When Evan returned to his dorm and opened the virtual interface, he was not surprised to see that his friendship points had increased significantly. It wasn't just from Kiana; it seemed that because he had interacted with Theresa today, the increase was quite substantial.
However, Evan wasn't going to seek out Theresa just because he had tasted the benefits. After all, besides his connection through Kiana, he didn't have much of a relationship with Theresa. One had to know the limits in such matters, and Evan wouldn't make any strange, out-of-character moves just for a moment of greed.
Unlike Mei and Kiana, Theresa's identity as the principal of St. Freya Academy and the adopted granddaughter of the Schicksal Overseer, Otto, was extremely special. Evan couldn't just rashly approach her, at least not now.
He continued to spend friendship points on the Friendship Supply and, unsurprisingly, received gold items. By now, Evan had saved up a good amount of gold, enough to max out a two-star Stigma.
He currently possessed a full set of Shigure Kira and Charlotte, and one Hannah (M). Instead of continuing to enhance the Charlotte set, which was close to perfection like the Shigure Kira set, Evan planned to enhance Hannah (M).
It wasn't that he valued higher-star Stigmata more; he wanted to confirm something.
It cost one thousand gold to max out a one-star Stigma and five thousand to evolve it. Now, Evan wanted to know how much gold it would take to evolve a two-star Stigma.
Because the Shigure Kira and Charlotte sets could only reach two stars at most, Evan couldn't investigate this before. But now, with the Hannah Stigma that could reach three stars, he could finally explore it further.
If, like with the one-star Stigmata, the evolution cost was five times the enhancement cost, the situation would be terrible. Even if he connected with more and more Valkyries in the future and earned more friendship points every day, Evan didn't think the gold provided by the Friendship Supply could cover the cost of building Stigmata. After all, two-star and three-star Stigmata weren't even considered that high-end. If enhancing and evolving them required so much gold, then when he obtained four-star or even five-star Stigmata in the future, he would only be able to look on in despair.
After maxing out Hannah (M), Evan didn't even take the time to feel the increase in his body's strength. He quickly navigated the virtual interface, his eyes focused on the Stigma evolution section.
The number displayed there was not fifty thousand, but twenty thousand. It only took twenty thousand gold to evolve a two-star max-level Stigma to three stars, not the five-fold increase he had seen with the one-star Stigmata.
In that case, he could roughly guess that the gold cost for enhancement and evolution would double each time from now on. As for the five-fold increase for the one-star evolution, it probably wasn't that the evolution cost was high, but that the enhancement cost was too low. Perhaps it could be considered a kind of beginner's bonus?
In any case, Evan was truly relieved.
With such a small sample size, he couldn't be certain of his theory, but at least the evolution cost for two-star Stigmata wasn't as exaggerated as he had imagined. Evan could tentatively continue to increase his strength at a relatively fast pace.
As for combat skills, Evan didn't think that continuing to learn ordinary fighting techniques would improve his ability to fight the Honkai in the future. If his opponent was an ordinary person, with his current level, even the stupidest attack would carry enough power and speed to kill any normal human. And if it was a Honkai Beast, from what he remembered, they were mostly large creatures; trying to fight them with ordinary techniques would be reckless.
As for Herrschers, they were indeed of normal size, since they were originally human. However, Herrschers wouldn't choose to engage in close combat. They were more likely to use their control over Honkai energy to launch advanced attacks unimaginable to ordinary people. The physical strength of a Herrscher itself probably wasn't too exaggerated. When the time came, Evan might be able to rely on the power from his multiple Stigmata to overwhelm them in close quarters, without needing any fancy techniques.
His own combat skills had at least reached a proficient level. Even if he invested more time, there wouldn't be a significant improvement, and even if there was, it wouldn't have a significant effect. And the treadmill and barbells he used for physical training had been feeling less and less effective lately; he had clearly reached a limit. The same was true for his swordsmanship.
So, what should his goal be now?
Evan actually felt a little lost, but not for long. He glanced at the time, then at the dark night outside, and quickly made a decision.
He had been sneaking into Senba Academy frequently lately, and he felt his infiltration skills had improved considerably. Plus, with the enhancement from his Stigmata, his observation, reaction, and coordination had all been boosted again. Perhaps he could try to infiltrate the weapons research lab on the upper floors of the ME Corp branch building before the Third Honkai Eruption?
If he found something, that would be great. If not, he would need to find another path sooner rather than later. If he was still empty-handed when the Third Honkai Eruption occurred, while he was confident he could face zombies and Honkai Beasts bare-fisted, he wasn't sure about dealing with a Herrscher.
Raiden Mei, who was about to awaken as the Third Herrscher, was actually in a very special state. Her Herrscher Core was not formed on its own; it was originally a part of the Second Herrscher's power, so she was naturally much weaker than a normal Herrscher. But Evan would still treat the situation with extreme seriousness and prepare as thoroughly as possible.
Now, since he was preparing to infiltrate ME Corp, should he act immediately?
Evan felt he should first determine the locations of all the cameras along the way to avoid exposing himself. The cameras on the street probably wouldn't be too hidden; it would just take some time to pay attention to them. As for the ones inside ME Corp, Evan didn't think he could find all of them. When the time came, he would just have to disguise himself first and then act quickly.