At that moment, History Teacher Welt overheard Kiana's remark and walked over.
"How could it possibly be? You failed every written exam. There's no way we could pass you," he said, picking up Kiana's test paper. "Look, you even got a zero in history. This makes me question my teaching abilities."
"Ah! Everyone, don't look! Give it back!" Kiana cried, desperately trying to snatch the paper back. But Welt held it high, out of her reach.
"Biology, history, geography, and chemistry combined only got you 21 points. That's enough to be first... in last place. You and Ryn truly deserve to be a couple. You'll be taking remedial exams together!" Welt continued.
Kiana's face flushed crimson. She wanted to dig a hole in the ground and bury herself alive.
That jerk Ryn! No wonder he didn't want to come see the results. He must have known all along and wanted to avoid the embarrassment.
That evening, Welt strung Ryn up and gave him a thorough cram session in history, leaving Ryn no time to eat dinner at Himeko's place.
While Ryn was being scolded, Kiana on the other side wasn't having an easy time either.
"Retake exam?" Himeko asked, her voice laced with concern as she ate dinner at the table.
"Yes, it's scheduled for next week," Mei replied on Kiana's behalf.
Kiana sat stiffly in her seat, too afraid to speak, like a child who had done something wrong and was about to be lectured by their parents.
"Really, there's a limit to how dense someone can be... It's like she has no brain to go with her small chest," Himeko sighed, deeply concerned about Kiana's intelligence. As a genius herself, she couldn't understand how she could have such a dim-witted student.
"What if she fails the retake next week? If she fails, she won't be able to become a Valkyrie..." Mei said anxiously, her voice filled with worry for Kiana.
"There's no choice. We'll have to put her through special training."
"Special training?" Mei and Bronya looked up, their faces puzzled.
Meanwhile, Kiana was still fixated on Himeko's comment about her small chest. She pulled open her collar to check, but her chest wasn't small at all...
In the evening, Bronya was still playing Honkai Divine Realm.
In the game chat:
Metal Gear: Bronya: Sorry, comrades, I have to log off.
Green Pipe Uncle Mario: Eh?! You always play until midnight!
Metal Gear: Bronya: I promised a lost girl I'd mentor her.
Green Hat Connector: Go! A man's word is his bond!
Metal Gear: Bronya: Sorry, comrades!
Bronya saluted her computer, bid her comrades farewell, and logged off. She then summoned Heavy Bunny and Cortana to work on some black tech.
In Kiana's room, Ryn and Kiana were buried in books, studying for their exams. The books were stacked from the floor all the way to the ceiling.
"Oh, oh, so that's how it works... I see... I get it now," Ryn said, flipping through the pages quickly. The content was largely familiar, though many details differed. He treated it as the original story with the addition of Honkai, changed names, and new experiences. Learning these new facts greatly benefited Ryn, deepening his understanding of the world.
"I can't remember any of this! Why do we even have to study boring subjects like history?!" Kiana groaned, her head throbbing.
"Take it slow, just read it like a novel," Ryn comforted Kiana gently. "When you study history, try to immerse yourself in the scene... it'll stick in your mind much easier."
"But there are so many words I don't even know what they mean... I can't imagine anything at all..." Kiana sighed in frustration. To her, it might as well have been written in a Heavenly Tome.
She could picture the descriptions of scenery because Ryn had shown her those places. But when it came to phrases like "swallowing ten thousand miles like a tiger," she'd never seen such a powerful tiger and couldn't even begin to imagine what it looked like.
During her time at Chiyu Academy, she'd skipped most of her classes, either sleeping or ditching altogether. Kiana wailed, "This is when Bronya should come to the rescue!"
Bronya entered Kiana's room silently and placed a Homu helmet on both Kiana and Ryn's heads.
"Bronya, what did you put on me?" Kiana and Ryn asked in unison.
"The Homu Virtual Reality Connector. Kiana clearly can't focus on reading, so Bronya will let you experience history firsthand." Bronya put on her own helmet and said, "Linkstart."
Ryn and Kiana both lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.
When they opened their eyes, they were greeted by a magnificent sight: a world entirely made of books, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Ryn and Kiana were stunned into silence.
Suddenly, Bronya, dressed in an adorable magical girl outfit with enormous translucent butterfly wings, floated over to explain.
"This is the core database of the Schicksal Organization, containing the most detailed records of Honkai history.
Lost young man and woman, I am the guiding witch, Bronya.
I shall lead you on the path to truth."
Ryn and Kiana both broke out in sweat. Bronya really knew how to ham it up...
Meanwhile, Cortana silently recorded Bronya's current appearance, planning to have a magical girl outfit tailored for her and sent to her in Ryn's name. Once Bronya secretly put it on, Cortana would take photos and share them with everyone—Bronya's mortification would be priceless.
"Let's start with the earliest records of Honkai," Bronya said, opening a book. A brilliant light emanated from its pages, and the three of them vanished into the glow.
When they reappeared, the three of them were in a rural village nestled in the mountains.
It was now 2717 BC, the time when the first Honkai-infected animals began to mutate in southern Asia.
These Honkai Beasts were not like the ones they knew today. Back then, they still retained their original animal forms, but they were gigantic, grotesque, and covered in terrifying bone spurs.
The earliest Honkai Beasts existed solely to kill humans, showing little interest in destroying anything else.
Kiana, excited by the new surroundings, looked around in amazement.
"Wow, this is even more thrilling than watching a movie!"
"And the textures feel so real!"
"Because this is a virtual reality constructed from data, it can recreate historical events with maximum accuracy," Bronya explained.
"This experience is truly remarkable. I'll have Cortana set this up for me when we get back so I can keep watching," Ryn nodded in approval.
"This is exactly what I created with Cortana's help. She's incredibly talented; she saved me a lot of time," Bronya replied.