The Warp—this strange dimension—began absorbing the emotional energy supplied by Herta the very moment it was born. The emotions of billions of living beings from The Blue star system, the emotions of all beings in Belobog within the Jarilo star system, and even those from Planarcadia...
Countless and countless streams of emotional energy caused the Warp to expand at a frenzied pace. In a very short time, it made contact with the star rail. At the instant that connection was completed, the Warp linked itself to a million galaxies.
Across the Honkai Star Rail universe, within those million galaxies, emotional energy that would have otherwise dissipated into nothingness over time suddenly found a destination. It surged wildly toward the Warp...
At this moment, the Warp was like a black hole—madly devouring emotional energy and strengthening itself.
Rumble...
Inside the Warp, thunderous reverberations echoed. Chaotic storms began to rise, and its internal expanse rapidly grew. In an extremely short time, it enveloped the entire Blue star system and even dozens of surrounding star systems.
This exaggerated phenomenon directly caused Ruan Mei, who was in The Blue star system, to temporarily halt her research on the Dark Plane. She raised her head and looked toward the edge of the system. With a single glance, her eyes—enhanced with countless forms of biological black technology—saw a dimensional space expanding. She also caught a trace of Herta.
She immediately understood—Herta had once again created a new invention in an incredibly short time, opening up a newborn dimensional world.
Moreover, this dimensional world was extremely peculiar. In such a short time, its scale had already surpassed that of the Super Herta Dark Plane... and more importantly, this newly born dimension seemed capable of devouring and containing emotions...
Strange—far too strange!
Before today, such a bizarre dimensional plane had never appeared in this universe.
Ruan Mei began to carefully observe the Warp. Through her special eyes, she saw that after the newborn dimension encompassed The Blue star system, it contained soul projections of all living beings within the system.
Among them, the largest projection was a black sun. It hung high within that special dimension, illuminating eternity.
Within that black sun's soul projection, Ruan Mei sensed Herta's presence. From this, she confirmed that it was Herta's soul projection within that space.
If Herta had a soul projection, then what about her?
Ruan Mei extended her perception further. Soon, she discovered that the newborn dimension also contained her own soul projection. It was equally powerful—a dazzling sea of plum blossoms swaying within that special space, coexisting with the black sun in a scene that was unexpectedly pleasing to the eye.
After observing for a while, Ruan Mei also noticed that the Warp contained soul projections of all beings in The Blue star system. However, their soul strength was far inferior to hers and Herta's. They did not even possess clear forms—only scattered points of starlight...
From this, Ruan Mei confirmed that the dimension Herta had opened this time was related to the strength of the soul.
...
Meanwhile, as the Warp continued to expand, the emotional energy it siphoned from across the universe grew ever greater. This directly attracted the attention of multiple factions.
For example, within the Preservation-aligned Interastral Peace Corporation, their internal monitoring systems detected massive energy fluctuations—and these fluctuations spanned million galaxies...
This immediately shook the upper echelons of the IPC. Just moments ago, a war among the Aeons had nearly broken out in the Yongmei Star System. Now, massive energy fluctuations were occurring across a million galaxies. This led many executives to suspect that an Aeon had taken action.
In their understanding, only an Aeon could influence a million galaxies in an instant. The only question was—which Aeon had acted?
Was it Lan of The Hunt, locking onto Yaoshi and firing an unavoidable arrow of light that pierced through a million galaxies?!
Or was the crisis foretold by the great Amber Lord about to arrive?
Or perhaps the cancer of the universe had erupted collectively under the will of the Harmony Aeon, causing the star rail to break once again and plunging the cosmos into chaos and disconnection?
The IPC's upper leadership—the Seven-Person Board—quickly convened a meeting and began their investigation. Soon, they discovered a very peculiar fact:
There was no arrow of The Hunt across the million galaxies, nor had chaos broken out.
This meant it was not The Hunt, not Harmony, and not even Destruction.
So which faction had caused this great event?
Under the directive of the highest authority of the Seven-Person Board, the IPC activated various instruments for investigation. In the end, they uncovered an extremely unusual phenomenon—the surging force across the million galaxies was not Imaginary energy, but emotional energy.
More importantly, all of this emotional energy was converging along the Trailblaze star rail toward a single location—The Blue star system!
This revelation sparked intense speculation among the board members.
The head of the Marketing Development Department, Oswaldo, could not help but say, "The convergence of emotional energy from a million galaxies—and through the star rail no less. Could it be that Akivili of Trailblaze is about to return?!"
Another board member, Madam Scarred Eye, clasped her hands beneath her chin and spoke slowly, "Or perhaps it is the return of Idrila of Beauty, causing this anomaly?"
Diamond also spoke within the meeting room, "Wait... according to the archives, The Blue star system is the hometown of Herta, the 83rd Seat of the Genius Society. Is it possible that this phenomenon was caused by Miss Herta?"
Taravan Keane frowned slightly and shook his head. "That seems unlikely. How could energy fluctuations affecting a million galaxies be caused by someone who has been in the Genius Society for less than a month?"
Diamond shook his head and swept his gaze across the room. "Do not underestimate Miss Herta. Her achievements over this past month surpass even those of Sserkal, the former 29th Seat of the Genius Society."
"Take the Soul Gems, for example. We initially believed them to be Path amplifiers, but we have already confirmed that they can preserve human souls."
"Over the past month, the shadow of Destruction has led dozens of worlds to ruin. Yet within that destruction, a sliver of hope remained... and Soul Gems played a crucial role. They preserved many souls. Without a doubt, Soul Gems are tools of Preservation."
"Moreover, countless people across the universe desire a second life. As a result, Soul Gems have now become one of the best-selling products of our Interastral Peace Corporation."
"Of course, that is not the main point. The key point is that Miss Herta's technological creations are far more than just this—there are also Honkai Beast pets, and even..."
Diamond elaborated on everything in detail, causing the Seven-Person Board to gradually change their perspective and begin to accept his conclusion:
Perhaps all of this was truly Herta's doing. They should contact her immediately.
At a single command from the Seven-Person Board, the execution layer immediately moved into action. Jade from the Strategic Investment Department was the one assigned.
Representing the will of the IPC's highest authority, Jade contacted Herta to inquire about the massive energy fluctuations in The Blue star system. She also expressed concern, asking whether something had gone wrong there, and offered assistance if needed.
"Everything is perfectly fine on my end. Nothing has gone wrong... As for the energy fluctuations, I'm simply conducting a research project," Herta replied promptly. "You know, I already mentioned in the Yongmei Star System that I had gained new inspiration. Now is the time to turn that inspiration into actual technology."
After reading Herta's reply, Jade blinked, her expression filled with confusion and shock:
Energy fluctuations affecting a million galaxies... were actually caused by Herta?!
According to information from her superior, Diamond, the Seven-Person Board had initially suspected that an Aeon had taken action... the scale of the energy disturbance was simply too immense.
Could it be that Herta was researching how to create an Aeon?!
This wild thought couldn't help but arise in Jade's mind. She quickly forwarded Herta's response to the IPC's highest authority—the Seven-Person Board—shocking all its members, including Diamond and Taravan Keane, both Emanators of Preservation.
A new invention... affecting a million galaxies!
Just what kind of project was Herta researching? Could it really be something related to ascending to Aeonhood...
At this point, even the Seven-Person Board could no longer remain seated. They decided to dispatch someone to The Blue star system to learn more about Herta's new invention.
Boom!
Aboard a vessel of the Strategic Investment Department, Jade once again set out on behalf of the IPC, heading toward The Blue star system.
...
Meanwhile, far away in the depths of the cosmos, a heliobus—extremely sensitive to emotional energy—the Lord Ravager Phantylia also raised her head at this moment. "Emotional energy is gathering... so much, so very much. If I could devour even a little bit, perhaps I could take another step forward."
Greed surged wildly within Phantylia's heart. At that moment, Celenova also sensed something and slowly spoke, "Don't even think about it. From what I can perceive, emotional energy from a million galaxies is in motion. That is not something an Emanator can accomplish."
Phantylia's expression stiffened. "You mean this is the work of an Aeon? But emotional energy is useless to Aeons. They already command Paths—they can directly extract endless energy from the Imaginary."
"You're right. Let me take another look," Celenova said, closing her eyes as she intoned a hymn of Destruction and Harmony. Using countless Antimatter Legion creatures scattered across innumerable galaxies as her eyes, she observed the direction of the emotional surge. In the end, she confirmed that its destination was The Blue star system.
Finally, Celenova spoke the truth to Phantylia: "The endpoint of this emotional torrent is The Blue star system—and that system is Herta's homeland."
Hearing this, the greed on Phantylia's face froze even more. "Are you saying that such a massive emotional fluctuation was created by Herta?"
"Most likely," Celenova replied. "Though even I cannot imagine how she accomplished it..."
"..."
Phantylia fell silent. The step she had already taken halted mid-motion. The reason was simple—she was not Zephyro, nor was she skilled in direct combat. And The Blue star system was Herta's home ground—a genius' stronghold.
Having already suffered losses in the Yongmei Star System, Phantylia had no desire to repeat that experience by engaging a genius in a defensive battle.
Silent, she cast one final glance toward The Blue star system, grinding her teeth in frustration:
Such an enormous amount of emotional energy—if only I could devour even a little bit of it!
I could rival the former Flint Emperor, even ascend to become one of the stronger Lord Ravagers!
After thinking this through, Phantylia spoke to Celenova, "No matter what, Herta is someone valued by the Supreme Destroyer, and she has been granted the Gilded Blood of Extinction. Now is not the time to make a move against her."
"Mm," Celenova nodded in agreement.
Exhale...
Seeing Celenova agree, Phantylia let out a quiet breath of relief and continued to reassure herself inwardly:
That's right. It's because the Supreme Destroyer values Herta that I'm not going to seize that emotional energy from The Blue star system.
Yes... that's definitely the reason. It's absolutely not because I can't win.
...
Elsewhere, the Lord of Silence, Polka Kakamond, also sensed the universe-spanning fluctuations of emotional energy and its convergence toward The Blue star system.
She opened her eyes, surprise flickering within them:
First, she nearly became the trigger for a war among the Aeons. Now, she has caused energy fluctuations across a million galaxies with a single action. Herta's research is becoming increasingly extraordinary.
Could it be... that she has already touched forbidden knowledge?
With this thought, Polka Kakamond quickly activated her Knowable Domain, connecting to Nous. From Nous, she received a response—no anomalies detected.
So it was not that unknowable, corrupting forbidden knowledge.
Herta had truly, through her own efforts, developed a method capable of absorbing the emotional energy of countless beings across a million galaxies?!
Was Herta attempting to create a god—a newborn Aeon?!
No matter what, she had to set out and investigate.
At this moment, Polka Kakamond changed into a candy-themed ceremonial outfit and rapidly began jumping between galaxies, heading toward The Blue star system.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, more geniuses sensed the anomaly across the million galaxies and learned through various means that it was Herta who was responsible.
Dr. Primitive: "As expected, I am not the only one seeking to change the state of this universe. Those who come after me are also taking action—haha..."
Yu Qingtu: "The 83rd Seat... Herta is indeed, as Ruan Mei described, an extraordinarily remarkable individual. Her new invention has caused such a massive upheaval!"
Chadwick: "Herta's research efficiency is simply outrageous. Over the past month, her projects have succeeded one after another, while my work on Imaginary pulses... remains stagnant."
...
At an even higher level, the Aeons themselves became aware of the massive upheaval across the cosmos—the changes spanning a million galaxies—and the source behind it. As a result, They cast Their gaze toward the newly born Warp dimension within The Blue star system.