Helia, an A-rank Valkyrie of Schicksal, was also one of the top students in her year at St. Freya High School.
Not only had she independently completed numerous highly difficult missions, including resolving disputes between nations and apprehending MANTIS gangs, but she was also one of the few Valkyries in Schicksal who hadn't fallen into the dreamscape during the Stigma Project and participated in the mission to reclaim Earth.
Coupled with her excellent academic record and perfect scores in combat theory, she was undoubtedly one of the most dazzling stars among the Valkyries of her generation.
Some even compared her to the legend of St. Freya High School – Captain Hyperion – or believed she had the potential to follow in the footsteps of Lady Durandal.
But only she, who had witnessed a mere fraction of the Captain's true power, could understand that kind of despair—that unattainable, chasm-like hopelessness.
What made her despair even more was that her Honkai energy adaptability was barely D-rank. Compared to either Lady Durandal or the Captain, the difference was like heaven and earth.
Helia diligently trained again and again with the training mech.
The more she trained, the more she felt the gap between herself and the Captain.
At the same age, she could barely defeat a single training mech, while legends claimed Durandal could single-handedly fight specialized Anti-Entropy mech units, and the Captain could defeat a pseudo-Herrscher level Walter clone alone.
And the last time she met the Captain, even when he possessed less than a tenth of his strength, he easily defeated a powerful MANTIS.
Recalling this, Helia awkwardly continued fighting the mech using the Xuanyuan Sword gifted to her by the Captain.
She wasn't particularly skilled with greatswords. Although the Xuanyuan Sword did help improve her control over Honkai energy, barely compensating for her inherently weak adaptability, it was still a weapon she had just acquired. Less than a month wasn't nearly enough time for her to fully adapt to this heavy Divine Key.
"But the Captain gave this to me. It represents his expectations for me. I absolutely cannot let him down!"
And so, Helia threw herself back into the battle against the training mech.
Although she eventually won, she was exhausted and collapsed again, her large chest rising and falling heavily with her breath. The tank top she wore for training was soaked with sweat, revealing the red butterfly-patterned bra underneath.
But she didn't mind. After the Captain left, the Honkai War ended, and enrollment decreased, so there hadn't been any male students in the last two years at St. Freya High School.
Male staff members certainly wouldn't idly wander into the training grounds; for ordinary people, an accident here could easily mean death. A male janitor like the Captain, who could come and go freely in the training grounds, was the first such case since the school's founding.
Besides, cleaning duties had already been converted to AI services under the Captain's reforms, so it was even less likely for any staff member to be here at this time.
Taking advantage of the break, Helia wiped her sweat, took out her phone, and opened the chat interface with anticipation, only to be quickly disappointed. The Captain still hadn't replied to her messages.
He had clearly promised to teach her the Taixu Sword Qi, but after that one meeting, Helia had had no further contact with the Captain. Even the messages were still from over half a month ago.
"But I guess it makes sense. The Captain is probably still out there saving the world somewhere."
Just as Helia thought this, she heard a male voice.
"Alright, let's practice here for today."
Jun An had used his "Feedback" ability to feed Susannah a large amount of experience points. Of course, this came at a price – six million, five hundred and forty thousand US dollars. Jun An felt like his spear had nearly misfired from overuse just to barely satisfy the two of them.
Incidentally, Susannah's body was very soft. Due to her frequent dancing, her flexibility was excellent. Despite being only in her teens, she could easily accommodate all of Jun An, truly promising material.
And Misteln was actively leading Susannah astray, actually learning the "two-sided cheese sandwich" maneuver, dishonorably teaming up two-against-one. The two of them sandwiched Jun An in the middle, repeatedly causing Jun An's little brother to eject due to the unprecedented discomfort.
Although Jun An later solemnly stated that they didn't need to go that hard, that place was dirty – even though Jun An had showered properly beforehand, it wasn't a place typically used in normal combat, at least not for the male participant.
However, Misteln stated that she was an Ideal, lacking a proper understanding of human shame, and besides, this was called "an eye for an eye."
Susannah, on the other hand, stated that as a great hero, the Captain had no dirty parts, and serving the Captain was her honor.
Jun An could somewhat understand their reasoning. After all, when fighting Theresa, Himeko, and Vita, Jun An had fully exploited their various weaknesses, naturally including the back door.
But when it happened to him, Jun An really couldn't handle it.
Deep down, Jun An had a real aversion to that German stuff; even milder versions caused some discomfort and required adaptation.
He really couldn't do anything about them, so he could only make a mental note to use Honkai energy to sterilize himself more often in the future, ensuring food safety.
Back to the topic at hand.
After infusing Susannah with a large amount of experience points to raise her level, the next step was naturally to test the effects of this "Feedback" ability.
There were three main aspects to test: the magnitude of the improvement, whether it changed over time, and whether the enhancement diminished after too long.
The first could naturally be tested with machines, the second required multiple tests spaced out over time, and the third simply required waiting.
Currently, Susannah's strength had definitely increased. After all, while Jun An was feeding her experience, he had personally felt the power within her body noticeably grow when she used Honkai energy.
Of course, the level of enhancement wasn't on par with Theresa cracking walnuts with her bare hands, but it was definitely there.
And the reason Jun An used the Herrscher of the Void's power to travel from the Middle East to the training grounds was, naturally, to test how much Susannah's strength had improved.
"Alright! I feel full of power right now! Taking on ten mechs should be no problem at all!"
Susannah confidently stepped onto the training platform and began summoning mechs to fight.
"Um... Captain, are you here to train too?"
Helia hesitated for a moment before finally approaching to greet him. "It's been a long time."
"Yeah, it has been quite a while."
Jun An looked at Helia with some surprise. Her tank top clung tightly to her skin due to sweat, and through it, her ample pectoral muscles were visible.
"Looks like you've been training hard. Here, let me help you recover some stamina."
Jun An immediately used the power of the Herrscher of Rebirth to help her break down the lactic acid produced by excessive exercise, directly and effectively reducing muscle fatigue.
"I feel so much lighter."
Helia found it somewhat incredible but quickly turned her gaze to Susannah. "So, Captain, are you here just to accompany Senior Susannah? Or have you been spending all this time with Senior Susannah?"
He didn't even reply to her messages.
Jun An inexplicably felt a slight sense of pressure and answered sheepishly, "I've been dealing with some things recently. I went to fight Sa, the enemy who ambushed me before the Final Herrscher battle. I haven't been with Susannah the whole time."
"Ahem, speaking of which, how are you progressing with the Heart Tempering and Intent Tempering of the Taixu Sword Qi?"
Jun An deliberately changed the subject.
Helia sighed helplessly, "You really didn't read my messages, did you?"
"Well, I was fighting a star-destroying level entity. It's perfectly normal for my phone to break and not see your messages, right? I haven't even bought a new phone yet."
Jun An had, of course, seen them, but since he had told a lie, he had to commit to the act. "Anyway, is there anything you don't understand?"
"Yes."
Helia looked at the greatsword in her hand and said seriously, "I've memorized all sixty-four syllables of the Heart Tempering the Captain taught me, and I've entered the meditative state just as the Captain described... I can gradually feel my control over Honkai energy improving by a barely perceptible amount."
"And this Xuanyuan Sword has indeed improved my control over Honkai energy. But it's the Intent Tempering I just can't seem grasp, to make the Xuanyuan Sword the weapon most suited for me, like the Captain said."
The Xuanyuan Sword had the lowest usage threshold among the Divine Keys. Although it lacked the rated power output of other Divine Keys, it also didn't require a massive amount of Honkai energy as a prerequisite for use.
Furthermore, it could temporarily enhance the user's Honkai energy adaptability, help them control Honkai energy, and, after achieving resonance, assist the user in activating the power within their body. The Previous Era often used this characteristic to help MANTISes awaken.
Yet, even with such a low threshold, Helia still couldn't wield this Divine Key freely.
When Helia thought about how Jun An could casually transform the Xuanyuan Sword into an ordinary longsword or a bracelet, she immediately felt self-conscious about her own "ordinary" talent.
"Can someone like me... really live up to the Captain's expectations..."
Helia lowered her head and said self-deprecatingly, "This Divine Key... perhaps it should be in the hands of someone more suitable for it."
"Only those with the courage to let go are truly qualified to possess."
Jun An sat down beside her and comforted her, "Besides, practicing Intent Tempering isn't something that can be accomplished overnight. As long as you keep fighting with the Xuanyuan Sword, you'll achieve it one day. For now, focus on practicing Sword Heart and slowly stacking your stats."
But Helia wasn't satisfied with this. She asked, "Can I catch up to the Captain and Lady Durandal just by training like this?"
"Training? That might be a bit difficult. Both Durandal and I basically started practicing Honkai energy control around the age of ten. We both had good teachers afterward, plus Durandal has never slacked off... If she's your goal, it might be tough."
Jun An had read the story, so he knew she aimed to be like Durandal. "Honestly, I can understand you quite well... Genius is terrifying enough, but a hardworking genius is even more terrifying."
Someone like Durandal belonged in the second tier, sitting at the same table as the Herrscher of Sentience.
Helia's mood visibly dropped. "So, people without talent are destined never to catch up to geniuses..."
"Not necessarily."
Jun An said, "While reaching Durandal's level might be difficult, there are quite a few ways to make rapid progress."
"There are ways?" Helia's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
"Yes, simply put, it's using cheats."
"Things like Divine Keys, MANTIS surgery, Herrscher Cores, various weapons, and so on. These are all paths to becoming stronger. Kiana and the others are the simplest examples; they achieved a qualitative leap in strength by mastering Herrscher Cores. And I became a MANTIS."
"Even setting aside myself and them, even Durandal has relied on external forces to enhance herself more than once. So don't just rigidly train; think more about how to reasonably utilize your surroundings."
Helia immediately understood.
She looked at Jun An with a serious expression, "I reject my humanity! Captain, I want to become a MANTIS!"
"No, you completely misunderstood."
Jun An had merely given an extreme example, not expecting her to crudely imitate it. No wonder she only focused on physical training to boost her stats.
"Forget it. Since you have this idea, let me ask you one thing: What price are you willing to pay to become stronger?"