Done with the heist, Lucian returned to Belobog and pulled out a star map, lighting it up right away.
Much like a typical base station, the star map served as a signal source.
Now, Belobog's coordinates lit up on the map, which meant other factions could see Jarilo-VI on their star maps as well.
Of course, with so many planets lighting up every day, hardly anyone cared about the return of Jarilo-VI—except for certain special factions like the IPC, the Antimatter Legion, or the Abominations of Abundance.
'What if a hacker breaks in and steals my money...'
Even though the real world was not all that dangerous at the moment, Belobog's network was, since its network security was almost nonexistent.
Today, he could steal from others, but tomorrow, others could steal from him.
'Seems like I need to find a few geniuses to build a firewall for me too... Herta would be a good choice.'
With Herta, that meant having Screwllum, Ruan Mei, Stephen Lloyd, and maybe even Silver Wolf on board.
===
Three days later.
After Silver Wolf laundered two hundred million out of his one hundred and twenty billion credits, Lucian launched himself toward Herta Space Station.
"Why aren't the lights on? Why is there no one here?"
Once Lucian arrived at the space station's port, however, he found it eerily quiet, as if the whole place had been abandoned.
"Hmm... the coordinates are right, and the star map shows this location too..."
Asta and Herta's puppets were nowhere to be found, so with no other choice, Lucian could only explore the space station alone.
By all logic, there should still have been some time before the invasion of the Antimatter Legion, so why did it already look like doomsday?
===
At the same time, on the top floor of Herta Space Station, inside a large laboratory, a young woman wearing a witch-like hat was speaking to a mirror.
"Fourth Mirror, I'm about to activate the device. Get ready..."
"Madam Herta, I'm ready. Please begin your performance."
"Droidhead, I went to all this trouble just to stand before you. You'd better not ignore me."
With that, the woman—none other than Herta herself—activated a strange device before her.
In that instant, a wave of energy surged violently, causing Herta to collapse to the ground as her consciousness entered the Path Space.
It was a space that resembled a sea of stars—a domain belonging solely to the Path of Erudition. As long as she could reach the end here, there was a chance she could meet the Aeon of Erudition, Nous.
"Droidhead, will you answer me...?"
Herta murmured as she continued walking forward, while her creations, the Magic Mirrors, followed closely behind.
First Mirror: "Madam Herta, we've picked up some 'voices' in the lab."
Herta: "Oh? Let me hear it."
Soon, the First Mirror emitted a string of garbled sounds.
[Moshi~moshi...]
Upon hearing this, Herta frowned.
"Moshi? What does that mean? Is that some kind of algorithm name?"
In the end, since she could not figure it out, Herta simply ignored it and moved on.
However, after a short while, the Second Mirror appeared before her, interrupting her.
Second Mirror: "Madam Herta, that voice is back again! What should we do?"
Herta: "What are you panicking for? Play it for me."
In the next moment, the Second Mirror emitted a clear voice.
[Oh, picked up a wild Herta doll here, and it's even an adult model—nice.]
[No, wait, it feels alive... Is this the real Herta? Is she meeting Nous now?]
At these words, Herta was baffled.
"Doll? Adult model? Feels...?"
As a genius, she knew this didn't sound like anything an Aeon would say.
"Something's wrong... Someone must have broken into the lab!"
Herta became anxious, her tone laced with anger.
"No, absolutely not! Whoever you are, don't interrupt me now! I have to keep going... Just a few more steps and I'll see that Droidhead!"
Herta was determined to meet Nous, something that would stand as her greatest achievement as a genius.
After all, among so many geniuses in the Genius Society, few ever had the chance to interact with an Aeon. At most, they only received a fleeting gaze from an Aeon, but she would be the genius who met one face-to-face.
Moreover, she also had questions she wanted to ask Nous, and in order to move forward to a higher level, she absolutely could not be interrupted here.
For this reason, Herta pressed on, disregarding everything else.
===
Meanwhile, in the real world, Lucian crouched beside Herta's real body, carefully observing the sleeping beauty.
Just as the little Herta puppet claimed every day, the real Herta was indeed a stunning beauty, with delicate features and fair skin.
Even if her breasts were only C-cup at most, they would still be enough to keep a child from going hungry. Especially with the keyhole cut into the clothes at her chest—it was as if inserting a certain key could unlock some soft, fragrant 'VIP content.'
"Hmm... looks like she wants to see Nous with that device..." Lucian mumbled while stroking his chin. "What's so great about that? She's not going to see anything anyway."
He had waited long enough, so he moved straight to action.
In the next moment, Lucian propped Herta up with one hand and pinched her cheek with the other, giving her a shake!
===
At the same time, inside the Path Space, Herta suddenly felt as if someone were touching her body.
Suddenly, the Third Mirror appeared before her.
"Madam Herta, bad news! Someone is messing with your body."
Immediately after, a voice echoed from within the Third Mirror.
[Why are you trying to see that Droidhead? Come out and see me. Once I'm done, I'll let you see that Droidhead anytime you want.]
Upon hearing these arrogant words, Herta's right eyebrow twitched.
"Ridiculous! Who do you think you are? Anytime you want? What could be more important than seeing an Aeon? Nobody can shake me—not even an intruder like you."
As soon as Herta finished saying this, however, she gradually felt someone pinching her cheeks and shaking her head from side to side.
Before long, Herta's consciousness began to fade, signaling that she could no longer remain in the Path Space.
'No way! How could anyone affect my mind?!'
As an Emanator of Erudition, both her mind and subconsciousness were powerful, so as long as she did not want to be influenced, nobody should have been able to sway her mind.
Yet now, someone had done it...
In the next second, Herta's consciousness vanished with a flash of white light, returning to her body.
Soon enough, Herta slowly opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was a face so handsome it defied logic—but right now, in her eyes, that handsome face looked absolutely hateful!
"Huuhhh..."
Herta took a deep breath to calm her boiling heart, but unfortunately, it was useless.
"You damn intruder! My plan to meet Droidhead was ruined because of you!"
Now that her anger had reached its peak, Herta's voice was several times louder than usual.