Staring at the disturbingly lifelike puppet, Herta took a deep breath and then spoke coldly:
"Puppet #15357, enter standby mode. Without a command from your creator, you are not to act on your own."
"And disconnect from the Puppet Network. Immediately. Now."
The puppet nodded obediently and walked to a corner to stand silently, like it was being punished.
"Didn't the Personality Completion Plan already reach a conclusion? Why is this happening?"
After thinking for a moment, Herta turned to the jester mask and asked:
"You did this? When did you inject a virus into my puppet?"
"No, no, no~ Aha didn't do it~ I just thought the scene was interesting~"
As the mask floated closer, it paused. This time, it kept a safe distance, probably because of Herta's previous reactions.
"Think about it. If I had done it, why didn't you, the creator of these puppets and a designated Messenger, sense any imaginary energy fluctuations?"
"And besides you, who else could have tampered with the puppets?"
Aha's rhetorical question was laced with deep meaning.
Herta turned sharply to the simulation screen where "she" appeared, and her pupils dilated slightly as she realized something wasn't right.
"Ahahahahaha!! That's the expression! That's what Aha lives for!"
"Even the smarty-pants Messenger of Erudition can show a face like that. Aha loves nothing more than shaking up people who think they've got it all figured out!"
The jester mask burst into another shrill laugh, spinning gleefully in mid-air.
To him, seeing the Messenger of Erudition so rattled was the peak of "Elation."
But Herta wasn't paying attention to the racket. She was mentally verifying the logic.
In the Simulated Universe, her simulated self made a wish to "create a robot with emotions," and in the real world, the puppet began behaving abnormally.
"This level of tampering must be from either 'Memory' or 'Mystery.' There's no third possibility."
"So Aha is just having fun with Jiang Mo's abnormalities, and not the one actually doing all this?"
The moment she finished that sentence, colorful confetti rained down to the sound of a party blower, like a celebration.
"Bingo! That's right~ But no reward!"
"This is all the work of that glass-headed guy. Aha's just borrowing his things for fun!"
Aha's words confirmed her suspicion. Herta slowly closed her eyes. The thoughtful look on her face was replaced with growing excitement.
"I want to see what kind of impact a 'memory' influenced by 'Elation' will have on reality."
She glanced at Jiang Mo, now the temporary central figure of the Simulated Universe, with a growing smirk.
"Let's see what else you've got, other than pretending to be 'Elation' in the Simulated Universe."
Meanwhile, Jiang Mo was busy preparing for the afternoon class.
Although the golden trait gave him enough ability to deal with Herta for a long time, it still wasn't enough.
Herta, the universe's unprecedented genius, had terrifying learning capabilities.
If Jiang Mo wanted to complete his goal smoothly, he had to prepare in advance.
Of course, thanks to the [Knowledge Absorption IV] trait, Jiang Mo's own learning speed was now terrifying as well. It was more than enough to handle Herta for now.
He just didn't know when that trait would make him ask another insane request.
He sighed, slowly closing the book in his hands.
"I swear, with the way Aha messes around, one day Herta's going to kick me out for being some suspected creepy lolicon."
But then a new realization hit him. So long as he remained Herta's private tutor, she couldn't go against his instructions.
At least in theory.
"Tsk... Wait, under this logic, could I actually get her to do that 'reluctantly shows you under her skirt' kind of thing?"
His eyes suddenly widened at the thought, but he quickly shook his head violently, trying to drive the wicked idea out.
"Damn it! What kind of thought is that?! This must be Aha's fault! Yeah, definitely Aha's fault!"
Rather than blame himself, it felt better to shift the guilt onto someone else. No burden on the conscience that way.
Muttering moral condemnation at Aha, Jiang Mo stood up, grabbed his book, and headed toward Herta's room.
In Jiang Mo's impression, a girl of Herta's age should have at least a few stuffed animals or some decorations exuding a girlish atmosphere in her room.
Moreover, considering Herta herself dressed like a magical girl, he naturally assumed her childhood room would reflect that same theme.
But when he actually saw Herta's room, all of his preconceived notions were completely overturned.
No stuffed animals. No decorations with a girlish vibe. Instead, there were scattered academic documents all over the floor and open books lying about casually.
Looking at the messy room before him and the girl reading amid the mess, Jiang Mo let out a small sigh.
As expected, this kind of genius couldn't be understood using normal logic.
Thinking this, Jiang Mo clicked his tongue, then staggered a little as he made his way through the piles of books and papers. He sat on the chair the doll-like girl had cleared out just for him.
"Miss Herta, shall we begin today's lesson?"
Hearing Jiang Mo's words, Herta, who had been absorbed in her book, gave a slight nod as if she were about to speak.
But then something unexpected happened.
Herta's movements froze, as if her time had stopped entirely.
Meanwhile, the sun outside the window sped through its rise and set cycle at what looked like at least 32 times normal speed, as if accelerated by magic.
"What in the world... is happening?"