Testing the Sword - Upper

"…It's Fu Hua," the girl rubbed her eyes and yawned. She was slumped over what looked like a workbench, clearly exhausted. "I remember I assigned you a sword-testing mission before."

She was a petite girl, seemingly no taller than 1.5 meters, with messy black hair and half-closed crimson eyes that lacked energy.

"Miss Changguang, while a craftsman's focus is admirable, please remember to balance work and rest. In fact, you just posted this mission half an hour ago."

"Oh, really? I forgot. Oh, and who's the young man next to you?" Changguang clearly hadn't taken Fu Hua's advice to heart and was instead intrigued by Su Qing'an.

"This is Su Qing'an, about to enroll in St. Freya Academy," Fu Hua replied.

"Oh, oh, oh! Perfect, have him spar with you! I have another sword here that's a prototype for Anti-Honkai combat."

"It's different from typical Anti-Honkai weapons. It has low requirements for Honkai resistance. Theoretically, even with a normal male's Honkai resistance, he could use it for no more than five minutes before his body starts transforming into a Mortal."

"This technology is almost mature now, but there's still some risk. Of course, since you're enrolling in St. Freya Academy, your Honkai resistance is already higher than that of a normal male."

"Let me just take a look at your physical data."

Changguang eagerly checked Su Qing'an's physical report. Her eyes scanned the panel data projected by the instrument, and she exclaimed in surprise:

"Heh heh, your resistance is just enough to withstand the Honkai concentration in Changkong City? Not too high, not too low. You're perfect for testing swords!"

"You're the first male with just the right amount of Honkai resistance to use a Honkai energy weapon. I'm very interested in these stats."

The girl cheerfully walked over to the young man and patted his shoulder, her words lacking any tact.

She glanced at the [Calming the Tempest] in Su Qing'an's hand and said, "You came here specifically with a broken sword. You must want to reforge and repair it, right?"

"If you help me test this sword, I'll personally repair yours, and I can use most of the materials within my authorization."

"What do you say? The risk of an accident during the test is very low with your Honkai resistance."

"Okay." Su Qing'an nodded without hesitation.

He had no reason to refuse.

Fu Hua, standing nearby, subtly frowned but remained silent.

"Then it's settled happily for everyone," Changguang said, then immediately resumed her complaint, "I haven't slept properly for days because of this mass-producible sword."

Due to the large-scale Honkai outbreak in Changkong City, the Far East Branch, the closest to the incident, began to prepare for future potential Honkai events.

One part of this plan was the development of mass-producible weapons with enhanced power.

It seemed this seemingly young blacksmith had already reached the pinnacle of weapon crafting. It had only been a month since the Honkai outbreak in Changkong City, and she had already made significant progress in this field.

As the director of Destiny's St. Freya Institute 1504, she had been active since the Kamakura period, a legendary blacksmith who had lived for a thousand years.

Her name, Changguang Changchuan, indicated she possessed such capabilities.

Her greatest strength was also her weakness: an extraordinary focus, primarily manifested in forging and sleeping.

She would often forge day and night, and her sleep schedule was equally erratic.

If they had arrived any later, it wouldn't have been surprising to find Changguang fast asleep, utterly unreachable.

Theresa's assessment of Changguang was accurate in many respects.

They arrived at the sword-testing grounds. The two, Fu Hua and Su Qing'an, stood in silence.

How many important memories had Yu Duchen burned away back then?

Looking at the young man's face, a strange sense of familiarity and longing arose in her heart, but it was only that – no memories surfaced.

Only this faint, ephemeral emotion remained, impossible to trace.

The girl was like a cracked porcelain doll, her resilient will allowing her to continue functioning.

But the weight of her soul was constantly diminishing, with fewer and fewer things she could grasp. Theoretically, someone like this should be curious, happy, or try to understand and approach.

However, terrifying self-control suppressed all impulses, and the girl remained calm and serene.

The sword she drew was Changguang Changchuan's latest creation, codenamed Composite Sword - Xuanwu.

She tested the sword with Honkai energy, comparing it to previous mass-produced swords.

After a brief period of familiarization with the weapon, they were to draw their swords against each other.

Are you Hua?

That face, identical to the girl rooted in his memories, had almost made him blurt out the question before.

My mind is at peace, he silently recited.

Thus, reason suppressed impulse.

Even if Hua is Fu Hua, so what? he told himself.

After a journey spanning fifty thousand long years, those seven days of acquaintance were too insignificant. He, who had broken his promise on the last day, must have long been buried and forgotten by the vast, trivial memories.

Moreover, the girl standing opposite him seemed unharmed, but both her body and spirit were on the verge of shattering.

With more than half of her memories lost and having experienced such a long time, Hua was no different from a stranger to Su Qing'an.

However, he couldn't help but think.

Compared to himself, who had chosen death, Hua, who had traversed the long years alone and reunited with him here, had not broken her promise.

Ignoring all the messy, chaotic thoughts, he was very happy.

It might be selfish to say this to Fu Hua, who has worked hard to live a lonely life up to now, but after realizing the girl was Hua, his first thought was happiness.

Because he could see her again.

In his memories, he stared for a very, very long time at the sleeping face of the girl bathed in moonlight in the rain that day.

He once thought he would never see her again.

But now she stood before him, her slender, thick eyelashes and beautifully colored eyes clearly visible.

Even though a reunion where they couldn't know each other felt like a first meeting, the young man was still very happy.

He drew his sword.

Compared to the Composite Sword - Xuanwu that Fu Hua created in a few days, the sword in his hand undoubtedly took more of Changguang's energy and effort.

Anti-Honkai Weapon - Prototype Type 1.

A strangely constructed sword, its appearance was a straightforward, technological-style greatsword, unlike the ancient swords of Shenzhou.

It weighed several times more than [Calming the Tempest]. This was not only due to the requirement for Honkai Energy resistance but also imposed certain thresholds on physical strength and power. For anyone with less than 15 Strength, wielding such a sword in normal combat would be extremely difficult.

With his strength and stamina, it was not difficult for him to fight for a long time with this sword.

According to Changguang, the functions endowed by this sword could greatly increase the user's combat power.

If the functions were truly as she said, he wouldn't have had to change course when encountering a Chariot-class in Changkong City that day.

At that time, with the sharpness and sheer force of [Calming the Tempest], even without Honkai Energy augmentation, it couldn't break through the defenses of a Chariot-class Honkai Beast.

And controlling Honkai Energy consumed immense energy, which led him to choose to bypass any Honkai Beasts, except for individual Assault-type Honkai Beasts.

Yet, despite being so cautious and taking every step carefully, he still encountered an Emperor-class.

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