Chapter 186: Testing Begins!
"What in the world is going on?"
Seeing the massive snot-like blob drawn on her portrait, Herta was enraged, a "well" symbol instantly appearing above her puppet's head (indicating veins popping out in anger).
"Who was it? Who did this?"
To dare defile her drop-dead gorgeous, fox-like beauty with such a filthy thing – this was beyond endurance for Herta!
Defiling her beauty enraged Herta even more than defiling her wisdom; she was practically screaming for a massacre.
"I know!"
Caelus, looking utterly solemn and righteous, stepped forward without hesitation, adding fuel to the fire and spicing things up for his "good son's" (referring to the prankster's) thrill-seeking endeavors.
Stelle's eyebrow twitched; based on her understanding of Caelus, she immediately sensed something was off.
Caelus's reaction...
"We have clues too!"
The Stellaron Spirit (Stelle) blinked, immediately raising her hand; she didn't know who would get pranked, but she was in!
Seeing Ms. Herta's rage burning and her flying into a tantrum, Leonard was so terrified he couldn't even breathe, unable to utter a single word.
The two "grey-hairs" huddled together, chattering away as they told Herta about their recent discoveries.
Caelus naturally wouldn't reveal that his "good son" (the prankster) was still inside the space station, only stating his previous conjectures. Stelle, meanwhile, added the clues she and Leonard had investigated.
During this process, Herta swiftly mobilized puppets in other areas of the space station to check the condition of portraits and sculptures. Her face grew darker and darker.
"It's the Stellaron Hunters, Silver Wolf... Very good! Very good!"
Previously, the Stellaron Hunters had caused trouble in the space station, but considering they had placed a Stellaron inside Stelle and left behind these two special individuals, Caelus and Stelle, which led to Seele's unexpected arrival at the space station.
Each "little rascal" greatly interested Herta, and she generally didn't bother with the space station's affairs, so she had magnanimously let the Stellaron Hunters off the hook once.
She never expected someone would dare provoke her like this!
"You two, come to my office."
Angry as she was, Herta was always a reasonable person; she wouldn't direct her anger at the wrong people.
"No problem, we're on our way!"
Helping "Sister Silver Wolf" out, and not forgetting the system mission, Caelus nodded repeatedly.
Herta's eyes flickered, becoming hollow for a moment; it seemed Herta had disconnected. The puppet spoke again, its voice gaining a faint electronic tone:
"Initiating antivirus system."
Although Herta's portrait projections were specially designed and difficult for even top-tier hackers to infiltrate and alter, Silver Wolf had simply layered images directly onto the air, forcibly creating various memes.
"Hey, don't run off so fast, I still have something I want to ask."
Stelle grabbed Herta's puppet by the shoulders and shook it vigorously. Her only answer was the puppet's automated reply:
"Please proceed to the office immediately."
"What do you want to ask?" Caelus looked at the Stellaron Spirit (Stelle).
"About the Stellaron Hunter's objective."
Stelle crossed her arms, holding up a finger like a famous detective. "Silver Wolf's target was a curio. That curio was eventually sent into Herta's office, and then it disappeared."
"Go ask her in the office then."
Caelus shrugged, then he and Stelle bid farewell to Leonard and walked towards Herta's office.
On the way, they saw several strange small robots parked in various nooks and crannies.
Conveniently shutting down all these small robots, Stelle felt quite proud of her actions in helping Herta Space Station save electricity, as if she could vaguely hear the praise of lofty morals.
Because they were helping Herta test the Simulated Universe, the two of them were among the very few with permission to enter Herta's office in the entire Herta Space Station.
The office door opened automatically. In the vast room, beside a giant, intricate machine, there was another figure besides Herta.
He wore a brown suit with a white undershirt and trousers, topped with a gentleman's hat, exuding elegance.
Lord Screwllum, Member #76 of the Genius Society, a Mechanical Aristocrat, one of the creators of the Simulated Universe: Screwllum.
"I presume you two are Mr. Caelus and Ms. Stelle, whom Herta often mentions these days. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Seeing the two "grey-hairs" arrive, Screwllum paused his conversation with Herta, turned to look at them, and greeted them with elegant courtesy.
"Hello, Mr. Screwllum." Caelus smiled faintly and nodded.
"Hi there~!" Stelle waved broadly.
"Herta is very curious about you two, and so am I. What does it feel like to co-exist with a Stellaron? I hope we'll have enough time to get to know each other later."
Compared to Herta, a haughty "little devil girl" whose narcissism could rival Caelus's, Screwllum was a very amiable gentleman robot, speaking with great politeness.
So polite that Caelus didn't even bother to joke with him.
"Oh, right, Herta, where's that curio called 'Punklorde Mentality'?" Stelle suddenly remembered something and asked Herta.
Herta, who was debugging the Simulated Universe and simultaneously controlling other puppets, didn't seem to hear. Screwllum courteously spoke:
"Oh, searching: 'Campfire deep in the dense forest, the lonely stone sword points to the stars – Punklorde Mentality.' That is no ordinary curio; has something happened?"
Stelle explained the whole story to Screwllum.
"I see. I can answer on Herta's behalf."
"The owner of that game cartridge was not only a legend but also, by chance, became a Galaxy Ranger."
"Traversing the Silver Sea through long ages, traveling far and wide, witnessing countless wonders and oddities, including many details unrecorded by both the IPC and the Intelligentsia Guild. For this reason, it became part of the vast computational data of the Simulated Universe."
"Thus, Herta extracted its data and incorporated it into the Simulated Universe model's computations."
"A game cartridge, sounds like fun!"
Stelle's eyes sparkled. She nudged Caelus's side with her elbow: "Caelus, shall we do it?"
She wanted to play!
"Let's do it!"
Caelus was equally excited.
"What trouble are you two planning now?"
After using a hammer to forcefully strike the surface of the Simulated Universe as the final step of debugging, Herta couldn't help but glance up at the two eager "grey-hairs."
"Fine, do as you please."
Last time, the Simulated Universe was tested from a macroscopic, cosmic perspective. This time, Herta intended to test it from a microscopic, individual perspective, which should prevent the previous issues.
As for anything else – be it unknowns, doubts, or errors – it all counted as a form of gain.
"Herta, we're going to find the Punklorde Mentality!" Stelle trotted over to Herta.
"Why are you looking for that cartridge?"
Herta's delicate brows furrowed slightly. As if recalling something, she stopped asking and nodded decisively:
"Alright, I can load you into the data chain where the cartridge is located."
Stelle made an OK gesture.
"Nothing else, right? Then get in quickly!"
Herta pushed Stelle and Caelus onto the Simulated Universe testing platform.
"Genshin Impact, activate!"
Screwllum watched the two "grey-hairs" twitching and bouncing maniacally on the platform, his form uncharacteristically freezing for two seconds.
The vision before Caelus's eyes shifted as if mixed paints were poured over it. After a brief darkness, his consciousness entered the Simulated Universe. Fortunately, this time, there were no glitches or getting stuck.
Having undergone many anchor point transfers, Caelus was quite used to similar shifts, waking from a slight daze in less than a second.
The scene that greeted their eyes surprised Caelus. Stelle, too, widened her beautiful eyes, looking foolishly astonished:
"Where is this?"
Star-skiffs flew in the high heavens, surrounded by magnificent and elegant buildings, jade palaces and towers, carved railings, exuding a strong traditional "Divine Lands" (Xianzhou) aura.
Pedestrians of various races came and went on the streets.
"This is the Xianzhou Luofu." Screwllum's gentle and refined voice echoed in their ears.
"Why here?" Caelus's expression was subtle.
"Why shouldn't it be here?" Herta's voice retorted.
"The previous owner of that cartridge has been to the Luofu. There's data about the Luofu within it. Is there anything difficult to understand about that?"
A Galaxy Ranger visiting one of the Hunt's main bases? Perfectly normal.
This meant, this was the historical Luofu.
"The curio cartridge you're looking for is within this data chain. If you want it, find it yourselves. I've loaded a tracker for you; it will show the location when you get close."
"How are we testing this time? Is it the same as before? Where's my Express?"
Stelle looked around, searching for the Astral Express, wanting to continue speeding around.
"No Express!"
Herta grumbled irritably: "The loading template is different this time."
This time, they weren't loaded with the complete Akivili, the Aeon of Trailblaze template. They were no longer the full "Aeon of Trailblaze Akivili."
However, the partial Authority granted by the limited loading, combined with their inherent uniqueness, still made them extremely close to the Path of Trailblaze.
"Do whatever you want; see if you can attract the attention of an Aeon."
"Oh, and because the testing perspective is different, I've given you some time adjustment permissions."
After Herta's voice fell silent, a virtual screen appeared before Caelus and Stelle.
A simple and intuitive interface, with descriptions next to the buttons. Caelus understood its purpose with a glance.
"So we can adjust internal and external time flow and speed?"
It was easy to understand: without Akivili's "skin suit," even if they were special, it wouldn't be as easy to gain the attention of other Aeons.
The internal testing time could be very long, which was why they were given time flow control. Currently, Caelus's testing authority could be boosted up to 100 times, and he could even pause time.
Caelus wasn't surprised.
If human civilization in Sword Art Online could create devices that accelerate thought by 1000 times, then for the Simulated Universe created by four geniuses working together, time control was undoubtedly a minor feature.
"We can do anything? Heh heh, time and pause series!"
Rubbing her hands together, Stelle's expression gradually became comical, looking a bit perverse.
Screwllum: [...]
Herta: [...]
"Hey, A'Xing (Stelle), I have an idea."
"What?"
Stelle looked at Caelus, who had an intrigued expression.
Caelus focused his attention on the system interface in his mind.
An unexpected incident during the first test had caused a small module of the system to connect with the Simulated Universe, allowing tasks to be triggered and specific rewards to be obtained within the Simulated Universe.
While Caelus was thinking about how to stir up trouble, the system continuously generated a bunch of ideas, and with a single thought, it created a mission.
"Special Simulated Universe Mission Triggered: If I don't get horny soon, I'm gonna start politicizing and blow up the chat!"
"Mission Objective: Complete R18 doujinshi, novels, and audiovisual works featuring Yaoshi and Caelus, release them, and earn rewards based on traffic and creative output (with a cap)."
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