Ruan Mei and The Herta rode atop Ruanruan in its cloud-form biological spacecraft state, speeding rapidly toward neighboring Mars.
Mars was a planet covered in red soil, devoid of any life—utterly silent and desolate.
Moreover, because Mars had no atmosphere and its planetary magnetic field was extremely weak, it could not retain oxygen. Even water had long since been evaporated clean by the sun, leaving behind nothing but enormous rift valleys.
However, whether it was Ruan Mei or The Herta, neither felt the slightest discomfort upon stepping onto the Martian surface.
As for Ruan Mei, her body had already been transformed through countless biological modifications into something nearly perfect.
Breathing air?
That was merely a mortal's requirement.
As for The Herta, her body had not undergone biological modification. Yet she possessed the Herta Magic Wand, allowing her to continuously draw energy from the Path of Erudition and use it to sustain herself on Mars with ease.
"Let's begin synthesizing Honkai energy now," Ruan Mei said slowly. This time, her voice was not transmitted through air, but through the energy of Erudition Path directly to The Herta.
The Herta gave a slight nod and quickly mastered Ruan Mei's method of speaking through energy. "Mars is a dead planet. A world like this is suitable to become a breeding ground for Honkai Beasts. Let us go all out."
As her words fell, The Herta joined hands with Ruan Mei. Together, they converted the energy of the Path of Erudition into Imaginary energy, then tuned that Imaginary energy into a special frequency and fused it with crystals.
Honkai Energy—a streak of violet energy—was born upon Mars.
And after synthesizing the first wisp of Honkai energy, the two of them began crafting it by hand at a frenzied pace.
The concentration of Honkai energy on Mars began to skyrocket wildly.
Very quickly, the density reached a level sufficient to trigger a massive Honkai Eruption on Earth in Honkai Impact 3rd.
The sky above Mars underwent a tremendous change.
Countless violet storm clouds materialized out of thin air... phenomena formed from the aggregation of vast amounts of Honkai energy.
Crack!
A bolt of lightning illuminated heaven and earth before striking the ground, causing Honkai Beasts to begin spawning across the Martian surface.
Seraph-class Honkai Beasts capable of flight. Knight-class Honkai Beasts standing five meters tall. Then came Warlord-class, Chariot-class, Templar-class... innumerable Honkai Beasts were born one after another.
After their birth, these Honkai Beasts did not immediately attack. They merely stood there blankly.
Ruan Mei gazed at this scene and could not help but sigh inwardly:
As expected, the Seraph-class is not the upper limit of Honkai Beasts!
As the concentration rises, the spawned Honkai Beasts grow increasingly powerful!
And more importantly...
Ruan Mei shifted her gaze to The Herta beside her, a trace of peculiarity flashing in her eyes.
The Herta had been continuously outputting Imaginary energy. To an Emanator, such expenditure might be negligible—but it would be enough to drain a high-tier Pathstrider completely dry.
Yet The Herta showed not the slightest sign of fatigue.
Could it be that in this short span of time since becoming a genius, The Herta has already traveled an astonishing distance along the Path of Erudition? Perhaps even on the verge of crowning herself an Emanator without receiving Nous' blessing... Is that why she possesses such immense reserves of energy?!
After reaching this thought, Ruan Mei asked The Herta whether she was tired.
"I am Herta. I have no limits. And my intuition tells me that the Honkai Beasts being born right now... are still not the upper limit of this species," The Herta replied calmly before continuing to synthesize Honkai energy at full throttle.
Seeing this, Ruan Mei followed suit.
The Honkai energy concentration on Mars continued climbing—leaping up another energy tier.
In the end, the entire planet was dyed in violet, the color of Honkai.
At this moment, even those on The Blue could observe the change on Mars.
In fact, the Sky-Eye Observation Bureau had already reported the Martian anomaly to the authorities—the highest echelon of the Blue Federation.
The top officials swiftly convened a meeting. Every face bore the same expression of concern.
"Mars is about to become a demonic star!"
"Yinghuo... Yinghuo... With Mars undergoing such a transformation, could this be an omen of a coming cataclysm?"
At that moment, the Supreme Leader of the Blue Federation cleared his throat and said, "I just received news from Lanvelle. The Herta and her friend—the 81st Seat of the Genius Society, Ruan Mei—rode the clouds into the high heavens. Judging by their trajectory, their destination was Mars."
"I suspect the enormous changes occurring on Mars are the result of experiments conducted by those two geniuses."
For a moment, the conference room fell utterly silent. The Supreme Leader's words struck them like thunder.
Two geniuses had gone to Mars, and everything happening there was their doing!
Just two individuals, and they were capable of something so inconceivable. Was this the true weight of genius?
At that moment, Lanvelle burst into the meeting room. She held a USB drive in hand, plugged it into the computer, and projected the footage.
"Everyone... just now, a Blue satellite captured footage of countless terrifying monsters being born on Mars."
The officials looked up at the projection screen, and their expressions changed drastically.
They saw dense swarms—like insects—strange creatures flying through the sky. Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Perhaps even millions.
And aside from the flying monsters, there were other varieties as well. More importantly, their bodies were enormous—several meters tall, dozens of meters, even over a hundred meters.
And most crucial of all—amidst the monsters stood two human figures.
Ruan Mei and The Herta.
Surrounded by hordes of monsters, they continued manufacturing violet crystals.
The sight made everyone's scalp tingle. In that instant, they were certain the Supreme Leader's earlier conjecture was correct.
All the anomalies on Mars originated from those two geniuses.
Fortunately, they were conducting their experiments on Mars. Had they done so on The Blue instead—creating such terrifying monsters—the civilization of The Blue would be in grave trouble.
One high-ranking official spoke with lingering fear, "Fortunately, Miss Herta is a genius with humanity. She did not conduct such a dangerous experiment within the Blue Federation."
Another wiped cold sweat from his brow. "Yes, yes..."
At that very moment, within the projected image of Mars, beneath the violet sky, an enormous white demonic dragon—Benares—materialized.
It spread its massive white wings and unleashed a dragon's roar toward Ruan Mei and The Herta.
At the same time, the Honkai Beasts responded to the roar. They locked onto Ruan Mei and The Herta and began launching their assault.
Inside the conference room, upon witnessing this scene, everyone's expressions changed drastically. They all assumed the experiment had gone wrong... and began worrying that Miss Herta might encounter danger.
If something truly happened to Miss Herta, matters would become troublesome.
After all, Miss Herta was now an important figure within the Blue Federation.
Whether it was the establishment of Herta City or the Soul Gem factory that had just been constructed and entered formal production, both relied entirely upon Miss Herta's existence.
If she were to meet with misfortune, the plan for Herta City to develop into a galactic tourist sanctuary would collapse instantly. Likewise, there would be no way for the Blue Federation to retain control of the Soul Gem industry.
Even the Blue Federation's rising momentum within the cosmos would be directly interrupted.
The highest echelon of the Blue Federation was deeply worried, yet there was nothing they could do. Mars was simply too far away.
...
Mars.
Ruan Mei looked up at the heavens. Within the dense violet Honkai mist, the Judgment-class Honkai Beast—the demonic dragon Benares—was roaring ferociously. A faint smile curved her lips.
"With the Honkai energy elevated to this extent, something slightly more interesting has finally been born. A dragon-shaped Honkai Beast, no less."
Beside her, The Herta spoke slowly. "I'll handle this one. Its appearance suits my aesthetic. I intend to take it as a mount."
"Since you say so, then I'll leave it to you. But you've already output a vast amount of Imaginary energy. Are you certain you can still deal with that dragon-shaped Honkai Beast?"
"I am Herta."
The Herta lightly patted her chest, her expression as confident as ever. With a casual gesture, Herta's Key flew automatically into her hand and transformed into the Herta Magic Wand.
As for the demonic dragon Benares—though it had only just been born into the real world upon Mars, due to the Synesthesia Beacon technology that Ruan Mei and The Herta had been passively employing, it could directly understand their conversation.
It immediately flew into a rage.
"One... two... You completely disregard me—and this vast swarm of Honkai Beasts. You're asking for it!!"
"Today, I, the demonic dragon Benares, shall kill you wretched little creatures!"
With an enraged roar, Benares dove from the heavens like a falling meteor. Flames surged around its body, amplifying the might of its draconic collision to an even more terrifying level.
The Herta watched everything calmly. There was not the slightest trace of disturbance in her eyes—only composure.
After all, within the Simulated Laboratory, she had fought even more troublesome Vipralopa-class Honkai Beasts such as Brahma and Maheśvara.
A mere Benares—a Judgment-class Honkai Beast!
Having offered you the opportunity to become a mount, you should have obediently accepted. Instead, you hiss and snarl like some feral creature.
With that thought, The Herta raised the Herta Magic Wand high.
Woooooo...
Countless violet-black Herta Magic Cannons condensed within the void behind her, swelling visibly at an astonishing speed.
Then, The Herta gently swung the Herta Magic Wand in her hand.
Boom boom boom...
A storm composed of innumerable Herta Magic Cannons blasted violently toward the demonic dragon Benares. In an instant, Benares was struck down, screaming as it plummeted from the sky.
At the same time, more Herta Magic Cannons continued to gather frantically, unleashing cluster bombardments upon every Honkai Beast on the battlefield that dared to stir.
Boom boom boom...
With the power of a single person, The Herta transformed into a super artillery platform, bombarding relentlessly until the entire continental shelf of Mars began to tremble.
Vast swarms—tens of millions—of Honkai Beasts were annihilated in an instant, reduced to ash, leaving behind only a scattered few survivors.
When the heavily injured Benares lifted its head once more, it witnessed an utterly horrifying sight.
The Herta stood alone in the void, holding aloft the violet-black wand. At its tip, the Soul Gem radiated a brilliant violet-black light.
Across the ground lay nothing but the corpses and severed limbs of Honkai Beasts, densely packed beyond counting...
The terrifying scene struck Benares to its very core, filling it with shock.
And when it saw The Herta raise her wand once more, preparing to unleash an even more powerful Herta Magic Cannon, the demonic dragon finally lowered its draconic head—choosing submission.