Ruan Mei crouched down and patted the cloud-like main body of Ruanruan, speaking slowly, "Go to the depths of the universe and find my friend, Herta."
In the next instant, the tail end of Ruanruan's cloud body underwent precise restructuring, transforming into the exhaust port of a spacecraft. Endless streams of radiant flames burst forth from it.
Accelerating, accelerating, accelerating...
Ruanruan shot forward at an unbelievable speed, breaking through the atmosphere and entering the cosmos, charging toward the edge of the star system.
In just a moment, it arrived at its destination.
At the same time, Herman's voice rang out as he greeted Ruan Mei: "You're here."
"Mm. After all, this time you've stirred up another huge commotion without making a sound, Herta," Ruan Mei said, gazing at Herta holding the wand aloft, a trace of amazement in her tone. "Enhancing the intelligence of billions of lives across The Blue system... even for a genius like me, this kind of method is unbelievable—craftsmanship taken to its absolute peak!"
"I even suspect that Nous couldn't accomplish something like this."
!!
At the side, Lingsha and Jade—who had suddenly grown sharper minds and were pouring all their thoughts into pill-making and commercial operations—were utterly shocked upon hearing Ruan Mei's words.
Enhancing intelligence on a massive scale—enhancing the intelligence of billions of living beings!
How could that be possible?!
Could it be that the sudden clarity in their minds—the feeling that they had "grown a brain"—was because Herta had developed a technology capable of amplifying intelligence?!
Wouldn't that mean Herta could artificially create top-tier scholars of the Intelligentsia Guild, or even manufacture geniuses capable of joining the Genius Society?!
The more Lingsha and Jade thought about it, the more shaken they became. Then they saw Ruan Mei voice the very question on their minds:
"Herta, now that you've mastered technology that enhances intelligence, creating artificial geniuses should be possible, right?"
In the next moment, Lingsha, Jade, and even Ruan Mei herself saw Herta give a slight nod.
"That's right. I can do it. After all, I am Herta."
Her tone was as confident as ever, yet it left the three of them momentarily dazed.
Whether it was Jade, Lingsha, or Ruan Mei, all of them understood the value of genius. Such individuals were so rare that even across dozens of Amber Eras, one might not appear. Their minds were treasures of the cosmos.
And yet Herta claimed she could artificially cultivate such beings. How terrifying—how incomprehensibly frightening!
"How exactly did you do it? Or rather, while I was researching the Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit—the Swarm Emperor form—what kind of outrageous new technology did you develop?" Ruan Mei couldn't help but ask.
Jade and Lingsha both focused their gazes on Herta, equally eager to know the answer.
And in the next instant, Herta replied:
"Outrageous new technology? I haven't developed anything like that. I'm just slightly better at research—that's all. I'm not someone who can produce another super technology in such a short time."
"..."
At that, Ruan Mei, Lingsha, and Jade all fell silent.
Ruan Mei, for instance, had personally witnessed Herta, in just over a month, develop a series of technologies at lightning speed—including the Soul Gem—and ultimately crown herself as an Emanator of Erudition.
There was no doubt that Herta was the fastest self-coronated existence aside from the First Seat, Zandar One Kuwabara.
As for Jade, as a representative of the IPC who had deep cooperation with Herta, she naturally knew just how terrifying Herta's research speed and efficiency were—far surpassing even the 29th Seat of the Genius Society, Sserkal.
And yet now, Miss Herta claimed her research speed was only "slightly" better than others. Jade found herself completely unable to comment.
Lingsha, meanwhile, though merely an envoy of the Xianzhou Alliance and not directly partnered with Herta, had still read intelligence reports on Herta's terrifying research speed—and thus she too wore a stunned expression.
At that moment, Herman turned to Ruan Mei, a faint smile curling at the corner of his lips. "Ruan Mei, the method I used to enhance the intelligence of billions of lives on The Blue—you've actually seen it before."
Ruan Mei snapped out of her speechless state and quickly searched her memory. Soon, she thought of something, her pupils shrinking slightly. "The Brain-Brain Fruit? But from what you said before, that fruit can only enhance the intelligence of the person who eats it."
"That's because at that time, I hadn't developed the fruit to its limit—its awakened state."
Herman paused briefly before continuing, "So-called awakening means pushing an ability to its absolute extreme, giving rise to its ultimate power. My group intelligence enhancement buff comes from exactly that."
!!
Hearing this, Lingsha and Jade were both deeply shaken—and realized they had underestimated Devil Fruits.
Originally, in their eyes, Devil Fruits were precious and unique—but that was all. After all, according to Herta, even the most destructive Paramecia-type fruit, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, could at most shake a continental shelf.
But now, what had they just heard? The Brain-Brain Fruit could enhance intelligence—raising it even to the level of geniuses. And after awakening, it could even enlighten others, boosting their intellect.
What an outrageous Devil Fruit!
If the Brain-Brain Fruit was this powerful, then what about other Devil Fruits? Could they also possess equally absurd effects?
Lingsha began to wonder—if the Mythical Zoan-type Fish-Fish Fruit, Azure Dragon form, were developed to its limit, could it also influence its surroundings? Could it allow races friendly to the Vidyadhara to cross the Dragon Gate, transcend the threshold of Permanence, and achieve transformation?
Through such a method, could it increase the population of the Vidyadhara—a number that had not grown at all since the fall of the Aeon of Permanence?
The more Lingsha thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. If that were the case, then the Mythical Zoan-type Fish-Fish Fruit, Azure Dragon form, would become extraordinarily valuable to the Vidyadhara.
No—she had to report this to the upper echelons of the Alliance and the Vidyadhara leadership. They needed to take action, to negotiate with Herta... to acquire that precious Devil Fruit as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Jade was contemplating the Barrier-Barrier Fruit. Based on what Miss Herta had said earlier, consuming it would at most block attacks at the level of a continental shelf.
But what about after awakening?
How strong would the barrier become?
More importantly, the concept of a "barrier" aligned perfectly with the Path of Preservation. If she consumed the Barrier-Barrier Fruit and performed actions in line with Preservation, could she attract the gaze of the Amber Lord and become the next Emanator of Preservation?
The more Jade thought about it, the more tempted she became—her desire for the Barrier-Barrier Fruit growing stronger by the second.
On the other side, Ruan Mei was contemplating a crucial question:
Even the base form of the Mythical Zoan-type Swarm Emperor Devil Fruit had allowed her to create a Starcrusher Swarm King that reached one-third the strength of the original.
So if a user with an awakened Swarm Emperor fruit fused with propagation materials, could they create an unprecedented being—perhaps even one that surpassed the original Starcrusher Swarm King?
The more Ruan Mei thought about it, the more eager she became to try.