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'Ruan Mei', who was chatting with Herta, suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. But when he turned his head, he only saw the original Ruan Mei analyzing the data of the Giants of Light.
Not long after, Ruan Mei finished reviewing the detailed data for the Giants of Light. There was essentially nothing that needed adjustment. Their strength, intelligence, growth potential, and all other aspects had reached a balanced level. They were essentially the 'youth edition' designed to benchmark Eminator capabilities. Rashly increasing one aspect would only cause a decline in other dimensions.
If there were any flaws... it might be that the Giants' attack methods weren't rich enough. Furthermore, despite having Light—which has high shaping capabilities—the pre-input beam skills were not abundant.
However, in Ruan Mei's eyes, these were minor issues.
According to the plan Herta had sent her, the research direction currently had two paths: Herta insisted on deeply investigating the changes in the nature of Imaginary Energy, while her other self wanted to leverage the power of different Paths to achieve a 'Pseudo-Path' effect.
Both plans had their advantages and disadvantages. Herta's plan was clearly superior in all aspects but suffered from the drawback of being incredibly difficult. Creating a Path is an absolute challenge, even for a genius. The other self's plan, however, was achievable. The downside was that if an Eminator of The Remembrance or The Enigmata were to intervene, the 'Pseudo-Path' effect could easily be nullified.
Ruan Mei had thought this through on the way over. She would use her other self's plan as a fallback and dedicate her full effort to researching the first plan.
When Ruan Mei expressed her thoughts, Herta was momentarily stunned, then burst into laughter:
"Haha~ Your choices are absolutely identical!"
"Is that so?"
Hearing this, Ruan Mei also smiled, turning her head to meet the eyes of her other self.
"Then, there's nothing more to say. We'll focus all our energy on the subject of Imaginary Energy conversion."
Following Herta's grand announcement, the three geniuses immersed themselves completely in this research.
And the experimental subject... naturally, it was the cloning of Fictitious Historians.
Of course, for humanitarian reasons, 'Ruan Mei' did not truly clone a complete individual. Instead, he continued to use the form of light-based life, creating one mysterious Pathstrider after another.
These small balls of light had relatively simple minds, lacked complex thinking capabilities, and didn't possess powerful combat abilities; they were only skilled at defense and escape. They would likely be kept on the Herta Space Station or the Land of Light to serve as mobile light sources in the future.
What 'Ruan Mei' and the others needed to do was capture the very instant the power of the mysterious Path was born in the individual! Then, they would try to analyze what kind of force managed to leverage the property change in Imaginary Energy.
The original Ruan Mei was also highly interested in this kind of research. She could create so many lifeforms naturally endowed with a Path, not because she had thoroughly studied the Paths, but because she had mastered the code of life. She knew what kind of life could give birth to what kind of Path power.
But Ruan Mei still didn't know the specific opportunity, the key point, that triggered the change in Imaginary Energy. In her view, Path power was essentially an extension of life. She believed that by delving deeper into the cause of life, she would eventually unlock the effect of the Path.
Herta's approach, however, differed greatly from Ruan Mei's.
For the time being, neither could claim to be right or wrong. But the clash of different concepts and ways of thinking was proving to be immensely beneficial to Ruan Mei.
Days passed, but progress was not going smoothly. Of course, 'Ruan Mei' had anticipated this.
But it wasn't a total failure either. At the very least, they truly observed the process of Imaginary Energy transforming into Path power.
This discovery thrilled Herta. She even wanted to research how to invent a device that could reliably, artificially, and directionally induce Imaginary Energy to undergo different property changes.
Hmm... this project was perhaps a bit too large. Because, by Herta's standards, what she wanted was the ability to manipulate any Path at will. That was clearly unrealistic at the current stage.
'Ruan Mei' and the original Ruan Mei, meanwhile, were thinking about whether this ability for Imaginary Energy to change its nature could be actively written into a lifeform. The lifeform itself could carry out a random change in the nature of Imaginary Energy, and the lifeform's will could then complete the directional shaping.
To put it simply, 'Ruan Mei's' idea was still to bypass the 'black box' they couldn't decipher yet, and rely on the characteristics of life to achieve the goal.
And this time, it was Herta's turn to compromise.
Because, firstly, the idea of a lifeform relying on its will to tread a Path was still relatively clear. But what about a purely mechanical entity?
Not a sentient machine, but how would entities like machinery and AI choose a Path?
Regarding this point, perhaps one could only consult Zandaru, or, the mechanical entity that ascended to godhood, Nous (The Erudition). Herta couldn't even find an observable sample to test. Research in this area was impossible to start in the short term.
"Tsk, if only we could ask the mechanical head."
'Ruan Mei' heard Herta's annoyed cluck and responded with a smile:
"Nous would probably only answer you with a question."
"Of course, I know that, but even just a question would be— Wait a minute. How do you know that Nous answers petitioners with questions?"
Herta instinctively retorted. But midway through, she paused, turned her head, and eyed 'Ruan Mei' suspiciously.
Only those who had actually met an existence like Nous would know about its habits. How could this Baiming, who clearly relies on borrowing power to conduct research, know about Nous's characteristic behavior?
"Ah, ha~ just assume I'm well-informed," 'Ruan Mei' winked, attempting to gloss over it.
But Herta didn't believe him at all. Well-informed, huh? Well-informed enough to have met Nous? Why don't you claim you're blood brothers with Aha while you're at it?
Meanwhile, the original Ruan Mei next to them raised her head and asked curiously:
"Then, what other interesting tidbits do you know?"
"Hmm... Nanook (The Destruction) promotes Pathstriders from other Paths to Eminators in order to destroy the corresponding Paths. The Flames-Afar's target is the Path of Nihility."
"The Flames-Afar? The one who likes to go around burning glass spheres?" Herta raised an eyebrow. She genuinely hadn't known that. However, considering that this fellow was formerly a Lord of Extinction, he did have channels to access intelligence.
"Do you have anything related to geniuses?" Herta was getting excited. She continued to press for information while carrying on with her work.
'Ruan Mei' hadn't intended to say anything, but seeing Herta's curious gaze, he suddenly got an idea:
"Do you want something related to yourself, or something unrelated?"
"?"
A question mark immediately popped up over Herta's head. "Something related to me? Is there something about me that I don't know?"
"There is one."
"Let's hear it."
"Miss Herta, have you felt several times that you were about to touch the Knowledge Singularity, only to be interrupted by various accidents?"
"...How do you know that?" Herta's expression, which had been entertained just moments ago, instantly changed.
This fellow... he even knows things like that?
'Ruan Mei' offered a slight smile:
"It was intentional."
Bang!
The instrument in Herta's hand was instantly crushed by her grip. Amidst sparks and a slight popping sound, it turned into worthless scrap metal.
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