A young elegant man stood alone inside an office of old wood and books. His grey hair swayed gently by his flawless face. His clothes matched the overall color aesthetic of the office itself. Instead of a usual beret, a giant brim pointy hat laid on top of his head.
The office was filled with magical wonders with floating quills, books and a few keys were dangling about. The room was dim and lit by a few candles.
Herta continued to work on the equation he had been drafting up. He had mastered the Herta Sequence and now was working on the imaginary numbers spacial sequence. A master sequence that would be able to control or rather regulate the space.
A sequence to master the power over imaginary numbers and use it for his own purposes, storage.
Herta glanced at his task panel.
[Curiosity Ya Know?!]
[Every Herta is intrigued by strange things, and so are you! Create a curio collection space and start collecting strange objects.]
[Reward: 320 Stellar Jade, Curio Collector Title]
After this task, he'd have enough for a ten pull. Most likely he would be able to pull for his signature light cone.
He had been eying Into the Unreachable Veil for quite some time. It was absolutely broken, due to the translation of game mechanics to reality, the light cone effects were downright absurd.
[Into the Unreachable Veil]
[Light Cone Ability: Mind Game] [Increases chance of a defense ignoring attack by 12%, scales with Interpretation stacks to 20%. Increases damage of all attacks by 100% for 30 minutes. After using Ultimate, the next skill costs 0 energy.]
Absolutely broken. Herta stared longingly at this light cone in the gacha panel. Then looked at the currently equipped light cone, Geniuses' Repose.
It was decent... Meh. For hunting beasts and hoards of dead apostles? This was a perfect light cone. But his signature light cone could do all that with more.
He continued to work on the imaginary number sequence to protect his curio collection. The Curio Collector title was also another scaling. Each curio collected would contribute to his overall interpretation and inspiration stacking.
It was small, but buff was a buff.
A herta doll walked in as it informed him the curio collection room had been built. But where to get curios? Curios were defined as mysterious items. It suddenly hit him.
A perfect way to get curios... Wouldn't noble phantasms count as curios? At least the tangible ones no?
In that moment, he was so consumed in thinking about whether noble phantasms could exist after the death of a servant that he hadn't felt his phone in his pocket sound.
~~~~
[Vampire Hating Twat] [I heard that El Melloi made a trip to your research station.]
[Herta] [Automatic reply: Hi, I'm currently unavailable, and I won't be contacting you later]
[Vampire Hating Twat] [Herta, I heard about his custom job. I have a request as well.]
[Herta] [Automatic reply: Hi, I'm currently unavailable, and I won't be contacting you later]
[Vampire Hating Twat] [My patience runs thin. I'd suggest you reply.]
[Herta] [Automatic reply: Hi, I'm currently unavailable, and I won't be contacting you later]
[Vampire Hating Twat] [I think I have something that you might be interested about as payment.]
[Herta] [Automatic reply: Hi, I'm currently unavailable, and I won't be contacting you later]
~~~~
Herta groaned and stretched before picking up the final formula sheet with a look of content, with this, his curio collection would be secure. Anyone who dared to try steal a thing would be met with a fate worse than death.
He checked his phone to look at the time only to see a bunch of messages from the vampire hating twat of the Barthomeloi family.
However, her offer caught his eye.
~~~~
[Vampire Hating Twat] [I think I have something that you might be interested about as payment.]
read at 16:36
[Herta] [I'm listening, I just happen to be looking for strange curios objects.]
[Vampire Hating Twat] [After ignoring me for hours? I refuse to tell you unless you sincerely apologise and kneel down with a video apology.]
[Herta] [Video Attachment]
[Herta] [Very sorry pretty please, please tell me what you found~]
[Vampire Hating Twat] [Really no shame... I completely forgot what type of person you were.]
[Vampire Hating Twat] [Tangible Luck that's what I'm offering you. Found this item in the ruins after an apostle hunt. Apparently it's a concentration of "luck" in the form of an object.]
[Herta] [Done, I'll expect it delivered to my research station by the end of this week. Also send me your specifications for your custom order.]
~~~~
Herta thought about it, tangible luck... Wouldn't that be great to use during gacha pulls. He might even be able to save up for more eidolons or maybe the skill gacha. Dreamdiver was certainly useful skill in reality, and Rules are Meant to be Broken provided him with a melee option.
But he certainly did need more melee options. Yes he could level a city by himself but that was using a mage build. And while it would be hard to catch him, wouldn't it be nice to pull out a bat or a sword and swing it a few times?
Mages have wow factor but melee has a cool factor.
Herta sighed as he looked in the mirror before swapping his pointy hat with a beret and headed towards the cafeteria.
The moment he stepped out of the elevator many of the researchers gasped while becoming giddy. Visitors were graced with the presence of the peerless genius who revolutionised the technology of the world.
In fact the Herta Phone had become the primary method of communication and camera all in one. Herta looked at one of his own Herta dolls who had already prepared his meal.
Herta sat peacefully as the researchers slowly dwindled in number as they left work. Only the shuffling and footsteps of the Herta dolls could be heard.
His phone buzzed as his security protocols had homed in on what he was looking for.
~~~~
Herta watched from high above as he sat on a giant floating black key of erudition adorned with purple gems. He slowly moved down as Saber seemed exhausted. Immediately Diarmuid received a message from his master. "Don't act rashly."
Both servants stared at him as he smiled gently before asking bluntly. "If one of you is to die tonight, I'm hoping you could perhaps leave your noble phantasms here. I'd like to collect it." He asked politely.
Saber's face scrunched up, wasn't this indirectly telling her that he was going to loot her body after she dies? Lancer laughed as he realised Herta wasn't here to interfere, he was simply here to attempt to collect a noble phantasm.
Saber stared at the comically large hat on the man as Kiritsugu's voice conveyed information to her. The peerless genius, the founder of the Genius Society, creator of the Herta Sequence and discoverer of the Imaginary Number Theorem. All these achievements told her this was someone who was likely to go down in history as a heroic spirit.
In that instant a chariot fell down from the sky. "I was about to stop you two, but it seems our little mage has done it before me. You are in the presence of a king! I am Iskandar the King of Conquerers. And I am the rider class servant."
Herta snarked back, "Little? I'm not little, it's you that is abnormal you giant hunk of meat." Iskandar chuckled and looked at Waver who had lost his fear.
"Oh? Master, you know this person?" Iskandar asked Waver.
Herta smiled smugly at Iskandar who was confused. "Your own master knows me better than you~" He taunted Iskandar
Waver's lip trembled, admiration had overcome fear. Herta was an idol to a lot of people within the moonlit world. Especially Waver, as Herta came from a nobody background.
"Professor Herta, the founder of the Genius Society. A peerless gem, an unrivaled genius and for women, an man of unparalleled looks." Herta nodded in satisfaction as he tilted his chin up proudly.
"Creator of the Herta sequence, the one who solved the solitary waves theory and the discoverer of the imaginary numbers theorem and is currently working on creating an imaginary numbers spacial sequence!"
Waver was a Herta fan. Every single achievement had been memorised including Herta's published papers detailing the findings and proofs provided.
Iskandar nodded "It seems my acknowledgement was shallow. You are clearly someone of great renown. Come serve under me!"
Herta immediately turned him down, "I refuse, you are as interesting as a river rock. In fact out of all possibilities of the words that come out your mouth. 90% constitutes the same exact sentence with the other 10% being a different way of saying come join under me."
Iskandar rubbed his head sheepishly, Herta wasn't wrong. A one dimensional muscular hulk of meat.
"You dare to stand above the King?" In that moment of conversation, a glitter of gold materialised into a the form of a golden armored individual with eyes filled with disdain looking at Herta.
Herta sneered back, "Never seen perfection before?"