"Fifty thousand years ago? You saw me in the Previous Era?"
Fu Hua nodded slightly, "You once told me that you weren't someone who traveled through time from the future, that you only knew about future events. But I genuinely saw you in the Previous Era, and you also know about the Previous Era's events. Can you explain why?"
Takatsuki frowned slightly in thought and said, "I can probably guess some reasons that might explain this situation. Do you need to use Fenghuang Down to verify if I'm lying?"
Unexpectedly, Fu Hua shook her head at Takatsuki's suggestion, "I believe you, otherwise I wouldn't be asking you now. If you feel you can't say, then you don't need to explain to me."
"Let me say this first, I'm not sure if this is the correct answer. I'm just making a deduction based on what I already know."
Takatsuki asked Fu Hua with some uncertainty, "You mentioned Throne of Heroes earlier, did you also learn about it from me in the Previous Era? Did I say anything else at the time?"
"You said that this era was destined to be destroyed, and that you came to leave us the seeds of counterattack and hope, and you gave me a contract for Throne of Heroes, so that after I died, I could join Throne of Heroes. You promised me that in the future, you would save humanity from the shadow of Honkai."
After listening, Takatsuki said to Fu Hua, "If I'm not mistaken, the person you saw was likely my future self. You should also know that I have the ability to travel between worlds, and each world has unique powers."
"The Throne of Heroes you mentioned should also come from another world. There, it is a place that collects the souls and records of heroes and great people who have died throughout history. When the world faces a crisis, the Servants who have entered Throne of Heroes will manifest to save the world."
In reality, Takatsuki wasn't sure if the Throne of Heroes, or rather the Throne of Heroes, in the Type-Moon World existed for this reason, because it contained not only heroes but also anti-heroes and even pure villains.
Takatsuki once saw a theory that Servants were beings who had signed contracts with the Counter Force, but in the Type-Moon World, there were more than one instance of Servants wanting to slaughter humanity or even destroy the Earth. He didn't think the Counter Force's contract was so fragile as to allow these Servants to act so wantonly.
Moreover, in the Type-Moon universe, Throne of Heroes is located outside the world, similar to the Root. So Takatsuki felt that the Servants in Throne of Heroes were merely a mechanism for world record-keeping.
The world itself has no distinction between good and evil, which is why it records the existence of everyone who left a significant mark in history, even those who only exist in fantasy but are widely recognized by many people.
"In that world's setting, there's no concept of time within Throne of Heroes. This means that if I truly have the ability to let you sign contracts with Throne of Heroes, it implies that I might have certain rights within this Throne of Heroes, and can travel through time using it. In other words, the me you saw in the Previous Era is a future me who has established some kind of relationship with Throne of Heroes, which is why my current self is unaware of this matter."
Though bizarre, Fu Hua still accepted Takatsuki's explanation, "If that's the case, then why didn't your future self come to our era?"
"For that, I can think of two possibilities. One is that my future self might think that the current situation leading to the future is already the best outcome, and changing the present might lead to a worse future due to the butterfly effect. However, this probability is very low. The second possibility is that the ability to travel through time has limitations. What those specific limitations are, I can't easily guess. As far as I know, in one world, there's a device called a Time-Turner, but after using it to go back in time, you absolutely cannot meet your past self—limitations of that sort."
"Limitations, you say? There certainly is such a possibility. An ability to go back in time, if it had no limitations, would be too broken."
Fu Hua's memories contained countless tragedies. Because she became a Fusion Warrior, Fu Hua couldn't simply forget or disregard things like ordinary humans. All memories were clearly preserved in her mind. Originally, due to her injuries and the exhaustion from once pushing Taixuan God, she had once forgotten them.
But as her injuries healed, those forgotten memories, etched deep in her brain, returned. After all, Fenghuang Down only altered consciousness, not physiologically changed her brain.
"Fu Hua, do you want to go back in time and change the tragedies that happened?"
Fu Hua looked at Takatsuki, who asked this question, "If I could return to the past, I could indeed change many tragedies. But as you said, if changing the past leads to a worse outcome due to the butterfly effect, then it's better not to do anything."
"In any case, the downfall of the Previous Era seems destined now. If the Previous Era hadn't failed, the current civilization might not exist, right?"
Although she wasn't adept at academic matters, Fu Hua understood such simple theories.
While some historical events might not affect the future even if changed, the variables that would need to be calculated would be too numerous. Fu Hua was merely a martial artist and not skilled in such things.
"What about those who died? If there's a chance to revive them, is there anyone you'd want to bring back?"
Takatsuki's words stirred Fu Hua's memories. All memories for Fu Hua were as if they had just happened; she didn't need to recall them at all. Countless figures flashed through her mind.
"Ten thousand years have passed. I've long since let go."
"What about Cheng Lixue? If you could revive her, would you also…"
Takatsuki's words stopped midway as Fu Hua's icy gaze glared at him, halting his sentence.
Fortunately, Fu Hua was not someone who easily expressed her emotions to others, or perhaps the existence of the Taixuan Sword Heart allowed her emotions to remain stable.
She sighed, "I really doubt if you've truly never been to the past? You even know about Lixue; do you know about the others too?"
"Ah haha, more or less, but compared to the others, only Cheng Lixue is most important to you, Fu Hua, right?"
Although he had only played the game, Takatsuki had a good understanding of Fu Hua because her background was excessively rich and had been strongly recommended to him.
There was a saying on the internet in his previous life: Fu Hua's history is the history of Honkai; if you understand Fu Hua's experiences, then you understand Honkai.
"Yes, I feel guilty towards that child. How? Can you really revive someone who died more than a decade ago?"
At this point, Fu Hua spoke with a self-deprecating laugh. She had previously learned from Takatsuki that Ottar had always wanted to revive his childhood friend, Kallen, something Ottar had failed to achieve after five hundred years of effort.
"Yes, I can."