Felicity quickly brought up her desire to return to the space station with Welt and the others.
Considering the train's extended stay on Jarilo-VI beyond expectations and potential Stellaron aftereffects, Welt and Himeko quickly agreed to Felicity's request.
After all, both Welt and Himeko had witnessed the destructive power that Stellaron unleashed in space. Who's to say some residual effects hadn't impacted the train's condition?
The train soon arrived back at the platform.
Asta, having already received news from Herta, immediately came out to welcome everyone.
"Felii~"
Before the platform, Asta smiled cheerfully and waved toward Felicity.
"Asta, what brings you here?"
Felicity was somewhat puzzled. According to expectations, the space station's repairs should take at least fifteen workdays. They hadn't been away from the space station for long, so logically Asta should be very busy right now.
"What kind of question is that?"
Asta pouted her pink, crystalline lips, pretending to be slightly reproachful as she said:
"You're not satisfied that I came to pick you up in person?"
"How could that be? Asta is the best!"
Felicity immediately shook her head like a rattle-drum. She promptly took Asta's small hand, her face full of seriousness as she declared,
"Please elope with me! Miss Asta!"
"Pfft..."
Asta was amused by Felicity's antics. She didn't refuse Felicity's hand-holding, only gently explaining:
"Alright, enough joking. It's just that Madam Herta suddenly mentioned an academic partner visiting the space station, so we temporarily put aside our work to prepare for welcoming the important figure."
After all, the space station nominally belongs to Herta. If the hospitality falls short, it would damage Herta's image, so everyone at the space station has made thorough preparations.
An important figure - is it Screwllum?
Felicity instinctively wondered.
Herta had mentioned to her that Screwllum would be coming too, but previously Screwllum's style had always been relatively low-key, rarely making such a grand entrance to the space station like now.
Thinking this, Felicity looked at Asta with renewed puzzlement.
"Speaking of which, instead of preparing for the welcome, is it really okay to come greet me?"
"No problem. There are still four system hours until the scheduled time. I'm just taking a little time to welcome my friend - no one will mind."
Asta smiled and shook her head, instead taking Felicity's hand,
"Come with me. Madam Herta is waiting for you in the office."
"Okay."
Felicity readily agreed, of course not forgetting to pull Stelle along too.
...
Inside Herta's office.
Herta fiddled with a puppet styled after Felicity, expressionlessly staring at the data floating before her.
Felicity pushed the door open and greeted Herta in a cheerful tone:
"Yoo-hoo~ Herta, long time no see~"
"We just saw each other yesterday."
Herta rolled her eyes.
"What I saw yesterday was 'my Herta puppet,' which is different from 'Herta's Herta puppet'!"
"Sophistry."
"..."
Stelle stood to the side, blinking her eyes somewhat confusedly.
...Why does it feel like I'm here as a third wheel?
"Alright, enough of this. Come test."
Herta sighed, ending the banter with Felicity and turning her attention to the terminal.
"What do I need to do this time?"
Felicity nodded in acknowledgment. Looking at the seemingly unchanged Simulated Universe terminal, she asked curiously:
"You just need to enter. Anyway, the main gameplay experience is on Stelle's side."
"That's so mean."
"The main reason for having you back is to test whether the Simulated Universe will still have bugs similar to last time."
Herta replied expressionlessly. To prevent a recurrence of last time's incident, she had refined the Simulated Universe through several iterations, finalizing this version after discussions with other geniuses.
"You can properly master your abilities within the Simulated Universe. Only by ensuring your strength is sufficient will you be qualified to face enemies capable of killing you, right?"
"...That seems somewhat reasonable?"
Felicity was completely taken in by Herta's bluff.
"Moreover, if you can fully control your authority, you should be capable of preventing your powers from activating after death, correct?"
Herta patiently guided her.
This was a lie. If she fell into unconscious death, the Abundance's authority couldn't be controlled and would naturally activate unconsciously to repair Felicity's body.
"Yay!"
Felicity was completely fooled.
"Where's Screwllum?"
Felicity scanned the area but couldn't find the figure of her kind old friend, then asked somewhat puzzled.
"He's still on his way. You can go ahead and start testing."
Herta straightforwardly pushed Felicity to stand before the terminal, urging impatiently:
"Just do whatever in the Simulated Universe, anything at all. And don't lose self-awareness like last time - it's troublesome to deal with."
"Yes, yes, yes~"
Felicity waved her hand somewhat helplessly.
Stelle stood firmly beside Felicity, also looking forward to the Simulated Universe's updated content. After all, aside from rummaging through trash cans, this was the most interesting thing she could think of.
Come to think of it, weren't both these things taught to her by Felicity?
She's really wonderful.
Her thoughts halted at that moment as the scene before her plunged into darkness, soon followed by scattered points of light flickering around.
...No way?
A bad premonition arose in Stelle's heart.
Sure enough, when she looked up, she saw Felicity floating slightly higher up, still radiating brilliant emerald light.
Looking closer, a line of white text appeared above Felicity's head.
[Simulated Aeon - Felicity]
"..."
The corner of Stelle's mouth twitched slightly.
Meanwhile, as Felicity's consciousness first submerged into the Simulated Universe, she immediately noticed her condition was abnormal again.
Unlike last time, those extreme thoughts rose and fell in her mind but couldn't affect Felicity in the slightest.
Yet she truly felt her power had changed again. Within the Simulated Universe, she seemed capable of things she couldn't do before.
For instance...
"Engine of Creation!"
Imitating the giant robot she had seen during the battle against the Stellaron, Felicity clasped her hands together, her entire body bursting into brilliant light.
Countless wooden pillars shot up into the sky, intertwining with each other, until they slowly formed a massive figure.
Stelle stared at this scene in astonishment, her mouth agape in disbelief.
[That day, humanity once again remembered the fear of being ruled by titans...]