Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Noldrei was unaware that his heir-apparent, lacking the necessary management skills, had to personally conduct spot checks on various products in the Academy City, creating a number of ridiculous and absurd urban legends.

He was currently still sightseeing in Sapphire City with Rita. It seemed Fu Hua's negotiations had hit a snag somewhere, and progress had slowed to a crawl.

Ignoring Noldrei's particular reasons for targeting the Honkai, Rita found the Director to be quite easy to get along with. When he took care of Sirin, he truly was like a father.

And she was just a stepmother with a smiling, sullen face.

'Strange, why would I think of myself in such a role?'

Rita sighed inwardly. It might have something to do with Sirin's dislike for her.

Although Sirin had complained about Noldrei to Rita many times, she was always willing to listen to him, whether his words made sense or not.

Because Sirin knew very well that there were many truths she didn't "understand"—she was unwilling to listen and even more unwilling to comprehend.

Sirin knew better than anyone that once she understood those truths, her heart would soften, and she would empathize with the suffering of others. Then, she would hesitate to act against humanity, and once a Herrscher hesitated in front of a Valkyrie, she could easily lose her own life.

Of course, in Sirin's eyes, Noldrei didn't count as human.

"Hey! Rita, look here!"

Sirin shouted at Rita. As Rita turned her head, she saw a stream of water from a squirt gun heading straight for her face.

Unfortunately, Rita couldn't dodge it and was hit squarely by Sirin's sneak attack.

"Huh? Aren't you a Valkyrie? How could you not even dodge this?" Sirin taunted after spraying Rita in the face.

Rita wanted to grab this little brat and give her a good thrashing, but she knew that without her Stigma Battlesuit or Valkyrie armor, she was no match for this Herrscher.

"It's fine. The livelihoods of so many people on the Eurasian continent depend on you. You can spray me however you like. Rita is just a Valkyrie who can barely fight. Occasionally doing some dirty work doesn't make me a good person."

Rita turned the other cheek, completely robbing Sirin of any joy from her victory.

"Hmph, you pretentious, smelly woman!" Sirin sneered, unable to stand Rita's two-faced behavior.

Rita looked at Sirin with a doting smile, not feeling particularly unlucky. At worst, she could just get some emotional value back from the Director later. What she lost here, she could make up for there. It wasn't a big deal.

"Alright, stop bullying Rita for no reason. She's not working as a Valkyrie right now, so why are you looking for trouble with her? Besides, she was just a child during the Second Eruption. It doesn't have much to do with your or Kiana's birth."

Noldrei came to Rita's defense. Schicksal's actions at the time really had nothing to do with Rita. Even Durandal wasn't tainted with any sin.

Noldrei wouldn't let Sirin take her anger out on someone who had little to do with it.

But those who had a grudge from the start were a different story. Like the feud between Raven, the Russian, and Sirin. Under normal circumstances, it couldn't be resolved. Noldrei supported the two of them fighting it out to determine a winner.

"Director!"

Rita was quite moved. She really hadn't expected Noldrei to say a few good words for her.

"Ew~" Sirin shivered at the sappy name, feeling even more uncomfortable.

Rita wiped her face with a handkerchief. "Director, you have to compensate me!" she complained.

Noldrei looked at Rita in surprise. "Rita, you're acting strange. Don't tell me you've been possessed by the Will of the Honkai?"

He thought for a moment and figured Rita had been cooped up with him for a few days and was probably tired of looking after the kid. "Give me your hand," he said.

Rita hesitated for a moment, then decided Noldrei probably wasn't just trying to tease her. She gave him her hand.

Noldrei took Rita's hand. "The biotechnology in the Academy City is currently stagnant at the animal level. A step further might be the interchange between animals and fungi. Humanity's control over genes will likely be stuck at this stage for a long time, but I can tell you what the next stage is."

Rita felt a slight itch on her fingertips. She instinctively wanted to move her hand, but the next scene made her eyes widen in disbelief.

"The Honkai factor has many benefits. I remember Schicksal's archives have records of it. Some people have used Honkai energy to control plants, but that was just control through Honkai energy. It's completely different from the result now."

"The evolution of life lies in breaking the boundaries between species, allowing them to possess the characteristics of other animals. It destroys the framework of biological classification. This is the power the Honkai brings us."

A beautiful, vibrant rose-like flower grew from the tip of Rita's finger.

Rita stared blankly at the flower growing from her fingertip, subconsciously touching the point where the plant and her skin met with her other hand.

'How did he do that?!'

Noldrei had broken the boundary between human flesh and plants in this way, just like a scene from Naruto, where the human body transformed into another substance beyond a certain limit.

But Rita knew this feeling was different. Her body was continuously supplying enough nutrients to the rose. Rita felt that if she wanted to, she could even control the amount of nutrients the flower absorbed.

Tender shoots slowly grew out, and the blood-red petals attracted Rita's gaze.

"Director, this flower is beautiful!" Rita couldn't help but admire the flower Noldrei had created. To use the body's nutrients to make a plant sprout and grow on a human was something that hadn't even been achieved in the Academy City yet.

'Shouldn't you be worried about your hand?' Sirin thought the woman had lost her mind. Was she really admiring the flower on her hand at a time like this?

"You like running a flower shop, don't you? I thought you'd like the feeling of creating new plants like this." Noldrei was very satisfied with his masterpiece. He thought it was a good gift for Rita.

'Did he misunderstand something?'

Rita had just thought Noldrei was being romantic, but in the next moment, he said something that made her vision go black.

"Actually, if you like fungi, Rita, I think I could let you try the feeling of breaking that boundary too," Noldrei said, sounding a little regretful. After all, before the boundary between plants and animals was broken, the first boundary humanity broke was with fungi.

"Just bear with it for a moment. It might hurt a little."

Like a magician, Noldrei gently snapped the flower off. Rita even felt a sharp, needle-like pain, but her finger quickly returned to normal.

"This is for you. Go back and see if you can grow a flower called 'Rita.' If you put its roots in water, it will last for a very long time."

Rita stared in astonishment at the rose-like flower with roots, especially since this flower had grown from her own body.

'Did he just give me a flower that grew out of my own body as a gift? Is this how you people from the future use your powers?'