"Hmm."
Herta held the artifact in her hand, observing it carefully. Her expression grew thoughtful, as if she couldn't sense any particular power from within.
The teapot looked utterly ordinary—just an antique, nothing more.
"If you focus your mind on using its power, you'll be able to sense its mystery," Nolan explained.
The blessing effect of artifacts had an upper limit—different star tiers determined how much enhancement they could provide.
For someone like Nolan, with his current level of strength, even a five-star artifact could only provide a negligible boost. So he rarely used them anymore.
They were only truly effective before reaching Level 100—that is, before stepping into the rank of a god.
Herta's current puppet incarnation, however, was only a little over Level 60. For her, the boost from a four-star artifact was quite significant—strong enough for her to feel its effects clearly.
"All right, I'll give it a try." Herta nodded and followed Nolan's instructions.
As she focused, the antique teapot in her palm vanished. Within her puppet body, beside her spiritual consciousness, she felt the presence of the teapot—and from it, a strange power spread through her entire being.
After carefully sensing it, Herta noticed that this power had a resilient quality to it—it made her puppet body far sturdier than before.
It reminded her somewhat of the "Light Cones" from The Garden of Recollection, and also of the "Relics" formed within the "World Cracks" caused by the "Cancer of All Worlds."
The former—Light Cones—were technologies that encapsulated memories within slices of light. By carrying them, the user could enhance their body and abilities in various ways.
If a Light Cone happened to resonate with the carrier's Path, it could even awaken additional powers.
Relics, on the other hand, were born from the Cracks themselves.
Wherever the "Cancer of All Worlds" appeared, space would inevitably distort—creating Cracks. Within these Cracks, information from countless worlds intertwined and converged.
When spatial dust within the Cracks was tainted by fragments of that information, it could reconstruct itself into physical objects—artifacts of lost civilizations. Those were the Relics.
Like Light Cones, Relics could also provide powerful blessings to their carriers.
And when multiple Relics formed from the same civilization's data were worn together, they could even resonate with one another and awaken additional power.
The Light Cone technology was unique to The Garden of Recollection, but Herta had already studied it extensively. Unfortunately, that technology was now being used in cooperation with the Interastral Peace Corporation.
If she produced one privately, it could count as infringement.
And since her research still required the corporation's funding, she had no intention of getting on their bad side.
Besides, if The Garden of Recollection learned that someone had replicated their proprietary technology, there was no telling how they might react.
Not that Herta feared them—she simply saw no reason to invite unnecessary trouble.
After all, she'd studied Light Cones only out of curiosity.
As for Relics, they were naturally formed within Cracks, nearly impossible to reproduce in a normal environment—so there wasn't much point in discussing them further.
But this artifact—the Genshin-style artifact—was different. Its power originated from the sublimation of history itself, distinct from the memories of Light Cones or the civilization data of Relics.
Even more astonishing—it could be directly loaded into the spiritual consciousness!
Even from Herta's perspective, she had to admit this was fascinating. Light Cones and Relics could only be carried physically, never integrated into one's consciousness.
In terms of convenience, the artifact clearly had an edge.
If she could merge the two systems—granting Light Cones the convenience of artifacts, and layering the memory power of Light Cones onto artifacts…
Herta's lips curved slightly as she crossed her arms, gazing at Nolan.
"I like this artifact of yours quite a lot," she said with a satisfied tone. "Oh right, I remember now—you're the one Screwllum brought back, aren't you?
"Well, since I've accepted your gift, I won't let you suffer any loss. Go ahead—what do you want to ask me?"
[Herta Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 360 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.3 (60/300)]
Nolan wasn't surprised that Screwllum had mentioned him. In his days patrolling the space station, he'd noticed that apart from Screwllum himself, he was easily the strongest individual there.
If he'd harbored any ill intent, he would've been a serious potential threat—something Screwllum would certainly have reported to the station's master.
Nolan nodded.
"Ms. Herta, I'm glad you like the artifact. The main reason I came is that the planet I used to live on—one of its nations—is facing a serious crisis. I was hoping you might have a solution."
He proceeded to explain Fontaine's prophecy crisis in full detail, holding nothing back. After all, any attempt to make something up would never hold under the scrutiny of a cosmic genius like her.
"The humans whose bodies carry the Primordial Sea's waters…" Herta mused, intrigued. "Interesting. That's something only beings who wield divine authority could achieve. It seems your home planet's world level isn't low—no wonder your strength is decent."
Her expression shifted to one of genuine curiosity.
Gods were different from the Aeons who ruled over Paths. They were beings who governed the authorities of natural laws themselves—and only planets of sufficiently high magnitude could give birth to such entities.
Such worlds were exceedingly rare in the cosmos. And if one also developed its own extraordinary power system, it meant ordinary people there had an alternate path of evolution beyond the Paths.
The value of such a world was self-evident. If the Interastral Peace Corporation ever learned of it… those profit-obsessed lunatics would swarm it faster than any breeding locusts!
Out of goodwill, Herta warned Nolan not to casually reveal any information about his home planet—at least not before it had secured its own influence in the wider cosmos.
Though the Interastral Peace Corporation indeed played a major role in maintaining universal stability, that only applied to planets already part of the interstellar trade network.
As a cosmic monopoly, the company earned vast profits through fair trade with such developed planets—so for them, maintaining order and prosperity was good business.
But when it came to undeveloped life-bearing worlds that refused to enter their trade network…
The company had never been shy about using "unconventional methods."
For example, they might sabotage a planet's financial system through certain means—and if the planet dares to resist, they wouldn't hesitate to suppress it by force.
No matter how powerful a civilization confined to its own planet might be, it could only bow its head before an orbital planet-destroying cannon from beyond the stars.
Herta didn't know how the people on Nolan's homeworld felt about the "Interastral Peace Corporation," but generally speaking, when outsiders come knocking on your door to "do business"—
especially if the "business" involves the most precious resources on the planet—it's hard to imagine anyone agreeing to that.
So she suggested that Nolan's planet should prepare itself fully before making contact with the Corporation. At the very least, when that time comes, they must be able to take the lead in negotiations.
Avoiding contact entirely was impossible—any civilization seeking to join the interstellar community would have to deal with the Corporation eventually. But the strength with which one entered those dealings would decide the kind of treatment one could secure.
Nolan naturally understood. Through the "Interastral Peace Network," he had learned that the Interastral Peace Corporation, despite being a cosmic giant, operated much like any other company.
There were good and bad people within it. Until Teyvat was truly ready, making contact too early would indeed be unwise.
In the meantime, he had been searching the interstellar network for publicly available knowledge and technology, recording it through his Akasha Terminal. Then, when he returned to the Wonderland Space, he would connect to the "Akasha Interconnected Network" and upload it for the scholars there to study.
Thanks to these external sources of knowledge, Teyvat's frontier research had advanced rapidly. With elemental power as its foundation, the world's infrastructure was developing at an astonishing pace.
Nolan occasionally sending back fragments of interstellar knowledge was already enough to keep Teyvat occupied for a long time. There was no need to rush into the complex web of galactic society.
Otherwise, they'd attract too many eyes—and even a few top-tier Archons might not be enough to hold them off.
Of course, Nolan himself didn't even know where Teyvat was located in the universe. Even if he wanted to reveal it, he couldn't.
Herta knew that Nolan had arrived here because of the Giant True Stinger, and that he didn't know where his homeworld was anymore—but for the Corporation, locating it would hardly be impossible.
So her warning had been necessary.
By now, Herta had already finished thinking through the question Nolan had posed, and began to answer:
"Although I'm not like Ruan Mei, who specializes in the field of life, my achievements in that area are still just a tiny bit—oh, let's say an 'eeensy bit'—better than those scholars in the Genius Society.
"For the situation you described, the best and most perfect solution is to evolve the Primordial Sea's water within those humans into true blood.
"To achieve that, you'd need absolute control over water—including the Primordial Sea itself—which requires the complete Authority of Water from your world.
"Since your world's former Hydro Archon failed to do so, it means the Authority she possessed must have been incomplete."
Nolan nodded thoughtfully. The elemental authorities of the Seven Archons seemed to be linked to the divine thrones granted by Celestia and the Gnosis.
It was possible that "Heavenly Principles" had never granted them complete authority—or perhaps even Heavenly Principles itself didn't possess the full power of all seven elements.
The reason could be explored later by asking Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, Nahida, and Ei—being gods, they might know the truth.
"In addition," Herta continued, "you could develop a targeted formation, spell, or even a curse specifically for the Primordial Sea's water—to prevent those humans from ever coming into contact with it again. That would also solve the problem."
"Uh… developing that kind of technique sounds time-consuming," Nolan said, frowning. "I'm not sure if there's enough time."
"Oh? So it sounds like you can still communicate with your homeworld?" Herta raised an eyebrow, then waved it off. "Never mind, that's not important. You're right—that method isn't a fundamental cure. It can only be used temporarily, to buy time for your gods to restore the full Water Authority."
She gave him an amused glance, then sighed and shrugged.
"If all else fails, I could introduce you to Ruan Mei. Even I have to admit—she's a genius among geniuses.
"Forget transforming a handful of humans—the kind of person she is could easily turn an entire planet into a living organism if she wanted to.
"Of course, the price of asking a genius like that for help isn't something you can necessarily afford. And that's assuming you can even reach your homeworld in the first place."
Ruan Mei—Seat No. 81 of the Genius Society—was indeed a leading expert in biological sciences. Nolan had read a bit about her while researching the club.
She seemed to be the low-profile type; there weren't many public reports about her on the "Interastral Peace Network." The latest ones mentioned her joint research project with Herta and Screwllum on the "Simulated Universe."
So it wasn't surprising that Herta could introduce them—but as she said, the cost of hiring one of the universe's greatest minds would likely be astronomical.
Still, even if the price was high, Nolan preferred the idea of restoring the complete Water Authority.
That said, it wasn't impossible that he could still ask for her help—if he happened to have something she desired, that could solve the issue neatly.
So he asked, "Ms. Herta, may I ask—what kind of reward would Ms. Ruan Mei expect if I were to ask for her help?"
"If you plan to pay in credits," Herta replied casually, "it'd probably take you a lifetime of patrolling the galaxy and still not be enough. But if you happen to have something that piques her interest—then maybe she'd agree to help.
"Just like I accepted your artifact and answered your questions."
She shrugged with a faint smirk.
"All right, that's fine with me," Nolan said, nodding slightly. He'd already gained valuable answers—now it was time to act. First, he would return to Teyvat and ask the Greater Lord and the others about the truth behind the elemental authorities.
"By the way," Herta added with a playful tone, "if you have more artifacts to trade, I wouldn't mind taking a few off your hands."
Clearly, she thought one sample wasn't enough for her research.
"I do have a few more, actually," Nolan replied, nodding. He reached into his Wonderland Space and brought out a pile of artifacts.
They were only four-star pieces—but exchanging them for the goodwill of one of the universe's top geniuses was a bargain.
If he ever needed her to put in a word with Ruan Mei, that favor might come in handy.
"Well, well—you really do have quite a stash," Herta muttered, frowning slightly at the heap of artifacts before her. She had thought they were rare, but he'd just dumped out a mountain of them like it was nothing.
"Forget it. Still, thanks, I suppose," she said, her tone perfunctory.
[Herta Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 320 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.4 (80/400)]
Seeing the notification appear on his interface, Nolan smiled in satisfaction. Then, not wanting to disturb her further, he took his leave together with Asta.
After stepping out of Herta's office, Nolan pulled out a four-star pocket-watch-shaped artifact and handed it to Asta with a warm smile.
"Thank you for bringing me to see Ms. Herta," he said. "Please take this as a token of gratitude."
(End of Chapter)
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