The Herta whom Changli mentioned was also a character Lu Jingming had spent several precious years accumulating True Authority bit by bit, finally succeeding in materializing and summoning her to this world.
Herta, like Jingliu, also hailed from "Honkai: Star Rail." She was Member #83 of the Genius Society, an Aeon of Erudition, and a cosmic-level genius.
Previously, with the full assistance of Jingliu and Changli, Haiyuan City had mostly restored order from its turmoil and chaos.
The sea soul beasts that occasionally came ashore to provoke trouble were often easily repelled by Jingliu's formidable strength, barely lasting a single round.
However, Lu Jingming knew very well that simply restoring peace to the city was far from enough. For Haiyuan City to truly flourish and develop, more effort was needed to explore new avenues of progress.
Upon learning that this world was in the period of the Douluo Continent's Peerless Tang Sect, Lu Jingming keenly focused his attention on soul tools.
Lu Jingming was well aware that in this specific era of the Peerless Tang Sect, soul tools had already become a crucial force driving world development, ushering in a golden age of rapid advancement.
Their swift development even posed a real threat to the once lofty and absolutely dominant profession of Soul Masters.
The neighboring Sun Moon Empire, by vigorously investing in and researching soul tool technology, was growing increasingly powerful.
As a transmigrator, Lu Jingming knew clearly that it wouldn't be long before the Sun Moon Empire, with its advanced soul tool technology, would stir up a storm on the Douluo Continent, overwhelmingly crushing the entire continent.
Had it not been for a certain God King in the original work violating rules and secretly descending to forcefully interfere with the development of the lower realm, the Sun Moon Empire would likely have easily swept across the entire continent, achieving its ambition of unifying the Douluo Star.
Understanding all this, Lu Jingming knew the importance of soul tools for Haiyuan City's future development.
Thus, he made up his mind to hold back for several years, frugally accumulating True Authority.
Hard work paid off; he finally gathered enough True Authority to materialize Herta. However, even upon successfully arriving in this world, Herta was a super-weakened version of her former self.
But Lu Jingming didn't care about this, because what he valued was not Herta's combat ability, but her unparalleled intellect and powerful inventive capabilities.
In Lu Jingming's blueprint, Herta's wisdom and creativity were indispensable, even more important than Jingliu and Changli.
Although the summoned characters, upon arriving in the Douluo Continent, were not in their peak condition and had lost many powerful abilities that could only be used in their original worlds, they also gained their respective Martial Souls and soul skills in this entirely new universe.
For them, acquiring Martial Souls and soul skills might, to some extent, be considered a limitation, as it differed from their original unfettered power.
But from another perspective, it also opened up a path for cultivation in this new world.
With their extraordinary talent, it would only be a matter of time before they recovered their original strength, and they might even surpass their previous heights, reaching unprecedented levels.
"Herta isn't here, she must be cooped up in her laboratory again!" Lu Jingming glanced around but couldn't spot Herta, instantly knowing that this genius, obsessed with research, was once again immersed in exploring the unknown.
After all, for Herta, an intense thirst for knowledge is an inherent trait of a genius. Upon arriving in this new world, everything was full of novelty and temptation for her.
Although once she understood the principle of something, she would quickly dismiss it and move on, the various byproducts she researched during her explorations greatly benefited the entire Haiyuan City.
In less than a year, Herta, with her astonishing intellect, had thoroughly researched Soul Masters, soul beasts, and soul tools.
It must be said, she truly lived up to her title as a cosmic-level genius. If not for the vast differences between different universes, with Herta's intelligence, she might have surpassed all soul engineers in this world and led soul tool technology to new heights in just a month.
Lu Jingming simply quietly took out some soul tools that Herta had discarded as defective and sold them, effortlessly earning over a hundred million gold soul coins.
It's worth noting that these items, which Herta considered worthless, were regarded as masterpieces by the soul engineers in the Star Luo Empire, their sophistication even surpassing the soul tools produced by the Mingde Hall of the Sun Moon Empire.
In less than a year, Ms. Herta's name had spread widely among the soul engineer circles of the Star Luo Empire.
It's a pity that in the current Star Luo Empire, traditional Soul Masters still hold a prejudiced attitude towards soul tools and soul engineers. Otherwise, with Herta's abilities and achievements, her reputation would likely have already swept across the entire Star Luo Empire.
However, Lu Jingming actually thought the current situation was quite good. After all, Haiyuan City was still in its early stages of development, and keeping a low profile was more conducive to steady progress.
To promote Haiyuan City's development, Lu Jingming spared no effort, even sacrificing himself by willingly becoming Herta's experimental subject, allowing her to research the True Authority, all in exchange for Herta inventing some practical daily-use soul tools to improve Haiyuan City's environment and technological level. In truth, Lu Jingming could have forcefully demanded Herta to conduct research, but he simply didn't want to do so from the bottom of his heart.
In his eyes, these summoned companions were not tools, but his most trusted and closest family in this unfamiliar world.
Perhaps it was Lu Jingming's genuine attitude that moved Herta. She actively dedicated herself to the development and construction of Haiyuan City, which undoubtedly eased much of the burden and trouble for Changli, who bore the heavy responsibility of management.
Although due to the short time, the changes in Haiyuan City were not yet significant, Lu Jingming firmly believed that it wouldn't be long before Haiyuan City would undergo a complete transformation, becoming the most advanced city in the entire Star Luo Empire, and even having the potential to surpass the current largest city on the Douluo Continent—Mingdu, the capital of the Sun Moon Empire.
After all, Herta had been in this world for less than a year, spending most of her time analyzing the fundamental rules of the world and familiarizing herself with new material information. Even so, she had already become a Level 9 Soul Engineer.
Given more time, the results she could achieve would undoubtedly be even more astonishing.
At this moment, Lu Jingming walked to the center of the Awakening Chamber, standing steadily in the middle of the Hexagram Array.
His expression was calm, and he looked at Jingliu, saying firmly and powerfully, "Teacher, I am ready."