"Frequency steadily rising, source stable..."
Checking over the oddly-shaped instrument again and again, Herta hummed a tune.
---------------------------------------
"The fluctuations match perfectly, I can proceed to the next step."
Herta's eyes blazed as she looked at the steadily rising frequency fluctuations, then leaned down and lay into the special pod for puppets.
As the screen flickered faster and faster, a strange energy connected with Herta's consciousness.Moments later, all fell silent.
...
Shaking her head, Herta opened her eyes and saw the lush scenery before her.
Dense, towering ancient trees were everywhere, and the overwhelming vitality of nature filled her body and mind with comfort.
"This really does fit Godzilla's dream."
Herta sighed softly.
The title of Guardian of Ecology that Godzilla bore had already spread throughout the cosmos.
Any world linked to the interstellar network almost certainly knew of such a powerful being who watched over nature.
In such circumstances, no one dared to test whether Godzilla truly had the ability to maintain ecological balance.
The immense path power that could elevate an ordinary person to the rank of top Emanator, Godzilla could wield such strength to clash with Emanators head-on without harming himself.
Only civilizations that had just joined the interstellar sphere and knew nothing of Godzilla would try something foolish.
Almost every civilization could see the deterrent force such a being represented.
Act recklessly? Fine, but you'll be erased from the stars.
Herta strolled leisurely through the forest.
Although Jarilo didn't have memory matter on the scale of Penacony, that hardly posed a problem for a genius like her.
Especially since Godzilla hadn't restricted his dream at all, linking her consciousness to it was no doubt an easy matter.
Of course, her intrusion could never be hidden from the owner of this dream, so she simply wandered about, waiting.
"Miss Herta."
Just then, a voice broke the forest's stillness.
Herta turned her head and saw a Memokeeper of the Garden of Recollection drifting toward her, yes, drifting, her feet stepping on a cloud that looked very much like cotton candy, floating lazily over.
"So that fluctuation just now was Miss Herta, huh?"
Floating closer, the Memokeeper smiled lightly.
Godzilla hadn't restricted the Garden of Recollection's powers in the dream, and with the obvious ripples caused by Herta's consciousness connecting to it, the Memokeeper immediately noticed and came over.
She had successfully caught Herta.
"Well, someone from the Garden of Recollection. Seems your results aren't that great either."
"Ahaha, true." The Memokeeper scratched her cheek awkwardly at Herta's remark.
Mm, Herta's words carried no deeper meaning, just a casual greeting. As for the tone … well, she was a genius, after all.
"Miss Herta, did you come here on purpose?"
After laughing, the Memokeeper asked curiously.
What matter couldn't be discussed in reality and had to be done here in dreams? After all, Herta was stationed on the Giant Sting planet right next to Jarilo.
"Of course I'd come check out something this interesting." Herta replied with confidence, then fixed her gaze on the confused Memokeeper.
"Besides, from my observations, the Garden of Recollection seems to be running some new activity lately."
Crossing her arms, Herta spoke with firm certainty. The Memokeeper was speechless.
The Garden had indeed established contact with that unknown region recently, but apart from themselves, only Godzilla knew of it. Yet Herta had deduced their movements purely from observation, so this was the difference of a top genius of the cosmos.
In that moment, the Memokeeper finally understood that the gap between ordinary people and geniuses was like a bottomless chasm.
Observing the Memokeeper's… emotions! Herta concluded that the fluctuations she had observed earlier were very important to the Garden of Recollection.
As everyone knew, the process of an event often entangled many other matters.
As one of the top forces in the universe, even a casual action from the Garden of Recollection could plunge countless worlds into unspeakable states.
That was why Herta paid such close attention.
A genius's curiosity was always intense.
The Memokeeper felt conflicted.
That unfamiliar star field had taken the Garden much effort to observe, and its true nature was still unclear.
With Miss Herta's notorious freewheeling style, if she stirred up trouble, things would get messy.
Though it was unknown which Aeon's radiance covered that star system, given the Aeons' general ways, as long as one didn't act against their path, they wouldn't interfere.
Boom!
Boom!
At that moment, the ground began to quake and the sky darkened.
Both of them looked up simultaneously , and saw Godzilla, slightly bowing, watching them.
"Yo, long time no see."
Herta waved nonchalantly in greeting, her face calm.
Come to think of it, it had been some time since they last met.
Godzilla had been on Jarilo; she had been atop the giant sting.
One spent the days sleeping, a wanderer in dreams.
The other soaked in the laboratory, doll parts nearly rusting.
Naturally, they rarely crossed paths.
Godzilla observed the tiny Herta below, curious as to why she was here.
He said nothing, but Herta had a whole basket of things she wanted to say.
"I was wondering why you slept all day, thinking maybe you weren't feeling well, but turns out you're just wandering around in dreams."
"And that's not even the worst part, we're neighbors, and you found such a good place yet didn't tell me? Do you have any idea how much that hurts my heart?"
Herta clutched her chest… though puppets had no hearts.
But that wasn't the point. She simply wanted to guilt-trip the giant before her.
Did he even know how important a new discovery was to a Genius like her?
After all, we've been neighbors for so long, and yet you won't even tell me this. This world is really too unfair to a genius like me.
Godzilla's tail moved slightly as he looked at Herta deliberately fooling around.
Don't be fooled by Herta's great reputation, it's meaningless to Godzilla.
And besides, Herta is the type who, if she's interested in you, can bend or stretch her pride as she pleases.
Just fooling around, nothing new.
"Eh, eh, eh! I was joking, you're really going to hit me?!"
...
After a bout of playing around.
Godzilla's playing around, Herta's being tossed around.
Herta sat on Miss Memokeeper's white cloud, muttering softly.
"Honestly, can't even take a little joke." Almost got her limbs ripped off.
She pointed her arm back in place with a thud, reattaching it.
A puppet body is really convenient. Take apart, put back together at will.
"Um, why don't you try fixing it with your mind instead?"
As Herta flexed her arm to check for flaws, the Memokeeper suddenly raised a doubtful voice, freezing the moment.
"What did you just say?"
After a pause, Herta casually put her arm down, turned her head, and stared intently at the unsuspecting Memokeeper.
"In Penacony, the rules of dreams are pre-established. Even though Penacony now belongs to Godzilla, everyone subconsciously still follows the rules of the material world. But actually, as long as your imagination is strong enough, you can do things in dreams that are absolutely impossible in reality."
"..." Herta's expression soured.
"Why didn't you tell me something this important earlier?!"
"I thought you knew." Miss Memokeeper gave an embarrassed smile.
Seeing her smile, Herta helplessly shook her head.
She'd been misled by the examples she already had, mistakenly thinking that Godzilla's dream also had to follow such rules.
But thinking again, with Godzilla's personality, even if there were restrictions, they wouldn't be in this area.
At most it'd be limiting others from making too much noise. And why others? Well, obviously because,
"Now can you tell me what exactly you all discovered?"
Glancing at Godzilla, who was sitting by a cliff, Herta turned to the Memokeeper.
After some thought, Miss Memokeeper nodded. "No problem, this all starts with…"
...
It wasn't actually that complicated.
Garden of Recollection in the past had accidentally discovered a star system that hadn't been incorporated into the interstellar map. Its exact coordinates were unknown, and they didn't even know which Aeon sheltered it.
Other than that, the only way to contact that star system for now was through the Mirror of Memories.
"But until recently, Godzilla discovered that star system." Herta concluded.
"That's right, Godzilla found it, and using dreams made real, descended into that world. Along the way, he even did some… uh, repair work for it."
Thinking of the city destroyed by one of Godzilla's attacks, Miss Memokeeper felt a little guilty. But after glancing at Godzilla again, she remembered, those monsters clearly weren't good things.
Godzilla had helped them, and asked for nothing in return!
Thinking that, she puffed out her chest proudly, as if sharing honor and disgrace.
Miss Memokeeper added then added, "And also because of that Miss Kiana Kaslana, the Garden cannot use other means to try entering that star system."
The Garden of Recollection was created to collect memories across the universe that might interest Fuli, the Aeon of Memory.
A star system never before discovered was enough proof that its memories held immense value.
Amphoreus, a world where three Paths intertwined, a world even Akivili the Trailblazer had never reached.
Just those titles alone made the Garden very interested, not to mention a star system never before discovered, and one that housed an Emanator.
As for the idea that some unknown Aeon might be sheltering that system, completely worthless.
An Aeon's birth always triggers a cosmic uproar; the universe itself reacts to an Aeon's emergence.
So there's no such thing as an "unknown Aeon."
"To sense Emanator-level fluctuations from such a distance… at minimum, it's a top-tier Emanator." Herta mused.
No wonder the Memokeeper worried about her breaking into that world. The gap between top Emanators and ordinary ones was even greater than the gap between ordinary people and Emanators.
Don't believe it?
Try asking Jing Yuan to summon the Lighting Lord and slash down on the Asdana system, and see if it could even compare to the blade wielded by Acheron.
Keep in mind, the Asdana system still bears the massive scar of that strike, a rift that will never heal.
Wait! Herta suddenly snapped back to her senses. Something was wrong.
Since when were there so many top-tier Emanators?
From the never-before-seen Nihility Path came an unknown Emanator-level powerhouse. Add to that Godzilla, whom no one knew when or why he might join the fray.
That made three already!
Compared to others, as a Genius, Herta could grasp the implications more deeply.
It was no exaggeration: if even one of these three wanted to greatly expand their organization, there were few forces in the universe capable of resisting.
That would mean yet another top-tier Faction pressing down upon the cosmos.
After all, aside from the Xianzhou, who could call upon Lan's Lux Arrows when faced with insoluble troubles, every other force, without exception, was either devoted to following the Aeons or opposing them.
To be blunt.
If a top Emanator wants to establish a force, other factions will actively respond, those with money contribute money, those without contribute manpower.
For no other reason than that nobody wants to see a Emanator, who can 'visit' them at any time, and ask 'protection fees', wandering around everywhere.
"Can we still enter that world now?" Herta asked.
Miss Memokeeper shook her head, waved her hands, and said helplessly,
"I can see it only because Godzilla projected the dreamscape over that world, it's not something I can locate."
If she had that ability, it would already be hard to say whether Black Swan and the others could still remain in charge.
As expected, Herta realized that this Miss Memokeeper was just a decoration.
...
"Kiana, Mei, Bronya, this mission is extremely important, nothing can go wrong!" Himeko tirelessly reminded the three little ones behind her.
"Aiya, we know already, Aunt Himeko. Whatever mission you hand to me, just rest assured, I'll definitely complete it perfectly."
Kiana gave a confident smile, pointing a thumb at herself.
Thud!
Ignoring Kiana, who squatted on the ground and squeezed out tears, Himeko continued in a solemn tone.
"This mission is very likely related to Chi You from ancient times. No matter what, you must be extremely cautious, absolutely no accidents!"
"Mm, we will, Teacher Himeko." Mei nodded seriously.
"Bronya as well," the emotionless little girl replied flatly.
...
Himeko's gaze lingered on that little girl a bit longer.
Bronya, the one brought back to St. Freya Academy along with her mech.
But her robot was not something an ordinary person could possess.
Speaking of Bronya, both she and Theresa thought her luck was remarkably good.
Back then, the ultra-high temperature Godzilla unleashed not only wiped out countless Honkai beasts, but also gave Nagazora City a massive cleansing.
Even now, the city still retains enormous crystal structures.
Under the sunlight, they shine brilliantly.
Looking toward the sea, Himeko's eyes grew grave.
Chi You. A being from ancient mythology.
By rights, such an existence should only have been passed down as a mythical tale. Yet not long ago, strong Honkai energy fluctuations were detected here.
And at that time, the massive beast pressed down upon…
...
Schicksal.
Otto sat high above the clouds.
"Chi You…"
Swirling his wine glass, Otto fell into deep thought.
He knew Chi You truly existed, and that the one who sealed Chi You had intricate ties to an old friend of his.
There was no helping it, an activity on such a scale could only mean that Chi You was gradually awakening.
Now, Schicksal stood at the forefront of fighting against the Honkai.
Even that old friend of his had to admit, to fight Chi You, they had to borrow the power of Schicksal.
"For Chi You, who should not have awakened so soon, to suddenly awaken, this forces us to suspect that perhaps something intriguing is hidden behind it…"
...
Meanwhile.
After a series of antics, acting spoiled, playing cute, pretending to cry, Herta successfully gained entry.
"This is the world observed by the Garden?" She looked with interest at the new world before her, lined with tall buildings.
Although from appearances, the technology of this world was not very advanced, given that even the Garden could only observe it with special means, and that a top Emanator was stationed here, she pressed down her restless heart.
"Pretty much. I remember when Godzilla took me there, it should've been a bit earlier than this."
Looking at the giant advertising screens and all the various date markers around, Miss Memokeeper added.
Thanks to their constitution, people of the Garden of Recollection were rather sensitive to the flow of time between worlds.
"This station continues to report: Nagazora City, destroyed by disaster half a year ago, is still under cleanup. According to the global charity Schicksal Co., the cleanup is expected to last another year, with the final completion date still far off."
"Time travel…"
Herta blinked, both excited and shocked.
Just traversing time was already astonishing, not to mention altering the past on the timeline. This wasn't just plucking at strings, it was provoking the world itself!
Of course, in Herta's perspective, if the past could be changed, then it meant what had been changed was destined to be changed in history.
Nothing to make a fuss over.
Even so, Herta was still shaken. Among the Aeons, there was one called the Finality.
It saw the future, saw the conclusion, yet could do nothing.
And Nihility, upon seeing through the truth of the world, simply gave up.
Shaking her head, throwing out these irrelevant thoughts, Herta spoke.
"Let's go, let's see what's different about this world."
Since their arrival hadn't drawn that powerful one's attention, it meant that on this timeline, the Emanator had not yet fully grown.