In the dim room, Jian Ling opened his eyes, two sharp glints flashing across them.
After absorbing that energy, he now felt refreshed, capable of easily taking down a dozen of his former self, and even the broken bones in his body were mostly healed.
He slowly sat up, adapting to his new strength, feeling the transformative changes in his body.
At the same time, he surveyed his surroundings.
This was likely an abandoned house in the suburbs, covered in dust and cobwebs, with only the bed he was on being relatively clean. A few slivers of moonlight streamed through the window frames, which lacked windows, casting large shadows.
"Awake?" Suddenly, a cool female voice came from the shadows. Bronya slowly emerged from the corner, each step echoing crisply in the empty room for a long time.
Jian Ling didn't stare at her with excessive caution, because he knew that even with his newfound strength, it was still insignificant compared to Bronya's ghostly speed. If Bronya wanted to do something to him, being cautious or not wouldn't matter.
"You... what do you want?" Jian Ling asked, slightly nervous.
"Don't be too nervous." Bronya deliberately adopted a non-threatening posture and expression.
"First, tonight's events never happened, understand?"
Upon hearing this, Jian Ling nodded, thinking she probably didn't want to expose her identity, unaware that she simply wanted to escape the reality of being held by a man.
"Second... take off your clothes." Bronya paused, then spoke.
Upon hearing this, Jian Ling nodded again... wait, what the f***, no!
"What did you say?!" Jian Ling suspected he had misheard.
"I said, take off your clothes." Bronya repeated, emphasizing her words, her earlobes subtly reddening.
"You, you, you... I'm warning you! Even though I'm not as strong as you, don't study as well as you, am not as popular as you, not as... but if you want to do 'that' to me, I won't just obediently comply!" Jian Ling, righteous and unyielding... took off his shirt.
Just kidding, survival comes first!
Just as his hand reached for his waistband, a light sword was instantly placed against his neck.
"I told you to take off your shirt, not your pants! Let go of your hand!" Bronya was fuming, her face uncontrollably flushing with a hint of embarrassment, even swearing in Shenzhou dialect.
"Ah? Oh..." Jian Ling finally stopped unbuttoning his pants.
Bronya walked around Jian Ling a few times, carefully examining him from head to toe.
The pupil of her left eye slowly changed shape, transforming into a strange pattern resembling a high-precision crosshair.
"Suffering such a high-intensity Rupture Energy impact without developing Rupture Energy erosion patterns, not only did his injuries recover, but his physical strength was also greatly enhanced. He should be a Super-Powered Person." After a period of observation, she lightly propped her chin with her index finger and came to a conclusion.
Jian Ling felt like a monkey in a circus, being gawked at.
"Big Sister, are you done looking?" Even with Jian Ling's thick skin, he felt a bit awkward at this point.
"Mm, put them on." Bronya replied.
Hearing this, Jian Ling felt as if he had been granted a great pardon and quickly put his clothes back on.
"Last question, have you awakened any special abilities?" As she spoke, her eyes subtly scanned Jian Ling's, trying to ascertain if he was hiding anything.
"..."
"No, what special ability?" Jian Ling was already adept at concealing his abilities, so much so that even Bronya couldn't detect anything amiss.
"...Alright."
No awakened abilities? Could he be a blank Super-Powered Person?
At the thought of this possibility, Bronya's expression became slightly unpleasant, as if some bad memory had been stirred.
"No, it doesn't rule out the possibility that he's deliberately concealing it or hasn't reached the awakening stage yet." Having figured this out, she nodded.
"Mm, I understand. You can go." With that, she turned to leave.
"Wait!" Seeing her about to leave, Jian Ling subconsciously called out to her.
"Shouldn't I get an explanation for all of tonight's events?" Jian Ling mustered his courage to ask. He had too many questions he wanted answered.
Whether it was about that madman, or about her, and even more so about himself.
Bronya stopped.
"...Some things are better left unknown."
"After all, the more you know, the deeper you get involved."
"But if you truly want to know..." Her delicate face turned slightly, appearing even more mysteriously charming in the silvery moonlight.
"Tomorrow night at midnight, meet me on the rooftop."
"With your current strength, you shouldn't be stopped."
"Also..."
"Next time, don't be so impulsive. That guy's strength isn't that strong to me, and his methods don't threaten me."
"If you hadn't foolishly rushed out to interfere, I would have had plenty of ways to escape." Leaving these words, her figure vanished into the moonlight.
Looking in the direction she disappeared, Jian Ling silently clenched his fists.
...
Midnight.
Dark clouds obscured the moon, and the world was shrouded in gloom.
Jian Ling carefully bypassed the surveillance and climbed to the rooftop via a drainpipe in the corner.
Sure enough, a graceful figure was already waiting there.
"You're quite punctual." Bronya checked her glowing watch to confirm the time.
"Stop with the useless talk." Jian Ling had lost his patience. That mysterious power had been dormant in his body, making him feel as if he had personally planted a ticking time bomb inside himself.
This unknown fear was slowly consuming him, making him eager to understand everything.
"Alright, what do you want to ask first?" Bronya handed the initiative to Jian Ling.
"..."
"Let's start with 'Rupture Energy'." He pondered for a moment, finally deciding to start there, as the mysterious energy seemingly connected to Rupture Energy was what concerned him most at the moment.
"Rupture Energy, huh..." Bronya deliberated, seemingly thinking about where to begin.
"As you can see, this is a special energy. It is not generated in our world, but rather originates from the world corresponding to our real space - that is, Imaginary Space." Bronya answered unhurriedly.
"Imaginary... Space?!" Jian Ling's eyes widened in surprise. This thing, which only existed in theory, was actually real!
The conversation had barely begun, and Bronya had already dropped a bombshell on him.
"That's right, Imaginary Space." Bronya emphasized again.
"This energy is different from other energies. It can serve as a highly efficient power source, but it can also erode humans or animals."
"Most life forms that are eroded fall into a chaotic, frenzied state, but a small portion undergo mutation and evolution, developing a certain degree of rationality."
"And those humans who are eroded but do not lose their minds are called Super-Powered Persons." Bronya said, inadvertently glancing at Jian Ling.
"Super-Powered Persons have an extremely high adaptability to Rupture Energy. After resisting the initial erosion, they can continuously improve their adaptability and capacity for Rupture Energy through targeted training, thereby constantly strengthening themselves."
"Most of them also awaken various strange and wonderful special abilities, which gives them an advantage when fighting other eroded beings of the same level." As she spoke, a light dagger reappeared in her hand.
"For example, one of my abilities, a Level Seven Sequence Ability - Construction, allows me to freely create any type of weapon I desire, provided I can understand its structure."
Jian Ling keenly caught three keywords: 'one', 'sequence', 'construction'.
One: that meant she had more than one ability.
Sequence: that should be some kind of rating for their powers.
And Construction: if according to her, the variability of this ability should be very strong, which means she can construct not only swords or daggers, meaning she likely has many hidden trump cards.
"Currently, Super-Powered Persons only appear in humans. If it's an animal, after being eroded, it will inevitably become an eroded being."
"Eroded humans we call the Dead. Eroded animals we call Honkai beasts."
Bronya's expression was calm, accustomed to these Rupture common knowledge, but Jian Ling listened with great interest.
"The ranks of the Dead are divided into Common, Apostle, Priest, Great Priest, Emissary, and Incarnation."
"The ranks of Honkai beasts are divided into Common, Emperor Level, Judgment Level, Adjudication Level, Meifa Level, and Calamity Level."
"They correspond to D, C, B, A, S, and Super S among Super-Powered Persons, respectively."
"Eroded humans can regain their sanity once they reach the Apostle rank, while Honkai beasts, for now, need to reach at least the Judgment Level to possess simple intelligence."
"And those eroded beings who have gained rationality, they will madly believe in the same faith." At this point, Bronya suddenly paused, as if merely uttering that name required courage.
"They call this faith - the Will of Honkai."
Ten chapters in advance in my patreon.