How many inorganic lifeforms exist in the cosmos? And how many worlds are governed by organic life?
Even the Aeon of Erudition would be unable to answer such a question.
The cosmos is vast beyond measure. At every moment, brand-new lives break free from their shells, and Intellitrons awaken to consciousness.
When Akivili still walked the cosmos, even they had not set foot in every corner of the universe.
Who, then, would dare claim their understanding of interstellar civilization surpasses that great existence who connected countless worlds together?
As the borders of the cosmos are expanded, former boundaries are incorporated into star charts.
And once that happens, new boundaries are born, again and again, in an endless cycle.
Yet borders are not only lonely; they are also quiet. The clamor of the outside world cannot affect planets that have yet to be included in the interstellar map.
For example, a certain planet.
"Is it always this lively out there? It feels like Mr. Welt must be having some unbelievable adventures."
Sneakily slurping the precious cup noodles Miss Messenger had just delivered, crumbs clinging to the corner of her lips, Kiana, gazed thoughtfully beyond the cosmos with her small face.
Don't get the wrong idea. It wasn't because conditions were poor that she was eating instant noodles. It was because noodles were limited-edition rations.
For this single cup, she had endured Mei's hawk-like gaze, tight surveillance, and an airtight net of defenses, finally completing the trade with Miss Messenger.
"Slurp!"
Although she was a little curious about what was happening outside, Kiana had no intention of exploring it herself.
Just handling Earth's affairs was already exhausting. She would go take a look outside someday, when everyone felt it was time.
After all, Welt was already out there wandering around. With all the chaos he was bound to stir up when the time came, it was inevitable.
It was predicted that Mr. Welt's next return would be spent enjoying a very pleasant vacation.
Amen.
"Miss Kiana, are you also curious about what's happening in the cosmos?"
Miss Messenger, who had arrived early to help Kiana complete the rapid transport of convenience foods, walked over to Kiana's left after cleaning up the remaining traces. She hugged her knees and tilted her head slightly.
"Slurp, yeah, I guess I am. The cosmos is usually so quiet, so suddenly becoming all sparkly and bright is just too strange."
Light shimmered in Kiana's eyes. Gossip is human nature.
"Do you remember the Lord Ravager I told you about before? This disturbance started when one of them provoked the Xianzhou Alliance. The specific battle details aren't entirely clear yet, but I've already received news that the Xianzhou Alliance won."
Kiana remembered this. Aside from certain school knowledge, she always had an excellent memory for interesting things like this.
Lord Ravager, the title borne by Emanators of the Path of Destruction. Existences that stand at the pinnacle of the universe beneath the Aeons.
She sensed the power within her body and recalled what this Miss Messenger of the Garden of Recollection had once told her, they had detected energy fluctuations reaching the Emanator tier.
Not to brag, but her strength was more than enough to back up her confidence.
If every Emanator possessed power like hers, this universe would truly be plagued by endless disasters.
Kiana couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
She didn't fully understand philosophical concepts, but through everyone's explanations, she had formed a basic understanding of Paths.
Simply put, anyone who steps onto a Path is practicing the belief they hold in their heart. As long as one's conviction is firm enough, anything is possible, though the details of how that manifests are… complicated.
But anyway, none of that had even half a pudding's worth of relevance to the Kiana who just wanted to eat her noodles right now!
Setting aside all this irrelevant gossip, Kiana and Miss Messenger sat quietly in the stands, enjoying the peaceful cosmos.
"Huh?" Suddenly, Miss Messenger let out a small, unclear cry.
"What is it?" Kiana instinctively turned her head, confusion on her face.
"My colleague just sent me some details about this war..." Kiana's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Did war details really warrant that kind of expression?
The war between the Xianzhou Alliance and the Antimatter Legion seemed to have ended not long ago.
The war between the Hunt and Destruction had already dragged on for a considerable length of time.
Day and night had cycled countless times, and in the middle phase, even sunlight disappeared for days on end.
The entire Hisei Star Region was nearly shattered. Stars were ignited and used as weapons, leaving only two fringe stars barely intact.
Already sparsely populated, the Hisei Star Region was expected to be unable to recover its former vitality for at least one Amber Era.
A calamity out of nowhere. Because of this, the Xianzhou Alliance issued an announcement to assist in rebuilding.
But what made Miss Messenger let out that cute cry wasn't any of this...
"I need to go find Miss Fu Hua!"
Leaving behind those words, Miss Messenger mercilessly abandoned Kiana and ran off alone, just as Kiana's curiosity was being scratched and left unbearably itchy.
There was no wind on the Moon, yet under the pressure, Kiana's hair still lay flat....
....
The past.
St. Freya Academy, single-villa dormitory.
Fu Hua's pretty face was serious, her expression heavy with contemplation.
After a long while, finally, just as the clock's hour hand pointed to noon, she decisively pressed down with calm determination.
In truth, she was using her mental power to control a specially modified device.
"Stage Cleared!!"
Huge characters announcing the clear and exhilarating music appeared at the same time. The corners of Fu Hua's lips lifted slightly, her joy plain to see.
"Eh! How could this happen~~~!"
Theresa, who had finally gotten a vacation and wanted a fair match with Fu Hua, let out a mournful cry after being utterly crushed.
"It's just a matter of game understanding. Practice more and you'll get it." Fu Hua chuckled lightly.
This intense gaming session reminded her of the days in the Previous Era, when she dominated the arcades.
The experience forged from fifty thousand years was no decoration!
"You used to look so stiff and old-fashioned..." Having lost three rounds in a row and completely shattered her confidence, Theresa muttered quietly.
Fu Hua had always worn a rigid, serious expression from her time in Schicksal to joining St. Freya.
And yet it hadn't been that long, and she was already delivering such a devastating blow to her in the gaming arena.
This was simply outrageous!
'If you were still a St. Freya student, I'd definitely deduct your scholarship!'
Theresa could only grumble internally, unwilling to accept reality.
After all, no matter how unwilling she was, the difference in skill was undeniable, unless she wanted to endure the pressure of Himeko's annual academy budget review.
"You..." Theresa had just opened her mouth when, the very next second...
"Ta-da! Where's our great hero!?" The television screen rippled like the surface of water. A familiar figure pushed her head out from the mirror-like surface, followed by her body.
Miss Messenger appeared just like that, standing in the middle of the living room.
"Messenger-san?! It's been a long time." Her sudden arrival made both of them show surprised expressions at the same time.
But they quickly caught on to what Miss Messenger had just said.
"Hero?" Theresa looked at Miss Messenger in confusion, her eyes clearly telling her not to speak in riddles.
Miss Messenger chuckled and began to explain.
"The Herrscher of Sentience?! Upholding justice and punishing evil?!"
The two simply couldn't put those two elements together.
Back when the Herrscher of Sentience had just been born, she had been overwhelmed by Fu Hua's vast memories and ended up taking on Fu Hua's form. Even so, no matter how they thought about it, they couldn't connect those two ideas.
It was just too hard to wrap their heads around.
"I was shocked too when I first found out, but then I immediately thought that Fu Hua would be happy if she knew about this." Miss Messenger looked at Fu Hua and smiled.
"…Indeed." Fu Hua nodded slightly.
The feeling was like one of a pair of twins using the other's name to wander around everywhere, while the one who finds out later worries whether the other might cause trouble.
Then, a month passes, and people from all sorts of organizations start showing up one after another clamoring to take photos with you.
A development no one could have imagined.
"At first, she didn't make a name for herself in the cosmos. It wasn't until later, when she played a major role in the joint operation against a Genius Society member and galactic wanted criminal known as Dr. Primitive, that her reputation really started to spread."
"After that, I even commissioned people to help look for her, but she seemed to have teamed up with another genius by then. Even the Garden of Recollection couldn't find her. She only resurfaced recently."
Miss Messenger spoke with a sigh of emotion.
Who would have thought that a being born to destroy civilizations would end up walking such a path?
When she first learned about it, Miss Messenger simply couldn't associate the two at all.
"Anyway, as long as she isn't doing bad things out there, that's fine." Fu Hua rubbed her brow, currently in a spiritual form, not sure what else to say.
Wait.
"Logically speaking, the Herrscher of Sentience's strength shouldn't amount to much in that place. How did she manage to?"
At Fu Hua's question, even the still-dazed Theresa snapped to attention.
Right.
In their world, Herrschers were incredibly strong, but looking across the entire cosmos, they might just be small fry.
Big shots out there treated entire star systems like fireworks. If something truly major happened, how would it ever be the Herrscher of Sentience's turn?
"I heard from a colleague that a certain genius developed a device capable of amplifying the Herrscher of Sentience's abilities, using her power to connect with and resonate with the pressure of countless sentient minds."
Even without knowing all the details, the two of them could easily imagine what happened next.
The consciousness of living beings. Even Welt, inheriting the thoughts of three hundred thousand people, could repeatedly push his limits.
They had heard Miss Messenger talk before about the major powers and extraordinary races.
For example, the long-lived Xianzhou people, blessed by Abundance. Under normal circumstances, their lifespans could reach five to six hundred years without falling into mara, with some lasting even longer.
As Fu Hua was still reflecting on this, Miss Messenger continued.
"And you know what? The Herrscher of Sentience has been using Fu Hua's name. Now, anyone in the cosmos who can access the interstellar network knows Miss Fu Hua's name."
"Pfft!!"
....
The Xianzhou Luofu.
As a group of great contributors, the Herrscher of Sentience and her companions were invited to attend a series of follow-up banquets.
That said, banquets were secondary. Compared to meaningless social events, geniuses preferred gathering together to discuss topics ordinary people couldn't understand at all.
"Judging by your expression, it looks like you've made a new discovery."
Inside a high-class residence arranged by the Xianzhou, Herta and Screwllum sat across from each other on stone chairs in the courtyard.
Looking at Screwllum, Herta voiced the thought she'd had ever since dealing with Celenova.
This was a genius's intuition.
"Not exactly a new discovery. More like I've developed some additional hypotheses regarding humanity," Screwllum replied.
Screwllum was quite devoted to studying humans, and as such, he understood Herta very well.
Moreover, he had accompanied the entire process almost from beginning to end. He knew exactly where his inspiration had come from.
Machines possessing life, contemplating questions that organic life ponders.
It was a truly remarkable sight. Among those with narrower perspectives, it was commonly believed that machines existed solely to serve humans.
Thinking about the meaning of life? Don't be ridiculous.
Yet the one before them truly could think about the meaning of life, and had gone even further in terms of humanity than most people who only half-understood it.
"Lady Fu Hua gave me a great deal of inspiration. If nothing unexpected happens, I plan to delve deeply into this topic next."
The ruler of Planet Screwllum had more than enough resources to support any research that interested him.
"Alright then. I wish you success. If you run into anything you don't understand, or come across something interesting, remember to call me. I'm quite interested in your research," Herta said casually.
The relaxed atmosphere between the two was nothing like what one would expect after having just carried out a long-distance snipe against a universe-shaking Lord Ravager.
After all, neither of them would particularly care about an Emanator of Destruction, unless that individual provoked them first.
As for whether Celenova had truly fallen, only her followers still clung to hope.
If it had been just a single red giant's eruption, even those at the center would have been inclined to believe Celenova might survive.
An Emanator wasn't so easy to kill, especially one who was prepared.
But that wasn't just one red giant. An awakened planet already possessing Emanator-level power.
With the two combined, no one doubted whether Celenova had survived.
Even if she somehow lived by sacrificing all her future luck, under those circumstances she would at the very least be forced into slumber for several Amber Eras, by which point the situation would have long since changed.
Beyond that, the people who appeared during this event, and the things that happened, were just as eye-catching.
For example, "Lady Mobius, congratulations on joining the Genius Society."