Honkai: Star Rail — A Nameless Traveler, a New Path Every Day - Chapter 8

At midnight, his fate changed precisely on time.

[Intellect]

The composed You Yan stood up, opened his eyes, and met the gazes of the two geniuses before him.

“Oh? It really turned back into a human, and it’s even walking the path of intellect. Interesting.”

“I was killed yesterday morning,” You Yan said succinctly. “Otherwise, what you saw yesterday wouldn’t have been me transformed into a larval insect queen.”

In the instant he broke free of his intellectual understanding, he inadvertently recalled knowledge beyond the boundaries.

“Memory preservation?”

“Completely retained”.

“Let’s get straight to the point: you were killed by Polka Kakamu, the Silent Lord of the Genius Club #4, Mr. Nameless Genius who hadn’t even been noticed by the mind.”

The Black Tower Doll showed some interest in the young man before it.

What are you researching?

“I forced myself to forget that knowledge and the subject matter before I died,” You Yan shrugged. “But unfortunately, Polka Kaka still killed me.”

Black Tower cut straight to the point: “You’re really optimistic. Well then, I’d like to know, what were you feeling before you died?”

“Before he died?”

Youyan was lost in memories.

“Before I died, I realized that Polka was attacking me, but I didn’t have the strength to do anything else. I only had time to forget what I was researching before I died. In my intellectual state, I had a brilliant mind, but no matching physical abilities. Now I’m just a slightly smarter ordinary human being. Any security guard in protective gear could easily pin me to the ground with his face to my side.”

“You should know that forgetting is just a psychological suggestion. Once you know it, you know it. If you recall it, Polka will hunt you down again.”

“I don’t care, as long as she doesn’t harm innocent people.”

Ruan Mei had been observing quietly until this moment when she spoke up: “Your fate changed instantaneously, but your memories are continuous. That’s very interesting.”

What’s so interesting about it?

“Generally speaking, different destinies mean different cognitive frameworks and different ways of thinking.” Ruan Mei slowly approached. “If memories are fully preserved, the cognitive patterns of different destinies will conflict. But you seem to have adapted very well. Even if yesterday it was about reproduction and today it is about knowledge, you can still have a smooth conversation with us. This means that your self is more fundamental than your destiny.”

“After I gained this ability, I spent a week adapting. At first, I was indeed a bit confused. I switched between Pure Knight, Immortal Dragonborn, Fictional Historian, Self-Destroyer, City Builder, and Fertile People one by one. Then on the seventh day, I reached the realm of intellect and roughly figured out the mechanism of my destiny switching.”

“Oh? How did you figure it out?”

“Died seven times, jumping into the lava.”

“You jumped into the lava just to test your fate mechanism?”

“To be precise, the first six times I jumped into the lava, and the seventh time I fell in while walking.”

“You’re quite interesting, kid.”

Black Tower’s eyes held a hint of appreciation.

“You flatter me, I’m a very kind person. During the sixth test, I was thinking that if each death would randomly switch to the next destiny, then theoretically, as long as I died quickly enough, I could experience all the destinies in a short time. But I found that there is a time interval between resurrections.”

“Then?”

“Then it was Kaituo’s turn. He saw the Star Train and rushed over to join them.”

I knew it would be like this.

“However, these hot-blooded fools are actually quite popular with the pioneers.” The Black Tower puppet raised an eyebrow.

Ruan Mei remained noncommittal on this matter; she was more concerned about the internal changes in You Yan’s body.

“Although the motivation sounds primal, it confirms the underlying driving force of destiny on your behavior patterns.” Ruan Mei put away her terminal and said calmly, “When you walk the path of exploration, you instinctively yearn for unknown journeys and star trains. When you walk the path of reproduction, you instinctively want to expand and replicate, and now…”

Her gaze fell on You Yan.

“Now that you’re walking the path of intellectual destiny, what are your thoughts?”

“I want to replenish some sugar,” You Yan replied. “I’m very weak right now, just an academic. I don’t have the strength of you. You are proper envoys, not me. I get out of breath after just a few steps.”

His intellectual destiny was clear-headed, yet exceptionally perceptive. His conversation with the two geniuses, though seemingly relaxed, actually involved him constantly processing the flood of information entering his mind: the composition of Ruan Mei’s fragrance, the frequency of the lights outside the window, the various data points of the Black Tower doll…

“How about we make a deal?”

“A trade?” You Yan asked while munching on a nutrition bar. “My current worth isn’t that high, is it? Apart from this brain of mine, which could attract the Silent Lord’s assassination attempt at any moment.”

“Quite the opposite.” Black Tower extended a finger and shook it. “Your current value is immeasurable. You are the only specimen who can experience the Silent Lord’s assassination from a genius’s perspective and be resurrected with his memories intact.”

“To correct myself, I am not a genius. I am just an ordinary person with a quick mind, at best a fool. Everything in scientific exploration is about discovery, not invention. The more knowledge I gain, the more I understand my own ignorance.”

“Therefore, the more knowledge you have, the less knowledge you actually have. Every time I understand one problem, more problems arise.”

“So what is your attitude towards the unknown? Fear? Longing? Or indifference?”

You Yan spent a short while thinking: “…Curiosity, curiosity is the driving force that motivates me to continue learning.”

“Alright, I respect your opinion, smart kid.” Black Tower chuckled.

You Yan stuffed the last bit of the nutrition bar into his mouth and patted the crumbs off his hands.

“So, what are the details of the transaction?”

“It’s very simple.” The Black Tower puppet crossed its arms. “I need you to assist me in researching some special topics under the Path of Intellect. In exchange, I will provide you with a certain level of resource support and protection.”

“Protect?” You Yan raised an eyebrow. “You think you can stop Polka Kakamu?”

“No,” Black Tower answered quite decisively, “because it’s not certain that it can, so it simply cannot.”

So……

Is it about a simulated universe?

“What are you researching?”

“I won’t reveal it for now. Your current situation is too special, and I need to observe you for a while. Then, once I confirm that the topic is suitable, you will be the first person I consider.”

“In other words, I’m a backup option.”

“No, you’re a very promising backup plan,” Black Tower corrected him. “Besides, you can be resurrected, so your margin for error is very high. Do you know how many geniuses have been silenced forever because of a single experimental accident?”