The idea of creating an Aeon was sothing 'Ruan i' didn't dare entertain too seriously.
But in dreams, it's fine to dream a little bigger.
Herta packaged up all the data and materials on Nexus and sent them to the unreachable original Ruan i.
Whether the original Ruan i would actually see them was anyone's guess. After that, Herta pulled 'Ruan i' along, diving headfirst into the study of Imaginary energy.
'Ruan i', for her part, pondered a bit, trying to sort out the circumstances of an Aeon's birth:
"In so records of questionable accuracy, Aeons are born from so extre emotion, or a sudden mont of profound understanding… like Propagation, Destruction, The Hunt…"
"But there are also those who ascended to godhood without any trace of emotion, like Erudition."
"So what are you trying to say?"
Herta shot back while simultaneously trying to figure out how to artificially alter the properties of Imaginary energy.
'Ruan i' hesitated, wrestling with whether she should try to create a life born with such extre emotions.
"Pathways and Aeons are like mystery boxes. No one knows if there are still Pathways waiting to be opened. If I create a born saint, could an extre emotion achieve it?"
"Whether it can or not, I don't know, but I do know that such a being would definitely be a handful."
Herta complained without a hint of rcy.
'Ruan i' nodded, because she thought of Zagi.
An Ultraman, a blank slate, burdened with a forced responsibility… if he were to stray from the path, he'd just beco another lunatic.
"Yes, we must be careful."
'Ruan i' sighed softly. Then, a small cluster of light, a living being of light that had gained self-awareness, ca into existence in the palm of her hand.
Although it had been pre-loaded with all sorts of traits befitting an Ultraman's nature, 'Ruan i' didn't forcibly preset its alignnt.
Instead, borrowing a technique from Lady Herta, she constructed a mory Bubble to serve as a sort of preschool education.
She placed this tiny consciousness inside it.
The contents of the mory Bubble covered most scenarios where human nature reveals itself, both the good and the bad.
She didn't know what choices this consciousness would make.
"What will you do if it fails?"
Herta glanced over curiously at the experint.
Creating life wasn't sothing Herta did often.
But it seed like it was practically second nature to Ruan i.
"As long as it isn't extrely terrible, I won't destroy it. It can stay in Herta Space Station as a little sprite. Your place only has all sorts of Hertas, it's too monotonous."
"Hey, you're really making yourself at ho, aren't you?"
'Ruan i' had set a bottom line for the lives born from her hands. As long as they weren't worse than this line, she would let them live.
Fortunately, the capabilities inherited from Ruan i were far too reliable.
After being exposed to all that ssy content, not only did it not beco corrupted, it clearly leaned towards the direction of the Galaxy Rangers.
While it didn't achieve so kind of extre goodness, it basically settled sowhere between The Hunt and Preservation.
It embraced the concept of 'upholding justice, and paying back in kind.'
"For the first one, this is a pretty good result."
'Ruan i' smiled.
And so, the first independent, self-aware Ultraman born from her hands entered the world.
A silver-white form, accented with a few red streaks, no color tir on its chest.
Its build was very similar to Celenova's, but its aura was distinctly softer.
From the mont of its birth, within the mory Bubble, it already knew most common sense and had a developed sense of morality.
So, right after being born, after greeting 'Ruan i' and Herta, it was taken by a Herta puppet to rest and study.
Herta said she had arranged suitable basic education materials for it, but the "basics" in Herta's vocabulary probably weren't all that basic.
Who knew if it would be able to keep up.
A qualified Ultraman had been born from 'Ruan i's' hands.
Then ca the second, the third…
But she didn't create too many. After the sixth Ultraman received its early education and took form, 'Ruan i' stopped.
The data collected from these few Ultran gave her so inspiration for the design of the Seed of Light.
But if asured against the original goal of creating a Pathway, they still fell quite short.
The nature of the Ultran leaned towards the sacred, but without 'Ruan i's' deliberate guidance, their emotions rarely beca extre.
They were more likely to lean towards a specific existing Pathway, rather than embodying all of them.
As for extre sacredness… frankly, even Ruan i couldn't imagine what that would look like.
Noa certainly possessed divinity, but if you asked Ruan i to summarize a detailed personality profile, she couldn't do it.
As for Herta, she had also hit a temporary wall.
How exactly did Imaginary Energy transform into the power of a specific Pathway?
This transformation process was like a complete black box.
It was incredibly difficult to figure out.
So, she called Ruan i over, who was also lost in thought. She wanted Ruan i to create a specific Pathstrider, so she could observe the process.
She hoped to use this thod to uncover the truth.
And what kind of Pathstrider? A History Fictionologist, of course.
As part of the backup plan, choosing it was only natural. And right at that mont, a ssage ca through to the lab, which shouldn't have been disturbed by anyone.
Herta, hearing the notification sound, was startled for a mont, then abruptly stood up.
"Oho~ The original is here."
She grinned at 'Ruan i', rather gleefully.
Then she opened the communication channel and started rapidly typing a reply.
'Ruan i' didn't try to peek at what Herta and the original Ruan i were discussing.
Instead, she glanced at her own panel:
-- --
[Role-Playing System]
[Na: Bai Ming (Ruan i)]
[Lifespan: 100 Years (Paused) 27 Days (Role-Playing)]
[Transformable Roles: Big Herta (Charge: 84.6%), Acheron (Charge: 51.8%), Celenova (Charge: 10.3%), Ruan i (Active)]
[Available Draws: 0 (52.2%)]
-- --
The numbers had suddenly shot up by a huge chunk.
Well, that said it all.
The original Ruan i must have seen the Ultraman she created, or maybe Herta had told her sothing.
That must have caused such a big emotional shift.
"Lucky you. Ruan i just finished her experints today and saw the invitation."
Herta leaned back against the lab table, tilting her head as she looked at 'Ruan i'.
"You'd better work hard now."
"...What do you an, I'd better work hard? What exactly did you tell her?"
'Ruan i' stared directly into Herta's eyes.
A feeling of dread washed over her.
"What else? Just the truth, of course."
Herta looked completely unbothered, even amused.
She spread her hands, putting on an "it's not my fault" expression.
"Besides, shouldn't you be looking forward to this? You were the one who actively ca and pestered back then. What's wrong, getting cold feet now?"
"...That's a separate issue."
'Ruan i' pursed her lips.
It was true, she was looking forward to eting the original Ruan i.
But that was a separate issue!
This feeling of being sold out by Herta and then being expected to help count the money…
That was completely different!
"Mhm~"
Herta's lips curved into a smirk, and she deliberately humd right in front of 'Ruan i'.
She was clearly doing it on purpose.
This woman!
She was definitely getting back at her, using her as bait to hook Ruan i.
She wouldn't be surprised if Herta had embellished the story and added a bunch of extra details.
-- --
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