"Herta, can you even do this?"
Leon saw her once confident expression instantly become chagrined and felt that his intuition had been correct after all.
A mere cosplayer of the real deal, a knock-off Herta pretending to be a must-have unit. He'd deal with this himself!
"Don't give me random nicknames!"
Herta snapped back, while simultaneously starting to seriously ponder the problem at hand.
This girl named March 7th. Her memories weren't so much missing as they were completely non-existent. A total blank.
In the Garden of Recollection, there is a concept that "memory" is equivalent to "soul," and the soul is equivalent to a person's very existence. Without memories, it means that person has never existed.
In other words, a living person can lose their memories, but they can never have no memories. The world allows a consciousness to match with a new vessel, but it does not allow a vessel to gather a scattered consciousness.
March 7th falls into the latter category. There is no trace of her existence in this world. She's like something from beyond the heavens, appearing already in her fully developed form, with no childhood. It's as if she materialized out of thin air.
Herta's pretty brows furrowed slightly.
"This is a joke, right? Am I not a genius, and then some? How could there be a problem I can't solve? This can't be right."
"Did you pick a fight with Fuli?"
A genius is a genius, after all. She thinks fast.
"For Them to dump this problem on you, did you tear down Sudarśana or something?"
Even though she had no good solution for the current situation, Herta could still guess the culprit from the severity of the problem.
"You even know that?" Leon nodded.
He really meant it. Once his power level surpassed Fuli's, sooner or later he'd go to Sudarśana, rip down Their banner, and then say:
"Old timer, hand over your daughter's memories."
"What does Sudarśana look like?"
Herta glanced at him, not expecting that he had actually been there.
Sudarśana is the territory of the Memokeepers. If you're not a Meme Body, you probably can't get in even if you know where it is. Heaven knows how he found a back door.
"How should I know?"
Leon wondered if he should ask Black Swan next time.
"I only admitted that Fuli gave me the girl. I never said I'd been to Sudarśana."
Herta didn't reply, instead turning her gaze to March 7th, who was busy taking pictures everywhere. She placed her left index finger on her chin, thinking about what to do next.
Leon's help was what she needed. A guy favored by the Aeons would be a huge help for perfecting the Simulated Universe. She definitely couldn't just let him go.
But the condition he demanded for the deal was to retrieve the little girl's memories, which was a bit difficult. For a genius, ordinary memory loss wasn't a hard task.
But March 7th was a setup by Fuli. They were facing a puzzle left by an Aeon.
Emanators are born with the help of Aeons. Are the two of them, as Emanators, really thinking of challenging their superior? What's the point of playing this game? Just surrender.
At this level, her only option was to ask Nous to see if an answer could be obtained.
No, wait… Herta thought of something she had overlooked. A project she took the most pride in in her entire life!
That's it! Why not have an Aeon personally answer a question about an Aeon?
"You want to find this girl's memories, right?"
The corners of Herta's mouth lifted slightly. Having found a way to kill two birds with one stone, she posed the question to him.
"What else?"
Leon glanced at the silly girl interacting with Herta's puppets, thinking Herta was asking the obvious.
"Then come test the Simulated Universe!"
Herta was waiting for that answer.
"Aside from Fuli Themselves, no one knows what They were thinking when They left this puzzle."
Herta's tone was filled with pride in herself.
"In that case, I'll just go ask Them myself, won't I?"
"My Simulated Universe can do exactly that! It exists precisely to simulate the Aeons!"
Herta placed her right hand lightly on her chest, her every word filled with absolute pride in the Simulated Universe.
"So come test it!"
"You want me to work for free?"
Leon saw through her intentions.
"Work for free? How is this working for free? Isn't this what you requested yourself?" Herta said, displeased.
The Simulated Universe... Leon actually quite liked the inflated stats inside it. But as the saying goes, no matter how powerful you are in the Simulated Universe, it's not real.
"I'm begging you, come test it!"
To Herta, this was nothing. Before her was a capable individual, just like herself. What was wrong with asking? It's not like she was begging one of those mediocrities from the Genius Society.
"Fine, I'll test it!"
In truth, Leon also wanted to see Fuli again to ask exactly what was going on. Now that the path to seeing Fuli again was right before him, he had to consider if this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"Come and test!"
Herta was very satisfied with this answer and immediately brought him to the Simulated Universe area.
"Stand on it. I'll help you log your virtual data!"
She was a woman of decisive action. If she said she'd do something, she wouldn't wait another second!
Leon stepped forward and stood in the very center. Then his body gradually dissolved into a stream of chaotic data, entering the Simulated Universe.
Before he completely faded away, March 7th snapped another photo as a memento. Phantylia was ordered to stay by her side.
Simulated Universe.
After entering the Simulated Universe, Leon felt as if he had entered a full-dive game with a one-to-one scale.
"Hey, can you feel it?"
Herta's voice sounded by his ear.
"Whoa, did you get a new job as a rubber duck? I know you're flat, but I didn't think you were that flat."
Leon turned his head and saw a small, purple creature that looked a lot like a rubber duck appear next to him.
"? Cut the crap! This is my virtual avatar. If you don't get it, then shut up and don't comment!"
Is the real person better looking than the avatar? He burst out laughing. How do you put it when the real person doesn't even compare to the avatar?
"You really delight me. Working with you was the right choice. You... just how favored are you by Lan?!"
Herta's voice was clearly excited by this unexpected delight.
Leon could understand why. He looked ahead, and the familiar boundless, dark room entered his vision.
Except, within it, a deep blue, centaur-like virtual figure with cat-like hands, holding a bow, was looking down at him. Everyone knew the great name of the centaur-like figure.
The Aeon of The Hunt, Lan!
The moment Leon entered, They immediately showed up and initiated contact. It was perfectly normal for this situation to throw Herta into a state of ecstasy.
"What is the Aeon here created from?"
Leon looked at the familiar longbow held in the figure's hands and couldn't help but ask.
That bow was clearly his own Vanquisher. It was a one-of-a-kind inheritance, personally entrusted to him by Lan. The fact that the Lan here was holding it could only mean it was a fake.
_____
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