Herta City.
Herta had spent the last few days tinkering with the Halo System left behind by Bai Ming.
Since it had already reached a level where it could replicate a good portion of her own capabilities, leaving it in such a halfway state was, in Herta's eyes, deeply irritating.
Technically, she could have nested the Simulated Universe's computing power into it. It would be bloated, sure, but it would undoubtedly grant a massive boost.
However, to Herta, such a solution was beneath her.
She was the Great Herta, after all. Scrapping together someone else's ideas and stacking them on top of her own wasn't how she did things.
So, she'd been preoccupied lately, brainstorming optimization plans for the Halo System.
That was until an alert from AI Herta pulled her out of her thoughts.
Looking at the light screen appearing before her, Herta tapped open the message while asking, "What's this?"
"A letter from the de facto ruler of Penacony, Dreammaster Gopher Wood."
"...Who? What does he want with me?"
A look of confusion crossed Herta's face. What business did the people of Penacony have writing to her?
"The content mentions the mystery behind the fall of Ena the Order, as well as a method for resurrection."
"Huh?"
Herta's confusion deepened.
The letter expanded before her eyes, and she quickly scanned through the somewhat long-winded text.
It was just as AI Herta had summarized.
The letter detailed secrets regarding the Aeons of Order and Harmony—including the 'Cancer of Harmony,' the 'suicide' of Order, and the specific method to bring It back.
But beyond that, the letter made absolutely no mention of Gopher Wood's actual goal.
It was as if... this was nothing more than a simple academic exchange.
The problem was that, until today, Herta didn't even know Penacony had a ruler named Gopher Wood.
She could use the Simulated Universe to run calculations and verify the authenticity of the information provided, but the real question was: why tell her?
Judging by this resurrection plan and Gopher Wood's position, this was clearly a scheme he intended to carry out himself.
Wasn't it incredibly suspicious to suddenly divulge such critical intel to an outsider like her?
"Is he not afraid I'll just forward this to the Land of Light and have them come arrest him?"
As Herta was grumbling, AI Herta's voice rang out again:
"According to the data, Bai Ming is currently in Penacony."
"..."
Herta, who had a mountain of complaints ready to vent, suddenly went silent.
How should she put it? Hearing that name didn't surprise her in the least.
It seemed she'd become completely accustomed to Bai Ming's habit of running off every other day to stir up trouble.
"They said they were going to see that Destiny's Slave. How did they end up detouring to Penacony... Get her on the line."
Herta let out a helpless sigh, directing AI Herta to place a call to Bai Ming.
She wanted to know exactly what she was doing there.
Gopher Wood wouldn't just spill his guts to a total stranger like her for no reason. The man wasn't an idiot.
The only explanation was that Bai Ming had done something on his turf again that had rattled him.
"Could it be that something major is about to happen over in Penacony?"
Considering Bai Ming had gone to see Destiny's Slave first before rushing to Penacony, there was good reason to suspect that something significant was brewing there.
--+--
On the other side.
Gopher Wood's attitude was truly enough to make anyone lose their temper—or rather, lose the will to even have one.
The man was sincere in everything he did, even in his genuine admission of his own sins. The repentance in his eyes wasn't a facade.
Dealing with someone like that really made it hard for Bai Ming to stay angry.
And just as Gopher Wood had guessed, Bai Ming did indeed plan to leave his fate up to Tiernan and the others. After all, she and Gopher Wood weren't close at all. They'd only met twice.
It was at that moment that the communication from Herta connected.
"...That guy actually sent it to Herta?!"
Seeing Herta's name, Bai Ming found the situation a bit hard to swallow.
Wait, she'd thought Gopher Wood's words earlier were just him playing a card; she didn't realize he was just stating a finished fact.
The call connected.
Herta had been all set to start lecturing the moment the screen flickered on. But the second she saw Bai Ming's appearance, she froze.
She pulled back her pointing finger, circling around to examine Bai Ming with great interest.
"Oho, you started using it so soon? You said you didn't want it, but it looks like you're quite fond of this appearance after all."
"..."
Herta's teasing caused Bai Ming's expression to stiffen instantly.
Crap.
She'd forgotten she was currently sporting the face that had been calculated that day!
She should have logged out of the Dreamscape before answering the call!
Now that Herta had caught her red-handed, anything she said would be useless.
She couldn't exactly claim she had no idea why she'd turned into this the moment she entered the dream, could she?
That would only confirm Herta's teasing even more.
Dammit! Who exactly was it that had been plotting against her lately? This state of being unable to defend herself was beyond frustrating.
So, Bai Ming pretended she hadn't heard a thing, gave a forced cough, and pushed straight to the point.
"Ahem, let's talk business. You didn't come looking for me because of Ena the Order, did you?"
"That's a pretty clumsy way to change the subject, but fine. I'll give you a pass since there's company."
Herta glanced at the white-haired girl sitting obediently beside Bai Ming and stopped the teasing. Instead, she nodded.
"A man named Gopher Wood suddenly sent me a letter laying all his cards on the table. Out with it—what did you do this time? How much of this is your fault?"
At that, Bai Ming helplessly raised her hands in surrender.
"I really didn't do anything this time. Can you stop having such a stereotype about me?"
"If you didn't do anything, then is Gopher Wood insane? Why else would he run to me to expose his own secrets?"
"...He does have a bit of a mad streak."
Bai Ming curled her lip and gave Herta a brief rundown of Gopher Wood's actions and thoughts.
After listening, Herta's eyebrows arched.
"He's that certain that we would want to resurrect Order and fix the Harmony?"
Bai Ming shrugged. "Well, aren't you curious about it?"
"...Tch."
Herta clicked her tongue but didn't argue.
As annoying as it was, she was indeed very interested.
Bai Ming spread her hands and said with a smile, "See? Just as I thought. That's just how geniuses are—once they find something interesting, they forget everything else."
Herta rolled her eyes at her but didn't deny it.
Even if the initial experiments were kept within the Simulated Universe, once they progressed to a certain point in the later stages... if there really was a viable method, her curiosity would surely drive her to make an Aeon descend into reality.
Just as Gopher Wood had said.
To witness the resurrection and ascension of an Aeon with one's own eyes, and the potential transformation of the Harmony... that was a temptation that was hard to pass up.
Even Bai Ming herself was quite interested.
After thinking for a moment, Herta threw the question back. "So, what do you think? Are we doing this or not?"
But Bai Ming just gave an irresponsible grin.
"I'm planning to go consult Elio. I want to see if I can squeeze a bit more intel out of him."
Right now, the whole situation was a total mess.
Bai Ming was even worried that Nanook might reach a hand of Destruction directly into the Simulated Universe, dragging something out to cause havoc.
It was hard to say that something like that wouldn't happen.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL