Aleph swiftly moved with the discussion.
"What do you think of the gift I gave you?"
"It's very incomplete." She replied with a satisfied tone. "I like it."
"Figures."
He considered Herta's personality when it came to giving the [Throne of Magical Arcana] system. For once, it is one of the most incomplete power systems he had. Everything up to its Demigod stage has been verified; beyond that is nothing.
It is important to note that the said stage does not mean much to this honkai universe. They could be beaten by the people on Earth, given they are on the level of complex lifeforms.
In short, this power system is weak and undeveloped… which just happens to be Herta's liking.
She is not the type to be handed in test answers; she would rather look for them herself.
"Was it from another world? Some of the annotations are interesting. I am more inclined to see their higher-dimensional souls as an 'idea' of their perfect selves."
Aleph waited for her narcissism to flare up but to no avail.
She noticed this look and retorted, "I may be the epitome of greatness, but I am not perfect. If I am, would this world still have a chance?"
"Yeah, yeah. Terminus will flip out when you are crowned the Aeon of Narcissism."
"Just like what they did to Akivili?"
He was surprised to hear it coming from her.
"Nobody's pointing it out, but it's a secret from Nous themselves. A personal conjecture of sorts."
"I see." He then thought inwardly, 'Nous hid some things from me. What was their intention with that?'
Before, Aleph asked them for pieces of information. One of them was everything related to the Astral Express. Nous did give their objective information. It's a different matter when it comes to their speculations.
As Nous' Emanator, Herta is qualified to know such things.
"I'll go and come down to investigate it personally. I came across several intriguing things." He commented with a teasing gesture, "You wouldn't happen to notice the slight increase of Destruction's army? Or the intensifying clash between Hunt and Abundance?"
"Hmph. You did a job well done."
Herta admitted when it came to stirring things up, Aleph remains unmatched. He is the representation of what she would do given enough power.
"There's no surprise Aha wanted you to become their Emanator."
"True. Oh well, what a pity. If Idrilla was present…"
"Yeah, yeah. A new Emanator of Beauty."
Aleph stopped her recurring words.
"That's right. Do you want to see new magic?"
Crack-!
A visible crack appeared amidst their surroundings. The starry sky remained unchanged, however. The Simulated Universe did not prevent Aleph from exerting his full strength.
"It is somewhat related to mirrors. I think you'd like it."
The cracks multiplied and turned into a hexagon of mirrors. It continued multiplying, turning it into a full-blown kaleidoscope.
Herta felt slightly ominous from his words.
"Let's test your Simulated Universe's processing power on top of that."
That day, Herta's personal computer (i.e., space station) crashed.
*****
Pop-!
It was the sound of bubblegum exploding. The keys of a keyboard are being continuously smashed by racoon-like fingers.
"Hm… How strange."
The lines of mysterious code were related to Herta's Space Station.
As one of the few megastructures built aboveboard by a Genius Society member, it gained interstellar attention. That included hackers who wanted to make a name for themselves.
Unfortunately, the firewall created by Miss Herta was akin to a boundless wall. Its sheer presence sends countless thieves shivering. Its aura was impeccable.
Soon, the people who placed probes (i.e., harmless viruses) decreased until not many were left. Heck, some of the hackers were even converted to Herta's 'mindless' fans.
Only a select few carried with their plans. The girl with ninety-percent similarities to Bronya was one of them.
"It's really weird. Is she cooking something big?"
Silverwolf wasn't scared off. Her curiosity peaked. The Herta Space Station was personally funded by an independent and wealthy family. Their influence makes the IPC maintain a superficial balanced cooperation between them.
It was a space station built with an unimaginable amount of money. Add to that the personal power of a Genius Society member…
"Tsk, tsk. It's not in the script…"
Silverwolf was aware of the special ability held by her co-worker. If it wasn't in the script, it is better to not touch it. Else, things could spiral out of control.
With that in mind, she let go of the new discovery and focused on playing a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, otherwise known as a MOBA.
It is one of the most famous games in the cosmos. It featured IPC's public figures, Genius Society members, Xianzhou's officials, and the likes. It is a massive game with official cooperation across several cosmic forces. Nowadays, being added into it is akin to a recognition.
Naturally, the infamous Stellaron Hunters are also in the game. In fact, it was Silverwolf herself who communicated with the developers on public media to agree to it.
This time, she prepared herself for a round. She chose Firefly—another one of her co-workers—to act on a Carry role.
"Hm. Who is so bold to choose me at this stage..?"
She stared intently at the Silverwolf on the enemy team. She is set as a Midlaner. Once overpowered, she was nerfed until only the strongest few could utilize her. Nowadays, her counters are as many as the stars in the sky.
"This is an easy win."
Fifty grueling minutes later…
"..."
Silverwolf stared at the [Silverwolf] in-game. Not only was she spamming emotes over the actual Silverwolf's dead body, she was also being spammed recalls. The greatest disrespect of her gaming history happened all of a sudden.
"...Damn it. This idiot's flash hasn't been used yet—"
Just as she spoke, the Silverwolf in-game used her Flash, triggered a set of combos successfully, and managed to counter kill three people in one. When their nexus was broken, all that was left was an indelible sense of humiliation.
"This bastard..!"
She began pulling in a program. She did not aim for that guy's information immediately. Instead, she wanted to match up on another game.
And so she did just that.
Five games.
A total of seven hours of her life was wasted. Each one ended in defeat. Her ELO dropped along with her six losestreak.
Everytime damn time, her 'rival' chose the mid laner Silverwolf in-game. No matter how many heroes countered that player, they managed to win every single time—in a very annoying way, to boot.
Be it sacrificing themselves for the super minions to win, doing a split push…
Beep-!
Amidst her silent frustrations, Silverwolf received a friend request from that same person. She swiftly accepted it, in which she received a new message.
[SW is no joke: Gonna cry?]
"You—!"
All sorts of profanities left her mouth. The losestreaks did not cut it. The constant spam emotes and recalls grinded her reason.
Coupled with the aftermath of trash-talking, Silverwolf was successfully ragebaited.
From the moment she decided to hack the player's address…
"She's easier to trigger than the other Bronya."
…all of her accounts are destined to be locked.