Thor's eye twitched at the sudden realization.
"I could just go find Odin myself," Herta said, not bothering to entertain Thor's internal awkwardness. "But since you've clearly got nothing better to do, passing a message along for me won't be a total waste of my time."
Oh, so she just needs a messenger. No big deal then.
Thor nodded understandingly, keeping his mouth shut, but the Avengers standing nearby were giving him increasingly complicated looks.
How to put it... Sure, Thor was always like this... and yeah, it was hard to say no to Madam Herta... but for a Prince of Asgard to have zero sense of regal bearing was still a bit much.
Feeling his teammates' eyes burning into him, Thor realized how he was coming off and let out a sharp, hasty cough.
"It is not that I have nothing to do. In truth, Loki stirred up quite a mess in Asgard recently, leaving the Nine Realms in a state of chaos. As Prince, I have been spending my time providing support across the realms."
"However, since it is a request from Madam Herta, I shall make it my priority."
He flashed a smile. It was still a little strained, but mostly it carried the lingering fear of a man who had just narrowly saved face.
The Avengers, however, only looked more concerned.
Who cares if you're busy? We're talking about your dignity as a Prince!
But they let it slide. It was precisely because of Thor's personality that they all got along so well in the first place.
"By the way, what message did you want me to deliver?" Thor asked, feeling the tension bleed out of the air as his friends' gazes returned to normal. He was more than happy to move past the awkwardness.
"Just go ask the puppet yourself later." Herta didn't feel like explaining. Having finished her adjustments to the puppet, she stepped directly into a mirror that had appeared out of nowhere behind her.
As her silhouette vanished into the glass and the mirror itself flickered out of existence, the air in the room instantly felt lighter.
She looked like a girl who wasn't even eighteen yet, but... was it her aura? Or something else? Either way, none of them felt like they could ever have a normal conversation with her.
In that regard, Thor actually had the strongest nerves of the bunch.
"Come on, let's head in!"
The moment Herta left, Thor's focus snapped back to the Simulated Universe.
His point growth had been pretty abysmal lately, whereas Rogers had been steadily beefing up his stats using his own points.
It wasn't that Thor was obsessively fixated on that Core of the Herrscher of Thunder; he actually planned to trade for a device that boosted lightning damage first.
Last time, he'd been just a few points short, but this time it would be a walk in the park!
Watching the progress his companions had made lately, he had been looking forward to that equipment for a long time.
--+--
Meanwhile, having left the office, Herta didn't immediately jump into an experiment. While Chaos Magic was powerful and creative, she felt like she was somehow missing the mark.
It wasn't as if she were some magical novice who only understood technology, yet she found it difficult to get the same massive, tangible feedback from Chaos Magic that she was used to.
This gave Herta a nagging feeling that something was wrong.
When there's a problem, you solve it. Even a genius isn't omnipotent; whether it was the original Herta or her current self, she understood that well enough.
And who could actually answer her questions? Aside from Odin and the Ancient One, Herta couldn't think of anyone else.
That was one of the reasons she had come to Earth.
The planet wasn't exactly vast on a cosmic scale, but finding the hidden Kamar-Taj wasn't easy, either. Fortunately, she didn't need to go looking for it.
The moment she stepped into the New York Sanctum, the Ancient One was already there waiting.
"Did the Time Stone show you this, too?"
Herta arched an eyebrow, seeing the smile on the Ancient One's face and her total lack of surprise.
The Ancient One didn't give a straight answer. "I knew we would eventually meet in person, so I prepared accordingly."
"You knew I was coming, but do you know why I'm here?" Herta asked with a smirk.
Stop playing koi. It's not like I'm here to cause trouble.
"I wouldn't dream of showing off in front of the genius Madam Herta," the Ancient One replied with a touch of helplessness. "I have simply been waiting here. The Infinity Stones are incredibly powerful, but they should not be used frivolously—especially for something as rude as spying."
As if worried Herta might think she was being sarcastic, the Ancient One added, "Sorcerers value such etiquette."
Sure they do.
"Fine then," Herta nodded. She was the one who had made the accusation, so she wasn't going to harp on it.
Even if the Ancient One didn't seem like the type to follow every rule to the letter—and had no reason not to peek at the future—at this moment, she wasn't lying.
Besides, Herta didn't really care about the "why."
"How much do you know about Chaos Magic?" she asked, cutting straight to the point.
"...?"
Even for someone as well-traveled and unflappable as the Ancient One, Herta's question caught her off guard.
"You know of Chaos Magic?"
Even knowing she couldn't apply a normal person's understanding of time to this genius—and knowing Herta was no stranger to the subject—the Ancient One was still stunned.
The last wielder of Chaos Magic was a figure of ancient history, and the next one wasn't due to awaken for quite some time.
Because it had been gone for so long, the term "Chaos Magic" was practically non-existent in modern vocabulary.
"I happened to learn about it in another parallel world. After all, the Chaos Magic user of this universe hasn't awakened yet," Herta said casually.
"Chaos Magic is an ancient, mysterious, and extremely potent form of magic..."
"I know all that. In fact, I've already done some research on it," Herta interrupted. She raised her right hand and held up her index finger.
Suddenly, a violet, flame-like glow ignited at her fingertip. Though the color was different, the form and the way it responded to Herta's will made the Ancient One certain: this was indeed Chaos Magic.
The Ancient One's expression turned complicated.
It wasn't just the fact that Herta could observe parallel worlds; it was the fact that she could manifest a power from scratch based on nothing but "observation."
By all rights, that should have been impossible.
"But my research has hit a dead end."
Ignoring the Ancient One's bewildered look, Herta lowered her hand.
"To a genius, a hurdle is a rare and pleasant surprise. I have plenty of time to face and solve problems, but my intuition tells me that the reason I can't progress isn't because of me."
If only Nous weren't so far away, she would have tracked down the source of the problem in a heartbeat.
"You came to me hoping I would help you master Chaos Magic," the Ancient One surmised.
But Herta shook her head.
"No. I came to you to confirm a theory."
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.