Space travel is one of the most prominent fields under the Federation’s current administration.
They are pushing all the fields related to space travel to the forefront of material sciences.
For once, it resolves the resource shortage experienced throughout their home planet.
Like Sirius’ previous life, their home planet revolved around a Sun, effectively forming a habitable star system.
The surrounding planets possessed minerals and unique substances beneficial for the Federation’s advancement as a whole.
Sirius’ masteral thesis involved liquid rocket engines.
These are ‘rocket boosters’ that utilize liquid propellants to induce combustion.
The technology of this world is far ahead of Earth’s, but not by much.
Some problems that plagued Earth’s scientists continue to plague the Federation’s scientists.
Sirius’ study involved using a brand-new set of lab-synthesized liquid components to reduce the necessary external cooling for the thrusters.
Tap.
Tap.
His finger rested atop the mouse’s scroll button.
The page gradually made its way to the end of the document.
Dozens of revisions and comments could be seen on the right-end of the document, all of which are now crossed out.
Sirius crossed out the last revision.
A long, deep sigh came out of his mouth as he covered his burning eyes with a towel drenched in warm water.
A portion of the warm water in the glass bowl spilled onto his desk, much to his inattention.
“How crazy…”
It has been a month since Herta became a co-instructor at his university.
Her extremely strong presence was not limited to Sirius alone.
Almost everyone who met her became captivated by her beauty, not to mention her unique charisma as a genius.
If this was the previous world, he would have called the cops and had them arrested on the spot.
A group of grown ups freaking out over a five-year-old girl is strange no matter how one looks at it.
But, as soon as he factored the existence known as “Herta”, everything became self-explanatory.
Everyone would lose their calm in her presence.
The growing number of fan-clubs and cults explain it all.
Herta is simply built different… and nobody can stop the people around her from behaving like that.
Sirius sighed.
It contained his helplessness and frustrations.
Taking off the warm towel, he saved the document and folded his laptop.
He took a bath and cooked up a swift tomato omelet.
His instincts acted before he knew it, showering it with the right amount of salt and pepper before turning off the conductive stove.
Sirius topped it off a steaming hot bowl of rice and sprinkled some ketchup before thoroughly enjoying his meal.
It wasn’t world-class cuisine, but it held something that comforted him whenever he ate it.
He wasn’t sure whether it was an illusion or not, but his fatigue disappeared whenever he ate his cooking.
He was feeling refreshed before he knew it.
‘Chef is not a bad talent…’
Being able to eat comforting dishes everyday is a huge boon in his eyes.
He momentarily forgot about his problems and relished the breakfast in less than fifteen bites.
After a quick dishwashing session, he put on a pair of black socks.
The shoe slider did wonders, allowing him to finish tying his shoelaces within ten seconds.
He slung the laptop bag on his shoulder, ready to face whatever the day throws at him.
‘I wonder if she…’
*****
“Have you seen the latest journal? Volume 9, Issue 5. The study under the liquid propellants’ cost-effectiveness in current generation…”
It wasn’t a briefing nor a defense.
It was a brutal, one-sided, massacre.
Everything was calm and all when Sirius arrived at Herta’s exclusive office.
It was in complete contrast to his mentor’s office.
It is empty, barely having a work desk and four seats for entertaining visitors.
Still, the extremely blank office gained meaning with Herta’s presence.
The scent of lavenders drifted every now and then.
The five-year-old girl sitting behind a desk with a formal nameplate ought to give a contrast in Sirius’ mind, yet it did not.
Because she is Herta.
Everything she does perfectly fits her.
Her calm, flat tone is a gift from god.
People would swoon just by hearing her voice.
She is the beauty-incarnate, the well-known goddess that could not be touched by others.
Facing such a huge presence, Sirius’ two lives did little.
Herta mercilessly judged his masteral thesis based on her standards.
Out of everything she had asked him to revise…
None satisfied her.
And she made sure to show it right in Sirius’ face.
A flicker of light passed by her glass-like purple pupils..
She could tell he was intimidated.
Mortified.
Depressed.
The setbacks suffered by any genius who clashed against her came crashing down at him.
Herta watched his expressions down to the smallest detail.
Learning psychology took her a week.
This made her far more sensitive to the others’ psychological states.
Unfortunately for Sirius, he happened to be caught onto her childish whims.
‘Will you give up?’
In the end…
“…I understand.”
…Sirius did not.
“I will come back with a more satisfactory paper.”
Hearing her light exhale, Sirius bowed slightly before leaving the office.
“His strength… where does it stem from..?”
Her ever-growing curiosity sprouted before she knew it.
*****
Madam Herta is a character from his previous life’s game, Honkai Star Rail.
She is the Genius #83 of the Genius Society, an organization that gathered the universe’s greatest prodigies who caught the Aeon of Erudition’s eyes.
A literal god gazing down upon a mortal and granting her extremely special privileges is a rarity throughout the vast universe.
She is destined for greatness whether or not Sirius existed.
He had repeatedly convinced himself to throw away his childish dreams of matching her genius.
It would be best if he could even gain a sliver of her approval—or touch the corners of her shadows.
It is nothing short of a mortal dreaming to become an Aeon.
This was where Sirius’ difference in cognition came.
Everyone viewed Herta as an inviolable goddess, intimidated by her capabilities, yet finding themselves admiring her existence.
He, on the other hand, had seen this side of hers dozens of times in the game he played.
‘How is Herta in real life?’
The moment this thought appeared in his mind, Sirius grew more and more curious.
Inside the game, she is portrayed as an illimitable gem.
A character who helped the main character, the Trailblazer, time and time again.
It even got to a point where she temporarily embodied Nous.
Simply put, Sirius was long accustomed with the untouchable Herta.
He wanted to see the human Herta… at least in this life.
Whether he was lucky or not, he got to experience one side of hers moments ago.
“Fu…”
He exhaled deeply.
His clumsy attempt to venting his frustrations was unseen by anyone.
The slightly warm temperature in the afternoon was a grace from the spring season.
He sat on the university park’s bench, blankly staring at the sea of greens all around him.
Most of the students had their classes at this period, thrusting this spot into something that induces sleep.
Unfortunately for Sirius, his mind is completely awake.
“I really…”
Sirius could not put this feeling into words.
Frustration?
Quite.
Anger?
Definitely not.
It was he who asked for Herta’s opinion.
Now that he was struck with criticisms based on her standards, it wasn’t her fault that his will is weak.
He sighed deeply once more.
‘I don’t believe it…’
“…one praise.”
Sirius resolutely pulled out his laptop, placing it atop his lap.
The faint warmth from its bottom did not matter to him as he began a new document from scratch.
His vanity… arrogance developed from the past eight years exploded.
His fingers mashed the keyboard with untold frustration.
One by one, he wrote everything he recalled from the game.
The Imaginary Tree Theory, antithesis reaction between the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta, the Solitary Waves Theory…
His fingers continued mashing on the laptop’s keyboard.
He stared at the truths of this universe he had written—secrets that remained undiscovered.
Sirius should have been satisfied after writing these.
That he could earn praise from the five-year-old Herta is but a small step away.
“Why…”
He felt empty.
The chill in his heart could not be doused by the warmth of sunlight.
His eyes scanned the one-thousand-word long document detailing each cosmic secret like a glossary.
Sirius never truly understood any of them.
His biggest advantage was his knowledge of the game.
Herta was still stuck on this planet—The Blue—while his worldview had long since elevated to the Aeons and the likes.
A victory attained through this method is nothing but an empty one.
Sirius knew well enough that Herta would question him about these.
Once she does and he cannot answer properly, what would its use be?
To become his source of embarrassment?
“…Fuck.”
All of his frustrations coalesced into a single curse.
*****
Everything known from Herta came from the others’ perspective.
She never flaunts her achievements.
It was the others who brought them up.
Nobody knew how far she had truly progressed.
Fighting for her attention was completely pointless.
Herta took their admiration for granted, not showing anything special to her ‘fans’ except for the usual yes, no, and her soft snort.
She spent a total of five years in the university in this manner.
Everyone was baffled by her choice, surprised to see Herta stay in one place for five long years.
Her ‘journey’ years prior was erratic.
She changed from one place to another.
Once her curiosity is satiated, she moves to another place.
Nobody would have expected for it to be caused by one person.
“I am moving. Be my assistant.”
“Ah?”
An average-looking boy came to her view.
He did not have any notable features.
If there was one thing she noticed, it would be his ability to blend with the crowd.
One time, Herta lost sight of him.
It was outright impossible to happen with her god-like photographic memory, yet it did.
Thus, it became another addition to the ‘curiosity’ atop Sirius’ head.
“I am not asking one more time. Are you willing?”
“Y-yes.”
“Then it is settled. I will send your flight ticket via email.”
She packed up the lunch boxes and pushed it towards him.
Sirius’ mind blanked at the series of events.
It wasn’t until Herta left the office for her usual stroll at the library did he snap back to reality.
“Why did she choose me?”
In his mind, Herta has dozens of choices better than him.
It also remains unknown whether she even needed a research assistant.
He witnessed first-hand the blinding brilliance of Herta’s genius.
After the first rejected thesis, Sirius wanted to use the high-level knowledge he possessed to have an ‘edge’ against Herta, only to find it meaningless himself.
He pushed forth the liquid propeller study instead, improving them through hard work and the occasional bursts of inspiration from his [Heaven Sometimes Rewards Hard Work].
Each time he submitted a revised version, it was met with Herta’s well-grounded criticism.
Sirius’ head was pounded with regrets over and over again.
‘Why didn’t I think of it?’
‘Why didn’t I read it?’
‘Why am I not good enough?!’
Being with Herta is akin to standing atop a cactus in Minecraft; self-harm, per se.
Those with ambitions and pride belonging to a genius would be met with their ends in the face of the peerless gem.
Their endings are to either become Herta’s most loyal fans or wallow in the pits of despair, their brilliance dimming until their death.
Sirius chose none of that.
Be it his vanity as a reincarnator, arrogance from someone who knew this world’s future, or a dumbass who never saw Mount Tai, he never stopped submitting his thesis to Herta.
This foolish approach created resilience unsurpassed by other prodigies.
The frequency behind each submission also grew longer.
A month, and then two months.
Three months, then six months.
Sirius wanted to show the best results to her, ultimately failing each time due to Herta’s inhuman standards.
He never intended to submit a “half-baked” paper without Herta’s seal of approval, but fate had other plans for him.
His mentor happened upon his seventh-edition thesis and saw it had long qualified to become his doctorate thesis.
To Sirius’ chagrin, he was forced to undergo a thesis defense in front of famous professionals, ultimately earning a doctorate degree and graduating from university.
Like Herta, he chose the less demanding assistant professor role, focusing less on taking teaching credits and more to his thesis’ advancement.
Things did not stop happening.
One time, Sirius saw Herta binging on cup noodles.
Like any decent human who pitied a college student’s meals, he offered his lunchbox to her.
Since then, she has had him cook for her… every day.
‘Was it my cooking?
But it’s not world-class…’
An idea flashed in his head.
‘Was it the ‘Chef’ talent?
It must be so…’
This [Blue] talent did wonders whenever he cooked a meal.
Sirius confirmed that it would grant random beneficial effects to those who would eat it—sweeping away fatigue, sharpening one’s mind, boosting the physical body’s recovery, and so on.
It wasn’t a game-breaker, but it was there.
Only…
‘This talent shouldn’t be the main cause.’
…he knew it was impossible for it to have been the reason for Herta’s decision.
His thoughts ended with a frustrated sigh.
‘I can’t keep up with her thoughts… I never did.’
Sirius placed Herta’s whims on the “whatever a genius whims” basket.
He wasn’t against it, either.
Admittedly, he didn’t know when he had changed.
His prior thoughts were to enjoy life under the identity of a child prodigy.
Now, it had turned to earning Herta’s word of praise.
Did he like it?
Perhaps.
If he didn’t, he would have ended up with the two prior endings he had stated earlier.
Sirius’ foolishness ultimately landed him to his current position.
‘The last time there was a fool, it did not end well for him…’
*****
A/N: Herta arc won’t last long, maybe around 15-20 chapters at best.
It would only be interaction between her and MC, exploring their dynamics as well as the implied/implicit personalities of the two.
Expect lighthearted moments, uplifting events, and a romantic story never seen before (coughs blood).
PS: In all seriousness, it would be a mix of heavy and light moments.
it won’t be the typical power progression in my other fics.