Genius Class

"This is the place." Busitu pointed to the coffee shop ahead.

"All right, I'll call you when it's time to fight. Remember to count how many people need potions. Once I have some free time, I'll make them and send them to you."

"Okay, you go ahead." Beaming, Busitu pulled the narrator away.

The group of five sat on a sofa, waiting for their coffee.

Once all the coffee had been served, Sera isolated their area. After all, what the geniuses were going to discuss wasn't meant for others to hear.

"What should I answer?" Sera pondered.

"Can you let me study your body?" Ruan Mei asked, looking at Sera with determination.

Sera felt a little helpless, but after giving it some thought, he spoke.

"You can, but you'll belong to me from now on?"

Ruan Mei's eyes lit up. "No problem." If she belonged to Sera, she could keep studying him.

"You... sigh..." Herta looked at Ruan Mei as if she wanted to say something, but held it back.

Ruan Mei rose from her seat and sat down beside Sera.

She blinked and looked at Sera.

"Sigh... all right, go ahead and touch me." Sera had kept his Herrscher form the whole time.

Ruan Mei reached out and touched Sera's face. His golden eyes watched helplessly as she stroked his face.

Ruan Mei looked even more delighted, and her eyes grew brighter. With Sera's tacit permission, she saw that primordial existence, a true god far beyond the reach of Aeons.

"That one's name is..." Ruan Mei came back to her senses and looked at Sera.

Sera smiled.

"Now then, genius class is in session."

Everyone's expressions grew focused as they stared at Sera.

"First, let's introduce the Imaginary Tree, also known as the Tree of Existence proposed by my teacher, Zandar.

To introduce it in one person's words: now, let us imagine a tree, the Imaginary Tree.

There is a colossal tree, its crown beyond the eye's reach, its branches and leaves blotting out the sky.

Beneath the tree lies a vast sea, its depth unfathomable, its boundaries unreachable.

Between heaven and earth, there is only one tree and one sea, and so they begin an endless competition.

I'll stop there. His perspective was limited, after all."

Sera stopped reciting a certain bishop's words.

"What I want to say is that in this universe, the branching limbs of the Imaginary Tree isolate the worlds. As you know, before Trailblaze laid down the silver rails, no one but Emanators could travel between worlds.

But it isn't just the tree that isolates them. Let's turn our attention to the Ether Network we rely on for communication. After looking into the Ether Sea, I found that it is essentially a projection of the Sea of Quanta in this universe.

The veins of the tree and the sea overlap, isolating the worlds.

The branches of the Imaginary Tree are worlds, but in the Sea of Quanta, there are also World Bubbles that have tenaciously survived without being dissolved.

The tree and the sea were both born from the master of dreams, the Cocoon of Finality. Its energy, Honkai Energy, is the original form of the imaginary and the quantum. Imaginary Energy is a diminished, harmless form of energy.

The so-called tree and sea are nothing more than a dream of the cocoon. The Cocoon of Finality sends trials down upon civilizations, though each civilization calls them something different.

I call these trials Honkai.

On Earth in the Solar System, the Cocoon of Finality sent down a trial called Honkai.

My authority belongs to the Twelfth Herrscher, the Herrscher of Corruption. After that comes civilization's final trial, the Herrscher of Finality. In your terms, a planetary civilization has to defeat a top-tier Emanator-level combatant to pass the trial and reach adulthood."

"Question: where is this universe's trial?"

"Hahaha, don't worry. The cocoon doesn't send Honkai down on just anything. If it really did, you wouldn't even get past the first one. The difficulty of the trials rises with a civilization's strength.

Or rather, the cocoon's goal is to embrace, not destroy. I'm the one the cocoon wants to embrace, and once that embrace is complete, I'll be this place's Finality. That's why there is no Finality."

"Embrace?" Herta digested what she had heard. "Then did Earth pass?"

"It did." Sera nodded.

"I'm an alternate self of Kiana, that god of Earth and Herrscher of Finality.

The reason the cocoon pays so much attention to me is that it's a Kiana fan. To the cocoon, I'm probably a very rare shiny Kiana."

At the thought, Sera smiled.

"Question: do you know what Finality's authority is?"

"Of course." Sera nodded.

"Finality possesses every authority, though the one it commonly uses is time.

When a civilization under trial fails to overcome Finality, the Herrscher of Finality cleanses the surface, turns the planet back to its original state, and finally waits to awaken again.

How many trials has Earth gone through? I don't know, but the Cocoon of Finality tests the past, present, and future at the same time.

So, to the Cocoon of Finality, it has been waiting for the embrace of the Kianas since the moment it was born.

And now, I'm also a 'Kiana' who's going to embrace the cocoon~"

"I see. No wonder there won't be any threat of Finality as long as you're here." Polka Kakamond nodded.

Ruan Mei said nothing. She was still touching Sera's body.

"Do you even look like a genius right now? You're practically like..." Watching Ruan Mei, Herta couldn't help speaking up.

"I'm already his, so this is perfectly normal behavior," Ruan Mei said placidly, holding Sera's hand.

"Forget it..." Herta paid Ruan Mei no more attention and looked at Sera.

"I want to know how you deleted Dr. Primitive."

"I didn't delete him, just an avatar, an empty shell," Sera explained.

"I can't delete a genius who wanders among the stars yet. Besides, you wouldn't want to fight more than a dozen Aeon-level Herrschers, would you?"

"Could it be that you...?" Herta stared at Sera in surprise.

"Yeah. I can send Honkai down on this galaxy in the Cocoon of Finality's name at any time. When that happens, my level will be on par with an Aeon's even without becoming Finality."

"What about when you become Finality?"

"Becoming Finality means beginning to fully embrace the cocoon. At that point, I'll be an existence on a level above the tree and sea.

So, to spare the galaxy from fighting Herrschers even stronger than Aeons, I've held back from sending Honkai down across the entire galaxy."

"Wait, you've already sent it down somewhere?" Herta had noticed the implication in Sera's words. Or rather, all the geniuses had realized it, but had tacitly left the question to Herta.

Because Sera seemed quite fond of Herta.

(Sera: Ms. Herta is unparalleled in all the world, and Ms. Herta is brilliant beyond compare!)

Sera really was quite fond of Herta. After all, who wouldn't like the great Ms. Herta?

In Sera's opinion, Herta was the most conscientious genius in the Genius Society.

In one if-line, Ms. Herta had saved the entire galaxy.

My goodness, how magnificent~

Need I say more, Ms. Herta?