A feeling of falling dragged her consciousness down.
The suffocating sensation of being pulled into the deep sea by an invisible vortex made Columbina frown her beautiful brow.
Fortunately, she landed on solid ground the next second.
Before her was a darkness so thick it couldn’t be dispersed; not the dark of closed eyes at midnight, but a pure void where even light seemed to be swallowed.
Columbina’s voice floated in the emptiness, tinged with an unprovoked panic: “Herta?
Herta, are you here?” “What’s the rush?
Do you really think I’d leave you stranded here?” The voice was crisp and clear as a purple figure shot out from the darkness, its body plump and round, with a digitized face.
With a couple of flaps, it perched steadily on Columbina’s shoulder.
It was a mechanical bird.
Columbina couldn’t help but touch its body with her fingertips, murmuring, “So cute…” The Herta Bird immediately tilted its head and gave her a blatant roll of its eyes, its tone full of smugness: “Good eye.
Want it?
Beg me, and I’ll make you one.” These words didn’t make Columbina’s eyes light up.
Instead, the white wing-shaped hair accessory trailing behind her drooped a little further, and her voice was soft: “This…
let’s talk about it later.” The Herta Bird didn’t press the issue, instead fluttering its wings and pointing forward: “Keep moving, keep moving.
The Simulated Universe should have started long ago, so why is it still pitch black?” Columbina followed it forward, the darkness seeming endless, and not even her footsteps echoed.
After walking for about half a minute, the Herta Bird finally couldn’t hold back, hopping up and down on her shoulder: “Something’s wrong.
When that Stellaron brat came to take the test a few days ago, it was all fine.
The equipment didn’t have any problems, right?” “Um…
I think I know how to solve this.” A faint silver glow emanated from Columbina’s body, starting as a single point of light that slowly spread, eventually enveloping even the Herta Bird on her shoulder.
Immediately after, the sound of a gentle halo of light flowing came from behind.
The Herta Bird whipped its head around, only to see a silver-white moon slowly rising from behind Columbina.
The moonlight wasn’t glaring, but it possessed an extremely strong penetration, like warm water flowing over parched earth, gradually dispelling the surrounding darkness.
Only when the darkness had mostly receded did the Herta Bird see the scene before it clearly.
It wasn’t that the Simulated Universe had failed to start.
That darkness was actually chasing Columbina, moving with her footsteps.
It only slowly vanished after the moonlight lit up.
“A strange phenomenon, this is the first time I’ve ever seen it.” The Herta Bird quickly fluttered its wings, pulling out a mini notebook: “Gotta take notes on this, I’ll need to study it properly later.” “What do we do next?” Columbina didn’t mention the darkness, and the Herta Bird tacitly skipped over the previous topic as well, closing the notebook, its tone instantly becoming crisp: “Simple.
I’ll max out your buffs, you walk ahead, and clear out all the monsters on the way.
See if we can spawn any Aeon-related events.
You are an Emanator, after all, there’s no reason an Aeon wouldn’t notice you.” Just as the words fell, a light blue screen flashed in front of Columbina, with lines of text appearing clearly: [Acquired: All Blessings, All Curios].
With the full buff bonus, Columbina’s pace quickened significantly.
The Herta Bird perched on her shoulder, sometimes instructing her to pick up Curios, sometimes complaining that a certain Blessing effect was too weak.
The two of them sped through several Planes, but by the time the second-to-last Plane ended, not a single Aeon-related event had spawned.
The Herta Bird was almost in tears from frustration.
Holy crap, this shouldn’t be happening!
Why is this nothing like what I predicted?!
It’s not right, it’s just not right!
This is a genuine Emanator!
Even if we don’t know which Aeon she belongs to, you can’t fake this status, can you?
An Emanator’s very existence is an extension of an Aeon’s will, so for the Aeons in the Simulated Universe, it’s like suddenly having an extra Emanator.
How could no Aeon notice her?
She even maxed out the buffs, giving her better treatment than that Stellaron brat.
How is there still no reaction?
Columbina didn’t say a word, simply looking up at the entrance to the final Plane.
Silvery moonlight still flowed around her body, as the moon’s phantom image gently swayed behind her back.
When she stepped into the final Plane, the first thing to enter her sight wasn’t a monster, but a card suspended in mid-air, glowing with an amber light.
“We pulled gold!” The Herta Bird instantly exploded with excitement, fluttering its wings and jumping up and down on Columbina’s shoulder.
“Go look at it, go look at it!” Columbina was amused by Herta’s reaction, the corners of her lips curving slightly, adding a touch of warmth to her eyes.
She reached out to gently steady the little fellow on the edge of her shoulder.
“Don’t rush, I’m going.” The Herta Bird ignored her laughter, pointing forward incessantly.
When Columbina reached the Event and touched it, the Event merged into her body like a point of light.
A line of golden text slowly materialized before her eyes.
[Event · Amber Preservation] Qlipoth of Preservation built walls without ceasing, erecting layer upon layer of barriers with amber light.
You passed beneath His wall.
You heard the cries for help from the planet beside you.
You stood by the wall, listening to the prayers of the planet’s living beings, using moonlight to protect those flickering embers.
Allowing them the strength to continue surviving.
You were merely listening.
Merely responding to those faint wishes.
Yet you were clearly preserving, preserving the survival of a planet, preserving the hope of those living beings.
Qlipoth’s Preservation was building walls, using barriers to isolate all danger; while your Preservation was leaning down to listen, using gentle light to uphold hope.
Thus, Qlipoth the Wall-Builder ceased His movements, His amber gaze piercing through layers of star-rails to fall upon you.
He glanced at you.
You looked up, silvery moonlight flowing in your eyes as the moon’s phantom image gently swayed behind you, your gaze drifting upward.
You glanced back at Him.
– “Preservation…
I thought the first one to approach you would be Yaoshi of Abundance, but this is fine.
He was also within my expectations.” Judging from Columbina’s style of conduct, the Aeons most likely to approach her were Preservation and Abundance.
Most people also believed this.
They believed Columbina was an Emanator of one of them.
But Herta knew it wasn’t true.
Preservation noticed her because of her actions, not because of her identity as an Emanator.
A silver light flew out of Columbina’s body, transforming into a brand new Event.
“This is a small perk for you as a collaborator, an Event exclusively yours.
Perhaps someone who comes to test the Simulated Universe in the future will encounter it.” Herta Bird was in a good mood.
Although the things that happened in the Simulated Universe weren’t 100% accurate, they were still very informative.
[Host, players come to play this Simulated Universe every so often.
You can leave a little surprise for them here.] Originally, she had no interest in this.
But now, Columbina suddenly became interested.