With a heavy slash from his Skana, the last Honkai beast shattered into pieces.
After clearing out the final wave, Chen Tiannuo felt his Warframe grow stronger once more, and he grinned so widely his face nearly twisted.
He pulled out his phone and called Himeko. "Major Himeko, send a helicopter to pick me up."
"Where are you now? I'll send someone right away."
"Uh... want me to just send you my location?" Chen Tiannuo realized he wasn't exactly sure where he'd ended up.
"Alright. Just stay put." Himeko hung up right after speaking.
So fast? With nothing better to do and no decent games on his phone, Chen Tiannuo began moving erratically atop the Honkai beast corpses, doing some impromptu parkour practice.
Dash + spin leap + double jump + aerial aim + roll. Estimating the distance—roughly 50 meters from his starting point—he thought, Not bad. Especially considering I'm not even using any Amp Crystals yet.
In the distance, the sound of helicopter blades approached. As the chopper hovered overhead, Chen Tiannuo performed a spinning leap followed by a double jump, grabbed the rope ladder, and swung himself into the cabin.
Seeing Himeko in the pilot seat, Chen Tiannuo blinked and asked, "Instructor Himeko? Why are you here? Where's the usual pilot?"
"I wanted to come get you. You've been out hunting Honkai beasts non-stop, and we barely see you around anymore. Is something going on?" Himeko sounded concerned. Ever since the mission to Changkong City with Theresa, he'd been out fighting nearly every day—it was hard not to assume something had happened.
"My Warframe leveled up," Chen Tiannuo replied calmly, hiding his overwhelming excitement.
"Leveled up?"
"Yeah. Higher energy capacity, stronger shields, better vitality."
"Uh... that's it?" Himeko didn't think it was that big a deal. Their own suits could be upgraded using materials, after all.
"How much of an increase?"
"Energy up by 50%, shields doubled, vitality also doubled."
"What?! That much?!" Himeko was stunned. "It hasn't even been that long!"
"Ahem, it's not even that impressive. If I had some Archon Shards, Excalibur could've become even stronger."
"Ugh… and what exactly is an Archon Shards?"
"It's what it sounds like—used for amplification. Boosts shields, vitality, and skill performance. Kind of like your Stigmata system."
"High mobility, high defense, high offense… Are you trying to become a hexagonal warrior?"
"Exactly. That's always been the goal. But compared to other Warframes, Excalibur's still a bit lacking in durability." Chen Tiannuo still wasn't satisfied—his weapons hadn't hit max level yet either.
"..."
"I'm gonna rest for a bit. Wake me when we arrive." Chen Tiannuo had fought long enough. Even if his body didn't feel fatigue, his mind did.
"Yeah yeah, I got it." Himeko responded, helpless.
...
The helicopter landed on Saint Freya Academy's helipad. Himeko and Chen Tiannuo stepped off together.
"Chen Tiannuo, come to my office later."
"Got it. I'm heading to the Arsenal first."
...
Inside the Arsenal, Chen Tiannuo stored his weapons and checked their upgrade progress on the console.
'Skana's maxed. Latron's only at level 25. Kunai... tch, only level 20? Ugh, whatever. They're getting reforged anyway—no point stressing over it.'
"System, system, come out—I've got a question." Chen Tiannuo called in his mind.
"What is it now? Say it already." The system sounded vaguely annoyed.
"Ahem, how do I get my Prime Warframe?"
Chen Tiannuo remembered Prime Warframes were supposed to be directly buildable. The blueprints should've been in the system. But he hadn't seen any in the storage.
"Do you even have Forma? Do you have an Orokin Cell? Without either of those, you think you can build a Prime? Dream on!"
"Uh, I guess not. What about the blueprint for the Cell?" Chen Tiannuo searched the system's archive, but couldn't find it anywhere.
"Sigh, fine. I'll copy another one. Here, take it. I'm going back to sleep." The system shut down again.
Chen Tiannuo received the blueprint and placed it in the foundry. The material requirements popped up: 25,000 metal, 50,000 alloy, 50,000 nanomaterials.
"Holy crap, that's a lot of materials!" Chen Tiannuo was shocked. He'd always stolen materials from enemy strongholds or labs. Seeing the raw requirements for crafting something himself made him realize skipping the cell build earlier was a solid choice.
After sorting out the Arsenal, he equipped the Mote Amp on his arm and headed toward Himeko's office.
...
Knock knock knock. Chen Tiannuo stood at Himeko's door and knocked.
"Come in," Himeko looked toward the entrance.
"Instructor Himeko, what did you need?"
"Nothing too serious. I just want you to prep over the next few days. You'll be joining the trainees for a live-combat exercise. Your job is to keep them safe. Can you do that?"
"I don't mind. But what about you? You're not coming?"
"I..." Himeko glanced at her arm. The Honkai corruption had been getting worse. "I need to coordinate with the med team. I'll be staying on campus for treatment. If the infection progresses, it might become irreversible." Her eyes dimmed.
"Honkai corruption? Why? You didn't directly fight the Herrscher of Thunder, right? How's the corruption still this bad?"
"It's because of the artificial Stigmata. Power comes with a price, after all," Himeko forced a smile.
"Corruption, huh... Hold on. I'll go check the system for blueprints. There's gotta be a med-pod in the interstellar stuff. I mean, come on—we're talking space-age tech here." Chen Tiannuo remembered: artificial Stigmata had side effects, but natural ones didn't. Maybe he could track down a set of natural Stigmata?
"Relax, it's not a big deal. I'll be fine for a while. It just needs suppression right now, so I wanted to ask you for help," Himeko replied with a gentle smile.
Chen Tiannuo stared at her silently.
"Really?"
"Of course!"
"Alright then. But I'm still looking for that med-pod. Can't guarantee how effective it'll be, though."
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
"It's nothing, really." Chen Tiannuo shook his head. Honestly, it wasn't a big deal to him. Besides, he'd be heading to the Black Bullet anime world soon—those pods could come in handy there too.
"Alright, I'm gonna start prepping weapons and gear for the mission. I'm out."
"Remember—it's in three days!"
"Got it."