Of course, for Leo Ash, the little girl he saw in his dream was ultimately just an interlude.
He wasn't about to start overthinking a dream that had no basis in reality.
Rather than dwelling on such a groundless dream, he felt it was better to think about how he should act in the coming days.
Now that Cocolia was dead and Su had left the Seed of Sumeru to join Schicksal, in a way, Otto was being held in check.
With the two biggest troublemakers from Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, one off the stage and the other temporarily unable to step on, all he had to do now was guard against World Serpent's antics, and what Leo Ash had to face was...
Oh, right, there's still the Honkai.
Because there were so many bastards among the higher-ups of humanity, Leo Ash would occasionally forget that the Honkai was the greatest enemy he needed to be wary of.
But now, as long as Su, who held the name of [Wisdom], acted normally, he would surely deliver the potions to Welt and Siegfried as soon as possible.
Moreover, although Su and Kevin were very close, he certainly knew that the moment Kevin got out of the Sea of Quanta, he would immediately resume the Stigmata Project.
Under these circumstances, Su would definitely remind Welt and Siegfried to guard Abyssal City well.
As for World Serpent's current combat strength...
The strongest, Kevin, is locked up.
The second strongest, Hare, is also likely locked up, and since she can't even be bothered with Kevin, she definitely won't listen to Gray Serpent's orders.
The third strongest, Cioara... has now joined Schicksal with a Divine Key.
What's left are just the mass-produced, inferior Joyce clones and the mass-produced, inferior Emperor-class Honkai Beasts injected with serums.
To be honest, these forces are definitely enough to attack some Schicksal branches.
But against a full-strength Siegfried and Welt, even if World Serpent threw all their forces at them, it wouldn't be enough to take down either one.
Besides, if Cocolia hadn't used Sky Father, Gray Serpent might have seized her legacy after her death and added Sky Father to his arsenal.
But now, Sky Father was damaged by me and recovered by Schicksal HQ.
Logically speaking, World Serpent lacks the manpower, Wendy might not even turn into a Herrscher, and Kevin will most likely serve his full sentence.
But... speculation is just speculation. Who knows what the future will hold.
At the dining table, Kiana looked at the once-again-distracted Leo Ash and could only sigh helplessly.
And after Kiana sighed, she found—Leo Ash was still lost in thought.
"Sen~ior~"
Putting down her buns, Kiana suddenly walked over to Leo Ash's side, waved her hand in front of his face, and then brought her face close to his, staring intently at the boy who had finally snapped back to reality.
"I can understand that you're still feeling vigilant and anxious, but... you have time for breakfast, don't you?"
"Ah, Kiana's right."
At the other end of the table, Himeko looked at the slightly bewildered Leo Ash and said with a smile,
"You should learn a thing or two from Kiana. Look, even after arguing with me just now, she's still so relaxed."
"I'm not telling you to adopt her carefree attitude, but—it's okay to relax a little."
"Don't worry, the world won't end just because you thought about one less thing while eating your buns today."
"Hi! Me! Ko! Tea! Cher!"
Seeing Kiana, who wanted to bare her fangs but didn't dare to act out, ultimately bottling up her frustration, Leo Ash fell silent for two seconds before subtly averting his gaze.
"Senior, you..."
Seeing Leo Ash's attitude towards her, Kiana not only felt extremely flustered but also a little wronged.
Honestly, just this morning, she was lamenting how a private date between the two of them had turned into a beach party for everyone.
Then, this morning, Himeko had bluntly told her—if her grades weren't good enough, she wouldn't be allowed to join the party.
And now, before she could even figure out how to solve that problem, Leo Ash's opinion of her seemed to have dropped a little.
*Logically, I should be really lucky, right?*
*Why have I been so unlucky since yesterday (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻*
"Kiana, I don't think you need to feel pressured because of other people."
Noticing the change in Kiana's expression, Leo Ash, who had already activated his Poker Face trait, said to her calmly.
"Everyone has their own way of living. I don't think it's necessary to deliberately imitate how others live."
"In this world, the person you are most responsible for is always yourself. In my opinion, choosing a way of life that suits you best is what a person should do."
"Although I'm happy that you're trying to comfort me right now, Senior, the thing is..."
Recalling how Leo Ash had been zoning out earlier, Kiana said in annoyance,
"Is your own way of life to be thinking about all sorts of things even while you're eating?"
"Well, I was idle anyway."
Seeing the 'I can't believe you' look in both their eyes, Leo Ash proactively ended the conversation.
He said he wanted everyone to be a tryhard, but there were differences between tryhards.
For someone like Mei, whose Herrscher Personality was mostly harmless to her, Leo Ash could be a bit more at ease and let her grind peacefully.
For someone like Yuna, who could suppress her Herrscher Personality but whose mental state was questionable, Leo Ash would pay a little more attention to her mental state while she was grinding.
As for Kiana...
To be honest, she did play an important role in the future 'Salvation Plan.'
But in the entire dorm, she also had the highest probability of becoming a time bomb.
After all, the others either had Herrscher Personalities that were too weak to worry about, like Yuna, or had personalities that weren't as terrifying, like Mei and the future Fu Hua.
But the Herrscher Personality inside Kiana had casually killed tens of millions in the past and was aiming to destroy humanity in the future.
She was a genius to begin with, and once a genius gets serious, their speed of learning and gaining power would be anything but slow.
As Kiana worked harder, the intensity of her Honkai Energy and the precision of her control over it would also improve.
And when Otto injected an excessive amount of Honkai Energy into her, the moment Sirin woke up, all the 'stat points' that Kiana had 'grinded' for would be transferred to Sirin.
The situation now was that the harder Kiana worked, the stronger the account Sirin would get when she woke up. And the stronger Sirin was, the more danger Leo Ash would be in.
But right now, if Kiana didn't work hard, even with her 'Finality' aptitude, she might not become the Herrscher of Finality as she did in the original story.
Frankly, Leo Ash really disliked the 'Embracing Finality' and 'Stigmata Project' plans.
But no matter how much he disliked them, they were, in a way, soft safety nets.
And now, to prevent Kevin from being too destructive when he gets out, both Leo Ash and Su would do their best to intercept him.
In the end, the only soft safety net left was Kiana's 'Embracing Finality.'
*Sigh. If Kiana works hard, I'm in danger. If she doesn't, the whole world is in danger.*
*What kind of messed-up situation is this?*
[If you were really acting with that mindset, it would be a fine thing.]
[But the problem is—you're treating these two things as soft safety nets precisely because you think you still have a chance to solve the problem yourself, don't you?]
*Yeah, a safety net is just a last resort. And nobody wants to have to use it, right?*
*System, although my funds are tight because I'm an orphan and I could only afford a second-hand phone that can't run many mobile games, I completely understand how my goofy group chat friends think.*
*Gacha games all have pity systems, but every gacha player hopes to get their prize before hitting pity.*
*It's human nature. I'm human, so of course I feel the same.*
[Mm, well said.]
[Seeing you so fired up, I'll hold back on the snarky comments today.]
*You're not mocking me? I guess that means you think my plan is feasible?*
[Well, the success rate isn't zero, at least. Let me see...]
[Oh, it's just a tiny bit higher than the odds of getting a jackpot character from a single pull.]
*...Oh my god, of all the things to play, you play that game.*
*And the odds are only one in ten thousand? Is it really that low?!*
[It might get a little higher in the future, but the prerequisite is always—you have to survive.]
[In your current state, I've already made your tombstone. When you fall, I'll just stick it in the ground. Let me see...]
[Yep, I'll just write 'Good riddance, tryhard' on it, and that should be about right.]
*Heh, I won't give you the chance to use that thing.*
[Then you'd better get yourself in shape, Host.]
[Since you're trying so hard, I should remind you of something—you need to use Phantasmagoria less.]
[Even though you used the 'Implant' skill to weaken some of Phantasmagoria's negative effects, you're still relying on that power too much.]
*You mean, I'm going to disappear?*
[Not right now, but in the future, it's hard to say.]
[After all, what you got was only a 'Void Demon Stone Fragment,' not the complete stone. With only a fragment, you naturally have to pay a greater price to use such a powerful skill.]
[Stop being a tryhard in your dreams. You don't want to be in the middle of a fight and just disappear. That would be hilarious.]
*...Tsk, what a pain.*
*I wanted to continue honing my skills in my dreams, but now it seems...*
*Maybe I really should take a proper rest.*
"In any case, a balance between work and rest is the right way."
Looking at the daydreaming Leo Ash, Himeko could only say helplessly,
"Two weeks from now, I'll give you all a day off. You can all go out and have some fun—of course, Kiana, you have to get a score that satisfies Theresa."
"...I know, I know."
Kiana mumbled under her breath, trying hard to put on an air of indifference.
But against a strategist like Himeko and a quasi-strategist like Leo Ash, what she was really thinking was so obvious that they didn't even need to observe her to guess it from her eyes.
*Sigh, Kiana, you've actually improved a lot. It's just that—everyone else is working harder than you.*
*Sigh, Kiana, you're making it really hard for me to know what to do.*
*Sirin... if I could resolve the hatred in her heart beforehand... that would be difficult, wouldn't it?*
*In the original story, even Sirin, who had felt the warmth of Cecilia, still chose to continue her slaughter of humanity.*
*Hoping for her to soften up is the same as hoping for Otto to soften up—incredibly stupid. Anyone who thinks that is an idiot.*
"Everyone, Bronya has returned."
At that moment, the door to the house was suddenly opened from the outside.
Outside the door, Bronya, who had returned to her usual cold demeanor, slowly floated into the room and said to Himeko,
"Major Himeko, Bronya requests to join the patrol team."
"You know..."
Shooting Leo Ash an annoyed glare, Himeko's heart was filled with the thought, 'This kid really has corrupted everyone.'
"After what you've been through, you could really take a few days off to..."
"Bronya does not wish to rest."
*Leo Ash, look what you've done!*
*You've corrupted this little girl too!*
At this moment, Bronya didn't notice that the look in Himeko's eyes had turned even more ominous.
She looked at her comrades and superiors before her and said quietly,
"Before Cocolia... Mother died, she handed all of Bronya's friends from the orphanage over to World Serpent."
"And now, based on Bronya's deductions, some of my friends, like Bronya, have a certain level of Honkai Energy manipulation ability and resistance, so..."
"—According to the intelligence summary submitted by Teacher Cioara, my friends are likely in danger right now."
"Mother Cocolia is dead, but she left behind some incurable scars on Bronya, Bronya's friends, and this world."
"But... she was still Bronya's mother."
"So now, Bronya must pull herself together to compensate the victims on Mother Cocolia's behalf and rescue the comrades she sold out."
"To accomplish these things, Bronya needs higher clearance within Schicksal to investigate World Serpent's intelligence. So Bronya will work hard and strive to be promoted to A-rank as soon as possible."
After the girl finished speaking, although Leo Ash didn't regret killing Cocolia, he now felt that...
*Sigh, this poor girl has it rough.*
*In the original story, although she was betrayed by her adoptive mother, at least Cocolia didn't die.*
*Now Cocolia is dead, and right before she died, she pulled a huge stunt and sent away everyone from the orphanage.*
*Originally, Bronya only had to save Seele. Now, besides her and Sin, the two lone survivors, the rest of the orphanage was either sent away by Cocolia or 'sent away' by Cocolia.*
*Sometimes I feel like my parents, whom I've never met, weren't so bad after all.*
*Although they gave birth to me but didn't raise me...*
*—at least they didn't constantly screw me over and drag me down like Cocolia did to Bronya.*
*And, this poor kid still hasn't forgotten about Seele... which is actually quite normal.*
*The problem is, Seele is now locked up with Boss Kevin.*
*As long as Kevin is locked up and can't get out, Seele can't get out either.*
*Unless something goes wrong at Anti-Entropy's Abyssal City, Seele will probably have to continue 'soaking' in the Sea of Quanta.*
Thinking about all this messed-up stuff, Leo Ash felt even more sorry for Bronya.
"Brother Leo Ash, please do not look at Bronya with such eyes."
Sensing Leo Ash's gaze, Bronya said in a firm tone.
"The words you said to Bronya back then were not wrong in any way."
"The truly pitiful ones are not Bronya, but those who were harmed because of Mother Cocolia, so..."
"—Bronya will not stop until she has completed her atonement."
...