Within the Honkai crystal, the violet core representing the Will of Honkai was ramming left and right, attempting to break through the Xianzhou Delve Seal imposed upon the crystal.
What excited it immensely was that, in its perception, this crystal was nothing more than ordinary crystal. As long as it could touch the outer medium of the crystal's surface, it would be able to shatter it with ease.
Closer... closer.
Only the slightest distance remained between it and freedom—between it and the radiant sunlight of liberty.
The Will of Honkai trembled with excitement and accelerated its escape. However, three seconds later, it sensed something wrong—and realized a horrifying fact.
After three seconds of effort, the distance between it and the crystal's surface medium had not shortened at all.
No... this was completely wrong.
It had clearly crossed an immeasurable distance—so why could it still not touch the crystal's surface?!
Gritting its teeth, the Will of Honkai continued striving to approach the crystal, attempting to break the seal... Yet ten seconds passed, and the distance between it and the sealing surface remained unchanged.
Only then did the Will of Honkai fully realize a despairing truth.
That woman with the pointed hat had truly used a special method to infinitely stretch the distance between it and the crystal seal itself, trapping it forever within the crystal, making escape impossible.
In its despair, the Will of Honkai finally understood why those Honkai Beasts earlier had chosen to betray it.
It turned out that the power possessed by those tiny humans was simply too terrifying.
"Kill me..."
After sinking into despair, the Will of Honkai let out a hopeless voice from within the Honkai crystal.
"Why would I kill you?" Herta's tone was calm. "Ruan Mei and I created you for experimentation. Why would we destroy you?"
After speaking, Herta ignored the Will of Honkai's stunned state. She directly grasped the Honkai Origin Crystal that contained it and carefully observed it for a moment, confirming something.
Then she raised her hand and used Honkai energy as a scalpel to engrave a rune—one she had already researched—onto the wand:
Honkai · Control Rune.
The instant the rune formed upon the Herta Magic Wand, the Soul Gem at the tip of the wand grew darker and more deeply violet.
At the same time, Herta struck the Martian ground with the wand.
In an instant, an invisible wave spread across the surface of Mars.
Within moments, countless Honkai Beasts—whether the Judgment-class demonic dragon Benares, Brahma, Maheśvara, or Vipralopa-class Honkai Beasts towering like skyscrapers or small mountains—knelt before Herta, who held the wand.
The Honkai Beasts prostrated themselves in worship.
The Honkai Beasts themselves were utterly bewildered. They could not understand why they had suddenly knelt before this tiny human individual.
More crucially... at this very moment, they actually felt the oppressive pressure of a Honkai superior emanating from Herta.
But how was that possible? Herta was clearly human.
And at that very instant, the Will of Honkai within the Honkai Origin Crystal thrashed violently and let out an incredulous cry:
"How is this possible?! That is my authority over lower Honkai Beasts—you actually stole my authority... No, it was the rune you just engraved onto the wand!"
Herta merely smiled faintly and offered no further explanation.
This scene made the Will of Honkai even more certain that this godlike human had truly analyzed and comprehended its authority over the Honkai Beasts within mere seconds of sealing it.
Are all humans in this universe this monstrous?!
Sealed within the crystal, the Will of Honkai began to question its very existence. Its heart sank into complete despair... realizing that its dream of breaking the seal and building a Honkai faction across the universe had utterly collapsed.
At the same time, the kneeling Honkai Beasts also heard the Will of Honkai's shocked exclamation and saw the enigmatic smile on Herta's face.
A deep chill rose in every one of their hearts.
This human... this human... had sealed and deconstructed the Will of Honkai's power in such a short time.
Which meant that what she had said earlier—that all Honkai Beasts were created by her and Ruan Mei as experimental subjects—was true.
The Honkai Beasts were finished. They were about to be completely enslaved.
In that instant, all resistance vanished from their hearts.
The situation was simply too grim.
First, Herta's control ability specifically targeting Honkai Beasts.
Then, high in the heavens, the tangible massive hands of the combat celestial body—the gaseous planet Ruanruan.
Everything made it clear: resistance was futile.
At that moment, Ruan Mei stepped to Herta's side and said, "As expected, your research efficiency is remarkable. Within mere seconds of capturing the Will of Honkai, you refined it, obtained the Honkai Beast control technique, and even engraved it onto the Herta Magic Wand."
Herta rubbed the Herta Magic Wand in her hand and replied, "Just as you said earlier, Honkai Beasts are a newly discovered species. Researching them makes it easy to achieve rapid breakthroughs."
"For example, not long ago, you developed the Stigmata technology yourself."
Ruan Mei nodded in agreement.
At that moment, the two geniuses grew even more certain that the other stood on the same level of intellect—neither was ordinary.
And just then, Herman's voice echoed within Herta's mind:
"Enough chatting. Time to get to work, Herta. Hurry and continue upgrading the Herta Magic Wand."
"Don't forget, the reason we first contacted Ruan Mei was to activate the Herta Magic Wand and extract the genes from the Honkai Beasts. Then we fuse those Honkai genes with the activated wand, adding Honkai attributes to it."
"Mm."
Herta nodded inwardly and thought with anticipation, 'The limitless power of the Path of Erudition can be converted into boundless Imaginary Honkai energy. Combined with the Honkai genomes of Judgment-class—and even Vipralopa-class—Honkai Beasts... this will undoubtedly allow the Herta Magic Wand to undergo a second metamorphosis!'
In the next moment, Herta opened her eyes and said to Ruan Mei, "Next, I'd like to ask for your help. Help me extract the genes from these Honkai Beasts."
"Of course." Ruan Mei inclined her head slightly, then asked with a trace of curiosity, "Are you planning to research Honkai genes this time?"
"Yes. The birth of Stigmata technology from your hands already proves that Honkai energy can modify biological genes... So can we go one step further—allowing biological genes to undergo hypermutation, fusion, and sublimation with Honkai Beast genes?"
"In other words, enable organisms that originally possessed no Honkai abilities to obtain the power of Honkai Beasts—and even resistance to Honkai energy."
"A fascinating research direction," Ruan Mei replied. "I support you."
After speaking calmly, Ruan Mei raised her hand and made a slicing motion through the void. The immense power of the Path of Erudition condensed into a scalpel, precisely cutting open the bodies of the Judgment-class—and even Vipralopa-class—Honkai Beasts present.
From within the Honkai Beasts, violet gene-blood flowed out.
Yet from the lowest Seraph-class to the highest Vipralopa-class Honkai Beast, not a single one dared to cry out.
It could not be helped—Herta and Ruan Mei, these two geniuses, exerted far too much intimidation over them.
Very soon, in the space before Herta, the genes of various Honkai Beasts lined up in a neat row:
Parvati's Ice!
Garuda's Undying Flame!
...
At that moment, Herta also used Honkai energy as a scalpel to adjust these genomes, transforming them into specially modified Honkai hypervariable factors capable of integrating into the wand.
Then, the implantation process began.
Naturally, the implantation did not proceed smoothly. The moment many of the Honkai Beast genome hypervariable factors entered the Herta Magic Wand, they erupted in violent rejection.
The primordial beastial instincts embedded within their genes flared up. If left unchecked, the Herta Magic Wand itself might have been ruined.
Seeing this, Ruan Mei—an expert in biological research—was already preparing to intervene and halt the fusion experiment.
But at that very moment, the Herta Magic Wand itself spoke:
"Mere Honkai Beast genes—nothing more than defeated foes of Miss Herta and myself—and you dare resist? Dream on!"
"Do you know who I am? I am the Herta Magic Wand, named after The Herta herself—the number one wand under heaven!"
Its voice was filled with pride and arrogance.
Boom!
In the next instant, the gate of the Path of Erudition swung wide open, drawing down an immense torrent of Erudition energy onto Mars. At the same time, the Herta Magic Wand unleashed its own imposing aura.
It was the momentum of having slaughtered countless Honkai Beasts—both in real Mars and within the Simulated Laboratory.
In an instant, the Honkai Beast hypervariable factors were completely suppressed. They became docile, obediently merging with the Herta Magic Wand.
Thus, the activated Herta Magic Wand officially began its upgrade.
It gained resistance to Honkai energy. At the same time, its innate magic was no longer merely a simple Herta Magic Cannon.
First came complete mastery over the ability to command Honkai Beasts—whether Seraph-class or Vipralopa-class, it could drive them all.
Then came Parvati's freezing Honkai magic, Garuda's healing undying flame magic, Benares' dragon transformation magic, as well as magic related to Vipralopa-class Honkai Beasts such as Brahma and Maheśvara.
It could be said that the fully upgraded Herta Magic Wand was now the embodiment of a Honkai chimera. Within its small wand-body resided the hypervariable factor genes of countless Honkai Beasts...
"Madam Herta, I feel exceptionally wonderful right now," the Herta Magic Wand said as it drifted down into Herta's arms.
The Herta said nothing. Instead, she closed her eyes to sense its changes.
Then she raised her hand.
In an instant, azure ice crystals condensed in her palm—that was Parvati's Ice.
This sight caused Parvati to tremble uncontrollably. It had long anticipated that if this human named Herta could replicate and seize even the authority of the Will of Honkai, then seizing the abilities of a mere Honkai Beast like itself would be trivial.
But at that very moment, an even more unbelievable scene unfolded.
The ice crystals in Herta's hand continued to change, shifting from blue to pure white. The temperature visibly plummeted—descending to absolute zero.
It was a property capable of freezing all matter.
Herta raised her hand high and hurled the frozen core into the sky.
In an instant, the sky itself froze.
More precisely, all Honkai energy within the Martian sky was frozen.
And the "sky" here did not refer merely to a patch above Herta and Ruan Mei's heads, but to the entire high atmosphere of Mars tens of thousands of meters above the ground—every strand of energy, even matter itself, was frozen in that single moment.
The sight left Parvati gaping.
Even Brahma and Maheśvara—Vipralopa-class Honkai Beasts superior to Parvati—after their initial shock, turned strange looks toward Parvati. Their gazes seemed to say: Your ability is this strong?
Snapping back to its senses and noticing the stares of the other Honkai Beasts, Parvati hurriedly shook its enormous head, indicating that it did not possess such terrifying power.
If it had been the one to release the freezing Honkai force, it would not have been able to affect the entire Martian sky. Even if it spent a hundred years continuously unleashing freezing Honkai energy, it could never accomplish such a feat.
Parvati's denial made all the Honkai Beasts realize that the true power lay not in Parvati's ability—but in Herta herself.
More crucially, what had just fused into the Herta Magic Wand was not merely Parvati's genes, but also the genes of many other Honkai Beasts—including even stronger Vipralopa-class genomes.
After reaching this conclusion, the Honkai Beasts looked at Herta with even greater reverence.
At the same time, the Will of Honkai sealed within the crystal felt more convinced than ever that its earlier judgment had been correct.
Herta was a monster.
After all, what kind of human could casually fuse the abilities of Honkai Beasts—and then, upon first using them, unleash power countless times greater than what the original Honkai Beasts had commanded?
...
Herta herself gazed at the completely frozen Martian firmament, feeling the snowflakes drifting down from above.
She could not help but extend her hand and think inwardly, So this is the power born from the infinite-energy property of the Herta Magic Wand combined with Honkai-side magic?
Truly formidable.
At this moment, Herta had already confirmed that the fully upgraded Herta Magic Wand, in her hands, could cast planet-destroying magic without any need for charging.
For example, if that freezing Honkai spell had been released toward the planet's surface, it would have been sufficient to freeze the ground entirely—creating an artificial ice age, annihilating and freezing all living beings upon the planet through sheer cold.
Just like the eternally frozen world of Jarilo-VI—now, Herta alone, with a single casual spell, could achieve such a state.
Of course, she now commanded not only destruction, but also creation.
Garuda's phoenix flame magic was enough to make Herta a qualified physician—though she personally had no interest in taking on such a sideline profession.
In short, Herta was certain that her strength had risen once again compared to a day ago.
She had drawn closer to the level of an Emanator.
At the same time, she knew that the deduction she had made within the Simulated Laboratory was correct—the upgraded Version 2.0 Herta Magic Wand had gained an immense boost in power.