Faced with The Herta's two questions, Polka Kakamond fell silent.
There was no other reason. The Knowable Domain could obtain knowledge of the universe through some unknown means, but it could not acquire knowledge related to Aeons.
Therefore, Polka Kakamond did not know whether Idrila, Aeon of Beauty, had merely disappeared or had truly died.
Likewise, because the Knowable Domain could not calculate the actions of Aeons, she also had no idea when Finality would ultimately arrive.
And so, after remaining silent for a while, Polka Kakamond told The Herta that she did not know Idrila's current state, nor did she know when Finality would arrive.
Herman complained, "Your Knowable Domain has way too many flaws."
Polka Kakamond remained silent for quite some time before saying, "Both questions you asked concern Aeons, and my Knowable Domain happens to be incapable of calculating anything related to Aeons... You can ask me something else."
"I don't have anything else I want to ask." Herman shook his head and gestured invitingly. "You can go establish a laboratory on The Blue now and research whatever interests you. Of course, if you need technical support, you can contact the Super Herta Astral Computer. She'll provide you with technical intelligence and assistance."
Polka's eye twitched when she heard this. "You really don't have anything else you want to ask?"
"Mm."
"Very well. Since that's the case, I'll help you in another way. Through the Knowable Domain, I learned that you have a project called the Simulated Universe, which is related to the Solitary Waves Theory you originally developed."
"That's right. It's just that the project is currently still missing a great deal of material data from the real universe... After all, the project is called the Simulated Universe. Without sufficient real-world matter and physical parameters... the universe we simulate will inevitably deviate from reality."
As Herman spoke, he realized something. "Polka Kakamond, are you saying you want to help me build the Simulated Universe?"
"Mm... As long as the Simulated Universe doesn't involve forbidden knowledge. Besides, I have a feeling that once this project is perfected, it will help my Knowable Domain advance toward an even more complete state."
"Good. Then it's settled. You'll use the Knowable Domain to provide the true physical parameters of this universe... and further perfect the Simulated Universe."
"Mm."
Polka Kakamond nodded, then swiftly left Herta Xianzhou through spatial transference, heading for The Blue to establish a new laboratory.
At the same time, the Blue Federation Immigration Bureau received a new immigration application that very day. The information on it left the staff utterly dumbfounded. After rubbing their eyes and repeatedly confirming that they had read it correctly, they immediately rushed the application to the director.
After reading it, even the director of the Immigration Bureau could not help sucking in a sharp breath.
Application to immigrate to The Blue and establish a laboratory. Approval from The Herta already obtained.
Immigrant information as follows: Seat 4 of the Genius Society, Lord of Silence, Polka Kakamond, who once assassinated Emperor Rubert and brought an interstellar catastrophe to an end.
Without the slightest hesitation, the director approved the immigration application while also reporting the news of Polka Kakamond's immigration to The Blue to the higher authorities.
Before long, the highest levels of the Blue Federation also learned that Polka Kakamond had immigrated, sending shockwaves through the upper echelons.
First Ruan Mei, then Screwllum, and now Polka Kakamond!
The Herta had already recruited three geniuses to settle on The Blue. In a certain sense, The Blue had practically become a branch of the Genius Society.
Just how socially adept did a genius have to be to build such an extraordinary circle of friends in so little time?
But the problem was that when The Herta had attended university on The Blue in the past, she had never displayed this level of emotional intelligence. On the contrary, The Herta had been extremely self-centered back then. One could even say she had possessed no emotional intelligence whatsoever...
The Federation's highest-ranking officials pondered the matter for a long time, yet they still could not understand how The Herta had managed to make such exceptionally high-quality friends with such abysmal emotional intelligence.
—Surely the Genius Society members who had moved to The Blue couldn't possibly have even lower emotional intelligence than The Herta, right?!
...
Aboard the Herta Xianzhou, Herman placed numerous material orders through the IPC's online platform, purchasing everything required to create existence-energy.
One sealed severed limb belonging to the direct offspring of the Aeon of Propagation, a certain Swarm King from the era of the Swarm Disaster.
Rubert's Mechanical Lever was a peculiar Curio dating back to the Emperor's War. More precisely, it was an imperial relic currently held in the IPC's collection.
Besides that, there was also a remnant of ash from the planet Adlivun.
The IPC possessed both the original Amber Era calendar and Leviathan cells from the final Dusk Wars. Naturally, those Leviathan cells had been contributed by Dr. Primitive.
All of these materials shared one thing in common. They had experienced major events that shook the cosmos, and they were all ancient objects of immense collectible value. Or rather... their very existence represented their respective eras. They themselves were a form of existence.
With certain unique methods, The Herta could turn these seemingly useless relics into something miraculous, transforming them into existence-energy!
And once existence-energy was created, perhaps it really could heal Self-Annihilators to a certain degree.
...
Several days passed in the blink of an eye.
Every material Herman had ordered from the IPC was delivered by transport vessels from the Building Material Logistics Department.
After signing for the delivery, Herman awakened The Herta, who was currently inside the Simulated Laboratory researching the technology of the Holy Lord.
"Have the materials arrived?" The moment The Herta emerged from her state of intense concentration, she looked at Herman expectantly and asked the question.
Herman sent his voice through their minds in response. 'Mm. All the materials you need to create existence-energy have arrived. And not just those. The materials you previously requested to build Soul Society have also been delivered.'
"Good."
A delighted and excited smile curved The Herta's lips. "In that case, we'll reproduce these two extraordinary technologies in the real universe as quickly as possible."
"I really can't wait to see how IX, Aeon of Nihility, reacts when the time comes."
"Mm."
Herman acknowledged her, while secretly thinking to himself.
If we use Reishi to build Soul Society, a world for the dead... then souls will be able to truly continue existing instead of falling into the abyss of Nihility.
Likewise, once existence-energy is created, it means that as long as Self-Annihilators can replenish themselves with existence-energy, they'll still be able to maintain their own existence even while Nihility is pulling them apart.
At that point, The Herta will most likely have refuted the Path of Nihility. When that happens, will IX, Aeon of Nihility, still keep lying around doing nothing?
Herman was extremely curious about the answer.
More importantly, Herman had a certain conjecture in his heart.
The Aeons of this universe don't want to see Finality arrive. They're all trying to save this universe in Their own ways.
Even Nanook, Aeon of Destruction, is the same... They seek a new future for the universe through destruction.
Then... could IX of Nihility be the same?
Perhaps They only chose to give up because They saw through everything and concluded that the universe had no possibility of salvation.
But once Herta develops Soul Society and even existence-energy... once IX of Nihility sees hope, will They finally take action?!
...
Switch.
Herman's soul and The Herta's crossed past one another.
When those eyes opened again, control of the body had shifted from Herman to The Herta. Her eyes brimmed with intellectual brilliance as she gripped her magic wand and gazed into the distance. Before long, she saw an enormous quantity of materials floating in the starry sky outside Herta Xianzhou.
There were Dreamstones intended for the construction of Soul Society, as well as Rubert's Lever...
The Herta looked at the materials and raised the magic wand in her hand. In an instant, countless rays of light burst from its tip, and a gateway into the Warp opened.
A colossal hand formed entirely from psychic energy, as large as a planet, gradually took shape and moved the countless materials into the Warp.
Many people witnessed the scene and immediately began exclaiming in admiration.
"Madam Herta is starting another new research project!"
"Madam Herta is about to achieve another success!"
"Madam Herta will continue her march toward greatness!"
Many people throughout The Blue's star system had already become die-hard fans of The Herta and firmly believed that her research was destined to succeed.
Failure?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
Throughout The Herta's entire path of scientific research, she had succeeded every step of the way and had never once failed!
That had been true in the past, and it would remain true in the future.
Of course, that was merely what the overwhelming majority believed. In the eyes of a tiny minority, The Herta had already experienced failure.
The last time, The Herta had transported an enormous quantity of materials into the Warp, seemingly intending to construct some special project. Yet to this day, there had still been no news about that project.
At this very moment, an anonymous forum had already attracted a group of The Herta's anti-fans.
"Madam Herta can't possibly succeed forever."
"If she always succeeds, is she even human anymore? Madam Herta must have experienced failure. According to reports, the last time The Herta transported materials into the Warp, she seemed to be preparing to build some kind of tower. Yet even now, there still hasn't been any celebratory announcement. That's enough to prove that the project Madam Herta was overseeing ended in complete failure!"
"Yes, that must be it."
"Exactly, exactly."
The group of anti-fans agreed wholeheartedly.
Just then, an anonymous account suddenly posted, "Isn't it possible that Madam Herta already completed the tower?"
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"
"Given Madam Herta's personality, if she really had finished that tower, there's no way she'd keep it hidden."
"Isn't it possible that the technology behind that tower is simply too dangerous?"
"Dangerous? What technology created by geniuses isn't dangerous?"
"Forget everything else. Just look at the Swarm King Madam Ruan Mei created earlier. That thing was as large as a planet. Supposedly, it already possesses the full power that the Starcrusher Swarm King, Emanator of Propagation, had during the Swarm Disaster, and it can even partially reproduce the calamities of the Swarm Disaster."
"Then there's Screwllum. He may look like a gentleman on the surface, but ultimately he's still an Intellitron with no human emotions whatsoever... Maybe he's secretly preparing to crown himself and become Emperor Rubert III."
"Oh, right, right. There's also Madam Polka Kakamond, who recently immigrated to the Blue Federation. She assassinated quite a few geniuses in the past, yet now she's built a good relationship with Madam Herta and settled in The Blue's star system."
"I strongly suspect this genius came here specifically to mock Madam Herta for her failed research."
"Poster above, I think you've got it wrong. I suspect Polka Kakamond is actually a genius whom Madam Herta subdued."
"Isn't it possible that Polka Kakamond actually came and settled in The Blue's star system because of the group Wisdom Halo?"
"The group Wisdom Halo can even affect Seat 4 of the Genius Society?!"
"If that's really the case, then Polka Kakamond was subdued by The Herta..."
The anti-fans on the anonymous forum spun conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory. Then Polka, who possessed the Knowable Domain, noticed that someone on this forum was writing her name.
And they're saying I was subdued by The Herta?
How could that possibly be true!
I wasn't subdued by The Herta at all. I'm simply interested in The Herta's scientific research... and in Herta herself!
As Polka Kakamond thought this, she shut down the entire forum.
...
Meanwhile, within the Warp, after moving all the construction materials for Soul Society inside, The Herta took a deep breath and silently thought.
In the inspiration I originally obtained through World-Shaking Wisdom... Soul Society was constructed from the Soul King's corpse and an infinite quantity of Reishi.
But in this universe, there is no Soul King, nor is there any form of energy known as Reishi.
However, I previously developed both the Warp and the psychic-energy conversion formula.
The Warp can absorb the emotional energy of living beings. And as long as living beings continue to exist in the real universe, they'll continuously produce emotional energy. That emotional energy can then be converted into psychic energy through the psychic-energy conversion formula.
Therefore, psychic energy can effectively be considered infinite... At least until this universe experiences a mass extinction of life.
And aside from the artificial psychic energy I created, this universe also contains Imaginary energy, which is likewise infinite.
More importantly, compared to psychic energy converted from emotional energy, Imaginary energy is truly infinite, without any upper limit whatsoever.
The reason Aeons stand so far above all other beings is precisely because They created Paths, allowing Them to continuously transform the Imaginary into the energy of Their respective Paths through the Paths themselves.
And now that I'm an Emanator of Erudition, I can draw enormous quantities of Path energy from the Path itself. Through energy formulas, I can also perform mass-energy conversion to obtain Imaginary energy in its purest form.
Combine Imaginary energy with psychic energy... then add the soul-Reishi formula I derived from studying Soul Society, and I can already create Reishi and construct Soul Society.