Compared to Raven's complicated feelings toward Lynelle and Sirin, the reason "Hare" wanted to meet Lynelle was actually much simpler.
There were only two reasons: one left to her by Misteln before the transcription, and the other an idea Hare herself formed after the transcription.
Let's start with the first one.
When Misteln was first born, as a peculiar existence somewhere between a Schariac Stigma and a human, her presence was highly unstable.
Not only could she be forcibly sent back to the Stigma Space at any time, she also emitted an incredibly powerful field of Honkai radiation.
Under that level of radiation, nothing could survive around her. Even worse, when she first came into being, she was completely unaware of this.
By the time she realized she had this kind of constitution, she had already accidentally killed an "innocent" blonde passerby.
Judging by the weapon he was carrying, he must have been there to retrieve the Sixth Divine Key—Black Abyss White Flower.
It was just his bad luck to have unknowingly wandered into her lethal zone.
However, from what Gray Serpent later told her, that blonde man didn't actually die—because, like Gray Serpent, he had multiple bodies, and losing one was no great loss.
Still, Misteln felt a wave of relief at the time, because according to Gray Serpent, if a woman named Lynelle hadn't disrupted that blonde man's plans, this kind of retrieval operation would normally have been carried out by a large team conducting a sweeping search.
If that had really happened, Misteln had no idea how many innocent people she might have inadvertently killed because of it.
Later, the names Lynelle and Sirin were mentioned again by a close friend of hers who was pregnant at the time—though that was another tragedy altogether.
Unfortunately, after the Second Honkai Eruption, Sirin had been confirmed by World Serpent to have died under a Honkai fission bomb, and her body was recovered by Schicksal.
As for Lynelle, although no body was found, given her frail constitution and the destructive power of the Honkai fission bomb, it was almost certain she had been literally vaporized from the face of the earth.
So, right up until the transcription, Misteln never got the chance to thank these two individuals who had profoundly influenced the course of her life.
It wasn't until recently, when the name Lynelle started circulating actively in the world again, that Hare saw an opportunity to fulfill the regrets of her former self.
As for Hare's own reason… it didn't have much to do with Lynelle, actually.
She mainly wanted to meet Cecilia and ask this woman, who had unintentionally facilitated her own birth, a single question.
But with Cecilia now dead, the only one who could possibly answer that question in her place seemed to be Lynelle, who had inherited Cecilia's Stigma.
Moreover, according to Gray Serpent, Lynelle seemed to have some kind of ability similar to "channeling spirits" or the like?
In any case, no matter what, for Hare, Lynelle was someone she absolutely had to meet.
It was just that this girl was as elusive as a ghost, and Hare had never been able to get any solid leads.
But this time… her chance had come.
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At that moment, Lynelle, who had just arrived in the world of Honkai Impact, had no idea that due to the butterfly effect caused by her changes to the Second Honkai Eruption, both of the World Serpent's only two conventional high-level combatants held indescribably complex feelings toward her—and one of them was about to seek her out.
Of course, for the young girl, her focus this time was entirely on another matter.
"Gasp— You're saying Mr. Welt has gone missing in the Sea of Quanta?"
"To be precise, we can detect that he's still somewhere within a certain area of the Sea of Quanta."
Einstein's voice was full of exhaustion. "But we can't get him out. We can't even contact him properly."
"From what he said before he left, it seems he voluntarily stayed in the Sea of Quanta to seal away some fearsome enemy."
"This happened while you were in hibernation, so we couldn't notify you right away. But… according to Joachim, even if you had been there at the time, there probably wouldn't have been much you could do."
"After all, that terrifying existence far surpassed the combat power of a Herrscher."
"Hmm…"
"So, it's unlikely that you'll be able to get the Sovereign to come help you… Though recently, things have quieted down a bit in North America. Ryoma alone should be able to handle it. How about I transfer Siegfried over to you?"
"Siegfried? No, no…"
The moment she heard that name, Lynelle shook her head repeatedly.
It wasn't that she doubted Siegfried's combat ability.
Motivated by his wife's resurrection, Siegfried had been training more diligently than anyone lately.
Combined with the Kaslana family's terrifying natural talent, his combat power could no longer be considered barely scraping the S-rank mark like before.
But the problem now was that her hypothetical adversary wasn't Otto—it was World Serpent!
World Serpent would jump at the chance to go after Siegfried.
If she transferred Siegfried over, especially from his important post in North America, and World Serpent detected that Siegfried was there too, they'd probably mobilize their entire force, aiming to seize his core and the Judgment of Shamash at the same time.
"Then… how about sending Bella over to you?"
"Bella? Hmm, that might not work either. Siegfried and Bella have one thing in common: their positions are too conspicuous."
"If either of them disappeared for even a short while, it would be noticed immediately…"
"Conspicuous… Yeah, you're right. Considering your hypothetical adversary is that elusive World Serpent, and given their previous infiltration of Anti-Entropy, high-profile figures like Siegfried and Bella stationed in key regions would indeed stand out."
"No wonder you wanted the Sovereign to come initially. If he were stationed at St. Freya, his concealability might actually be better."
Einstein let out a troubled sigh. After a moment of silence, she suddenly spoke up.
"Oh, Lynelle, actually… I thought of a suitable candidate."
"Who?"
"Cecilia."
"Huh?"
Lynelle was stunned. "Cecilia? Wasn't the whole reason I went back to the Far East last time to place her into that new body for adaptation? It's only been a month."
"How is she… already ready to be sent out for combat?"
"For that, you have Otto to thank."
Einstein's voice held a trace of oddness. "You have some idea what that underground lab at St. Freya was for, right?"
"Cloning Cecilia, trying to mass-produce the Holy Blood," Lynelle answered without hesitation.
"It's a good thing he didn't succeed. Judging from the incident in Singapore last time, his attempt to find a breakthrough through Cecilia was a mistaken direction from the start."
"Exactly. But Otto never considered the path of artificial synthesis back then. So, he attributed his failure to the fact that 'these clones weren't accurate enough replicas of Cecilia's body.'"
Einstein couldn't help but sound a little amused.
"So, you see? It's not that Cecilia recovered quickly—it's that Otto's work on bodily compatibility was too thorough."
"The clone data of Cecilia left in the Dogma Area can basically recreate a perfect, original-version Cecilia, minus the stigma, with 100% accuracy."
"Therefore, after entering the new body, Cecilia barely had any adaptation period to speak of."
"The rehabilitation plan we've been having her follow lately has been entirely focused on reawakening her stigma and restoring her combat strength."
"Right now, while we can't say Cecilia has fully regained the power she had during the Second Honkai Eruption, she should have no problem barely reaching the level of S-rank strength."
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T/N: HSR Fic out on MapleTL!
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T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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If you guys wanna check it out.