Chapter 178: Herta 5
Give me stones! Please!
Anyway it seems that Thanos is the next guest, since he overwhelms Homelander by a large margin, maybe next time for John.
As Thanos said, he’s inevitable.
—-
Herta was very satisfied with the reaction of her usually calm and collected friend. A chance like this doesn’t come often, so she secretly took a picture and showed it to her on a later occasion just to remind her of this moment.
But Ruan Mei couldn’t care less about it; what was important to her at the moment was ’how’ Herta achieved which she claimed to understand the greatest mystery in this very universe.
"How?"
"Let’s say I was invited to this very fascinating place." Herta kept her friend in suspense, but clearly Ruan Mei wasn’t amused and actually felt annoyed..?
Ruan Mei found herself a bit surprised, considering it’s been so long since she experienced the emotion called ’annoyance’, effectively making her reflect that perhaps she still has some humanity remaining in her.
"...Is this your way of teasing? Childish."
Herta let out a snort and replied. "Still, it worked; I consider that a success. But yes, I won’t keep you in suspense anymore."
Then her expression immediately changed into a serious one. "With that place’s existence, we won’t have to look for an Aeon, track their location or even simulate them."
She was a bit annoyed by the fact that her proudest creation was the simulated universe, which was created by a joint effort of 4 Genius Society Members. Has become completely unnecessary, because the whole point of this creation was to gather the data of Aeons.
Now, however, with the existence of the shop, she could get the data directly from the real thing rather than the inferior ones from the simulated universe.
Still, it wasn’t without a use, but regardless, it is now a secondary thing rather than a priority.
"Such a place exists in the universe?" Ruan Mei was surprised by this; she had never heard of such a place. If she did, she’d immediately go and drop all of her experiments.
After all, what was more important than finding a live Aeon? That she could study anytime she wanted?
Herta paused for a bit before admitting. "No, not in this universe."
She was sure of this; whatever that place’s location is, it certainly isn’t from their universe or within the imaginary tree.
(A/N: For those who don’t know about the imaginary tree, it’s basically the hoyoverse version of the multiverse; Honkai Impact 3rd, Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, ZZZ and other games from their franchise exist within it.)
Ruan Mei couldn’t help but look at Herta with a blank look. "So, how were you invited exactly to this place from another universe?"
Herta thought for a moment before deciding to answer her honestly despite not liking it. "Luck."
Ruan could only stare at her upon hearing that answer, not because it was shocking but because Herta actually admitted that she only managed to get invited due to some ’luck’.
You must know, at their level, luck is merely something that they could manipulate through an invention; to them, luck isn’t some mysterious concept, but a thing that could be controlled.
So, for Herta to admit that is very unexpected.
After all, she once created a curio that could manipulate luck, at least as lucky as an ordinary person.
And don’t underestimate that; in this universe where it’s not strange for an entire solar system to vanish daily, the luck of an ordinary person who will live a boring life till they die is actually a good thing, and Herta made that kind of curio.
Using that curio guarantees you will live the life of an ordinary person, unless, of course, you court death.
No amount of luck could save you from your own stupidity.
"Oh, don’t look at me like that. I hate to admit it, but it’s the truth; if I didn’t get lucky, I wouldn’t have gotten there."
"Right." Ruan Mei believed her, knowing Herta for so long that she was very aware of her personality, which admittedly is not complicated.
Herta is a very prideful individual; lying is beneath her. Even if her words sounded like pure fantasy, Ruan Mei believed her regardless.
But of course, because she has her own method of knowing whether a person lied or not, she’s very adept at biology and could see through a person just by looking at them, their thoughts, their goal and even their future actions.
Herta then proceeded to tell her what transpired in the shop, which includes the fact that you can buy an Aeon as a pet, and that even ascending to become an Aeon yourself is achievable.
But only if you had sufficient money to buy it. There was no limit to how many things you could buy.
Anything and everything is available.
At least from what Herta could see, the shop is an endless treasure trove.
The more Ruan Mei heard about the things in the shop, the more her expression changed to genuine shock.
Her expression was more exaggerated than before, and for the first time in a long time, she had experienced shock once again.
Because that place is something straight out of someone’s wet dream, an incomprehensible place that literally gives you what you want for the right price.
She could no longer wait; she stared directly at Herta with a burning desire, her longing for that place was almost visible to Herta’s eyes.
"Take me there right now." It wasn’t her asking, but an outright demand.
Who wouldn’t, not after knowing that everything she wanted could be achieved just by going to that place.
Ruan Mei’s reaction is already pretty mild; after all, plenty of people would have acted worse.
Herta wondered if her reaction would be similar to Ruan Mei’s if she wasn’t the one who went there, but thankfully she wasn’t going to find out.
"No."
"Why?" Ruan Mei barely managed to keep herself from shouting.
"First of all, I just went there, and I refuse to come back again after such a short period of time."
"Then just let me access the door; you don’t have to be present." Ruan Mei said that to her face.
Herta’s eyes narrowed before letting out a helpless sigh. "Ruan Mei, it’s not like I’m preventing you from going in; I welcome it. With what you have right now, you won’t have enough money to exchange for what you want."
Ruan stared at her for a while before finally saying. "Fine, I’ll wait; however, I won’t be waiting for long. I will also gather valuable things to exchange for that place’s currency."
She didn’t want to waste a single second by staying here; instead, she would use that time to gather things that she thinks would be useful for the exchange.
Herta then stopped her from leaving. "Wait, I need your help with something."
Ruan paused and shifted her beautiful face toward Herta’s. "What is it?"
"As I mentioned, I bought a lot of magical artifacts from the place," Herta said, while taking out a small, ornate, brightly colored piece of jewelry.
"Hm? A gem? No, that’s an entire person’s soul in a physical form."
And just like that, Ruan Mei was interested; after all, she is a biologist, a person who studies life.
This was something new, something she had never encountered; her curiosity would never allow her to study it.
Seeing her friend’s obvious interest, she smiled and succeeded in arousing her scientific curiosity.
Then she explained. "This is a soul gem, like you said; it is a physical manifestation of a person’s soul, not just any soul but from a magical girl!"
Herta admitted that she got excited there for a moment, but who can blame her. It was a real magical girl in the palm of her hand!
Ruan Mei couldn’t care less about whose soul this was; all she wanted was to study it and see if she could replicate it and make it better.
"Now that I have your attention, will you help me with this?" Herta is like the devil offering something that she can’t refuse.
Ruan Mei knew this, but didn’t care, so she willingly took the bite. "I will help you; now give it to me so that I can have a better look."
Herta shrugged and gave it to her.
Ruan Mei stared at the soul gem in her hand with a slight smile on her face and said. "What a fascinating thing you are."
And that is the beginning of how the magical girls came to be in this universe.
(A/N: Spoiler, that’s Mami-senpai’s soul gem, if you know, you know.)
—
Omake - In a parallel timeline where the conversation outcome was different
She could no longer wait; she stared directly at Herta with a burning desire, her longing for that place was almost visible to Herta’s eyes.
"Decrease me there." Ruan Mei said.
"What?" Herta stared at her in confusion.
"Leave me alone."
"Huh?" She became more confused.
"Put me down."
"Ruan Mei, speak human." Herta’s eyelid twitched.
"I mean, I want to go there." Ruan finally managed to say what she wanted.
Herta smiled at that and answered. "No."
"Why not?!!"
—
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