"Sigh... this should be the last simulation run. Even now, I still can't pinpoint the root cause of why I can't withstand the erosion of Finality's Herrscher power."
"Still, theoretically, in a remote area like the outskirts of Nagazora City, with my current Honkai energy adaptability, I should be able to survive the Honkai disaster erupting tomorrow at Chiba Academy, right?"
The thought that his "newbie protection period" would end tomorrow filled Lunelle's clear, ocean-blue eyes with anxiety over his uncertain future.
Yet, as Lunelle worried about whether he'd make it through tomorrow's catastrophe, his entire demeanor grew increasingly reminiscent of a certain little sweetheart who always lacked confidence in everything she did.
Clearly bolstered by so many permanent talents stacked upon him, Lunelle remained completely unaware that even his inadvertent aura was now steadily aligning with Seele's.
But it's worth mentioning here:
When Lunelle was forcibly bound during his fourth simulation with talents related to changing his hair color and style to match Seele's, in a final act of stubborn defiance to distinguish himself slightly from his beloved waifu Seele-chan, he deliberately chose the waist-length hair of Dark Seele, an option the simulator didn't highly recommend.
So now, Lunelle possessed Seele's eyes but sported Dark Seele's hairstyle, while his hair color remained that of White Seele.
He was essentially a haphazard patchwork of traits from both Black and White Seele.
Fortunately, whether it was elements from Seele-chan or Dark Seele, blending them together didn't appear too jarring.
However, Lunelle quickly recalled that even in the main storyline of Honkai Impact 3rd, many characters acquainted with Seele seemed somewhat unable to distinguish between Seele-chan and Dark Seele.
Even Bronya, who ostensibly understood Seele best, only gained the ability to tell them apart much later.
Take that famous animated short, for instance.
Dark Seele literally pinned Bronya against a wall, and the scene even had a dedicated CG clearly indicating it was Dark Seele at that moment.
Yet, in the end, this romantic debt was inexplicably credited to Seele-chan.
After pondering it, Lunelle figured the underlying reason for the characters' selective blindness in the plot was likely just the game's convenience for players to identify the two different versions of Seele.
That's why, only after Dark Seele gained a physical battlesuit, did they finally bother to include character art for both wives in the story.
In the actual narrative, the most plausible change on Seele-chan's body would probably be just a shift in eye color.
Otherwise, imagine Seele-chan going through dialogue and plot—one moment she has short hair, but if Dark Seele just interjects in their shared consciousness, the short-haired Seele-chan instantly changes outfits.
Then switches back the moment she stops talking...
Uh...
If such bizarre, on-the-spot transformations could happen in reality without anyone around noticing, aside from genuine blindness, Lunelle couldn't think of a more fitting description.
So, Lunelle unilaterally felt that as long as he had Dark Seele's long hair for cover, at least in this early story phase, as long as he kept the low-profile trio—face mask, sunglasses, and baseball cap—ready, and avoided carelessly exposing his voice, which was nearly identical to Seele's, probably...he probably wouldn't end up being mistaken for Seele-chan herself, right?
But Lunelle quickly pushed these worries aside.
After all, the most pressing concern right now was whether his preparations were sufficient to survive tomorrow!
As long as he could successfully escape the high-risk zone of Nagazora City and find a safe enough place to lay low quietly,
Lunelle was confident that if he hid long enough—long enough to grind his basic stats to utterly overpowered levels—then when he finally emerged triumphantly, becoming the legendary "Max Level Noob" wouldn't be too difficult, would it?
Holding onto this hope for the future, Lunelle resolutely activated his sixth simulation since crossing over.
Then, in the blink of an eye...
[You died!]
Seeing the familiar death notification pop up again, Lunelle wasn't the least bit surprised.
After all, he'd died the same way five times already in simulations.
Especially with those death memories that felt all too real.
Lunelle's mindset had evolved from nearly developing PTSD due to the excruciating pain of early death recollections, to now being completely accustomed to the sensation of dying.
And as expected, this simulation run yielded another 2 points of Honkai energy adaptability as the basic Safety Net reward.
But when Lunelle read the description of the permanent talent forcibly bound to him after this simulation, even he, who could face death memories without flinching, nearly lost his composure at the absurd content before him!
Previous permanent talent bindings had, at most, made Lunelle's appearance increasingly resemble his beloved waifu Seele.
Though Lunelle had roughly anticipated this possibility, the bizarre [Talent] he saw this time felt like the hidden dagger finally being revealed.
The specific description of this odd talent is as follows:
--+--
[Gotta Cross-Dress! (Quality: Unknown / Permanent): One of the special permanent talents brought by the Safety Net (Gold).]
[Grants the host a special constitution where not wearing women's clothing causes extreme discomfort. However, in the world of Honkai, cross-dressing seems to genuinely increase Honkai energy adaptability.]
[Affected by this permanent talent: While the host is wearing women's clothing, Charm +3, Honkai Energy Adaptability +5.]
--+--
It's safe to say that once this talent appeared and was forcibly bound, especially for a normal boy, it was an utterly embarrassing and bizarre talent.
To some degree, it absolutely trampled on Lunelle's dignity as a male!
Logically, Lunelle should at least firmly declare that even if he starved to death, or jumped from here, he would absolutely never cross-dress or anything...
But, perversely, after this permanent talent was bound, Lunelle, a full-grown man, didn't experience even the slightest adverse reaction.
Why was that?
Well, you see... starting two days ago, Lunelle had already begun wearing women's clothing.
Although initially he staunchly claimed that the only reason he cross-dressed was because the simulator forced him into it, the current Lunelle didn't even need the talent's reminder or restriction—he was already dressed in women's clothes.
As for his previous statements like "cross-dressing is just a temporary expedient" or "a brief stint in women's clothing is just a display of a true man's flexibility," looking back now, they only served to amuse all you handsome readers and pretty viewers, filling this tiny rented room with merry laughter.
But logically speaking, it had been nearly two and a half days now.
Even if Lunelle truly had no other men's clothes to wear, the set of men's clothing he'd changed out of had been air-drying on the balcony for so long.
If he tried to use the excuse that the clothes weren't dry yet, he probably wouldn't believe it himself.
So why, when he had men's clothes available to change into, did Lunelle seem to develop selective amnesia about it?
Clearly, even without this permanent talent forcing him to cross-dress, Lunelle already appeared capable of wearing various Seele-chan cosplay outfits as daily clothes without any psychological burden.
While it's often said that with cross-dressing, the first time leads to countless more, someone like Lunelle, who got so remarkably accustomed to the feel of women's clothing even before any forced cross-dressing measures were implemented, is probably an exceedingly rare specimen across the entire isekai community, right?
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.