The afternoon sunlight streamed warmly through the window, falling onto the spotless, polished floor.
Nolan was still thinking about building a good relationship with Focalors and Furina—maybe even finding a way to cooperate with them on the "Akasha Interconnection Network."
Working together with Arlecchino to seize a Gnosis? That would only invite unnecessary trouble.
"Of course, if possible, the House of the Hearth also doesn't wish to stand against the Hydro Archon," Arlecchino said calmly, arms folded. "As for the matter of the Gnosis, I'll wait for the right opportunity.
"Our next step is to have Lyney and the others apply to perform at the Opéra Épiclèse, and take the chance to uncover the operating principles behind the Oratrice Mécanique d'Analyse Cardinale.
"At the same time, we also need people to investigate the secrets hidden deep within the Fortress of Meropide. If possible, I'd like to entrust that mission to you."
She leaned back slightly as she spoke.
Originally, Arlecchino had planned to send Lyney and the others to the opera house first before arranging an investigation into the Fortress of Meropide later. But if Nolan's group was willing to cooperate, then perhaps sending them instead would be more fitting.
After all, the Duke who ruled over the Fortress was no simple man. If Lyney's group were discovered, their strength alone would not be enough to protect themselves.
Nolan and his team, however, were different—their power was more than enough to handle any danger.
As for Lyney and the others investigating the Oratrice... could they really find out anything meaningful? Especially when Focalors herself was there?
Besides, Nolan had already planned to go to the Fortress of Meropide for his own investigation. Sharing his findings with her wouldn't hurt.
If he could also earn some commission money and raise her affection in the process, there was no reason to refuse.
Still, regarding Lyney's performance, Nolan thought it best to keep an eye on things—if they really stumbled upon something sensitive and got caught by Focalors, that would be troublesome.
Once he learned their performance schedule, perhaps he could go take a look.
As he pondered this, he quietly used his waymark to discuss with Lumine and Paimon. After confirming there was no issue, he accepted Arlecchino's request.
"Then, I look forward to a pleasant cooperation." Arlecchino smiled faintly.
[Arlecchino Has Developed Feelings Towards You, Obtained 360 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.4 (60/400)]
A prompt appeared in front of him. Nolan nodded slightly and said,
"I'll head to the Fortress of Meropide as soon as possible."
[Lynette Has Developed Feelings Toward You. Obtained 320 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.4 (380/400)]
Another prompt followed—this time from Lynette, who stood nearby.
Probably because they had agreed to cooperate with the House of the Hearth.
"Hmm... do you already have a plan for how to sneak into the Fortress of Meropide?" Arlecchino asked. "If not, we could offer a suggestion."
"Uh, don't tell me your plan is to deliberately commit a crime and get arrested, right? Let's skip that one."
Nolan waved his hand.
As Fontaine's main prison, the Fortress of Meropide held everyone who needed detainment—whether for a single day or a full year.
So getting in wasn't difficult. But he wasn't some notorious Fatui operative, after all.
He could just ask Furina to help him enter legitimately, maybe even get the warden's cooperation.
No need to go through all that hassle.
"Very well," Arlecchino said, leaning back in her chair again. "After the investigation, return to the Bouffes d'Fontaine Mansion. If I'm away on business, you can hand the report to Lyney and the others."
"Understood."
After agreeing on the details, Nolan and his companions prepared to leave. Lyney, Lynette, and the freckled blond boy escorted them to the door.
Paimon noticed that the blond boy seemed a bit shy, so she took the initiative to introduce herself and asked for his name.
The boy fidgeted nervously, stammered a few times, and finally whispered, "...Freminet."
And that was all.
Lynette added softly that Freminet was their younger brother—quiet, reserved, and fond of diving.
After a brief exchange of greetings, Nolan told them not to bother seeing them off. He, Lumine, and Paimon could leave on their own.
It was about two in the afternoon now. That meant it was around ten at night on the Herta Space Station—long past working hours.
Nolan decided to head there first to see if he could find a solution to the Primordial Sea Crisis.
After explaining his plan to Lumine and Paimon—who were feeling a bit tired themselves—they all decided to return to the Wonderland Space together.
Back inside, Lumine and Paimon went to their rooms for a nap, while Nolan opened the Void Starsea and stepped in.
At the same time, his other self, the "Sword God of Lumine," did the same at the Herta Space Station.
Through this method, Nolan was able to return to the space station—since the portal in the Wonderland Space would always open relative to his current position.
And since he had been in Fontaine, there was no way to open a direct door to the Herta Space Station. Nor was there anyone there with a waymark.
So he had to use the Void Starsea as a transfer point.
Because it was already after work hours, he naturally appeared in his own room. He recalled the "Sword God of Lumine" avatar and took out his phone to log into the Galactic Peace Network.
Thanks to "Super-Distance Sensing Technology," the Galactic Peace Network could theoretically cover the entire Milky Way—any place equipped with a "Super-Distance Network Base."
Generally speaking, except for unexplored and uncharted regions, nearly every known inhabited planet had a branch of the Galactic Peace Company.
And to communicate with headquarters, each branch naturally built its own super-distance network base.
With this kind of access, Nolan could essentially search for information spanning the entire galaxy on the Galactic Peace Network.
There was a good chance he could find cases similar to the Primordial Sea Crisis.
Of course, certain dangerous star regions weren't suitable for constructing Super-Distance Network Bases, so those areas likely had no signal.
He entered a query into the search bar and tapped "Search":
> "If a creature's veins contain the primordial sea water from a planet's early stage, and exposure to that water causes dissolution, how can it be resolved?"
The response came almost instantly. Lines of related results popped up on the page:
> "What kind of planets possess life-bearing primordial seas? The Genius Society's Planetary Knowledge Beginner Course explains it for you." [New User Discount: 39,999 credits]
> "Ranger of the Sea, Mark Polarch, discovers a primordial sea on the planet Emerald Star." [Trending Topic]
> "Research by the Genius Society shows that long-term consumption of primordial sea water may partially cure infertility." [Full Paper Available for Paid Access]
Nolan frowned. It seemed finding relevant data wasn't as easy as he thought—after all, not every planet had something like a primordial sea.
First of all, planets lacking extraordinary energy—or with low energy levels—almost certainly wouldn't have one.
Because primordial seas contained massive amounts of planetary energy, if that energy could overflow to form a sea, it meant the planet's energy level was extremely high.
And on such high-energy planets, it was almost impossible for intelligent life not to develop its own extraordinary system.
Secondly, even if a planet did have a high energy level, it didn't necessarily have a primordial sea. Depending on each planet's unique environment, that power might manifest differently—
—such as a world-spanning Tree of Life, or a massive subterranean mineral vein rich with condensed life energy.
So even across all explored star regions, planets that possessed a primordial sea were quite rare.
And there wasn't a single documented case of using primordial sea water to create humans.
So… the universe being vast didn't necessarily mean similar phenomena would exist everywhere. Nolan sighed in mild disappointment.
If such data did exist, given the precision of the Galactic Peace Company's search engine—and how specifically he had described it—the system would've already brought up a match.
Actually, aside from the listed results, a small advertisement had appeared beside the page during his search.
It was a Q&A service—the ad claimed that if you had any unsolved question, you could click the link and submit it.
After entering the question, the system would automatically match you with a scholar from the Genius Society—an organization partnered with the Galactic Peace Company—who specialized in that field, providing a manual answer.
However… just to have the system match a scholar cost 20,000 credits.
And that didn't even include the scholar's personal service fee, which depended on their knowledge level and reputation.
Compared to that, the matching fee was just a drop in the ocean.
Even though Nolan earned a good salary working at the Herta Space Station, his paycheck hadn't even been issued yet—and even if it had, he wasn't sure he could bear to spend that much on one question.
He sighed. "Has the Galactic Peace Company gone insane for money?" he muttered.
Sure, paid knowledge was fair, but setting the price that high was downright predatory.
Still, what could anyone do? The company held an absolute monopoly across nearly every sector of the galaxy. A cosmic giant like that was absurdly untouchable—
—probably thanks to having an Aeon (Stellaron God) backing them behind the scenes.
Just as Nolan was about to give up on the search and instead try some academic forums to ask around, he suddenly remembered something—
His phone didn't only have access to the Galactic Peace Network.
It could also connect to the Herta Space Station's internal network.
And the scholars there were among the most elite minds in the galaxy. Maybe someone would take interest in his question and discuss it.
Thinking so, he exited the Galactic Peace Network and opened the internal network app.
A quick facial verification—less than 0.1 seconds—and he was in.
The internal interface was clean and functional, with categories like "News," "Academic Discussion," and so on.
Nolan quickly drafted and posted a message:
> [MindfulOfDesire] : "Does anyone here study primordial seas? Hypothetically—if a creature's veins carried primordial sea water from a planet's early stage, but exposure to that same water caused its body to dissolve—how would one resolve this?" (Confused.jpg)
There were plenty of night owls on the station. It didn't take long before replies rolled in:
> [Bill Gaiwa] : "Ugh, come on! It's the middle of the night and you academics are still tossing around headache-inducing questions? Ever heard of taking a break?!"
> [Green Fat Ocean] : "Decadent times! No respect for old rules anymore. Looks like we'll have to educate this newcomer about how things work around here!"
> [RuinerNonstop] : "My advice? Execution. Death penalty."
Nolan stared at the thread, black lines practically forming across his forehead.
So much for the station's "serious scholars." Online, everyone turned into the same bunch of clowns.
Helpless, he typed again:
> [MindfulOfDesire] : "Please don't mess around, everyone—I really do want to know. I'm serious! Please, I'm begging you." (Pray.jpg)
> [RuinerNonstop] : "Alright, fine. If you're serious—ask Lady Herta. I don't think any of the station researchers here actually study primordial seas. You'd have to go on-site for that kind of thing. Does this place look like it has one? Buying a few liters to test won't tell you much."
> [AleaAleaNotDumb] : "The guy above is right."
If I could just go ask Lady Herta directly, why would I even be here posting? Nolan groaned inwardly and replied:
> [MindfulOfDesire] : "Alright then—does anyone know how to contact Lady Herta, or how to meet her?"
> [UnlicensedPilot] : "Easy. Step one: become a 'Genius Society' member. Step two: knock on her office door."
If I were a genius, I'd be doing the research myself… Nolan sighed again. Everyone was just giving him sarcastic answers.
> [MarsRobot] : "Talk about Lady Herta and suddenly I'm wide awake! Hey, if you want to stay updated on her whereabouts, join our group! Maybe you'll even get lucky and meet her someday! (Link: Lady Herta Solo-Fan Association)"
Lady Herta Solo-Fan Association?
There was a group like that?
Curious, Nolan clicked the link.
The page redirected him into a group chat interface, where the top message read:
> ——[MindfulOfDesire] has joined the group via invitation link——
> [AnonWellKnown] : "Ah, a newcomer! Welcome! (Smile.jpg)"
> [MarsRobot] : "This guy wants to meet Lady Herta to ask an academic question. Hilarious! I've never seen someone this naïve before—had to bring him here for the experience. (Smirk.jpg)"
> [Red-Feathered Pigeon] : "Oh? Meeting Lady Herta's no easy feat. I've heard she occasionally visits the Special Analysis Room whenever a new Curio shows up."
> [AnonWellKnown] : "Speaking of which, it's been a while since the station received a new Curio."
> [PigInMelonField] : "Then maybe if someone finds a new Curio for Lady Herta's collection, she might actually talk to them."
Oh?
Nolan's eyes lit up at that last message. That might be his way to meet her. He immediately asked:
> [MindfulOfDesire] : "What kind of Curios does Lady Herta like?"
> [AnonWellKnown] : "Doesn't have to be a Curio, really. As long as it's interesting, Lady Herta will be intrigued. If you've got something, ask Asta—she can probably arrange it."
Something interesting, huh...
Nolan smiled faintly. Teyvat had plenty of interesting things.
It looked like his path to meeting Lady Herta was finally in sight.
(End of Chapter)
RedX43's Note:
➤ Want More? Get up to +25 Extra Chapters on Patreon!
➤ [email protected]/RedX43
➤ +400 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter Drop!
➤ Thanks for reading! 🙌