On the other side of the facility, within the sterile confines of Mobius's laboratory, Elysia arrived just in time to catch a peculiar sight.
Mobius was hunched over the reception desk computer, fingers flying across the keys with obsessive intensity, while Klein stood by her side, watching the scene with a look of pure, weary resignation.
"Ahem."
Elysia knew perfectly well that her timing was terrible, but the urge to tease Mobius was a temptation she simply couldn't resist.
Sure enough, the moment Elysia made a sound, Mobius—who had been radiating a dark, frantic excitement just seconds ago—immediately pulled a long face. Her expression soured instantly.
She turned her head, fixing Elysia with a look that was anything but welcoming. "Shouldn't you be out there playing soldier and killing things? What are you doing lurking around here?"
Then, as if remembering something, Mobius added, "Oh, right. Connie and the others were looking for you and Durandal earlier. Now that you know, stop being a nuisance and go find them."
Mobius gave a dismissive wave of her hand, her impatient sneer making it clear she wanted Elysia gone as quickly as possible.
But since when did Elysia ever do as she was told?
Ignoring the dismissal, Elysia drifted over to the guest area and sank into the sofa. Suddenly, a strange object shaped like a lotus blossom appeared in her hands, and she began to fiddle with it playfully.
Mobius intended to ignore her, but a stray glance at the object was all it took for her eyes to lock onto it. She couldn't look away.
She glanced at the heart-shaped function graph she had been drawing on the screen, then at the exhausted Klein beside her, and finally let out a sharp sigh.
Abandoning the computer, she strode over to stand before Elysia.
"I can feel the resonance of a Herrscher Core coming from that thing. Where did you get it?"
Mobius had spent enough time in Fire Moth and had personally overseen research on the Core of the First Herrscher; she wasn't about to misidentify that signature.
Given the rumors that Durandal had recently neutralized the Second Herrscher, she suspected this object was related.
However, Elysia's answer caught her completely off guard.
"This is the Eighth Divine Key, the Key of Sentience—Fenghuang Down. The reason Durandal and I disappeared was to retrieve this."
Technically, Elysia wasn't lying. Fenghuang Down had indeed been the reward for clearing the dungeon.
Earlier, Elysia had suggested that everyone should try entering the dungeon in the future, but Durandal had worried that the risk of memory loss was too high.
Almost as if responding to their needs, the dungeon provided Fenghuang Down as a completion reward—a perfect solution delivered right when they needed it most.
As for the reality of the situation, the Third Honkai Eruption incident hadn't been fully resolved by Durandal yet, so the physical rewards hadn't officially manifested in the world.
Durandal had told Elysia about the existence of Genius, but Elysia had no intention of sharing that secret with others.
If anyone asked, she would simply claim it was found within the dungeon; no one would be able to prove otherwise.
Walls had ears, after all. Elysia's secrecy wasn't aimed at their friends in Schicksal, but rather at Fire Moth.
"What do you mean, 'Eighth' Divine Key?" Mobius pressed, her gaze growing heavy. "Does that imply there are seven others before it? And besides..."
Mobius looked at Elysia with grim intensity.
"Fire Moth performed countless experiments on the Core of the First Herrscher. They even tried to transplant it into humans to create a 'Human Herrscher,' but it ended in total failure."
"Eventually, the conclusion was that Cores could likely only be fashioned into weapons. The tentative name for such projects was 'Divine Keys,' but the actual blueprints hadn't even been finalized by the time I left."
"If I'm right, and you're calling that flower the Eighth Divine Key, are you telling me it was made from the Core of an Eighth Herrscher that hasn't even appeared yet?"
"Why not? It really is made from the Core of the Eighth Herrscher—the Herrscher of Sentience~"
With a playful lilt in her voice, Elysia began to explain the dungeon to Mobius.
She framed the phenomenon as a reward for Durandal "subduing" the Third Herrscher. It was true enough, but without Genius, such a reward never would have appeared—a detail she carefully omitted.
Elysia wasn't worried about her lie being exposed. After all, when it came to the First and Second Herrschers, humanity hadn't subdued them; they had simply annihilated them.
Even Fire Moth, with all their knowledge, had no precedent to contradict her claim.
Spreading this particular rumor served another purpose: it was a preemptive strike to keep Fire Moth from mindlessly killing any future Herrschers they found before Schicksal could get to them.
If Fire Moth learned that subduing a Herrscher—rather than killing it—granted access to a "dungeon" that rewarded them with futuristic artifacts, would they still be so quick to draw blood?
Most would likely move heaven and earth to capture a Herrscher alive instead.
As for the few hardliners who couldn't be swayed, she wasn't worried.
The internal politics of Fire Moth would swallow them whole. Even if they weren't physically removed, they would be suppressed by their peers to the point of irrelevance.
Furthermore, to prevent Fire Moth from developing a "if I can't have it, no one can" spiteful streak, Elysia planned to eventually offer them an open invitation to join their dungeon raids.
If they entered and still failed to get rewards, that would be their own lack of talent—they couldn't blame anyone else.
"To think such a thing is possible..."
Mobius's eyes narrowed. In truth, she didn't believe a word of Elysia's story.
A "dungeon reward" for subduing a Herrscher? It sounded like a fairy tale. Did they think reality was some kind of game where a "Perfect Clear" yielded hidden items?
But regardless of how much she scoffed internally, she played along. If this was part of some grand scheme, she didn't particularly care.
She was far more interested in the prize itself.
"So, you brought Fenghuang Down to me because you want a way to ensure our people regain their memories immediately the next time they enter the dungeon?" Mobius asked.
Elysia nodded brightly. "Exactly~♪"
"Hand it over, then."
Mobius reached out, demanding the artifact. Elysia didn't hesitate, placing the blossom directly into Mobius's hand.
Task complete, Elysia clapped her hands together as if ticking a major item off her to-do list. Her gaze drifted over to Klein, who was still standing nearby.
"Doctor Mobius, I'll be eagerly awaiting your good news~♪"
Following Elysia's gaze, Mobius looked over at Klein as well.
"E-LY-SI-A!"
Mobius hissed the name through gritted teeth.
She knew exactly what that tone meant. Elysia was playing with double meanings again.
That "good news" wasn't just about the research results; it was a pointed jab at the slow progress of the relationship between Mobius and Klein.
Elysia was effectively mocking her for having not "claimed" Klein after all this time.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL