An Unfamiliar World, Familiar People / Mutual Benefit

Dragon Blast!

He slammed a fist down onto the Honkai Beast's head, and the massive explosion blew it completely to pieces. It was dead beyond all doubt.

The fleeing crowd saw the Honkai Beast pursuing them get killed and immediately sighed in relief. The long run had exhausted many of them; the moment they stopped, they collapsed to the ground.

"Thank you, little brother. Are you with Schicksal?"

After catching his breath, a middle-aged man saw how exhausted everyone else was and walked over to thank Qin Mo.

Even ordinary people in this world knew about Schicksal?

"I'm not with Schicksal. What's going on here?"

Hearing that Qin Mo was not from Schicksal, the middle-aged man was visibly disappointed. Still, he said, "We were originally at an Anti-Entropy shelter in Lin Hai City, but it was ambushed by an Emperor-class Honkai Beast. Anti-Entropy held back the Honkai Beast while we escaped. There were originally several thousand of us..."

Looking at the group of barely over a hundred people left, the man's eyes filled with grief. Clearly, they had lost many people along the way—mostly those too weak to keep running, who had been caught by the Honkai Beasts.

"Little brother, I heard there's a Schicksal shelter up ahead. You should hurry there with us. That Emperor-class Honkai Beast might break through the mechs' blockade and come after us at any time."

Qin Mo nodded without refusing. He happened to want to learn more about this world as well.

Before he could set off, a massive burst of flames erupted less than a hundred meters away.

"Flamescion! Draw your sword!"

A familiar voice rang out, and Qin Mo saw the people around him immediately become excited.

"Flamescion! It's Flamescion!"

"Miss Flamescion is here! Great, we're saved!"

Watching the excited crowd, Qin Mo found this world even stranger. Ordinary people here actually knew about Herrschers? And Kiana was this famous?

As the enormous pillar of fire erupted, the obstacles between them and Flamescion melted away. Qin Mo saw a white-haired figure with a single ponytail standing ahead, swinging her sword to deliver the final blow to the Emperor-class Honkai Beast before her.

"Are you all alright?"

After eliminating the Honkai Beast, Firefly merely leaped lightly and arrived before the crowd.

Then Qin Mo watched her get surrounded by an excited mass of people.

"Alright, alright. Everyone, hurry to the shelter. I've already cleared the Honkai Beasts along the way, but more may come at any time, so don't waste time."

"Okay, okay! Thank you, Lady Flamescion!"

As the ordinary people thanked Firefly one after another and then left, Qin Mo's expression became somewhat strange.

"Why are you still here? If you don't leave soon, Honkai Beasts will come."

Firefly noticed Qin Mo standing where he was and spoke to him. She could not sense any Honkai Energy fluctuations from him and assumed he was just an ordinary person.

"Kiana, what happened to this world?"

Qin Mo suddenly asked Firefly before him.

An Unfamiliar World, Familiar People

"You know me?"

Looking at the unfamiliar man before her, Firefly blinked in confusion. Yet no matter how she thought about it, she could not recall anything about him.

"I know you, but you don't know me. Put simply, I come from another world, and I know the Kiana from that world."

Qin Mo did not hide anything and directly revealed his origins. "What happened to your world?"

"Why is it on the verge of destruction?"

Firefly looked at Qin Mo. "A traveler from beyond this world? This isn't a place to talk. I still need to clear out the Honkai Beasts nearby. Do you want to come with me?"

"Alright."

Qin Mo did not refuse. He also wanted to see roughly what level his current strength had reached. St. Freya Academy did have a simulated combat room, but it was too rigid and required data to be entered beforehand. Qin Mo's current condition was not suited for simulations there.

Firefly nodded and led Qin Mo through the battlefield. As a Herrscher, Firefly could fly, but she did not choose to do so. Instead, she ran across the ground with Qin Mo, clearly taking his condition into consideration.

"What is your world like?"

As she led the way, Firefly asked Qin Mo.

"Our world? The Third Honkai has just ended there, and you've only just joined St. Freya Academy."

"St. Freya Academy... What a nostalgic name."

Firefly's tone was full of nostalgia and regret.

"That's right. And I'm friends with all of you in that world. I'll do everything I can to stop the tragedies that will happen later, so I want to know why your world ended up like this."

"I see. Then we'll leave the us from that world to you. Our world was destroyed by the Herrscher of Binding. No... it should be called a god."

A god?

Qin Mo froze for a moment. "False God Otto? Weren't you supposed to defeat him?"

Firefly shook her head. "Perhaps you have seen a future in another world where Otto was defeated by us. But in this world, Durandal was killed by him, and we only barely managed to escape after giving it everything we had."

"Although he did not pursue us, he completely became a god. Centered around Schicksal's base, he created a vast Binding Barrier. Nearly every day, huge numbers of Honkai Beasts pour out from within the barrier and wreak havoc across the world."

This development really was...

"I didn't expect there to be another Emperor-class Honkai Beast here. Wait for me a moment."

As they ran, they suddenly spotted an Emperor-class Honkai Beast advancing in their direction from afar.

"I'll help you."

"Sure. Then take care of the other Honkai Beasts around it. Leave the Emperor-class Honkai Beast to me."

Kiana leaped high into the air, soaring toward the Emperor-class Honkai Beast.

"Being able to fly is way too unfair. Once I get the Chicken Talisman and Rabbit Talisman, I'll be able to fly too!"

Though envious, Qin Mo did not slow down in the slightest. Since he lacked flight and speed, he would make up for them with pure strength.

Switching to the Fire Demon character card, Qin Mo stomped off the ground and launched himself toward the swarm of Honkai Beasts with the power of the demon and the Ox Talisman.

As the Honkai Beast horde drew closer, the power of Fire Demon Qi gathered around Qin Mo's fist, along with the force of Dragon Blast.

"The time for Judgement has come!"

Firefly in the air swung her sword at the Emperor-class Honkai Beast, and violent explosive flames surged forth.

Below, Qin Mo threw a punch. A massive explosion of flames erupted, instantly swallowing the Honkai Beast horde.

"You're impressive. I didn't expect you to use fire too."

With one strike each, the two of them eliminated the Honkai Beasts. Firefly landed and looked at the fan-shaped scorched ground with amazement.

"That's right, but you should have noticed that there was no Honkai Energy in my attacks."

Qin Mo nodded. "After all, not every world has Honkai. And using Honkai Energy to defeat Honkai is indeed difficult."

Firefly nodded. "But we have no choice. Without using Honkai Energy, we wouldn't even have the means to fight Honkai."

"Come on. I'll take you to our base."

Firefly led Qin Mo onward at full speed. Since Qin Mo could only run on the ground, it took them over half an hour to reach the base she mentioned. Along the way, Firefly explained the current situation. After the disaster caused by Otto, Honkai could no longer be concealed. Schicksal's headquarters had completely fallen, and now Schicksal's various branches and Anti-Entropy were fighting Honkai everywhere to maintain order.

Because they shared a common enemy, humanity had united like never before—except for World Serpent.

The snakes hiding in the shadows were plotting something unknown, but they had remained quiet for a long time.

Rather than a base, this place was more like an underground shelter.

"Kiana, you're back. And this is?"

The moment he entered, Qin Mo saw a figure who looked extremely similar to Mei. No, not merely similar—it was Mei, who had already become the Herrscher of Thunder.

"I'm back, Mei. This is a traveler who crosses worlds, Qin Mo."

Firefly went up and hugged Raiden Mei before introducing Qin Mo to her.

"Kiana, have the nearby Honkai Beasts been cleared out?"

At that moment, a slender figure approached. It was Fu Hua, dressed in Valkyrie armor.

"Squad leader, they've all been cleared out. We don't need to worry for the time being."

Fu Hua nodded and walked toward Qin Mo. "May I ask what business brings this traveler from another world here?"

"Fu Hua..."

Qin Mo thought about it. At first, he had merely been curious about why this world had become like this. Then he had naturally followed Firefly here. "Originally, I only wanted to understand why this world had become this way. On one hand, I wanted to offer some help. On the other, I wanted to prevent my world from developing into this."

Fu Hua nodded. "Thank you for your kindness, but we currently have no way to defeat Otto."

Indeed, the best way to change the situation was to defeat Otto, but that was something no one could accomplish right now.

However, Qin Mo had other ways to help.

"I'll be returning to my own world soon. Before I leave, I can offer some assistance, but I'll need Kiana's help."

"Me? What do you need?"

Qin Mo projected his system into the air and opened the item card pool. "This is one of my abilities. I can randomly draw some useful items. The Kiana in my world is very lucky and can draw items that solve our immediate problems every time. There are still ten ten-pull draws left. Kiana, why don't you give it a try?"

"Drawing cards?"

"What a strange ability."

The people around them were curious when they saw Qin Mo's ability, while Raiden Mei tugged Kiana's arm. "Kiana, be careful..."

"It's alright, Mei. I can sense that Qin Mo means us no harm. I have Feather Dust with me, remember?"

Kiana smiled as she explained to Mei.

Qin Mo did not mind Mei's suspicion. She was not his Mei anyway. "Before drawing, I think you should consider what you need most right now. Of course, although these items are miraculous, they have limits. Directly defeating Honkai or Otto is impossible."

"What do we need..."

Kiana, who had been about to press the button directly, stopped.

"What do we need right now?"

Mutual Benefit

"Idiot Kiana, we need supplies, a safe base, or convenient transportation."

Bronya walked over at that moment and looked toward Qin Mo. "Assuming this thing is truly as Mr. Qin Mo says."

"The items are random, so I can't guarantee anything. But the Kiana in my world always draws very useful things. After all, this ability of mine is like a game."

Qin Mo shrugged and did not explain further.

"Alright, everyone. I trust Mr. Qin Mo, and he means none of us any harm."

Firefly reached out and tapped the panel floating in the air.

"One purple. That's the guaranteed drop. There are still nine draws left, so keep going."

Qin Mo glanced at it without carefully checking the item and spoke directly.

Kiana nodded and continued tapping several times in succession.

"Two golds!? Kiana really is lucky. Let me see what we got."

A double jackpot. It was Qin Mo's first time seeing two golds appear at once. He had thought the final ten-pull would only produce the guaranteed drop, but it unexpectedly erupted into a massive haul.

"Wait a moment, let me see what we drew."

Was it because this was this world's Kiana's first draw? Or because everyone had placed such great hopes on her?

Flame Demon (S)

Effect: A demonic artifact containing the power of Baroque, Lord of the Flame Prison, taking the form of gauntlets and greaves.

Description: Originally a demonic artifact created by defeating and transforming Baroque, it possessed Baroque's will. Due to special circumstances, that will has disappeared, and its form has also undergone unknown changes.

Unknown changes...