Chapter 258: Power Systems

It took an entire hour to temporarily convince Kiana. Even that was due to her stomach rumbling.

The box of rice balls looked extremely tantalizing in her eyes.

‘As expected of a glutton who would eat a honkai beast.’

Honkai beasts are non-carbon life forms. They are built with silicon. Meaning, she was fine eating seasoned plastic blocks.

The two remained silent since then. Five minutes later, Aleph looked at the back seat. The box of rice balls they bought before leaving was cleaned up.

‘Who would have thought… Siegfried chose a place right below Otto’s nose. He’s smarter than I thought.’

When the second eruption came, it was nearly a one-to-one scale of the original. Aleph’s influence became unnoticeable at this point. The Tree’s force corrected everything over the span of fifty thousand years. It was a dark hand that had a grasp over everything.

Well, up until now.

‘Error. This suits me the more I study it.’

The [Error] authority fit Aleph like a custom-made glove. His existence itself could be considered an error that the universe (Tree) has to correct.

This astonishingly high compatibility formed a reaction similar to [Limitless]’s under the [World] authority. That time, Aleph was able to use the cursed technique in combination with [Infinity] to create a barrier that protected Earth from honkai energy.

Just like it, [Error] was automatically enhanced by [Infinity] to the highest degree possible. He was able to fully utilize the said authority with ease.

‘Error. Deceit. Theft. Decryption.’ Aleph mouthed its powers. ‘Why does it feel like a scumbag’s ability?’

The [Error] authority has four main abilities. Error imposed the concept of [Error] to all things. Deceit allowed him to deceive everything—even the world. Theft allows him to steal a broad range of ‘concepts’. Decryption gave room for Aleph to learn a lot of things from a mere fragment.

‘But… it might be my hope of going back home.’

The [Error] authority was akin to a gold bar that fell out of nowhere—while being broke. It is the very key that could break Finality’s ‘trial’.

‘Hm. I used five authorities for my binding vow. This isn’t counted.’

While he thought about a lot of things, Kiana stared at him silently. There was a question that bothered her for a while.

“Where are your wings? Don’t you have one?”

“Hm? You mean, this one?”

The Aleph ELF turned into his Active Honkai Reaction state. His entire body turned into the dragon-like state Aleph has. The most noticeable thing was the thin and sharp black wings on his back. Red lines were engraved onto it as it gave off a dim glow.

“Oh…”

She began poking it curiously. The wings she thought of as ‘thin’ held up surprisingly well.

“Are you really a robot? Why doesn’t it feel like metal?” She asked.

“Did your old man bring you to a city?”

“Um. Several times.”

“Then, do you know how tall skyscrapers are built?”

Kiana bobbed her head sideways. Her blank look was a foreshadow to her inherent dislike of studying.

“Even if I explain it now, you won’t understand it.”

“Okay.”

She bought that explanation.

‘Nope. This won’t work. I need to teach her early. She won’t flunk her future valkyrie exams!’

Thus, the first anomaly of this world was made.

*****

Schicksal.

A blonde-haired man could be seen playing a game on his computer. Its title screen flashed—Kallen Fantasy.

It was interrupted with the entry of a woman. She wore a black-orange visor on her face. A stack of reports were held by her arms.

“Here are the reports, Sir.”

Click-!

Buzz.

The man—Otto Apocalypse—paused the game.

“Thanks, Amber. You may go now.”

The woman bowed before leaving the office. The slim tablet atop his desk deterred him a bit.

Fortunately, his work-related PTSD died down. The report was, after all, related to his bigger plan.

He soon picked up the tablet and read it with relish.

“Oh? He sent her away? Then this one…”

The photographs contained images of Kiana herself. The girl was seen strolling through a city while carrying a peculiar “toy”. Her sole possession was a single backpack.

Otto’s keen eyes noticed the ‘plush’ she held.

“Oh..? Haven’t I seen this before?”

He scrolled through his hundreds’ years worth of memories before finding an answer.

“The one from the Kaslana Myths. The friend mentioned by their ancestor. Also…”

There was a name that rang too many times within the Void Archives. That name could be found as a co-author of various studies such as the Project Soldier, Project Divine Key, and Project ELF.

In fact, the ‘plush’ might as well be the byproduct of the third aforementioned project.

‘An ELF… Might as well pull the one that we found before. If it truly recognizes him… it’s going to be interesting.’

Myths and whatnot, Otto was clear with this man’s contribution to mankind. Although, he wasn’t solely academically talented.

This man was known the best for the title—

“The strongest human.”

Otto silently read the long report.

By the end of it, he chose not to stop his prior arrangements. Kiana—or rather, K-423—held a great significance to his plans.

Nothing could stop him from proceeding.

Nothing.

“Will you give me more surprises?”

Looking unbothered, Otto began playing Kallen Fantasy again.

*****

“Hm. This is much better.”

Surrounding Aleph was blurry white light. He stood in front of another ‘Aleph’. Various lights came from his hand as he touched the other Aleph in his head.

“Cultivation. Qi. Will Aptitude. Great Dao…”

Using [Decryption], Aleph began studying the power system brought along by his [Nascent Soul].

Similar to its name, [Nascent Soul] is an avatar of his that is in the “Nascent Soul Realm”. It held powers from a completely foreign world where the main reliance was on absorption of “Qi” and comprehension of the “Great Dao” (Great Way).

“Weird. There are no spiritual root aptitudes and the like.” He muttered. “It depends more on the comprehension of this Great Dao.”

Aleph saw a pattern between other worlds’ systems.

Han Xiao’s world paved a straight road up to the level of an Aeon. The only stumbling block was the requirements needed when ‘evolving’ through each stage—the so-called “Job Promotion” of each class.

The world of Honkai did not require anything else—merely the chance and opportunity to become an Aeon. The Aeons do not need any material sustenance (i.e., energy), but rather feed on concepts through the Pathstriders connected to them. That, and the legends they left on this universe.

The world of [Door] and [Error] relied on the ‘Beyonder Characteristics’ that came from someone of a higher-level than them. For example, the “Pathstriders” equivalent of [Door]’s Path relied on the body parts dropped by higher-level people—even gods are of no exception.

This cultivation world was also different. It relied on “techniques” and “practices” related to the Great Dao. The clearer their comprehension of the Great Dao was, the faster their practice became. The more they pursue the ‘truth’ of the world, the stronger they become.

This system also held sub-paths that utilized believers as anchor points for revival and the like.

Finally, the [Throne of Magical Arcana] Aleph gave to Herta. It was similar to the Great Dao. The greater one’s knowledge of the world, the stronger their ‘cognitive realm’ becomes; therefore, the stronger the power they could exhibit within the world.

It was also the most interesting ‘system’ as of the moment.

‘A world where high-dimensional souls reside. The people of the physical universe only act as their projections… Then, is it a world whose “Aeons” number in the quadrillions?’

Aleph stopped that line of thinking and focused more on decrypting the mysteries of the Great Dao.

{Notice. A marked being has entered the premises.}

Just then, the surrounding white light automatically turned into a paradise.

Metatron's voice served as a reminder as to who came in. There are only a few that Aleph marked as 'special'...