As for Acheron's side of things.
Back when Herta had first set off to stir up trouble for Kakamond, Acheron had already departed for the territories of several well-known Scions of Permanence. She intended to visit some of the more powerful Long-descendants to better understand her newfound strength.
Her journey included a trip to the Xianzhou Fanghu to seek counsel from General Xuanquan, a visit to Inferno to consult with Typhon, and a stop at Leyaris to speak with the Great Dragon.
For the most part, these were beings who were already acquainted with 'Calypso'.
Typhon, for instance, would occasionally drop by the Simulated Universe Space Station.
Even though 'Calypso' hadn't shown her face in recent years, the fact that she'd left a puppet behind meant Typhon still visited—though she rarely did anything productive.
General Xuanquan, on the other hand, would occasionally send greetings in the form of letters.
The correspondence usually mentioned the steady growth of the Vidyadhara population over the years, along with the various troubles and trivialities that came with it.
As for the Great Dragon, they remained the same as ever: sprawled out in their domain, going nowhere and doing absolutely nothing.
Initially, they were all quite stunned by Acheron's arrival.
None of them had ever heard of such a Scion existing, but their shock faded into acceptance once they learned she was a former Self-Annihilator who had been saved by 'Calypso'.
While the idea of saving a Self-Annihilator and turning them into a Scion of Permanence sounded utterly preposterous, it was, after all, the work of an Aeon—and a multi-Path Aeon who held the complete Path of Permanence at that.
When put in those terms, it didn't seem so strange that she could pull it off.
'Calypso' had known where Acheron was all along.
However, seeing as Acheron was busy familiarizing herself with her new powers—and considering the things Acheron had said previously—'Calypso' found herself at a loss for how to respond.
Consequently, she had been using the situation as an excuse to avoid a face-to-face encounter.
In fact...
Acheron's proactive departure to seek out the other Scions was likely a calculated move.
She had probably sensed 'Calypso's' inner conflict and intentionally left to give her an out. Knowing how considerate Acheron was, it was exactly the kind of thing she would do.
The more 'Calypso' thought about it, the more the guilt began to gnaw at her.
If only Acheron weren't so thoughtful and warm.
If she were more like Ruan Mei—emotionally distant, close but maintaining a clear sense of boundaries and space—'Calypso' wouldn't be overthinking this at all.
Unfortunately, ever since the power of Nihility had been suppressed, Acheron's emotional life had become increasingly rich.
Now that she had completely broken free from Nihility, her personality had become far more extroverted.
To put it plainly, 'Calypso' was the type who responded better to a soft touch than a hard one.
Facing Acheron's quiet consideration and gentleness was like taking a series of critical hits to the heart; she simply had no defense against it.
Beside her, Ruan Mei watched 'Calypso', whose expression had twisted into one of sheer conflict after just a few questions. Ruan Mei arched an eyebrow, looking somewhat surprised.
Her understanding of the relationship between Madam Acheron and 'Calypso' was largely based on deduction—drawn from the few interactions she'd witnessed and 'Calypso's' demeanor whenever Acheron was mentioned.
For Ruan Mei, whose sense of conventional morality was weak, most things were a matter of indifference.
Furthermore, Ruan Mei was the type who preferred to keep her own heart under lock and key.
Therefore, the fact that 'Calypso' had an intimate relationship with Herta while maintaining a complicated, ambiguous bond with Acheron didn't particularly bother her.
She assumed 'Calypso' and Herta felt the same way.
However, as a friend, seeing 'Calypso' look so troubled piqued Ruan Mei's curiosity. Did she actually care about such things that much?
Ruan Mei looked at 'Calypso' and spoke:
"Once we're finished, would you like some snacks? Maybe we could talk?"
"...Ruan Mei, you're actually the type to offer a heart-to-heart?"
'Calypso' wore a look of utter bewilderment. She wasn't sure what drove Ruan Mei to seal off her emotional connections with others, but whatever the reason, Ruan Mei's outward affect was always thin and detached.
Even for those they were on good terms with, an invitation for tea and snacks was usually the peak of her hospitality.
'Calypso' figured if she had asked to talk, Ruan Mei might have agreed. But for Ruan Mei to proactively offer to help her sort through her emotions and problems? That was something 'Calypso' had never even dared to imagine.
Seeing that look of shock, Ruan Mei knit her brows slightly. Just what kind of image did she have in this girl's mind?
"I've wanted to ask for a while now: just what kind of person do you think I am?"
After tossing out the question, Ruan Mei didn't wait for an answer, continuing in her own self-contained way:
"You've helped me so much and given me so many things. Whether out of personal affection or simple social reciprocity, it shouldn't be strange for me to show you some concern."
"Uh, I'm just surprised you chose a 'heart-to-heart' as the method. I wasn't doubting your feelings for me."
Hearing the explanation, Ruan Mei shook her head helplessly.
"I admit I don't enjoy this kind of communication, but for a problem like yours, what else is there to do besides talk it out?"
As a genius who would rather drug someone than deal with the hassle of social interaction—and whose only warm memories of connection were with her family long ago—asking Ruan Mei to come up with a subtle, non-verbal way to solve an emotional crisis was honestly asking too much of her.
'Calypso' blinked. She hadn't expected the reasoning to be so... unadorned. And so, the two of them made a promise to sit down at Ruan Mei's place later, try some new snacks, and have a chat.
Four days slipped through their fingers in the blink of an eye.
'Calypso''s roleplay duration reached its end, ushering in a new round of reward settlements.
--+--
[Roleplay System]
[Name: Bai Ming (Calypso)]
[Lifespan: ∞]
[Transformable Characters: Big Herta, Celenova, Jingliu, Ruan Mei, Sparkle, Hertatomb, Lord Ravager - Jingliu, Young Herta, Robin, Artoria, Cipher, Georios, General of the Yuque - Qingque, Huohuo, Silver Wolf, Hysilens, Cyrene - Fuli (Charge: 46.4%), Acheron (Charge: 20.2%), Calypso (Charge: 0.0%)]
[Available Pulls: 21 (81.6%)]
--+--
[Settlement Rewards: Single-handedly simplified the Erudition Equation and collaborated with several geniuses to induct the Simulated Universe into the Genius Society, shocking the cosmos. Acquired partial analysis of the Erudition Equation. Bonus Reward: Increased analysis efficiency for Path Equations.]
--+--
While the harvest of emotional points from the first twenty-some days had been average, the final few days had been a goldmine.
Between Nous descending and the Simulated Universe becoming a "Genius," Bai Ming had raked in a massive wave of points in just four days.
As a result, the settlement rewards were quite substantial.
The progress on the Erudition Equation, which she hadn't seriously delved into before, suddenly surged to the twenty-percent mark.
A flood of knowledge rushed into her mind; in that brief moment, Bai Ming realized there were countless ways to optimize the "simplified" equation she had tinkered with earlier.
She could not only reduce its complexity further but also significantly boost its output.
Bai Ming glanced toward the Simulated Universe. She could easily input this new version of the simplified formula and give the system an immediate upgrade.
However, considering Zandar hadn't arrived for their meeting yet, she decided to hold off. She would wait until after Zandar left to roll out the new version.
At this very moment, Herta and the others were possessed by an unprecedented desire to explore the Simulated Universe.
A large part of that was due to the fact that the Simulated Universe was now officially a member of the Genius Society. It had evolved from a mere tool into a genius in its own right.
This leap brought about a total systemic evolution.
The underlying logic remained the same, but it was like jumping from 2K resolution to 8K; calculations that were once imprecise were now extraordinarily detailed.
With all these changes combined, Herta was once again hopelessly addicted, losing herself in the simulation. She had completely forgotten her intention to settle scores with Bai Ming.
In fact, she hadn't even noticed that Bai Ming's roleplay timer had expired and she had reverted to her original form.
Bai Ming, who had initially planned to smooth over Herta's ruffled feathers, sighed helplessly as she watched Madam Herta "ruthlessly abandon" her for the data.
On Ruan Mei's end, with Bai Ming's help, all the vital information had been collected and preliminary analysis was complete.
As for the detailed follow-up research, Ruan Mei naturally preferred to conduct that in her own laboratory. Thus, she was already preparing to head out.
"I'll go get the snacks ready then."
Ruan Mei gave Bai Ming a small smile, leaving her with those words before cutting the communication link.
Bai Ming looked at the other three, who were still completely absorbed, and noted that Zandar still hadn't reached out. She left a message behind and departed from the space station.
A Phase Flame carried Bai Ming instantly to Ruan Mei's laboratory ship. Ruan Mei had only just begun her work. Bai Ming naturally stepped in to help out, giving herself something to do.
"Has Rappa been back lately?"
"No."
Ruan Mei didn't much care for the comings and goings of her creations. Even though Rappa had somehow ended up running with the Galaxy Rangers, Ruan Mei never interfered with her decisions.
Of course, if Rappa ever wandered back, Ruan Mei wouldn't drive her away either. Her style was strictly hands-off.
Ruan Mei didn't even look up as she answered. Her hands moved with practiced agility, manipulating materials that looked decidedly eerie.
Some were things Ruan Mei had concocted herself, others were collected from the far reaches of the stars—some of the species were truly bizarre.
It was hard to imagine these things being used to make pastries.
When Ruan Mei made snacks, she was incredibly focused—or rather, she was enjoying herself. So, Bai Ming only engaged in casual small talk, careful not to disrupt her mood.
It wasn't until the pastries were out of the oven and the two of them sat down with freshly brewed tea that the real conversation finally began.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL