Chapter 311: Otto: I, Too, Have a Loyal Heart!
Tesla watched in silence as the group disappeared into the City of the Deep.
She hesitated for a moment before speaking. "They... should be able to cooperate effectively, right?"
"Hahahaha..." Overseer Otto let out a hearty, friendly laugh at her words. "You have quite the sense of humor, Dr. Tesla."
He looked at the others with a broad smile. "Shouldn't you be worried about whether we can cooperate effectively?"
Otto's single sentence left Tesla speechless.
Her face flushed with anger, and for a moment, she couldn't think of a single rebuttal.
"Hmph, I have nothing to say to a scoundrel like you who conducts human experiments. You know very well how much evil you've done!"
But Otto was completely unfazed by Tesla's malice, hostility, or even killing intent.
He continued to defend himself with a smile. "You know as well as I do that I was merely limited by material constraints. If I had the ability of our friend from the future to pull people back from the brink of death at will, then my human experiments would be but a minor issue. Like an allergy test for an antibiotic, wouldn't you say? Who in Academy City cares about human experiments now? They only wish there were more."
Otto paused here, looking at his friends from Anti-Entropy with great interest. "Compared to that, I'm more interested in the choices you friends will make. Tell me, will you join me in launching and guiding the new Herrscher?"
"If we don't create a Herrscher, we'll be going against the wishes of our friend from the future. But if we do create one, you'll surely worry about whether you can control it. All of Academy City's successes so far have been built on our friend from the future's powerful control over the Herrschers."
"Whether through force or human heart, he has found a way out for the newly born lives. In this respect, I am indeed somewhat inferior to our friend from the future. But, Dr. Tesla? Sovereign Yang? Will you support me in guiding the advent of the new Herrscher?"
Otto continued, "According to the information we have, intense emotional fluctuations can attract the attention of the Honkai. An empty heart without support can be exploited by the Will of the Honkai. In this state, combined with a high-concentration Honkai Energy environment, a highly adaptable individual can be pushed towards an extreme transformation into a Herrscher. This is a process we all generally agree on."
"We don't have our friend from the future's ability to directly manipulate genetic information. Even Dr. Tesla can only change her own human form; she currently cannot perform secondary manipulation of Honkai factors."
"In other words, if we want to create a new Herrscher, we must throw Academy City into turmoil. Only in a turbulent era will the new Herrscher he desires be born, one that embodies the pain and oppression of the entire society."
"Our friend from the future was not wrong when he said I was loyal, because only I will faithfully complete this task of bringing about the advent of a new Herrscher. You people from Anti-Entropy would never obey his commands. He had already prepared for you all to 'betray' him before he left."
Otto's words left Tesla with complicated feelings. She indeed had no intention of bringing about a new Herrscher. In fact, she thought the current situation was very good. If possible, it would be best to have Noldrei guard this world forever.
Given enough time, Tesla was confident she could lead humanity off of Earth and truly into the interstellar age. There was no need to biologically modify humanity or go through a new round of new human upgrades.
But Noldrei believed that wasn't enough. The frail bodies of primitive humans were simply unable to adapt to the more complex and ever-changing cosmic environment. Compared to directly entering the interstellar age, Noldrei placed more importance on accumulating a sufficient number of new humans in this era of intense competition.
Only when this batch of new humans emerged could they truly become the driving force for humanity's outward expansion.
Herrschers were a key source for catalyzing this progress, and Noldrei would not give up the possibility of humanity continuing to study the Honkai.
[The hatred of the harm caused by the Honkai will make people stubborn and conservative when facing it.]
This was Noldrei's assessment of the people in Schicksal and Anti-Entropy who primarily hated Herrschers. This was all recorded in Academy City's history books.
Love, hate, past traumas—in Noldrei's eyes, they were all useless things. Only the key power that could break through human limitations was his current pursuit.
Fear of loss leads to hesitation and blindness to the path ahead. Hatred blinds one to their own interests. In these key value judgments, Otto was very fond of the future world pointed out by our friend from the future.
The high-ranking members of Anti-Entropy were undoubtedly all haters who had experienced loss. While fearing loss, it was difficult for them to reignite their enthusiasm for in-depth research on Herrschers.
Joyce's past was a nightmare that Anti-Entropy couldn't escape, even though this nightmare was left to them by Otto. But heading in other directions also had its benefits. They had rebelliously embarked on a new path of treating Herrschers as humans.
Sovereign Yang had no intention of taking the fall for Tesla. He also believed that a new Herrscher should not be allowed to descend.
But Sovereign Yang also didn't think it was right to let Noldrei suppress the world and keep the Honkai as a pet.
He also believed that direction was wrong.
Welt simply believed that the suffering of society should not be forcibly heaped upon humanity.
A Herrscher born from such suffering would be a Herrscher who truly wanted to destroy human society, and it was not impossible that they would use a method to destroy the Earth to carry out their revenge on humanity.
If that path wasn't taken, then another kind of existence would be born.
Ana Schariac was a prime example.
A Herrscher born from such suffering would either believe it was the world's fault or, conversely, believe it was their own.
Without sufficient experience and knowledge, without the support of important friends and family, this is what happens. In Welt's view, Ana's entire Herrscher transformation process was a twisted mistake.
The internal strife of Academy City, the hidden enemies, and the conflicts between humans inside and outside Academy City...
All these problems happened to converge on Ana at that time and place, culminating in the Honkai event that led Ana to believe it was her own naivety and credulity that had harmed her friends.
But was that really the case?
Sovereign Yang did not intervene in the conflict between the two sides at this time. He was also thinking about another possibility for a Herrscher's advent.
He was very grateful that Noldrei had taken Durandal with him.
Noldrei had removed the sharpest sword from Otto's side, a political balancing act he performed with the casual ease of a joke.