Kiana had already made up her mind.
A girl she'd loved so much in her past life—now that she had a chance in this one, she definitely wasn't going to let it slip by.
So, during the Previous Era, it would naturally be the girls from the Previous Civilization.
As for the Current Era, it might be those from the Honkai: Star Rail world, or maybe even include the ones from the Genshin Impact world.
Anyway, as long as she caught a whiff of possibility and nudged things in that direction, the odds of making contact with the Genshin Impact world would keep growing.
And then, feedback into reality.
Making it all the easier to achieve.
Heck, it should even be simpler than dealing with the Honkai: Star Rail world. After all, the scale of the Genshin Impact world isn't as vast.
Of course!
It wasn't like she was doing this just because she was itching for those girls' bodies or anything.
She just wanted to change some of those unresolved regrets she'd never liked in the first place.
Was that so wrong?
As for whether there was even a chance—it didn't matter.
Even if there really wasn't…
She could still use the system, spend a ton of emotional energy, and fabricate a vague future out of thin air, then keep pushing it forward.
It's just that…
It'd be exhausting.
Not something she'd seriously consider under normal circumstances.
Plus, if the future you created wasn't stable, it could easily get swallowed up in the endless waves of possibilities.
What a total waste that would be.
Unless she had energy to spare later on, she wouldn't even think about it. Otherwise, she felt it'd be better to use that emotional energy somewhere more fitting.
Like!
What's most important right now.
Isn't it about making sure the Herrschers hold onto more of their humanity?
So.
Kiana thought it over.
And finally decided to go see things for herself in the Far East.
Maybe even step in personally.
This way.
Whether this Herrscher of Thunder kept her humanity or not.
With Origin and Finality here, she wouldn't be able to cause much trouble. It was basically in the bag—like having a guaranteed outcome.
Still.
Since this wasn't the Current Era.
And considering Dr. MEI couldn't possibly be the Herrscher.
She was really curious about who this Herrscher of Thunder was, what her story might be.
If it weren't for the fact that Miss MEI didn't have any sisters, she might've been able to figure it out right away. But as things stood, it was like opening a blind box—she'd have to wait until later to find out.
Which was, honestly, kind of fun.
Actually.
The reason Kiana and Elysia hadn't set out yet was mainly because things hadn't been arranged with the higher-ups.
Right now, both Shenzhou and the Far East were swamped. Over the past few days, and for the next few as well, everyone's been busy evacuating civilians.
Especially those from the Far East, who were being relocated to the wide-open spaces of Shenzhou's northwest.
Supplies were running shorter than ever.
Water, food, tents, you name it… all of it had to be accounted for.
As for why they didn't just use Shenzhou's coastal areas—
Well, don't forget.
Shenzhou's coast was also within the strike zone of the Third Honkai Eruption.
Even Sapphire City had already started moving people out.
Other coastal cities were pulling back inland too.
Easier said than done.
Really.
It'd probably take at least ten days to a half-month, and even that felt optimistic.
But like they said, the Third Honkai Eruption could happen any time now.
"Any time" could mean tomorrow, or it could mean the next second.
Who knew how much time was left?
Every second counted!
Thankfully, Miss Finality wasn't one to drag things out unnecessarily on this front. Think of her as a walking Honkai detection device.
She'd keep a constant eye on the changes in Honkai energy in the air.
Calculating.
Just how much time was left.
You have to understand.
At this point, the whole world's understanding of the Honkai was still only surface-level. The higher-ups didn't take it seriously, and the general public had no idea what was coming.
If it weren't for the Sky Screen exposure sounding the alarm.
They'd probably still think, "The Third Honkai Eruption? So what if it comes? Probably just like the first two, right?"
That's why in the original timeline.
The Third Honkai Eruption was so heavily documented.
It wasn't just because it changed the fates of several Flame-Chasers.
More importantly, it served as a wake-up call to the entire civilization.
So expecting those barely-functional instruments—which could only roughly detect where a Honkai Eruption occurred—to accurately measure the concentration shifts before a Herrscher's birth?
That's just asking too much.
Precision like that wasn't achieved until the late stages of the Previous Era in the original timeline.
And even then, the birth of a Herrscher seemed to many like it came out of nowhere.
Back in the later days of the Previous Era, they still couldn't accurately predict the exact moment of a Herrscher's arrival every time.
In other words.
Often, with many things.
Just knowing the future isn't enough.
You still have to face reality.
Even if you're a modern person who time-traveled back, without the industrial foundation, could you really build planes and artillery just because you know they exist?
No way.
"So now… how long until the Third Herrscher is born?" The call came through from Shenzhou officials, asking once again.
"It should take another week, but it could be shorter." Kiana replied.
Since the Honkai don't play by the rules.
The rise in Honkai Energy Concentration isn't some simple linear, exponential, or any other neatly defined mathematical model. In reality, those are all inaccurate.
It's like a mischievous child.
Kiana could indeed sense the changes, but it was more of a gut feeling. If you asked her how she knew, she wouldn't be able to explain it.
Elysia, with her Authority of Origin, should in theory be able to sense it too. Like in the original timeline, or even now, she always had a feeling about when and where something might happen.
If it weren't for that, she wouldn't have shown up on the battlefield during the Second Honkai Eruption.
Remember, back then, she hadn't even joined Fire Moth yet. She'd just sweet-talked a badge out of Mobius.
But compared to Kiana's almost innate ability.
She still needed practice.
Like this time, "But I feel like it might be around eight days or so. How can it only be a week? There's a day missing… where's the gap?"
Elysia was puzzled.
Even a small margin of error bothered her.
Kiana smiled softly. 'Well, I have the system, so I know for sure.' Aloud, she said gently,
"Did you use Sapphire City's concentration as your reference?"
"The Herrscher is descending in Nagazora. Sapphire City is just on the periphery, getting brushed by the edge. So you should've set the indicator a bit higher."
"…"
Elysia smacked her forehead as it clicked.
Oh, that made sense…
She stuck out her tongue and grinned cutely. She was really just going by feel too—it was her first time trying this, after all, so she wasn't very practiced yet.
Honestly.
In a way, this was good training for her abilities.
So she'd often sense, calculate, then compare notes with Kiana, clinging to her like an adorable little wife.
Like when she estimated the concentration.
Using Sapphire City as the standard but aiming for the Herrscher's birth as the marker—of course that'd cause issues.
Now, the whole world was starting to follow the settings revealed earlier, officially using HW to measure Honkai energy concentration, with 1000 HW and above marking the standard for a Herrscher's descent.
More precise instruments were already in production.
They should be ready for use soon enough.
--+--
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