The first thing Caelus did upon reviving was give himself a full check-up. After confirming there were no abnormalities, the last lingering trace of unease in his heart finally dissipated. It was his first time dying, after all, so he couldn't help but be a little worried.
Fortunately, there were no unexpected side effects.
Next, he checked his proficiency. The Stellaron explosion had increased his Support MOD proficiency by a little over one hundred points. This was slightly disappointing; he had expected the Stellaron's blast to be massive, but it wasn't even enough to completely destroy the Herta Space Station.
Then again, the space station was specifically built by Herta to seal this Stellaron, so its durability was to be expected.
At that moment, the broadcast system in the room crackled to life, and Herta's voice came through.
"Hello, hello. Caelus, you little brat, get back here! Stop dawdling in the Curio room. I have a lot of questions for you."
Hearing this, Caelus didn't delay any further. He immediately left the Curio room and headed for the lab.
Before long, he arrived back at the lab. The moment he stepped through the door, March 7th rushed up to greet him, hands on her hips, glaring at him with a look of mock anger.
"You! Scaring me to death with that Stellaron self-destruct stunt!"
"But I'm fine, aren't I?"
"How were we supposed to know you had a way to escape like that?! At least give us a heads-up next time!"
Herta walked over at that moment, cutting off their potentially endless conversation.
"Alright, you two can save the flirting for when you're alone. Let's get down to business."
"Who's... who's flirting! I was just worried about him..."
March 7th's face turned beet red. She didn't dare argue any further and obediently stepped aside, yielding the floor back to Herta.
Herta walked up to Caelus. Because she was controlling a puppet, she had to crane her neck to look up at his face.
"Are you feeling any physical discomfort?"
Caelus shook his head. After dying once, all his stats had been completely refreshed. His back didn't ache, his stomach wasn't hungry—it felt fantastic!
"Lie down on the bed over there. I'm going to run another check."
Herta pointed to a nearby medical bed, and Caelus immediately complied.
Herta operated the instruments for another examination, but the results were the same: she couldn't detect anything. Not that she was surprised.
"Mm... the results are the same as before. Nothing detected. But that's not unexpected."
Herta gestured for Caelus to get up. She then returned to the Simulated Universe's control interface, printed out all the logs from the earlier backend anomalies, and handed a copy to Caelus.
"Caelus, when you took a Gold Ingot out of a trash can in the Simulated Universe, an anomaly appeared in the backend data. Can you tell me how you did that?"
Caelus glanced at the anomaly report. It was literally a command line from MC, the content of which was to generate a Gold Ingot.
He shook his head. He had no idea how to explain to Herta how he'd done it. Was he supposed to tell her it was because of the mods on his body?
Herta watched Caelus's conflicted expression and guessed that he probably didn't know the specifics himself. She shook her head, a little disappointed.
"If you don't know how to explain it, then never mind. I'll just have to research it myself."
Seeing Herta's disappointment, and thinking about how much he'd gained from his trip into the Simulated Universe, Caelus decided to offer her a little help. He casually took the Gold Ingot from his inventory.
"I don't know how to explain it, but I hope this ingot can help you."
When Caelus handed the Gold Ingot to Herta, her face showed not pleasant surprise, but astonishment.
"Wait a minute... this ingot? Don't tell me this is the one you pulled out of the trash can in the Simulated Universe?!"
Herta was stunned. A world she herself had simulated... and someone had gone inside and brought something out?!
Himeko and the others were stunned as well. Although none of them were research experts, they all understood that bringing a physical object back from a virtual world was an incredibly bizarre event. Such cases were exceedingly rare in the real world.
---o---
Herta immediately took the Gold Ingot. The moment it touched her hand, she felt its immense weight. She didn't have time to marvel at it, however, carrying it over to a nearby research bench and placing it down.
The others crowded around. After a brief analysis, Herta's brow furrowed even deeper.
"It's not an illusion? It's real, solid gold? And I can't detect any trace of a Path's power on it... how strange."
There had been cases in the real world of people bringing things out of virtual worlds, but most of those instances were tied to a Path. Caelus's case was different. She couldn't detect any Path's power. It was as if he had simply reached into a container and taken out an item stored inside—it was simple, yet absurd.
After a moment of fruitless investigation, Herta decided to call for backup. She couldn't figure it out on her own for now, so she might as well bring in others to help. But before that...
Herta turned around, the frown on her face melting away, replaced by a smile and a look of excitement in her eyes.
"Hey, Caelus. Any interest in joining the Herta Space Station as a researcher? I'm very interested in you right now. You can name your own salary."
"And what would my job be?"
"To be researched by me."
This made Caelus hesitate. It wasn't that being researched was a bad job, but he simply didn't want to settle down into a quiet life so early. This wasn't some Skyblock or farming mod pack where he could just relax and build.
He personally preferred the kind of life where he could run around, exploring ruins and getting into adventures.
Seeing the hesitation on Caelus's face, Himeko extended an invitation of her own.
"Caelus, if you're feeling conflicted, you could also join us on the Astral Express. The Stellaron is one of the Express's long-standing objectives. Perhaps, in the future, we can help you find some answers."
Himeko's words made Herta cross her arms, slightly annoyed.
"Hey! Himeko, are you trying to poach my talent?"
Himeko just chuckled and turned back to Herta. "Herta, the choice is up to Caelus, isn't it? Besides, joining the Astral Express doesn't mean he can't come back and do research with you."
"That's true..." Herta nodded in agreement. The Astral Express did return to the Herta Space Station from time to time, as it always had. And who knows, maybe she'd lose interest in Caelus later on. "So, Caelus, what's your answer? Join the Herta Space Station or join the Astral Express."
Caelus hesitated for a moment before asking tentatively.
"Can I choose 'or'? I want them all."