Honkai: Starting to Wander with Kiana

Ryn grappled with how to show Yae Sakura stepping in to protect Kallen from a fatal blow. In the end, he decided to swap the moment of impending doom for Yae's sudden appearance. This way, if the player didn't dodge or interrupt in time, the monster would make a beeline for Kallen but be blocked by Yae instead. Then Yae would die, the game would end, and the player would have to reload their save.

Ryn gave himself a mental pat on the back. Little did he know that in the future, when people saw Yae Sakura, their first reaction wouldn't be "Why does this person have donkey ears?" No, they'd have fox ears. Instead, they'd be thinking about how best to dodge or interrupt.

On the third day after his chat with Otto, seven or eight people from Schicksal came help Ryn and Kiana move to their new place. But out of all those people, only two actually carried luggage. The rest returned empty-handed. It wasn't that Ryn didn't want them to carry stuff—it was all the landlord's property, and he felt too embarrassed to take it with him.

The house that Otto bought for Ryn wasn't far from Chiba Academy—just a ten-minute walk from home to school.

Looks like my poverty really limits my imagination—Otto's truly generous.

That old man might be a jerk, but this house is definitely a good deal.

Ryn and Kiana couldn't help but feel amazed at the fully-furnished large villa with all brand new furniture.

"This place is enormous! There are four or five rooms on the second floor. Alright, Kiana, pick the one you like most and bring your stuff over. That'll be your bedroom."

"Hmm, I'll take this one, the one next to the stairs."

Kiana had checked all five rooms. One was empty, probably meant for storage.

Another room was filled with many electronic devices Kiana couldn't understand. That was the complete "Kallen Fantasy" set Otto had prepared for Ryn.

The other three were bedrooms, each with a bed, wardrobe, desk, air conditioner, TV, and computer.

Ryn pointed to the room next to Kiana's, then the last remaining room.

"I'll take the one next to you, and we can use the last one for guests who stay overnight."

"Sounds good," Kiana nodded, then took her things upstairs to her room. Ryn followed suit, carrying his belongings back to his own room. Once inside, he realized he'd snagged the master bedroom.

The master bedroom was significantly larger than the other two. The bed was massive, big enough for three people comfortably. It also had its own private bathroom, while the other two rooms had to share the one downstairs.

"Perfect! I've never stayed in such a luxurious place. After wandering for so long, it's time to treat myself! Cortana, keep the music playing!"

"Of course, sir," said the AI.

Ryn tossed his bags aside and lay on the large bed, feeling the high-quality bedding's softness. Sweet, light music filled the room. His mind wandered over the events of the past few days.

Cortana, the AI managing this mansion, was an intelligent machine created by Dr. Catherine Halsey of an ancient civilization. Her ID was CTN 0452-9.

The device was made of soul steel, allowing it to change shape and size at will. Normally, it was about the size of a USB stick, making it easy to connect to other devices and hack into them.

After Ryn confirmed his decision to join Schicksal, Otto had personally handed him this device as a valuable gift.

Otto explained that Cortana wasn't developed by Schicksal but found in an extraterrestrial ruin. Due to its unknown nature, Schicksal couldn't risk using it without thorough research. Once studied, they gave it to Ryn to help him finish his game as soon as possible.

Otto was the real deal—he gave me a top-notch artificial intelligence just to help me keep up with the game. If only he wasn't so honest and hadn't told me this thing isn't meant for regular use. It'd be great if it could just do its job without all that.

In the past couple of days, Ryn had experienced some truly eye-opening events. He never expected that after accepting Schicksal, Otto would take him on a tour of their headquarters—a floating fortress high in the sky—the very night he joined.

Over two days and a night, Otto showed Ryn the true nature of the world and demonstrated Schicksal's power. This left Ryn feeling overwhelmed; he couldn't understand why Otto felt the need to reveal all this to him.

Holding Ryn's right hand, Otto examined the Stigma on it and said with a serious expression, "Ryn, after our conversation, I investigated you. I couldn't find any record of your existence in this world from months ago, which means you appeared out of nowhere. You're not originally from here. And the unhidden Stigma on your hand tells me you know about Honkai—you're not an ordinary person."

"Uh, I did come from another world," Ryn replied nervously, but not completely panicked. As Otto explained everything about Schicksal, the consciousness within the Stigma had been communicating with him as well.

This world's Otto isn't quite like the one in our world. Be careful, even if the worlds are different, this guy isn't someone you want to mess with.

"If things get ugly, can you get me out of there?"

Don't talk nonsense. What are you saying? Look at my status, his position. I've already asked my true self for some power. If it comes to a fight, we'll blow that Otto dog's head right off.

"Of course you'd say that."

"My world didn't have any super powers or Honkai. People's lives there weren't much different from yours here. Maybe I wasn't important enough to know about any extraordinary events. So don't expect to learn much about my world from me," Ryn shrugged. He figured he wasn't that important anyway, so he wasn't worried about what Otto might do to him.

"That's too bad. I was hoping to ask if your world had technology to bring people back from the dead."

Otto shook his head. He wasn't interested in ordinary worlds. A world without the power to revive people held no appeal for him.

"No Honkai there? That means your world might have already passed through it. But a world that's passed Honkai can't be observed by one that hasn't, and vice versa. So you probably can't go back to your world. Join me instead. Only by successfully ending Honkai can you find your way home."

Oh, so this world's Otto knows about Honkai. Not bad.

Too bad he doesn't know how powerful someone who overcame Honkai alone is.

But unfortunately, my original form was a fool. She started a cycle of reincarnation, trying to find an easier way without much cost. Now, after so many cycles, she's forgotten her original goal. How sad.

Ryn wasn't really listening to Stigma's words. She spent all day mumbling about mysterious things, acting like she knew something no one else did. When you asked her what was up, she'd just say, "You'll understand eventually." Understand my foot! Mystery woman, get out of the Honkai world!

"Sure thing. This doesn't conflict with my path at all," Ryn nodded and shook hands with Otto.

"Oh, and if you're trying to bring someone back to life, it's not possible. Someone once told me that the world lets consciousness move to new containers, but it doesn't allow consciousness to gather up old, scattered ones. World Bubbles are the exception."

"Is that so...? Thanks for the info." Otto's eyes dimmed a bit. The answer was disappointing, but he wasn't ready to give up. He'd keep looking for a different way.

"Right. Here, take this. It's not crucial for your task, but it is valuable. I was going to just lend it to you, to keep an eye on your progress, but I've changed my mind. It's yours now, as a reward for telling me about your plan. I've removed all the safeguards I had in place—I don't need to be on guard against someone who's going to be working with me. But don't let Amber find out; she'd cut my budget."