Chapter 16: Future plans and Gluttonous Tuna.
When Kiana asked Yuhao, she expected that he had used the power of origin in his soul (Ellie's power) to cook delicious food. She wanted to tell him to use these wishes carefully and not waste energy, but she remembered seeing his grilled fish and chose to remain silent.
Yuhao didn't know what she wanted to say but still answered her 'serious' question.
"I don't know. I always knew how to grill fish skillfully. I didn't even know that I had [Kaslana] blood in me until a few minutes ago." He answered her 'serious' question, and the answer shocked the tuna of Finality.
Kiana stared deeply at Yuhao and thought that maybe the solution to breaking the [Kaslana] blood curse lay in Yuhao. She shook her head and decided to change the topic.
"So, this [Route] that we are living in right now. What is the biggest threat here?" Kiana asked. Since they are now living in a [Route], they are destined to either win or fail when facing their opponent.
Yuhao paused, looked at Kiana, and thought for a moment.
'Can it even be considered a threat at this point? Tang San might be a [God King] and all, but he is nothing when compared to Kiana.'
'She is really a walking calamity that can [End] all of life if she desired. But that would be the case if we were living in the [Prime] timeline. However, that is not the case anymore, and I don't think only Tang San is the threat that I will face here,' Yuhao noted.
A [Prime] timeline is a timeline that would follow the 'original' intent of the universe. Meaning that in the [Prime] timeline, Huo Yuhao got together with Tang Wutong and became the lapdog for Tang San.
However, they are now living in a [Route] timeline, meaning it doesn't follow the 'original,' so Tang San and his team of subpar gods are the least of Yuhao's worries right now.
Humans fear the unknown, and Yuhao is no exception. His greatest asset after Ellie and Kiana is the knowledge about the current world. Key points would still be the same no matter what in each [Route], like the Ice-fire spring, Skydream Ice Silkworm's escape, Ice Emperor approaching deadline, and the capture of Snow Emperor.
These events can be considered key points of the current timeline, so no changes are going to happen in them. But there will exist some events that would differ when compared to the [Prime] timeline. If in the [Prime] timeline, Shrek Academy won the [Continental Advanced Academy Tournament], then in the [Route] timeline, they can lose if the opportunity presents itself.
"If it were the [Prime] timeline, then our opponent would be a God King, a higher-dimensional being that wanted to capture me and use my mother's soul as a bargaining chip to make me follow him like a lackey," Yuhao chose his words carefully.
"But this [Route] timeline can be either more dangerous or safer; I can't decide yet." He awaited Kiana's response.
Kiana listened to his guess and started thinking herself as she opened a new can of soda. This is her seventh one, by the way.
"Hmm, okay. I can't judge it either. [Route] timelines have always been a mystery. One moment we can be winning, and the next moment we could be dead," Kiana reasoned as she continued devouring her snacks.
"But don't worry, Yuhao. I said that I will help you," added Kiana as she put her hand on her chest and raised her head to the sky like a Shonen protagonist.
"In my universe before I fell asleep, I collected and sealed everything of value inside my Stigma space. I have all the knowledge of past human eras collected and stored in here." Kiana told the blond boy in front of her and waved her hands over the train window.
The scene outside the window changed from the vast space to a grand library filled with endless amounts of books, papers, pamphlets, scrolls, and more.
"And when you get stronger, you can start wielding divine keys. Basically, the divine keys are very powerful constructs made from the cores of other Herrschers in one of the past eras," added the tuna, and the scene changed again.
Glass cabinets appeared one after another, each filled with constructs ranging from weapons to accessories to satellites. Yuhao saw them and started sweating.
'The divine keys. They are not just powerful weapons, Kiana. They literally hold authorities when powered with a large enough energy source. Kevin literally made the seventh divine key change with the authority of Finality in the game, showing the potential of these divine constructs.'
Yuhao, of course, knew about the divine keys. Heck, they were sitting inside one of them right now. But to keep the image of 'not knowing much about Kiana's universe,' he chose to stay silent.
The scenes changed again to the vast, beautiful space, and Kiana spoke as she devoured another piece of cake.
"And as you hold my stigma on your body, you can naturally use my authorities, but there is a catch." She paused as she took another sip of soda.
Yuhao's heart literally stopped for a second there.
'What did you say? I can use your Authority? How? Your Authority is the most broken thing in your universe. You can also use the authorities of all the previous Herrschers with no problem.' Yuhao started freaking out inside but kept devouring cake while also listening to Kiana.
"You have no core inside you. Basically, a core and a stigma work hand in hand. A stigma is the main component that allows the Herrscher to hold authority, and the core is the energy source that can provide the Herrscher with infinite amounts of energy to do all they wish with their authority." Kiana said and gazed at Yuhao for a moment. Her beautiful unique eyes glowed as she gazed at him and then returned to normal.
"You have that big dragon's core inside your body and also that weird blood core that is made from your [White Tiger] bloodline. If I add a new Herrscher core to the mix, you would blow up like a balloon."
"You have that weird skill that allows your body to adapt and accommodate all changes and allow the cores to coexist. But the moment a Herrscher core is implanted in you, it will react with my stigma, and you will begin the process of Herrscher ascension."
"However, your body can't adapt to that yet. It is like adding a block of ice into a volcano; it is instantly vaporized, with no time to adapt to the power. Your previous ascension (when he gained a class) gave you abilities that grew as you enhanced your control and got stronger."
"A Herrscher ascension is different. You gain all the power at once. It's like getting the powers of a level 1000 in the body of a level 10." Kiana explained to Yuhao while she opened a new bag of chips.
After listening to her explanation, he started sweating. He did not know much about the Herrscher cores, after all. He only knew that gems were given by the will of Honkai; these gems can evolve into Herrscher cores if they meet a critically high level of Honkai energy and a suitable host for the core.
"That's why you need to start training. You will start using my stigma bit by bit until your body gets used to it so that when I implant a core in your body, you can ascend to become a Herrscher without any issues." Kiana continued and pointed at Yuhao with a fork that had cream on it.
Yuhao only nodded. He really needed to start his training arc as soon as possible. The skills that he gained through Ellie are very good, but they still haven't reached their full potential. When he gains a skill through Ellie, he can use it as a part of his body.
An athlete and a child know how to move their arm, but the range of movement and strength that they can lift are vastly different. So Yuhao needs to train his skills to reach their full potential.
His [Thread Manipulation] has the potential to touch and control the threads of fate, and his [Illusion Manipulation] has the potential to create a fake reality and impose it on the original reality, so he can rewrite it to his desires.
He needs control to reach that point. And luckily, Ellie has enough charge to world travel into a new world where he can train to his heart's content.
"Ahm, Kiana, can you exit the stigma space and appear in the real world?" Yuhao asked the gluttonous tuna.
Kiana froze in her place and stared at Yuhao.
"I can, but I won't," she answered and returned to devouring her cake.
'Seems like she is not ready to meet people yet. Can't really blame her. If I kept losing everyone who was close to me over and over again, I would go insane, which shows how tough the mental fortitude of our tuna.' Yuhao thought as he looked at Kiana and was speechless when he saw that she had devoured all the cake on his plate.
'What a gluttonous tuna.'
Yuhao finally had a basic plan to follow. After Yun'er finishes her legacy trial, which should be up by the morning, he would gather some supplies from the [Heavenly Soul Capital City] and tell Ellie to world jump.
In the new world, he would start training his skills, martial souls, martial arts, and stigma control and return when Skydream Ice Silkworm escapes from the core of [Star Forest]. After all, we can't miss a free million-year soul ring now, can we?
"Oh, and by the way, Yuhao. There are two consciousnesses living inside that weird mental space (spiritual sea) that you have. Are you aware of that?" Kiana asked as Yuhao was not aware of her existence, so he might not know about the existence of the two consciousnesses in that weird mental space of his.
Yuhao was speechless. He has a what now? It was already enough that he will have Skydream, Electrolux, and the ice and snow empresses living in his spiritual sea, and now there are two other consciousnesses already living there? What, is his spiritual sea a 5-star hotel without him knowing? (Yes, it is.)
"Do you mean that there are two people living in my spiritual sea currently?" he asked her again to confirm. And Kiana simply nodded.
"What do you want to do with them? I can seal them, or you can even consume them, I think, and it would increase your weird mental power (spiritual energy)." The tuna suggested as she got a bowl of instant noodles from somewhere and started devouring it.
Yuhao was speechless. He did find the idea of devouring them to increase his spiritual energy quite tempting, but he stopped himself.
"I didn't know about them. Heck, I did not even know that I had already opened my spiritual sea. Can you tell me what they are doing and what they look like?" Yuhao asked his favorite tuna. He was worried that it was a divine consciousness left by Tang San in him or something. He knew it was highly unlikely, but he still wanted to check.
Kiana nodded, and her eyes glowed for a second before returning to normal.
"Hmm, they are sleeping. It looks like they are either injured or incomplete, and I bet it is the former. As for their description, both are condensing themselves into a bead. One bead is golden in color and has a warm feeling around it, and the other is violet in color and has a very violent and dark aura around it." Kiana reported as she finished her instant noodles and started eating ice cream.
'Two beads that have opposing attributes. Who are they? And why did they enter my spiritual sea?' Yuhao wondered for a moment.
'Since both of them are injured, chances are they are using my spiritual sea as a sanctuary to heal themselves, like Electrolux did in the original novel. The question is, what to do with them?'
'Since I now know that my spiritual sea is open, I can control it to cut off their vision. After all, I don't want them to know that I am world traveling. I can do what Kiana suggested and consume them, but that is counterproductive.'
'My spiritual power is constantly growing due to the innate skill of [Eyes of Heaven], and as they consume my spiritual energy to recover, my spiritual power would enter accelerated growth. After all, the best way to grow your energy reserves is to empty it and wait for it to be filled again; it is like training a muscle.' Yuhao reasoned to himself as he closed their perception to the outside world.
(An: Don't worry. They don't know about Kiana or Alarion or Ellie. The two beads just exist in his spiritual sea and see what he sees in the real world. More about that in the author's note at the end.)
"For now, if you can keep an eye on them, Kiana, I would be thankful." He politely requested the Herrscher of Finality to watch these two and act if they showed any hostile intention, and she simply nodded. After all, she is bored and has nothing to do in the stigma space.
"So, what now? Should I wake up any second now and find it is morning outside?" Yuhao asked the tuna. He was looking for a good night's rest, but that is out the window now.
Kiana finished the tub of ice cream and licked the back of the spoon as she thought for a moment.
"Hmm, the stigma space is a place outside space and time. So, no matter how long you spend in here, it won't affect the outside world. But you can't be here for a long time; it would affect your time perception and growth. Imagine having a 6-year-old body but with a 100-year-old soul. You would view the world differently." Kiana warned the blond boy in front of her as she set her spoon on the table, and all the mess disappeared from the tabletop and vanished to nothingness.
"Just relax for now, and we will start training in the new world. I am excited to see it. After all, life here in this world is very inconvenient," said the tuna.
"I will send you outside so you can rest for tonight as tomorrow we have a lot to do," advised the tuna before standing up, and Yuhao followed her action.
"Well, it was nice finally meeting you, Yuhao. And you will be here every night from now on for training, okay?" She spoke in a soft tone as she gazed at the now standing blond boy who simply nodded to her.
"Alrighty then. Good night, Yuhao." Kiana said as Yuhao started feeling a tugging force that was sending him out of this space.
"Good night, Kiana," he answered her in a sleepy tone and waved at her before vanishing from the stigma space.
(Chapter 16 finished.)
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An:
Phew, this chapter is about 2.6k words without the author's note. It took longer than expected. I did not have enough energy to write, but here is today's chapter a bit early.
Also, I wanted to start working out, but I am not ready to go to the gym yet. I want to build some confidence first. If you have any suggestions for exercises that can be done indoors and with little equipment, please let me know.
The difference between spiritual power and spiritual energy: Spiritual power is the capacity, while spiritual energy is the energy that fills that capacity.
Imagine an MP bar of 100 points. 100 is the capacity, the amount of mana that the bar can hold. While the mana is the energy that can be stored in the bar.
So having two souls constantly consume the 'mana' would trigger the innate skill of [Eyes of Heaven] that provides him with immense spiritual growth.
So by emptying his spiritual reserves and refilling them again with a higher amount of energy, he would increase his spiritual power immensely. And don't worry, the two beads will not suck him dry (Ayo) but just use small amounts at a time to slowly repair themselves.
Electrolux did that with Yuhao in the original. He would consume his spiritual energy, and Skydream Ice Silkworm would release some of his spiritual energy from his seal to promote Yuhao's spiritual growth. That is the reason for his monstrous spiritual energy in the novel. I adapted it in this form here.
I will also provide him with a martial art that you guys are familiar with to train his perception and spiritual power. Hint: It is used by a very goofy pirate.
Give me some suggestions for Yun'er's legacy, guys. I want to write the chapter about her legacy, but I can't find a suitable character for her to inherit.
I asked in the previous chapter if Kiana's character was well-preserved in it or not, but no one replied.
Sadge noises
Anyways, let me know your thoughts on their interactions, okay?
Don't forget to comment on memes, share your thoughts, and most importantly, post waifu pics.
That's all for now.
Bye.