'd woken up early, he'd been out chopping wood for a while, and the orphanage was probably already starting breakfast.

The orphanage wasn't like home, where if you missed breakfast, your parents would kindly prepare something for you.

...Ah, but at home, he was the one doing the cooking, wasn't he?

"Hey, you're already eating?"

As soon as he stepped inside, Kaino caught a whiff of something fragrant, and the dining table was already full of people.

"Kaino, where did you go? Karel said you were already up when he woke up." Theresa was the first to speak up when she saw him. "Come eat quickly—there's sandwiches and soup."

"I woke up early today, so I went to chop some wood first."

Hearing Theresa's words, Kaino washed his hands with a high-speed rotating gust of wind while sitting down to start the meal.

"So lavish?"

Seeing the food on the table, Kaino couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

The food was indeed just sandwiches and thick soup, but unlike the usual simple breakfast, today both the sandwiches and the soup were packed with ingredients.

"The Priest said he's going to town today to stock up on more supplies for winter, so he took out the remaining ingredients," Theresa replied with a smile. "So it's not just breakfast—lunch today will be lavish too."

"I hope your idea of 'lavish' isn't a bitter melon feast."

Tossing back a casual reply, ignoring Theresa's reddening face, Kaino began his own meal-devouring journey.

"Children, there's something I think I need to tell you." After breakfast, the Priest clapped his hands and addressed everyone who was cleaning up the dishes. "Kaino will be leaving the orphanage soon."

Everyone's movements came to a sudden halt.

Kaino stared blankly at the Priest. What's going on, Priest? How could you sell me out like this?!

"Huh, Kaino, you're leaving?" The first to react was Karel, his eyes wide as he stared at him. "Did you find a home? When are you going? Will you come back to see us?"

Theresa, Mikhail, and the others were also stirring restlessly.

"Stop, stop, stop, one at a time," Kaino quickly said, truly afraid of being drowned in the vast ocean of the crowd. "I didn't find a home. I'm taking the Priest's advice to go to Shenzhou to find someone who might know how I can get back home. I'm not going home right now."

"So of course I'll still come back. To me, Shenzhou isn't that far from here. I won't talk about the distant future for now, but by the time you put on your Christmas performance next time, I should be back to watch—as long as you don't perform 'Saintess Kallen' again, that show we've already seen several times."

"As for when I'm leaving... I plan to go today."

"Kaino, you're leaving today? That's too sneaky—how are we supposed to have time to prepare gifts for you!"

Theresa crossed her arms, glaring at Kaino, then turned to the Priest. "You knew too, right, Priest? After all, it was you who gave Kaino the advice. No wonder you decided to go stock up on supplies today—you were planning a big meal before Kaino left."

Hearing this, the Priest quickly raised both hands in surrender and said helplessly, "Little Theresa... Kaino did tell me, but I specifically advised him to wait a few more days before leaving, you know?"

Theresa turned her head back to glare at Kaino.

"Ahaha, I just... wanted to give you all a surprise?"