anwhile...
On the other side of the cosmos, Herta was actually in a rather grand mood lately.
It was all because she'd finally managed to corner Polka Kakamond at her own front door.
She wasn't sure if the woman had sensed Herta's pursuit or if she'd simply relocated following the recent anomalies.
Out in that godforsaken wasteland on the edge of IX's Nihility, Kakamond had pulled a fast one, leaving behind a trail of decoys and false intel that nearly sent Herta off on a wild goose chase.
Fortunately, Herta had co prepared—and she'd had a little help from 'Calypso' operating in the shadows.
Long story short: Herta successfully trapped Kakamond, forcing the woman's hand.
Under normal circumstances, Kakamond would have leaped at the chance to cut Herta down.
After all, Herta had co dangerously close to breaching the boundaries of knowledge over a dozen tis. But tis had changed.
Herta now had an Aeon standing at her back—and the kind of Aeon who wasn't above throwing manners out the window to intervene personally.
Even putting aside whether Kakamond could kill Herta under an Aeon's protection, there was the imdiate reality to consider: if Herta so much as breathed a word, Kakamond would be apprehended the next second, bound hand and foot, and delivered to Herta City for Herta to deal with at her leisure.
Consequently, Kakamond's current strategy was to stay as far away from Herta as possible, avoiding contact at all costs.
Herta, however, clearly had other ideas.
What's more, Herta had sohow found her hiding spot.
If this had been the Herta of several centuries ago, it might have been different, but the Herta of today had grown to a point where even Kakamond couldn't simply brush her aside.
The "Knowable Domain" sounded impressive, yet Herta had cracked it through so unknown ans.
With an endless barrage of tricks up her sleeve, the cornered Kakamond found it impossible to shake her off.
Driven to desperation, Kakamond was forced into a hasty confrontation.
During the struggle, Kakamond even considered calling Dr. Primitive for backup.
Unfortunately, while the Doctor had sent a response saying they would co, Kakamond waited and waited, but there was no sign of them.
She was so livid she assud the man had ghosted her and run off yet again.
As for the outco...
After ten long system days of entanglent, Kakamond ended up severely wounded and suffered a crushing defeat. She likely wouldn't be recovering anyti soon.
Herta had initially wanted to press the advantage and kick the dog while it was down, but Kakamond grew desperate, deploying a final gambit that forced Herta to abandon the pursuit.
It was a bit of a sha, but Herta was satisfied enough. This trip had allowed her to dig up quite a few of that woman's secrets.
As for actually taking Kakamond's life? Herta didn't care all that much. If she could kill her, fine; if not, whatever. Engaging in a high-stakes battle with Kakamond was far more important than the kill itself.
Still, it was a pity she hadn't been able to finish her off then and there. If the opportunity arose again, she definitely wouldn't give her another chance to escape.
With the experience and gains from this bout, the next ti they t, the scales wouldn't be nearly so balanced.
Musing over this, Herta decided to leave the battered star system and return to Herta Space Station.
The mont Herta crossed the wormhole and arrived at the station, the puppets—detecting Madam Herta's return—imdiately compiled all the recent developnts regarding the Simulated Universe and delivered them to her hands.
"Hmm? What's this? Why the rush? What happened to the Simulated Universe?"
Herta looked at the files sent by AI Herta with a look of confusion. For so reason, she had a sudden, sinking feeling.
She opened the file. The first thing she saw—a taphorical blow to the head—was a photo of a massive chanical head floating in the orbit of Amphoreus.
Herta hadn't even reached the text below yet; just seeing that chanical head, which looked at least fifty percent like her, sent the blood rushing straight to her brain.
"WHAT—IN—THE—WORLD—IS—THIS?!!"
Herta felt like she might faint from sheer fury.
That thing floating in the satellite orbit of Amphoreus was clearly where the Simulated Universe was supposed to be. BUT! The Simulated Universe space station in her mory absolutely did not look like this monstrosity!
Who did this? Who turned her station into this giant, thundering head?
That station that liked to spin around everywhere was troubleso enough, but now there was this "Big Head." And to top it off, it didn't even capture her beauty properly—it was practically a cri!
Even if she could recognize who the remaining parts looked like, since the main body was "Herta," it had to look like her own perfect face. Anything less was heresy!
"Inhale... exhale..."
Herta closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself. Once she'd finally suppressed her temper, she flipped past the close-up photo to read the detailed logs.
And there, just as she expected, she saw a very familiar na: "Madam Bai Ming."
In an instant, a wave of speechlessness, resignation, and "of course it was her" washed over Herta, making her laugh out loud.
It was one of those thoughts where she felt that if it wasn't Bai Ming, it wouldn't be normal.
Herta patiently continued reading.
From the initial "I have an idea" to the part where she shared portions of the Erudition Equation with Divine Herta and Screwllum, leading to their consecutive evolutions and transformations...
Herta's mood remained a mix of exasperation and annoyance.
However, when she reached the part explaining that the plan was to input a simplified Erudition Equation into the Simulated Universe to induce self-iteration, her eyes sharpened.
Almost instantly, Herta realized three things. If this plan succeeded, the very aning of the Simulated Universe would change for them.
On the other hand, Nous originated from Zandar's sudden whim to create a self-iterating slice, which eventually iterated into an Aeon and an entirely new Path.
Therefore, this plan was inherently dangerous. Even if Erudition already had an Aeon, if this thing truly started iterating, it would reach an astronomical level of complexity.
After thinking it through, Herta's first thought was: What is she doing this ti? This is way too big.
The second thought: She didn't invite to participate in such a fascinating project?!
The third: Did she purposely wait for to go bother Kakamond before starting this?
And the final thought: If she doesn't explain this clearly, she's going to have a very bad ti!
Of course, rembering that strange premonition she'd had back at the edge of the Nihility, Herta decided right then and there to hold a grudge. A serious one! She'd settle the old scores and the new ones all at once.
Silently marking a heavy tally against 'Calypso' in her mind, Herta kept reading. She wanted to see why the Simulated Universe had turned out like this and whether the plan had actually succeeded.
Then, she saw the good news.
The plan was a success. It had even drawn the gaze of Nous. The "Droidhead" had acknowledged the Simulated Universe, and the Genius Society had even sent an invitation.
An invitation to the Society, addressed to a space station.
Just imagining the absurdity of that scene made Herta want to giggle.
But beyond the humor, she realized one thing: the speed at which the Simulated Universe had developed self-awareness was terrifyingly fast.
According to the records, the entire process—from the first attempt at inputting the incomplete equation to the final completion—only took about twenty days.
Such a short ti to trigger the birth of a consciousness... should she call the Erudition Equation itself powerful, or was the Simulated Universe simply that exceptional?
When it ca to the budding consciousness and the boundaries of chanical life, 'Calypso' might call it "Heart-consciousness." But for chanical beings, they had a more unique set of criteria.
How did Screwllum view the consciousness born from the Simulated Universe? And from his perspective, where was the line that led Nous to judge it as a living being? These details weren't in the files, but Herta found herself curious.
Aside from that, Herta also found the logs regarding the "Great Thundering Head."
She realized that, regarding this abstract result, she might have wrongly blad 'Calypso'. According to the puppets' records, 'Calypso' hadn't even had the chance to give her opinion during the final stages.
The Simulated Universe had made the choice itself, first constructing an image and then spontaneously remodeling the station into its current form.
That giant head... rather than calling it grotesque, if one were to be technical, the image actually aligned with Nous's own chanical form.
According to the eting minutes summarized by the puppets, it seed Nous had stepped in to help, ensuring the Simulated Universe's consciousness didn't beco a re appendage of the "Simulated Nous," but rather grew independently.
So, strictly speaking, the bla for turning the Simulated Universe into a giant head rested largely on Nous's shoulders.
"...Fine, but even so, doesn't Bai Ming, who proposed the plan, carry any bla? And why use my face as the blueprint? She was the one who proposed the Simulated Universe project in the first place!"
Herta accepted the outco, but every ti she glanced back at the photo, she couldn't get over the fact that the head looked like her yet wasn't "her" enough.
Ultimately, she decided to dump the bla squarely on 'Calypso's' head.
Whatever! It was her fault anyway!
"Regardless, I should go see what's actually happening."
Though the Simulated Universe's new look made it hard to look at, its inner workings were far too interesting to ignore.
Herta planned to make a trip—partly to understand the current state of things, and partly to see if she could "optimize" that exterior. At the very least, that face needed to be brought up to the standard of her puppets!
But then again...
Now that the Simulated Universe had co to life, would it still let them run simulations and research its data as freely as before?
It would be a real joke if the thing decided it wanted its independence.
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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL
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