In a private laboratory steeped in a sci-fi, futuristic aesthetic, Herta sat poised in her chair, her graceful lotus-like legs—wrapped in 30D black silk stockings—crossed, the straps of her high boots catching and refracting the light with every swing of her leg.
"Heh~ Take a look at the talent of the three of us? You've really got the nerve to say that—"
Propping her chin on her fingertips, her violet eyes glanced sidelong at Caelus, sparing a flick of a look as well at the Haxxor Bunny who was curiously sizing up the laboratory. Her exquisite, elegant features were aloof and carried a faint, scornful smile.
"Do you know who you're facing? Three Geniuses sharing one room—how long has it been since that last happened? And how long until it happens again?"
"At such a historic moment, you actually dare to challenge the wisdom of Geniuses?"
Herta's manner of speaking was, as ever, anything but courteous. Even so, her curious gaze shifted onto the strange device Caelus had taken out.
Herta didn't believe Caelus could pose a 'problem' that would leave all three of them—three Geniuses—at a loss, but she was nonetheless very much looking forward to the surprise he'd brought.
Based on past experience, the bizarre, outlandish things Caelus came up with had tremendous research value.
"Agreed: outside of the Simulated Universe, we rarely have any opportunity to exchange ideas with one another."
Most of what Screwllum knew about Caelus came from Herta and from the previous Simulated Universe tests.
Caelus's expressions during the testing process were already eye-catching enough in themselves, and on top of that, Ruan Mei's attitude toward him had grown rather subtle after she'd come into contact with him—which only heightened Screwllum's interest in Caelus.
"What is this?"
Ruan Mei still spoke in a soft, gentle murmur, like bamboo dew dripping into a celadon cup.
As she lowered her eyes and tilted her head to examine it, her raven-black hair brushed against the plum-blossom-embroidered collar of her robe—a vision of immense static beauty. Circling her with a camera for a full 360 degrees, every single frame could serve as a wallpaper.
Click~!
Seizing the opening, Caelus snapped a photo of Ruan Mei with his phone, tucked it back into his pocket, and continued his explanation:
"This thing is called the Universal Synthesizer. It's a machine invented by Big Big Wolf—the greatest grand inventor of the Green Green Grassland—to take care of his son. That Grow-Big Shrink-Small Candy is a 'snack' produced by this very machine."
"Huh? A thing for coaxing kids, and you bring it out to show off in front of the three of us?"
Herta's eyes went wide.
"Big Big Wolf? Green Green Grassland? Which planet is that? And he dares to call himself a grand inventor in front of us?"
Herta rapped the table and leaned back in tactical fashion.
"Do you have any idea of the sheer worth contained in those two words, 'Genius'?"
Herta was a pure, perfect Genius!
A Genius as psychologically well-adjusted as her (by her own assessment)—there wasn't a second one in the entire Genius Society!
The pride of a Genius—was that even 'pride'?
That was called truth.
Beyond that, Herta had seen far, far too many conceited, self-important fools who spent half a lifetime fumbling away at a problem she could solve offhandedly in the time it took to drink a cup of coffee, yet preened over it as if it were some great accomplishment.
For that sort of person, Herta couldn't even be bothered to spare a single word—a waste of time.
"Also."
Herta pointed at the Universal Synthesizer, which was drawn in the art style of the 'Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf' cartoon, and delivered her verdict bluntly and directly:
"What kind of low-grade taste did the guy who invented this machine have? It looks even worse than a scrapped coffee machine from the space station's junk heap."
"It's not that I don't understand Geniuses—it's that you don't understand gag manga."
Caelus shrugged and retorted in a careless, offhand tone.
"Gag manga?"
Ruan Mei lifted her head, not understanding what that meant.
"...It's not the kind of gag manga I'm thinking of, is it?"
The expression on the otaku-girl Haxxor Bunny's face grew positively colorful.
Caelus didn't answer Miss Haxxor Bunny's question—it wasn't easy to explain the reason behind it.
"Little Herta, looking down on a childcare machine made by the Gray Wolf King—you're pretty brave~ How about we make a little bet?"
Caelus stood beside Herta, his elbow resting on the synthesizer, and looked down with a beaming smile, meeting the gaze of the elegantly seated big Herta puppet.
"Brat, my time is extremely precious."
Herta said sourly.
"The stake is a one-time, limited experience of an item that can influence an Aeon."
Caelus took the black beret off the big Herta puppet's head, propped it up on his finger, and spun it like a handkerchief in a Northeastern Errenzhuan performance.
"...But then again, after all, Caelus, you are my Simulated Universe tester, and interacting with you can improve work efficiency."
Herta rattled off this sentence at the speed of high-velocity divine speech, then lifted her head and fixed her stare tightly on Caelus, like staring at a beggar carrying the key to a vault.
"You know the rules."
Caelus took a white plastic food-stall chair out of his spatial ring and sat down.
"Daddy! I'm begging you~"
A drawn-out intonation, a sweet, syrupy voice—instant reply.
Integrity?
A sense of shame?
Those things had long since been optimized away by Herta in the course of her research.
Ruan Mei stared blankly at the two of them, her mouth falling open, while Screwllum steadied the top hat on his head and turned his head aside.
The very next instant, the two of them whipped their heads back in unison without any prior agreement. The Intelligent Machine had no expression, yet the Haxxor Bunny could clearly sense this very polite Genius's astonishment.
"Can influence..."
"An Aeon?"
What did the Geniuses create the Simulated Universe for?
Wasn't it precisely to probe into the secrets of the Aeons!
And yet now, Caelus was saying he had in his hands something that could influence an Aeon?
"Don't get too worked up just yet. This thing really can influence an Aeon, but it also requires the Aeon to cooperate just a teeny tiny bit."
Caelus took out the Tabora Earrings and feinted with them before Herta, then withdrew them back into his System's equipment space.
"..."
Herta, Screwllum, and Ruan Mei exchanged glances, each wearing a different expression.
Even if it required some cooperation from an Aeon, if it really could influence an Aeon, that alone was enough to demonstrate the extraordinary nature of Caelus's thing.
As for the truth or falsehood of Caelus's words, Screwllum—who didn't understand Caelus—reflexively rejected them at first thought; his calculations showed that the probability of this statement being true was rather small.
But after seeing Herta's reaction of pleading with Caelus, the probability rose, exceeding 75%!
The half-believing Ruan Mei likewise changed her view because of Herta's attitude.
"Fine, how do you want to bet?"
The wheedling smile vanished from big Herta's face, as if the one who'd suddenly cried out 'Daddy' a moment ago hadn't been her at all.
"The bet is simply whether you can perfectly replicate this 'kid-coaxing' Universal Synthesizer. If you can pull it off, I'll let you experience this thing."
Caelus was one hundred percent certain that if he directly proposed having Herta use the Tabora Earrings to fuse with himself, Stelle, or some other female body, Herta would definitely agree!
How could a Genius possibly pass up something so marvelous?
So, why bother bringing it up himself?
Wouldn't it be better to have Herta begging him to fuse?
Ruan Mei and Screwllum likewise couldn't eliminate this kind of marvelous, extra-dimensional unknown.
"If you can't do it, I haven't thought of the stake yet... How about we tentatively set it as one condition that must be carried out? Even if you lose, I'll still give you a chance to experience it—but you'll have to wait until I'm in a good mood. Saying it like that, you should understand."
Herta, whose desire to research stemmed from interest, naturally understood what 'in a good mood' meant, but she still furrowed her brow slightly. One condition that must be carried out—the scope of this stake was too broad, too loose.
A single decision of hers could influence more than half the Galaxy!
Seeing Herta knit her brow, Caelus added with a brimming smile: "You can have Screwllum and Ruan Mei help out and work on the replication together."
This time even Screwllum and Ruan Mei looked straight at Caelus—he really intended to challenge three Geniuses all at once?
With a childcare toy?
"Bet, or no bet?"
"It's a bet!"
Herta didn't hesitate much, slapping her plain hand—so distinctly that of a puppet—down on the tabletop.
Caelus had gone this far—if she chickened out now, would she still be Herta?
Screwllum and Ruan Mei, and even the Haxxor Bunny, could all see in Herta that aloofness and openness that belonged uniquely to her—the core of the aloofness being her recognition of strength, the core of the openness being her confidence in her own vision.
"Question: what exactly does this childcare machine do?"
From an Intelligent Machine's aesthetic standpoint, Screwllum felt this machine's looks weren't as unbearable as Herta had said—there was a kind of... indescribable, distinctive aesthetic appeal to it.
Whether it was Screwllum, Ruan Mei, or Herta, all of them could intuitively guess at the machine's function from the name 'Universal Synthesizer.' Yet Caelus's inexplicable confidence in this device made the three of them feel it perhaps wasn't so simple.
"It can synthesize any three items into a snack or a toy."
As Caelus explained the synthesizer's rules, he simultaneously set to work giving the three of them a live demonstration.
First he took out the Yue-Hiding Gourd that Xueyi had given him, tipped out a Heliobus, and stuffed it into the glass jar.
This made all three Geniuses pause for a moment—using a living Spirit of Starfire as material?
Caelus grabbed the pastry set out in front of Ruan Mei and placed it in the second fusion slot. Eyeing the empty third synthesis slot, Caelus thought it over and then fished out a neatly bound book that, at a glance, looked thoroughly educational, and tossed it in.
That was a record book—the 'kibble' used to grant experience points to characters in a game.
Experience didn't exist in the real universe, but books like this did indeed exist—imparting a certain degree of experience and knowledge to others by means of a mind-link synesthesia beacon.
By way of analogy, it was somewhat like the braindances of Night City, letting one's consciousness experience the things another had experienced from a third party's perspective, for the sake of study or experience.
Under the watchful gazes of the three Geniuses and the little Haxxor Bunny, Caelus pressed the big green switch, and the Universal Synthesizer began to operate.
The Heliobus, the pastry, and the record book were sucked into the tube. Accompanied by a buzzing sound, in just a few seconds, a book-shaped cake was spat out of the outlet.
[Children should study more—very good!]
The synthesizer's screen even displayed an evaluation of this synthesis—presumably a word of praise set up by Big Big Wolf?
"Why did it only produce this little?"
Caelus looked at the meager six pieces of cake, somewhat puzzled.
The previous batches of synthesized snacks had all been pretty plentiful—could it be to keep the child from eating too much cake and then skipping his proper meals?
"Which of you will try it first?"
Caelus placed the cakes onto five plates, one piece for everyone present, with the remaining piece put back into his spatial ring.
"I'll do it!"
Based on the earlier candy, Herta guessed this cake might possess special effects, and she unhesitatingly claimed her duty and picked up the cake.
It was a shame she hadn't been able to record the process when eating the candy before—this time she had to record it!
As for the possibility of an accident?
It was a puppet anyway, not her main body.
Caelus made a gesture of invitation, and Herta parted her pink lips, briskly and cleanly sending the cake into her mouth.
"The taste isn't bad...!"
Before her words had even finished, Herta's faintly scornful expression froze, her pupils contracted, and she abruptly sat bolt upright, her cheeks tightening into a grave look.
"Herta, what's wrong? Are you alright?"
Caelus raised his hand and waved it before those amethyst eyes that were lowered and fixed on the cake in her palm, but Herta's gaze seemed to pierce straight through his hand.
Surely the snack fused from these three items couldn't have such a strong negative effect?
Ruan Mei gazed at Herta's posture, lost in thought. She parted her sandalwood lips and lightly bit off a mouthful of cake. Two seconds later, her pupils throbbed for an instant, and she stared intently at the cake in her hand.
Next was Screwllum, whose reaction was much the same.
Caelus exchanged a glance with the Haxxor Bunny.
"Hey, you wait a second!"
The Haxxor Bunny had only just reached out a hand to stop him when Caelus swallowed the cake down.
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