Chapter 522: Turned Into Gacha?! - 522
What!! What in the world is going on here!!??
Tatsumaki looked down in utter disbelief. Though she couldn’t see it herself, her hand was currently pressed tight against her throat.
Just moments ago, she hadn’t reacted at all. Her body had just blurted out those words completely on instinct, as if it were some sort of command hardwired directly into her DNA.
It wasn’t until the entire sentence left her mouth that she finally realized something was terribly wrong.
Was she seriously going to have to say that line every single time she used her psychic powers from now on?!
"Looks like it works well enough. Alright, that takes care of that," Herta noted with a satisfied nod.
However, she lost interest almost immediately. Her primary reason for coming this time was Alice, after all.
Shifting her gaze to the young girl standing nearby, Herta continued, "The upgrade I’ve given you this time isn’t massive, but it’s not minor either. It’s not designed to boost your standard combat specs. Instead, it raises the upper limit of your ’Mystic’."
As a mature genius, she naturally explained the mechanics himself.
"To put it simply, your base stats haven’t changed. But as your sense of justice and ’determination’ grow, the power of your ’Mystic’ will rapidly swell within your halo, continuously driving your stats upward. As for the ceiling... well, it obviously won’t reach the level of an Emanator, so you’ll just have to figure out the rest on your own."
"Whoa—!"
Alice’s eyes immediately lit up with pure excitement.
She had to admit, Herta really knew her stuff! This was just too much like a classic ’Hero’ trope! Powering up based on justice and determination—it was exactly like a main character!
Did this mean she could start shouting lines like "Because we are Fairy Tail!" too?
Standing to the side and still processing her own sudden changes, Tatsumaki looked visibly taken aback by the explanation. But upon deeper reflection, it didn’t really seem all that surprising.
While this Herta woman was clearly looking for a fight with her, Tatsumaki knew it was just a petty way of sticking up for Alice.
From the look of it, the woman genuinely cared a great deal about this little robot.
If she recalled correctly, the tin can had mentioned having a teacher before. Was she just being fostered here for now?
Even if it was just a foster situation, this witch was fiercely protective of her.
And honestly, concepts like a sense of justice and determination really did suit the robot’s whole vibe...
Tatsumaki couldn’t help but steal a glance at Alice, who was currently practically vibrating with excitement.
"But of course, I didn’t come all this way just for that. Putting your Sword of Light aside for a moment, didn’t I mention earlier? I’ve upgraded the [Ark], and I just completely unlocked your access permissions for it."
Herta spoke at a leisurely pace. "I’ve outfitted the Ark with orbital weaponry, a drone fleet, defensive plating, autonomous combat androids, multiple main cannons, and anti-air batteries. You can completely treat it as a literal flying fortress now."
"Naturally, its original functions remain fully intact. How you choose to deploy it is entirely up to you... To make things easier for you, I’ve integrated an AI into the [Ark’s] system to handle the processing loads."
"An AI?"
"How you utilize it is your choice." As if checking off the final item on her to-do list, a cup of black tea materialized out of thin air in Herta’s hand.
With elegant grace, she took a sip before continuing, "Any other questions? If not, I’ll be heading back."
"Aren’t you going to stay and have lunch with Alice?"
Alice tilted her head, clearly reluctant to see Big Herta go, her expression tinged with a bit of worry.
After all, Herta was probably the busiest person among them. The woman had almost zero time to relax or rest.
With a schedule like that, it wasn’t all that surprising that her income topped the charts, even eclipsing her actual prime body.
"I only bother with things that interest me. Do you honestly think I’d waste my time on something I find boring?" Herta clearly saw right through Alice’s thoughts.
With a casual wave of her hand, she vanished on the spot.
"Hey, wait a second!!"
With her sudden departure, a heavy silence fell over the room. Tatsumaki had never expected the woman to just vanish into thin air without so much as a goodbye.
Seriously, what was the deal with that Sephira Crystal?! What exactly was her relationship with Fubuki?! Did she ignore the question on purpose? Was that part of the ’punishment’ too?
Recalling the condescending look on the woman’s face when she spoke, Tatsumaki couldn’t help but equate ’ignorance’ with punishment.
After all, the witch was clearly the type who was utterly obsessed with science and absolute truth. People like that couldn’t stomach ignorance.
Left with no other choice, she turned her gaze toward Alice.
"Did that witch really just leave like that? I still had things to say!"
Tatsumaki stomped her foot in frustration.
"Is this about Fubuki?" Alice finally remembered that Tatsumaki hadn’t come all this way just to get bullied.
"Exactly!" Tatsumaki scratched her head in sheer exasperation. "And what’s with you guys constantly saying ’heading back’ anyway? Where exactly does that witch live? How am I supposed to find her?"
There were only so many places in this world. Even flying around the entire globe wouldn’t take her a full day. If worst came to worst, she would just hunt the woman down to wherever she was hiding.
"Um... Auntie Herta usually stays in other universes."
However, Alice’s response left Tatsumaki’s brain completely short-circuiting.
"Recently, Auntie Herta created a brand-new universe all by herself. She’s currently trying to split it into parallel universes and a multiverse, so she barely has any free time to spare."
Tatsumaki stood frozen.
What did she mean, ’in another universe’? What did she mean, ’created a universe by herself and is splitting parallel universes and a multiverse’? Is your processor fried? Is your language module working right?
She wanted nothing more than to scream, "Are you pulling my leg?", but thinking back to the witch who had just completely played her like a fiddle, the absurd statement somehow didn’t feel entirely beyond the realm of possibility.
After all, that witch could effortlessly subdue even her. Was there really any need to fabricate such a massive, pointless lie?
Even so, the moment Tatsumaki entertained the thought that it might actually be true, a chilling sense of her own insignificance washed over her.
If it really was true, then the woman’s so-called ’reality-warping’ powers weren’t all that hard to comprehend.
Perhaps to someone like her, existences like themselves were nothing more than lower-dimensional organisms. A higher-dimensional being rewriting a lower-dimensional being at a whim wasn’t even something worth batting an eye over.
But... that was just too far beyond her reality.
Compared to all that...
Tatsumaki quickly suppressed the sudden wave of insignificance and fear swelling in her chest, forcing herself to push forward. "That Sephira Crystal... what exactly is it?"
She hadn’t originally expected to get a real answer from Alice. After all, a robot’s answers could easily just be pre-programmed responses. But right now, she didn’t seem to have any other leads to go on.
"It’s something that can make Fubuki stronger... Other than that, Alice doesn’t really know much either..." Unfortunately, the young girl could only offer a vague, empty response.
But before disappointment could fully sink into Tatsumaki, a nearby computer monitor suddenly flared with a brilliant red light. Immediately after, a detached, synthesized voice echoed through the room.
"Individual AL-1S detected with a potential requirement to access archives. Shall the relevant data on [Sephira Crystal] be retrieved?"
Was this the Ark AI that Herta had left behind?
--+--
T/N: If you want advance Chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL
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