Regarding the question of whether one thousand lives are enough to beat Honkai Impact 3rd.

Her hair, which had grown to her ankles a few months ago, had been cut short to shoulder length. The girl now exuded a fresh scent, not the smell of shower gel or shampoo, but the natural scent left on her body by the power to control plants.

If you were to take a closer look, you would know that it was a very faint, clear fragrance, like a spring. After arriving at St. Freya Academy, she made it a habit to leave this faint fragrance on her body, because it helped her to sleep well.

Only this clear and elegant fragrance could temporarily soothe her mind and allow her to fall asleep peacefully. Over time, leaving this scent on her body became a small habit for her.

Her wet hair and fair skin with a hint of pink gave her a charm that was completely different from before.

Su Qing'an's cooking skills seem to have improved, she couldn't help but sigh.

She helped out with the cooking for Kiana's birthday party last time, and although she knew then that he was a decent cook, why has his skill level inexplicably improved again now?

The slices of meat on the plate were a perfect balance of lean and fatty meat, glistening with golden oil, while the garlic sprouts beside them were distinctly white and tender, still looking like a garnish even though they were cooked.

It's just a very common dish in Chinese cuisine: twice-cooked pork.

As she put the twice-cooked pork into her mouth, the delicious taste stimulated her taste buds and brought her pleasure. However, Sato Yuno felt a strange sense of loss, a kind of loss that came from the complete defeat of a certain skill.

Sato Yuno can cook, of course; her mother taught her, and her skill level is already quite good, but there is a clear gap compared to Su Qing'an.

Sato Yuno felt inexplicably frustrated to be defeated by a man in this aspect, especially since that man was Su Qing'an, which made the frustration even more profound.

Raiden Mei, who was standing to the side, tasted the food carefully and then smiled with admiration and confidence. She said, "I didn't expect Su Qing'an to have such good cooking skills. Such a level is rare among men."

"Mei, your skill level is still higher."

Upon hearing this, Su Qing'an nodded and naturally said the girl's name.

The reason for the change in address was simply that calling her Raiden sounded strange, while calling her by her full name seemed too formal. In fact, Su Qing'an himself was not sensitive to this, but after Raiden Mei herself suggested that he could call her by that name, he began to call her by her first name.

Regarding cooking skills, Su Qing'an was well aware of her own level, which was entirely due to her memory and the fine motor skills she had to rely on. Compared to Mei's level, it was naturally still somewhat lacking.

So this wave.

The cook did not lose.

13. Theresa arrived as promised.

It was already evening, and the setting sun was gradually losing its light and heat. The remaining afterglow shone on the clock on the central high-rise building, and the hour hand was pointing to six o'clock.

A sea breeze swept by, and the ancient trees along the street swayed their verdant branches. From the window of her high-rise building, Theresa could see the light gradually sinking into the depths of the sea, and the world slowly descending into silent darkness.

At this time every day, Theresa loved watching St. Freya Academy slowly descend into darkness.

It's like a cycle, the end of a day, and the beginning of a new life sprouting new buds.

This place holds so much of Theresa's emotion and time. She can remember the name, appearance, and even personality of every student. For Theresa personally, she doesn't even want these people to come into contact with the broken world; she hopes they can have a happy and bright future.

As the current head of the Apocalypse family and the next bishop of Destiny, she cannot act so willfully and recklessly.

Although she knew her grandfather, Otto Apocalypse, wouldn't care about these things, to that man, the existence of the Far East Branch was more like giving his granddaughter a large, expensive toy.

He wouldn't care how Theresa treated St. Freya Academy.

That's natural.

How could a loving grandfather blame his granddaughter for playing with toys differently?

Theresa understood all this, but she had her own principles, and she also knew that St. Freya Academy could never be a perfect utopia.

Despite the different educational philosophies, this is a place for training Valkyries.

The Valkyries are born to fight against the Honkai.

To protect this beautiful world, sacrifices are always inevitable, and St. Freya Academy is no exception.

She turned and left, no longer looking at the light that had not yet been completely extinguished on the sea.

Today, Theresa is no longer wearing her usual nun's habit. The previous habit was derived from the Valkyrie costume of the Middle Ages in Destiny, with black as the main color, mixed with white lace and gold thread outlines, which was solemn but did not affect the beauty.

At this time, Theresa was wearing a more traditional nun's habit, without any embellishments.

Apart from a small silver cross around her neck, she wore no other adornments.

All that remains is the solemnity born from the simplest combination of black and white.

She came to a door.

This is Major Himeko's house. Although I've been here many times before, this is the first time I've been inside in such a lively atmosphere.

With this thought in mind, she opened the door, and then warm light entered her field of vision, breaking the silence brought by the outside world with a noisy commotion.

What greeted them was Kiana's energetic, exasperated voice.

"Bronya, that's mine!"

Bronya thinks Kiana has eaten enough. Even a fool like Kiana should understand the principle of respecting the elderly and caring for the young.

"??? This logic doesn't apply to a little kid like you!" Kiana, having run out of arguments, decided to stop trying to reason with them.

"Heh." Bronya ran up behind Mei and tugged at her clothes. For some reason, the girl, who was usually expressionless, now showed a hateful, disdainful sneer in Kiana's eyes.

"Alright, alright, Kiana. You ate a lot on my birthday a few days ago, didn't you?"

Amused, Raiden Mei patted the two of them on the head. At that moment, she exuded an amazing maternal aura, instantly calming down the two who were about to start a war.

Neither the small missiles from Heavy Bunny nor Kiana's superhuman strength could withstand such torment from Major Himeko's house.

"Ugh." Kiana let out a defeated howl, her teeth clenched, as she was defeated by uncontrollable forces.

"Don't look so gloomy. What do you like to eat? I'll make more tomorrow."

Mei's words of comfort were clearly very effective; Kiana's unhappiness caused by the defeat vanished almost instantly.

"Hmph, since Mei has said so, I'll reluctantly forgive you." Almost immediately after her defeat, the white fluffy ball became arrogant.

It has to be said that the once intelligent and aloof Kiana seems to have gradually given up thinking after meeting Mei.

Although her understanding nature wasn't completely masked by her seemingly carefree attitude, Kiana was probably seen as a complete idiot by her classmates on the surface.

In Su Qing'an's view, this is a very strange phenomenon.

As expected of a woman known as a "cure-making machine," this ability is terrifying in a way.

Fu Hua noticed Theresa's footsteps first, and she turned to ask:

"Headmistress Theresa, what brings you here?"

“I’ve thought about it, and I think it would be better to say it in person,” Theresa said with a smile, looking at the lively scene before her. “I’m relieved to see that everyone is so energetic.”

Theresa is usually a very kind and approachable person, and you can joke and tease her without any restraint.

But when she gets serious, even with a gentle smile on her face, you can't help but show a solemn and serious attitude.

"I think you all understand after spending some time at St. Freya Academy that every Valkyrie, except for A-rank, will be sent on a mission regularly. Fighting the Honkai is not a game of make-believe; real combat is the best way to hone Valkyries and train elite warriors."

"This has always been Schicksal's rule, and it's the same in other branches of the academy as it is in St. Freya Academy. In a sense, it's also an equivalent exchange."

Theresa didn't reveal the subtext of the Destiny's rules, which was that Destiny had no interest in wasting resources to raise a Valkyrie who had no value, and that missions were undoubtedly the best place to demonstrate one's self-worth.

Passing means you have some value, while failing means you didn't pass.

Most of the Valkyries who failed were buried in St. Freya's Cemetery.

Death is nothing out of the ordinary.

"There is one mission per semester. St. Freya Academy rarely has holidays before graduation. There are twelve months in a year and six months in a semester. The missions will be distributed to each student gradually over the six months."

She paused, glanced around at everyone present, and said:

"You should have been prepared that I'd be here today. The five of you enrolled around the same time, so your first task since enrolling has been assigned to you all at the same time."

"Is it finally time for a mission? I'm so tired of training every day. Tell me, Headmaster, are we going to fight some weird Honkai Beast? The weapons the academy provided have been distributed, but I haven't had a chance to use them yet."

Kiana, who has been wandering and fighting Honkai Beasts for many years, clearly showed no fear and instead seemed quite interested.

For some reason, she felt that she had made great progress recently, but the lack of real combat experience to confirm this was also a source of frustration for her.

"The missions are assigned based on the Valkyrie level. Given Kiana and your combat strength, this mission should be beyond your capabilities, so theoretically there shouldn't be much danger."

Theresa said this as if to offer them some comfort, but then she turned and added a word of caution:

"But theory is just theory. In reality, accidents can happen at any time, and even intelligence errors are normal. If you've been wandering alone for many years, you should understand this. So, when going on a mission, caution is paramount. Better safe than sorry."

“Your lives are very important to me.” Theresa’s azure eyes looked at the people present, her hands clutching the silver cross in front of her chest, as if in prayer.

The nun who once fought with the oath of Judah now holds the cross as if praying to God—what a contradictory and strange scene.

Theresa's prayer was definitely not directed at any deity. Under Otto Apocalypse's rule, Destiny was such an arrogant organization. If a deity truly existed, that man would only calmly smile and try to see if he could kill the so-called god.

Theresa wasn't praying for anything; she was blessing them.

In the manner of a nun.

The best blessing a nun can offer is prayer.

Su Qing'an understood, and Sato Yuno was also able to understand.

The other three were naturally included as well.

"I will come back alive," Su Qing'an said earnestly.

"The headmaster should understand my situation. I'll be fine," Sato Yuno calmly assured him that she was safe.

How drastically wrong would the information about the mission assigned to a B-rank Valkyrie have to be for her, a pseudo-Herrscher, to fail? Sato Yuno was quite confident, feeling very certain of herself, as she couldn't imagine such an unexpected event.

"Don't worry, Headmaster. I've been out here all these years and nothing's happened to me. I'll be careful with missions and stuff. Don't worry," Kiana said, scratching her head, sounding a little awkward but also frank.

"Heavy Bunny will protect Bronya, Headmistress, don't worry." Bronya patted the part of the mecha that appeared behind her, nodded her little head, and the twin pigtails with their bows swayed with her movements, which was quite cute with her expressionless face.

"In any case, we will come back alive, Principal Theresa."

Raiden Mei also stated that St. Freya Academy is now like a spiritual home to her, and she is naturally very grateful to Theresa for taking in such a dangerous and unstable element as a Herrscher.

But if you want to give something in return, returning safely and successfully on your mission is the first step.

"Honestly, doesn't this make it sound like you're comforting me?" Theresa gave a helpless smile, feeling a bit awkward being comforted by her students, but she quickly continued:

"You've been assigned two tasks this time. That means the five of you will be divided into two groups, and each of you will complete one task. It's a team task."

"Bronya, Raiden Mei, Kiana, the three of you will form a group, with Mei as the team leader."

"Su Qing'an and Sato Yuno are in a group, with Su Qing'an serving as the team leader."

"The specific mission information will be sent to your school badges later. You can then link it to your communicator to find out the mission information."

Theresa's choice was undoubtedly a reasonable arrangement. Raiden Mei, as the Third Herrscher, and Sato Yuno, as the Pseudo-Herrscher, obviously could not be grouped together. Otherwise, if an accident caused them to lose control at the same time, the consequences would be difficult to handle.