Another Heartfelt Moment?
A cold dread, entirely different from the last, trickled down Bai Ming's spine. The previous event's peculiar nature had left her with a deep-seated wariness. This new prompt felt less like an opportunity and more like a trap.
Could this be another situation where just calling her 'Hertie' makes the points skyrocket?
Actually...
That wouldn't be so bad.
Driven by a potent mix of greed and apprehension, Bai Ming discreetly accessed the system interface. What she saw made her breath hitch.
[Please, Just Test It]
[1/100]
The score was abysmally, insultingly low. It wasn't just reluctance; it was outright disdain for the entire endeavor. Swallowing hard, she chose her words with the care of a bomb disposal expert.
"Hey, Hertie... I have a question."
"Speak." The reply was a blade of impatience.
Bai Ming gestured nervously toward the massive machine, its core throbbing with captive starlight. "I'm not... the inaugural test subject for this glorious contraption, am I?"
The silence that followed was denser than a black hole and twice as heavy.
"Brat," Herta's voice finally dripped into the silence, laced with condescending honey, "your propensity for questions will be the death of you. You should feel privileged. Your consciousness is about to become a footnote in the greatest scientific endeavor of this era."
"Hertie, I'm too young and beautiful to become a footnote!"
"Cease your melodramatic whining!" Herta pushed Bai Ming back as she tried to cling like a limpet. "Let me elucidate this for your simple processor. While the 'Genius Society' may sound like a whimsical club to a simpleton like you, every member has carved their name into the cosmos with undeniable, monumental achievement." She held up four fingers, a gesture of supreme finality. "There are three other intellects of comparable magnitude overseeing this project! Do you genuinely believe we would stake our collective, galaxy-spanning reputations on a project that would pulp our one and only test subject?"
Bai Ming processed this, a sliver of hope piercing her panic. She ventured another question. "Just for my own peace of mind... what's your ranking in the Genius Society again?"
"Number 83," Herta stated, her small hands planted firmly on her hips in a picture of defiant pride. "Were your auditory sensors malfunctioning during my biography?"
"And the total membership?"
"Eighty-four."
"Ahhh!" Bai Ming wailed, the sound echoing in the vast office. "It's like the class's second-to-last student is leading a group project! The others participating must be ranked 82nd, 81st, and 80th! This is the remedial class of cosmic geniuses!"
A visible twitch developed beneath Herta's eye. She could have launched into a complex lecture about how the Society's numbering was not a strict hierarchy it was the order in which they were invited by the Aeon Nous. But she recognized a losing argument when she saw one. Instead, she deployed her ultimate weapon: psychological warfare.
"Fine," she said with an exaggerated, world-weary sigh. "Depart, then. But understand this—if you retreat now, this door closes forever. You are demonstrating fear in the face of discovery, doubt in the place of trust." A cruel, knowing smile touched her lips. "I do hope you display this same lack of conviction with your precious March 7th. When she asks why you have no Credits to treat her to a galaxy's worth of cakes and trinkets, you can simply shrug and tell her you were too frightened to earn them."
She turned away, a masterful display of dismissal. "Go on. Scurry back to whatever inconsequential pastimes you prefer. I have realities to simulate, not cowards to coddle."
The mention of March 7th struck its target with the precision of a laser scalpel. Bai Ming's resolve, which had been crumbling, instantly solidified into diamond-hard determination.
"Don't be like that, Hertie!"
"Who granted you permission to use that familiar address? The professional relationship is terminated. Leave."
"I admit my transgressions!" Bai Ming clasped her hands together in genuine supplication. "Your magnanimity is as infinite as your intellect! Please, bestow upon me this second chance!"
"The terror has subsided?"
"Terror has been acknowledged and subsequently ignored in the name of progress!" Bai Ming thumped her chest, the sound surprisingly solid. "I am ready to face digital annihilation for the sake of science!"
"You are certain this is your voluntary choice? No external coercion?"
"Mhm!" Bai Ming nodded, her expression one of grim resolve.
"Excellent." Herta didn't even bother to conceal her triumphant smirk. "Take your position at the activation nexus. We are commencing the trial. Now."
"Understood."
Taking a steadying breath, mentally picturing a mountain of gifts for a beaming March 7th, Bai Ming stepped onto the designated platform.
Observing her compliance, Herta's fingers flew across the console, a symphony of purpose and power.
"Initializing neuro-interface bridge! Commencing consciousness transfer!"
The physical world dissolved into a kaleidoscope of light and data. Bai Ming felt a moment of weightless freefall before her awareness snapped back into sharp, surreal focus. She blinked, and found herself staring at...
Familiar corridor panels. Familiar lighting fixtures. Familiar floor grates.
Wait, this is still the space station!
Herta's voice echoed through the simulated space, filtered and omnipresent. "Test subject, confirm auditory reception. If functional, perform a simple verification gesture."
"Huh?"
Bewildered but compliant, Bai Ming, drawing on some deep-seated, meme-based instinct, made what she hoped was a universally understood cute expression.
"(╹▽╹) Nyaa~"
"...An unexpectedly tolerable response," Herta's voice held a strange, almost impressed note. "Regardless, maintain composure. Your corporeal form remains safely anchored in my office. You are currently experiencing a high-fidelity, memory-based simulation of the station's interior."
"Huh?!" Realization dawned, bright and embarrassing. "You mean I never actually left?!"
"Correct. Now cease with the existential queries—"
"Wait! Hertie! Are you planning to perform unsanctioned surgery on my physical body while I'm distracted in here?!"
"That was a jest," Herta said, her tone flat as a neutron star's surface. "Though the notion of maximum resource utilization has crossed my mind for a future protocol."
"Huh—?!"
"That was also a jest."
"Your comedic calibration is critically malfunctioning!" Bai Ming shouted at the featureless ceiling.
"Enough. This is an Alpha build with limited operational parameters. Commence basic mobility diagnostics. Now."
"Okay..."
Tentatively at first, then with growing wonder, Bai Ming explored her virtual surroundings. Her body responded with an impossible fluidity, as if the simulation understood the intent of her movements even before her muscles could formulate the command.
"Acceptable kinematic performance," Herta noted, a hint of surprise in her clinical tone. "Superior to initial projections. You are now granted free movement privileges. Your primary objective: emulate the behavioral resonance of Akivili. Engage hostile entities to determine which simulated Aeonic archetype manifests primacy interest."
"Fight monsters?" Bai Ming cracked her knuckles, the sound unnaturally crisp and satisfying in the digital environment. A feral grin spread across her face. "Finally, a task that aligns with my core competencies."
She began her patrol, a predator in a perfectly crafted jungle.
Her first target manifested with programmed aggression—a floating construct of polished metal and malevolent light, its form encased in rotating, razor-edged plates.
Before she could even identify it, Herta's dispassionate analysis echoed around her: "'Distorter'—a standard Antimatter Legion combat unit. Loaded for initial combat evaluation. Based on your physiological profile, you will likely require combat assist—"
Herta's voice cut off mid-sentence. Through her monitoring interface, she watched, data streams stuttering in disbelief, as Bai Ming didn't just fight the Distorter—she performed a systematic deconstruction.
The baseball bat became a blur of devastating kinetics, each strike landing with force enough to ground the floating entity. When it struggled to reorient, she discarded the weapon entirely, her bare hands finding seams and weaknesses in its armor that should have been invisible to any known scanning method.
CRACK!
With a sound of shearing metal, she pried the Distorter apart like shucking a cosmic oyster.
Clang! Clatter!
Its internal components scattered across the pristine virtual floor like metallic confetti.
Herta stared, her vast intellect rapidly recalculating every assumption about Bai Ming's threat level. The raw, unadulterated physical power on display was orders of magnitude beyond any previous observation.
"Hey, Hertie?!" Bai Ming's cheerful voice echoed up to the unseen observer. "You were saying something about an assist?"
Collecting her scattered processing threads, Herta responded with masterfully forced calm. "I was inquiring if you wished for me to load combat data for your documented companions. Their parameters are well-cataloged from previous... visits."
"You can do that?"
"Naturally. The process is elementary data puppetry for an intellect of my caliber."
A dangerous, brilliant, and utterly foolish idea sparked in the depths of Bai Ming's mind. She glanced around the empty, sterile simulation. "Hertie... could you... create custom avatars?"
"Define 'create avatars.'"
"You know, like... generate a March 7th model. Or a Himeko simulation. And then, you know... place them in here with me!" she finished with a hopeful grin.
"Oh?" Herta's tone turned dangerously, syrupy sweet. "Is that not essentially what I just proposed?"
"No! I mean just their visual models!" Bai Ming gestured emphatically, as if sculpting the air. "The, uh... the underlying clothing systems and physical physics... wouldn't be strictly necessary..."
"..."
"You malfunctioning, corrupted, scrap-heap of a life form!" Herta's voice sharpened into a blade of pure outrage. "What kind of degenerate data streams are corrupting your central processor?! I do not develop revolutionary cosmic simulations to cater to juvenile, hormone-driven fantasy scenarios!"
"Hertie, you're so cruel and unjust!"
"Perhaps examine the ethical bankruptcy of your own request before accusing me of cruelty! Resume testing immediately, or I will personally purge every single Credit from your account!"
"Ehh—! Not the Credits!"
Thoroughly chastised, Bai Ming returned to her duties with renewed—if deeply sullen—dedication.
What followed was a masterclass in applied, emotionally volatile chaos theory.
Confronted by a 'Voidranger: Reaver,' she abandoned all pretense of weaponry, delivering a series of devastating kicks while lamenting to the heavens, "Wahhh! Now I'll never get to see March's adorable, smiling face again!"
The Reaver's chassis became a canvas of deep, paw-print-shaped indentations before glitching violently out of existence.
When a more formidable 'Voidranger: Trampler' entered the fray, she incorporated wall-runs, aerial acrobatics, and her own improvised pyrotechnics into the assault.
"Waaa— I'll never know the comfort of Himeko's gentle, maternal embrace!"
Her final blow was a work of brutal art, cleanly separating the Trampler's upper and lower halves with the detached precision of a master chef filleting a fish.
Through it all, Herta observed one undeniable, data-supported truth: however unorthodox, chaotic, and emotionally unhinged Bai Ming's methodology might be, her combat effectiveness was terrifyingly absolute. The raw power and instinctual adaptability she demonstrated defied every conventional parameter in her database.
Such destructive potential housed in such a physiologically mundane frame... The biological and energetic implications are... profoundly fascinating.
Herta's scientific curiosity burned brighter than a blue giant, each display of power adding fuel to the fire.
---
Bai Ming had just concluded her artistic dismantling of the Trampler when the simulation itself seemed to take a deep breath. The air grew heavy, the light dimmed, and a colossal figure materialized before her—a being of immense, tectonic scale, its form hewn from cosmic minerals and radiating an aura of ancient, unyielding permanence.
"Whoa! Is this part of the advanced roleplay?!" Bai Ming stared, awestruck, at the majestic form standing amidst a gentle rain of crystallized dust.
"The Preservation Aeon, Qlipoth," Herta identified, her voice tinged with unmistakable triumph. "It appears to be issuing a resonant warning."
As if on cue, the entity emitted a deep, foundational tone that vibrated through the very code of the simulation, before raising its colossal arms and vanishing into dissipating light.
"Hertie, was that your doing?"
"Negative. The manifestation was an emergent property, a successful prediction of the simulation's core matrix. Our model accurately forecast Qlipoth's response to a specific stimulus."
"How?"
"The principle is elementary," Herta's pride was a palpable force. "Recall your designated role."
"Akimi... something?"
"Akivili," Herta corrected, the irritation returning in full force. "The departed Trailblaze Aeon. Your behavioral emulation, crude as it was, contained sufficient resonant frequency to trigger Qlipoth's legacy protocols, simulating its predicted response to detecting the echo of a departed peer."
"This is all just... the universe's most advanced game of roleplay?!"
"Essentially, yes. Now cease your gawking and select a Blessing. These are enhanced manifestations of Aeonic favor I've prepared for your continued progression."
"Mhm—" Bai Ming felt like she'd just discovered the mother of all exploits.
Three luminous options, shimmering with contained power, materialized before her. But as she examined them closely, a jolt of shocking recognition coursed through her.
Wait...These sigils... this aesthetic...Aren't these the Elysian Realm's Signets?! What in the name of the Cocoon of Finality are they doing in this universe?!
-------
A/n: Hey over on my patreon there are currently two for the time being exclusive books which are
Life Simulator: Starting in Genshin Impact!
Zenless Zone Zero: Loving Daily Life Starting in New Eridu
patreon.com/deadlygoober