Upon seeing the crystal in Lucius's hand, Mobius cried out in alarm.
As someone who had personally researched the remains of the Herrscher of Reason, she had seen this thing before.
But unfortunately, even though she had personally participated in the research on the Herrscher of Reason's remains, Fire Moth had not allowed her to access the most valuable Herrscher core.
Moreover, she could tell that the core Lucius held in his hand was slightly different from the one she had seen.
The one she had seen was dim and lightless. Although it still possessed incredible power, Mobius knew that core was "dead."
But the one in Lucius's hand shone with a silver-blue glow, giving her an extremely active feeling, which meant this core was "alive."
Regarding Mobius's shock, Lucius wasn't surprised. Any scientist would go mad over a Herrscher core—the remnant authority left after a Herrscher's death.
However, he had still underestimated Mobius's fervor.
After seeing the Herrscher core in his hand, Mobius was first shocked, then immediately lunged at Lucius.
"Let me see it quickly!"
Watching the green creature lunging at him, Lucius made an elegant turn and brushed past the flying Mobius.
"Splat!"
Mobius collapsed on the ground in a spread-eagle position.
Lucius crouched down, holding the core with one hand while extending a finger from his other hand to poke Mobius's face repeatedly.
"Doctor, with your current body, you can't touch this thing. Without my restraint, just the Honkai energy it emanates could burn you to ashes."
Lucius's words were like a bucket of ice water poured on Mobius, calming the fervor born from her thirst for knowledge.
But Mobius's face still showed confusion. She felt that the understanding she had built up over the years had shattered.
She had always believed Herrscher authority was unique, but now...
Mobius swatted away Lucius's finger poking her face, nimbly got up from the ground, looked deeply at Lucius, and asked: "Are you... even human?"
"Doctor, we have no grudges, and I even gave you a huge research fund. Why are you insulting me?" Lucius's face showed grievance.
But Mobius glared at him and said: "You know what I mean. Are you human or a Herrscher?"
Regarding Mobius's questioning, Lucius didn't even hesitate, replying decisively: "I'm human, of course. Without a doubt."
Then he waved the Herrscher of Reason core in his hand in front of Mobius a couple of times.
"As for this thing, it's one of my little secrets."
"Doctor, please keep it confidential for me. After all, we're accomplices now~"
"Tch..."
Mobius was somewhat dissatisfied with Lucius changing the subject, but she knew that even if she continued to press, she wouldn't get any results, so she simply didn't continue asking.
Of course, mainly because she had formed another bold hypothesis.
Mobius scrutinized Lucius carefully, looking at his current appearance using Elysia's face, and some past research materials about Herrschers surfaced in her mind.
Based on research on the two Herrschers they had already killed, Fire Moth was certain these two Herrschers possessed some kind of alienated personality, which she called the Herrscher personality.
She also thought that this person calling himself the Faded Fairy before her was most likely another personality of the Elysia she knew.
Combining all the information she had obtained:
Elysia's other personality, possessing a Herrscher core, and most likely able to wield Herrscher authority...
Mobius quietly lowered her gaze, a confident smile spreading across her lips.
"I see, I see. No wonder I always felt Elysia was so special..."
Why could Elysia kill a Herrscher with a mortal body? Why could her secondary personality create a core with her bare hands?
It was because Elysia herself was a Herrscher!
And her speculation wasn't wrong either. This person before her was indeed Elysia's other personality. Who said a Herrscher personality couldn't be another personality?
However, when this speculative conclusion appeared, it caused some deviation in her research on Herrschers.
She had originally thought Herrschers were all killing machines that extinguished humanity, with the goal of completely annihilating humanity, but now it seemed these Herrschers might also have the possibility of fighting for humanity?
Could they... also have humanity?
What has this genius figured out now?!
Watching Mobius's silly smile, Lucius felt this genius with superior intelligence had thought of something strange again.
However, he didn't have time to deal with this matter now. He had more important things to do.
A ghostly blue light emerged from Lucius's body, rapidly spreading outward. Where this light swept, the laboratory equipment seemed to be erased from existence.
Mobius froze, then let out a scream like a groundhog's shriek, rushing toward Lucius.
"My centrifuge!"
"My gene editing chamber!"
"What are you doing to my accumulated assets!!"
Watching Mobius lunge at him once again, a mechanically constructed arm appeared out of thin air, extending two fingers to grab Mobius by her collar, leaving her waving her limbs in the air.
Like a cat being held by the scruff of its neck.
"Calm down, Doctor. Your assets won't disappear. I'm just sending them to your other laboratory."
Hearing Lucius's explanation, Mobius stopped struggling and asked: "What other laboratory?"
"Shennong Pharmaceuticals' laboratory. Purchasing all this equipment from scratch and recruiting personnel would waste too much time. Better to transfer from left hand to right hand, moving directly from your laboratory."
"Anyway, we're going to settle accounts later. You can just report these as losses and have Fire Moth compensate you with a new batch."
Mobius thought it over and felt something was off, but she quickly thought of another name in Lucius's words.
"Shennong Pharmaceuticals, what's that?"
"A biopharmaceutical company we just established to verify the Stigmata Project. You can take over when the time comes."
Hearing Lucius's explanation, Mobius quieted down.
Although she didn't yet know what Shennong Pharmaceuticals was, she could guess this was probably her mission for joining the Golden Courtyard.
"As expected, this one hundred billion in research funding isn't so easy to obtain..."
Seeing that Mobius had stopped struggling, Lucius put her down.
"Well then, Doctor, take your people and leave. From now on, this is my stage."
...
Watching Mobius frantically running out with Blanca in tow, Lucius projected his consciousness into his mind.
His figure emerged in pitch darkness, and opposite him was a humanoid thing like shattered glass—this was the secondary personality he had cut out using Vill-V's thought-severing machine.
Looking at the secondary personality opposite him, Lucius fell silent for a moment.
"You... do you have anything to say?"
"We're the same person. Don't you think talking to yourself is weird? Stop dawdling and get on with it!"
"Alright!"
Lucius hesitated no longer. He grabbed the secondary personality before him and stuffed it into the Herrscher of Reason core.
There weren't many things in this world that could carry consciousness, but coincidentally, the Herrscher of Reason's core was one of them.
After stuffing his secondary personality into the Herrscher core, Lucius's vision seemed to split in two, suddenly changing from single-core to dual-core, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.
And before him, the Herrscher of Reason's core flickered with a faint light. Around the core's periphery, a brand new body was being outlined.
As the Herrscher of Reason's authority erupted.
A brand new body to carry the Herrscher core was being outlined.
---
Advanced 30+ Chapters in pat/reon.com/Sleepy_Hua