Honkai Impact: I, The Herrscher of Ice, Am Loved By Players-Chapter 165: Useless Maneuvers, Unlocked New Memories!

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Raiden Mei fell silent.

"Herrscher, do you know how many have fallen here before?"

Perhaps seeing Raiden Mei's expression brought some satisfaction to Kalpas, prompting him to elaborate further.

"I only know that I won't be among them."

"Then give your utmost effort to survive this Garden of Eden, Herrscher. We will meet again."

With those words, Kalpas turned and departed. As he did, a surge of violent power instantly infused Raiden Mei's body—known as "Alayna."

"The Elysian Realm serves as a trial ground for ascension and baptism by the World Serpent's leaders; there's no need for me to explain further." Ana watched Kalpas leave, then shifted her gaze back to Raiden Mei standing before her.

"Mm-hmm," Raiden Mei nodded. This information was publicly available within the World Serpent, leaving little more to discuss.

"For each Challenger, the Heroic Spirits typically designate two final examiners to test their mettle."

"One is Dr. Mobius, bearer of the Infinite Brand, whom you'll meet later. The second is Kalpas, holder of the Alayna Brand."

"They also represent two distinct paths. Over many years, hardly anyone has managed to pass Kalpas's trial and obtain the Alayna Brand." Ana spoke with a hint of seriousness.

Despite Kalpas often being used as a benchmark for measuring combat power among Heroic Spirits, it didn't imply weakness. On the contrary, he was incredibly strong. Therefore, she hoped Raiden Mei wouldn't underestimate him.

"However, honestly speaking, compared to Mobius, personally, I'd rather see more visitors choose to challenge Kalpas. In a certain sense, Dr. Mobius can be even more challenging, with potentially heavier consequences for failure."

Raiden Mei listened quietly, pondering her words.

"Just who exactly is this Dr. Mobius?"

"Hmm, Dr. Mobius is truly a delightful person. Well, when the time comes, you'll get to experience it firsthand."

Elysia pondered briefly before chuckling softly. However, her words did not alleviate Raiden Mei's concerns; instead, they intensified them.

After all, everyone knows that sometimes, describing Elysia's charm can be quite challenging.

Perhaps it stems from differences in perception and status, akin to how a powerful individual might view a tiger as merely a large, golden-striped cat. Yet, if encountered in the wild, most people would describe it with overwhelming terror.

For Elysia, Mobius posed no real danger or threat, allowing her effortlessly to appreciate the adorable aspects of Dr. Mobius' character.

"So what Kalpas meant earlier was..." Raiden Mei shifted her gaze back towards Ana, who looked away nonchalantly. Instead, it was Elysia who gently laughed and responded.

"Ah, you mean that? Well—surely you understand how sensational it is for another Herrscher to appear in the Elysian Realm, especially for us Heroic Spirits?"

"I can imagine," Raiden Mei responded with a blink, though she didn't quite grasp the extent of the excitement herself. She understood that it was largely due to Ana's presence here; if even a Herrscher could leave memory fragments and reside within the Elysian Realm, then another Herrscher visiting wouldn't be too surprising.

"Kalpas couldn't wait to engage Ana in battle right away, and—guess what happened?"

"What happened?"

"Well, although I'm reluctant to admit it and would prefer to spare Kalpas some embarrassment, everyone witnessed Ana's true prowess. Even Kevin's assessment wouldn't differ much from mine."

"It occurred right here, actually. With just a casual move, Ana effortlessly defeated Kalpas." As Elysia spoke, she turned around, scanning their surroundings briefly before quickly locating an area with chaotic data patterns.

"See, this is the aftermath of their previous encounter. Ana's attack caused severe disruption in the Elysian Realm's data flow, leaving Klein utterly exhausted cleaning up after."

As she spoke, Elysia placed her hands on her hips, seemingly expressing indignation for Klein's behalf. Raiden Mei already knew that Klein was the administrator of this Elysian Realm—an ELF—but that was about all her knowledge extended to.

"..."

Raiden Mei fell silent once more, stealing a glance at Ana-sensei beside her. A mix of helplessness and affection could be seen in her gaze. At this moment, Mei truly didn't know what to say.

She had always known Ana-sensei was incredibly powerful, but she never expected that even before becoming the Herrscher of Winter, Ana possessed such strength.

Now, as a single-core Herrscher herself, Raiden Mei relied on Kalpas' mercy during their encounter. She couldn't help feeling that despite possibly giving his all against Ana-sensei, he still met defeat instantly.

However, within the Elysian Realm, it wasn't entirely surprising. After all, Kalpas ranked only sixth; both Elysia and Kevin were undoubtedly stronger than him and likely capable of similarly swift victories over Kalpas.

This realization made Raiden Mei feel even more daunted by the path ahead. Initially, she thought she had begun to grasp Kevin's level somewhat, but now she understood it was just the beginning.

It was as if the difference between her and Kevin spanned merely one realm, but upon reaching it with great effort, she discovered that Kevin stood at the path's end while she had just begun to tread on it. The gap between them seemed vast enough to encompass an entire universe.

"Alright, alright, no need to feel disheartened. Our journey has reached its conclusion here, but your future holds infinite possibilities. So, lift your head and keep moving forward, Mei!" Seeing Raiden Mei slightly dejected, Elysia encouraged her warmly.

"..."

Raiden Mei did not respond; instead, she silently gazed at Ana beside her, remaining quiet.

Honestly, it left her speechless. To their generation, Ana was the brightest morning star. Now, this star had fallen—an immense loss indeed.

Raiden Mei began contemplating: Would things have been easier for their time if she were the one sacrificed instead of Ana-sensei? How much effort would she ultimately need to exert to catch up to the former prowess of Ana-sensei? Unfortunately, regardless of how much Raiden Mei guessed or pondered, she couldn't find an answer.

Back in the real world, within Brother Cake's live stream, he enthusiastically progressed through the game storyline and soon reached this point as well.

"Wow, this Heroic Spirit is incredibly cool! What a passionate laugh."

"Seriously, Longge deserves all the credit for his efforts."

"Xiao, how did you end up like this? Is it due to your karma?"

Since many of Brother Cake's viewers were also Genshin Impact players, numerous bullet comments referenced Kōichi Yamadera's voice acting meme. However, beneath the surface humor, everyone quickly focused on the unfolding plot.

"Holy moly, this Heroic Spirit is fierce! These monsters are quite something—why are there even slimes here?"

"Tsk tsk tsk, undeniable proof that Honkai Impact 3 copied from Genshin Impact!"

The challenges Raiden Mei faced during combat couldn't be fully captured in the game. For Brother Cake, it merely felt like scraping against thin air. As a skilled player, he effortlessly dodged most attacks, only taking minimal damage to his health bar.

However, these intense battles reignited Brother Cake's passion for gaming. Recently, he had been primarily playing Genshin Impact, while his main Honkai account had become overly powerful, diminishing the overall gameplay experience. Now, he finally relished the joy of grinding and optimizing his performance once more, although he hadn't yet switched to the hardcore optimization mode, mainly because there was no time for it.

Who could've anticipated such a challenging boss battle here?

However, what Brother Cake least expected was yet to come. After attacking for a while, those monsters abruptly retreated. Despite having health bars, it became apparent that they were scripted encounter enemies; even if he cheated and killed them, their HP would likely lock.

This rendered Brother Cake's frantic efforts quite futile, drawing immediate reactions from the bullet comments:

[Brother Cake, during this part of the storyline, you can actually stand still, take the damage, and still progress. It just results in slightly different plot outcomes.]

"..."

Brother Cake fell silent, genuinely feeling defeated. Wow, all his strenuous effort turned out to be completely pointless.

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Fortunately, the bullet comments quickly reassured him. While seemingly insignificant, there was indeed value in these actions. The dialogue differs based on whether the challenge is passed or failed, although both paths ultimately grant the Annihilation Brand.

However, failing the challenge means missing out on certain narrative elements. For instance, if the challenge is not met, Elysia won't appear; only Ana will intervene. Without Elysia present, Ana's dialogue significantly changes, providing less context.

As for Kalpas? After a couple of taunts, he promptly left.

The bullet comment streamers informed Brother Cake about these developments, helping him regain some composure. Of course, it couldn't fully balance his emotions; realistically, battling monsters here was unnecessary. All one needed to do was survive until Ana intervened.

However, Elysia's subsequent revelation shocked the live broadcast viewers immensely.

[Wow, is Ana truly that formidable? Already matching the top Heroic Spirits from the previous civilization.]

[Suddenly, I understand why the writers might have killed off Ana. If she were still around, forget the Main trio, they'd all be sidelined. Our Ana would be invincible alone.]

[Chuckle, spare me with this Ana hype. From what I see, even Kalpas isn't that impressive, struggling against Raiden Mei so much. The Fusion fighters and Herrschers from the previous civilization must've been trash!]

[Fuck, trying to start a flame war? Mod, ban this troll already.]

[Aiya, did I hit a sore spot? Getting defensive, huh? Our Kiana is indeed phenomenal.]

[Get lost, don't bring more hate on us bug fans!]

How to put it? Although everything seemed to have returned, in truth, there was no going back. Compared to its launch days, Honkai Impact 3 is no longer the same game, and MiHoYo is not the company it once was.

With various trolls and haters stirring chaos, even original fans, known as Captains and Travelers, faced polarization and crystallization of opinions. This toxic environment led directly to the current disorder within the live stream chat.

Brother Cake could only temporarily ignore these issues and instruct his moderators to mute offending users one by one. That's all he could do; the younger, more impulsive version of himself might have engaged with the trolls head-on.

But now, he dared not, not just because of potential drama or attention but also due to the magnifying effect in such large communities. Even minor incidents would be blown out of proportion and attacked—this held especially true for big-name streamers like him, more so than smaller ones.

"Guys, Ana really pulled off something incredible here. Initially, I thought Herrscher of Winter-Ana was just another Herrscher," Brother Cake remarked sincerely, scrolling past the bullet comments.

"From what we've seen now, if not for Ana's strategic moves, considering the situation during Herrscher of Winter's emergence, even Kevin might not have been able to stop her if she truly intended to destroy the world. Her accomplishments were far more significant than anyone could imagine."

With that, Brother Cake glanced at the corner of his screen, noticing he had received several new Remembrance Stones, allowing him to unlock additional memory fragments.

"Not bad. Although it felt a bit frustrating, striving for these choices seems to yield more Remembrance Stones."

In reality, even without obtaining them here, it wouldn't have mattered much. Ana's Remembrance Stones dropped consistently; players received them upon completing each exploration in the Elysian Realm. This is why some players managed to collect and activate them early on.

However, those early achievers were typically whales who hired others to grind quickly for them. Fortunately, they didn't use automation tools, or else the account owners would have been devastated—having their accounts banned just to view the story would be unbearable.

As Brother Cake casually submitted the materials, he realized something seemed off.

The unlocking of Ana's Remembrances is not sequential but random. It's possible that due to Brother Cake achieving perfect completion, he received additional Remembrance Stones, allowing him to unlock this particular memory now.

This time, the unlocked content was not from the previous storyline but rather an earlier memory preceding it.

The revealed information depicted a past event within Schicksal, where Ana faced three S-rank Valkyries and Otto alone. However, since it was presented as a remembrance, there was no animated sequence; instead, it used a slideshow format.

It seems Old Mi has recently developed a penchant for expressing narratives through slide presentations in recent updates. Consequently, while we know about the three S-rank Valkyries from Schicksal, the identity of the third one remains undisclosed in this segment. Nonetheless, based on the tone of the text, some conjectures can be made.

Of course, that's not the main focus. The truly significant aspect is Ana single-handedly confronting three S-rank Valkyries and fending off Otto's sneak attack, even before she became a Herrscher.

Surprisingly, the outcome reveals that Ana, against all odds, emerged victorious in a 1v4 battle?!