Screwllum found Bai Ming's motive was purely for the sake of a prank, but the idea itself was genuinely interesting.
A "Personality Completion System."
In Screwllum's view, the term "completion" was clearly an exaggerated tease, likely chosen just to get under Herta's skin.
In reality, this system was like a unique exploration into the boundaries between AI, Intellitrons, and humanity itself.
It touched upon philosophical questions regarding the independent will of mechanical life.
After all, the plan was to install a system akin to a Scepter Array into Herta's puppets.
And then, it aimed to simulate enough of Herta's distinct personalities in an attempt to "complete" the individual.
To put it bluntly, she wanted these puppets, which weren't true Intellitrons, to simulate a genuine consciousness that could rival a genius.
While blurring the lines of life, it seemed to delicately probe its very limits.
In Screwllum's eyes, you only needed to slightly shift the target.
What if the system wasn't integrated into Herta's puppets, but into a multitude of Intellitrons?
And what if the object of "completion" wasn't an individual, but the very concept of mechanical life itself?
Intellitrons can already connect and share information via networks.
This Scepter System went a step further, not only attempting to achieve the most efficient stacking effect from this connection, but it even aimed to stack the intangible concept of "talent" as well, trying to elevate the combined wisdom of ordinary beings to the heights of a genius.
In Screwllum's mind, the final form of this system could forge a "True Emperor of Mechanical Life."
Not a representative figurehead like himself, but a genuine sovereign embodying the collective consciousness of all Intellitrons.
And compared to the overly extreme unification found in Harmony and Order, this system tried to strike a balance between Harmony and Order.
Even if it stacked everyone's talents together, it had no intention of erasing individual consciousness.
But could it truly achieve its ultimate goal?
Screwllum thought the future looked promising.
This was absolutely a project that would require even a genius to invest immense effort.
But judging by Bai Ming's attitude...
It seemed she genuinely hadn't thought about the potential of this prank plan at all, and it was obvious that once the prank was done, she probably wouldn't invest much more energy into it.
He could only say, this was very much in line with a genius's personality.
Coming up with something messy and jaw-dropping for some trivial or low-level reason, leaving outsiders scratching their heads.
It was practically an old tradition for geniuses.
Even without a certification from Nous, in Screwllum's eyes, someone like Bai Ming truly behaved like a genius.
As for Ruan Mei, her thoughts drifted in a different direction than Screwllum's.
While the path of "many becoming one" suited Herta's puppets, for humans, a situation constructed this way clearly wouldn't last.
But if it were further refined, and redirected back towards the Scepter System, what if the subject of "completion" was switched to flesh-and-blood life, or any form of life, supplementing them in a certain sense?
Could it find the definitive line between mortals and geniuses?
Could it allow ordinary people to keep pace with geniuses?
This was also why Ruan Mei was willing to participate.
Although the project seemed a bit rough around the edges now, and confined to the scope of "Herta," if expanded, there were plenty of directions it could extend.
It just seemed that Miss Bai Ming hadn't thought about that at all.
And Ruan Mei and Screwllum didn't dampen the mood by bringing up their own ideas.
Since everyone was participating in this project, if they wanted to develop it in directions that interested them later, they could do so then.
For now, since Miss Bai Ming seemed to be having fun, and they were all friends, naturally, they wouldn't be party poopers.
"Didn't expect you to have time to join this Genius's prank, Madam Ruan Mei. I heard you were deeply involved in another project."
In a private call, Screwllum's voice came through the projection.
Ruan Mei, sitting beside 'Jingliu', smiled lightly:
"I don't want to end up like Herta, coming home one day to find a prank waiting for me."
"Uh... I wouldn't prank you, Ruan Mei."
'Jingliu' laughed a little awkwardly.
She wasn't Sparkle, and she didn't follow Elation.
Where would she go around pulling pranks?
Even if she someday got a role card for a young Ruan Mei, she'd just come over to play for a month.
"Heh~"
Ruan Mei chuckled softly. Then, more seriously, she explained:
"Rappa has developed enough to move around freely. The parts I was interested in concerning the Permanence have been clarified. Dabbling in something else on the side won't hurt."
Hearing this, Screwllum glanced sideways at the little girl with pink hair sitting in front of another device, engrossed in an early education program from the Land of Light.
"Rappa? Was that name chosen by Miss Bai Ming?"
"Yes. I originally wanted a gentler name, but Rappa liked it themselves, so I let it be."
Ruan Mei nodded.
With her personality, she certainly wouldn't choose a name with negative connotations like "Rappa" (Rap/Chaos) and "Pa" (Break).
But the little one liked it, so she went along with it.
As for the early education content, the Land of Light material was originally something they had tinkered with.
But for Rappa, after removing parts strongly related to beings of light, the remaining content was just right for them to learn from.
"Honestly, I thought you might send Rappa to the Herta Space Station, or to the Land of Light. I didn't expect you to keep them."
"I don't plan to keep them long. That child isn't suited to follow me either."
Hearing 'Jingliu's' words, Ruan Mei smiled.
Looking at it from an IQ perspective, becoming a genius might be a stretch for that child, but being a genius's assistant would be more than enough.
And with 'Jingliu's' ideas, there might be a chance in the future to break through that boundary.
The problem was Rappa's personality – they weren't the type to quietly do research.
Following Ruan Mei on lonely journeys through the universe, constantly facing those bizarre experimental subjects, clearly wasn't suitable for Rappa.
"Bai Ming, the Personality Completion System you're working on... I'm thinking of letting Rappa try it. Maybe there's a chance."
Hearing this, 'Jingliu' wasn't surprised.
It gave her that feeling of, "Ah, that's so Ruan Mei."
But the system's concept could indeed be adapted for Rappa's use.
"Theoretically, yes. Are you planning to connect Rappa directly? Or build a separate system?"
"A separate one. Rappa is just one individual, and I don't want them to become similar to Herta."
Ruan Mei shook her head helplessly.
--+--
After the brief discussion, work officially began.
The materials Screwllum had prepared were all in place.
The Herta Completion Project was now officially underway.
First was the device to connect Herta's puppets.
This part referenced data from many Scepters, but was miniaturized, ensuring the final product was portable and energy-efficient.
And the key point was not to mimic the precise computational power of the Arrays.
Rational, pure computing power suits crowning a genius, but it's not something for the ordinary to toy with lightly.
Besides, Genius clearly isn't something achieved solely through computing power.
So the system's focus was on how to get the AIs of Herta's puppets to calculate and imitate a genius.
But definitely not just simple imitation.
After all... slicing technology was something everyone had; it wasn't special in itself.
Herta's puppets could even be considered a kind of specialized slicing technique.
If it were just slicing, at best you'd have puppets with a genius's knowledge.
Something like that wouldn't even come close to pranking Herta.
She'd only use it to mock you forever.
So what she wanted was for each Herta puppet, connected via the Scepter, to simulate a "special slice."
Then, using the unique connection method designed by referencing the Scepter Arrays,
These "slices" would be linked together, and exquisitely "stacked" as perfectly as possible to create a three-dimensional whole from flat pieces.
In plain terms, the system's goal was to simulate a genius's thinking, abilities, and even personality.
Simply put, a cube can be seen as the result of stacking countless squares.
And what she wanted to do was use one "slice" after another to stack into a three-dimensional existence.
Slices couldn't be infinite, but special algorithms could make them "approach infinity."
The final result would be a constructed version of Herta, as imagined and anticipated by all the puppets.
Whether it could beat the real Herta was debatable, but it would definitely give her a scare.
For 'Jingliu', if it could scare Herta, the plan was a success!
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL