For instance, Mobius and Vill-V chose the authority of the Herrscher of Reason.
Now, Rin should've been the best fit for the Herrscher of Corruption's power—but she felt she couldn't handle it, didn't like it, so she went with the Herrscher of Binding's authority instead.
As for Sakura, she picked the power of the Herrscher of Flame.
Because the Herrscher of Flame's authority, at its core, is all about manipulating molecular motion.
So, speed things up and you get heat; slow them down and you get ice.
In other words!
The actual power of the so-called "Herrscher of Ice" is closer to the ability to create inorganic matter.
It's not that she slowed molecular motion to form ice and got labeled the Herrscher of Ice. Rather, she created ice first, and then the ice lowered the surrounding temperature, causing the cold climate.
That's the key difference in the sequence.
Then there's Eden, who didn't find any power particularly appealing.
So Kiana specially crafted a new authority just for her.
Music.
Or sound, to be precise…
Calling her the Herrscher of Music fit perfectly.
Controlling vibrations, sound waves, frequencies, and so on…
That's pretty much it.
In reality, Kiana didn't assign specific Herrscher authorities to each of the 108 towers either.
Perhaps only when someone climbed a tower would they gain their own unique authority, defining what kind of Herrscher they would become.
Strictly speaking, the main point of ascending a tower and becoming a Herrscher wasn't just gaining that authority.
It was the elevation of one's life essence, the leap in overall existence that came with being a Herrscher.
Becoming a Herrscher guaranteed, at the very least, a full upgrade in all aspects. Gaining an authority was like specializing in one power, but it wasn't the fundamental benefit.
Therefore, even though it's been said before that MANTISes gain almost nothing from climbing the towers, if they could reach the top, become a Herrscher, and obtain a Herrscher's authority to enrich their foundation, that wasn't such a bad deal.
In fact, it was a pretty sweet one.
Heck, if you were already a Herrscher and wanted to climb another tower, that was fine too.
At worst, you'd just end up a dual-core Herrscher.
If you had what it takes to conquer more towers and become a multi-core Herrscher, turning quantity into quality, that wasn't an issue either.
Kiana had no objections.
So, fundamentally!
The reason Kiana stopped her little sister Rin from rushing in was simply because she knew perfectly well that the current Rin wouldn't gain anything from it now.
Climbing the tower wouldn't boost her physical stats.
Because the Herrscher core nourishes the body, and Honkai energy surges through her, she's growing naturally anyway.
The efficiency of that is way higher than climbing the tower.
And if it doesn't boost your stats, and there's no clear hope of clearing it yet, then what's the point of going? Just to kill time?
For fun?
But you don't even have your memories.
What are you gonna do for fun?
After all, wiping memories was essentially one of the difficulty mechanisms Kiana built into the challenge. At the same time, it helped keep the whole conquest process fair and just.
Even Kiana herself had no idea what the 108 Herrschers destined to be hers would be like in the future.
She could probably see it by observing the future.
Heck, she could even lock it in directly.
But doing that would just suck all the fun out of it.
She didn't forbid veterans like Kevin from trying because, even for them, clearing the towers wasn't going to be a walk in the park.
At the very least, in their current state, they weren't even MANTISes yet.
Even if they had a slightly better chance than the average person, it wasn't by much.
For ordinary folks to become MANTISes, they needed both opportunity and a successful procedure. But these guys? They didn't have that worry—they were bound to succeed anyway.
Might as well wait until after becoming MANTISes, when they had a better shot, before giving it a try.
That way, even if they hit the penalty period and were weakened, their robust physiques would keep them from being completely useless.
That was acceptable.
"My dear little husband, are you saying… that after becoming a MANTIS, it would still affect the success rate of clearing the tower after all…"
When Mobius came back that evening and heard Kiana's reasoning, she walked right up to her, drank the glass of water in front of Kiana in one go, slammed the cup down, and stared straight at Kiana.
Unblinking.
"And not, as the outside world says, that it's fair regardless of the individual's own strength… that luck, courage, skill, even equipment—none of it matters much to the outcome…"
"That's not the case, is it?"
"Of course it's not!"
Kiana didn't mince words. "If these towers are truly meant for selection, do you think I'd want the ones chosen to be mediocre, barely scraping through by chance? Or would I prefer more talented individuals, more outstanding characters?"
She glanced at the girls around her and continued.
"When I talk about balance, if we think in terms of stats, it's about intelligence, stamina, strength, agility, specialties, luck at the time, and so on—weighing all these factors…"
"And the so-called fairness means that, at the very least, everyone should be on the same starting line!"
"Mmm… I think I understand what you mean, Big Sister…"
Seele nodded, thoughtful. "It's like with Mobius—even though her stamina is poor, her endurance is low, and her physical condition isn't great, her intelligence is outstanding, and her specialties, including her knowledge, are top-tier."
"So her rating score would be higher."
"Which makes it easier for her to clear the tower… Is that it?"
She looked expectantly at Kiana.
Kiana gave a slight nod.
She looked at Mobius and the others and said, "Intellectuals face challenges suited to intellectuals; athletes have their own focus. Ordinary people have their own battlegrounds. Separating them and treating them differently—that's fairness."
She stated, "It doesn't mean that regardless of your inherent abilities, ignoring luck at the time, as long as you have courage, everyone starts from the same point."
The Conductor Vill-V clapped her hands together softly.
"So if I bring, say, seventeen or eighteen Divine Keys with me, would that boost my rating and lower the difficulty?"
"You can try."
Kiana didn't outright dismiss Vill-V's idea, but she reminded her, "Even if your rating is higher and the difficulty drops, there's still a baseline level of challenge. It's not going to drop indefinitely for you."
"Naturally." Sakura showed understanding.
Really, what Kiana was doing here was practically giving them a half-off deal.
Whether you could reach the tower's peak and become a Herrscher or not, as long as you persevered, you'd gain something.
Your attributes would slowly grow based on your experiences within the tower. At least until you hit the cap, this was a steady path.
"No wonder you suggested I wait until after completing the MANTIS surgery before giving it a try. So that's how it is…" Mobius mused.
But, as mentioned before, if climbing the tower didn't boost your attributes, and there was no clear hope of clearing it for now, it was better to put it aside for the time being, or just attempt it periodically.
Then, focus on actively training yourself.
Strengthening yourself.
After all, you need a strong foundation to succeed—that's an unchanging truth!
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