Honkai, Survive

He killed every enemy he encountered, burning them to ashes, not even leaving behind low-quality Relics, annihilating them on an informational level.

Like a brush painting the earth, he wiped away the Cleft creatures threatening Belobog.

At first, Seele could keep up, but later she could only sit in a high place and watch him fly. By the time they broke out of the Cleft and reached the surface, she gazed at the sky filled with snow...

Could he still paint?

Yes.

It wasn't just Cleft creatures anymore, but also the cold and the snow. Fang Jie had never liked them. Natasha gave him permission to move freely—

Authorization confirmed. Cleaning sequence initiated.

"Boom boom—boom—!"

Seele was in a really good mood, mimicking Fang Jie's every move with great interest. The sounds of various gases and substances expanding and exploding. It was truly remarkable that she could still see him clearly and even keep up with him for a while.

How to describe him.

"Cool!"

Her ancient forest-green eyes, her messy, disheveled hair that no amount of perming could straighten or curl, her tall figure like a fashion magazine cover model, even though she didn't know where she got it, probably from a cheap stall in Belobog, but the novelty and tasteful tight-fitting clothes underneath couldn't hide his slightly effeminate yet distinctly sculpted face, coupled with his cheerful smile and fiery passion. Fang Jie was utterly charming.

Seele admitted that his handsomeness wasn't due to his superficial appearance, but because he had true grit.

At first, he was just putting on a show, using lightning and rapid-fire punches to start fires everywhere. Later, as he practiced more and muttered a few words like "Why are you forcing me," he stopped pretending. He went from boiling to burning, unleashing inextinguishable flames.

Although the temperature was similar to lightning, its range was much wider...

Every cell in his body shone more intensely than a Subterranean Vein, sweeping across the sky and earth through heat transfer. The wind and snow melted, and the cold was replaced by warmth, reminding Seele of spring, a season no longer mentioned in folk tales.

Of course, in his own words, this was the Path of Destruction.

She didn't understand. Whether it was Honkai or Path, Seele had heard of the Legion. As for why he hadn't used it before, Seele had only recently taken him as a disciple and taught him everything.

During their mutual probing questions, he stated:

"I'm afraid of losing control, being corroded and turning into a monster, owo, owo, owo~... Sigh, and this Path makes no sense, no logic, I really can't figure it out, can't understand it."

"Why use reason to understand it? Why not rely on instinct and impulse?"

At that moment, Seele, for once, thought seriously and shared her experience with Fang Jie, who seemed a bit troubled—learning and mutual learning.

Then he burst into laughter, as if he had made some kind of decision, ignited.

Chewing thoughtfully on Seele's sincere questions and answers, which were enough to trigger the creation of the lower authority of the Herrscher of Death within him, Fang Jie, in a state of dual cultivation...

You're not afraid of me turning into a monster at all.

Fang Jie, a novice Pathstrider, asked the five-star Seele why she controlled her power so well. He couldn't believe it was simply because she had lower stats to control.

After all, when he accelerated to Mach 9, Seele could still keep up, or at least watch him. Was that even reasonable?

To control his power, Fang Jie felt he should study knowledge, refer to theories, and contemplate philosophy...

Seele told him not to overthink it; just do it. Other than that, she had nothing else to teach him.

This was also a philosophy, a dialectic of the Enlightenment.

To walk the Path and achieve something, one inevitably had to engage with and think about philosophy. The worldview was like this, unavoidable.

And to understand the dialectic of the Enlightenment, one must first understand what "reason" and "a priori" mean.

Philosophy defines reason as purposeful activity; purpose is crucial.

The biggest difference between the movement of matter and human activity is that human activity is purposeful. Therefore, humans are the most rational animals; rational activity is for a purpose.

"A priori," on the other hand, is relative to "experience." It precedes experience and is an indispensable piece of the puzzle that constitutes experience.

When people are born, they naturally have no experience. However, they are not a blank slate either. Instead, they possess "innate categories" such as time, space, and logic, collectively referred to as "a priori," or instinct.

Is it experience guiding action that is more rational and closer to the goal, or a priori instinct guiding action that is more rational and pursues the goal?

In the world of Honkai, the previous civilization encoded resistance against Honkai into the genes of the current civilization. The Kaslana lineage, especially inheriting from Kevin, is this a priori or experience? Is it reason? Is it a purpose given by others or the original purpose of life?

Fang Jie was not a Stigmata gene; he could drive Honkai... his method was closer to that of a Death Trooper. Now, he even had the potential of a Herrscher. With Aponia's help, he had broken free from the purpose given by Honkai, leaving only the purposeless, a priori Honkai. He was free, yet somewhat lost.

In other words, his a priori puzzle in this regard was blank, free, and purposeless.

The Path was similar. He wasn't a Galactic Human; stepping onto the Path was not an innate instinct but acquired through experience.

But experience...

He became even more lost.

He had to give himself a purpose, integrate his experiences into his a priori, and if he had descendants...

What a philosophical prodigy.

But this was Fang Jie's origin—it was the "directionality of things occurring from the initial cause," the "directionality that determines what one's existence is."

—Not from nothingness into something, but from nothingness into something.

By organizing his thoughts and upholding his beliefs, he could better put them into action.

He understood that for a life without a priori or purpose, just living would likely lead to seeing more and gaining more.

Path, Honkai, Sato Yuno, Himeko, Rin, Aeons, Stellaron Spirits, March 7th, Dan Heng, Bronya, Gepard, Cocolia, Seele, Hook, Natasha...

It was all a gain.

That's why Seele felt Fang Jie was strong, and Fang Jie felt she was amazing. Both were correct, and there was no contradiction.

Walking a Path often enhanced logical thinking and comprehension abilities, and traveling and communicating together amplified this improvement. Fang Jie had certainly gained from this.

Right or wrong, it didn't matter.

What he needed now was to act. It would be even better if someone told him, "Quick, use that power! It's already in your mind, isn't it?"

It was like someone telling Dan Feng: "Why not try the Dragon Transformation Technique? It's in your mind. You remembered it long ago, you're just pretending to be foolish. Come on, only the Dragon Transformation Technique can save her."

Act now!

"Hahahaha, Seele, you're right! Let everything burn!"

Fang Jie did as he said, nearly setting Seele's clothes on fire. Fortunately, she was quick and had plenty of experience with warming herself by fire, keeping a safe distance.

That wasn't important!

He was getting into the groove, going from cautiously unleashing a little power to skillfully guiding out more of the volatile Path energy, letting the realistic landslides and tsunamis rage on.

Never mind the melting ice and snow, or the burning lakes of fire. High in the sky, clouds piled up in a gloomy haze, and a magnificent lightning storm, long absent, surged through Jarilo-VI's atmosphere.

"Sometimes, perhaps, abandoning reason leads to the correct conclusion."

Because of Nihility and Destruction, his reason constantly reminded him: be careful, be extra careful. Control the monster of power, be dominated by its power, and don't make choices you'll regret.

These weren't wrong thoughts, but there was no need to be indecisive.

Not even thinking about others, just for himself—

"I waited for three days and three nights, and I still hate this world of ice and snow!"

Burning wantonly, without considering right or wrong, he set everything ablaze on the frozen land. Fang Jie grinned broadly, "I will—

—twist the myriad phenomena!"

Pushing more, more, more power to pour out—

A mere human form, so tiny compared to the land, yet possessing the power to twist everything, or destroy it all.

After he first touched a Path, he subconsciously realized in the aftermath that to go further, he had to break free from 'restraints' and stop being human.

But that could be reflected in the external 'human,' and naturally, it would also be reflected in the internal 'human.'

That is, the complete 'self.'

And he had to realize further:

—'I' am correct.

This wasn't going mad or falling into insanity. It was a state of logical self-consistency, where 'reason' and 'instinct' shared a common goal, requiring enlightenment.

Affirming oneself, believing in oneself, that all thoughts and actions are correct, and possessing and cherishing such a belief could trigger miracles!

For example, the well-known Mechanical Emperor Rupert II realized the mechanical nature of life and the need to be liberated from it...

Cough, perhaps it's better not to use that example.

Using Seele, the cool Seele, the amazing Seele is a good example. Looking at her garden, Fang Jie was astonished.

So cool! Such arrogance!

In the galaxy, pain is real, and romance is also real.

At this moment, he was a Pathstrider of Destruction, and Nanook raised no objection.

So, burn.

On the cosmic island above the Path, the 'moon' seemed to burn. Fang Jie guided out explosive destruction from just a slight overflow of that magnificent power.

Actually, it really was a 'moon.'

A celestial body that could be figured out how to be taken out, capable of destroying the surface solely by its mass, standing tall for the planet.

Pathstriders are like this. As long as you dare to think and dare to act, carrying the universe with you isn't a dream. You could even reverse-devour Belobog, encompassing this sorrowful planet into a place of nothingness, directly drawing Path energy from it...

This is the possibility that philosophical thought can bring.

As an 'ant,' Fang Jie restrained himself. He truly didn't want to drop a star, and wasn't really daring to go all out. Actually, Honkai would be pretty good...

Seele dared to think and dared to act, and succeeded. She told him: You can do it now!

"..."

The power of trust. You must believe in yourself.

So he burned, transforming into celestial fire. Wherever he went, it turned to scorched earth. Even the snow that had not stopped for seven hundred years melted, vaporized, decomposed, and burned...

The fire of destruction spread, intensifying, burning the sky, melting the earth, igniting the sea, turning all things to ash.

The authority of the Flame Herrscher, which accelerates molecular motion, sounds more high-end, but for boiling water until the earth is scorched, it doesn't need to be that high-end.

Fang Jie piled on the power, emitting an endless stream of Path energy.

In principle, he was just a deliveryman, raising the temperature from freezing to scorching, bringing forth seas of fire, and spreading them further, causing continuous explosions.

Simple and crude, just keep piling on the power! Brighter than Belobog's sun!

"Wait, hold on a second!"

From a distance, watching the commotion grow larger, even Seele, who hadn't attended school, suddenly realized the gravity of the situation!!

Belobog is protected by Preservation; what need is there for the Eternal Freeze, the Cleft, Erosion, avalanches, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, or torrential rain...

The Underworld felt nothing, as it never saw the light of day.

At this moment, the Stellaron Spirit felt it had grown.

"What a fulfilling day, but some matters must be settled."

Cooly, she made a cool resolution.

Recalling the past, waking up in Natasha's clinic, fighting side-by-side with the world's best March 7th, not because she was provoked by a child, but because she and March 7th were the best in the world.

She then got into a brawl with the children from the Moles, and naturally achieved a great victory in the "Hide-and-Seek Game."

This is my terrifying talent!

She applied the survival rules learned from the adult world to the fullest, almost leaving psychological scars on the children.

The loser also fulfilled her obligation; Black Hook the Great agreed to the promised conditions, leading the victor to the fight club to find Dan Heng.

And Gepard, Star hasn't forgotten him.

But he can be ignored.

The key is Hook, Black Hook the Great. Clearly, I was the victor, so why must I still respectfully address this little loser as Black Hook the Great?

Bittersweet.

March 7th felt the same bitterness, as they were heading to a fight club that even children could play in. In March 7th's words, "No, my sense of justice is starting to sound the alarm."

This feeling of bitterness persisted when Star saw the stoic young Azure Dragon Dan Heng at the fight club, and after he helped him win against the mechanical team, they reached the maximum—