Felicity's eyes snapped open.
"Huff, huff..."
She gasped heavily, her gaze filled with shock and confusion.
"What happened to me?"
She couldn't help but ask.
The sensation just now was too strange, as if she had completely become another person—someone walking the Path of Abundance, wholly devoted to fulfilling its tenets.
And she had been inexplicably struck by an arrow.
That arrow was excruciating, as if it intended to vaporize Felicity from existence.
Unfortunately, it was within the Simulated Universe. Felicity did not meet the long-awaited death she anticipated, only getting a premature taste of how painful an attack that could kill her would be.
"You imagined yourself as the Aeon of Abundance."
The response came from Herta, who stood not far behind Felicity, hands on her hips, slightly frowning. Yet, instead of blaming her, she offered a rather earnest apology:
"Sorry, this was my oversight. I didn't expect you to be so compatible with the Aeon of Abundance that your presence directly replaced the Aeon of Abundance in the Simulated Universe."
"I don't think it was replacement, to be honest. I feel like I was possessed."
Felicity shrugged.
"Reaching the pinnacle of a Path tends to make one extreme. Of course, that's just my personal speculation—after all, humans can't yet fathom the thoughts of Aeons... not yet, anyway."
Herta said while flipping through the results of the recent Simulated Universe run.
"That's truly terrifying."
Felicity shook her head and sighed. She tilted her body slightly, glancing at Stelle, who was still in a dazed state beside her, and couldn't resist poking Stelle's cheek.
"Speaking of which, why hasn't she come back yet?"
Felicity wondered.
"She's already back, probably just startled," Herta replied.
"I see."
Felicity nodded thoughtfully. She switched from poking to pinching, outright playing with Stelle's soft cheek, muttering under her breath:
"These silly kids all look the same—wide-set eyes, flat noses..."
"...I'm not silly."
Stelle finally snapped out of it.
She turned her head, saw Felicity, and finally let out a sigh of relief. But she still brandished the baseball bat in her hand, eyeing Felicity's head with a hint of eagerness.
"I'm not entirely sure if I'm still in the Simulated Universe. Just to be safe, let me hit you once to see if there's any pain."
"Go hit your own head!"
Felicity didn't hesitate to give Stelle a sharp knock on the head.
"Oww..."
Stelle covered her forehead and stepped back a couple of paces, but the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.
It hurts...
But it's good that it's not a dream.
Felicity watched Stelle's gradually changing expression with a peculiar look, then leaned close to Herta and whispered, "Herta, do you think Stelle might have some... unusual preferences?"
"Who doesn't have unusual preferences?"
Herta shot Felicity a glare and said irritably, "There's a certain Emanator of Abundance who keeps shouting about wanting to die every day."
"..."
Felicity was left speechless. She awkwardly tried to change the subject, "Let's talk about serious matters. How's the data from this Simulated Universe run?"
"Some gains were made. The Hunt's gaze truly only focuses on Abundance. I'll spend some time upgrading the Simulated Universe data. When you have time to occasionally return from the Express, come help me test it again."
"Why does that sound like some empty-nest elderly complaining?"
"Get lost."
Herta mercilessly retorted before immediately issuing an eviction notice,
"If you have nothing else, leave quickly. Don't disturb my work here."
She paused, then turned toward Stelle and added, "Oh, and you, remember to come test my Simulated Universe. Of course, the rewards will be more generous too."
"Oh!"
This time, Stelle actually sounded motivated.
...
"Felicity, what should we do now?"
Stelle followed behind Felicity, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.
Following Felicity always taught her many things, and there was never a shortage of fun.
"Let's go treasure chest hunting."
Felicity didn't refuse her, leading Stelle around aimlessly, which gave her a nostalgic feeling of being the leader of children back in kindergarten days.
She happily wandered around the space station with Stelle and soon spotted a treasure chest hidden in a corner.
She had hidden this chest herself, originally intending to play treasure hunt games with Asta. After all, the detective game of constantly investigating Asta's causes of death was getting somewhat macabre.
But Asta had been particularly busy during that period and couldn't spare time to play with Felicity. Over time, even Felicity herself had forgotten about it.
It wasn't until she saw Stelle's expectant gaze that she remembered this unfinished business.
"Treasure chest... what's that?"
Stelle tilted her head, watching curiously as Felicity struggled to drag a large blue chest out from the corner, her face full of confusion.
"Treasure chests are things that exist in various corners of the world. When you open them, you get magnificent trash."
Felicity answered seriously while opening the chest, "But you must be careful when opening treasure chests. Perhaps the chest isn't a real treasure chest, but a lurking Mimic watching you hungrily."
"Mimic!?"
"Yes, just like this one."
Felicity nodded, suddenly reaching out to grab a large flower that emerged from the chest opening. The flower was baring its fangs and snarling ferociously at Felicity.
I actually made this thing before.
Felicity mused to herself while draining the life force from the seed. The giant man-eating flower instantly withered. It's worth mentioning that even if bitten by this man-eating flower, one wouldn't suffer any real harm - at most just some temporary diarrhea.
She retrieved a stack of credit chips from beneath the large flower and displayed them before Stelle: "See? Just find a treasure chest and you'll get credits along with other little trinkets. Pretty fun, right~"
"Oh! I get it now!"
Stelle immediately nodded. Though she didn't quite understand what credits were for, this looked interesting!
"So I just need to search inside square boxes to get credits!"
Eager to try, Stelle immediately began scouring the surroundings.
"That's right, as long as it's inside a square box..."
Felicity cheerfully nodded, but her smile froze the next second when she saw Stelle trotting over to... a trash can.
Then, without hesitation, she reached her hand inside.
"Wait, Stelle, that's a trash can, not a treasure chest..."
"Found it!"
Stelle cheered, raising her right hand high. Indeed, she held a thick stack of credit chips in her hand - possibly even thicker than the one Felicity held.
Felicity: ?