Chapter 183: Herta, Really? Fake? Should I Go For It?
"This mask..."
Fiddling with the orange-red mask, particleized data streams cast tiny specks of light on her irises. After a scan, Herta gazed at the mask's front, furrowing her brow.
It was a Curio, but so ugly!
After a full 1-second long internal struggle, curiosity ultimately gained the upper hand for a brief moment, and Herta placed the mask over her delicate and cute little face.
Almost at the same instant.
Sensing the mask being worn by a sentient being, Tala, sealed within, immediately became excited.
The Shadow Emperor—Tala—had been very depressed lately.
Previously, when the sealed object was worn by a blonde female human, Tala had wanted to corrupt her with darkness, but a strange, unfamiliar power had restrained him.
That aside, as the wearer utilized dark power, Tala still slowly released the malevolent thoughts deep within her heart using darkness.
Unfortunately, that human was eliminated.
The next human to wear the mask was even stranger.
Normally, the process of corrupting a personality with darkness could be likened to painting a wall with a bucket of black oil.
The strange thing was, Tala never stopped wielding his roller brush, yet this wall was like a damn ghost; no matter how much he painted, he could never finish!
Just when he was about to paint the entire wall (personality) black, it would transform into a new one after over ninety percent was covered!
From the Shadow Emperor, he became a mere house painter, painting until he vomited blood.
His mindset changed considerably, painting until his mind exploded in frustration!
After a fit of impotent rage, Tala chose to give up.
Fine, it was alright even if no one wore the mask.
He was immortal anyway. Even if the sealed object remained in the grey-haired one's hands, how long could a human's lifespan be?
He just needed to wait for the next intelligent being to wear the sealed object.
He never expected to wait so quickly!
"It's not that damn grey-haired human… What a great opportunity!"
"Hoo~ I'm coming!"
The anger and frustration of the previous period erupted like a long-dormant volcano. Tala laughed wildly with excitement, engulfing the wearer's mind with immense darkness.
He, Tala, the Shadow Emperor, would surely corrupt the wearer this time and reappear in the world!
Tala made contact with the wearer's mind.
It was a brown-haired woman with an elegant and noble demeanor, aloof and proud, dressed in a black gown and wearing a wizard's hat adorned with purple bellflowers.
When the brown-haired beauty lowered her head and cast her gaze, the peculiar gleam in her amethyst eyes made Tala and the surging wave of darkness pause imperceptibly for a moment. This person… something seemed off.
Forget it, doesn't matter!
Charge, charge, charge!
The Shadow Emperor initiated the attack.
Then, Caelus clearly perceived an unfamiliar concept—[Erudition].
Tala conceded defeat!
What the heck!
A ghost!
"Oh?"
Outside, the moment the mask touched her face, it instantly enveloped the Herta puppet's entire head. A single syllable emerged, but it was a stereo dual-layered voice, like a demon's whisper.
"What's going on?"
March 7th, Himeko, Stelle, and the others, seeing this, raised their eyebrows in surprise and simultaneously looked at Caelus. This phenomenon had never occurred before when Caelus wore the mask.
"Being corrupted by Tala's power, or calling upon power beyond limits, will transition to the second stage."
Caelus poked Herta's little face.
"Corruption… Miss Herta won't be in danger, will she?"
Himeko smiled faintly, while Caelus looked at little March 7th, who had asked the question, with a strange expression.
Tala: I'm fighting Herta? Eh, for real, for fake, should I go for it?.jpg
"Interesting!"
Just as Caelus had anticipated, Herta was perfectly fine.
The next second, the mask, which theoretically couldn't be removed without the corresponding unsealing magic, was casually taken off by Herta.
With a look of delight at having found new research material, Herta swatted away the hand that was rubbing her cheek, looked at Caelus, and eagerly pressed on:
"This thing, where did you—get it from?"
"I got it on Jarilo-VI. However, the Phantom Mask is not a native product of Jarilo-VI. If the fragmented memories in my mind are accurate, this mask might come from beyond this world."
Observing Herta's reaction, Caelus blinked.
"Beyond this world?" Herta repeated the phrase.
"Exactly, beyond this world."
For ordinary people, 'beyond this world' undoubtedly means outside the heavens, other planets or galaxies. But for a genius, 'world' is clearly not so small.
Caelus's deliberately emphasized tone confirmed the meaning of 'world' for Herta: outside the Imaginary Tree!
Herta didn't fully believe it; perhaps, like Honkai Energy, the Imaginary Tree is boundless, and even the Trailblaze Aeon hasn't explored the entire universe. It might simply be a Curio from an unknown, distant world.
Regardless of its origin, the established fact was that this mask had piqued Herta's interest!
As a scientist driven by curiosity, she would never miss anything that caught her interest.
"A very interesting Curio, kid, want to sell it to me? I can buy it at a high price."
Without concealing her curiosity about the mask, Herta asked directly.
"No! I'm not selling!"
Before Caelus could answer, Stelle snatched the mask back from Herta's hand, shaking her head like a rattle-drum, her soft grey hair flying in disarray.
What could compare to—a loyal Shadow Legion, available twenty-four hours a day, always by your side, on call, without a single complaint?
Accustomed to being served by Shadows, she didn't want a dark future without Shadow servants!
"Don't be like that, Stelle. Herta is our good friend; everything can be discussed."
Caelus took the mask back from Stelle's hand.
"You're still the kid who understands my temperament."
Herta gave Caelus a 'very good' look.
"While I won't sell it, we can engage in the magic of friendship, but you know this isn't an ordinary Curio."
Caelus placed it over his face, snapped his fingers, and shadows immediately spread beneath everyone's feet.
Accompanied by ripples, as if slowly sinking into water, the group entered the Shadow Realm.
"Woah, what happened? What happened?"
"What is this place? It's so dark!"
March 7th and Stelle cried out in surprise; they had never been to the Shadow Realm before.
"This is… another special spatial dimension?"
Energy spectrums changed on her retina, and the alterations in spatial structure detected by her puppet's mechanisms intensified Herta's excited expression.
Caelus merely demonstrated it to Herta, then left the Shadow Nation: "And this little thing."
Caelus opened his palm, and a small Shadow Devourer monster, even smaller than a common white mouse, bounced out.
"It can endlessly devour the shadows of other creatures. The more shadows it consumes, the larger it grows, and its combat power becomes increasingly stronger."
"Devour shadows?" Even Himeko became curious upon hearing this.
"Mhm, like this."
At Caelus's command, the tiny Shadow Devourer soldier ran behind the Herta puppet, lay on the ground, and opened its shark-like mouth to gnaw on Herta's shadow cast by the light.
Feeling a strange power, distinct from Imaginary Energy, affecting her and seemingly drawing something from her, Herta did not resist.
Once the tiny Shadow Devourer soldier grew in size, Herta slightly raised an eyebrow, showing an intrigued expression.
"Interesting! Truly very interesting!"
The Shadow Realm and the Shadow Devourer soldiers intensified Herta's already strong curiosity, and the brown-haired puppet girl raised her small head.
"So, what's your point?"
"The mask is very important to me; the price needs to go up!"
"No problem!"
Herta replied instantly.
Betting Asta-jie's wallet, this was a strike that would penetrate the very Astral Express's funds!
"Not Credits."
"Then what do you want?"
Seeing Caelus staring at her with a smile, Herta crossed her arms over her chest, which was better than nothing, her tone flat.
"You've seen the mask's abilities. If you can find us some equivalent replacements, it's not impossible to trade it for your research."
"'Replacements'?" Herta's eyebrow twitched.
"Exactly. For example, various types and sizes of Herta puppets that can replace the Shadows. Give me tens of thousands of them." Caelus rubbed his hands together like a fly.
"Although the Shadows are convenient, they're too ugly!"
If possible, Caelus wished to replace them all with Herta puppets in maid outfits!
"Tens of thousands? You really dare to say that! Do you know how precious my puppets are!?" Herta nearly jumped up and down.
While a few hundred general-purpose puppets were nothing to her, to others, each one was a rare treasure!
Not to mention anything else, just the youthful appearance, possessing 70% of her true body's beauty, has immeasurable added value!
"Besides, even if I really gave you tens of thousands, could you afford their maintenance? Could the Astral Express accommodate them all?" Herta scoffed.
"Don't you—have any portable spatial equipment? Give me a few."
Facing 'Herta-Amon', Caelus spoke unceremoniously, simultaneously summoning Shadow Soldiers to continue their work.
"Oh, right, I haven't asked, why did you suddenly transfer your consciousness over?"
"You dare to bring that up?"
Herta unhappily tilted her head back, pushing her small face close to Caelus and glaring at him, expressing her emotions directly with her amethyst-like eyes.
You haven't come to test with me for so long, that's really bad. I'm going to glare with my eyes!.jpg
"Why didn't you come to test?"
"Uh, about that…"
Caelus, meeting Herta's gaze, blinked, seemed to recall something, and his eyes drifted away.
Stelle's body also stiffened. She ran to the side, secretly took out her phone behind Herta's back, and opened her chat history with Herta.
[Herta: My Simulated Universe is almost adjusted. Come and test it quickly!]
[Did You Flip the Trash Can Today?: Beg me~]
[Herta: Please, come and test it~]
[Did You Flip the Trash Can Today?: Busy saving planets. Next time for sure.]
It was a very brief conversation. A day passed between the first and second messages, and two days between the third and fourth.
It also included repeated messages that failed to send due to poor signal caused by the Stellaron.
On Caelus's phone, the chat history was almost identical.
"Kid, you're really too much. No one has ever dared to refuse me twice!"
Grabbing Caelus's collar and pulling him close, Herta gave him a headbutt.
"I didn't refuse; I was just busy, merely postponing it."
Caelus shrugged, but he didn't expect Herta to get even angrier upon hearing that.
"Procrastination is refusal! I, Herta, have never suffered such indignity!"
"Moreover, I even begged you, just as you requested!"
Herta extended her two small hands and pinched Caelus's and Stelle's cheeks, venting her displeasure.
She, the genius, Herta, was actually 'ghosted' by two kids multiple times!
When had she ever suffered such indignity?
But now, in order to trade for research on this peculiar mask, and to get the two grey-haired ones to test the Simulated Universe again, she had to endure it.
Damn it!
"This time, I've invited a partner to observe together. Hurry to Herta Space Station and test for me!"
"And this mask, I'll need your help with it too."
Herta was not only interested in the mask but also in the consciousness sealed within it. If she weren't an Emanator, she might truly be affected by its internal power.
Ordinary Pathstriders couldn't avoid it, but Caelus seemed unaffected, making him the ideal research assistant!
As for wearing the mask herself, it was too ugly!
It would simply defile her magnificent face!
"But we'll be busy with renovations and designing rooms these next few days; otherwise, we won't finish before the warp jump."
Stelle hesitated.
"You're going to 'ghost' my test for something as trivial as this?"
Herta nearly exploded with anger, "Have Asta-jie call the company's renovation team to design it! Tell them your requirements, and they'll design until you're satisfied!"
"In short, get to the Space Station!"
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