Bai Ming wore a look of pure confusion.
She had pulled a mountain of random characters before, but this was the first time she'd ever landed a character card that didn't belong to the Star Rail studio.
And it was that Finality form, of all things.
What was the deal with that?
Did the system decide to expand the gacha pool just because Mr. Yang had finally made it to the Astral Express?
She had only just finished pretending to be Finality a little while ago, and now here she was with the real deal.
Kiana's appearance didn't differ all that much from her own to begin with; if she actually used this card, anyone who wasn't close to her probably wouldn't even realize she was roleplaying someone else.
Then again...
If she'd known she could pull Kiana, she would've waited until she had the card before going off to scare Mr. Yang. Since she'd already played that prank, doing it again now wouldn't have the same impact.
"Am I really going to have to go looking for the Solar System?" she wondered.
She had previously managed to get the coordinates from Himeko regarding where Welt and Void Archives had been picked up.
Even though Welt wasn't familiar with this side of the cosmos and couldn't tell her exactly where he'd been drifting from, she could still find clues through the power of Remembrance.
By tracing backward from that location through the currents of memory, there was an eighty percent chance she'd find the wormhole that spat out Welt and Void Archives.
According to Welt, they had arrived via a Stargate—essentially a stabilized wormhole.
However, they hadn't emerged from another gate on this side. It seemed to be a one-way street.
Stargates, as a means of long-distance warp travel, were rare in these parts.
The main reason was that compared to Stargates—which required immense effort to stabilize and constant resources to maintain—the Star Rail tracks laid down by the Nameless back in the day were undoubtedly cheaper, safer, and more convenient.
Consequently, Stargates around here were mostly relegated to textbooks, used for teaching subjects related to wormholes and spatial mechanics.
On Welt's side, they likely relied on Stargates simply because the influence of Aeons and Paths hadn't reached them yet. They didn't have much of a choice.
Although the wormhole that delivered Welt and his companion had closed once the trip was over, it wasn't a huge deal.
If it had existed, it had left a mark. Following those tracks would surely lead somewhere.
"I'll just go say hi to Kiana when the time comes," Bai Ming plotted. "Hehe, grown-up Kiana still has quite the charm, doesn't she?"
She turned her gaze toward Herta and Silver Wolf, who were still locked in their petty squabble.
The two of them were so busy competing that they hadn't even noticed she was leaving. Shaking her head, Bai Ming gave Screwllum a quick heads-up about her departure.
Then, she set off for the coordinates Himeko had provided.
It was a desolate star system. The silver tracks of the Astral Express passed through here because it had once been a bustling place, but the world here had eventually been blown to bits, turning all its former prosperity to dust. Scarcely any ruins of civilization remained.
"Let's start the search. Residual information on Welt and Void Archives..."
Bai Ming narrowed her eyes as the power of Elation began to multiply the strength of Remembrance. Soon, the silent abyss of Memoria began to boil, surging forth according to her will.
Ancient memories, fresh memories.
In the abyss of Memoria, time was meaningless.
Past and present mingled together; Bai Ming even saw fragments of civilizations that had existed here in the distant past. Within that chaotic sea of memory, she finally caught a glimpse of Welt's face.
Once she had the first fragment, the rest of the search became relatively easy. Bai Ming didn't need to fully manifest everything Welt had done here; she only needed to find where he had drifted from.
She didn't need a perfectly complete memory, just enough to determine his direction of travel so she could trace it back.
Tracing the salvaged memories, she slowly identified the direction, moving steadily toward the point where Welt had appeared.
For Bai Ming, the process of backtracking wasn't difficult at all. Soon, she crossed the starscape and found the exact spot where Welt's ship had been spat out by the wormhole.
An untreated wormhole exit leaves behind obvious gravitational distortions and spatial aberrations.
While these traces usually fade over time, people who use wormholes normally smooth them over—partly to keep unsuspecting travelers from crashing into them, and partly because these lingering marks can provide a lot of information to anyone looking for it.
If you don't want someone "doxxing" your home world, cleaning up those tracks is an essential step.
Clearly, Welt and his friend hadn't known that.
Bai Ming raised her left hand, and her silver ring transformed into a small snake, coiling around her fingertip to act as an analysis terminal for the data.
Welt had been here for a while, so the traces had faded significantly, but they were just barely trackable.
However, once she traced it back to a certain point, she hit a wall.
She couldn't tell if it was because the Solar System itself hadn't been discovered yet, if someone was intentionally masking the trail, or if that world simply didn't exist within the same reality as this one.
The trail that should have led straight to a Stargate on the other side was suddenly, cleanly cut off at a specific point.
It was as if she had hit a boundary.
With her powerful Imaginary Energy as an escort, Bai Ming could have broken through that boundary to keep searching. But once she broke through, the clues that should have been linear were nowhere to be found.
In other words, the trail pointed toward the world Welt came from, but it couldn't point to a specific coordinate.
Trying to salvage Welt's memories across that barrier to locate the Solar System would be a massive drain of time and energy.
Who knew where the Honkai Impact 3rd world actually was or what its relationship to this world really was?
Plus, that world was full of things like Sea of Quanta bubble universes, and even if she found it, the Solar System itself had its own barriers.
Looking for it like this was a lost cause.
However, just because the trail from Welt had gone cold didn't mean she was out of options. Bai Ming withdrew her consciousness for a moment and looked at that unused 'Finality Kiana' character card.
The Finality represented by this card could simulate Kiana's aura with 100% accuracy. What did that mean?
It meant Bai Ming didn't need to search for a needle in a haystack across worlds. She could simply use all the information she gained after roleplaying to pinpoint Kiana's location.
At the same time, Kiana herself might be able to sense the appearance of "another Finality."
While she wasn't sure exactly how strong Kiana was—since the height of the Cocoon didn't necessarily translate directly to Kiana—considering the powers of Finality, she was at least stronger than your average Emanator.
Where that ceiling actually sat was hard to say. Her perception range should be enough to penetrate Imaginary Energy tides and cover a galaxy, or at least probe a few bubble universes.
If Bai Ming revealed the aura of Finality while roleplaying, Kiana would definitely sense her as long as they weren't too far apart.
So, Bai Ming chose to use the character card.
In an instant, her status refreshed. Her outfit swapped to a magnificent white-and-purple dress.
Her long, pure white hair took on a deep purple gradient at the tips. Her facial features didn't change much—her face already had traces of Kiana's look to begin with.
The power of Finality surged within her body, but Bai Ming didn't pay it much mind. She wasn't short on power right now and saw no need to tap into this potentially risky force.
--+--
[Roleplay System]
[Name: Bai Ming (Herrscher of Finality)]
[Lifespan: ∞]
[Transformable Characters: Big Herta, Celenova, Jingliu, Ruan Mei, Sparkle, Hertatomb, Lord Ravager - Jingliu, Young Herta, Robin, Artoria, Cipher, Georios, General of the Yuque - Qingque, Huohuo, Silver Wolf, Hysilens, Cyrene - Fuli (Charge: 46.5%), Acheron (Charge: 21.3%), Calypso (Charge: 1.8%), Herrscher of Finality (Roleplaying)]
[Available Pulls: 20 (92.6%)]
--+--
The system panel refreshed. 'Finality Kiana' glanced at the countdown, then commenced her "Find Kiana" plan.
The power of Finality traced along the channels she perceived. Then, 'Finality Kiana' realized that with the Herrscher of Finality's power, there was no need to search at all.
She didn't even need to cross that barrier.
A certain existence, sharing the same origin and identical nature as her, was so bright in her perception that it was like someone had tossed a flashbang into a dark room. It was impossible to ignore.
She imagined Kiana was likely in the same situation right now.
Though, Kiana was probably a bit more stressed.
From Kiana's perspective, a second Herrscher of Finality had just inexplicably appeared within her range of perception. If that didn't warrant a bit of nerves, nothing would.
As 'Finality Kiana' sensed the other Herrscher on the other side of the wormhole, she began to wonder if she should just slip through and take a stroll over there.
Although the structure of that world was complex and different from this one, her current abilities combined with the guiding nature of Finality would make reaching the destination quite doable.
It was then that Aha's laughter rang in her ear.
"While that sounds fun, Aha suggests you don't go over there~"
"Huh? Why? Aha, do you know something?"
"You know that Droidhead's father's theory, don't you? Ordinary Pathstriders are one thing, but if you or I go over there... things won't be very pretty."
"..."
'Finality Kiana' fell silent.
Based on Zandar's theories, it did make sense why beings like them should stay away. But she had a feeling that wasn't the only reason.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL