Honkai Star Rail: Saving the World with a Mobile Game — Chapter 103

Chapter 103: The Gift of the Philosopher’s Stone and Aglaea’s Farewell

As she spoke, Hyacine produced a small, carefully carved wooden box from the folds of her robes.

The latch clicked open with a crisp sound, revealing a bed of plush red velvet. Resting perfectly in the center was a crystal-clear, crimson gemstone, pulsing with a faint, almost hypnotic inner light.

Ash recognized the iconic shape immediately.

A Philosopher’s Stone?

He shot Hyacine a deeply suspicious look, taking a half-step back. “This… exactly which human parts was this thing refined from?!”

Hyacine blinked, processing the bizarre question for a moment before a bright, melodic laugh escaped her lips. “Don’t worry, Ash. It wasn’t refined from any ‘parts.’ This is an absolute alchemical miracle, a pure crystallization containing all the wisdom of this world.”

“Professor Anaxa specifically requested I deliver this to you.”

“He also said, well…” Hyacine tilted her head, tapping her chin in thought. Then, she cleared her throat, straightening her posture to mimic the older scholar’s rigid stance. Dropping her voice an octave, she imitated his stiff, formal cadence perfectly. “You may very well consider this a reward for your efforts!”

Ash stared at her. ‘She really nailed the impression.’

He reached out and took the heavy, warm gemstone, turning it over in his palm to admire the crimson luster before looking back at the girl.

“But why didn’t Professor Anaxa come himself? Is he tied up with some new research?” Ash asked, genuinely puzzled by the scholar’s absence.

“Well, about that…”

Hyacine shrugged helplessly, a gesture that suggested she was entirely accustomed to her mentor’s eccentricities. “You know how Professor Anaxa is. He said he is completely uncomfortable with this kind of sentimental ceremony, so he prepared the gift and shoved it into my hands to bring over.”

“Incidentally, he also asked me to relay a rather long message to you.”

“Listen closely: ‘By your power, I have completed this world’s greatest undertaking…'”

Hyacine suddenly closed her eyes, falling into a rhythmic recitation.

For a fleeting moment, listening to her voice, Ash could perfectly picture Anaxa’s tall figure standing by a dusty window, murmuring to himself with that intensely earnest expression.

“‘Relying on your miracle that twists the very threads of fate, I have witnessed the absolute truth outside the cave, and the quest for knowledge cannot cease.'”

“‘No matter what form Amphoreus continues to exist in, I shall persist in the pursuit of Reason until I reclaim the ultimate truth, and once more transcend and profane that which is deemed sacred and magnificent!'”

“‘This alchemical miracle containing all the wisdom of this world, I bestow upon you. You may very well consider it my personal reward to you. I hope you will treasure it deeply.'”

“‘But… if you ever encounter a fool who simply cannot be reasoned with, use its sheer hardness to enlighten their skull!'”

At this point, Hyacine paused, dropping the rigid posture, and smiled warmly. “Well, that is pretty much all of it.”

Ash nodded thoughtfully, a small smile playing on his lips.

That really did have Anaxa’s distinct style written all over it. It was absolutely something the stubborn scholar would say, right down to using a priceless alchemical artifact as a blunt instrument, and deliberately avoiding a face-to-face goodbye.

But Hyacine’s memory was equally impressive.

“You actually managed to memorize all that dense dialogue word for word. Truly worthy of being the top teaching assistant!”

Ash carefully pocketed Anaxa’s Philosopher’s Stone and gave Hyacine a look of genuine praise.

Meanwhile, across the cosmos, the internet was burning down.

Everything in the version 3.3 update happened far too suddenly. There was zero foreshadowing, no gentle buildup to ease the players into the tragedy.

How much time had actually passed in the narrative?

And then Aglaea was just… gone.

However, since the final scene had cut away without showing a definitive end, Guinaifen sat at her streaming desk with white knuckles, clinging to a desperate sliver of hope right up until the game’s perspective shifted over to Cipher.

Unfortunately for the millions watching.

What arrived on their screens was not a miraculous reversal.

It was a beautifully rendered cinematic from a thousand years ago: the very first meeting between Cipher, who was then still a battered child, and Aglaea, smoothly interwoven with their final, heartbreaking farewell.

While Cipher had been scavenging for treasure in the dreary wastes of Styxia, Aglaea had secretly deployed her nymph parasite to inhabit the thief spirit Bartholos. She used the possessed spirit to quietly and indirectly shadow Cipher’s every move along the dangerous journey.

Through this proxy, she asked Cipher why she so fiercely opposed the divine oracle, and uncovered the hidden truth that a thousand years ago, Cipher had been a dedicated apprentice in the prestigious priestly college of Kephale.

Similarly, Aglaea’s clumsy disguise had been seen through by the sharp-witted hacker early on.

Facing their final meeting through the parasite, Cipher’s eyes held a sharp touch of indignation, but beneath the defensive glare was a turbulent, complex mix of emotions she refused to name.

“Aglaea, what exactly are your intentions? Going to such absurd lengths just to monitor my every move… why are you so persistently clingy?”

“That trip with Castorice and Ash, I already made a massive exception and intervened on your behalf. To ask for even more now would be pushing your luck to the absolute limit.”

In stark contrast to her usual commanding presence, the glowing nymph containing Aglaea’s will did not offer a sharp rebuttal this time. Instead, it emitted a soft, hesitant sound.

“I… am sorry, Sefaria.”

Aglaea apologized.

This was one of the demigod’s incredibly rare apologies, spoken softly to seek Cipher’s help one last time.

“Whatever grievances you harbor against me in your heart, let them dissipate like clouds and smoke with my departure.”

“But please, return to Okhema. I beg of you. Without you, the Flame-Chasers cannot achieve victory.”

This level of raw, unfiltered sincerity was something even the veteran players had never seen from the usually composed Seamstress.

After the heavy exchange, Cipher still crossed her arms, appearing entirely reluctant. “I will consider it, Seamstress. Stop monitoring me, unless you want to completely lose track of my whereabouts forever.”

“Heh, rest assured. Even though I dearly wish to hear your voice once more, to see your face just one last time…”

“…I am afraid there will not be another chance. Farewell, Sefaria.” Aglaea calmly, gently declared her final goodbye.

In return, she received a remarkably rare gesture of quiet courtesy from the abrasive hacker.

“Farewell, Aglaea…”

Question marks rapidly flooded Guinaifen’s stream chat, completely obscuring the cinematic.

[No way, really… she is actually gone?!]

[I thought after the black screen, Shaoji would give us some kind of epic reversal. But what we got was just Aglaea’s final farewell?!]

[Wait, it seems Aglaea and Cipher knew each other a long time ago?]

[So that thief spirit was Zagreus all along?! No wonder it felt so weird from the very start. Aglaea seized its consciousness back then!]

[At the final moment, using her absolute last vestiges of consciousness, she wanted Cipher to shoulder the heavy responsibility of the Flame-Chasers?]

Guinaifen and Sushang sat frozen in front of the camera, simply unable to process the emotional whiplash.

And more than the grief, they were deeply baffled by the sudden lore drop.

But in the final, beautifully painted scene that followed, the true depth of the relationship between the two women was fully laid bare to the players.

It was a memory from a thousand years ago: the day Aglaea adopted a broken child named Cipher.

Cipher, covered in brutal wounds and with glowing golden ichor streaming down her dirt-smudged cheek, had somehow found her way to Aglaea.

Clearly, the defensive, sharp-tongued girl was still incredibly insecure and terrified back then.

“Isn’t it a massive shame? Among such an amazing, radiant group of people, there is someone like me—a poor rat, a thief, a filthy liar.”

“Maybe I should just cut myself open again, drain all this yellow stuff completely dry…”

She mocked herself with a hollow, self-deprecating laugh.

But this time, what she received was not a cold stare of judgment or a harsh interrogation from the city guards. It was simply a gentle touch.

“Stop it, Sefaria. I will give you clean clothes, I will help you get warm, and then…”

“…then, you will stay. Stay here in my workshop until your injuries fully heal.”

Aglaea did not press the terrified girl for excessive explanations. She knew perfectly well that everything Cipher did out in the wastes was just a desperate bid to survive.

“Aren’t you afraid I will bring a terrible reputation to this place? Aren’t you afraid I will secretly steal your valuable clothes in the night and sell them outside?” the young girl asked, her voice trembling slightly.

“If I feared such trivial things, I would not have extended the invitation to you,” Aglaea replied, her voice carrying a maternal, unshakeable warmth.

Inevitably, the chaotic livestream chat fell into a heavy, emotional silence once more.

Because this was vastly different from the untouchable, divine Aglaea they knew from the main story.

She simply believed in Cipher. Not due to the calculating power of a demigod, but because of the beating heart in her chest.

The part of her that still belonged entirely to humanity.

“So, Sefaria—you are a sincere heart I entrusted to this world, and also a beautiful challenge it presented to me.”

“Stay by my side. You have a beautiful face. It should not constantly keep company with scars and mud.”

The young Cipher had frequently, ‘accidentally,’ passed by the Golden Weaver’s grand workshop in the past, always too ashamed and insecure to linger for more than a few seconds.

But now.

Someone had finally invited her inside.

Their long, complicated story began from that single moment of warmth.

Meanwhile, in a private, real-world group chat entirely separate from the livestream, the actual people involved were having a very different reaction.

[Cipher: Ash, you really have absolutely zero reservations, do you?! You actually dare write down every single embarrassing thing I told you in confidence?!]

[Cipher: If you broadcast this to the entire universe, won’t I suffer complete social death?!]

[Aglaea: Mm… how incredibly nostalgic. The little Sefaria from back then truly was much cuter.]

[Aglaea: Now though, she is getting harder and harder to manage.]

[Aglaea: Agy_sighs.jpg]