Whether it was the Demon Sword Shiranui that Fuli obtained through the Future Fund loan, or the combat techniques exchanged from the Schicksal Store, both were essentially just transmitting a packet of information into the user's mind.
How to use it depended entirely on the user's own degree of development. Just like mathematical formulas, anyone can memorize them, but fully understanding and applying them flexibly is a completely different concept.
For example, Fuli, with his experience from the previous cycle, could easily push the effect of Shiranui to its limit, touching the lower bounds of an A-Rank Valkyrie in a short time. If someone else used it, let alone achieving that effect, it would be questionable whether they could even unleash the skills normally.
And this was the reason for the stormy waves rising within Asta's heart.
Immobilization Spell: A C-Rank spell Fuli drew during his second system ten-pull. It generates an invisible force field to imprison the opponent, rendering them immobile. If mastered proficiently, one could even throw or grab enemies with it.
Since this spell only worked on units weaker than oneself, and its effectiveness dropped the closer the enemy's strength was to the user's, the boy, disdainful of its uselessness, simply extracted it and made it into a Light Cone.
Yes, that was the very one currently resting securely inside Asta's body.
Sitting dazed on the guest sofa, the pink-haired young miss felt a sense of proficiency, as if she had mastered it all along. Blessed with sudden inspiration, she raised her hand, pointing her delicate fingertip at Sauce, who was gnawing on a bone with a crunch-crunch sound in the corner.
The dog, struggling valiantly with the chew toy, froze mid-action, but soon regained its mobility.
"Awoo..."
It sidled up to Kiana aggrievedly, nudging her calf with its snout.
"We're doing serious business, don't make trouble!"
In return, it got a heartwarming slap from the girl.
Asta lowered her head, looking at her own hand.
"Did I just... successfully cast the Immobilization Spell?"
"Against units of the same realm, that thing usually only immobilizes them for an instant. In other words, your combat power is only fit to sit at the same table as the dog."
Bronya answered honestly, and immediately received a loving smack from her brother.
Fuli praised from the bottom of his heart: "Being comparable to a D-Rank mechanical hound means you've been exercising properly, Asta."
Given the widespread existence of Honkai energy in the air, the upper limit reachable by ordinary people through hard work in the Honkai World was slightly higher than in a magic-less universe.
Even so, to be on par with a mechanical hound capable of running up to 50km/h and possessing a bite force of up to one ton meant Asta had undoubtedly put in grueling training.
"You've experienced the effect of the Light Cone just now."
Fuli pulled his pouting little sister into his arms and rubbed her cheeks. After her anger turned to playful annoyance, he ruthlessly tossed her aside. "Anyone who equips it can not only use the recorded moves unconditionally but also inherit the usage experience of the recorder—that is, me—regarding that move."
Otherwise, given Asta's Honkai adaptability, even if she learned the Immobilization Spell, she was destined to be unable to cast it.
With a thought from Fuli, the Light Cone ejected from the girl's body like a disc from a DVD player.
Reaching out to retrieve it, he smiled. "Plug and play. It leaves no trace in the body after removal, doesn't wear out with repeated use, and if the energy runs out, just input Honkai energy to recharge it."
For now, Massive Electric's technology was far from being able to replicate top-tier creations like Light Cones, so all the Light Cones Hyperion possessed were made by Fuli himself.
He not only extracted skills he didn't use but also frequently rummaged through the System Store of the Finality Coordinator System, exchanging for skills and spells he couldn't use but could record, turning them into Light Cones.
After all, the store refreshed every 48 hours. It would be a pity to leave so many things sitting there unredeemed.
The same went for the Peerless Martial Arts Catalog. With Fuli's understanding of combat techniques, he could quickly master whatever popped up.
By extracting them, a simple Light Cone manufacturing chain was formed.
"What do you think?"
Having said that, the boy looked at Asta with high spirits.
He felt this item was absolutely qualified to be Hyperion's leading product to open up the corporate market. He was already envisioning a wonderful life of eating one bowl and throwing one away (being rich and wasteful).
But as soon as he looked up, he met a pair of teary, rose-blue eyes and a beautiful figure soaring over the coffee table, pouncing toward him.
"Give it back!"
"Give it back, give it back, give it back, give it back!"
God knows what flag was triggered, but the corporate young miss, who had been polite (and distant) just a moment ago, crashed into Fuli's arms crying and shouting. Her pair of tender pink fists hammered his chest like falling rain.
The reaction caused was particularly alarming. The nearby trio bristled instantly.
"Project Bunny! Zero-type reload!"
"You! Let go of Ah-Li!"
Mei was even more ruthless; she had already logged into the Hyperion's command authorization, preparing to erase the molecular bonds within Asta's body remotely.
They didn't suspect any illicit affair between the two who had just met; they were primarily worried about Fuli being attacked.
"Shh—!"
Just as the girls were about to act, the "victim" of the attack raised a finger, motioning for everyone to quiet down first.
"It's okay~ It's okay~"
Then, he wrapped his arm around the fair shoulder revealed between Asta's strands of hair. Stroking the smooth, warm, jade-white shoulder of the beauty, he pulled the bristling pink kitten tighter into his embrace, comforting her softly.
Empathy is a very hypocritical word.
If you haven't experienced something, you haven't experienced it. No matter how much you empathize, it is a completely different concept from personal experience.
However, the current Fuli dared to guarantee that he could understand the feelings of the girl in his arms.
Who was he?
Asta's "moment" of lapse was only relative to her being an ordinary person. Even if startled by the sudden change, there were many things Fuli could have done.
For example, condensing the Shadow-Trailing Sword to slice the young miss before him into minced meat; or using Void Flash to teleport away, figure out the situation, and then plan the next move.
The boy didn't do that because, in Asta's eyes, he caught an emotion incredibly similar to his past self.
It was the final moments of the Third Eruption in the previous cycle. Upon learning from rescue personnel that "Kiana is an incredibly powerful Valkyrie," the ordinary human Fuli's eyes revealed intense unwillingness and the despair of being unable to do anything.
He and she were never from the same world. His actions had been a joke from the start.
Such thoughts filled his heart like never before. The wavering and despair in his eyes made the nurse misunderstand that he couldn't bear the shock of the Third Eruption and wanted to commit suicide.
Thus, she broke the rules and told Fuli that "those who can survive in the epicenter of a Great Eruption with just their bodies possess adaptability," which started the boy's journey of seeking immortality and the Dao for over half a year.
Compared to Little Li, who entered the industry late but had some talent, Asta's situation was much more miserable.
As mentioned before, as the daughter of a high-ranking corporate executive, the girl's Honkai adaptability was worse than an ordinary person's.
Her parents didn't treat her differently because of this, but the idle gossip never ceased.
After all, even if she could rely on items and equipment to temporarily experience the power of a Honkai Superman, those were ultimately external objects.
The label of "powerless" was like a mountain, pressing down on Asta until she couldn't breathe.
After her mother became the new director of the Corporation, the rumors reached a peak.
Look! That's the Senator from Seat Four of the Elder Council!
Zero Honkai reaction? How did she get that position? Nepotism, surely?
I heard the servant she picked up was even rated B-Rank.
Haha! For real?
That was why Asta volunteered for the mission to transport the Imaginary Collapse Gravity Bomb. The girl wanted to prove that even without talent, she was absolutely not inferior to anyone!
Then, the appearance of the Kheshig Army and Yan Shiluo dealt Asta two heavy blows to the head.
If the Hyperion group hadn't descended like divine soldiers, she wouldn't have even had the chance to die together with the enemy. Her longing reached its peak at that moment.
Asta could have suppressed this longing; her performance earlier had been normal.
Ultimately, she was the daughter of a corporate director. In her short seventeen years of life, she had experienced similar situations too many times.
But then Fuli backhandedly inserted the Light Cone into her body, letting the girl experience the power she craved for the first time, only to—lacking martial ethics—pull the Light Cone out not two minutes later.
With that back-and-forth, gaining the object of her dreams only to lose it immediately, Asta, who was already suppressing herself, had her mental state completely explode.
Look! She's even starting to bite Fuli's shoulder!
Chomp chomp, super fierce!
Watching this, Mei's face was cold and her mentality shattered, electricity zzzt-zzzt-ing outwards.
"Mei, calm down, calm down!"
"It's not that serious, not that serious!"
Thankfully, Kiana and Bronya, realizing something was wrong, joined forces to block her. Only then did they avoid a terrible development like "Director's daughter dies tragically, Hyperion and IPC go to full-scale war."
Under Attack! Under Attack!
The alarm for an enemy raid suddenly woke everyone on the bridge. Kallen's figure solidified from virtuality, informing everyone that pirates had appeared in the distance, targeting the luxury cruise ship still parked on the sea surface.
Before the Trio, who were just looking for punching bags, could act, the pirate ship flying the skull flag on the horizon dove into the sea and vanished several times faster than it had arrived.
Why?
Because their radar clearly showed only one large cruise ship. Yet, when they roared over to take a closer look, there was a freaking aerospace battleship parked in the sky.
If they didn't run, what were they aiming for? Its iron? Its steel? Or that my men aren't dead enough? Or for its beam cannons to go bang bang bang?
Interrupted by these "kind-hearted people," Asta, who had passed out from emotional overload, gradually realized what she had just done.
She lifted her head like she'd been electrocuted, then immediately buried it back into the boy's chest. Mainly because this could tentatively count as a safe haven—just like how leaving the blankets in the morning means facing the messy trivialities of reality. If conditions allow, anyone would want to curl up in the blankets and sleep for another five minutes.
What to do, what to do, what to do, what to do?
At the same time, she frantically spun the gears in her little head, trying to find a way to cover up her lapse of composure.
"Uh, actually, my technique for removing the Light Cone had a little error just now, and I accidentally bumped into Asta, hahaha."
...Eh?
The young miss glanced upward out of the corner of her eye. Fuli, scratching his head and laughing like a goofball, winked his left eye at her.
["So cliché, such a clumsy way to smooth things over."]
Prometheus, habitually voyeuring her host from the moon surface, pouted.
["Can't deny it's super effective,"] Dr. MEI teased.
["Provided the other party doesn't push their luck,"] Little AI continued to mutter.
["That's a Senator of the Elder Council; her EQ isn't that low."] The great beauty laughed and cried. Why was the Miss Will of the Honkai trending towards becoming a nagging mom lately?
Then what was Fuli? The Son of the Honkai Will?
...
Back to Earth. Since he offered a way out, not taking it would be purely asking for trouble.
Asta loosely clenched a pink fist, coughing lightly against her lips. "Sorry, I was rude."
She slid off the boy with her long, snow-white legs. Inevitably touching something during the process, the flush on her delicate face became even more charming, and her beautiful eyes, shimmering with tears, rippled with a misty glaze.
"Little hooligan."
Kallen's light hmph reached Fuli's ears. He quickly whispered a defense: "I didn't use Partial Expansion Jutsu. It's a natural gift. Big Sis, you saw it with your own eyes in the underground prison; I can't help it."
Only after speaking did he realize—why did he have to clarify this to the white-haired Saintess? They had a pure sworn brother-sister relationship!
As for Mei, she wasn't truly the inflexible type.
Asta's loss of control clearly had its reasons, mainly the anger from being humiliated (about her weakness) to her face earlier.
Considering she held the trade channel Hyperion desperately needed, even if Mei was unhappy, she simply puffed her cheeks and ran to sit beside Fuli.
Wait! Doesn't this count as watching one's own wife (husband) getting taken advantage of and touched by a rich intruder for a few bits of silver, while only being able to smile apologetically on the side and sulk alone in secret?
Ehe! So who single-handedly spent all of Hyperion's budget, causing the situation to turn out like this?
It was me! It was me!
The Lightning Empress, reaping what she sowed, bent down angrily and picked up the Cat Cake dozing on her feet, kneading it vigorously.
"Put what just happened aside!"
Kind-hearted Kiana waved her small hand, glossing over the incident. "Asta, that Light Cone recorded with the [Immobilization Spell] just now—how many Crystals do you think it's worth?"
"Crystals..."
Staring at the card that she dreamt of, the now-calm Young Miss immediately realized a fact:
Compared to the price of the Light Cone, the significance it brought was far more important!
Back then, a single Vill-V Model caused such huge waves in the Honkai side, the impact of which hasn't faded to this day. Vill-V was even recognized as a strong contender for the most outstanding genius of the 21st century because of it.
And Light Cones...
Asta took a deep breath. "I want to know, with Hyperion's current technology, can items like Light Cones be mass-produced?"
Fuli was very honest. "In a while, yes."
He believed in the combination of Mei + Divine Key Key of Blankness. Before that happened, he would just work harder, sell more, and earn more money for her.
...Why did that phrasing sound a bit wrong?
"I understand."
Asta nodded, then asked repeatedly, "What about usage? Just insert it into the body? Any restrictions? How many can one person use at most? What is the quantity cap?"
Regardless of whether she had asked these before, she had to confirm them again, multiple times, repeatedly.
Fuli answered tirelessly, "Just insert it into the body. It won't harm the user. To log out, just a thought is enough. Ordinary people can use it too, and they won't be harmed or infected by the Imaginary Energy contained in the Light Cone."
He used "Imaginary Energy" instead of "Honkai Energy."
According to Massive Electric's monitoring, the energy conversion mechanism inside the Light Cones made by the Finality Coordinator System purified the highly corruptive Honkai Energy into simpler Imaginary Internal Energy.
This was also one of the major subjects Mei was preparing to tackle. Whether from her conversation with Su or her own research, she had realized the nature of Honkai Energy was wrong.
Rather than wailing when disaster struck, it was better to prepare early.
"How many can one person use simultaneously..."
Fuli pointed to his temple. "This mainly depends on how many Light Cones the user's mental strength can handle at once. Theoretically, as long as the person's will is firm enough, there is no upper limit to the number of Light Cones they can wield."
"And most importantly, not just humans—intelligent machines and mechs can also use Light Cones."
He took the Cat Cake Mei was kneading and pushed the Light Cone embedded with Demon Sword Shiranui into the little guy's body.
"Mo!!!"
It instantly fired up!
Super Saiyan Cake!
This was the confidence Kallen had when she sent the Armed Cat Cake alone to finish off Yan Shiluo. Unfortunately, Fuli got there first through the portal.
Not only did he flash in to steal the kill, but he also snatched the man's spatial equipment.
"Is that so..."
A series of bombshell news filled Asta to the brim.
She slumped on the sofa, her eyes losing focus. "No wonder Ms. Theresa has been keeping you hidden..."
One of the many rumors circulating in Schicksal was [Theresa wants to merge Hyperion into St. Freya no matter what, even refusing all outsiders from using her to connect with Hyperion]. The girl originally thought the Academy Principal was just old and thirsty, unwilling to let her fiancé roam outside alone and not wanting him to have contact with other women.
Now it seemed... to keep such a supreme treasure hidden until now—that little white-haired girl was simply oozing with evil!!!
However, after putting herself in her shoes, Asta actually felt sincere admiration for the broad-mindedness (unlike her body type) of this former S-Rank Valkyrie.
Honestly speaking, if she had been the first to know all this, let alone letting him wander outside—if you, Fuli, could escape my little dark room, I, Asta Fleming, would change my surname to yours!
...