Three days later, Ethan Lane had mostly finished healing. His injuries had more or less recovered, and he could begin to verify the use of Honkai Energy, although it would still take a few more days of treatment to fully recover.
According to the worldview of Honkai Impact 3rd, the Honkai is born alongside civilization, with the mission of destroying it. It can manifest in any form of disaster, such as earthquakes, plagues, wars, and so on. Honkai Energy is the power source of the Honkai; all Honkai phenomena rely on it. Without Honkai Energy, Honkai phenomena cannot occur.
However, in Honkai Impact 3rd, humanity's use of Honkai Energy is very rudimentary. This is because Honkai Energy has an extremely strong corrosive and destructive power on all artificial objects and living beings. Once the concentration of Honkai Energy becomes too high, the lifespan of artificial objects is drastically reduced, eventually becoming as fragile as antiques that have been used for decades or centuries, shattering at a touch.
The only thing that can resist or even utilize Honkai Energy is Soulium, a material left over from the previous civilization. Modern humans are still unable to manufacture it, making it extremely precious.
The erosion of living beings by Honkai Energy has some different manifestations. Beasts become Honkai Beasts, while humans become Honkai Zombies. Of course, there is an extremely low probability of a Herrscher appearing among humans. And Valkyries are a group of humans who have adapted to and even utilized Honkai Energy. Females are far more likely to adapt to Honkai Energy than males, so they use Honkai Energy to manifest all sorts of unscientific abilities.
However, the relationship between Valkyries and Honkai Energy is like that of antibiotics and bacteria. Sooner or later, bacteria will evolve resistance, and so will Honkai Energy. At that point, the Valkyrie will be directly eroded by Honkai Energy and turn into a Honkai Zombie. Of course, an excessively high concentration of Honkai Energy will also directly erode a Valkyrie, greatly shortening her lifespan.
Therefore, Valkyries generally do not live long, and it's unheard of for any Valkyrie to live past a few decades, with the exception of a certain Shenzhou flat-chest and a legal loli. However, in Ethan Lane's case, Honkai Energy was transformed by the Dao Yan Record into two types of energy, and the derived Spiritual Qi could even improve his physical fitness.
This was something that had never happened in Honkai Impact 3rd. If a Valkyrie failed in the process of adapting to Honkai Energy, it meant death. There had never been a case of Honkai Energy nourishing a human in return. If the will of the Honkai found out, who knows if it would immediately erase him. Therefore, this matter was his greatest secret.
He looked at the calendar on the wall. It was now November 17, 1999, less than three months before the Second Honkai War. He had to speed up his research on the use of Honkai Energy. After all, Siberia was the main battlefield of the Second Honkai War. Once it descended, Ethan Lane wouldn't even be able to participate, let alone protect himself.
His gaze swept over the map on the wall. He hadn't paid much attention to it at first, but when he saw the scale on it, he was surprised to find how absurd it was: 1:500,000,000! Was it really that ridiculous? One centimeter represented five hundred kilometers. This meant Siberia alone was over ten million square kilometers?!
Although the world map was surprisingly consistent with the original Earth, its area was several times larger! Sakhalin Island alone was over two hundred thousand square kilometers! Comparable to a province in mainland China. "Could this map be wrong... There's a globe here, let's see."
"Holy crap, the scale is correct. Oh god, what the hell is this world? An Earth several times larger than Earth?!" Ethan Lane felt like crying, but then he thought again, perhaps an Earth this large was needed to withstand so many rounds of devastation from the Honkai.
"Forget it, as long as it looks the same. At least it's consistent. There isn't an extra moon in the sky," Ethan Lane stopped thinking about it. The most important thing right now was to study the application of Honkai Energy.
Ethan Lane calmed down and began his research. Honkai Energy, this thing manifested in various forms in the Honkai world, capable of transforming into anything. This could be seen from the diverse manifestations of the great Honkai throughout history. Moreover, whether it was Herrschers or Valkyries, their use of Honkai Energy was also diverse. It seemed that Honkai Energy was omnipotent.
However, in terms of energy, it never strayed from four types: wind, fire, lightning, and ice.
But in other aspects, there were many more, especially physical ones, like the quantum state of Seele, the ability of the Herrscher of Reason to construct anything as long as he understood it, and the spatial abilities of the Herrscher of the Void, which were simply like cheating. Since Honkai Energy had so many applications, there was no reason he could only use it as a stimulant. Thus, Ethan Lane began to carefully study the specific applications of Honkai Energy after its conversion into Spiritual Qi. This research took half a month.
Half a month later, in a wasteland outside the town. "Turn to ash!" Ethan Lane raised his hand, drew a talisman in the air, and then a huge flame suddenly appeared, directly burning a tree to cinders.
"Emmmm... a bit chuuni, but Yae Sakura is my waifu!" Ethan Lane sighed, then continued to practice other abilities. "Disappear!" *Crack, crack,* a mass of solid ice instantly froze the tree stump in front of him, which then shattered into pieces.
Ethan Lane tried a few other abilities and finally stopped. His spells were completely incomparable to Yae Sakura's almost full-screen abilities; they were only useful in a small area. He felt that his current strength was equivalent to that of a White Comet, a B-rank Valkyrie.
"But I'm an all-rounder. Wind, fire, lightning, electricity, metal, wood... these two don't work. It seems that this Honkai Energy thing requires me to understand the principles behind something before it manifests the corresponding ability. If I don't understand the principles of metal and wood, they can't appear. Then... the ability of the Herrscher of Reason is out of the question. Do I have to specifically learn how to make a weapon before I can create it? I'm just a programmer, you know." Ethan Lane grumbled for a bit, then suddenly gathered Spiritual Qi in his hands and shouted.
"Honkai Hundred-Fist, ORA ORA ORA!" *Bili-pala,* the giant rock in front of him instantly shattered into dust. "Hmph, it seems I should save those spells for when I'm more powerful. Fists suit me better. Persuading people with reason (physical)." Ethan Lane muttered a few words and turned to head back to the town.
Ever since he had fully recovered, he had moved out of Kakarov's house. He didn't want to be disturbed while practicing. However, he didn't have a single penny, so Kakarov had paid for him, which made him feel rather embarrassed.
Upon returning home, before he could even take two sips of water, Kakarov suddenly ran in, panting, and said, "Lane! Something terrible has happened! A large number of Honkai Beasts have appeared not far from the town and are already rushing towards us. The situation is critical. I've already called for reinforcements from above, but it will take time. So I want to ask you to help us buy some time."
Without a second thought, Ethan Lane rushed out of the house and said directly, "I'll go now. You organize the town residents to evacuate immediately, quickly!" Kakarov nodded and immediately began to evacuate the people, while Ethan Lane rushed straight out of town.
Outside the town, some people had already begun to build a defensive line, but the townspeople only had light weapons. Against Honkai Beasts, especially the Chariot-types, they were practically useless. Standing on high ground outside the town, watching the large number of Chariot-type Honkai Beasts rapidly approaching in the distance, Ethan Lane frowned.
"Is this the first test of my newfound cultivation? Very well, it's time to show my true power," Ethan Lane murmured to himself.