"Sigh..."
Somehow, he'd stumbled upon the harsh truth that he was a genuine, certified failure. Lunelle couldn't help but let out a troubled sigh right then and there.
But perhaps it was because the permanent transformation of his voice by the [Ethereal Voice] talent had just finished settling in at that very moment.
When that crystalline, heavenly sound escaped his lips, even Lunelle himself—the one who made it—was caught completely off guard.
"Huh? This voice of mine..."
He murmured softly, listening intently, and the more he listened, the more he felt an inexplicable familiarity with his newly-permanent voice.
As a veteran Seele enthusiast, Lunelle quickly pinpointed the source of the strangeness.
His current voice... it bore at least a ninety percent resemblance, by a conservative estimate, to the voice of his number one waifu, Seele.
...Huh?!?!?!?
Once that realization hit, Lunelle got the distinct feeling he'd accidentally stumbled upon something monumental yet again.
But 'over ninety percent' wasn't the same as a perfect hundred.
As the saying goes, practice reveals the truth.
Now that suspicion had taken root, the best way to clear his doubts was a straightforward, no-frills experiment: imitate some of his dear waifu's most iconic lines right here and now.
Besides, the issue was with his own voice anyway, so for this little verification, Lunelle didn't have to worry about... well, himself not cooperating with himself.
Following that line of thought, Lunelle quickly racked his brain for the phrases his beloved Seele said most often.
After a brief silence, he settled on the perfect line to test.
For Seele, this phrase was an absolute classic among classics.
He really, really hoped his spur-of-the-moment hunch was wrong...
Before starting the test, Lunelle offered a silent little prayer.
Yet, just as he was about to utter the line with the most half-hearted tone he could muster,
Lunelle remained utterly unaware that his entire demeanor had shifted in the instant he began to speak, becoming incredibly gentle and delicate.
"Please, other me!"
And Lunelle, the one who'd just spoken those words, felt like his brain had just short-circuited!!!
This!
This was way too accurate!
For any dedicated Seele fan, this line was pure DNA material, one of those iconic quotes you could play on loop in your head.
While saying it, for a fleeting moment, Lunelle even had the bizarre sensation that he didn't quite feel like himself anymore!
So much so that his planned perfunctory delivery had, without him even realizing it, become infused with layers of indescribable, complex emotion.
Of course, if you really wanted to nitpick, it wasn't a perfect one-to-one match.
After all, Lunelle's permanently altered voice, while nailing Seele's tone almost flawlessly, clearly carried an extra hint of ethereal, dreamlike unreality.
Put simply, compared to the Seele voice in his memory, Lunelle's current vocal tone was noticeably more... divine? More capable of plucking at your heartstrings!
It was the kind of voice that would make Bronya blush, and the kind that would make Lunelle herself... well, let's just say she might spontaneously combust on the spot.
To draw a comparison, maybe if the little angel Seele ever became a literal angel due to overwhelming cuteness, she'd sound just like Lunelle's current, fairy-like, ethereal voice.
For some reason, after realizing he'd acquired a voice nearly identical to—no, even surpassing—his dear Seele's perfect tones, Lunelle suddenly thought of something amusing.
If he were still back in his pre-isekai world, and he put on a Seele cosplay and headed to a convention now...
Then pulled off that classic line reenactment like he just did...
Lunelle felt at least ninety percent confident that his voice alone would be enough to make every Seele fan at the con 'get pregnant by ear' the moment they heard it.
Of course, if Lunelle actually dared to be that reckless and try to show off like that at a con...
He'd probably try to make a quick escape the second he finished, only to be immediately surrounded by hordes of Seele fans drawn by the sound.
And after that...
Well, the next step would likely be the delightful process of them asking Lunelle what color burlap sack he preferred, right?
Ahem. But logically speaking, since Lunelle had accidentally uncovered such a massive "conspiracy"...
If he were a hot-tempered host, he'd definitely summon the Simulator spirit right now for a proper interrogation.
At the very least, he'd demand to know what the Simulator stood to gain by setting up this kind of scheme for its host.
And as for Lunelle discovering the conspiracy, it wasn't like he felt nothing at all.
It's like how some people, when utterly enraged, can perform a slide tackle... right into a tiger's mouth, offering Brother Tiger a nice, full meal.
So Lunelle, in a state of "extreme rage," actually...
Proceeded to devour an entire cup of instant noodles in one go, soup and all!
But maybe it was just Lunelle figuring he should eat and drink his fill first before settling scores with the Simulator later.
Thus, after his meal, Lunelle put down the noodle cup and quickly moved to his next action.
He seemed to instantly lock onto a target, then launched into a swift, decisive flying pounce! Only to...
Expertly burrow right back under his little blanket...
And within three seconds, Lunelle was once again fast asleep, complete with soft snores!
Um...
Well, having a breakdown is one thing, and uncovering conspiracies is another...
But life... you've still gotta keep living it.
At first glance, the two simulator runs seemed to offer Lunelle only pitifully small boosts, like mosquito-leg gains, giving the impression this Simulator was a real stingy cat.
But if you took a detailed tally of the benefits Lunelle managed to scrape together from those two walk-in-the-park simulations, you'd realize the gains from his golden-finger Simulator weren't quite as miserly as everyone might think.
Just take a look at Lunelle's least-improved stat: Stamina.
In less than two days, thanks to his utterly cumbersome aptitude, Lunelle had only increased his Stamina attribute by a measly 0.6 points.
Doing a simple conversion based on the average adult male's Stamina of 5 points, Lunelle, via the Simulator, had actually increased his strength by about 12% compared to a normal adult man in under two days.
Aside from the mental strain from dying in the sims, these improvements basically meant Lunelle got significantly stronger just by lying around.
And that's not even mentioning the massive Charm attribute boosts and the far-beyond-normal Honkai energy adaptability he'd gained on top of the Stamina increase.
Honestly, this pace of growth wasn't exactly slow.
In fact, if he could maintain this rate, even by the time of the later, god-tier battles in the main Honkai storyline, Lunelle might be able to jump right in and play a significant role, just based on these farmed stats.
The problem was, the time Lunelle had left was far too short, leaving him with absolutely no room to slowly grind up his foundational abilities.
Lunelle knew this, which was why he was seizing every single second to rest and recover.
Besides, he still had plenty of things he urgently needed to verify through more simulations.
Even if each simulation lasted less than three seconds!
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.