The image of Herta donning gym wear was stimulating to Sirius.
It did not help that the “fan-arts” of his previous life added to this mix.
Clap-!
He slapped both his cheeks.
The growing warmth seeping out of his skin, stimulated by such thoughts, receded.
He focused back on his goal today—to see through his physical limits.
Ever since he occasionally triggered the green trait, Sirius no longer exercised.
He did not have the habit of going to the gym, as one activation equaled months, if not years of hard work.
Naturally, it led to him maintaining his physique.
Herta chose to delve into the field of biology later on, to which Sirius became a beneficiary.
Because of that, the all-nighters they pulled off during important experiments did not cause their bodies to deteriorate.
That was the only indicator of Sirius’ physical constitution.
He first went to the barbel.
It was placed atop of a mat, nothing else.
He scanned its body before stopping on its weights.
A small LED display was present atop it, indicating its weight.
It has a plus, minus, and recalibrate function, atop everything else.
When Sirius adjusted the weight on one side, the other automatically matched it.
The unit of measurement in The Blue differed from Earth.
He placed the equivalent of 2,000 pounds at first on each side.
When he lifted it, the weights felt manageable.
‘I never tested it before… Am I this strong?’
Eight years ago, his physical constitution wasn’t as exaggerated as it is now.
‘It’s definitely the stuff she gave me.’ He let go of the weights, his mind filled with speechlessness.
‘Those are super soldier serums!’
Sirius did not notice the change.
First and foremost, his body was already stacked.
He already had that six-pack prior to his consumption, all thanks to his green trait.
Whatever body fat percentage, dieting, or training that was, Sirius achieved the same by doing research or administrative work all day long!
Secondly, there were no scenarios that required his physical capabilities.
He pushed carts whenever he encountered stacks of papers for confidential papers.
He did not fight others as well.
The muscle reflex on Baji granted to him by the green trait almost faded out due to inactivity.
‘It is still useful, but not by much.’
Thinking of the ‘powerhouses’ of this universe, thoughts grew uncontrollably in his mind.
‘I need to build something up, even if it is for self-defense.’
Pathstriders, Emanators, Aeons.
It is the hierarchy of the cosmos, and Sirius was already on the first level.
His messy thoughts disappeared as he held the metal bar.
He increased the weight to 4,000 pounds, and as he had expected, he could still lift it.
He kept on trying, going from 6,000 up to its maximum weight of 10,000 pounds.
Sirius managed to clear them all.
Every attempt on the gym equipment resulted in hitting their maximum weights.
Sirius felt somewhat inflated, but when he thought of those Antimatter Legion soldiers and that ‘Doomsday Beast’, he was slapped back to reality.
The game made that Doomsday Beast look pitiful as hell.
It was reduced into a weekly boss whose sole purpose was to damage test characters back in version 1.
In reality, however, its height was taller than the dock on the Herta Space Station—more than a hundred meters tall in his prior estimates.
Its huge body bears immense weight.
That alone made Sirius unsure if he could face it alone.
‘Firefly’s SAM, Himeko’s satellite… oh, I shouldn’t forget about her mech too.
There’s a lot I can develop…’
No longer bogged down by the matters of Herta Space Station, Sirius seems to have found a research direction he truly wanted.
*****
‘Spatial distortion, no, it’s not as simple as that.’
Herta glanced at the massive ravine beneath her feet.
The severe cold it emitted was counteracted by the boiling hot temperature of the planet’s core, creating a thick white fog.
The ravine, which housed the ice fragment that pierced halfway through the planet’s core, gradually recovered.
Without it, the planet’s core mended the gap, leaving behind the ravine which led directly to it.
Herta viewed everything from above, with her feet standing in the air.
Faint ripples emerged out of it, akin to water’s surface.
Her beloved hat accompanied her, followed by her key-shaped staff.
Under the eyes of Nous’ Emanator, nothing remained a secret.
The glint of light in her dazzling pupils could not be hidden, yet they were left with no audience.
Ripple-!
The sharp tip of her staff sent ripples on the space she stood on.
It enveloped the ravine hundreds of kilometers long; and thousands of kilometers deep.
It slowly disappeared, reverting to its prior, undestroyed state.
The area around the ravine turned invisible, leaving out the huge iceberg responsible for The Blue’s calamity.
Herta caught traces of the Remembrance within it.
‘That woman has other motives.
Perhaps this is it.’
Black Swan’s invasion of Sirius’ memories was one thing.
Herta could tell she came for something else.
Her attempt to scour information about Herta ended in failure.
This did not prevent her from making ‘unnecessary’ remarks, annoying Herta.
The Witch’s pettiness knows no bounds.
A certain Silverwolf in the future experienced it once.
Herta was determined to do the same to Black Swan!
Hum-!
The projection of the iceberg, measuring a thousand meters tall, floated right in front of her.
Reflected in Herta’s eyes was its blue crystalline texture, but it did not stop there.
She peered further to the thick ice swarming with the Path Energy of Remembrance.
All sorts of irrelevant memories originating from countless people emerged.
They did not pose any troubles to Herta whatsoever, a credit of being an Emanator.
Before long, she saw what, or rather, who was inside—a sleeping pink-haired girl.
Herta did not care about her appearance no matter how beautiful she was.
Instead, the ‘identity’ of the girl caught her attention.
‘That’s how it is.
Children of Anasrava…’
Herta narrowed her eyes as she wiped off everything back to normal, bringing back the massive ravine.
The culprit behind The Blue’s disaster was the pink-haired girl—an Emanator of the Remembrance Path.
‘Why did she come here?’
The iceberg appeared all of a sudden.
It did not enter The Blue through outer space.
It spawned right within the planet itself.
Paths are that ‘magical’.
The thing that bothered Herta was why it had to appear on The Blue.
Aside from herself, she could not think of anything else.
Yet, Herta has a feeling it did not come because of her.
There was something she overlooked—something that would give her the answer.
Her interest was piqued, and her characteristic as a Genius erupted completely.
She traveled back to the ivory tower, taking her a few minutes to do so.
It happened that she came across Sirius who had just taken a bath.
A white towel draped atop his head, covering his wet hair.
The white t-shirt he wore hid most of his body’s contours, save for his chiseled arms.
He habitually wore black slacks, tucking his shirt inside them.
Though his face was average, his body was not, forming a strong sense of contrast.
Sirius was confused when he saw Herta appear.
He expected her ‘experiments’ to last longer.
She was only away for half a day!
“There will be visitors coming tomorrow.” She said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“I will leave the negotiations up to you.”
Herta’s words made him think of the fuss a month ago.
Herta didn’t say it to him straight up, but he guessed she had already become an Emanator.
Naturally, the cosmos’ biggest factions have to come to discuss partnership and the likes with her.
“Who are those visitors?” He asked.
“A galactic faction, the Interastral Peace Corporation.” She paused, acknowledging her mistake of not clarifying things to him, before she explained, “The Aeon of Erudition took a fancy with my genius, hence they made me their Emanator. The intention of that corporation is nothing more than establishing connections and sponsorships.”
“…Are there anyone else?”
Sirius’ question made Herta go “oh”.
She felt more and more satisfied in making him her assistant.
Where else could she find someone as capable as him?
“There is also the Genius Society. Someone will be visiting in the next few days.”
“I understand. I will be making minutes of the meetings. The final contract has to be signed by you, but I will mark the pitfalls I see early on…”
He did Herta’s administrative work for the past eight years.
No matter how ‘advanced’ the IPC was, its fundamentals overlap with the contracts drawn on The Blue.
He wasn’t too scared to meet them.
What was more scary is to screw up and mess Herta’s matter big-time!
Perhaps it was his lingering obsession, or it was something he got used to, but he won’t allow half-assed work to be submitted to Herta.
It wasn’t something born out of his desire to be acknowledged, but something that must be done, nothing else.
Sirius let out the matters that had to be said like a machine gun.
Herta nodded every now and then, her will to leave the ‘uninteresting’ stuff to him growing stronger.
Still, she did not forcibly dismiss him, for Herta understood his thoughts.
Only after two minutes was it finished.
Sirius did not feel an ounce of embarrassment, still looking serious.
Herta thought of something as she looked at him.
“It’s about time I give you a salary increase. But money shouldn’t be a problem for you. Tell me, what do you want?”
“…I can’t think of anything for now.
Can we reserve that for later?” Sirius immediately clarified, “I am not holding on to it.
I can’t think of anything else right now, I swear.”
What she gave to him was essentially a ‘favor’, one that became more precious over time.
A newbie Emanator and a veteran Emanator are two completely different concepts.
Sirius did not want Herta to think he was holding onto it due to greed.
“No need to explain further.
It’s clearly written on your face.” She paused before sporting a helpless look exaggeratedly, and then continued, “This puts me in a difficult spot, so how about this?
Do you remember the autonomous sensory meridian response talk we had in the past?”
Sirius was befuddled at first before his mind blanked out.
Herta looked at him and wore the ‘it is exactly what it is’ look.
She walked until she reached his side, whispering to his ears:
“I will give it to you as a reward.”
“…”
She did not wait for his response as she went back to her laboratory.
It took Sirius an entire minute to react.
All sorts of emotions rambled around his heart like fruits being sent to a blender.
He could not help but recall the things he said to her back then—the same day they talked about the ASMR thing.
Herta called him out for finding joy in beating those he found unpleasant.
Now…
‘Does she find joy in teasing me like this?’
Everything collapsed into a helpless, resigned sigh.
Sirius wasn’t exactly ‘friendless’ in his past life.
Though their memories faded a lot in his mind, he remembered they used to tease each other, whether it be casual jokes or straight-up ragebaits.
Herta’s approach made him feel like a friend, more so it had become far more brazen than before.
Thinking about the upcoming ASMR package he was about to receive…
‘I might as well hide it somewhere safe.
I won’t open it… most likely.’
*****
The beauty of the cosmos is undeniable, but hidden dangers lurked at its every corner.
The matter of travelling from one world to another was difficult to begin with, though it was reduced drastically thanks to the star rail network built by Akivili.
For the common people whose connection to the star rail was severed, it was unimaginable to think of the cosmos.
‘I might have zero fate with it if she wasn’t here.’
Sirius thought, his eyes flickering.
He stood at a vacated and newly-fixed runway.
The concrete was demolished, recast, and solidified on the same day.
The field measured more than 20,000 square meters, with nothing else in sight.
The vehicle he brought was a ‘humvee’, or at least something similar to it.
The number of functions it possessed made it look more like a spy’s vehicle than anything else.
Sirius wore a pair of red-tinted sunglasses.
Its golden circular rim fitted well with his sharpness.
He wore a t-shirt layered underneath an unbuttoned black polo.
His black and yellow cargo pants, along with his pair of white sneakers, screamed the ‘casual’ impression everywhere.
He was bothered at first, wanting to dress up formally, until Herta told him to dress like how he was going to work everyday.
And so he did.
Sirius placed both his hands on his pockets, aimlessly staring at the bright blue sky.
The period of no work continued until a black dot appeared in the sky.
It swiftly descended to the planet’s atmosphere, becoming larger in his eyes.
He removed his back, which was once pressed against the humvee’s doors, and stood straight.
The slight increase of his heartbeat’s speed represented Sirius’ faint anxiety and expectations.
‘Will I meet someone I know before?’