The Ruanruan spacecraft sped toward the azure Blue.
Such a scene was naturally observed by the numerous satellites orbiting The Blue:
"A cloud is drifting through the cosmos!"
"How is that possible? Pure clouds only exist in the sky. How could one exist in the universe?!"
"Perhaps that cloud is the disaster the Architects warned us about..."
"Should we activate defense mode?"
At that moment, the upper echelons of both the Blue Federation and the Eastern Federation were shaken, immediately convening emergency meetings.
Meanwhile, Herman received a message from Ruan Mei:
"I've arrived. I'll be able to see you soon so we can conduct biological research together!"
"Alright." Herman quickly replied. He stepped to the window and looked up at the blue sky, a faint smile curling at his lips.
The Fourth Mirror, observing his reaction while simultaneously monitoring the chaotic scenes among the two federations' high-level officials through data surveillance, immediately sent a message to both governments.
The rapidly approaching "cloud" in the cosmos is Miss Ruan Mei, the 81st Seat of the Genius Society. She is also a friend of Miss Herta and has come to The Blue at Miss Herta's invitation.
!!
The Fourth Mirror's message stunned the upper ranks of both the Blue Federation and the Eastern Federation.
The Blue Federation's leadership marveled at Miss Herta's boundless energy. Since becoming a genius, she had cracked the Solitary Waves Theory, developed the Soul Gem, and created the Herta Series · Herta Puppet.
After accomplishing so many astonishing research feats, she had even expanded her network and befriended another genius. Such vigor was truly overwhelming.
On the other side, the Eastern Federation was horrified that the Fourth Mirror had infiltrated their satellite network and sent emails to all high-ranking officials.
If the Fourth Mirror could breach their satellite systems and even know they were in a meeting, didn't that mean they had no defenses against Herta? She could locate them at any time.
If the Blue Federation joined forces with Herta... and executed a decapitation strike against them—
Hiss!
The Eastern Federation's officials fell into a state of collective panic. At that moment, the blond Supreme Leader waved his hands like an accordion and declared,
"No one understands geniuses better than I do. In fact, I contacted Herta not long ago. She expressed interest in joining the Eastern Federation."
The conference room erupted into excitement. Everyone eagerly asked whether it was true.
The asian Supreme Leader was just about to nod.
At that very instant, a line of text written by the Fourth Mirror appeared on the large projection screen in the meeting room:
"Stop fabricating cards out of thin air. Madam Herta has never expressed any intention of joining the Eastern Federation. After all, what do you even have? Your meager ten billion impoverished Credits?"
After sending that message, the Fourth Mirror added an asset screenshot.
Displayed on it was Miss Herta's account balance:
1.2 trillion!
The room fell silent. Everyone realized the asian Supreme Leader had been bluffing.
His face turned ashen. Worse still, he had just received news that Herta had already reached cooperation agreements with three cosmos-level forces.
If the Eastern Federation truly dared to take action against Herta, the Xianzhou Alliance, the Interastral Peace Corporation, and the Family would likely chop them to pieces the next second.
The asian Supreme Leader could only endure it, silently praying that Herta would not deepen cooperation with the Blue Federation—or even bind herself to them completely.
Otherwise, the future of The Blue would truly belong to the Blue Federation!
...
With the Fourth Mirror having issued advance notice, the Ruanruan spacecraft entered The Blue's atmosphere unimpeded. It automatically reconfigured itself into a misty rainbow cloud staircase that stretched toward Herta City, connecting to The Blue's First University—Herta Dormitory.
Tap. Tap.
Ruan Mei stepped forward in high heels, moving with the breeze onto the rainbow staircase.
The staircase began operating automatically, carrying her down from the sky.
People on the ground who witnessed this miraculous sight felt as though a fairy had descended.
Standing by the window, Herman naturally saw the scene as well and could not help but sigh inwardly:
So beautiful!
But wasn't Ruan Mei supposed to be living in seclusion? Why such a grand arrival?
Could it be that she intended to end her seclusion and make her appearance in the cosmos?
Dozens of seconds later, Ruan Mei arrived outside the dormitory window, and Herman immediately voiced his question.
"Of course not. Compared to life in a bustling city, I prefer living alone in remote seclusion," Ruan Mei shook her head. "I descended on the cloud staircase simply because this is my first visit. I wished to present a gift to the citizens of Herta City."
Herman looked puzzled. "A gift?"
"That's right. The Ruanruan bio-ship, originally transformed from white clouds, reshaped itself into the staircase. When illuminated by the sun, it turns into a rainbow-colored cloud stairway and secretes a rainbow liquid that enhances biological constitution."
As her words fell, seven-colored rain began to fall from the sky, dyeing all of Herta City in brilliant hues.
"I can feel my muscles getting firmer!"
"My potbelly actually turned into abs!"
"The fairy truly is divine! She descended upon Herta City and bestowed divine nectar!"
Excited and ecstatic voices drifted into Herman's ears from afar.
Yet Herman did not lean out from the balcony to bathe in the rainbow rain.
After all, Ruan Mei was a biological genius. Given her emotionally detached nature, who knew whether there might be something special hidden in the rain she released?
For instance, those who bathed in it might unknowingly become her eyes... helping her observe Herta.
Of course, she likely had no malicious intent. Perhaps she merely wished to understand Herta's research projects—or their progress...
Thus Herman spoke. "Ruan Mei, come inside first."
Ruan Mei lifted a hand and caught a drop of seven-colored water. She gave Herta a faint smile. "Such beautiful rainbow rain. Won't Miss Herta bathe in it? It strengthens the body, you know."
"I'll pass." Herman shook his head slightly. "What's more important now is researching the Honkai."
"True enough."
Ruan Mei flicked the droplet into the distance and stepped onto the dormitory balcony.
Thus, the 83rd Seat and the 81st Seat of the Genius Society found themselves sharing a room.
This unusual circumstance naturally drew the attention of the Aeon of Erudition, Nous.
In the future Nous had observed, the moment the two geniuses gathered on The Blue was not now.
It was meant to occur when the Simulated Universe project officially commenced—roughly one Amber Era from now.
Focusing Their gaze, Nous immediately perceived the project the two geniuses were researching together:
The fusion of Imaginary and crystal!
Honkai energy!
And once the concentration of this energy increases, it can even give rise to Honkai Beasts.
Watching all of this, Nous found Their thoughts and calculations stalling...
There was only one reason—in Their simulations, Herta was never supposed to research the Honkai.
Was it the interference of another Aeon, or...
Nous began calculating the past spatiotemporal particle movements of The Blue. Scenes of Herta using crystals ordered from the IPC to manufacture Honkai energy and evolve Honkai Beasts appeared within Their field of vision.
Once. Twice. Three times.
After repeated examination, Nous still could not find any sign of interference from another Aeon. This inevitably produced a line of thought within Their processor:
[Could it be that Herta truly is an existence akin to Akivili, a variable within this cosmos...]
As this thought continued, Nous fell silent.
...
Meanwhile, inside Herta's dormitory, Herman had already taken out the ordered crystal materials and, following Herta's example, repeated the experiment to manufacture Honkai energy.
Before long, violet mist appeared.
Ruan Mei caught it in her palm and refined it instantly. After closing her eyes and carefully sensing it, she let out a soft exclamation:
"Fascinating. Extremely fascinating energy."
"It can, like Path energy, augment the human body."
Herman was startled. "You've already integrated that strand of energy into your body?"
"Naturally."
"But Honkai energy is highly corrosive to humans."
"This slight corrosive force to the flesh is nothing," Ruan Mei replied calmly. "When I researched planetary activation in the past, I personally entered a planet's core and conducted hands-on studies."
At this point, she paused and looked at Herta. "Perhaps you are not aware—I am also an Emanator of Erudition."
Herman was not surprised. In truth, he had long suspected as much.
After all, Ruan Mei was the 81st Seat genius and someone who aspired to become an Aeon. It was perfectly reasonable for her to have already become an Emanator.
"When did you become one?" Herman asked the crucial question.
"At the moment I awakened a planet, granting it self-awareness and transforming it into a living being."
A faint smile lingered at the corner of Ruan Mei's lips. "Of course, the planet I transformed was not an ordinary terrestrial world, but a gaseous stellar body... a sun."
"A solar star?!"
"Indeed." Ruan Mei nodded gently. "In that star system where the sun exists, its sunlight is no longer in a violently burning state. Instead, it radiates as warm sunshine.
"As the name implies... that sun uses its light to warm every planet, striving to adjust the temperature of each world in that system to one capable of nurturing life."
"But each planet lies at a different distance from the sun. As light travels, it loses heat."
"Exactly. That is why I said its radiance is no longer recklessly explosive. When releasing heat, it self-adjusts—emitting less toward nearer planets and more toward distant ones."
Hearing this, Herman could not help but think:
Among humans, there are warm-hearted men.
But Ruan Mei single-handedly created the miracle of a warm sun.
Perhaps one day, in the star system Ruan Mei spoke of, every material planet would give birth to life.
But Ruan Mei had become an Emanator through the event of activating a living sun.
Then what about Herta?
If Herta were to create the most cutting-edge Xianzhou in the cosmos—one capable of transforming into a Herta shipgirl... could that achieve the status of an Emanator of Erudition?