"Stepping onto the path of trailblazing the moment one steps onto the train, I've never seen such a thing before."
A female voice suddenly came from the other end. March 7th looked towards the door at the other end with a hint of pleasant surprise. A red-haired figure was standing there.
"Himeko!"
Himeko smiled gently and said to March 7th, "Welcome home, March."
While the two were greeting each other, the Path power surging from Takatsuki had gradually subsided. Himeko also shifted her gaze.
"It seems you are very compatible with trailblazing. Your name is Takatsuki, right? Hello, I am Himeko, the navigator of the Astral Express. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Looking at the familiar face but completely different tone and personality, Takatsuki always felt a sense of displacement.
"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"
Himeko looked at Takatsuki with some confusion.
"No, I just remembered someone I know. Although she looks just like you, her personality is completely different."
"Is it Murata Himeko? I heard Welt mention her before, but he didn't go into detail. What kind of person is that Murata Himeko?"
Takatsuki: "Murata Himeko, ah, she's a boisterous person who loves to drink, but she's very responsible and genuinely cares for her students. She broke through the realm of gods with a mortal body and pointed the way for her students."
Himeko's expression paused slightly: "It seems you have a high opinion of that Murata Himeko."
"Alright, don't just stand here chatting. Come to the Observation Car. Welt must have been waiting for a long time."
After Himeko finished speaking, she looked at Stelle: "Welcome home. How was your first trailblazing journey?"
"Very happy."
"That's good. I knew you'd like it."
The group followed Himeko back to the Observation Car. March 7th skipped over and greeted Yang, who was sitting in the car, then left the space for the three who had met an old acquaintance in a foreign land.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, Takatsuki. Please have a seat."
Yang sat on a chair beside the coffee table and said to the two.
After Takatsuki and Seele each took a chair on the other side and sat down, Himeko brought over three cups of coffee.
"Please help yourselves. Milk and sugar are here."
"Thank you, Himeko."
"Thank you, Sister Himeko."
After the three thanked Himeko, Himeko left, giving the three some space.
"I didn't expect to see you here, Old Yang. Can you tell me what's going on?"
Takatsuki picked up the coffee cup and took a sip. It was very aromatic and rich. Even he, who didn't drink much coffee, could tell how extraordinary it was.
"No need to rush. I wanted to see you to discuss these matters. First, I need to give you this. Please keep it safe and give it to the me of your era."
Yang said unhurriedly. Although he had sounded urgent on the phone earlier, he opened a hidden compartment in his palm, took out a thumb-sized crystal, and handed it to Takatsuki.
"What is this?"
"It's information from the future."
Yang answered without reservation. After seeing Takatsuki's surprised expression, he added, "But only the power of the Herrscher of Reason can interpret it."
"Is that so? Then can you answer my questions now?"
Takatsuki put the crystal containing future information into his backpack and looked at Yang, who had picked up his coffee cup, across from him.
"Hmm, if it's a question I can answer, I'll tell you everything."
"Can answer... Never mind. How did you get here? And what happened in the future?"
Yang smiled slightly: "I came here of my own accord. I can't tell you what happened in the future, but what I can say is that it's at least a good outcome that I'm satisfied with. So, to ensure the future doesn't change, I can't tell you."
"..."
You've already passed on information from the future to your past self, and you're telling me this now?
"As for why I asked you to help transfer that future information, it's because I also received this item at that time."
As if seeing Takatsuki's confusion, Yang added.
Good heavens, it's a logical loop, isn't it?
Just as Takatsuki was about to say something threatening, Yang spoke again: "Of course, I won't let you work for nothing. After you transfer this item to my past self, Anti-Entropy will fully cooperate with your actions. Moreover, you're troubled about how to find Raiden Ryoma, right? My past self will help you with that, and will also make Bronya the next Herrscher of Reason."
"Good heavens, you're using your knowledge of the future to exploit my weakness, aren't you?"
Yang merely smiled without speaking, but looked at Seele: "However, my past self was severely injured at that time, which is why I could only hide in the academy. So, I'll trouble Seele to help me heal when she returns."
Seele, who had been listening quietly, was startled: "Eh? Me? But... I don't know how to heal."
This time, it was Yang who was confused.
"According to my experience, when my past self first met Seele, she should have already possessed the ability to heal everything."
"Um... although Takatsuki said I have the power of creation within me, I really can't use it right now..."
Seele said with some embarrassment, feeling guilty for not being able to meet others' expectations.
"Then what about the Spirit Deer Diana and the Flower Spirit Flora?"
Yang suddenly uttered two unfamiliar names, making both Takatsuki and Seele a little confused.
"Um, I don't know what Uncle Yang is talking about."
"Seriously... not... But I definitely experienced it at the time. Did history change?"
Hearing Yang's mumbling, Takatsuki spoke: "Old Yang, what are you talking about? Tell me in detail."
"Hmm, this is not something that needs to be hidden."
Yang began to describe to Takatsuki his first encounter with Seele. Just like now, Seele had gone to his office with Takatsuki to find him. After handing him the item, Seele summoned the Spirit Deer Diana and the Flower Spirit Flora from within her body, who brought down a healing rain, curing all of Yang's injuries and even helping his body return to its peak state.
However, he didn't delve into how Seele's power came about, so he didn't know if it was normal or abnormal for Seele not to have that power now.
"So, what are the characteristics of Seele's power?"
"Characteristics, you say."
Yang fell into recollection: "If I had to describe its characteristics, it would be an abundance of vigorous life force, causing beautiful flowers to bloom even on inanimate objects."
"I see, I understand. You don't need to worry about this matter anymore. I'll find a way."
Yang looked at Takatsuki: "Alright, I'll leave it to you. Do you have any other questions? I won't answer questions about the future, as I'm very satisfied with that ending; it's a happy ending."
"Then never mind. Can you introduce me to the situation of this world instead?"
Takatsuki saw that Yang insisted on not speaking and didn't pester him further, instead asking about the situation here.
"Hmm, even if you didn't ask, I would introduce it to you. How long do you plan to stay here?"
"Around twenty days. Old Yang, you should know about Seele falling into the bottom of the Sea of Quanta due to Cocolia's experiment, right?"
Yang nodded: "Bronya mentioned it to me later."
"Seele entered a quantum entanglement state due to Honkai Energy, so to restore her, the Honkai Energy in her body needs to be extracted. I happen to have this ability, but because the connection between the Honkai Energy and Seele is very close, I can only slowly extract it, which requires physical contact for a period of time."
Yang nodded, indicating understanding: "Then what are you planning to do next? Do you want to travel to other worlds with us?"
"Seele, what do you think?"
Takatsuki felt that he still needed to respect Seele's decision.
"Seele is fine with anything, Takatsuki can decide."
"In that case, Seele and I will impose. After all, such an opportunity is rare. Where is the next destination?"
Yang smiled: "No imposition at all. The Astral Express is too empty right now. Pom-Pom and Himeko will also be happy with more people."
"The next destination is the Prison Planet Penacony, but this is a record from a thousand years ago. It was originally a prison planet used by the Company to exile criminals, but the Stellaron erupted there, and the Company lost control of it. It joined the embrace of the Aeon of Harmony, 'The Family', and is now a member of The Family. Currently, a grand celebration is being held in Penacony, so The Family sent an invitation to the train. Therefore, we are not going as Trailblazers this time, but as guests. You can look forward to it."
"Aeons, huh..."
Takatsuki wasn't particularly concerned about the situations on various planets, as different developments in each place were normal. He was more interested in the Aeons.
"Old Yang, what kind of beings are Aeons, roughly? Compared to Honkai?"
"I knew you'd ask that question, but I can only say that Honkai, even the Will of Honkai, cannot be compared to an Aeon at all."
Next, Welt introduced Takatsuki to the settings of this world... or rather, the Imaginary Tree universe. It turned out that what they called star systems were actually individual worlds.
Although complete and stable, these star systems were still individual, independent worlds, similar to World Bubbles, with boundaries.
And current technological development had already developed the ability to warp, and the train could also warp due to the power of Akivili, the Trailblaze Aeon.
Warping couldn't compare to Takatsuki's D4C ability; it could only begin warping at the boundaries of worlds.
To illustrate, if individual worlds were like fields of farmland, and world boundaries were the boundaries of the fields, with ridges separating the fields, then warping was like jumping over a ridge to another field next to it.
It had to be used at the boundary and could only jump to an adjacent field; it was impossible to jump over several fields at once.
And Aeons could easily destroy a star system, and even some Emissaries could do so.
And Aeons were at the multiverse level, but for some reason, the Original World where Honkai Impact 3rd was located did not receive the attention of Aeons.
Although Welt said so, Takatsuki knew that Aeons couldn't reach the multiverse level, because warping couldn't jump out of the world where the Imaginary Tree was located.
And Takatsuki's instance dungeons were places where the Imaginary Tree did not exist.
However, Takatsuki didn't explain all this to Yang. Instead, under Yang's introduction, he learned about a series of settings in this world.
When the conversation with Yang ended, it was already very late. Yang didn't know what the small black ball left by the Stellaron Takatsuki had taken out was, but he said he could feel that the small ball was slowly absorbing the free-floating Void Energy in the air.
Yang's suggestion was to either seal it or give it to a scientific fanatic like Herta; she would definitely be very interested in studying it.
Takatsuki naturally agreed readily. This thing couldn't be put into his backpack, and it looked problematic. After handing the small ball to Yang, Takatsuki took Seele to meet the conductor of this train, Pom-Pom.
Although called the conductor, Pom-Pom was not human, but a small, furry animal with drooping ears, even shorter than Seele.
"So cute."
Seele secretly covered her mouth.
"I was busy checking the train and the Stelle Rail stability rate, and haven't welcomed the two new passengers yet. I'm Pom-Pom, the conductor. I hope you have a pleasant journey on the train. The train will begin warping to leave this star system in five minutes. Please find a place to sit down quickly. After the warp ends, you can find an empty room to stay in. There are many empty rooms on the train, and I usually clean them, so they're ready for immediate occupancy."
Pom-Pom spoke to the two with a serious, business-like demeanor.
"Thank you, Pom-Pom." *2
"Hmm! Then let's sit down first. Get ready, we'll depart in five minutes."
Five minutes meant five minutes. When Takatsuki and Seele sat down, they heard Pom-Pom's voice from the train's broadcast. Everyone else around them also sat down, except for...
March 7th stood in the very center.
"Um... what is Sister March doing?"
Seele said somewhat strangely.
"Don't mind her. She's always like this every time we warp. She tries not to fall, but she always does."
Stelle explained from the side. Of the three members of the Jarilo-VI exploration team, only Stelle was sitting there at the moment.
"Where's Dan Heng?"
"He should be in the Data Bank. I was also very surprised when I first came. Dan Heng doesn't have a room on the train; he just lives in the Data Bank and usually stays there."
As Stelle explained and Pom-Pom counted down, the few people sitting in their seats felt a sudden surge of immense force. Even though they were sitting and prepared, Seele and Stelle were still pressed into Takatsuki's arms by the huge inertia.
Only Takatsuki managed to support his body with his powerful strength.
The warp was fast. When it ended, Takatsuki had two girls in his arms, and March 7th, who was in the middle of the train, had already fallen to the ground.
"Are you alright?"
As soon as Takatsuki finished speaking, Pom-Pom's voice came over the broadcast.
"Dear passengers, the train has completed its warp jump. The Stelle Rail is stable, space is stable, and the train has entered a smooth cruising state. You are free to move around."
"It's nothing, thank you. I'll take you to see the rooms."