Chapter 192: Friend Support System
[Commissioned Task: Herta is ravenous, eager to start testing. (Completed)]
[Task Reward: 160 Stellar Jade]
[Simulated Universe Special Task: If I don't get lewd soon, I'm going to start political debates and blow up the chat group! (Completed)]
[Task Reward: Different rewards will be granted based on completion conditions.
①Base Reward: 200 Stellar Jade (Maxed)
②Additional Reward: All works created within the Simulated Universe, such as doujinshi, novels, and videos, x4. These are: virtual information version, physical self-use version, collector's edition, and proselytizing edition.
③Additional Reward: Originally, friend support cards were rewarded based on traffic; due to exceeding the task requirements, the reward has been upgraded to a permanent friend support module within the Simulated Universe.
Friend Support: It is believed that anyone who has played a game will understand the meaning of these four characters. In future tests of the Simulated Universe, you will be able to select friends to assist you, and use their characters, equipment, outfits, familiars, etc.
Note: Friend support has a time limit, fixed at 10 minutes.
]
"No, System, you scoundrel!"
Seeing the Stellar Jade reward data, Caelus involuntarily leaned back in a tactical retreat, his expression suddenly changing, eyebrows furrowed tightly.
"I used the Simulated Universe's computing power to draw so many lewd images, and painstakingly replaced the roles of the Yaoshi and Lan into the copied plotlines of various works, spreading them throughout the inter-galactic network within the Simulated Universe—how is it only 200 Stellar Jade?! Is this reasonable?"
With a serious face, Caelus quickly entered his mental space and launched a soul-searching question at the System.
[This is the Simulated Universe, big brother; the rewards certainly wouldn't be on the same level as the real universe.] [Besides, this task... you completed it quite simply, didn't you?]
Even the System hadn't expected Caelus to pull off such a method to complete it.
[Moreover, for tasks related to the Simulated Universe, the reward's focus is still on the Simulated Universe itself, you know.]
The System's screen gently moved closer to Caelus's eyes, bolding and highlighting the third reward on the task settlement interface.
[It's the Friend Support function!!!]
"I was just about to ask, what does this 'Friend Support' mean?" Caelus asked with a puzzled expression.
[Isn't it written quite clearly?]
The System expressed confusion at its host's confusion.
"The problem is, do I have any friends?" Caelus spread his hands in a 'black man questioning' gesture.
The System's full name is the Honkai Game System, and it's normal for a game to have friends, but there's only one host—the player—himself!
Stelle barely counts as half.
[Cough, cough, host, no need to worry about that. Actually, there is one, though only one, look.]
The System's page changed, switching from the task settlement to the friend support interface. From the crude and monotonous interface, it was clear this had just been hastily put together by the System.
The large interface displayed only one friend slot.
"Holy moly!"
The instant he saw the friend's name, Caelus took a step back, his face filled with shock, his expression instantly becoming incredibly vivid.
"The friend you're talking about, it's this friend!"
Caelus leaned back in tactical retreat.
Friend Support Available – [Honkai-chan].
"Can this even be 'Honkai'd'?"
Honkai-chan, Captains who only played Honkai Impact 3rd might not be familiar, but Caelus, who played the more "positive and sunny" Honkai Academy 2, knew her.
She wasn't the writer Kiana; Honkai-chan in "Honkai Academy 2" had two forms. One was a familiar character whose ultimate skill had a chance to not consume ammo and double fire rate during an attack.
The other was a friend.
Honkai-chan was a common friend for all players, an official max-level character.
In essence, she was a channel for the official game to showcase new equipment and character skins, but her loadout was terrible, earning her the nickname "Loadout Genius" ironically.
Her only advantage was that Honkai-chan's support had no cooldown; she could be used repeatedly, unlike top-tier characters from other pro players which couldn't be continuously borrowed.
For new players... truly new players, Honkai-chan was a very useful helper.
The story stages weren't difficult to begin with, and Honkai-chan, even with her poor loadout, could still rampage through them with max-level equipment.
Pure stats combined with "simple and unadorned" mechanics.
"Herta! Fix it quickly!"
Caelus gripped the shoulders of the Tea Friend Robot Doll girl and shook her vigorously, "I want to test! Let me test quickly!"
A max-level, max-equipped Honkai-chan character brought into reality... tsk, good, no, not reality, but into the Simulated Universe, even for just 10 minutes, Caelus might really be able to make the Yaoshi and Lan have "zero-distance intimacy."
If he happened to draw the Divinity of Babylon, Thanatos, Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth, or characters with "simple and unadorned" mechanics...
Caelus was already impatient to let the Simulated Universe experience the shock of massive numbers!
Even though any power within the Simulated Universe was fake, it felt great!
Just imagining the entire Simulated Universe floating with "Positive" (damage unit) characters made him excited.
"Why are you still acting crazy!"
Herta, vigorously shaken by Caelus, ruthlessly slapped his hand away with a 'smack', her small face puffed up as she yelled:
"I told you it can't be tested right now!"
Still indignant, Herta, somewhat displeased, kicked Caelus's calf with her small leather shoe.
"Proposal: To prevent similar incidents from recurring, load an Imaginary Overflow Module into the Simulated Universe.
Screwllum's synthesized mechanical voice gently sounded.
Herta stomped her foot hard and loudly declared: "Add it! Absolutely must add it!"
"Not only do we need to add the Imaginary Overflow Module, Screwllum, you also saw these two guys' testing process, didn't you? Surprised? Unexpected?"
"Mr. Caelus and Miss Stelle have indeed brought me many surprises." Screwllum said, his voice gentle and gentlemanly, sounding somewhat convinced.
One could say, from seeing those lewd images and videos in the Simulated Universe's data chain, the entire testing process had completely exceeded his logical predictions.
And Aha's address for Caelus in the Simulated Universe...
Although the contact time was still relatively short, his interest in the Trailblazers was completely piqued.
"Right? So, hurry up and put in more resources." Herta's arrogant tone didn't sound at all like someone asking a partner for more investment.
The data obtained from the Simulated Universe tests was undoubtedly invaluable and rare, but breaking the Simulated Universe twice in two tests was truly...
Hmm, although she didn't manage the money, she knew the costs behind it were high.
More importantly, with the equipment broken, it would take some time for repairs before they could continue "fishing for Aeons."
This was truly troublesome!
"Affirmative: Mr. Caelus and Miss Stelle deserve more attention; the gains far exceed expectations." Screwllum nodded.
Although the harvest consisted of a head full of questions, a series of error reports, and even more unknowns...
But, for geniuses, the unknown is a space where knowledge and inspiration can grow freely!
"Afterwards, call Stephen Lloyd; after hearing about my testing process, he's quite excited now." Herta folded her arms, "Ruan Mei was also quite surprised."
After the first test broke it, and Herta repaired it, the four geniuses collectively upgraded the Simulated Universe.
So, what broke this time was the upgraded Simulated Universe.
That it could still break this time was something Ruan Mei hadn't anticipated.
"When did you tell the others?" Stelle asked, somewhat bewildered.
"Just now. We have communication methods far superior to the Company and the Genius Society, and for people of our intellect, communication efficiency is very high... that kind of thing isn't important." Herta waved her hand, "This also serves as a reminder to us: we need to implement further protection and another comprehensive upgrade."
"Hmph, I refuse to believe it," she thought, "even with another upgrade, you won't be able to break it next time!"
Herta's small face was stern, filled with stubbornness.
"An upgrade is good, an upgrade is good!"
Caelus nodded repeatedly like a chick pecking rice, an expression on his face that seemed to say, "As expected of Ms. Herta, there will definitely be no problem."
After that, he could confidently use friend support in the Simulated Universe.
However, Caelus felt as if he had forgotten something.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Herta turned her head towards the direction of the office desk.
"What's wrong?"
Caelus noticed Herta's movement and followed her gaze; a Herta puppet was using the space station system to communicate with Asta.
The little Herta's intelligent AI communicated with Asta about the incident where Silver Wolf had just issued a warning. Asta inquired about the cause and reported that many devices had varying degrees of damage.
Little Herta's reply was that it was an experimental accident. As for the equipment, there was no need to tell Ms. Herta; new ones could be ordered directly.
Aside from the Simulated Universe, other losses didn't matter; there was Company insurance compensation anyway.
After hanging up the communication, the little Herta seemed to be going about her own work.
"I had temporarily forgotten about you because of the Simulated Universe, and you, little brat, still dare to come!" Herta glared at the puppet.
"As expected of a genius, you discovered it so quickly." The Herta puppet spread its arms.
The voice, with its unique 'milky' quality, reminded Caelus of what he had forgotten—his good friend, Silver Wolf.
"Herta, the genius who cried and wailed because her own poorly-made machine broke during testing, truly gave me a good show to watch." Silver Wolf's tone was somewhat punchable, her smile slightly mischievous.
Originally, watching Caelus's Simulated Universe test was just a side thing, driven by curiosity; her main purpose was to get the cassette, and incidentally provoke the Genius Society members and settle the score with Screwllum.
However, she hadn't expected Caelus's test to be so thrilling and exciting that she completely forgot about the cassette.
Currently, the spirit of Punklorde was still in her good friend's hands, and Silver Wolf had already copied a piece of Curio data, achieving half of her goal.
But unfortunately, Herta and Screwllum's attention was entirely focused on the two Aeons and the Trailblazers, leaving her forgotten.
The game she had prepared hadn't even been played yet.
Could Silver Wolf just walk away?
Just then, she wanted to see the aftermath of the incident, so she decided to provoke Herta for a bit of challenge.
"Little brat, I've tolerated you for too long!" Herta gritted her teeth, unable to contain her anger, as old and new grudges erupted all at once.
"Hehehe, Herta, fight back! Let me see what a genius like you can do, let me see how much fun you can bring me!" Silver Wolf whistled, brimming with confidence.
As for calling 'GG'? "Laughable," she thought, "I, Silver Wolf, am already a wanted criminal. What can Herta do to me? Even if the Company launched an inter-galactic encirclement, Silver Wolf is confident she can handle it."
Taking another step back, even if they threw her into a Company prison, it would just be two extra days to escape.
Ugh, she was still that fearless, still that wild~
Herta, in turn, laughed coldly: "Heh, very good, very good! Little brat, I hope you won't be crying buckets in a moment!"
"Talking big, are we?"
With her arms crossed, Silver Wolf scoffed disdainfully, but Herta's next sentence instantly made her expression change dramatically:
"76 plus 42. You really do love games, don't you? To have so many game accounts."
"What?! Hey, wait—"
The tables turned in that instant. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Silver Wolf's main body quickly opened her screen and began logging into her precious game accounts, but the result was exactly as Herta stated next:
"118 inter-galactic network accounts, 76 main accounts, 42 sub-accounts, along with all their game records – I've sent them all to Company headquarters and had them frozen. Tsk, tsk, tsk, some of the search histories on those accounts seem quite suitable for public release."
"Herta!!! You bastard!!!"
Silver Wolf, who had been incredibly arrogant just a second before, was instantly broken, disconnecting in a wail of despair.
Caelus shook his head helplessly.
Why bother?
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Arrogant one second, then prostrating yourself instantly.
Alas!
Driven by a caring "fatherly" mindset, Caelus subconsciously wanted to send Silver Wolf a message to ask, but a notification popped up: "Account has been banned."
Tsk, what a disaster!
Caelus's ears seemed to echo with a trembling, aggrieved voice:
"It's gone, all of it is gone, truly nothing left... This is too much, too much!"
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on Patreon. with 50 advanced chapters available on Patreon
patreon.com/Leanzin