Within the Warp, The Herta waved the magic wand in her hand. The black sun suspended at the highest point of the Warp immediately erupted with hundreds of millions of rays of light as it frantically devoured emotional energy and converted it into psychic energy.
Psychic energy gathered across the sky, surrounding The Herta and flickering continuously like countless stars.
Then The Herta waved her magic wand again, using it as a key. In an instant, a doorway opened in the void.
It was the Path of Erudition, within which flowed an endless torrent of Path energy. Moreover, a portion of that Path energy was completely under The Herta's control.
With a mere thought from The Herta, an immense quantity of Path energy, enough to burst an entire planet apart, poured through the doorway of the Path of Erudition. After entering the Warp, that Path energy converged into a dazzling river.
The Herta raised her head and gazed at the river of Path energy before lifting her hand once more and waving her magic wand.
The mass-energy conversion formula activated.
In an instant, the vast river formed from countless streams of Erudition Path energy transformed into the purest Imaginary energy.
Thus, the psychic energy had gathered, and the conversion into Imaginary energy was complete.
The Reishi energy needed to create Soul Society could now be synthesized from these two forms of energy.
Without the slightest hesitation, The Herta directly activated the Reishi conversion formula.
In an instant, the psychic energy and Imaginary energy began mixing together in a unique ratio.
At the same time, The Herta repeatedly chanted within her mind, urging Reishi into existence.
The Herta was making use of psychic energy's property of mind over matter.
Several seconds passed. The mind-over-matter property of psychic energy began taking effect, ultimately allowing it to successfully fuse with Imaginary energy and become an extraordinary form of energy capable of acting upon souls and stabilizing their existence—Reishi!
The Herta spread open her palm, drew the Reishi energy into it, and absorbed it into her body to examine it carefully. She quickly discovered that her consciousness had grown stronger. More accurately, she had obtained something called spiritual pressure.
This thing could suppress souls weaker than hers.
Of course, the spiritual pressure provided by a single wisp of Reishi was laughably weak. It could not suppress anyone.
However, The Herta was currently preparing to construct a world composed of souls, so naturally, she could synthesize psychic energy without limit.
Without the slightest hesitation, she mentally mobilized the computational power of the Super Herta Astral Computer, having it assist her in controlling psychic energy, Imaginary energy, and the Reishi conversion formula as she frantically synthesized Reishi.
The efficiency of Reishi conversion increased dramatically.
The Herta immediately absorbed this Reishi into her body to strengthen her soul and spiritual pressure.
Time flowed like water. The Herta's soul grew stronger with each passing day, while the intensity of her spiritual pressure became increasingly astonishing.
This development was quickly reflected in the pitch-black sun suspended high in the sky of the Warp.
The sun's radiance became increasingly brilliant and pure.
At the same time, the endless deceased beings within the Warp all discovered that the majesty and oppressive pressure emitted by the black sun overhead were growing stronger day by day.
It was as though that sun were truly the incarnation of an emperor, impossibly exalted, sacred, and divine!
One system day passed, then two.
After ten consecutive system days, The Herta's soul had absorbed an unknown quantity of Reishi and grown to a certain limit. It seemed that if she absorbed even a little more, her soul itself would encounter problems first.
The Herta was neither satisfied nor pleased with this.
A limit?
What kind of joke is that?
How could I, The Herta, possibly have something like a limit? I had no limits in the past, and I won't have any in the future.
After all, I'm a genius, and I have Herman's cheat!!
Otherwise, there would've been no way for me to crown myself an Emanator of Erudition in just a few short months.
World-Shaking Wisdom, activate!
Within The Herta's mind, the World-Shaking Wisdom talent took effect at that moment, allowing her to conceive of a method for her soul to break through its limit and shatter its restraints.
The method was quite simple. She only needed to create an Asauchi, then hammer and forge it with her soul until it became a Zanpakuto.
After thinking this far, The Herta turned her gaze toward the Herta Magic Wand beside her and silently thought.
The Herta Magic Wand was a creation I researched and manufactured not long after studying Soul Gems. It has accompanied me for many days.
Back then, the pseudo-infinite-energy technology was also completed through the Herta Magic Wand.
Without question, the Herta Magic Wand is the most suitable object to become an Asauchi and then a Zanpakuto... even if it doesn't look like a sword, but rather a magic wand.
But as long as I want it to, the Herta Magic Wand can possess the concept of an Asauchi. After all, my wisdom is just that world-shaking.
After reaching this conclusion, The Herta said to the Herta Magic Wand, "Prepare yourself. Something big is coming."
???
Hearing her, the Herta Magic Wand trembled in confusion, as though asking its master, The Herta:
Weren't we supposed to be creating Soul Society?
Why are you suddenly about to start working me over?!
At the very next moment, even more Reishi synthesized by The Herta through the Reishi conversion formula, which had not entered The Herta's body, began surging into the Herta Magic Wand.
"Ohohoho..."
The Herta Magic Wand began trembling madly at that moment, producing some indescribable sounds.
The body of the magic wand began transforming!
In addition to the three energies of Erudition, Honkai, and psychic energy already present within its body, a fourth form of energy began appearing—Reishi.
Several system hours passed. Reishi wrapped around the magic wand itself, forming unique patterns.
However, in The Herta's eyes, the Herta Magic Wand had merely transformed into an Asauchi. It had yet to become a Zanpakuto.
World-Shaking Wisdom told her that for an Asauchi to transform into a Zanpakuto, its wielder had to perform Jinzen and meditate for months or even years before the process could be completed.
That was far too long!
After all, it had only taken her a month or two to become a genius, join the Genius Society, and become an Emanator of Erudition.
Now she was supposed to spend that much time forging a single sword, a weapon defined by the concept of the soul? Absolutely not.
After thinking this through, the Warp around The Herta split open, and a diamond hammer flew into her hand.
She began striking the Herta Magic Wand with the diamond hammer, forging it even further.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The diamond hammer struck again and again!
The density of the Reishi wrapped around the Herta Magic Wand began increasing, while its structure grew increasingly stable.
The Herta Magic Wand began transforming from an Asauchi into a Zanpakuto.
It began transforming from a physical weapon into a conceptual weapon of the soul—a Zanpakuto.
At that moment, the Herta Magic Wand became capable of destroying not only matter, but souls as well.
As the Herta Magic Wand completed its transformation into a Zanpakuto, The Herta immediately gripped the shaft of the wand tightly. In an instant, some miraculous transformation occurred within the structure of The Herta's soul as well.
The upper limit was shattered!
Pop!
The structure of her soul transformed, and her soul could now absorb even more Reishi!
The first Soul Reaper in the Honkai: Star Rail universe was born!
More importantly, the instant The Herta gave the Herta Magic Wand the concept of a Zanpakuto, she had already completed Shikai and even Bankai.
After all, the Herta Magic Wand itself was The Herta's creation. Naturally, The Herta knew its true name perfectly well.
Its Shikai and Bankai abilities were also extremely simple. They amplified The Herta's spiritual pressure.
The Herta decided to test it. First came Shikai, with the release command:
"Mediocrities, prostrate yourselves before the creation of a genius! Herta Magic Wand!"
In an instant, Herta felt her psychic energy—or rather, her soul, which had only just broken through its upper limit—become amplified, increasing by a full tenfold.
This development was reflected in the black sun within the Warp, immediately causing its radiance to become even more magnificent.
Countless souls living within the Warp involuntarily knelt down. Their instincts could sense that the sun was an existence standing completely above them.
"Madam Herta made another breakthrough."
"Madam Herta makes a breakthrough every ten days or half a month. You should be used to it by now."
"What do you mean every ten days or half a month? Madam Herta can even make breakthroughs in her research projects within a single week."
The people kneeling on the ground discussed the matter among themselves.
They did not feel that their dignity had been harmed. The reason was simple. The Warp created by The Herta allowed them to live a second life after death.
In a certain sense, The Herta was the mother of all the dead.
...
Meanwhile, The Herta herself stared at the Shikai form of the Herta Magic Wand in her hand, which had transformed from a wand into a blade, while her heart trembled.
The Shikai of a Zanpakuto really amplified my soul's oppressive force, my spiritual pressure, by tenfold.
More importantly, Shikai can stack with Bankai.
"Herta Magic Wand, Bankai!"
This time, The Herta did not recite another release command. She merely uttered the word silently in her heart. In an instant, the Herta Magic Wand changed form once more, becoming incomparably brilliant and mysterious.
At the same time, The Herta's spiritual pressure underwent a second amplification. This time, it was likewise increased tenfold!
A tenfold Bankai amplification stacked atop the initial tenfold Shikai amplification resulted in a hundredfold increase in spiritual pressure.
At that very moment, The Herta discovered that her soul's perception had expanded without limit. Even while standing within the Warp, she could perceive reality.
She could even hear people in the real world calling her name.
One voice came from Pier Point, the headquarters of the Interastral Peace Corporation. It belonged to an IPC director. "Madam Herta ordered another batch of materials. I think she'll develop another new invention before long. Send Jade from the Strategic Investment Department over in advance to discuss cooperation."
Another voice came from Planarcadia. It was Herta 66 livestreaming:
"Viewers, friends, family... do you want to know exactly how Madam Herta became a genius and joined the Genius Society?"
"Give me a follow so you don't lose your way. I'm Herta 66, and right now I'll tell you some exclusive information that only Hertas know."
Still more voices reached The Herta's ears from all kinds of places.
Through this, The Herta came to understand that while she had activated the Bankai state of her Zanpakuto, the Herta Magic Wand, she already possessed a certain authority belonging to supreme deities from myths and legends.
Whenever my name is spoken, I shall know.
Now, as long as someone invoked the name Herta, she would know.
If someone maliciously targeted her and plotted against her, then as long as the conspirator spoke her name, she would become aware of it and could rapidly unravel their schemes through her wisdom.
The Herta also confirmed that her soul had still not reached its upper limit. She could continue absorbing Reishi to strengthen herself.
More importantly, when World-Shaking Wisdom had passively activated not long ago, she had not only comprehended how to create Zanpakuto as soul armaments, but had also comprehended another method for allowing a soul to shatter its upper limit, break through its restraints, and absorb even more Reishi.
The Hogyoku!
As long as she created that thing, she would be able to shatter her upper limits again and again, allowing her soul to continue growing!
Reaching the level of the so-called Soul King was not impossible.
With such thoughts in mind, The Herta temporarily ended her Bankai state and rubbed her temples with a slight headache.
It was not because she had thought too much or overtaxed her brain cells. Rather, when she activated Bankai just now, she had heard far too much noise.
There was no helping it. She was simply too much of a genius. Her research achievements emerged one after another with almost no gaps between them.
As a direct result, her name constantly occupied the trending rankings of the interastral network, with her popularity remaining at its peak. That also meant far too many people throughout the galaxy were constantly speaking her name.
Trillions of people were invoking her name...
Phew.
The Herta took a deep breath and continued having the Super Herta Astral Computer assist with synthesizing Reishi.
No, the Super Herta Astral Computer was not the only one that needed to work. The Herta also summoned Shipgirl Herta, the enormous Xianzhou vessel, into the Warp and had Shipgirl Herta mobilize the vessel's computing power to run the Reishi formula.
Hummm...
More and more Reishi was synthesized and created!
A portion of this Reishi continued entering The Herta's body and strengthening her soul.
The other portion was infused by The Herta into the Dreamstones purchased from the IPC, as well as the other construction materials.
The concept of Reishi began permeating those construction materials. Once the process was complete, The Herta used the enormous psychic hands available to her as the creator of the Warp and began forging the world of the dead according to the previously designed blueprints for Soul Society.
The Herta's enormous psychic hands possessed astonishing precision while retaining the property of mind over matter.
As time passed, the afterlife—Soul Society—began taking shape. Naturally, the newly formed Soul Society was not particularly large. It was merely a small world.
Of course, "not particularly large" was only in comparison with the Warp itself.
After all, the current Warp had already become a super-dimension spanning countless galaxies.
However, Soul Society could continue to grow. As long as more Reishi was infused into it, it could continue transforming and expanding in area.
As Soul Society was born, every deceased being outside the Warp suddenly felt their soul being summoned by something unseen.
Some place was calling to them. It was a world after death, a world where they could continue living another life even after dying.
Many souls grew excited.
"Could it be the Warp?"
"But according to the interastral news I read from the IPC yesterday before I died, even though the Warp is still expanding, it hasn't yet covered the world where I lived."
"Then who exactly is calling us?"
In truth, it was not only the souls of the dead in reality who were confused by this question. The deceased beings within the Warp also sensed that mysterious summons at that moment.
It was as though something at a deeper level of the universe itself were proclaiming that a true afterlife had been born—a world capable of accommodating spiritual bodies and souls!
What kind of existence could possibly be summoning them? Surely it couldn't be Nihility?!
Within the Warp, the souls of the dead began growing nervous.
At the same time, the gazes of numerous Aeons turned toward the Warp. They had already sensed that an unimaginably extraordinary dimension had been born within it.