Honkai, Survive

The 'roof' that he'd 'stomped' on collapsed, continuing to fall until it stopped at the boundary between Belobog's upper and lower levels.

This was normal. Even someone who could kick through a spaceship's deck couldn't easily destroy the City Builder's Belobog, or it would have been destroyed long ago.

"Still need to train."

He slowly flew out of the deep pit, stirring the hot air and causing it to spread.

Seele, who had rushed over from the garden, felt the warmth and couldn't help but open her mouth wide and widen her eyes.

"Are you okay... I mean, what is that... thing of yours?!"

She had already tried her best to overestimate Fang Jie, after all, he had been accompanied by lightning the whole way and had miraculously helped her plant trees. But now he was showing a 'fiery' side again. Seele was genuinely afraid Fang Jie would be captured and used as firewood.

She even wanted to capture him, even if she couldn't defeat him.

Fang Jie understood her gaze. The meaning behind it was terrifying.

He didn't mind.

Capturing Path deviants to generate electricity and boil water was a specialty of the galaxy. Even the Emperor Bow Emissary did it, and had been doing it all along.

The corner of his mouth twitched:

"Seele, what do you think people lack the most right now?"

"Uh, grass?"

Seele was still thinking about that. Because they had no other seeds to use as genetic blueprints, they could only repeatedly split and grow that one 'birch tree'. Grass was completely out of the question.

Fang Jie shook his head. "It's not a warm climate, not abundant food, not even a god, but the ability to believe."

"..."

He was talking nonsense again.

It wasn't nonsense. Believing was difficult. Cocolia was like that, and Natasha... was also like that. How could she believe that Fang Jie was truly here to help her, and had the ability to help her?

"Seele, let's do something big, something big! We need to do something big!"

He clenched his fist with one hand, and a passionate BGM began to play around him—

"Boom-hum~, ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding, boom-boom-boom, wah-wah-wah-wah~"

It wasn't just beatboxing; it was quite pleasant.

How could a mental projection be so inconvenient? After absorbing the information from the Automaton that had been corrupted by Jizo Mitama, Fang Jie's understanding of mechanics advanced by leaps and bounds.

But why were you suddenly so passionate?

Seele didn't understand and said straightforwardly, "Tell me what to do, and I'll follow!"

She was a simple person. Fang Jie didn't need to be so flashy.

But Fang Jie ignored her and continued his speech: "I know a noble person whose ideal is for ordinary people to live with dignity, without having to sell their conscience and dignity, and to use all their strength just to survive. Ordinary people can also pursue their dreams, thus achieving true equality for all. People can die in happiness, rather than die filled with pain, resentment, hatred, and regret."

Seele was listening. She didn't mock Fang Jie's nonsensical talk, but rather grabbed him and questioned him objectively: "Are you talking in your sleep? I've never even thought of that in my dreams."

"Yes, it's something said in dreams, so it's sleep-talking, which is quite amusing. But that doesn't change the fact that he is a noble person."

Fang Jie looked at Seele, who naturally ran over and grabbed his hand. She was like a righteous person. There were many such people in Belobog, each different, yet all beautiful.

I'm someone who can't be a Nameless and will embark on the Path of Elation, damn it, I'm stuck in Nihility.

"Who knows."

Seele pouted, completely unfazed, determined to hold onto him. She looked at the garden with some reluctance:

"What's next? I'm really out of energy. How about we go back and take a nap?"

With that look, you clearly don't want to go back.

"Can't keep up anymore? Seele."

Fang Jie loudly mocked Seele's current weakness, even wanting to go back like this. "Don't worry, I'm not a dream you're having; you won't suddenly wake up."

"Nonsense, I can keep up with wherever you want to go!"

Seele couldn't stand being provoked.

"Very good. As I said, let's continue to do something big, something that will change everything."

Fang Jie's gaze swept past Rivet Town, extending deep into the Cleft. It even connected to the Overworld, and beyond Belobog, spreading across frozen planets.

He felt very tired, yet also very energetic. As long as... he relaxed his self-imposed constraints.

In other words, his mind was tired, but he dared not relax, at least not casually—allowing thoughts of Destruction to flood in.

Stepping onto a Path, how should one practice it?

Fang Jie was talking about the Path of Destruction.

Learn from Loucha?

No, no, no. I've managed to peek at Nanook, so I have to be stronger than him.

Learn from the Anti-Matter Legion?

Forget it. A bunch of losers who will eventually fail. They are just experience points in the growth process of Stellaron Spirits.

Even learning from Nanook?

It's the same as always: stars will be shattered by force!

So there's no need to learn Destruction, don't let Paths shackle you. What you become doesn't matter, what you achieve does.

But you don't need to fight everything head-on either. Learn from Seele—

"Let's go, let's go, passive defense isn't my style. No monsters will come here for a while, and there's still so much of the outside world to see."

Fang Jie was full of enthusiasm.

Seele understood. She was following The Hunt.

Having just experienced the power of Creation, Fang Jie immediately took her out into the wider world. He wasn't worried that wanderers might devour this entire garden of trees.

"You sound all fired up. Don't come crying to me later, begging me to drag your half-dead self back."

What, you want to poison me?

Her little hands are so soft, yet her words are so harsh.

"I think you have absolutely no understanding of stats."

Chapter Thirty-One: Isn't this also a form of Fire-Bearer?

The world ends, welcome to Belobog.

This is a dangerous world, ravaged by a mysterious disaster known as the "Cleft." The old civilization has fallen, and order has been buried. Fortunately, there is still a city capable of dealing with the "Cleft" disaster.

Within the "Cleft" environment, spacetime becomes chaotic and disordered due to unknown effects, and various dangerous alien creatures appear. Ordinary people who get lost within it will be in grave danger.

Therefore, maps are very important. And those who can guide people to safety out of the Cleft using their unique talents are known as—

"What a crazy person."

Fang Jie was happily bringing Seele into the dungeon, enjoying the smooth experience and the joy of bringing a girl along.

"Black Fox Rin, you are truly obedient like this."

He gritted his teeth, his hand on Jizo Mitama, feeling the corrosion phenomenon on the "Fire-Scorched Shade" before him. It was a monster covered in Imaginary fire, wearing something similar to the Silvermane Guards' patrol gear, a phantom from the old days within the Cleft. It mimicked human form, its features replaced by burning embers, looking like a Flame Fist at first glance, wandering and attacking any living being it found.

But it was corroded, and not just it.

Rin indeed hadn't attacked the people of Belobog, but...

"Never mind."

Fang Jie sighed, finally understanding how she had led him through one Cleft after another before.

After all, he was doing the same thing!

There was no other way. The space within the Cleft was too chaotic and disordered. One moment it was a rooftop, the next it was a kitchen in some room, with a kettle still on the stove, only without fuel to boil water.

Monsters couldn't stop his progress, but the map itself...

So he took action, using Jizo Mitama to directly lock onto the core monster of each small Cleft. Defeating it would resolve the spatial distortion for a period of time.

He could even command them to lead the way.

Then he discovered the new corrosion phenomenon on these Clefts. It was obvious who had done it.

Fang Jie did the same, following the corrosion left by Rin to corrode.

If you think it's foolish for him to dare compete with her using only Jizo Mitama, remember that once, a Herrscher of Corruption tried to corrode the "Honkai Will."

And then he easily corroded the corrosion itself. Fang Jie didn't think it was due to his innate strength. To restrain Rin, he had to take a different approach:

"To what extent will my life expand?"

But he was the one who brought the girl, so he had to see it through, even if it meant tears.

I still have my Paths. Activate, activate them all.

"Seele, I need you to help me train—"

"Heh, taking disciples."

Seele didn't understand his mumbling, but that didn't stop her from learning and applying it.

The windows were covered with rags to keep the hot wind out, and the houses, constructed from mud and stone, didn't look like they had been corroded at first glance. Potholes outside, filled with melted snow, flowed with muddy water. The sky in the distance was still burning, but it was receding.

"Awesome!"

Seele walked out of the dilapidated house, flicking her head with a decisive movement, sending water droplets flying from her purple-black gradient hair.

She roughly patted her butt. Her clothes weren't much: shorts, a crop top, and a stylish cape. If you could even call the fabric that barely covered her navel a crop top, but the cape was genuinely cool.

Cool Seele, cool!

However, because of this, her clothes were soaked. The limited fabric was thoroughly drenched, and patting it didn't dry it. It felt sticky and uncomfortable.

This didn't dampen Seele's good mood. She had actually passed through so many Clefts, as if guided by a divine hand, and seen the outside world, the world outside Belobog. This novel sauna experience...

The novelty of so many firsts injected vitality into her weary soul, and Seele felt exhilarated.

"So this is the outside world you were talking about? It's really nothing special. There isn't even a single soul around. I was hoping if I met anyone from the Overworld, I'd get to beat them up."

The world was a pale expanse, swallowed by snow. The frost wind bit to the bone, and the snow whispered as it melted, making it even colder. Fortunately, Seele wasn't far from a 'big furnace.'

He was huge!

Everything in sight seemed to be burning, scorching the heavens and boiling the seas. The sea was literally boiling – he told Seele it was just a lake, a burning lake of fire.

"It really isn't great. I hate seeing nothing but snow all the time, too. No matter the cost, they need to make things look better."

Fang Jie's voice, already distant, sounded somewhat 'layered,' muffled and hoarse with a mechanical undertone. This was because the intense heat and roaring sounds always tore apart the medium through which sound traveled, distorting everything. Their conversation was happening via 'walkie-talkie.'

This didn't affect his good mood, as he continued to radiate heat.

"Seele, you have to admit, there are beautiful flowers and ugly flowers alike."

"Fine, I admit it."

Seele didn't venture any closer. The temperature was already too high for even her. She found a cracked, black stone on the dark, somewhat ugly, desolate ground and sat down.

The furnace hung high above, melting everything. It turned ice and snow into water, the earth into glass, and then all of it merged into a mudslide, spreading wantonly...

Of course, getting too close to the furnace meant instant vaporization, becoming part of the inferno, leaving no ashes behind.

She didn't worry about what would happen if there was a flood; Seele didn't have such concepts. Earthquakes were just avalanches and mine collapses to her. As for the gradual shifts between hot and cold, the birth of hurricanes, the downpour of rain that then vaporized and rose... wasn't that just how the world above was?

She just wondered if she had the strength, she'd plant some flowers on this ground.

Unfortunately, she was completely out of strength. She needed to rest, just for a little while.

"You're even more... capable than I imagined."

'Capable' wasn't the right word for the scene, but for Seele, 'capable' was the highest praise.

She watched Fang Jie continue to burn. The Cleft monsters couldn't stop their combination of mechanics and stats. They were mowing them down.

Not to mention Rivet Town in the Cleft, which was destroyed and then destroyed again. The duo continued to push outward. Fang Jie accelerated, clearing enemies at Mach speed at low altitude... Cavalry tactics were his specialty; he flew and annihilated monsters.