"Doctor, do you think that man will really be willing to return to the Proper World?" ELF No. 3 hopped nimbly to the top to check the pipelines, her small mouth muttering. "He's basically living the dream now, isn't he? The books say that once a man has attachments, he starts to value his life."
"..."
"Doctor?"
Einstein dazed for a few seconds, then shook her head with a bitter smile: "He will definitely return. That's just the kind of person he is."
On the contrary, a person like her...
Beep—
At that moment, the Star Gate's main control board—silent for over seven years—chimed. She was stunned for a moment, then stared in disbelief at the system restarting successfully. She couldn't understand why, at this moment—
Her fingers nimbly pulled up the required data. Einstein's gaze darkened as she looked at the sea of immense data. Soon, she obtained information that left her feeling chilled to the bone.
...
"Popping champagne today. Want a glass?" The man held up a glass of amber liquid, smiling at Yama as she read her book.
"...Can you ever just be quiet for a day?" Yama glared at him.
"I can, and today's the day." He swirled the glass, sniffing the wine's sweetness, and smiled leisurely. "I believe this is a fine day to open the champagne."
Yama heard something in his tone. She couldn't see what was happening in that World Bubble. Frowning, she asked: "What happened?"
"Just a small matter, but for the sake of your mood, I won't say. In exchange, I'll tell you why you and Lin lost your senses."
"The answer is actually quite simple. Do you really think..."
The man's casual words caused Yama's eyes to widen.
...
Lin stared silently at the unchanging rift. He could feel that the "thing" inside was becoming restless.
The marker on Bianka that he sensed, the World Bubble, the unusable Holy Sword Durandal...
He thought of a possibility, and it likely only involved that "thing"...
Furthermore, the state of his own body was highly abnormal. His senses were becoming "normal," but that in itself was "abnormal." The side effects of the MANTIS surgery couldn't be cured naturally; some kind of change must have occurred within him.
Looking at it from another perspective—what does it mean for his senses to become normal?
If all the lost senses returned, the surgery would have no impact on Lin. But the side effects weren't just simple surgical aftereffects; for instance, Kevin's body temperature was inextricably linked to his power.
What if his MANTIS surgery hadn't been a complete failure?
The Oath of Judah's energy suppression ability was at work, sealing the Pseudo-Herrscher Core. If this suppression was also sealing some ability he himself didn't know about, and that ability was linked to his lost senses...
Tangled thoughts with no way to verify. Lin shook his head; he had better return to his original world first.
He closed his eyes and once again called upon the surrounding Honkai energy. After three full days of realization, he could finally control the flow of energy within his body on a basic level. Furthermore—
Snap.
Lin snapped his fingers, and a spark of fire flickered at his fingertip.
This was the limit of what he could currently achieve. According to Bianka, it was barely at the level of wearing a C-rank Valkyrie suit to use the most basic abilities, let alone the "Spirit Essence" displayed by the cloaked man.
Incidentally, Lin couldn't use the Sword Form or Inch Force at all. He believed his movements perfectly mimicked the cloaked man from his memory—matching the speed and angle—yet they lacked all power.
What exactly was missing?
...
"That's all the information I know about the Honkai in the Previous Era."
Bianka told Lin everything she had seen in Schicksal's database regarding the Previous Era in detail. Her memory was decent, but the records themselves were vague. The Schicksal Overseer, who knew the most, never added key information to the database.
"I've got the specific details."
Lin ran the information through his mind; with his memory, he didn't need notes.
"From the First to the Ninth Honkai, it matches what you said almost exactly." Lin rubbed his chin, a cold light in his eyes. "The Tenth Honkai was a multiple-individual Herrscher consisting of a thousand people..."
"Do you need any other information?"
"No, that's enough."
More information wouldn't matter. Bianka civilization hadn't made much more progress against the Honkai than Lin had so far, and information from fifty thousand years in the future couldn't necessarily be used fifty thousand years in the past.
A spark flew past Lin dark green eyes. He was deep in thought until Bianka hugged him from behind, pulling him back to reality.
The girl silently wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder, giving his neck a light, playful bite.
Lin had been bitten over a dozen times in a single night; it was almost like she was marking her territory.
Lin placed his hand on her arm, gently stroking the back of her hand.
"Telling you doesn't mean I agree to let you go back."
"..."
Bianka overly blunt personality gave her a somewhat silly aura, but that same personality made it very difficult to fool her on a settled matter.
No matter what Lin said, as long as it involved returning to the Proper World, Bianka would insist on letting her fists do the talking.
Aside from that, Bianka was indeed gentle, virtuous, and intelligent, possessing the aura of a beautiful wife that was completely at odds with her power. Einstein's prediction had also come true—she really did start learning to cook for Lin.
...Unfortunately, for the first time, Lin felt that someone could rival Kevin in the kitchen. The moment the first bite entered his mouth, he even found himself wishing his sense of taste hadn't returned.
Bianka tasted it herself, blushed, and snatched away all the food Lin was about to finish, eating it all.
Lin looked at the pale full moon. It seemed exceptionally round today, like a clear mirror reflecting the scenery of the ground.
He unknowingly clenched his fist. In the depths of his unwavering eyes, that full moon emerged.
How much longer until he reached the perfect world? Everything—
"Hah..."
The girl's breath woke him from his thoughts. Lin turned his head to see Bianka flushed face in the light of the campfire.
"S-Scumbag-Mushroom, it's night already..."
"..."
Once you get a taste of some things, it's hard to stop—especially when there's nothing else to do and there's only the two of them in this vast place late at night. There wasn't even an excuse to decline.
Lin leaned over and gave Bianka earlobe a light bite.
"Nng~"
The girl let out a cute whimper.
"...Um, apologies for interrupting you two, but there's something I need to inform you of."
Rita coughed lightly, looking at the two in their ambiguous atmosphere, seemingly about to take the next step, without changing her expression.