As Version 1.5 preview approached, the official account released the two new satellite characters for Version 1.6 as usual.
Dr. Ratio, and Ruan Mei, who had been foreshadowed for much longer.
Upon learning that Ruan Mei was Harmony, the players were extremely excited.
Everyone had already witnessed how powerful the first limited Harmony Leon was.
No matter what Ruan Mei's support capabilities were, at the very least she could alleviate the situation where Leon wasn't enough to go around.
Not to mention, Ruan Mei was also a Guofeng Jiangnan graceful beauty.
In the players' impressions, her temperament looked most similar to Ayla from the Heavenly Feather Sacred Envoy.
Even though Version 1.5 hadn't even been updated yet, voices were already saying "Why hasn't Version 1.6 arrived yet?"
Of course, this was merely one way for players to express their high anticipation for the new version.
After learning the main tone of Version 1.5's interlude chapter plot, some players' attention shifted away from Ruan Mei.
Something related to the supernatural? It looked quite interesting.
Days passed one by one, and the highly anticipated new version was about to arrive.
…
Honkai: Star Rail universe timeline.
The debt matters on Jarilo-VI had come to a perfect conclusion. The Express crew stayed locally for at most three days before leaving one after another.
Leon left first the next day, but he did not return to the Express. Instead, he went to the Herta Space Station.
"What do you want from me?"
Leon sat casually on Herta's office desk.
Herta ignored this and went straight to the point.
"Seeking knowledge."
"What?"
"Seeking the unknown." Herta added two more words in her reply.
Leon chuckled. "You're a genius, and even an Emanator of Erudition. Don't you think it's a bit backwards to say 'seeking knowledge' to me?"
Herta clicked her tongue and pouted, speaking without the slightest shame.
"I'm not Nous. How could I possibly know everything about everything? Besides—"
"Even Nous has things THEY cannot calculate, right? For example: When will the universe head toward its end?"
Leon became somewhat interested.
"Then ask. But I can't guarantee I'll give you a satisfactory answer. If you want to know about my past, forget it."
Hearing this, Herta recounted what the Trailblazer had said when testing the Simulated Universe — that THEY had seen two unfamiliar Aeons with black and white wings.
"You've existed since the Genius Society was born, you old monster. Do you know THEM?"
From the very beginning, Herta had been staring tightly at Leon's face, wanting to see something from his expression.
Unfortunately, Leon's expression never changed from beginning to end.
There was no surprise, nor any confusion.
However, Herta became excited.
As long as he didn't show a confused expression, it meant he knew something.
So… the Trailblazer wasn't lying?
Herta's gaze fell upon Leon's deep pupils, but she instantly froze.
Reflected in those pupils was an astonishing scene.
Asta had come to the office, presumably to ask for advice on whether to immediately send over the equipment related to the Simulated Universe.
But right now, Asta was frozen in the middle of lifting her right foot, completely motionless.
Herta shifted her gaze toward the light and shadows in the office and discovered that everything had fallen into stillness.
"Don't look. I did it."
Leon turned Herta's small face back toward him.
"Does it involve extremely important secrets? No wonder you had to do this."
Herta was a genius after all. She immediately understood what Leon had done.
He had seemingly manipulated the flow of time.
Seeing what Herta was thinking, Leon said irritably, "Not only the flow of time, but I've also hidden the coordinates of this subspace."
In addition—
He had also sensed the aura of Elation.
Aha had definitely made a move as well.
As long as he didn't easily use Emanator-level Heavenly Mercy power, Aha wouldn't stop him from telling outsiders about the fact that the Sky Haven Clan and Heavenly Mercy once existed.
All along, what THEY truly feared was him revealing information related to the Aeon of the Decree of Delusion.
But why was Aha nowhere to be seen when he was talking to the Trailblazer?
Because the Trailblazer was special?
The protagonist in the player's perspective… embarking on the Trailblaze...
Leon fell into thought.
Forget it. Aha definitely wouldn't explain the reason. Besides, he had no intention of telling Herta anyway.
"I don't know how major the implications are, but I hope you understand one thing—"
"Speak plainly. Don't beat around the bush!"
"The process of seeking wisdom has always been treading the road toward madness. The more you know about some things, the less beneficial it is."
Herta was unconcerned. "So what?"
"I know a few words won't stop you from continuing to seek the unknown. But it doesn't matter, because even if I know, I won't tell you."
"???"
Herta almost pulled out her hammer, wanting to give Leon a few hits the same way she chased after the Trailblazer.
What an irritating tone!
Seeing Herta's expression, Leon couldn't help but laugh.
"You're not getting red-warm, are you? When you talk to others, your tone isn't any different from mine."
Herta snorted coldly.
"Fine. We'll skip this question. Let me ask you something else. What do you think is the essence and meaning of an Emanator's existence?"
"I don't know." Leon spread his hands very straightforwardly.
"I know you don't know, so what I'm asking is — what do you think!"
"I think it depends on the Aeon's motive."
Leon glanced at the grinning mask spinning above Herta's head, his gaze unreadable.
"Different motives naturally lead to different essences. Personally, I believe that when most Aeons appoint mortal Emanators, it's for one purpose—"
"Through the path walked by the Emanator, to broaden the concept of the Path."
Upon hearing this, Herta fell into thought.
Leon continued explaining:
"Take the Mourning Actors under the Elation faction as an example. As far as I know, the number of Emanators of Elation among the Mourning Actors is greater than that among the Masked Fools."
"You yourself should have considered this possibility, so asking is almost the same as not asking."
Herta shook her head. "It's not the same as not asking. At the very least, if you think this way, it can add a strong piece of supporting evidence for this direction."
Leon neither confirmed nor denied this.
It wasn't true that the longer one lived, the closer the possibilities they proposed were to reality.
Beneath the Aeons, all were mortals, no different from ants.
Not to mention deconstructing the essence of an Aeon's existence — even the essence of appointing an Emanator was a pseudo-proposition with no answer.
Unless there was an Aeon other than Aha who answered personally.
Staring at Leon, Herta suddenly pulled out an equation.
"Can you solve this?"
"Isn't this the Solitary Wave Algorithm? You solved it yourself thousands of years ago. Why are you asking me?"
"..."
This time it was Herta's turn to fall silent.
The Solitary Wave Algorithm was first proposed by the scholar Patavia after she came into contact with the Scepter System.
It was a discriminant for whether the universe's future was determined or undetermined, and it was also the underlying logic she used when developing the Simulated Universe.
Patavia collapsed under the computational load she could not bear, and left behind an unsolved formula before her death.
The Solitary Wave Algorithm had troubled the universe for many Amber Eras, and was ultimately solved by her.
The intuition innate to a genius told Herta —
Leon seemed to… have known the answer all along...
This was very thought-provoking, even terrifying. It meant that there was more than one existence in the universe that had solved the Solitary Wave Algorithm.
But why hadn't Leon been glanced at by Nous and become a Genius?
Leon saw through what Herta was thinking at a glance.
"Use your own method to search for it. Truth is cruel and boring, yet scholars still thirst for answers. Heh..."
From the moment Nous ascended, perhaps THEY had already anchored all the wisdom circulating throughout the entire universe.