MGSFV?! Chapter 545: The One Who's Terrible at Conversation; No One Understands Better Than Me
If something looks real and sounds real, then perhaps it should be real...
Strictly speaking, someone who's attended every one of the philosopher's speeches shouldn't still look so young.
After all, the philosopher himself was already an old man nearing the end of his life.
But... Ancient Greece had its own unique national conditions.
If this had happened in the modern day, people might be skeptical—
"Kevin's pulling my leg."
"Better off sending money to Qin Shi Huang."
But in this myth-saturated era?
It wasn't that unbelievable.
So the philosopher didn't speak—
He simply showed the patience to hear Kevin out.
[Philosopher: Go on, I'm listening.]
[What else can he do? Kevin came right up saying he attends all the lectures. The philosopher probably thought he was a fan... Wait, what's the ancient Greek term for 'fan'? Supporter? That's more our own expression.]
[Anyway, thought he was a fan—and then Kevin just hits him with "I don't know why." If I were the philosopher, I'd be utterly baffled.]
The livestream chat overflowed with reactions to Kevin's "quality answer."
Meanwhile, Kevin himself was completely unfazed.
He'd simply told the truth. What was the problem?
He clearly didn't see any issue.
And so—
While the philosopher waited silently, Kevin calmly dropped an even heavier bomb.
"In fact, among those I know, there are individuals whose vision far surpasses yours."
[...]
Wow.
Kevin really was terrible at conversation.
Players continued to roast him in the chat as the game continued.
Kevin's voice echoed again.
"I should have recalled every word she said and let that guide my every step."
By "she," he clearly meant Mei.
"—But I cannot."
He paused.
For once, the stoic face revealed a rare, faint flicker of emotion.
Sincerity.
Every word that followed came from the heart.
"In trying to solve the problems of this era, I must use the thinking of this era."
"No matter what, I recognize your wisdom—
And I also see your narrowness."
"..."
Translation:
You speak well, but you're still limited by your time.
Even though Kevin said it so seriously, the implication was... more than a little cutting.
Especially the part about "recognizing your narrowness."
Kevin…
You really are a conversation god.
Seeing this, players, Elysia, and many of Kevin's "friends" watching the livestream all did the same thing:
Facepalm.
...
Still.
You roast him once. You facepalm twice.
But after the third or fourth time—
You couldn't help but wonder...
What else will Kevin say that's totally unpredictable?
This man had endless surprises—of all kinds (lol).
They kept watching.
Credit to the philosopher, though—
Despite Kevin's terrible social skills, he remained calm.
Even patient.
Unbothered.
Maybe he truly embodied that saying:
"The only thing I know is that I know nothing."
The smarter a person is, the more willing they are to admit their own limitations.
"I've thought about the question you posed and arrived at my own answer."
"But now, I want to know—
As the pinnacle of human intellect in this century, after a lifetime of contemplation…"
"What answer can you give me?"
"...An answer?" The philosopher finally responded, surprised.
[An answer?]
Players also perked up.
What answer?
What question?
Could it be... that one?
The one about...
"Why do birds fly?"
Bingo.
That really was the question Kevin wanted to ask.
But the philosopher—
In Kevin's eyes, wore a dazed expression.
No one could contemplate a single question their entire life.
Just as Kevin himself was a special case—
No one else could endure such a prolonged life with such a single-minded motivation.
Still, the philosopher quickly recalled something he had said in his youth.
"...Because they wanted to fly to the sky."
[Wasn't it because they couldn't out-compete dinosaurs? (lol)]
[Maybe this is just a poetic way of putting it.]
[Can't we reconcile poetry with science? The skies lacked predators, so birds filled that niche. It's romantic and logical. They wanted to fly—so they did.]
[Exactly. Life inherently seizes resources. Once it starts, it always seeks more.]
"This is merely romantic idealism."
While chat discussed—
Kevin bluntly interjected in-game, seemingly joining the conversation perfectly.
It shouldn't have been possible—
One was preset dialogue, the other spontaneous reactions.
Yet in Honkai Impact 3rd, this had happened many times already.
Optimistically:
This was the writers carefully planning themes to resonate with player thoughts.
Pessimistically:
This was the result of miHoYo's deep understanding of player psychology.
They'd studied them so well that even the script was built to anticipate responses.
Definitely heavy net users.
...
"I once shared the same ideal—a desire born from childhood."
"But I realized that wanting alone was not enough."
[But if you don't want it, it'll never happen. Better to struggle than sit still.]
"And what about you?"
"In your view?"
"Because... they must fly to the sky."
This was still roughly 3,000 years before Kevin stole the power of the Finality.
But even back then, he had already formed his answer.
"When the Finality's meteor descended during the Cretaceous,
Only the birds that had taken to the sky escaped their fated extinction."
[Birds descended from dinosaurs. The flightless ones died. The survivors could fly.]
[Maybe that poetic version works too:
The meteor fell, wiped out pterosaurs, left the skies vacant.
Tree-dwelling dinos desired flight—so they flew—and became birds.]
[Am I the only one thinking... shouldn't this ancient Greek philosopher be completely baffled?
What meteor? What Finality? What Cretaceous? What's Kevin even saying?]
[Philosopher: These words... I do not comprehend.]
After all, this was ancient Greece—3,000 years before modern knowledge.
Even a philosopher's view was shaped by his time.
Kevin's words—at least three terms in them—were totally alien to that era.
It'd be odd if the philosopher understood.
Philosopher: "..."
"I don't understand what you're saying."
"But I can see…
You seem to believe in survival of the fittest—
That the outcome will determine everything, that victory is the only truth."
Even if he didn't get the details,
The philosopher still grasped the core of Kevin's thinking.
Never underestimate a true thinker.
Especially one who spent a lifetime doing nothing but think.
"In that case, young man—
Before I die, let me give you one last lecture."
"I want to tell you the story of a man named Icarus—
And let you understand..."
Icarus?
That famous myth?
The one where Icarus and his father crafted wings to escape their prison island—
But Icarus refused to heed his father's warning, flew too close to the sun—
The wax melted, the feathers fell, and he drowned in the sea.
If this was about Icarus, Kevin felt he already knew enough.
And being a sincere man, Kevin said so outright.
He told the philosopher there was no need to continue—
He already fully understood.
He was just one sentence short of:
"No one understands Icarus better than me."
But...
[Kevin only knows one literary interpretation of Icarus.]
[Wasn't someone earlier saying that Icarus remains a classic because it resists singular interpretation?]
[Something like:
Even as countless interpretations shimmer like stars across the literary sky,
Each retelling grants this tragedy a new brilliance.]
[I've seen at least a few alternate takes on the myth myself…]
And suddenly—
Like lightning flashing through the minds of many—
They recalled those reinterpretations.
Especially the ones from the Renaissance.
They finally understood what the philosopher truly meant.
Icarus didn't fly too high because he was foolish—
He flew high to tell the world:
"I reached the sun—
A place no one had ever reached."
"And maybe... someone else can surpass me."
...
[...]
[...]
[...]
When the philosopher finished the final speech of his life—
The livestream chat fell silent.
But this time, not because of some sudden "tragedy."
"..."
Think back—
The moments that left Honkai 3rd players speechless before were lines like:
"Murata Himeko… is already dead."
"He has no father—but he has me."
"Elysia… she died."
Moments that choked you up.
Moments that took your breath away.
But this—was different.
This time, they were all silent—
Because they were thinking.
Why do birds fly?
This question, asked so many times before, echoed once again.
If I were a bird, why would I fly?
Because I was born to do so?
Because it's my instinct?
Or because I have no choice?
Each of those… could be the right answer.
And once, that was how they understood Kevin—
That he enforced the Stigmata Project not by choice,
But because there was no better alternative.
Faced with the Finality, there were no clear, viable paths.
Only possibilities.
Possibility is not the same as a solution.
No way back, and ahead—nothing but thorns.
All Kevin had was a choice-less choice.
That's why he clung so tightly to the Stigmata Project.
That's why he never truly hoped for its success.
"Humanity will defeat the Honkai."
But in the Stigmata Project—
Was that still humanity?
According to Mei's redefinition of "civilization,"
It could technically count.
But for someone like Kevin, who had sworn so deeply...
His heart—must be...
Unimaginable.
Indescribable.
Too heavy for words.
At least, that's what everyone thought.
Until the philosopher offered a third answer to:
Why do birds fly?
"Some fly... in order to fall."
Yes.
To stop the sun from falling,
He flew to the sky—
And took the light for himself.
He melted.
He fell.
But to retrieve that light—
Someone else must now fly even higher.
This is the logic of adulthood—after childhood's end.
Truly unimaginable.
Indescribable.
But not something words can't convey—
Rather, it ignites a spark within.
A kind of flame.
Kevin, too, was part of this fire.
A bearer of civilization.
He had long since known what he was fighting for.
He would fly to the brink of collapse—
To a place no one had ever reached.
To show everyone:
"Though I end here—
I believe someone will see this…"
"You can fly here too—"
"No. Even higher."
At last—
The meaning of hero and Kevin's actions finally aligned.
"Even if the end cannot be changed—
I will decide the path I take to get there."
So many unclear pieces—
Finally clicked.
Elysia whispered softly.
"So that's how it is…"
"Kevin…"
[Okay, I've decided: we'll tie him up with a thinner rope later.]
[Be gentle.]
[Seconded.]
[+10086]
[cool... wait, no, you're all unhinged! What are you planning?!]
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