On the other side, Theresa was showing Kiana and the others around the personal training rooms dedicated to Valkyries. Evan would be arriving late because he had to communicate with Fu Hua. Since Evan had already told Theresa in advance, she didn't wait for him specifically. Anyway, each person's training room was separate, so she just led the others to get familiar with their new domains first.
Although "Valkyrie Personal Training Room" sounded very advanced, in reality, it was just like a gym equipped with various special apparatuses.
Remembering Evan's previous request, Kiana didn't have much interest in exploring this place. After putting the ID card Principal Theresa gave her into her pocket, she didn't even listen to the introduction of the Virtual Combat Room. Asking Raiden Mei to simplify and summarize the Principal's words for her later, she ran excitedly to Fu Hua's training room.
"You're already here? Kiana."
It had only been an hour since she met with Evan, yet a trace of fatigue and weakness unbeknownst to her appeared on Fu Hua's face. One had to know that she could originally train in the training room for a whole day; this appearance was undoubtedly somewhat abnormal.
However, Kiana, who didn't understand Fu Hua too well, couldn't accurately capture this anomaly and just assumed the Class Monitor was tired.
"Class Monitor, um, Evan asked me to come learn methods to strengthen willpower from you. Did he tell you? Did you agree?"
"Mhm."
Fu Hua nodded, then extended her hand toward Kiana. In her palm lay a crimson, semi-real, semi-illusory beautiful feather.
"This is a gift I'm giving you. Are you willing to accept it?"
"A gift from the Class Monitor? Ooh! Is this a return gift for the Super Deluxe Meal ticket I gave you in the arcade before? I fainted from hunger back then, and now you want to compensate me? Cough. Although this feather is very beautiful, I hope you can keep it a secret, Class Monitor. It's better not to tell others that 'Kiana fainted from hunger while playing games.' I feel my image would be damaged."
After a brief stun, Fu Hua quickly realized Kiana was talking about the time she secretly used an aerosol drug to make her pass out in the arcade.
Kiana actually thought she fainted from hunger...
Fu Hua shook her head, laughing and crying at the same time, then nodded.
"I won't spread it. As for this feather, it is a gift between friends."
"Then I'll accept it!"
Thinking the feather was very beautiful and wanting to play with it properly, Kiana decisively took the item from Fu Hua's hand. This overly crisp and neat action made Fu Hua freeze again.
Kiana didn't show any doubt about the phrase "gift between friends." She really treats me as a friend.
But I...
"Eh?! Why did it disappear?"
While Fu Hua's heart was complicated, Kiana took the feather and found it slowly disappearing, as if melting into her body from her palm, or perhaps self-decomposing. The girl couldn't help but exclaim.
Fu Hua gave an explanation.
"That is a manifestation of part of the power of the weapon I possess, [Fenghuang Down]. It will protect you in times of crisis. However, this power isn't considered powerful. Kiana, you mustn't develop dependence or a fluke mind because of this, okay?"
Fu Hua originally thought Kiana would proudly raise her head and say something like, "Dependence or fluke mind? You underestimate this young lady too much." However, facts proved that Kiana's behavior always exceeded Fu Hua's expectations.
"So it was just an illusion? I had already planned to preserve this beautiful feather properly."
Kiana obviously didn't care about the so-called power and protection; she was feeling pity for the disappearance of the feather.
Can she really defeat the 2nd Herrscher in terms of will? Or even stand up to the 2nd Herrscher as an equal?
Fu Hua couldn't help but harbor doubts. She felt her Sword Heart, which had long fallen from perfection, seemed even more unstable at this moment.
"Then Kiana, let's start the real training now. What I want to teach you is the Heart Principle of the Shenzhou martial art—[Edge of Taixuan] (Taixuan Sword Qi)."
"I know the word Shenzhou; it's that land separated from the Far East by an ocean. But what is martial arts?"
"It's a cultivation method from Shenzhou. It can enhance the human body's adaptability to Honkai energy and is also a way to utilize Honkai energy. Because it requires extremely high aptitude and the cultivation time is too long, it has mostly been replaced by the accelerated training methods for Valkyries."
Although I don't understand, nodding at this time is fine. Otherwise, the Class Monitor will definitely say a lot more words I don't understand.
"Oh."
Kiana nodded to express understanding.
Fu Hua naturally saw that Kiana was pretending to understand, but she didn't intend to make her memorize these relatively unimportant bits of knowledge. She continued:
"The Heart Principle is the cultivation of the mind. Mind, spirit, intention—a person's mental state will affect all other aspects. To cultivate willpower, cultivating the heart is the most effective."
"Oh."
Kiana continued to nod.
Fu Hua felt like she was playing the lute to a cow. She was certain that if she asked Kiana what she just said, the other party wouldn't be able to answer a single word.
How did Evan make Kiana cram history knowledge in such a short time and achieve the leap from zero to passing?
I'm a little impressed.
"Close your eyes, empty your mind. Exhale... inhale..."
Fu Hua gave up on explaining the principles and significance to Kiana and decided to try teaching the Heart Principle directly.
A moment later—
"Kiana, I asked you to empty your mind, not to space out."
"Eh? Then what should I do? I wasn't thinking about anything just now; my brain was completely empty."
"When spacing out, you don't know where your thoughts and mind are. But when emptying your mind, 'the spirit is like the sky, the heart is like still water.' Do you understand?"
"..."
Kiana was thinking.
Not thinking about the meaning of "spirit like the sky, heart like still water," but thinking about whether she should pretend to understand like before or give a negative answer.
Considering Evan hoped she could learn something, this time, Kiana chose to confess honestly.
"I don't understand."
Fu Hua sighed. She knew that in the coming week, she might be even more tired than when she was training herself.
Read ahead with 100+ chapters now with daily updates!
@patreon.com/Zefyrus