The Herta Space Station… Simulated Universe…
"Ha!"
A gray-haired girl swung a baseball bat, delivering a crushing blow to the head of a Voidranger in front of her. With a bang, the ferocious vanguard of the Antimatter Legion had its skull shattered by the seemingly unremarkable baseball bat, dissolving into a stream of data.
"Good, keep it up." Herta's voice echoed through the virtual space. The next moment, three translucent cards materialized before the gray-haired girl.
They were:
Preservation – Cosmic Construction: Tetrahedron
The Hunt – Thunderous Chariot Shakes the Earth
Destruction – Escalating Cataclysm
"Huh?" Stelle stared at the three cards in confusion. What… were these? They seemed pretty impressive.
"These are blessings from the Aeons. They represent Preservation, The Hunt, and Destruction. Equipping them will enhance your combat power, but they'll also increase the likelihood of drawing the Aeons' attention." Herta's voice rang out again, answering Stelle's question.
"Choose the blessing of Preservation. It has the highest compatibility with you."
"Oh." Following Herta's advice, Stelle obediently selected the blessing of Preservation. But just as she was about to proceed to the next stage, our Galactic Baseballer suddenly remembered something.
"Herta, in the Simulated Universe… do blessings from every Aeon appear?"
"Mhm, you could say that. But it depends on your luck—these things are randomized."
"Even the blessing of Causality?" Stelle's eyes lit up. After cramming knowledge over the past few days, she had come to understand what Paths were, as well as their functions and strengths.
Among them, the one she yearned for the most was the Path of Causality. Though this Aeon had only emerged recently, the path he forged could undoubtedly be called the most expansive.
During her time with Asta and Yun Fan these past few days, she had also witnessed the power of the Path of Causality—the authority to arbitrarily rewrite rules and trample upon truth was simply too absurdly overpowered.
"Uh… Not at the moment…" Herta's words might as well have poured a bucket of cold water over Stelle's enthusiasm.
"Huh?!" The flames of fighting spirit burning around Stelle instantly dimmed, her face full of disappointment. "Aww… This Simulated Universe is kinda lame…"
"Hey! Don't just dismiss someone else's hard work like that!" Herta retorted indignantly. In a place Stelle couldn't see, her expression darkened. The next moment, our Great Herta summoned several dozen Tramplers, surrounding the disheartened Stelle.
"What the—?!" At this sight, Stelle froze in place, momentarily forgetting to attack or defend. However, these dozen or so data-generated Tramplers didn't hesitate—with a collective roar, the ones closest to the gray-haired girl raised their forelegs and launched their assault.
"In the name of Preservation!" In her panic, Stelle first cast a shield on herself, blocking the Tramplers' attacks. Then, channeling the power of Preservation into her bat, she materialized it into armor.
Well… more accurately, it was armor with spikes.
"Condensing the power of Preservation into the bat, then solidifying it into a 'spiked club'… That's certainly… an interesting idea." Watching this, Herta's lips twitched slightly. The vessel of the Stellaron was truly something else.
"Mhm, it is quite amusing." A voice suddenly spoke up behind her, nearly startling the focused Herta.
"You— Ugh." Herta shook her head helplessly. "What brings you here?"
"Hahaha, what's with that tone? I'm just keeping my promise to help you refine the Simulated Universe." Yun Fan laughed, casually resting a hand on Herta's head without a second thought.
"Tch. How annoying." Herta snorted coldly but didn't swat his hand away. After all, this was just a puppet—letting him pat her head wouldn't cost her anything. And even if she refused, it probably wouldn't change anything. Might as well save herself the trouble.
With that, the two fell silent, continuing to watch the live feed from the Simulated Universe on the monitor.
On the screen, the once high-spirited Stelle had now been reduced to a pitiful state. Her baseball bat had long since fallen to the ground, and she was surrounded by Tramplers, being kicked around like a soccer ball.
"You're… taking this a bit personally, aren't you?" Yun Fan rubbed his nose, speaking tactfully.
"Hmph!" Herta snorted but didn't refute his words. If Stelle hadn't mocked her Simulated Universe as "lame," she wouldn't have resorted to such underhanded tactics.
A while later…
"Hah… Hah… Huff…" Stelle was finally kicked out of the Simulated Universe by the Tramplers. The moment her consciousness returned to reality, the first thing she did was storm up to Herta in outrage.
"Herta, you—!" Before Stelle could finish her accusation, Herta cut her off with a deadpan expression. "Stop right there. I didn't spawn those Tramplers—it was this guy next to me."
Yun Fan: ???
Yun Fan was momentarily stunned by Herta's words, but he quickly snapped out of it, his lips twitching. Oh, you little— Herta, was patting your head that big of a deal? You're playing dirty now, huh? Even resorting to framing me?!
"Yun Fan, you…?" Stelle's eyes widened in disbelief, her expression screaming, What did I ever do to you for you to do this to me?!
"Ugh, what a mess." Yun Fan sighed helplessly. Then, he reached out with one hand and plunged it into the void.
"What are you— Huh?" Herta asked curiously, but before she could finish, the puppet's body froze in place as if disconnected from its network.
"Herta? What's going on?" Seeing this, Stelle temporarily set aside her 'hostility' toward Yun Fan and stepped forward, poking the puppet's face a few times. Gotta admit—though the joints were a bit rough, the face was crafted quite well.
"You'll find out soon." Yun Fan smirked mysteriously. Then, his arm in the void seemed to grab onto something before yanking it out forcefully.
"Thud!"
A girl was unceremoniously dragged out of the void by Yun Fan. Caught completely off guard, her eyes were wide with shock. Then, the moment she landed, she lost her balance and face-planted onto the floor.