A Secret Exposed / The Second Journey

The original Baroque had hands and a mouth, and it could even talk during battle. It was a weapon that was truly alive.

But the Flame Demon no longer had any of those sanity-draining features. Instead, it was a pair of silver-white gauntlets and greaves, with red energy faintly flowing through them.

But this thing was useless in this world!

Qin Mo opened the second S-rank item.

Damaged Pocket Watch (SS)

Effect: Time Reversal

Description: The product of a powerful item after it was damaged. It could reverse time across the scope of an entire world, but the holder would also be affected, including their memories.

This thing!!!

It was actually SS-rank!

Still, considering its ability, it truly deserved to be called SS-rank. Unfortunately, because it was damaged, even its holder could not be exempted.

When Qin Mo saw this item, he thought of an SSS-rank item he had once created in the game: Time Traveler.

It had also taken the form of a pocket watch. It could freely accelerate or reverse time and protect its holder from the effects of time itself. Could this be that item?

Qin Mo looked at it. How should he put it?

It was useful, but not that useful.

Qin Mo could leave it in this world, then depart from this world bubble and reverse its time to before the disaster, but...

So what?

Qin Mo could not devote himself to helping this world, so there was a high chance they would still repeat the same mistakes. And Qin Mo would lose this one and only SS-rank item.

After both golden items failed to provide any help, Qin Mo was already somewhat disappointed.

Firefly had drawn fifteen purple items, and Qin Mo could only place his hopes on them.

Small Holy Grail (A)

Effect: Could contain special energy.

Description: A substitute created in imitation of a powerful magical crystal. It possessed no great power itself, but miracles could be invoked by infusing it with energy.

Two iron plates painted with black-and-white circles (A)

Effect: Could transfer something from one circle to the other.

Description: It seemed to be a derivative of some peculiar creation, with two crooked circles drawn on it.

The moment Qin Mo saw the second item, he knew Kiana's wish had taken effect. However, this seemed to be the only useful one. None of the remaining items could help, and there was even an ordinary magical crystal among them. Qin Mo realized that the quality of A-rank items seemed to be declining, though he had no idea why.

"Got it!"

Qin Mo took the two iron plates out of his inventory.

Each iron plate covered roughly four square meters, with a circle drawn in the middle.

"What is this?"

The others watched Qin Mo hold a huge iron plate in each hand, completely unable to understand what he meant.

"This is the transportation tool you need. Come on, make some room for me."

Everyone moved aside, and Qin Mo placed the two iron plates on the ground before walking into the circle on one of them.

With a flash of light, Qin Mo appeared inside the other circle.

As the others gasped in amazement, Qin Mo stepped out of the second circle and entered it again, returning to his original position.

"As you can see, as long as a person or object enters one circle, it will be transported to the other. It can be used an unlimited number of times, but be careful. That circle must be protected."

As Qin Mo spoke, Bronya walked over as well. After teleporting once, she crouched down and tried to study the circle.

"Bronya cannot understand it. There is no Honkai Energy reaction, nor is there any other energy reaction. Does this not consume energy? What is the principle?"

Bronya tried to replicate it with the Herrscher of Reason's power, but all she created was an ordinary iron plate.

"I do not understand it either. It always gives me strange things, like this."

Qin Mo removed the Ox Talisman and equipped the Flame Demon. Silver-white gauntlets and greaves appeared on his body. "This is the weapon equipment I just drew thanks to Kiana. It has decent power, but unfortunately, it cannot help with your current situation."

Qin Mo rapidly threw punches at the air, and lava-like red light began flowing across the gauntlets.

"Sorry. The chances of my ability drawing something useful are rather low. At least, that has been the case whenever I draw. Most of it is useless stuff."

As he spoke, Qin Mo casually tossed out several iron blocks and ordinary steel weapons. After all, a ten-pull did not only draw one guaranteed purple card. It could also draw food, consumables, luxury goods like gemstones, common materials found everywhere, or ordinary weapons.

"No, you have already helped us tremendously. With this, we can safely transport the refugees. Moving ordinary people is extremely dangerous, but transporting an iron plate is something many people here can accomplish."

Fu Hua said, "Thanks to your help, we can protect more people. I do not know how we could thank you."

"As for thanks, I..."

Qin Mo had just been about to refuse when he suddenly remembered something. "Perhaps there really is something I need help with."

"In my world, we only just joined St. Freya Academy. You have all seen my special ability, and I will inevitably reveal some things in daily life. To prevent anyone from peering into my memories, I would like to ask you, Fu Hua, for one feather from Feather Dust. Is that possible?"

The Exposed Secret

To Fu Hua, a single feather was not a big deal. Although the feathers contained her power, she was not so stingy as to care about something like that.

Before Qin Mo said goodbye, she gave him one feather to protect his sea of consciousness. Although Qin Mo could not activate the feather, it would automatically protect his consciousness from outside intrusion.

"This trip was a profit."

He had traded an A-rank item that was useless to him for a Feather Dust feather. Now, even if the Fu Hua and Otto of his world wanted to peek into his memories, they would have no way to do so.

Although Qin Mo felt that Fu Hua would not do such a thing, Otto definitely would not mind.

After returning to his room, Qin Mo first checked his surroundings.

"Mm, no one came in."

Qin Mo had originally planned to go and come back quickly, but he had not expected that series of events to take nearly two hours.

He did not know whether anyone had knocked on his door earlier, nor did he intend to test it. He rushed straight into his bathroom, quickly took a shower, and went to bed. That way, even if someone had knocked earlier to ask for him, he could say he had been asleep and had not heard them.

Then, less than half an hour later, Qin Mo heard a knock at the door.

Just as Qin Mo was preparing to pretend he had fallen asleep and had not noticed, a childish voice came from outside.

"It is Bronya. If you do not open the door, Bronya will tell everyone that you just left this world."

The moment Bronya finished speaking, the door before her suddenly opened.

"Come in."

Bronya did not hesitate. She entered the room directly while holding her Homu toy. Qin Mo glanced outside and found that the lights in the villa had already been turned off. It was midnight now.

After closing the door, Qin Mo saw Bronya sitting in a chair in the room with Homu in her arms.

"You were too careless. If Bronya had not discovered that you left and covered for you earlier, Theresa would have found out. She already suspects you."

There was quite a lot of information packed into that statement. Qin Mo stood by the door without changing expression and looked at Bronya.

"You were watching me?"

Bronya shook her head. "Bronya sensed fluctuations from the Quantum Sea. Bronya has entered the Quantum Sea before, and Heavy Tank Bunny came from there as well, so Bronya is familiar with its fluctuations."

Perhaps she had no intention of concealing it anymore, or perhaps she wanted something. Bronya spoke directly to Qin Mo. "You entered the Quantum Sea just now, did you not?"

He had still been too careless. Qin Mo sighed. "That is right. What do you want to say?"

"Bronya wants to ask for your help. In return, Bronya will help you dispel Theresa's suspicion of you."

"What do you mean? Theresa suspects me?"

Bronya nodded. "You have shown too many abnormalities. Whether it was the hot spring or the fruit trees, Theresa suspects that you had ulterior motives in approaching the Third Herrscher and joining the academy. But Kiana and Mei trust you too much, so she asked Bronya to watch your actions."

So that was it...

Theresa was not someone who could hide her thoughts very well, so Qin Mo had finally found the source of her recent hostility toward him.

"Thank you for the warning. The favor you want from me is to bring Seele back, right?"

Qin Mo's words made Bronya widen her eyes as she cried out, "You know!? No, you have met Seele!?"

"I merely know. Your promise with Seele, as well as your identity—you are the spy Cocolia sent. Otherwise, why do you think I destroyed the chip in your brain? Through that chip, Cocolia can know your every move at any time and even take over your body."

"Impossible. Mother would not... And Bronya never told anyone about Seele, not even Mother... How do you know?"

Qin Mo casually walked over and sat on the bed. "Whether you believe me is your business. I am only telling you. You approached Mei to activate the Conqueror Gem, right? Cocolia never planned to use it to open the gate to the Quantum Sea. She only wanted to use it as the power source for the Father mecha."

"Actually, I had originally planned to help you, just not now. In the original future, you would become partners with Mei and the others, people you could entrust your back to. I did not intend to interfere too much in that regard."

Every sentence from Qin Mo shook Bronya's worldview. Although she had not believed his words, after what had happened recently, Bronya no longer wanted to hurt Mei, the girl who had given her a mother's warmth.

Even though Mei was not much older than her, the feeling of home was something Cocolia's orphanage could not provide.

Bronya quickly arrived at what she believed was the correct answer. "You are a world traveler! You saw our future in another world!"

Although she had guessed wrong, she was also somewhat right. Qin Mo really had seen them in another world—just now.

"Who knows?"

Qin Mo shrugged and continued, "Traveling between worlds is not simple. Ordinary people who enter the Quantum Sea will be instantly rejected, while Seele has already become quantumized. If she returned to the material world, it would be like standing on a cloud—she would fall through again. So, I currently have no way to pull Seele back."

Bronya stared at Qin Mo as if trying to determine whether he was lying. Only after a long while did she speak. "Then you should be able to take others through worlds."

"I can, but the destination I travel to is another unknown world, and it requires a great deal of Honkai Energy. It is not something that can be done casually. There is not enough energy right now."

Qin Mo shrugged. However, that was only half true. The instance's energy really was insufficient, but he did not want Bronya pestering him every day to take a stroll through the Quantum Sea.

"Then once you have enough energy, Bronya wants to go to another world with you. Bronya wants to see for herself whether what you said is true. In return, Bronya will not make a move against Raiden Mei, and Bronya will help you reassure Theresa and the others."

"Alright..."

It was practically a demand made with nothing to offer, but Qin Mo had no reason to refuse. He had wanted to pull Seele out himself, and perhaps it might even trigger a hidden quest. Hearing Qin Mo's answer, Bronya nodded and stood up to leave. Before leaving, she suddenly asked, "So you only need Honkai Energy, right?"

"Mm, that is right. If we were in Changkong City, we might gather enough energy in a few days. But there is too little Honkai Energy in the air at St. Freya Academy, so it will take a long time."

Bronya said nothing in response to Qin Mo's words. She merely nodded and walked toward the door. "Then, good night."

Bronya left. Her departure was rather baffling. Qin Mo had originally thought she would argue with him for quite some time.

But thinking about it, that was normal. Qin Mo had been rather impossible to persuade, after all. Still, he had not expected what would happen a few days later.

The Second Journey

"Why is the house so dark?"

Raiden Mei saw from a distance that the villa where they lived was completely dark. There was not a single light on, and even the curtains seemed to have been drawn shut.

"N-No idea, maybe..."

As Kiana spoke, she looked around in every direction, appearing guilty as a thief.

"Idiot Kiana, the teachers went to a meeting today."

Bronya smacked Kiana on the head with the Homu toy in her hand, interrupting Kiana's personal performance.

"Ah, right, right, right! I forgot."

Kiana nodded hurriedly as though suddenly enlightened, then quickly turned toward Mei.

"Alright, let us go back, Mei. I am starving to death. I want fried chicken wings."

As she spoke, she pushed Mei forward.

"Kiana, do not push me. I know."

Although Mei felt Kiana was acting strangely today, she did not think much of it. After all, Kiana acted strangely every day.

Fu Hua, following behind them, silently adjusted her glasses and followed.

"Seriously, did Kiana not eat enough of her lunch today? Why is she in such a hurry?"

Mei took out her key, turning it in the lock as she asked in confusion.

"After all, Kiana knows nothing except eating."

Bronya mocked her at just the right moment, interrupting Kiana and drawing her attention toward herself.