Regarding Herta pushing herself to the limit.
'Ruan Mei' pondered it and felt Lady Herta had a point.
Because at its core, using Path power essentially means harnessing Imaginary Energy.
How Imaginary Energy transforms into the distinct properties of different Paths—well, that's one of the secrets.
Though riddled with challenges, there was no doubt: if they could find a way to directly utilize and convert Imaginary Energy, that would solve the problem outright.
But let's be honest—this was almost equivalent to forging an entirely new Path.
You can imagine how difficult that would be.
Even so, thanks to Herta's sheer stubbornness, 'Ruan Mei' found herself swept up into the whirlwind of brainstorming.
It helped that 'Ruan Mei' was genuinely a little intrigued herself. But even a genius mind doesn't necessarily find the right path in a single step.
Trial and error, shifting directions, verification, then more adjustments—these were steps even a genius couldn't skip.
Thankfully, 'Ruan Mei' wasn't alone.
Two geniuses brainstorming for the same goal.
Even with constant wrong turns, their plan was steadily, bit by bit, taking shape.
And so, under the combined mental storm of Herta and 'Ruan Mei', though the core issue remained unsolved, the stability problem of the Giant of Light was tackled by the two of them together.
Those turbulent Path powers were finally subdued.
Inside a specially partitioned area of the lab, 'Ruan Mei' held the Evoltruster, gazing up at the fifty-meter-tall Giant of Light that had yet to awaken to its own consciousness.
The Evoltruster was something 'Ruan Mei' had cobbled together casually—it was just for show, really.
As for the giant's appearance, it closely resembled the silver form of Nexus, with only its chest and arms accented in red.
Its build leaned more toward the slender, almost otherworldly physique seen among the beings of the Land of Light.
She'd considered other designs, but since this was the first of its kind, 'Ruan Mei' wanted to preserve a certain minimalist, prototype feel.
So she stuck with this silver-dominated form.
Holding the Evoltruster, 'Ruan Mei' felt a soft glow pulse in her hand like a heartbeat.
Though she was indirectly controlling this unawakened giant, through it, she could still sense the surge of power flowing within its body.
Vast amounts of Imaginary Energy poured incessantly into the giant's form along strands of light.
Under "Ruan Mei's" control, the giant moved with agile grace, darting and weaving midair, performing all sorts of unbelievable, inhuman maneuvers.
At the same time, it unleashed a variety of minor abilities and beam attacks, while nearby machines recorded the data.
Thanks to joint planning by Ruan Mei and Herta, a wide array of beam techniques and combat skills had been programmed in.
The most powerful beam attacks were roughly on par with the main cannon of a standard fleet.
For instance, rays that broke matter down to the atomic level, classic positron cannons, Imaginary Disassembly Beams, and so on—each suited for different scenarios.
Then there were barrier shields, plus skills specially designed to counter such shields.
Of course, it couldn't compare to an Emanator in raw power.
But the Giant of Light's advantage was never pure destructive force anyway.
In cosmic warfare, range, accuracy, and speed form an impossible triangle—meaning a typical warship can't excel in all three at once.
Except for Emanators, that is.
Which is partly why Emanators are so highly valued across the major factions.
Anyway, setting Emanators aside, the Giant of Light could, in a way, be considered a mini-Emanator.
It could achieve a smaller, but still balanced, version of that range–accuracy–speed triangle.
While matching the solid offensive output of a standard interstellar fleet, it could also maintain excellent speed and precision.
That kind of individual was exactly what Ruan Mei wanted.
"Ah, it's a shame we've hit a ceiling here. To reach Emanator-level energy reactions, we'd have to rely on that 'fusion' idea of yours."
Herta gazed at the massive Giant of Light, her tone a mix of satisfaction and regret.
She could forcibly push its power to Emanator levels, true—but the consequence would be instability and a short lifespan.
"Please don't. If you and I really started mass-producing Emanators, The Equilibrium would definitely come knocking."
Ruan Mei couldn't help complaining about Herta's ambition.
The brainstorms of geniuses could be truly terrifying. Mass-producing Emanators? That was something Ruan Mei didn't dare imagine.
Even if she and Herta could pull it off, the Equilibrium's heavy hand would probably drop down and elbow-drop them right after.
And even if The Equilibrium hesitated, other factions would likely band together to take down the 'great evil overlords.'
"Tch, this is where you fall short. But fine, I quite like this creation of ours. I'll optimize it for my puppets later."
"As an individual entity, I'm quite fond of it too."
Ruan Mei guided the Nexus form back to the ground, where it dissolved into light and returned to the Evoltruster.
"Now comes the real challenge."
With that thought, Ruan Mei glanced at her panel:
--+--
[Role-Playing System]
[Name: Bai Ming (Ruan Mei)]
[Lifespan: 100 years (paused) + 29 days (role-playing)]
[Transformable Roles: Big Herta (Charge: 81.6%), Acheron (Charge: 48.5%), Celenova (Charge: 6.3%), Ruan Mei (Active)]
[Available Draws: 0 (40.2%)]
--+--
A single day.
That's all it took for the two of them to create a fully functional Giant of Light body.
As for the part about growing stronger through willpower—well, they'd already incorporated so many different Paths.
If a chosen individual worked hard and resonated with one of those Paths, naturally they would grow stronger.
Hearing "Ruan Mei's" response, Herta spoke up:
"So, you're still leaning on borrowing power from Enigmata?"
"A backup plan, at least. You have to admit, this path seems feasible, don't you think?"
"Ruan Mei's" idea was to borrow the powers of a History Fictionologist.
First, artificially create a self-replicating Seed of Light and scatter it across the cosmos.
Create a batch of artificial History Fictionologists, use the power of the same Harmony to integrate them, bypassing the Emanator's star-rank.
Then pull off a few lies.
Next, use memetics to make large numbers of people believe that "the miracle of light is real."
Once enough people believed and offered their wishes, the Seed of Light—using the Harmony's power—would select a suitable vessel, gathering the power of countless prayers to swiftly undergo metamorphosis and growth, thereby realizing the seemingly impossible vision of "miracles descending."
A History Fictionologist couldn't directly achieve "fiction becoming reality" on a universal scale—that felt like something only Mythus could accomplish.
But by taking a slight detour and combining multiple powers, they could play a crucial role.
All they needed was to design a robust enough Seed of Light—one that could travel along starrails, even penetrating through Stellarons' blockades to spread.
Then take the lead in establishing a "Land of Light," allowing the giants to unite and secure a foothold for this race in the universe.
That would be mission accomplished.
As for 'Ruan Mei's' plan, even Herta had to admit it was theoretically feasible.
"Well, I'll admit your approach is workable—even if I'd still prefer to define the Imaginary and carve out a whole new Path."
"I'm not saying we shouldn't try. If we actually pull off what you're imagining, we might truly end up creating an Aeon."
'Ruan Mei' smiled as she looked at Herta.
--+--