After hearing Herta's inner thoughts, Herman couldn't help but say, "So you agree to cooperate with Ruan Mei and develop technology together for mutual benefit?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Herta replied matter-of-factly, then shot back, "And in the beginning, you were the one who recommended that I collaborate with more geniuses. That's the only way to develop those technologies inspired by the Universal Genius talent in a more reasonable way!"
"Mm, then it's settled."
Herman closed his eyes and opened them again, then spoke to Ruan Mei before him. "Go ahead and begin your research. The Dark Plane, Super Genes, the God Tree... I hope you can carry out in-depth development on these technologies and uncover more of their mysteries."
"Alright."
A faint smile curved at the corner of Ruan Mei's lips. She lifted a hand to brush back her hair and asked Herta where the relevant technical data was located—she wanted to review it. After all, only by fully understanding these technologies could she carry out deeper development.
Herman said seriously, "All the detailed research materials are with the Fourth Mirror. Ruan Mei, go discuss access with it. As for me, I'll be starting a new round of research as well."
Ruan Mei's heart stirred. "You're going to begin researching the Gilded Blood of Extinction... and even the Blood of Abundance?"
"Exactly. I'll be busy for a while."
After saying this, Herman was already thinking inwardly:
The Blood of Abundance, the Gilded Blood of Extinction, the Blood of a Genius, and the Mask of the Masked Fool—now that these four key research materials are in hand, the newly born dimensional space known as the Warp can finally begin construction!
As long as the Warp is successfully opened, it will be able to absorb emotional energy from across the cosmos. At that point, the Devil Tree can also begin construction.
The only question now was whether Herta had already fully understood the Warp technology within the Simulated Laboratory. After all, this time the materials were extremely special.
Whether it was the mask or the Gilded Blood of Extinction and the Blood of Abundance, all of them were closely related to the Aeons.
If the attempt to open the Warp failed this time and all materials were lost, there would be no second chance.
After thinking this through, Herman quickly contacted Herta and asked this crucial question.
"Of course. I'm Herta. As for the forging of the Warp, I've conducted hundreds—no, thousands—of simulations in the Simulated Laboratory. There's now a stable success rate."
Herta's voice was as confident as ever.
"It needs to be absolutely stable. You know we only have one set of materials for constructing the Warp."
"Relax. Nothing will go wrong."
Herman suggested, "In that case, shall we start directly?"
Herta nodded. "That's exactly what I had in mind."
"Should we change locations? After all, we're creating a brand-new dimension. The Blue is far too small."
"That's true. Let's construct it at the edge of The Blue's star system—the star rail region. That way, once the Warp is successfully forged, it can use the star rails built to rapidly absorb emotional energy from across the universe to sustain itself."
After saying this, Herta thought of something else and added, "Right, I just remembered—the construction of the Warp also requires an enormous amount of emotional energy and a ritual. I'll contact the Blue Federation immediately and have them prepare."
Herman shook his head. "I don't think that's necessary. The disturbance you caused in the Yongmei Star System was massive. Right now, countless people across The Blue—and even in more distant star systems—have experienced intense emotional fluctuations because of you. That massive amount of emotional energy is already in place."
"In other words, I can start forging the Warp right away?"
"Exactly."
After getting confirmation from Herman, Herta wasted no time. She immediately took the materials, mounted her magic wand, and shot toward the sky.
Having crowned herself as an Emanator of Erudition, her flight speed had naturally increased. Even within a planet—where gravity, atmosphere, and various media imposed resistance—her speed still surpassed that of light.
Whoosh!
In an instant, she burst out of The Blue's star system.
Before long, she reached the boundary of the system. In this region, she could hear the sound of surging tides—it was the Imaginary tide zone in motion.
Listening to these sounds, Herta fixed her gaze on the Super Herta Astral Computer and silently spoke in her mind.
'Fourth Mirror, begin calculating the psionic creation formula, the Warp creation ritual, and the placement positions of materials...'
Buzz...
At that moment, the Super Herta Astral Computer began operating at full capacity, performing frenzied calculations.
In the end, after consuming an enormous amount of energy, it completed the positioning.
Without hesitation, Herta followed the calculated results. She took out the mask and the three special types of blood one by one, arranging them in the pattern of a chaotic four-pointed star. Then she raised her wand and drew a portion of Imaginary energy from the tide zone, pouring it over the four special materials.
Crash...
The sound of the Imaginary tide echoed as the four materials—arranged in a mysterious configuration—began to emit countless rays of light.
Destruction, Erudition, Elation, and Abundance—these four concepts were extracted and ultimately transformed by the chaotic four-pointed star into an extremely special form of energy.
This energy was completely different from Imaginary energy—and even more so from Path energy.
However, it still remained in an illusory state and required a special attribute to complete it.
Herta was not surprised. She continued to wave her wand. The power of an Emanator of Erudition surged in her hands, drawing in the emotional energy of countless beings across The Blue's star system—those who chanted her name and experienced emotional upheaval because of her.
The newly formed energy began to surge violently, yet it had not completed its final transformation.
At that moment, Herman's voice echoed within Herta's mind:
"Herta, the emotional energy of The Blue's star system isn't enough. Draw in even more emotional energy—I believe you can do it."
"Of course I can," Herta replied with her usual confidence. "The Herta puppets I sent to over a hundred star systems aren't there for nothing! Using them as nodes, and the Stigmata Space as channels, they can supply me with even more emotional energy. I'll contact the Hertas now."
...
In the Jarilo star system, Herta 30 raised her head at that moment, a look of surprise appearing on her delicate face.
Madam Herta is contacting me? Asking how things are going in the Jarilo system—whether I've triggered emotional fluctuations within Jarilo's civilization... and saying she wants to collect emotional energy through the Stigmata Space?
Herta 30 turned her gaze into the distance, staring at the Dawn Device that had already been constructed and had become the new sun of Belobog. She thought silently to herself:
Just one system day ago, the Dawn Device had been completed—and lit up at the same time.
Everyone in Belobog—including the Supreme Guardian—deeply thanked me and Madam Herta. That should count as triggering emotional fluctuations within the civilization, right?
With this thought in mind, Herta 30 closed her eyes and followed Herta's instructions, turning herself into a base station. She guided the emotional energy of everyone in Belobog, channeling it through her body and the Stigmata Space toward Herta's main body.
Of course, Herta 30 was far from the only one supplying emotional energy. There was also Herta 33.
Herta 33 had gone to a three-sun system—the Three-Body world.
At this moment, she too functioned as a node within the Herta Array, receiving the emotional fluctuations of the Three-Body civilization caused by the Honkai Beast Parvati...
Thus, the emotional energy of the Three-Body civilization was transmitted to Herta.
Meanwhile, in Planarcadia, Herta 66, after receiving the order from the main Herta, not only transformed into a base station but also started a livestream:
"Hello everyone, Herta-chan is live again! Hope you'll all support Herta-chan. Now Herta-chan is about to start a PK match with a new streamer, Hanami—stay tuned!"
"Wow, Herta-chan is so cute. I'm Herta-chan's dog!"
"Who's Hanami? Feels like a new streamer!"
"Streamer, maybe skip the PK and tell us—what's your relationship with that Herta from the IPC news, the one who forced back a Lord Ravager?"
The chat flooded with comments.
Watching the barrage, Herta curled her lips into a faint smile and said, "Let me tell you a little secret. Herta-chan is actually a creation of Madam Herta—the same Madam Herta from the news."
"Look at the mechanical structure on my body—you can tell I'm a puppet. A puppet with only seventy to eighty percent of Madam Herta's charm!"
!!
This instantly sent the Planarcadia viewers into a frenzy:
"Streamer, is that true?!"
"You're really a puppet created by that genius—and only have seventy to eighty percent of her charm?"
"Then just how charming is the real Madam Herta?!"
"Streamer, can you tell us how Madam Herta forced back the Lord Ravager? And has she already reached the level of an Emanator?"
"Streamer, how did Madam Herta gather so many allies to fight against the Destruction faction? I really want to learn that kind of social skill—please teach us!"
The barrage kept scrolling endlessly, and the number of viewers surged rapidly.
Seeing this, Herta 66 flushed with excitement as she answered questions one after another, while thinking to herself:
In this way, I've also stirred people's emotions. I can channel emotional energy to support Miss Herta.
With that thought, she continued answering more questions. The livestream's popularity soared even higher.
All of this was seen by Sparkle—the one competing in the PK against Herta No. 66. Wearing a mask, Sparkle couldn't help stomping her feet as she watched her viewer count continuously drop, flowing toward the opposing stream.
"Audience... dear audience, Hanami's stream is great too! Don't leave, don't leave..." Sparkle hurriedly tried to retain them.
"Can't help it—the other stream is way more interesting! And it's tied to the hottest topic in the cosmos—Miss Herta, the one who blocked a Lord Ravager!"
"Leaving, leaving—going to watch Herta-chan!"
"Hanami, I'll watch you next time."
...
Hanami—or rather, Sparkle—watched as her viewer count dropped from tens of thousands to thousands, then hundreds. She felt utterly miserable.
She had originally thought that connecting with Herta-chan, a rising star streamer in Planarcadia, for a PK match today would help her attract traffic.
But she never expected that Herta-chan's main body would pull off something so shocking—fighting against multiple Lord Ravagers in the Yongmei Star System and escaping unscathed.
Now, with Herta-chan recounting Herta's story in the stream, it was siphoning traffic from across the entire network.
Today, Herta-chan was destined to become a super internet celebrity in Planarcadia. In contrast, Sparkle's Hanami account was on the verge of complete collapse.
Thinking this, unwillingness surged within Sparkle. She continued anxiously trying to retain viewers while staring fixedly at the viewer count in the corner of her screen, watching it drop to double digits, then single digits, and finally—zero.
Seeing this, Sparkle's lips twitched. She knew she had lost this PK completely.
At the same time, she couldn't help but laugh in exasperation. She had never expected her viewer count to drop all the way to zero.
This clearly showed that her stream hadn't built a core or loyal fanbase.
Perhaps... she should consider switching to a new account.
Sparkle fell into thought. After a few seconds, she also began watching Herta-chan's stream, learning about the life of Herta—the 83rd Seat of the Genius Society—from the casual chatter, gradually becoming drawn in.
...
Time passed steadily. The emotional energy from nearly a hundred worlds flowed through the Hertas' base stations, the Herta Array, and the Stigmata Space, ultimately converging upon the main Herta.
Feeling this surging energy from countless beings across the cosmos, Herta wasted no time and injected it into the still-incomplete psionic energy.
Boom... boom... boom...
After being nourished by emotional energy, the psionic energy finally completed its ultimate transformation—becoming true psionic power.
The nature of psionic power was extremely special. It could already be described as energy beyond the universe itself. And with its birth, the opening of the Warp could officially begin.
A smile curved on Herta's lips as she quietly waited for the accumulation of psionic power to complete.
She confirmed that once this energy reached a certain threshold, she could release a psionic lightning bolt—one that contained the Warp dimension creation formula calculated by the Super Herta Astral Computer.
Time passed bit by bit.
After one system hour, Herta judged that the time was right. She hurled that enormous psionic lightning bolt toward the edge of The Blue star system.
With a thunderous crack, a void opened within the Imaginary tide zone. Within that void, a special space—created by lightning of genesis—took shape: a dimensional layer, the Warp.
The moment this space was born, it began operating autonomously, absorbing and containing all emotional energy it could capture.