“I heard you were returning. You might as well see what I cooked.”

  “You’re the only Vill-V who makes bad puns…”

  “Why? Aren’t they terrific?”

  “...”

  Aleph fell silent. Every time he meets this kind of Vill-V, he 't think of any good ebacks. This was the only case where he ‘ties’ with her.

  “I am not lying about the things I made. Remember the one project you gave me? The analysis of the sed Herrscher’s Core otlesuits’ special fun.”

  “The global time fracture.”

  “Yes, that one.” She his words. “It’s a tricky project. There aren’t any records of the Sed Herrscher utilizing her authority to trol time. As for the core… you know it’s already dead.”

  There was a huge differeween the Previous Era’s and the Current Era’s Herrscher Cores.

  The former’s are dead. They only be used via soulium, which makes up a Divine Key. Soulium is a nanomae that has self-repairing capabilities when fag honkai corruption. It also takes most of the damage from the honkai at the behest of their user.

  It is the most optimal material for making honkai-reted ons.

  Of course, Divine Keys are on another level altogether. Even if they were made up of soulium, their honkai insution fun drops to a sharp degree.

  Now, uhe former, the tter—Current Era Herrschers—could retain a part of their sciousness iheir Herrscher Cores.

  This makes these Cores ‘alive’. Welt Yang, for example, was able to ‘trahe First Herrscher’s authority. It makes it possible for a Herrscher Core to be ‘ied’, allowing a far greater utilization rate than the Divihemselves.

  “This is where the Bnk Core you gave me helped.” Vill-V grasped iement as she grabbed his shoulders. “Do you know what it did?!”

  “I’m guessing it’s far more than what I told you about it.”

  “Alright, alright. It’s better to show it to you instead.”

  Vill-V guided him along her workshop. Aleph was familiar with it, but…

  “A secret passage.”

  “How was it~?”

  “I’m not surprised by it.”

  He khe previous yout of her workshop. That included this ‘secret passage’ she revealed just now.

  Uhe Sed Herrscher’s Core that was stored openly, the ‘Bnk Core’ Aleph obtained from his achievements was hidden while it was being studied.

  The passageways where they walked into were visibly older by a decade.

  “It’s one of the abandoned half-built escape routes. It was abandoned when the Sed Herrscher was shown to be able to colpse structural frames like this one.”

  Vill-V began her brief history lesson. The Chef Vill-V was one of the most talkative Vill-Vs, only sed to the Magi Vill-V.

  By the time they reached her hidden boratory, Aleph heard the entire cause-and-effect of this hidden boratory of hers.

  It wasn’t as big as the workshop on the surface. Bright lights lit the entire room. It didn’t have the gloominess of Mobius’ workstation.

  In its ter y a spherical orb tained by a cubitainer. It was being held by bck metalliks. The said orb was shining dimly.

  “When you ha over, I thought of making a special battlesuit for it. You know, the kind that supplies nigh-unlimited honkai energy to its user. I already made several blueprints out of it. But…”

  Her gaze returo Aleph. It was the kind of ‘excitement’ that couldn’t be easily trolled.

  “The Bnk Core sent out strange readings when I brought it here. The only thing that would’ve prompted a rea is…”

  “The Sed Herrscher Core.”

  “Yup.”

  The more Aleph listeo Vill-V, the more he was ied by her crazy ideas.

  ‘How did she even e up with this idea… letting two Herrscher Cores tact each other…’

  It was a ‘gamble’, yet she willingly took it. In turn, she was able to discover another fun of the Bo copy the authority of the Herrscher Core it tacts with.

  “It’s now equivalent to a living Herrscher… but without any sciouso trol it.”

  “...”

  Bnk Key.

  Bnk Core.

  The two seemingly uhings popped up inside Aleph’s mind. These thoughts came to his mind at first, though he chose to ighem.

  ‘I dug too deep into it.’ He mented. ‘It happened again… I was about to be locked to an inflexible train of thought…’

  His flict was hidden deep within his mind. Aleph tinued ag normally.

  “I simuted it and ended up with several results. Here.”

  Vill-V threw a ft circur object at Aleph, to which the tter caught.

  “Try pressing it.”

  He did as he was told.

  Tap.

  Buzz-!

  A siderable amount of honkai energy was emitted from the device. The moment it spread into half of the room, it formed a spatial field.

  Crack-!

  ‘This is… No doubt, it's a time fracture.’

  The familiar gray sight reminded Aleph of Sakura’s teique. It was simir to it, yet different. If Sakura could pletely stop time, this devily slows down the flow of time.

  It was something that utilized the retionship between spabsp;and time as Euclidean Dimensions. It was an advanced cept that would’ve been impossible to create.

  Crack-!

  The gray sight returo normal. Vill-V, who was iher half of the room, stared at him with i. It was clear she was waiting for his response.

  “You didn’t have enough time to create a special battlesuit, right? I made you one along with that device. It only slowed down time by a tenth within a sed. I suppose it’s enough for you?”

  At this moment, Aleph felt something was strah her.

  Unfortunately, he couldn’t put his finger on it.

  “...Thank you.”

  “Heh. That’s good enough.”

  She held a silver briefcase before handing it over to him. She wore a smug yet appreciative look.

  “I won’t ask for anything iurn.” She stated. “Though I would appreciate it if you helped me out with some projects sometimes.”

  “Alright. Once I clear out my current mission, I’ll help you out. It’s for the Sed Divine Key, right?”

  With that, another inexplicable smile was drawn on Vill-V's face.