"A scalpel that slices through True Sting shells like they're tofu, a black silk glove with built-in detection, analysis, and electronic penetration functions, and… a bottle of Restoration Liquid?"
Lynelle stared at the items she'd pulled from three single draws, a shiver running down her spine.
"Over in Star Rail, is Herta going to dissect me straight away...? Judging by the stuff I pulled from the gacha, I feel like my situation might be pretty dire!"
[Don't worry, my dear Host. If your body really suffers catastrophic damage in the other world, I'll notify you promptly.]
Customer Service Kiana-chan reassured her.
[As for right now… well, Herta probably hasn't done anything too outrageous to you yet. Aside from stripping you naked, that is.]
"?"
Lynelle's pretty face instantly flushed. "And that doesn't count as outrageous?!"
[Well, she's got you soaking in a restorative fluid over there. Taking your clothes off is pretty reasonable, isn't it? Otherwise, how do you think the Restoration Liquid you pulled is supposed to make contact?]
[Besides, if you really want to go to Star Rail right this instant, the only way is to kill yourself. I really don't recommend that, you know…]
[Even though you can revive, doing that kind of thing too often might make you start down a path where you stop valuing your own life… Unless it's absolutely necessary—no, even if it seems necessary, I'd rather you didn't.]
[What's more, even if you wanted to kill yourself right now, you probably couldn't do it without tipping off Sirin. If you wake Sirin up, you'll have to face the consequences yourself, you know?]
Clearly, even though the system had just activated, this Customer Service Kiana-chan seemed quite familiar with Sirin's temperament.
[Especially if Sirin catches wind of this self-destructive tendency of yours. It's entirely possible you'd end up locked in a basement over it in the future.]
"Pfft, it's just Sirin. It'll be fine."
Lynelle clearly didn't take the system's warning seriously.
"From these past couple days together, Sirin's been quite well-behaved. Her favorability is rising even faster than I expected… Is it because I'm just popular with kids?"
"But killing myself just to pop over to Star Rail for something like this really isn't necessary. Looking at the current situation, there's still plenty of time. I should be able to establish contact with Herta before Sirin undergoes her Herrscher transformation."
[Plenty of time?]
"Mm, if I remember correctly, the date for Sirin's Herrscher transformation should be February 1st. Right before I died in the lab yesterday, I overheard someone mention the date. There should be a full week left before Sirin's transformation. Plenty of time for me to gear up."
"So… what's done is done. Might as well get some sleep first."
Lynelle lay back down, closing her eyes with a serene expression.
"Who knows, maybe I'm lucky enough that just going to sleep this time will trigger the crossover..."
--+--
"Hmm… So if she falls asleep in her dream, my observation gets cut off too?"
Staring at the blacked-out dream monitor, Herta forcefully suppressed the urge to give it the old-fashioned 'percussive maintenance' whack, and instead turned her gaze back to the items in her hands.
"From the girl's mutterings I just heard, her name seems to be Lynelle, right? Lynelle, Lynelle, you've really handed me a tough nut to crack..."
Right after deciding to help the poor girl, Herta had quickly gotten to work. But after sorting through the current situation, she realized the challenges she faced weren't few.
First was the ship's speed.
The moment she made her decision, she'd changed the destination to the Herta Space Station and pushed the engines into overload mode.
Even so, the return trip would still take at least two days.
After all, the original purpose of this trip was to gather materials from a remote star system. Making it back in two days was already the result of Herta forcing the ship to the point of needing a major overhaul upon return.
Second, was figuring out what kind of support she could actually give Lynelle.
From the available footage, Herta couldn't determine the technological level or power hierarchy of Lynelle's world at all.
Furthermore, she'd already confirmed that Lynelle's body was utterly, completely that of an ordinary girl.
At most, her compatibility with Imaginary Energy was much higher than a normal person's. But that only meant the girl had good potential; it didn't solve the immediate crisis.
For this trip, Herta was piloting a highly specialized research vessel. It wasn't equipped with any combat gear to begin with. After all, with Herta herself on board, it was hard to imagine anyone thinking the ship needed dedicated weapons.
And Lynelle's situation unfortunately ruled out using any experimental equipment that required a substantial energy drive, since the girl had almost no usable energy within her.
Compounding this, while the civilization Herta belonged to was technologically advanced, it was a peculiar one built on a foundation of 'magic.' Even Herta's own combat style was rather fantastical.
So… directly providing Lynelle with powerful support seemed mostly impossible.
"Whatever. This ship is headed for a major overhaul anyway..."
After frowning in thought for a moment, Herta decisively grabbed the magic wand beside her.
"Lacking usable weapons? Then I'll just dismantle the ship and refit them myself. Just modifying weapons isn't my main field, but it shouldn't stump me..."
Amid a series of clangs and clatters, various facilities within the ship fell victim.
The camouflage device? Dismantled for a cloaking device!
Life support systems? Dismantled for cryo-grenades!
Game merchandise? Dismantled… wait, this one probably works as-is.
In short, while Lynelle was resting, Herta began working non-stop, preparing to make some 'little gadgets' that 'even an ordinary person could use.'
However… change always comes suddenly.
Due to the differing flow of time between the two worlds, Herta had only just managed to complete a few of these devices when she noticed that Lynelle's situation seemed to have taken a turn.
On the afternoon of Lynelle's second day with the system, a girl from a neighboring test subject cage relayed an important piece of information to Lynelle.
"She's going to be put on the experimental table tomorrow? And it's for research related to immortality?"
Herta, who had listened to the entire conversation via the dream monitor, immediately grew grim.
"So, her immortality was exposed even before she encountered me? That makes sense. Judging by the marks on them, dying on the experimental table is probably a common occurrence. This is troublesome..."
Regarding longevity, regarding immortality, the entire Star Rail world had conducted extensive research on this topic.
During the Scholar's Strife back in the day, a full quarter of the total computational power of the Scepters was dedicated to researching this very subject. And Herta, who had successfully researched rejuvenation technology, had naturally read some of the relevant materials.
Therefore, no one understood better than her what deranged methods those researchers might employ in the process of studying immortality.
Let's just say, after reading those materials, an average person would probably need to browse some… milder content on the dark web to decompress.
And Lynelle… could she really endure that kind of experimentation without suffering a mental breakdown?
Or, would she dare to gamble that her resurrection ability works the same way in both worlds?
What if that ability of hers—to resurrect unconditionally even after being blown to smithereens—only works in this world she's in now?
Herta certainly wasn't willing to take that bet. And she figured any sane person probably wouldn't either.
"So, at this point, is escaping her cell the only choice she has left…"
Herta's gaze fell upon the few devices she had prepared for Lynelle. "Are these… really going to be enough?"
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, 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.