However, according to the information Herman had previously provided, when a general of the Xianzhou became an Emanator, they had to undergo the Rainbow Ordainment. Would Shipgirl Herta also need to undergo the Rainbow Ordainment and withstand nine arrows from Lan, the Aeon of The Hunt?!
Inside the Simulated Laboratory, Herta fell into deep thought.
...
Inside Shipgirl Herta's reception room, Marshal Hua looked at the arrow-shaped emblem sunken into the back of Shipgirl Herta's hand. A faint smile appeared on her face as she addressed the two people before her:
"However, there is one matter I need to make clear to Madam Herta and Shipgirl Herta."
Herman said, "Go ahead."
Marshal Hua said, "Although the Divine Edict has been issued, Shipgirl Herta is currently only a provisional Arbiter-General."
Herman blinked. "Provisional?"
Marshal Hua nodded. "An Arbiter-General of the Xianzhou cannot be appointed with a mere piece of paper. Aside from receiving the Divine Edict of The Hunt, every newly appointed Arbiter-General must pass one more trial."
She raised a hand and gestured toward Yao Guang beside her.
"This trial is called the Rainbow Ordainment. I'll let the general of the Yuque explain it to you."
Yao Guang nodded and spoke solemnly:
"The Rainbow Ordainment is the coronation ceremony of a Xianzhou Arbiter-General."
"At the heart of the ceremony, an Arbiter-General must use their own body to withstand the Reignbow Arbiter's Lux Arrows."
"If they can withstand all nine arrows of the Reignbow Arbiter, the Reignbow Arbiter will cast Their gaze upon them and bestow Their blessing and Spiritus!"
"From the moment they receive the Spiritus, the recipient officially becomes a Xianzhou Arbiter-General—an Emanator of The Hunt who patrols the cosmos on Heaven's behalf."
"If they cannot withstand them..."
Yao Guang paused before continuing, "If they cannot withstand them, they die. There have been Arbiter-Generals in the Alliance's history who perished during the Rainbow Ordainment."
Herman immediately recalled that before his transmigration, in the game Honkai: Star Rail, Yao Guang—Madam Yao herself—had indeed mentioned the Rainbow Ordainment and the Reignbow Arbiter's nine arrows.
Moreover, Yao Guang herself had not yet endured all nine arrows... More precisely, the arrow meant to serve as General Yao Guang's final trial had pierced through causality and time and still remained somewhere in the future!
Herman had only just thought of this when he saw a complicated expression appear on Yao Guang's delicate face as she said:
"Of course, there are also exceptional circumstances. I was one such case."
"When I underwent the ordainment, I dodged eight arrows of the Reignbow Arbiter, and that was already my limit. As for the ninth and final arrow, calculations through Fortune Hexagram showed that it would appear at some point in my future."
"Only when that moment comes will I have truly completed the Rainbow Ordainment in full, finished the trial of The Hunt, and become a complete Xianzhou Arbiter-General—a complete me!"
Hearing this, Herman could not help thinking, So the information from the game was correct.
Then Herman turned his head toward Shipgirl Herta.
Shipgirl Herta noticed his gaze and raised her head. There was not the slightest hint of retreat in her eyes. Her expression seemed to say:
I can do it.
Herman smiled, raised a hand, and gently pressed it against her head. Then he looked up at Marshal Hua and Yao Guang.
"I understand the ceremony now. But the Rainbow Ordainment can be scheduled for a time of our choosing, correct?"
"Yes."
Marshal Hua and Yao Guang exchanged a glance before nodding to Herman together.
Seeing this, Herman smiled faintly. "To make sure Shipgirl Herta passes the Rainbow Ordainment successfully, I'll need to make some preparations."
Marshal Hua nodded seriously. "Once Shipgirl Herta has finished preparing, the Alliance can begin the Rainbow Ordainment. We will also invite more factions to witness the ceremony, thereby announcing to the entire cosmos that Shipgirl Herta has joined the Xianzhou Alliance."
And that the Xianzhou Alliance has established a deeper partnership with Madam Herta.
Marshal Hua silently added that final thought in her heart.
Herman nodded upon hearing this.
With matters discussed to this point, the issue of inviting Shipgirl Herta to join the Xianzhou Alliance and investing her as an Arbiter-General could be considered successfully settled.
Logically, they should have exchanged a few pleasantries and then gone their separate ways. Yet Marshal Hua remained seated, holding her tea without moving.
After hesitating for a moment, she took a deep breath and spoke to Herman, who was seated on the sofa:
"Madam Herta."
"I have one more presumptuous request."
"Go ahead."
"The Xianzhou's world-ships." Marshal Hua enunciated each word clearly. "Can they be transformed into shipgirls?"
The reception room fell silent for an instant.
The generals all turned toward Herta in unison, their eyes filled with both anticipation and unease. They, too, desperately wanted to know the answer.
Herman held his tea without answering immediately.
He turned his head and glanced at Shipgirl Herta beside him, silently thinking:
All six world-ships of the Xianzhou Alliance came here together. Six generals and one marshal personally invited Shipgirl Herta to join them, and they even directly requested a Divine Edict of The Hunt to invest her as an Arbiter-General... They've already shown me a great deal of respect.
In that case...
Thinking this far, Herman looked at Marshal Hua and nodded.
"Yes."
Marshal Hua and all the Xianzhou generals in the reception room immediately looked exhilarated.
At that moment, Herman's leisurely voice rang out again as he added:
"The core of shipgirl conversion is the Wisdom Cube."
"Shipgirl Herta's Wisdom Cube was condensed using Soul Gem technology combined with the power of the Warp."
"The Alliance's world-ships, such as the Xianzhou Luofu and Xianzhou Yuque, can follow the same general process, but the materials will need to be changed."
Marshal Hua's expression sharpened when she heard this, and she said with utmost seriousness, "No matter what materials are required, as long as you name them, the Alliance will spare no effort to gather them."
"That won't be necessary." Herman shook his head. "The material I intend to use to create Wisdom Cubes for the Xianzhou Alliance's world-ships is Xianzhou history."
"If you want to quickly create a shipgirl with true self-awareness, the history of the world-ship itself is the finest material."
"History, combined with Soul Gem technology and the Warp's psychic principle of mind over matter... is enough to create a shipgirl."
The reception room fell silent for several seconds.
From the generals to the marshal, all of them knew that their Xianzhou vessels were ancient entities with histories spanning multiple Amber Eras.
According to Madam Herta, every Xianzhou vessel in the Alliance had a chance to be transformed into a shipgirl.
All six world-ships of the Xianzhou Alliance could potentially become shipgirls.
Then Feixiao was the first to lose her composure. "Th-Then after my Xianzhou Yaoqing is transformed, will she inherit the will of past Arbiter-Generals, follow me into battle, slay our enemies, and win glorious victories?!"
Herman nodded. "Of course. Since a shipgirl inherits the Xianzhou's history and bears its memories of the past, she will naturally develop a temperament aligned with those memories. If the Xianzhou Yaoqing became a shipgirl, she'd probably be a born battle maniac."
Feixiao said delightedly, "That's perfect!"
General Xuanquan Fubo of the Fanghu, seated nearby, slowly spoke. "The Xianzhou Fanghu still bears the old wound where the Reignbow Arbiter's Lux Arrow pierced through it. Some of its Delves are still being repaired even now."
"If it were transformed into a shipgirl..." He raised his eyes toward Herman. "Would those old injuries be inherited by the shipgirl as well?"
"Yes. After all, the shipgirl is the Xianzhou itself," Herman answered without hesitation. "A ship's problems become her problems. However, once the Xianzhou's true body is repaired, the injuries on her body will recover as well. But if the Xianzhou were destroyed, as the Cangcheng was back then, the shipgirl would likewise be catastrophically damaged and sunk."
Xuanquan nodded solemnly. "If the Xianzhou Fanghu becomes a shipgirl, I will never allow her to be catastrophically damaged and sunk."
Marshal Hua sat on the sofa, listening to the generals converse with Herta, her heart filled with joy.
The Xianzhou Alliance has fought the Abundance, Destruction, and many other factions for countless years.
The fall of the Cangcheng, the devastation of the Fanghu... all of it happened because the Xianzhou lacked sufficient top-tier combat power!
But now:
Shipgirl Herta has joined the Alliance as its seventh world-ship.
In the future, once the Xianzhou Alliance's six world-ships are transformed into shipgirls, they themselves will be capable of fighting.
After all, within a shipgirl's tiny body is mass comparable to that of a star. Even immediately after their birth, beings like that could hardly possess weak combat power.
Before long, the Xianzhou Alliance's top-tier combat strength will undergo an enormous increase.
Thinking this far, Marshal Hua took a deep breath, set down her teacup, rose to her feet, and saluted Herman.
"Madam Herta."
"You are willing to transform all six world-ships of the Xianzhou Alliance. I will remember this favor."
"The Alliance will provide all the materials, manpower, and expenses required to convert the six Xianzhou vessels into shipgirls. You need only provide the technology."
"Furthermore, should you have any needs, the Alliance can open numerous projects to you for research."
Herman waved his hand. "There's no need to thank me. We've already established a deep partnership. As for the list of materials needed for the shipgirl conversions, I'll have Pearl coordinate with you later. We'll do them one ship at a time."
Marshal Hua sat back down, unable to suppress the joy on her face.
With matters discussed to this point, the second issue had also been settled perfectly.
By all logic, this time they really should have dispersed.
Yet Yao Guang, standing nearby, remained where she was.
She looked at Herman, took a deep breath, and said:
"Madam Herta."
"I have another question."
"I've been holding this question in for a very long time."
Herman glanced at her. "Ask."
"I used Fortune Hexagram to divine your future." Yao Guang's voice was filled with seriousness and gravity. "The result showed that in the future, you will open the Path of Spirituality, ascend to Aeonhood, and become an Aeon."
"Then, as you are now..."
She raised her eyes and stared directly at the pointed hat.
"Can you use the power of that Aeon?"
Herman lifted his tea and swirled it lightly.
"Yes."
The backs of several generals visibly stiffened.
Herman continued, "My current state, put simply, is very similar to two other people."
Yao Guang immediately asked, "Which two?"
"One is the Pure Child of Anāsrava from the Garden of Recollection," Herman said. "That individual is an Emanator of Remembrance. When trouble arises, they can pay a price, become Fuli, and wield power at the level of an Aeon."
"The other is Elio, the Destiny's Slave of the Stellaron Hunters."
"He is the most unique strand of will within the divine body of Terminus, the Aeon of Finality. Normally, he is a black cat, but by paying a price, he can also wield Terminus' divine power and borrow strength from the future."
"And in the future, I am the Aeon of Spirituality. Because Aeons possess the property of once proven, eternally proven, my current self is Their anchor in this spacetime."
"Normally, I am simply myself—an ordinary Emanator of Erudition. But when I need to..."
Herman set down his teacup and raised one hand. A strand of transparent spiritual radiance silently ignited at his fingertip.
"I can borrow Aeon-level power from my future self."
The reception room became as silent as death.
Yao Guang opened her mouth. "In other words... as you are now, you can already unleash Aeon-level power at any time."
"There is still a small price to pay," Herman corrected her. "After all, it is my future self who becomes an Aeon, not my present self."
Yao Guang looked at Herta's relaxed expression and immediately understood that the "small price" she mentioned was probably genuinely small rather than astronomically small.
And that meant Herta truly could unleash an attack at the level of an Aeon whenever she wished.
Among all the Xianzhou generals, Yao Guang was the most skilled at schemes and calculations. She understood the weight of those words far too well:
Aeon-level power... What kind of concept is that?
There was once a record of the Reignbow Arbiter pursuing Yaoshi of the Abundance, firing a single Lux Arrow that pierced through several galaxies and brought absolute destruction upon them.
And even that had not been the Reignbow Arbiter's full power!
Now, Herta claimed that she could borrow power from the future and unleash might at the level of an Aeon. That meant she possessed enough power to destroy several galaxies!
Using such power to annihilate the Xianzhou Alliance would probably be trivial.
Fortunately, the Alliance and Herta were now partners.
Thinking this far, Yao Guang let out a long breath.
Nearby, Huaiyan was still reeling from the shock, his hand frozen halfway through stroking his beard.
Feixiao, the Merlin's Claw, could not help swallowing hard as well.
Jing Yuan's perpetually narrowed eyes opened by a third, his pupils trembling continuously.
General Youwu lowered his head and drained his tea in one gulp.
Marshal Hua's hand tightened around the armrest of the sofa.
At that moment, Yao Guang asked Herta a second question:
"During the time the Xianzhou Alliance has been gathered here in The Blue system, a major event occurred in the universe."
"IX, the Aeon of Nihility, stirred in Their true body. Their eye seemed to be observing The Blue system, and observatories across the entire cosmos recorded the phenomenon."
"At almost exactly the same time, Qlipoth of Preservation paused Their hammer for a single instant and seemed to glance toward The Blue system."
"Two Aeons showing unusual activity one after another... does this have something to do with your research, Herta?"
Herman smiled when he heard this. "Actually, I just saw the related news about those two Aeons' unusual movements on the interastral network."
"And my answer is yes. The movements of both Aeons are connected to me."
"The root cause is that I've been conducting a research project." Herman's expression turned serious. "A research project to save the universe. Over the past few days, the project has made some progress."
A research project to save the universe?!
Those words struck the ears of the generals like thunder, shaking them deeply.
The Xianzhou generals had fought Abominations of Abundance, heliobi, and the Antimatter Legion. They had saved countless lives... but this was the first time they had ever heard of something like research that could save the universe.
Jing Yuan could no longer remain seated.
The Divine Foresight of the Luofu had not spoken voluntarily once since taking his seat. But now he leaned forward, and his perpetually narrowed eyes opened fully.
"Madam Herta, I would like to ask—what exactly do you mean by saving the universe?!"
"You all know about the Four Apocalypses theory, correct?"
Jing Yuan and all the other Xianzhou generals and the marshal nodded.
Herman then explained that the Four Apocalypses were real, and that the universe truly was falling toward Nihility... Although the rate of descent was extremely slow, one day in the future the universe would completely fall into Nihility and vanish altogether.
That day would be Finality.
And not long ago, she had developed the Power of Existence...
Herman explained everything. The Xianzhou generals and marshal were deeply shaken as they realized:
Herta's research is even more incredible than anything we imagined before.
She can even delay and alleviate one of the Four Apocalypses—the apocalypse of Nihility!
Her research truly is saving this universe!
And she accomplished all of this in just a few short months!
After all, Herta was only eighteen years old, having only just reached adulthood.
And what were eighteen-year-old long-life Xianzhou natives doing? They were still in the senior class of kindergarten...
Is this what a true genius is like?!
After inwardly marveling at this, Marshal Hua rose from the seat of honor.
She straightened her clothing, walked to the center of the reception room, and faced Herta.
Then the marshal who commanded the entire Xianzhou Alliance bowed deeply and performed a formal salute.
"Throughout its history, the Xianzhou Alliance has divided Aeons into three categories."
"Those who poison all living beings are Authors of Calamity."
"Those who remain aloof from mortal affairs are Sacrosancts."
"Those whose grace benefits the cosmos..."
She straightened and enunciated each word clearly.
"Are Arbiters."
"Such as the Reignbow Arbiter."
"Before today, the Alliance was still trying to determine which category you, Herta—the future Aeon of Spirituality—would belong to."
"Now, there is no longer any need to speculate."
"Madam Herta, you have already undertaken an act to save the universe. In the eyes of every general in the Alliance, including me as its marshal, you stand alongside the Reignbow Arbiter as an Arbiter."
"This salute is not a marshal paying respects to a genius. It is a salute to an Arbiter."
Inside the reception room, all the generals rose together.
Jing Yuan, Yao Guang, Huaiyan, Feixiao, Xuanquan, and Youwu—the six generals—joined Marshal Hua in bowing deeply.
Herman sat there before waving his hands.
"Please, all of you, get up. Having you suddenly perform such a grand salute feels strange."
"And my research to save the universe has only just begun. I'm still far from resolving Nihility, much less the other three apocalypses, which I haven't solved either."
"It's still too early for you to call me an Arbiter..."
Herman paused at this point before continuing:
"Wait until the day this universe truly survives the Four Apocalypses. You can call me an Arbiter then. It won't be too late."
"And I believe I can do it!"
"After all, I am Herta. One day, through research, I will completely solve the Four Apocalypses!"
"I, Herta, have no limits!!"
"We believe you."
Marshal Hua and all the Xianzhou generals looked at Herta with complete trust.
After all, Herta had already created too many impossibilities. She had researched the Power of Existence and temporarily resolved the apocalypse of Nihility, and she had even researched the spiriton... influencing the future so that her future self would ascend into an Aeon!
Her research was changing herself, and it was also changing the cosmos.
In the future, with Herta's heaven-defying intelligence and ability, it was entirely possible that she really would solve the Four Apocalypses and truly save this universe!
...
While the Xianzhou generals and Herta were enjoying their conversation, outside, above Herta City on The Blue, numerous envoys from cosmic factions stationed in the area saw all six world-ships of the Xianzhou Alliance arrive, as well as the fleeting aura of the Reignbow Arbiter.
The envoys of countless factions immediately realized that a major event capable of shaking the entire cosmos was about to erupt in The Blue system!
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