For a long while.
Sylvia wearily opened her eyes.
The Herta puppet stepped forward, supporting the unsteady Sylvia as she swayed.
Yet, on her utterly exhausted face, an ineffable expression emerged. Her gaze was fixed on the Light Cone in her hand.
She spoke softly:
"Re-engrave—Long."
Hum—
The Light Cone began to deconstruct within Sylvia's grasp.
The transparent crystal serving as its containment vessel slowly unraveled. At the very moment the 'memory' sealed within was about to dissipate, it was overwritten by memories surging forth from Sylvia herself.
Then assimilated, devoured.
And finally, it flowed placidly before Sylvia's eyes.
Subsequently, the crystal resealed itself, once again firmly securing the memory within, transforming into a brand new Light Cone.
This time, the image on the Light Cone hadn't changed drastically.
It was still the dragon wandering the cosmos. Only now, the great dragon's form was far clearer.
What was once a blurry silhouette had become a detailed image.
The dragon's scales, its sharp claws, its head—all could be seen distinctly.
Especially those eyes, which seemed to stare directly out from the image itself.
As if the 'Permanence' from within the memory had traversed time and mortality to gaze upon the one beholding the Light Cone.
And as the new Light Cone was completed, power several times greater than before emanated from it.
To put it in terms, it was like a Light Cone directly upgrading from three-star to five-star.
"So powerful…"
Sylvia felt the strength flowing from the Light Cone. It even seemed to have spurred a slight growth in her own power of Permanence.
Just then, Herta's information panel popped up for some inexplicable reason.
--+--
[Target: Herta]
[Fondness: 64 (Temporarily Intrigued)]
[Relationship: Married in Name Only]
['Giving you a solid "6" for that. Not even the puppet is safe? Girl, you must be starving!']
['Honestly, you're being so extra, it's hard to even comment. And don't expect any reward boost this time, got it?']
--+--
"Huh?"
Sylvia was taken aback. What? What happened?
Why did Herta's fondness suddenly jump by two points?
This increase came completely out of nowhere…
She hadn't done anything, so why the rise?
There's no way someone like Herta is the type to self-romance.
These two points of fondness were utterly baffling.
While directing the Herta puppet to swiftly tidy the room, Sylvia sank into deep thought.
--+--
Meanwhile—
Over at Herta's place.
She had momentarily halted her modifications to the Simulated Universe.
She'd even switched the feed from Sylvia's room to her main screen.
Herta meticulously observed every single thing Sylvia was doing.
"Fascinating… I'm growing more and more interested in you, Sylvia! Reproducing the memories of Permanence, even directly refining a Light Cone."
Herta kept dragging the video timeline back, replaying it, repeatedly watching the moment Sylvia upgraded the Light Cone.
"Bearing the power of both Permanence and Destruction, yet capable of manipulating memories, crafting Light Cones… Sylvia, oh Sylvia, just what secrets are you hiding?"
The technology behind crafting Light Cones isn't like anything else.
While they can be mass-produced, their core technology is tightly held in the hands of the Garden of Recollection. It's absolutely not something an outsider can easily steal, deconstruct, or replicate.
And yet, such an ability has manifested in Sylvia.
Moreover, she used some unknown method to imprint the image of Permanence so vividly into memory.
That scene just now—where a memory bubble emerged from the Light Cone and entered Sylvia's body—had Herta particularly fixated.
If that scene held meaning, then what did it signify?
Did the memory within the Light Cone trigger Sylvia's own?
Or was it simply her reading the Light Cone's contents?
"Ugh, I can't hold back anymore. I have to ask. If I don't, it'll feel like ants are crawling all over me!"
Herta didn't even last a full second before directly linking her consciousness to the Herta puppet in Sylvia's room—the one still dressed in that blue wedding gown.
Then, while Sylvia was still lost in thought, she heard Herta's voice without having issued any command:
"Hey, Sylvia! How did you do that just now? Extracting memories, sealing them away, and more crucially, how did you recall it so vividly? Even the Simulated Universe couldn't record that image completely!"
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Sylvia instinctively began to answer when a sudden realization jolted her!
"Huh… Huh?! Herta?!"
Sylvia whipped her head around, eyes wide, staring at Herta who was still clad in the blue wedding dress.
She definitely hadn't given the Herta puppet any instructions, and she certainly wasn't bored enough to mimic Herta's tone for some roleplay.
Then she saw Herta nod directly.
"Yes, it's me. Now hurry up and tell me exactly what you did just now. Why was this Light Cone upgraded in your hands."
"…"
Sylvia was momentarily speechless. Her mind hadn't even caught up—when did Herta get here?
That signal jammer Silver Wolf gave her is so useless!
"Hurry, hurry! This is important to me!"
Herta urged Sylvia impatiently, but given the current setting and situation, it was incredibly difficult for Sylvia to settle her mind for an academic discussion.
"Hold on, how about you listen to my excuse first?"
"Hm? Oh, that. Don't worry, I understand the irresistible allure of my unparalleled beauty. Besides, this puppet was already gifted to you. What you do with it is your freedom. Even if you installed reproductive systems, I wouldn't care."
The Herta puppet placed its hands on its hips, even looking at Sylvia with a 'why are you being so prudish' expression.
"…First of all, I'm not a pervert. Secondly, I wouldn't do anything to your puppet."
Sylvia explained while internally complaining, what kind of wild talk is this?
Is this the ethical worldview of a genius?
Aside from the things that interest them, everything else is worthless, meaningless, and not worth wasting time on.
"Whether you're a pervert or not is none of my business."
But clearly, Herta genuinely couldn't care less about such matters.
"Speaking of which, have you ever given your puppets to anyone else?"
"Of course not. Besides you, who'd dare ask me for a puppet? Alright, hurry up! Stop wasting time."
"Why should I tell you? You even snuck over here to peep!"
"Tch, as if I'd bother peeping at you. I, Herta, keep my word. If the positioning system wasn't completely independent and hard to remove, and you hadn't insisted on blocking the signal, I wouldn't have even noticed you, okay."
Herta clicked her tongue in annoyance and continued.
"Fine, fine, I apologize. Now please tell me how you actually did it."
Sylvia felt so awkward she could dig a hole with her toes.
So this is actually her own fault?
Whatever. Might as well go mute. Better change the subject.
Ahem… "Well then, how about we talk about the Light Cone instead."
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.