Chapter 165: Diving Deep Into The Past

Ottilie has lost a lot of Soulium avatars to World Serpent and Anti-Entropy, especially when Adelheid got the hold on the gem of conquest. As the ones destroyed by the wind were still salvageable. But with Adelheid's new powers, just like how Raven destroyed her avatar, they were atomized and Schicksal was losing a lot of precious materials.

"I need more Soulium... I guess it is time to call in an old friend." Tilie looked at the device in front of her. She created something that could dive in deep to the memories of the one on it. She then contacted Hua and told her that the time was now.

Hua didn't really think anything of Ottilie's invention and was confident that she could just kill her if she tried anything funny. "So? That's the invention you created?" She wasn't impressed as Vill-v could make one of those in just a few minutes with her eyes closed. And without thinking of anything in particular.

"Yes, it will let us know the locations of the Soulium that are probably in your memories. They were mostly found in Shenzou after all. And as a survivor of the previous era, my old friend. You most likely know them." Tilie knew that Hua has persisted as the guardian of Shenzou for thousands of years. And she connected her duty and heritage to the locations of the Soulium.

"I see, then let us start then." She sat down on the chair of the device and equipped the head gear. "This will feel quite weird, prepare yourself." Tilie started up the device and Hua lost consciousness. Delving deep into her memory space that is vast, making the blonde think of how many thousands of years she must have endured.

"Ugh, w-where am I?" Hua was at a beautiful mountain and the afternoon sun shone on her skin. She then saw a Chinese themed house in which it evoked familiarity for her.

"Old friend, we are at a relatively shallow memory. Do you remember anything about that house over there?" Tilie asked and it maybe had more information about her goal, no matter how unlikely.

"Yes, I can recognize it... But I cannot remember it, like the memory I had of it is forgotten." Hua frowned and she started walking to the place.

"This is the Clouded Monastery, the place where you used to live. It is now year 1475, which is currently the earliest memory we can return to." Tilie uttered the records and Hua nodded.

"Looking at other people's memories is not something to be proud of, Bishop Ottilie." Hua thought she was a creep and Tilie laughed at her.

"Don't be so cold hearted~ I'm here to help you.

Returning to the past is dangerous. If there is no one on the outside to guide you, you might end up trapped in your own consciousness." Tilie explained and she was correct. As the deeper they get, the more Hua will get immersed without a 3rd person that does not have any connection to the memories they will view. She would be unable to tell the difference between memories and reality. Creating her own world and will be controlled by the forgotten memories.

"So, why did you bring me to Clouded Monastery?" Hua asked while looking around at the place. Feeling nostalgic about the abode she used to live in, alone.

"Retracing memories happens in stages. For now, we can only enter memories that still have had a strong impression on you." Tilie walked her through the process.

"Hmm... It seems that 500 years is the retention limit for your surface level memories. In order to jump into your deeper memories, we must find something that can help trigger your memory." Tilie wanted Hua to find something and she gladly obliged.

She then saw a picture of her with Nuwa and Fuxi. 'I would've forgot this if Ein-nii didn't found me...' She closed her eyes and tried remembering the memories with the twins.

"Your brain waves reacted to the pictures. But it doesn't really show us our goal, look outside for now. But... Be sure to make the most of your time.

Staying in a memory too long can have some adverse effects on your mind. You must return to reality within 30 minutes." Tilie reminded her and Hua frowned at her words.

"Why didn't you tell me this important information from the start?" She squinted her eyes and was annoyed at basically being rushed.

She then walked out of the monastery and found some honkai beasts and zombies. "What!? There were no enemies like these in the monastery, what's the meaning of this?" She dispatched them and Ottilie analyzed the situation calmly.

"This interference is caused here by your hidden memories. Don't worry, this is normal when retracing memories. A few enemies shouldn't be a problem for you, right?" Tilie smirked and Hua thought she was sus.

They then saw an altar for offerings. But there was nobody there. "This temple is cold and cheerless. There's nobody here. I thought that you would have a lot of friends in your hometown." Tilie teased her and Hua snorted.

"If you lived a bit longer, you would also choose to live alone." Hua said with a somber tone and the blonde laughed. "Haha, you're right. I've already been alone for quite sometime now." Tilie remembered Theresa and even Ein hasn't visited her for some time now.

They then saw a clay figurine at the altar and Hua unlocked a core memory from it.

"Do you have any recollection of that clay statue?" Hua nodded and replied with a sad tone. "I remember, Nuwa made that statue..." Tilie then thought of the changes in history they might have made just like with Arthur Pendragon.

"Nuwa, the creation deity of ancient China?

The one who founded the world and who is the mother of all living things. But in reality, her identity is the same as yours. You were both survivors of the previous civilization, right?" Tilie concluded and Hua affirmed. Not really seeing the point of withholding this information now.

"So it's natural that she would be related to these orbs of Soulium. Hmm, interesting. Anything that mankind cannot explain using science is believed to be magic. But in the end, it is really just some science that is beyond their understanding." Tilie was amused and thought the previous era was amazing. Basically establishing the new world's foundation.

"This seems to be an even deeper memory. Could you please tell me the current era?" Hua saw her home disappear as they went even deeper.

"Oh, there's no way of knowing the exact date. It seems we've returned to a distant time that is impossible to date accurately." Tilie could not date the memories and shrugged, the date was not important after all.

"Could it be from so long ago..." Hua wanted to know more and thought this would be a worthwhile job. Nuwa then disappeared and they seem to be entering another memory.

"Quickly search for Nuwa. Since she is connected to that figurine, she should be somewhere in this memory" Tilie said in a rush and Hua tried to find Nuwa.

"Here is my memory of Nuwa and I... But why would it be in a place like this?" Hua was in another cave, different from the altar. Making her confused.

"The person in the distance is... Nuwa? Let's go and see." She saw someone and it was the silhouette of Nuwa that was observing something.

"You've finally arrived. Do you know how long I've been waiting here, Jingwei!" Nuwa shouted at her and Hua was surprised, not really knowing what was going on.

"...Nuwa?" Hua raised a brow and Nuwa pulled her.

"It sure is hard to believe. You actually have a time where you are so slow. Come with me into the cave, we must bring back an item before nightfall." Nuwa said excitedly and both the memory divers thought it was about the Soulium or some previous era tech.

"Oh, is this girl Nuwa?" Tilie saw her and was interested, she didn't see Fuxi that beat the crap out of Sirin in Siberia after all.

"She is speaking with me... Can people in the memory see my appearance?" Hua thought that it was just a memory, but things seem to be more complicated.

"Yes, you have returned to this memory by the perspective of others who shared your perspective. She can see you and will talk to you directly. But remember, we are just spectators of the memory. We cannot alter the course of the memory." Tilie said seriously. And Hua went quiet.

"...I won't become too absorbed in people from the past." Hua told herself, but deep inside. She was not sure that seeing these memories would not affect her.

"Just follow her for now and see what happens.

Be sure to pay attention to the details of the memory. We mustn't miss any clues about the Soulium." Tilie put her back on track and Hua went up to Nuwa.

"Nuwa, the ancient goddess of creation. She is a beautiful and powerful girl... Oh... Wouldn't it be a bit too general to write it that way?" Nuwa was writing their back story.

"...Nuwa, what are you doing?" Hua asked with a raised brow and thought she was making her weird doujinshi again.

"Ahhh, don't break my train of thought! It might not seem like it, but I am creating legends." Nuwa explained and pointed her brush at Hua.

"According to my investigations, this civilization all seems to think they were created from some special existence." Nuwa described the current Era humans.

"That's quite normal, they don't have any concept of history yet. It's reasonable to come to such a conclusion." Hua thought it was only natural, as they don't really know science that much. And it was easy and convenient to explain their existence to legends, magic, and gods.

"Therefore, they easily believe those mysterious legends and stories. They also like spreading such stories to others." Nuwa said with a smile and got the idea to write a legend.

"You're right, the people of this era have a special belief in legends. But I don't see what meaning there could be in spreading your name and appearance." Hua was confused, not sure how that would affect project Ember.

"This is only one form! My goal is to pass our knowledge of how to fight the Honkai to this civilization through these legends." Nuwa nodded sagely at her master plan with a smug smile.

"You mean, this is knowledge from the previous civilization?" Hua looked at Nuwa's notes and she saw Nuwa writing about lightning, fire, phenomena that has helped humans dominate the world through simple explanations.

"Huh, interesting. The science and societal progress of all early civilizations is based upon legends and folklore. Mankind's understand of fire, lighting, and other natural phenomenon is all based on legends." Tilie thought it was smart and was impressed, simple, but effective.

"Rather than teaching them the difficult theories of physics, chemistry, or sociology directly. It's better to simply take the knowledge and pack it into a form that can be easily understood by the people of this era." Hua nodded in satisfaction at her, thinking seriously about project Ember.

"Right, right. Dressing up knowledge like that is what pretty girls can do. In order to achieve my goal, we must find the treasure of this cave." Nuwa said seriously and Hua thought it must be quite important.

"Enemies!? This cave has also been infested by the Honkai? Nuwa, get out of here! Go somewhere safe!" Hua started fighting honkai beasts.

"Follow me! Don't get lost!" Nuwa ran away and gestured Hua to follow her. "Treasure... Could it be those orbs? Quickly follow her and see what is going on." Tilie ordered after Hua dispatched the honkai beasts.

"Found it! We're so lucky! There's so much of it too!" Nuwa was in front of a mine and cheered.

"Nuwa... Is this the 'treasure' you were talking about? It seems to just be some ordinary clay mine." Hua frowned at her and thought they could just get it from somewhere not dangerous.

"There is nothing ordinary about it! The clay excavated from here is absolutely perfect. It is easy to shape, yet durable." Nuwa explained with squinted eyes like she was spreading gospel to heretics.

"What I mean is, I don't understand what this clay has to do with creating legends..." Hua's brows twitched and she was exasperated.

"This is what you don't understand. We will use this clay to make figurines!" Nuwa shouted and started explaining her plan.

"To tell our story better, we need to make a popular character! Through manga, anime, and figurines! They were popular even before the previous era got ruined. Ahhh~ I miss Dr. Ein's top notch figurines." Nuwa fidgeted and reminisced the old times.

Hua then deadpanned at her, not understanding culture. "Figurines? You mean those weird toys you collect? And who is Dr. Ein? Was he an important person?" She asked and Nuwa pouted at her. But she was also sad that Hua didn't remember one of the most important people in her life.

"It's not just a toy! They're more than that, they are the personification of your beloveds! They're the physical form of things that you love! You uncultured swine!" Nuwa turned her back on her and Hua was surprised at her outburst.

"Yeah! They're not just toys." Tilie commented as she collected and made tons of figurines of Kallen.

"Tche, boring characters like you would ruin a good story Hua. You take the fun out of everything, I'll make you into a good and likeable character." Nuwa started molding clay and she even put lights on it for extra effects. The figurine was done and it showed a depiction of Hua with Jingwei, Xuanyuan's bird. (pic)

"...Who is this a figurine of?" Hua asked after a second as the clay figure looked extremely familiar. But she didn't want to believe that it was made in her image.

"Hehehe~, you should thank me for giving you such a beautiful appearance. This kind of look is cute, but subtly reveals mature design, it will definitely be a popular one!" Nuwa admired her work.

"Let's just make the hair a fiery red. I'm going to go crazy just imagining how good she will look!" Nuwa started blushing and acted like a creep.

"Please don't impose your own interests upon others!" Hua shouted at her with embarrassment and anger.

"There's also your pitiful stature. Let me just make you a bit more charming, you need a dynamite body." Nuwa said without a care and insulted her flatness to her face.

"Ok, what you just said was all pretty insulting to me." Hua glared at her and would surely give her a beating later. She then saw what Nuwa made and it made her shocked.

"W-what in the world! Nuwa! I do not have a chest that large!" Hua was outraged as Nuwa made some changes and used her artistic freedom to give Hua a body that oozed culture.

"Hahaha. Interesting." Tilie commented. "Shut up." Hua said plainly, making the blonde shut up, but she was entertained nonetheless.

"Hehe, the looks of this Jingwei will be popular for sure." Nuwa admired her piece of art once again and thought she would make Ein proud.

"Uhh, thanks for your kindness." Hua didn't know what to say and just thanked her. Nuwa then nodded at her with a wide smile.

"The clay here is great for making figurines after all. I want to go and get some more. Take this stone pickaxe and start excavating all the nearby areas. Go on, chop chop." Nuwa ordered and gestured for her to do it immediately.

"You sure know how to order others around." Hua sighed and hesitated mining the clay for Nuwa's figurines. Thinking that it would be a great contribution for project Ember.

"I should remind you that we haven't found any traces of Soulium.Don't waste your time on such meaningless things." Tilie reminded Hua as she was getting too into the memory. "I know."

"Nuwa, before that, I want to ask you something.

Do you remember those quantum computers made using soul steel?" Hua asked Nuwa and wanted to get this over with.

"The clay here is great for making figurines after all. I want to go and get some more. Take this stone pickaxe and start excavating all the nearby areas." Nuwa answered with the same lines.

"Huh? That's the exact same answer you said before..." Hua thought that was weird and waited for the blonde to explain.

"Hah... It seems that if you don't follow the memory, there's no way to proceed. Well, nothing I can do about that. Let's just follow what she said and see." Tilie thought time was being wasted, but it was necessary.

"But... the real Nuwa and her appearance in the legends seem to be quite different." Tilie said with interest and wondered how her sister Fuxi looked like.

"She's just a naughty girl, that's all. Oh, I remember that she really likes anything related to anime and manga. But this civilization doesn't have anything. All she can do is sit and stare at rocks all day.

Wow, this really takes me back." Hua described Nuwa and got nostalgic, she then thought the little gremlin didn't change much.

"It seems that you two got along pretty well. But don't get too caught up in it. These memories are still somewhere deep within your mind. You are only able to see them now with the help of the device. As soon as we leave the memories, you will forget them again as if they were a dream." Tilie didn't tell her that from the start and Hua frowned.

"What!? You didn't tell me that before!" Hua got annoyed and thought she was a lot like Ein.

"Heh... You were the one who said that you wouldn't get caught up in the past." The blonde said smugly. "... You needn't say more, I get it." Hua sighed and just followed through with mining.

"We've gathered everything we need. Let's head to the mine's entrance. Huh? Nuwa has come to a stop up ahead, what happened!?" Hua rushed to her.

"Jingwei, come help me!" Nuwa cried out, alarming her even further. "What's wrong, Nuwa? What's all the panic about?" She arrived at her side and surveyed the surroundings.

"I want to go deep inside the cave and have a look, but it seems that there is already some strange person inside." Nuwa pointed at a floating, pale human.

"Is it an enemy? Quick, hide somewhere safe. I'll take care of this." Hua saw a zombie and it had different powers from the honkai.

It summoned a pillar of honkai energy and it started spewing fire all over the place. Hua quickly killed it, but the fireballs damaged the cave and a cave in will happen any minute now.

"Not good! The cave is collapsing! Nuwa, run!" Hua shouted out and told Nuwa to escape. "Huh? What's that on the floor?" She then found the figurine and took it with her. She followed Nuwa and escaped to the mine's entrance. "It should be safe here. Nuwa, are you alright?" She patted all over Nuwa's body and sighed in relief that she was fine.

"Whew, we sure ran fast. I didn't expect that the whole cave would collapse like that. It's not easy to find such a source of clay..." Nuwa got sad and thought they would have to find another source

"As long as you are alright, that's most important. We can find clay somewhere else." Hua smiled wryly and assured her. Shaking her head at Nuwa's enthusiasm to make good figurines.

"Ahhh!" Nuwa then remembered something and shouted, startling Hua. "What's wrong?" Hua frowned and got tense.

"I can't find the figurine I had just made. Maybe I dropped it when we were running just now!?

Oh no! I liked that figurine!" Nuwa got downtrodden and Hua sighed at her antics. "Don't worry, Nuwa. I have it here. I picked it up when the chaos started." She deadpanned at Nuwa and gave her the figurine.

"Oh, thank you!" Nuwa handled it carefully and looked at it like it was her child. "You really like this figurine so much?" Hua thought she was scarily obsessed over it and gave a cramped smile.

"Yeah... Because it's a figurine of Jingwei." Hua didn't expect the sudden sappy line. "What?" She was shocked and didn't know what to say.

"Jingwei is super reliable and so cool. Although she seems difficult to approach, she is even nicer than my own sister. You really are a good person. I want to pass on your story in hopes that everyone will like you." Nuwa gave a tender smile at her and Hua almost teared up. "Nuwa..."

"But your face is going to be hard to make. Let me give you some anime style! Yeah!" The atmosphere got broken and Hua deadpanned at her. "Ok." Nuwa then finished the figurine and started again on her appearance.

"She is a pretty girl that is both graceful and tactful." Nuwa mumbled as she started writing it down. "Heh, you are still working on your own appearance?" Hua snickered at her and Nuwa pointed her brush at her again.

"It's important! People are interested in things that are beautiful. If the main character is a pretty girl, then the story will spread among people naturally." Nuwa nodded sagely and stroked a non-existent beard. "No, I think the story itself is what is most important." Hua disagreed.

"You just don't understand." Nuwa gave her the stink eye and mumbled uncultured. "Whether it is animals, weapons, or means of transportation, as long as it has a pretty girl, people like it. It's quite simple, really!" Nuwa started lecturing Hua and she couldn't do anything but listen, thinking that was just bullshit.

"Besides, Fuxi and I look almost alike.If we don't make some changes to differentiate us, we will overlap each other!" Nuwa huffed and didn't want to be remembered as Fuxi's lookalike.

But the memory went unstable and Hua was transferred to an unfamiliar place. "What is this place?" Hua asked as she looked at the desolate area.

"These are memory planes, what's left of a memory you've totally forgotten. It's also the road we must take to get to your deeper memories." Tilie ushered her to go and Hua went deeper inside.

The place showed Hua fragmented memories and it was all monotonous. Wake up, train, meditate, fight the honkai, and finally sleep to continue it all over again, alone. "Are these also my memories?"

"That's right. But they've already lost all their form and content, becoming a pure world shaped by your heart. However, this is the first time I've seen such a lonely memory plane. Your life sure was quite repetitive." Tilie thought her life would drive people crazy.

"The next memory has started, let us go old friend." Tilie asked her to continue as Hua was looking at the fragmented memories a little bit too much. Both of them not noticing the stigmata that seemingly disappeared on her started to take shape once again.

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Thanks for reading everyone, a little cliff te he~ And yes, the Yatta will appear. Anyways, ciao.