“How dare she call me an old hag!”
Ever since becoming a genius, almost everyone had treated her with the utmost respect.
This was the first time anyone had dared point at her nose and call her an old hag to her face!
“She’s in the Master Control Zone. After her! No, wait!”
Herta quickly located Little Herta through the space station’s surveillance system and raised a hand to order the Herta Puppets after her, only to stop them halfway through.
The Puppets all turned to look at her in unison.
“Split into two teams. One team will pursue her, while the second stays here and guards every ship capable of warping.”
At Herta’s command, the remaining Puppets, aside from the one she was controlling, split into two teams.
One remained at the spaceport to guard the ships, while the other charged toward the Master Control Zone in a mighty procession.
“And you. I remember you’re in charge of the space station’s defense department, right?”
After giving the Herta Puppets their orders, Herta stopped Arlan, who was anxiously preparing to rush to the Master Control Zone after Little Herta took Asta away.
“Yes, Madam Herta. What about Miss Asta…?”
“That brat won’t hurt Asta. Right now, she’s pestering Asta to buy her snacks from a vending machine.”
“She’s pestering Miss Asta to buy her snacks? But isn’t she an Intellitron?”
Arlan’s mind briefly failed to process Herta’s words.
Did a Herta Puppet, an Intellitron, need to eat too?
“I installed a tasting module in that brat. That’s not important!”
“Until I arrive at the space station, have your people help the Puppets guard the ships at the spaceport.”
Without waiting for Arlan’s reply, Herta severed her connection to the Puppet and had it join the ships’ defense line.
Herta herself immediately set out from Herta City for the space station.
She admitted that she had underestimated the brat.
The most important core theory for the Feasibility Study on Simplifying Quantum Warp into a Device that she had left in her laboratory was already complete, and the quantum warp device itself was more than halfway finished.
However, in less than one system hour after escaping Herta City, the brat had completed the device Herta had left behind and even created a matching quantum tide detection eyepiece to pinpoint warp coordinates.
Judging by that alone, the little brat was far smarter than Herta had imagined.
If she didn’t come in person, the brat might genuinely escape.
“It doesn’t look any different from ordinary soybean snacks.”
Meanwhile, Little Herta shook the bag of Trick Snacks Asta had bought for her, tore it open, grabbed a handful, and tossed it into her mouth.
[Composition analysis: protein content 45%, trace elements including calcium and potassium…]
The moment the beans entered her mouth, before she could even chew and taste them, her brain automatically began generating a composition analysis report.
‘What the hell?
Why did Herta install a food composition analysis module in me?’
What a pointless module. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Before the report could finish, Little Herta shut down the baffling module, chewed twice, and swallowed.
In terms of flavor, they were almost indistinguishable from the green pea snacks she had eaten in her previous life.
The only frustrating part was that, perhaps due to the food composition analysis module acting as an intermediary, her sense of taste had a slower transmission rate than when she had been Human.
There was a noticeable delay, making it feel as though she were tasting everything through a layer of dust.
And besides…
“Wasn’t it supposed to pop like popping candy, shoot to the roof of your mouth, and stay there?”
Little Herta shook the snack bag in confusion.
She remembered the game’s description of Trick Snacks from her previous life: ‘Once placed in the mouth, the seeds will pop like popping candy, shooting to the roof of the mouth and remaining there.’
Forget sticking to the roof of her mouth—the ones she had just eaten hadn’t popped at all.
Could they have expired?
“That’s because the beans in Trick Snacks must come into contact with liquid before they release the gaseous fluid inside them and shoot upward,” Asta explained from beside her.
“So that’s how it works.”
Little Herta understood.
Since she was an Intellitron and didn’t produce saliva, she couldn’t trigger the Trick Snacks’ popping function.
‘Forget it.
I’m a little curious, but it’s nothing important.’
‘Upgrade my specs!’
Little Herta silently recited the phrase, but no upgrade occurred.
‘Do I have to shout it out loud?’
“Upgrade my specs?”
Little Herta called out, but it still didn’t trigger.
“Is it because I haven’t finished the bag?”
When shouting failed to activate her cheat ability, Little Herta stared at the more than half-full bag of Trick Snacks in her hand and muttered to herself.
She then raised the bag, tilted her head back, and poured all the remaining snacks into her mouth, swallowing them whole.
“Upgrade my specs! It really works!”
This time, Little Herta felt a familiar power erupt within her, and delight appeared on her face.
She shouted again,
“Upgrade my specs! Upgrade my specs!”
Just like in the game, one bag of Trick Snacks was equivalent to two Skill Points.
In other words, a single bag could directly increase all her Stats by 100%, and she could stack the effect infinitely.
‘As long as I have enough Trick Snacks, putting Herta beneath my heel and punching Nous won’t just be a dream!’
“Kuhahaha! Herta is nothing more than a mediocrity who had the good fortune to be born in an era without me!”
With that thought, Little Herta planted her hands on her hips and burst into a three-part laugh, as if she could already see herself stepping on Herta and forcing her to sing “Conquered.”
‘Just what is this child thinking?’
Little Herta’s muttering as she tested the Trick Snacks left Asta rather puzzled.
She couldn’t understand why Little Herta had suddenly burst out laughing after shouting “Upgrade my specs” a few times, then confidently called Madam Herta a mediocrity.
‘Still, she’s rather cute like this, like a little kitten that doesn’t know its own limits.
I only hope Madam Herta goes easy on her when the time comes to teach her a lesson.’
“Asta, I want more. Will you buy all of them for me?”
After finishing her laughter, Little Herta turned to Asta with another request.
‘You sure change your attitude quickly!’
Seeing the arrogant Little Herta instantly change her expression and run over to make a request, Asta couldn’t help complaining inwardly.
Even so, she went along with Little Herta and bought every bag of Trick Snacks in the vending machine.
The snacks tumbled out with a clatter, and Little Herta swiftly stuffed them, one bag at a time, into the portable spatial-folding storage device she had picked up from Herta’s laboratory.
“She’s here!”
“Stop right there!”
Just as Little Herta picked up the final bag of Trick Snacks, a huge crowd of Herta Puppets finally arrived at the Master Control Zone and charged toward her while shouting.
“They got here quickly.”
Looking at the numerous Herta Puppets, Little Herta tore open the bag of Trick Snacks in her hand, poured a mouthful down her throat, and grabbed Asta’s hand.
“Asta, let’s go!”
“Huh? Again?”
Amid Asta’s startled cry, they vanished once more.
This time, they reappeared in front of another vending machine.
“Asta, buy them for me!”
Little Herta pointed at the Trick Snacks inside the vending machine once again.
★ ★ ★
T/N: If you spot mistranslation, do tell me!