"My judgment was slightly off. This time, Nous' glance was not to bless you and make you an Emanator. But that only further proves how special you are, Herta," Ruan Mei said to The Herta.
"In the past, I produced numerous biological research results, yet I never attracted Nous' attention. I was always the one who went to seek an audience with Them and ask questions."
"But with you, Herta, it's different. When you developed the astral computer, They specifically came to take a look at you. That is highly unusual."
"After all, I am Herta. It is only natural that the technologies I develop would draw the attention of an Aeon," Herta replied in her usual confident tone. "And I believe that even if the Droidhead does not crown me as an Emanator of Erudition, in the future I can still complete my own self-coronation."
"Self-coronation is extremely difficult... even for a genius. But you are different, Herta. Your research efficiency is simply too fast. If you can maintain this level of productivity, then at some point in the future, you will surely complete your self-coronation!"
Ruan Mei's words were filled with seriousness and trust. She trusted Herta's unparalleled genius.
A faint smile curved at the corner of Herta's lips. "My research efficiency will not slow down. On the contrary, it will only become faster. Because I am Herta. Herta has no limits!"
Of course, a large part of why Herta believed she had no limits was because she truly was narcissistic. But another reason was Herman—the Research System.
According to what Herman had previously said, as long as she consumed points, she could add research points, allowing her current 1500 research points to rise to an even higher level.
Herta believed that as long as she was given enough time to earn points through research, one day her research points would exceed ten thousand, even one hundred thousand, one million... or perhaps even more.
By then, the smartest being in the universe might not necessarily be the Droidhead—but her, The Herta!!
After reaching this thought, The Herta continued speaking to Ruan Mei. "By the way, I've already spoken with Screwllum. We're going to explore that world where Trailblaze has yet to set foot."
A trace of contemplation flashed through Ruan Mei's eyes before she nodded. "That is for the best. A world not yet touched by Trailblaze could very well be dangerous. Exploring together would be safer."
"Alright."
Herta nodded. "Then next, let's discuss the profit split for selling the Honkai Beasts. Fifty-fifty?"
Ruan Mei immediately shook her head.
"Too little?"
"No, too much," Ruan Mei said seriously. "No matter what, the energy of Honkai was discovered by you. And it was the little Hertas under your command who accomplished the domestication of the Honkai Beasts. I only developed the Stigmata technology... such a trivial technique."
Herta smiled. "But you'll still be responsible for breeding more Honkai Beasts and increasing their production output."
"Even so, fifty percent is too high. Seventy-thirty."
"But—"
Seeing that The Herta was about to continue, Ruan Mei directly interrupted her. "Herta, your intelligence and scholarship are extraordinary—perhaps even limitless. But you are ultimately a newly risen genius. Your assets are still relatively limited. I am different. I am an Emanator of Erudition and have already developed numerous biological technologies."
"Those technologies, I have licensed through the interastral network to various factions. The annual fees are..." Ruan Mei raised a single finger at the end of her sentence.
"One trillion Credits?" Herta guessed.
"Ten trillion," Ruan Mei replied calmly. "Although I live in seclusion, Foxians, Borisin, and even the Elixir Seekers... all use my patents. And those ten trillion Credits are just the patent fees for this Amber Era month. Over a full year, it amounts to slightly more than one quadrillion Credits."
"You're using the Amber Era calendar?"
"No. The Xianzhou star calendar."
!!
Herta was stunned. She had never imagined that Ruan Mei's annual patent income would be this high—one quadrillion per year.
For comparison, the Blue Federation's annual GDP was only slightly over ten billion Credits.
Ruan Mei's yearly income was equivalent to the total annual output of one hundred thousand Blue Federations!
So this was the financial power of a veteran genius?!
In comparison, the mere trillion-plus Credits she had earned in less than a month truly was not much money at all.
After pondering this, Herta slowly said to Ruan Mei, "Seventy-thirty it is. Next, I'll contact the IPC and borrow their distribution channels to sell the Honkai Beasts."
Ruan Mei nodded.
In the next moment, The Herta's consciousness withdrew from the body of Herta 09 and returned to her original body.
Herta 09's own consciousness once again took control of the puppet body. She planted her hands on her hips and glared at Ruan Mei with puffed cheeks. "Do you believe me now? That I'm not a split personality of Madam Herta?"
"I believe you. And little Herta is very cute," Ruan Mei said with a faint smile. She lifted her head and glanced at Ruanruan. Ruanruan immediately understood and used a cloud to carry Ruan Mei's pastries over to Herta 09.
"It looks delicious."
Herta 09 stared at the plum blossom cake in front of her, her greedy little expression almost drooling.
"It's for you."
"Yay! Sister Ruan is a good person!"
Herta 09 cheered and immediately took the plum blossom cake from the cloud, eating it with great relish.
Watching this scene, Ruan Mei maintained her faint smile—and further confirmed that Herta had likely not been lying earlier.
The relationship between The Herta and Hertas was not that of original body and split self, but creator and creation.
After all, if Herta 09's personality had truly split from Herta's original body, she would have known everything that had happened at the genius outpost near the black hole's edge... including why Herta had not wanted to eat plum blossom cake at that time.
"Herta, what do you think of The Herta?"
To further confirm the relationship between Herta and her puppet, Ruan Mei asked Herta 09 this key question.
Ruan Mei's words directly triggered a keyword response:
"Madam Herta is unparalleled in the world. Madam Herta outshines all others. Madam Herta possesses supreme intelligence."
"If the Aeon of Beauty, Idrila, had not gone missing and fallen, Madam Herta should have become an Emanator of Beauty—not merely a genius of the Genius Society as she is now."
Upon hearing this, Ruan Mei realized that in Herta 09's eyes, The Herta was the Creator—the God of Creation... a mother-like existence.
In truth, Ruan Mei herself had once heard similar sentiments from many of the beings she had personally enlightened.
For example: Ruan Mei is the Creator who shaped heaven and earth, the most intelligent genius in the cosmos, a woman whose wisdom rivals that of the Aeons!!
Of course, Ruan Mei herself was not like Herta, brimming with confidence that she could accomplish anything. She simply believed that if she continued her research, then one day she would become...
At that moment, the lives she enlightened and created would no longer be limited to a gaseous planet or a solar star.
Black holes, white dwarfs, even the universe itself—eventually even the unknowable domain would be enlightened by her.
With such thoughts in mind, Ruan Mei looked at Herta 09 and said, "If the plum blossom cake tastes good, then eat more. There's plenty aboard Ruanruan."
"Then can I get some for my partners too?"
"Your partners—do you mean the little Hertas who participated in building the astral computer?"
Herta 09 nodded repeatedly. "Yes. They're my best friends. And I think after helping Madam Herta build the astral computer, they must already be hungry. I want to bring them some food."
Ruan Mei did not hesitate. Stepping lightly across the void, she swiftly returned to Ruanruan, then turned to Herta 09, who remained where she was. "Follow me. We'll make more plum blossom cakes together—for your little partners."
"Okay!"
Herta's eyes lit up. She immediately called for the Herta Magic Wand to follow her—only to remember that Madam Herta had already taken it away.
At that moment, Ruan Mei's wand, which had been floating beside her, flew to Herta 09's side. "Since the Herta Magic Wand isn't here, I'll take you up instead."
"Okay!"
Riding Ruan Mei's wand, little Herta shot into the sky and boarded Ruanruan, beginning the process of making plum blossom cakes.
However, for some unknown reason, she kept failing. Even after watching instructional videos, she could not learn. In the end, Ruan Mei even guided her hand by hand—yet Herta 09 still failed to grasp it.
This left Herta 09 utterly bewildered.
That shouldn't be the case... I've already mastered the techniques for castrating Honkai Beasts and removing biological erosion. After these days of practice, I've become quite proficient. So why can't I learn how to cook—how to make plum blossom cake?!
Carrying this confusion and doubt, Herta 09 entered the Stigmata Space and asked Stigmata Herta why she could not learn to cook.
Stigmata Herta spread her hands. "Even if you ask me, I can't answer that. After all, the real-world Herta doesn't know how to cook either."
"Madam Herta can't cook either?" Herta's eyes brightened, delighted as though she had just heard juicy gossip.
Stigmata Herta nodded frankly. "That's right. The dishes she makes always end up with all sorts of problems. That's why she usually orders takeout."
After saying this, Stigmata Herta paused. "By the way, once you leave the Stigmata Space, don't tell anyone I told you this. I'm afraid Madam Herta will come after me for trouble."
"Don't worry. Herta 09 never lies."
"Good."
Stigmata Herta nodded.
After exiting the Stigmata Space, little Herta explained to Ruan Mei that the reason she could not cook or learn to make plum blossom cakes was a design flaw—more precisely, because The Herta herself had never learned to cook, she had never installed any cooking-related functions for the little Hertas.
Ruan Mei did not quite believe it and attempted to teach Herta 09 several more times, even simplifying the steps of making plum blossom cake. Yet even with such meticulous guidance, little Herta still failed to learn.
This confirmed for Ruan Mei that the little Hertas designed and manufactured by Herta were indeed likely incapable of learning to cook.
Thus, she asked Herta 09 to wait at the side while she personally prepared the plum blossom cakes.
...
Meanwhile, The Herta herself was already riding the Herta Magic Wand at high speed toward one of the IPC's spacecraft. There, she found Jade—one of the heads of the Strategic Investment Department—and informed her of her intent to cooperate with the IPC.
"Miss Herta, are you saying you want to sell the processing power of your astral computer to the IPC?"
Jade's eyes lit up slightly as she thought to herself:
If Miss Herta truly intends to sell the processing power of her astral computer, that would be wonderful!
After all, the construction of Herta's super astral computer had attracted Nous' glance. Processing power from an astral computer acknowledged by an Aeon would naturally become extremely valuable.
With a bit of commercial promotion by the IPC, the processing power of Herta's super astral computer could fetch an astronomical price among the scholars of the Intelligentsia Guild!!
As Jade reached this thought, the gentle expression on her mature face grew even warmer.
At that moment, however, Herta responded calmly. "The project I wish to cooperate on is not the sale of astral computer processing power. After all, a single astral computer's processing power is nothing special to the IPC. The IPC owns many astral computers, does it not?"
"That is different. Your newly built astral computer was glanced at by an Aeon. That alone elevates its value. With proper commercialization and publicity, it would certainly sell well in the market!"
Herta shook her head again. "I have other uses for the astral computer's processing power."
"Then, Miss Herta, what exactly is the cooperation project you wish to discuss?"
"Selling Honkai Beasts."
"Honkai Beasts? What are those?"
"Do you see that?"
The Herta raised her hand and pointed in a certain direction.
Following her gesture, Jade looked over. "That is a purple S-class gaseous planet. Is there a problem with it?"
"No. That is not a gaseous planet. Its name is Mars. It is a terrestrial world, with solid land." Herta paused slightly. "Its original color was red. It turned purple because I conducted a few small experiments there and modified its ecological environment. In short, come with me and you'll understand."
"Very well."
Jade agreed at once and immediately piloted the ship toward Mars.
With the thrusters pushed to maximum and brilliant flames erupting outward, the spacecraft sped rapidly through the vacuum of space.
Before long, the Strategic Investment Department's vessel pierced through Mars' atmosphere—an atmosphere composed of extremely high concentrations of Honkai energy.
Through it, Jade—one of the Ten Stonehearts of the IPC's Strategic Investment Department—finally saw the true face of Mars beneath its veil of purple mist.
Beasts.
Dense beyond measure, stretching across the sky and forming surging tidal waves—everywhere, beasts.
And more importantly, Jade had never seen creatures like these before.
She had studied the IPC's biological encyclopedia and was familiar with countless species across the cosmos... yet the grotesque beasts living on Mars were entirely unknown to her. She found herself frozen in place.
Only after a long moment did Jade slowly turn her head and speak. "Miss Herta... these are the Honkai Beasts you intend to trade with the IPC?!"
The Herta answered confidently, "That's right. Look how cute they are. Once we sell them across the universe, I'm sure they'll be a massive hit."
"..."