A.N. Here is todays chapter after all
Okay, it was time for some yapping.
I had decided that I would pretend to be from the Honkai: Star Rail universe earlier. In front of somebody from HSR I probably couldn't convince them that I was a local, but pretending to be from the HSR universe in front of these people, was perfectly doable.
I didn't want Otto to push me about my future knowledge, so my future knowledge would come from an "extrapolation" of a possible future, viva vi something like Project VALUKA.
While personally I found Otto's timeline splitting rather dumb, it was for entirely different reasons than the viability of the method he created.
The "original" timeline to split in half, one of which where Kallen dies and Otto lives, and the other where Kallen lives but Otto is erased from existence both always existed from the moment of Kallen's death. Since the timeline that Otto traveled to was the same as the original, that means both possibilities always happened if it was to happen at all.
This made it so that technically both Kallens, the one from the original and from the altered timeline were the "Original" since they were both from the same "source" branch, just growing in multiple directions.
While this is nice, I would prefer if someone went through all the effort of achieving this to save the original me instead of being SOMA'd, there are a couple of problems.
One, Kallen almost certainly still dies in this timeline. The death of Kallen was never really for a "valid" reason, it was for the fact that she went against the church; in this altered timeline, without Otto's protection, there was nobody to stick up for her. After the death of the Honkai beast, the execution presumably still continued, leading to Kallen's death as an enemy of Schicksal.
Sure, the people would riot, and there might even be a revolution, but Schicksal would not spare Kallen just because she managed to survive her execution.
Even though Otto had told Kallen to live, she is described as being completely despondent and didn't know what was right and what was wrong, in the end, by the time of her death, she was almost certainly being hunted down by the Kaslana Stigmata.
The second factor is that this branch would surely eventually fall into the Sea of Quanta.
The universe of HSR takes place across multiple branches, and never is there a mention of duplicates of branches that are slightly different from each other.
Even the 2nd Divine key's "Observations of other worlds" via project VALUKA was observing bubble worlds in the sea of quanta.
Again, the "Multiverse" of the Imaginary tree isn't a traditional multiverse, with a set of parallel universes that are slightly different.
If there was something Hoyo liked doing, it was repeating themes across stories and scales. If you imagine the Imaginary tree as an endless extrapolation trying to solve some kind of problem, somewhat like the scepter of Amphorius, this makes sense. When searching for an "Awnser", you want to try many different unique ideas, so each branch is completely different from each other using the same base components, like expy characters.
So branches that are similar to each other fall into the "Garbage Disposal" of the Sea of Quanta, unless Otto did something to prevent the Sea of Quanta from attacking this new branch, it or the original branch would inevitably be discarded.
However if Otto started trying to fix these problems, it would almost certainly lead to even more damage.
I had created a set of rules for dealing with Otto.
1) Never ever get in the way of Otto reviving Kallen.
2) Never hint that you have some way of reviving the dead, or have some sort of lead or unique ability that can help towards this goal.
3) Always make your intentions clear, and explain your motivations in detail.
I hadn't actually tested these out yet but I was hopeful it would be successful.
I was sure that the Abundance could not be used to revive the dead, and even if It did, it would be like the abilities of the Herrscher of Death, who could create a new body but not recover the soul.
I would inevitably end up helping Otto do research on path energy, or be forced to help him do research on path energy. So I would rather be cooperative and hoped that Otto would help with my own goal.
Okay Fu Hua was starting to look a bit frustrated with my lack of explanation, but I really didn't know what to say.
"There exists many civilisations beyond this world, a vast cosmic civilisation made of many branches of the Imaginary Tree, however due to circumstances outside of my control, I have ended up in this branch, which is not connected to the other branches by the Star Rail network." I started to explain.
Fu Hua looked a bit confused, hopefully she should remember about the Imaginary Tree theory proposed by Dr. Mei from the Previous Era, and refined by Otto.
That was something interesting to consider, that both Dr Mei and the original Zandar One Kuwabara both used a tree as a metaphor for describing the structure of this universe, maybe it was due to Node Theory or maybe it was just a Synesthesia Beacon thing, translating them both into the same metaphor.
"So, you're from a cosmic civilisation, are you capable of defeating the Honkai?" Fu Hua asked.
Well, someone like Herta could probably defeat the Honkai, but I certainly was unable to do so all by myself, remember that this entire branch is infected by the Honkai.
"No," I said simply.
"So, what exactly do you want?" Fu Hua asked
"I simply want to leave this branch, and go home." I said, this was technically true since my old home was not accessible to me anymore, and I had decided that the HSR universe was my new home, and I would like to go there.
"How do you know about the Divine Key, the Fenghuang Down?" Fu Hua asked.
Well, I had really wanted to save this for Otto, I really should have not said the name of the Fenghuang Down, since she had no way to tell if I could naturally detect intrusions into my mind.
"Do you remember the SAVE project VALUKA?" I asked, this really was a question since Fu Hua's mind was extremely fragmented.
Fu Hua frowned a little bit, before replying, "Can you explain it to me?"
A noncommittal answer, however that was fine, "Project VALUKA used the 2nd Divine Key to observe bubble worlds in the Sea of Quanta in order to find a method of defeating the Honkai, it could observe parallel worlds."
Which was an extreme oversimplification and not exactly correct, but it worked as an example, "I had access to something similar to that, it attempted to extrapolate the future, however it has since been lost to me."
"So how exactly do you expect to return home?" Fu Hua asked.
"That is where I require the help of one Otto Apocalypse, and I believe you can contact him for me. This is actually quite convenient, I thought I was going to have to search for you in order to get into contact with Otto."
Fu Hua started to speak, however, something in her pocket buzzed, frowning, she reached for it and pulled out a Schicksal Communicator, after holding it in her hand for a second, a 2D holographic projection of a smiling Otto Apocalypse appeared before me.
"Your story is quite interesting, Miss Edelhart, however I have a few additional questions I would like to ask." Otto spoke.
Fu Hua frowned a bit.
Putting my hand, which had dropped back to my side, back behind my arm in the Sunday pose I responded, "Go right ahead. If it is within my ability, I shall answer."
"You are part of a cosmic civilization, correct?" Otto spoke, for some reason, this caused Fu Hua to frown even harder.
"Correct, made up of all the branches connected through the power of the Trailblaze through the Star Rail."
Otto smiled a bit brighter, and said, "Earlier you said that this branch was not connected to the Star Rail, this may be an uninformed question, but if I may ask, how did you then arrive here?"
Fu Hua was looking at me and the projection of Otto a bit strangely, which was causing me to become slightly concerned, however I responded, "There are ways to travel between branches without using the Star Rail, only the power of an Aeon, or someone entrusted with that power is required. However I do not hold this ability personally, I was forcefully sent to this branch by someone else and am now stuck."
"Aeon? What exactly are they?" Otto asked.
"They are the ultimate authority holders in the Imaginary Tree, they each are the conceptual embodiment of a path, formed as a segment of the Imaginary energy from the Imaginary Tree." As I narrated, I raised my left hand and formed a ball of golden Abundance Path energy, "They can effectively be considered Gods, however they are constrained by the philosophy of their own path."
I closed my hand, absorbing the Path energy back into my body causing it to look like it had disappeared.
"Very interesting, although I still have many questions, there is one important one I would like to ask. In your cosmic civilization, are there methods to bring back the dead?"
I smiled a bit at the question, "Unfortunately not, the universe is bound by the Equilibrium, each action has a corresponding cost, and I fear that few are capable of paying for it. However, you happen to be a unique case. I have good news for you Otto Apocalypse, I am well aware of your goal, and how you can achieve it."
Otto suddenly became extremely serious, "Oh? And what exactly would you ask for in exchange, according to the law of Equilibrium."
"I merely require your help in my return home, after all, the process of achieving our goals are almost the same, this branch is unique, and there exists the possibility of creating Miracles."
Otto was smiling again, "I now believe that you are who you claim to be, however it remains to be decided if you can deliver what you promise."
"?"
How exactly had he verified that? While I had dropped some Star Rail terms, and I had shown off my path energy, he had no source of information to verify what I had said.
Upon noticing my confusion, Otto smiled wider and Fu Hua spoke up, "Otto changed languages several times during that conversation, each time you didn't seem to notice and switched perfectly fluently to the language he asked you the questions in."
System?
[System: You were initially speaking to Fu Hua in Japanese, however Otto asked you his first question in English. He then switched languages several times while speaking before returning to English to ask you about reviving the dead.]
A little heads up would have been nice!
[System: Well, it all worked out in the end, didn't it?]
I spoke up, "That is due to the Synesthesia Beacon, we are not actually speaking the same language at all, as for proving my words about revival are genuine, that is a bit harder. I am unaware about how much you know about the structure of the Imaginary Tree, however I can tell you that the answer to your problem exists in the space "Outside" the structure of the Imaginary Tree, and I can tell you how to reach it."