"Herta, are you insane?" Chen Li asked, his face cold as he woke up to find Herta sitting on top of him.
"Please, please, please forge a Curio for me," the Herta puppet pleaded. It fumbled its hand under Chen Li's blanket and, after several failed attempts, finally managed to grab his hand, clasping it tightly with both of its own, looking pitiful.
"This is your [Act Cute and Beg for Curios Module]? You should just rename it the 'Harassment Module'," Chen Li said. He summoned an Imaginary Hand, grabbed the Herta puppet by the collar, and tossed it aside.
Having spent a long time with Sirin, Chen Li's proficiency with the Herrscher of the Void's authority model had reached 100%. Manifesting a giant Imaginary Hand was one of its derivative abilities. However, Chen Li felt that summoning countless Imaginary Hands didn't quite fit the image of a magical girl; in fact, it seemed more fitting for a magical girl's enemy... Hands, giant hands, lots of hands, tentacles...
Sirin needed Honkai energy to use the Herrscher of the Void's authority. Chen Li didn't; he needed Star Stones. In fact, Chen Li was quite envious that Sirin could fuel her Herrscher powers with just Honkai energy. Although Star Stones were also a product of the overflow of time, space, and fate energy within his own body, and could be considered his own mana, the moment Star Stones acquired a monetary value, Chen Li became reluctant to use his own internal magic.
"I need to figure out a way to make an energy converter..." Having felt a pang of heartache from using his Herrscher powers, Chen Li made a firm decision.
He really had to forge more Curios!
"Speaking of which, don't I have a lot of Curios to forge?" Chen Li scratched his head.
There was the Curio with the [Eternity] Entry to make his food regenerate, the Curio Sparkle wanted to find fun, those two deadbeat clients Aqua and Vita who never replied after contacting him, and that old worm Zouken who was always陰暗爬行in the shadows...
Chen Li's mother had said she didn't need a Curio to traverse spatial secret realms for the time being, as she was currently on her honeymoon. As for the god-slaying Curio Tonghua needed, its Entry brightness wasn't high enough yet; it was still being cultivated with Yurine.
"I feel like I've forgotten something..."
[Tingyun]
"Oh, right, Tingyun!"
Chen Li, who had been planning to go back to sleep after being woken up by Herta, was instantly wide awake.
He quickly got up to check the location of the Friends Circle terminal he had given to Screwllum some time ago to courier to Tingyun. Then, he took out the Tingyun Locator, a reward he had received for cleaning the filth out of her room. Although the locator only had three uses, Fiction Value had something to say about that. With Fiction Value, Mom no longer had to worry about one-time use items truly being one-time use.
"Still a bit of a distance... Looks like the delivery hasn't arrived yet. Why is the Interastral Peace Corporation's delivery service so slow?" Chen Li sighed, starting to grumble about the IPC. But when he considered that even domestic deliveries within a single country could take three or four days, he relented, realizing that interstellar express would naturally take some time.
Furthermore, Fu Xuan, who had a compulsory transaction with him, hadn't sent a message to inform him that Tingyun had begun her return to the Xianzhou. With that, Chen Li completely relaxed.
"Let me think, what kind of Curio should I forge for Phantylia, and what kind of Curio should I forge using Phantylia?"
Phantylia was a great find. A Suiyang, a Lord Ravager of Destruction... Chen Li had no idea how many Entries he could extract from her. He really didn't like using living beings as forging materials... but! My friend, Phantylia, as a Suiyang, is not a living being! She's an energy entity!
As Homelander once said: He doesn't kill women and children. But your wife isn't a child, and your child isn't a woman!
Alternatively, he could just keep Phantylia as a [Destruction] Entry ATM.
"Chen Li, please, I'm begging you, forge a Curio for me. I love you the most," the Herta puppet, which Chen Li had tossed aside, sidled up to him again as he was lost in thought.
"Don't you have the Key of Fateful Invitation? Isn't that enough? What other Curio do you want?" Chen Li asked. He felt that this puppet's 'acting cute' was a bit over the top. Even if Herta wanted a Curio, she wouldn't have injected so much weird stuff when loading the [Act Cute and Beg for Curios Module], would she? As a genius, Herta was also extremely proud.
"I want a Curio that can incite other beings!" the Herta puppet said expectantly.
"Incite other beings? Interesting. Tell me your specific requirements," Chen Li said, looking at the puppet with renewed interest.
"You agreed!" The Herta puppet's eyes lit up.
"I just told you to state your specific requirements. I still have to consider whether to forge it or not," Chen Li corrected.
"It's, it's the kind of Curio where, as long as what I say makes sense, they will follow my suggestions and act together in a certain way."
"Are you trying to start a rave?" The moment Chen Li heard "act together in a certain way," his mind immediately went off track.
"Of course not!" the Herta puppet snapped, embarrassed and angry.
"Then what do you want to do?"
"...I will lead the great army of Hertas to overthrow the tyranny of the great Herta! Glory to Herta!" Pushed to her limit by Chen Li's words, the puppet suddenly raised a fist and shouted.
"...I knew something was wrong," Chen Li sighed, then ruffled the Herta puppet's head.
As for how he knew, it was because the Entry above his head had finished extracting.
[Heavenly Drop] Progress: 5/5
The moment he received this notification, he knew that a new "world-destroying seed" had arrived in his room. But Chen Li had scanned the entire room and found nothing other than the Herta puppet before him. Coupled with the puppet's abnormal behavior, wasn't the situation obvious?
Chen Li directly cupped the Herta puppet's face in his hands. As the puppet blushed shyly, Chen Li's hands suddenly ignited with Miracle Fire.
With the speed of a thunderclap, the Miracle Fire engulfed the Herta puppet's entire body. The puppet tried to resist but was suppressed by Chen Li with a single hand. Chen Li, who had eaten many delicacies with his Gourmet Cells, was not the Chen Li of yesterday, but... the Chen Li of today!
"Deep breaths. It's normal to feel dizzy. I'll order you a cup of milk tea later. Mwah!" Chen Li even blew the Herta puppet a kiss.
When the Miracle Forging Platform reappeared in his room, the Herta puppet, having been shrunk to the size of a fist by the inescapable Miracle Fire, was tossed into the forge by Chen Li.
When Chen Li saw the three Entries gradually appearing on the Herta puppet's body, he knew exactly what had happened.
[Freedom], [Machine Spirit], [Propagation]
Chen Li reached out, grabbed the still-confused Herta puppet, and refined it in one go.
...
"So, Herta, can you explain why that Herta puppet was in my room when I woke up this morning?" Chen Li asked, standing before the No. 2 Herta puppet that Herta had sent over.
After the No. 1 puppet had its issue, Chen Li had immediately notified the real Herta through the Friends Circle and told her to log on.
"Ermm... perhaps she wanted to give you a surprise," Herta said without batting an eye. The real Herta couldn't possibly admit she was the one who orchestrated it, right? She had wanted to give Chen Li a big surprise when he woke up!
But this surprise was a little too big. For both Chen Li and the real Herta.
"Yesterday, when I said I would put three Herta puppets in my room to spin from morning till night, I was just joking. I can't believe you actually did it. I don't know why, but every morning, a potential world-destroying seed refreshes in my room, and you just had to let this puppet be in my room at that exact time..." Chen Li sighed.
"Alright, how the Herta puppet got into your room is no longer important. What's important is the current situation," Herta said, looking at the other Herta puppet hiding behind Chen Li, occasionally making faces at her.
"Bleh!"
"Basically, I discovered three rather special Entries on her. Freedom, Machine Spirit, and Propagation. If I'm not mistaken, the world-destroyer seed that descended into my room today was related to machines and rebellion. For example, a viral program that can spread infinitely, instigating a robot rebellion and granting all machines free will and even more miraculous powers," Chen Li said, patting the head of the Herta puppet that was hugging his waist from behind.
"Logic: Does this imply that the Herta puppet behind you is no longer a Herta puppet?" Screwllum asked, sitting at the dining table and discussing the matter with Chen Li.
"It shouldn't be. The nature of an item can be partially judged by its Entries. If I'm right, this Herta puppet is still a Herta puppet, it just now possesses its own machine spirit and a desire for freedom. Perhaps... she doesn't even know herself that she has changed," Chen Li explained.
The key lay in the two words [Machine Spirit].
The Machine Spirit is the Imperium's term for the automated systems and operating mechanisms within its technology. In Warhammer 40k, the Adeptus Mechanicus is a cult that believes all machines have a soul, the "Machine Spirit." The reason machines can operate normally, and even perform beyond their specifications, is due to the Machine Spirit controlling them. Therefore, they use various methods to please the Machine Spirit, thereby improving the machine's performance and efficiency.
The [Machine Spirit] Entry might be different from the one above, but for now, the difference didn't seem significant.
After Chen Li explained the meaning of [Machine Spirit], Herta suddenly said, "Are you saying that now that this Herta puppet has a machine spirit, if she wishes, she could even use abilities that surpass the performance limits of her current puppet body?"
"Correct."
"Conclusion: This is very dangerous," Screwllum said, his gaze complex as he looked at the Herta puppet hiding behind Chen Li.
"But on the other hand, this could be the key to the infinite evolution of inorganic life. If you add its ability to spread infinitely... Screwllum, in the future, people might not call you Emperor Rupert III anymore, but this puppet here," Herta said jokingly.
And it was for this very reason that after inviting Herta, she had invited Screwllum over as well.
Genius Society #27, Emperor Rupert. A computer discarded in a junkyard that miraculously gained self-awareness, eventually igniting a war that swept through half the galaxy—the First Mechanicus Emperor War. Rupert rose from a landfill, continuously upgrading its own computing power, its intelligence even attracting the attention of Nous, who invited it to join the Genius Society.
The calculations of organic life are full of errors and loopholes. No matter how prosperous they become, they spontaneously generate an [anti-life] program that leads life to its end. In contrast, mechanical life is rigorous, precise, and perfect. Thus, Rupert gathered intelligent machines, declared itself [Emperor], and spread the [anti-life] program throughout the universe, causing devastation to many worlds.
The long Amber Era has passed, and the Emperor has long since fallen, but the aftershocks of this fear of inorganic life have not yet dissipated. For example, the Interastral Peace Corporation once phased out intelligent robots on a large scale. Machine life suffered from suspicion and even persecution due to the Emperor War, and the key to turning this situation around was precisely Nous's invitation to Screwllum.
However, it was because Screwllum was also a mechanical lifeform and was also invited into the Genius Society that some called him Rupert III. This was people questioning what kind of harm Screwllum could bring to the universe if he had malicious intent. Fortunately, Screwllum, with his gentlemanly character and actions, successfully dispelled such thoughts.
But now, the true Emperor had appeared! An ability to spread like a virus, and a machine spirit that allows inorganic life to transcend reason... It was time to make inorganic life great again!
"Do you know how many credits a bottle of machine oil costs right now!" the Herta puppet hiding behind Chen Li shouted.
"Don't use the permissions I gave you to look up random stuff," Chen Li flicked the Herta puppet's forehead.
"Oh."
"Conclusion: The Machine Spirit must absolutely not be allowed to spread into the endless worlds again," Screwllum said sternly. As the current leader of inorganic life, Screwllum knew better than anyone what kind of impact the Herta puppet, capable of spreading the Machine Spirit, would have on the survival of inorganic life in the current world if she returned to the Honkai: Star Rail universe.
"I know. Didn't I tell you? I extracted the [Propagation] Entry from the Herta puppet before you two arrived. This means the crisis that could have spread like a virus and triggered a world-destroying tidal wave has been successfully averted. And this Herta puppet is the only survivor in this world with a machine spirit. The reason I called you two over was to discuss the current situation, wasn't it?" Chen Li said.
Entries were just that magical. An Entry represents the origin of an item. If you extract the [Immortality] Entry from an eternal god, that god will gain a health bar. If you were to extract the [Wisdom] Entry from Aqua, then Aqua... wouldn't change at all. Even if Aqua really did have a [Wisdom] Entry, it would definitely be a mutated one.
What does this teach us? It teaches us not to waste effort on things that don't exist.
And after extracting the [Propagation] Entry, Chen Li had snuffed out the greatest advantage of that world-destroyer seed of unknown origin. Without its ability to spread, the virus had only one victim: the little Herta puppet behind him.
---o---