Feeling the gaze of the Will of Honkai, Chen Luo slowly took an item from his inventory—a gem, the Plague Gem.
Of course, it could also be called the Herrscher of Flame core.
Naturally, there were differences between the two. These gems could only fully awaken into Herrscher cores when they met their true owners.
Chen Luo was curious: if Sirin could become a six-core Herrscher, why couldn't he become a dual-core Herrscher? After all, his Honkai energy adaptability had reached 200%.
There was no denying that Sirin was the Honkai's beloved daughter.
From the start, she had the Will of Honkai accompanying and communicating with her. Then, on the moon, she was given four Herrscher cores, advancing to a five-core Herrscher.
When Sirin was nearly killed by Fu Hua's Eminence, the Will of Honkai personally intervened to save her.
If this doesn't count as being a beloved daughter, then nothing does.
And this preferential treatment extended to Kiana as well, specifically K-423.
K-423 was essentially Sirin. Although her body was cloned, her soul was the manifestation of Sirin's consciousness residing within the Herrscher of Void core.
There's no need to elaborate on Kiana's natural innate talent being extremely strong. She learned to unleash Eminence in a very short time, something that made Chen Luo, upon seeing it, impressed.
Chen Luo had to spend primogems to buy Eminence and had practiced in his mental space for almost a year without significant progress, hence why he bought it with primogems. So, Chen Luo was quite envious of Kiana's talent.
Kiana was just too strong. Unlike him, who only had the Traveler talent and had to spend primogems for everything he wanted.
Talent? Gacha!
Then there was Kiana's Herrscher greatsword, which contained several Herrscher cores.
Actually, thinking carefully, the only known multi-core Herrscher so far seems to be Sirin. Previously, it was Sirin's original self; now, it's K-423.
This sufficiently demonstrates the Will of Honkai's favoritism towards Sirin.
The Herrscher of Rimestar doesn't count; that was a reward obtained after sacrificing her lover. Sirin received hers basically without cost.
"Sigh, I wonder how the progress is going with me having Yae Sakura infiltrate St. Freya Academy as a teacher undercover." After playing with the Herrscher of Flame core for a moment, Chen Luo said out of the blue.
[Ding! Discount for exchanging items in the Honkai faction: 4% off]
Nice!
Although Chen Luo didn't know if he could become a dual-core Herrscher, farming the Will of Honkai's favorability was definitely not wrong.
Although Chen Luo originally intended for Yae Sakura to lead those Herrschers into being traitors, that didn't prevent him from saying nice things first.
As for if Yae Sakura's traitorous actions were discovered by the Will of Honkai...
Plans are plans, execution is execution; problems are normal.
When the Will of Honkai originally had the Herrscher of Sentience born within Fu Hua, it probably didn't expect the Herrscher of Sentience's minuscule consciousness to be overwhelmed by Fu Hua's memories, right?
We're both equally lacking.
"But speaking of Herrscher cores, it seems the Herrscher core inside me has disappeared." Chen Luo muttered inwardly.
As a legitimate Herrscher, Chen Luo also had a Herrscher core—the Herrscher of Domination core. When it was inside him, he never thought about removing it, as who knew what would happen?
After Chen Luo fixed the Herrscher authority as a talent, this core disappeared, leaving nothing behind.
But for Chen Luo, whether he had a Herrscher core or not wasn't important; having the Herrscher authority was what mattered.
After muttering a couple of things inwardly, Chen Luo began to stimulate the power of the Herrscher core in his hand using Honkai energy.
As Honkai energy was gently injected, the Herrscher core in Chen Luo's hand showed a very obvious reaction. Flickers of flame emerged from the core, but Chen Luo, holding the flames, felt no heat.
Chen Luo tried pressing the gradually glowing Herrscher core against his chest to see if he could fuse it into his body.
Unexpectedly, things went surprisingly smoothly. The Herrscher core began to merge into Chen Luo's chest as it touched his skin.
"Bang!" But just as the core was halfway merged, with a "bang," the core was ejected.
"???" Chen Luo, utterly confused, caught the ejected core.
What happened?
[Ding! Please increase the Honkai faction discount above 10% off before attempting to fuse a second Herrscher core.]
At that moment, the talent panel suddenly popped up in front of Chen Luo, explaining the reason.
"..."
Dammit! Do I need the Will of Honkai's approval to fuse a Herrscher core?
Well, yes, you do.
This isn't scientific either! Why could Sirin fuse with six cores, while I need to raise the favorability to a 10% discount just to fuse with a second core?
It can't be that Sirin's initial favorability was 60% off, right? That's just too absurd.
But thinking carefully, Sirin was probably the first Herrscher in this civilization to actually do her job properly...
Of course, these near-curse words couldn't be spoken aloud; they could only be thought inwardly.
But actually, when you think about it, it makes sense. If the Will of Honkai's favorability towards you isn't high enough, she won't let you use the Herrscher core, and you can't use it.
Even if you stuff the Herrscher core into your body, if you can't use it, it's just a decoration.
Like the Herrscher of Wind, Wendy. After three years of experiments, the Herrscher core stayed in her body for three years. It was only after three years, when she reached an agreement with the Will of Honkai, that she became the Herrscher of Wind.
Three years! Three years without taming a single Herrscher core.
The Herrscher core is indeed in your hands, inside your body, but it just won't let you use it. Annoying, isn't it?
But being angry is useless.
"Failed to gain the Herrscher core's acknowledgment? It seems I haven't done well enough. It absolutely cannot be the Honkai's fault; it must be my fault. In the future, I must consider the Honkai faction more and deal with these ungrateful humans!" Chen Luo murmured, clutching the Herrscher core in his hand.
Although Chen Luo's heart was currently filled with frustration, he still had to say the right things.
For the sake of authority, this isn't shameful.
[Ding! The discount for exchanging items in the Honkai faction is 5% off.]
After hearing this, Chen Luo couldn't help but feel a bit weary.
These days, even being a Herrscher isn't easy.
Sighing, Chen Luo used the Teleport Waypoint. However, just before using it, he suddenly utilized a special ability of his modified Herrscher Physique—actively blocking the Will of Honkai.
In almost an instant, Chen Luo appeared on the top floor of the survivor base. As someone who casually places Teleport Waypoints wherever he goes, this location naturally hadn't escaped his grasp.
Fortunately, Teleport Waypoints can be recovered and reused. Chen Luo had placed 15 throughout Nagazora City and had already recovered 10, leaving only 5 remaining.
The effect of blocking the Will of Honkai was almost immediate. After teleporting just a few hundred meters, Chen Luo felt the Will of Honkai's gaze vanish.
This gaze was quite easy for him to sense—a faint, watching presence. Without anyone needing to remind him, Chen Luo always knew when he was being observed.
With this ability, Chen Luo was practically liberated. He could turn off the blocking when saying nice things about the Will of Honkai and turn it on when saying bad things.
Though Chen Luo wasn't sure if the Will of Honkai could still see him if he turned the ability on and off while staying in the same spot. But he knew that teleporting and activating the ability simultaneously would escape its sight.
The Will of Honkai wasn't omnipotent. Not to mention its frustrated reaction during the Herrscher of Sentience incident, just the fact that the Previous Era's cryostasis plan succeeded proved it wasn't all-knowing or all-powerful.
By digging deep enough, they escaped the Final Herrscher's cleansing. Whether it didn't discover the shelters or discovered them but chose to ignore them is debatable, but one thing is certain: the Will of Honkai isn't all-knowing.
"I really want to integrate this thing into my Vision," Chen Luo said discontentedly, looking at the Herrscher of Flame core in his hand.
"Huh? A Vision?" Although it was just a frustrated remark, upon reflection, Chen Luo suddenly had a brainstorm. "Doesn't the Vision absorb all kinds of energy? Could it absorb the Herrscher of Flame core?"
It was confirmed that the Vision in Chen Luo's hand wasn't ordinary. Its ability to absorb everything was definitely not a standard feature.
So the question arose: Could the Vision 'eat' the Herrscher of Flame core?
Thinking this, Chen Luo took out his Vision. In his left hand was the Herrscher of Flame core, and in his right was his Anemo Vision.
"If the Vision can 'eat' these Herrscher cores, why bother grinding Honkai favor? Just snatch all the existing cores and let the Vision consume them!"
"Of course, not every core should be eaten. Elemental-type cores might be suitable, but Conceptual-type cores probably shouldn't."
After categorizing them, Chen Luo divided the Herrscher cores into two types:
Elemental Cores: Herrscher of Flame, Wind, Ice, and Thunder.
Conceptual Cores: Herrscher of Reason, Void, Stars, Sentience, Death, Domination, Binding, and Corruption.
Although Herrscher authority is the ultimate manifestation of a physical phenomenon, on the surface, elemental cores like Flame control fire. Absorbing them might grant Visions with corresponding elements, albeit with potentially greater power.
Conceptual cores were different. Chen Luo wasn't sure what effects absorbing them would have. For example, the Herrscher of Domination core couldn't be explained by a single element and came with its own puppet storage.
Fortunately, he had a Herrscher of Flame core to experiment with. Even if it only awakened an ability equivalent to a Pyro Vision, Chen Luo wouldn't consider it a loss. He preferred conceptual cores over destructive elemental ones.
After all, in the Previous Era, which Herrschers were most impactful?
The Herrscher of Binding left the deepest impression.
The Herrscher of Domination caused the most headaches.
The Herrscher of Corruption led to division and helplessness.
So, Chen Luo didn't overly value the Flame core. If it was lost, he could potentially acquire the authority again later, perhaps even cheaper from Kiana, who obtained it in the original storyline.
If the experiment failed, it wasn't a disaster. Grinding the Honkai faction's discount above 10% off seemed simple. Even without the Flame core, the Herrscher of Wind core (Gem of Desire) and Herrscher of Death core (Gem of Serenity) were still available.
Thinking about it, aside from the Void core given to K423 and the Flame core used on the Blank Key, the other cores handled by Anti-Entropy were nearly mishandled:
The Wind core created Wendy but cost them a potential S-rank Valkyrie.
The Death core was exploited by Cocolia to attempt another honkai impact in Singapore. And that event should be happening soon...
Otto is truly heinous. Couldn't he use the Herrscher cores properly?
And Cocolia is equally guilty. One Nagazora honkai impact wasn't enough? She planned another?
Tsk tsk.
While silently cursing these two troublemakers, Chen Luo gradually brought the Herrscher of Flame core and the Vision closer together.
The red core, emitting sparks, caused the Vision to glow with a faint cyan light even without Chen Luo actively using elemental energy.
This might work!
Chen Luo's heart leapt with joy!