"After all, I am the culprit who caused you to leave the country. Is it a problem if I care a little?"
Saying this, Kiana suddenly took a step forward. Her stubbornly upturned ahoge seemed like it was about to poke Fuli's chin.
Unexpectedly, Fuli was one step faster, retreating the moment she lifted her foot.
Seeing Fuli backing away like a mouse avoiding a cat, Kiana placed one hand on her hip, looking quite speechless on the surface. "I wanted to give you a hug before we parted ways. Why run so fast?"
"I was afraid Miss Kiana's charm would be too potent, burning the resolve I worked so hard to build down to ashes." Fuli wore an innocent expression. "Nothing else, right? If not, I'm leaving."
"Yeah, go ahead."
Fuli brushed past Kiana, heading toward the stairs on either side of the corridor that led to the first floor.
Looking at his retreating back, the girl hesitated for a moment but ultimately couldn't help calling out, "Hey, Ah-Li!"
As mentioned before, only when attributes like Strength, Constitution, and Agility reach the corresponding standards can a Valkyrie pass Schicksal's assessment and become an N-Rank Valkyrie of that level.
For example, the standard for D-rank speed is exceeding the dynamic visual limit of ordinary humans, while an A-rank's damage output is equivalent to a one-man army.
But suppose a B-rank Valkyrie reaches A-rank standards in Strength, Constitution, and Physical Defense, but remains in the B-rank range in other aspects.
Normally speaking, this person is still B-rank.
However, in reality, since some of her attributes have stepped into the A-rank, her hard power far exceeds that of a conventional B-rank.
Such a person can be called a Rule Breaker (or "Critical-class") within their rank.
For instance, Kiana, a B-rank Rule Breaker. Coming from the Kaslana family, she is miles ahead in Strength, Constitution, and Honkai adaptability.
Being a Rule Breaker can, to a certain extent, ignore the gap between ranks. For example, a B-rank Rule Breaker whose Strength, Constitution, and Agility have all touched the A-rank domain can reach a stalemate with a normal A-rank Valkyrie for a short time.
In the long run, they would naturally lose, but the opportunity to cut and run is there.
If one is exceptionally talented and the objective conditions like environment/intelligence are favorable, turning defeat into victory isn't impossible.
Simply put, it's the difference between a "Hexagonal Warrior" (perfect all-rounder) and a student with uneven grades.
Kiana had originally intended to get to the bottom of the issues surrounding Fuli, and she believed she had the qualifications to "break skill with force."
However, the reaction speed he displayed just now when dodging her hug—no less than her own—and the inexplicable flash of vigilance between his brows, puzzled the girl. She decided to change her approach.
Her acting skills, honed over four years of wandering, performed steadily. Kiana turned her head away, looking a bit embarrassed. "If you don't have money, I can lend you some. Just don't go doing anything bad!"
Hearing this, Fuli, who had been wondering why this girl was dilly-dallying, finally laughed.
She must have heard some rumors from that blabbermouth landlady and mistakenly thought he was leaving to do something illegal, which was why she ran over specifically to fish for information.
In the end, she was still that kind-hearted kid. Even for a transparent nobody like him whom no one cared about, she would still show concern.
"To be honest, that pretentious act just now really didn't suit you at all." He waved his hand without looking back. "I'll send you photos after I get back to my country."
Fuli didn't intend to lie about this. Once he returned, he would definitely send Kiana a few photos.
But when exactly he would return was another matter entirely.
Thanks to Raiden Ryoma's development project for the Yae Village ruins, even remote areas like the southern suburbs had bus stops.
And thanks to Raiden Ryoma's imprisonment for embezzlement, even though the stops were set up, there were no longer any long-distance buses running back and forth.
Fuli didn't call a taxi; instead, he chose to jog all the way there at a leisurely pace.
To battle Jizo Mitama, one must be fully prepared. This run was to warm up his body in advance.
Broken walls and ruins were scattered throughout the Yae Village site. Half-built cement factory buildings were laid out on concrete grounds covered in creeping plants, possessing a sort of Red Dead Redemption aesthetic under the setting sun.
He trekked through this devastation, heading upstream along the dried-up riverbed of the Xijian River toward Mount Yae.
Halfway up that mountain lay a nameless shrine abandoned for five hundred years, where the incomplete Jizo Mitama was sealed.
Even five hundred years ago, when the people were less enlightened, this shrine wasn't considered a major one.
Coupled with years of disrepair, the road up the mountain was quite rugged.
This obviously couldn't stump the current Fuli.
Void Shunpo (Void Flash): A C-rank active skill. Footwork that uses the impact force of energy explosions to accelerate speed. It requires contact with a solid object to fully utilize the impact acceleration effect.
It can also use a special technique to condense solid-like green lotuses underfoot. The lotuses possess excellent floating and load-bearing capabilities. With every step taken, a lotus appears beneath the foot, while the previous lotus withers and dissipates within a short time. The more energy injected, the stronger the load-bearing capacity and the larger the lotus (controllable).
This footwork has low energy consumption but a high learning curve, and it can be used even in conventional anti-flight environments.
A lotus at every step; flowers bloom and fade; walking on lotuses.
In the category of footwork, Void Shunpo belongs to the most unpretentious type.
Its only advantage is that by stepping on the green lotuses, non-flying units can hover in the air for a short time. It looks a bit like a combination of Soru (Shave) and Geppo (Moonwalk) from the Marine Six Styles.
Of course, Fuli didn't admit to that. In his mouth, this was called a "noble double jump."
Relying on Void Shunpo, he completed the mountain climb that would take an ordinary person over ten hours in just ten minutes. Along the way, he conveniently dispatched a few cute small animals that bared their teeth at him to have a "rich meal" (snack).
The Human Immortal Dao—everyone who uses it says it's great.
Reaching the top of the approach, the view of the shrine came into Fuli's sight.
The wooden structures were half-weathered, and the cherry blossom trees in the courtyard had long since withered.
The area was quite large, estimated to be about the size of a basketball court.
And in the center of such a ground stood a massive Killing Stone (Sessho-seki), surrounded by red and white shimenawa (sacred ropes).
"To think they used such a huge Killing Stone for the seal..."
The Killing Stone, legendary for being the transformation of the Golden-furred White-faced Nine-Tailed Fox that crossed over from the East, was actually a special Pre-Civilization Soulium excavated (grave-robbed) in the Far East. It could isolate and block Honkai energy to a certain extent.
Even though he was mentally prepared, seeing the seal before his eyes, Fuli still felt a wave of trance.
Looking all over the surface of the earth, there were only thirteen (suspected) God-Killing Armaments. The 12th Divine Key, the Key of Corruption, was right here.
In this universe, the composition of natural laws includes matter formed by basic particles and fields; fundamental forces formed by strong, weak, electromagnetic, and gravitational forces; energy formed by kinetic, potential, thermal, and radiation energy; information formed by symmetry, entropy, and chaos; and some other unknowns.
The authority of the Key of Corruption is the control of Information. As long as something falls within the scope of information, it will be subject to its domination.
This even includes the mysterious and unpredictable soul. Since the human soul changes with time, strictly speaking, the human soul also belongs to the category of information.
Of course, boasting on paper is one thing; actual execution is another.
"Discussing ability without discussing magnitude is just playing the hooligan" (is just sophistry) has always been true. There are plenty of characters in games and anime who use the four fundamental forces, but you don't see them destroying the universe amidst casual chatter, do you?
There aren't even that many at the planet-destroying level, okay?!
...