On the way to Herta's office, many space station staff members greeted Stelle and Caelus enthusiastically when they crossed paths.
Undoubtedly, these were the people Stelle and Caelus had rescued from the clutches of the Antimatter Legion's Voidrangers.
A smaller group of staff members had a more complicated attitude – a mix of warmth and disdain, looking at them as if they were observing fools, yet also holding the reverence one reserves for powerful figures.
Do you dare rummage through trash cans?
Do you dare make biochemical bombs out of trash and detonate them at close range?
You wouldn't dare!
But these two do—that's what makes them big shots!
"Hehe~! Everyone's so friendly!"
Stelle puffed out her chest, hands on her hips, striking a smug pose as if burdened by popularity.
"Wake up, wake up. Seriously, you need to get a grip on reality," Caelus said, grabbing Stelle's shoulders and shaking her vigorously.
Even setting aside actions like opening treasure chests and grabbing crystals that outsiders might misunderstand, this Stellaron being's mental state was truly something else. Passersby would have to give her a thumbs-up – pure gold!
"But I just turned one year old~!"
Stelle slapped Caelus's hands away, putting on a high-pitched voice, attacking his unsuspecting ears with a tone so sickeningly sweet and charming it could kill.
"Ugh~!"
Instantly, a wave of revulsion washed over Caelus. Goosebumps erupted wildly all over his skin; he desperately wished Dark Seele could swing her scythe at him just to stop the itching sensation.
"Damn it! Why is this shared too?!"
Seeing Caelus's reaction, Stelle's victorious smile had barely lasted a second before her expression drastically changed.
She shivered miserably, rubbing the goosebumps that had appeared on her own arms.
While sounds weren't shared, the sensation that caused the goosebumps apparently was.
"See? You reap what you sow."
Hearing Caelus's preachy tone, Stelle instantly switched into pufferfish mode, her little face puffing up with a bang~.
"Oh, right."
A deflating sound escaped Stelle's lips as she suddenly remembered something. She summoned the system menu—which only displayed the shop—and pushed it in front of Caelus.
Draping an arm over Caelus's shoulder like a buddy, Stelle asked curiously, "Caelus, what's this 'Haki' thing?"
Joyous news! The system shop had finally listed its first batch of items on the third day.
"Haki, huh?"
Grey hair swayed as Caelus, despite his cool and sophisticated beauty, tilted his head in a cute, puzzled manner that was almost lethally adorable. For a fleeting moment, Caelus felt a flicker of desire for Stelle.
He quickly tore his attention away from her and focused on the items in the shop.
"It's a latent power that resides within every person. Presence, killing intent, fighting spirit... Haki is the ability to weaponize these things through sheer willpower."
"If you 'long press' on an item with your intention, you'll get its description."
Stelle only had shop access, lacking even the most basic instructions.
"Is that so?"
Thoughtfully, Stelle focused her attention as Caelus instructed. Realization gradually dawned in her golden eyes. "I see, so this is Haki."
"Observation Haki, Armament Haki, and Conqueror's Haki..."
Caelus had already warned Stelle about the system shop items – they were their secret, best kept from any third party.
"And this Lick-Lick Fruit... How amazing! It can turn any living creature it touches into candy!? That looks like so much fun!"
Having learned how to check item descriptions, her curiosity piqued by the wondrous ability, Stelle couldn't hold back. She raised her small hand, about to press the purchase button for the crystals.
Once again, Caelus grabbed her delicate, pale hand.
"What are you doing? Buying something this interesting can't possibly be a waste, right? And it's not expensive, only 19 crystals."
"Look here." Caelus wagged his finger, pointing beside the item image.
"Hm?"
Stelle blinked, curiously craning her neck. Finally, with her eyes wide—big, doll-like eyes—she spotted the tiny, almost transparent text.
Fruit ability duration: 3-5 hours.
"Damn it! What a rip-off!" Stelle couldn't help but curse aloud.
It was time-limited!
It wasn't just the Lick-Lick Fruit; Stelle carefully scanned the entire shop and found that all listed items had usage time limits.
"The moment you saw that ridiculously low price, you should have realized there was a huge catch," Caelus stated.
Honestly, when Caelus first saw the system shop items and their prices, his heart had slammed down like an accelerator pedal floored, blood rushing to his head. But he eased off the next second.
If items like these were sold so cheaply, why would the system even need a gacha mechanic?
Sure enough, after careful examination, Caelus discovered the truth.
All goods appearing in the system shop were single-use items!
The system's explanation for this was halting and vague. After some persistent questioning and conversational maneuvering from Caelus, he pieced together the full picture through half-guessing and half-deduction.
The system had leased out its shop module to other systems – a seemingly win-win situation. However, just like how high-end graphics cards might be nerfed for certain markets, these other systems wouldn't place their core technologies directly within this system.
The end result was the sale of time-limited items at low prices.
If Caelus still had the personality from his 'Qi Qiong' phase, he would never spend limited crystal resources on disposable items. But for the current Caelus, it didn't really matter.
As long as it was fun and entertaining enough, anything was worth buying!
For instance, the moment Caelus saw the Gum-Gum Fruit, his 'little brother' piped up.
Little Brother: Hey! Boss, I've got an idea 🤓☝️
Buy it for me, and I'll surely repay you with a true Ruyi Jingu Bang!
Once the Boss possesses the Ruyi Jingu Bang, he'll definitely defeat the Dark Seele in his heart!
He'll prop up the entire layout of the new 'house,' breaking through the partition to the upper floor!
Caelus immediately rebuked his 'little brother' furiously.
Is that how the Gum-Gum Fruit is supposed to be used?
Sun God Nika would weep hearing about such perverted actions!
Subsequently, Caelus 'locked' the Gum-Gum Fruit.
The system shop refreshed periodically – essentially, the stall space was rented out to different systems. However, Caelus could lock items he liked, preventing them from ever being refreshed away.
Might as well give it a try, right?
In that moment, Caelus once again entered the venerable realm of 'Might As Well Try It.'
"Actually, it's not entirely a rip-off. Even though it's time-limited, the price really isn't bad..."
19 crystals! What more could you ask for at that price!?
A unique ability from an external system could potentially be life-saving in a critical moment!
"Alright, if you still want to buy it now, I won't stop you." Caelus released her slender, soft hand.
Stelle hesitated upon hearing this.
A single-use, time-limited item... shouldn't it be saved for the right moment?
But... it could turn living beings into candy!
That sounded incredibly cool!
Stelle's dilemma didn't last long, as they soon arrived at what was reputed to be the most mysterious office in the entire universe.
Herta's office was far larger than its in-game map model suggested, easily more than double the size. The room, hundreds of meters wide, was filled with all sorts of high-tech equipment.
Holographic images lined both sides of the room, displaying portraits and achievement summaries of Genius Society members, including Herta herself.
Unlike Stelle, who was still wondering if there might be treasure hidden somewhere in Herta's office, Caelus didn't bother looking around or rummaging.
'She' had only left less than two hours ago; for the past few days, Herta had practically been living in this office.
Three days... To set aside something she was interested in for three whole days was something anyone who knew Herta would find unbelievable.
There could only be one reason for this situation: she had something even more interesting on her hands!
"Modifying genetic factors through some technology, storing techniques, knowledge, even power... allowing the holder's will to connect with Imaginary Space..."
In front of a particular device, Herta stared intently at the data flowing like a waterfall on the holographic projection, murmuring with absorbed interest.
"Hey, someone's here! We're here! Aren't you going to greet us?"
Being summoned only to be ignored, Stelle started grumbling indignantly.
"Even carving out a special dimension within Imaginary Space using willpower... How is this possible?"
"This thing seems to be only a prototype. If fully realized, it might allow human consciousness to connect directly with Imaginary Space, achieving a complete evolution... Such a thing... it's simply! Simply incredible!"
Herta's tone, initially filled with keen interest, gradually shifted to excitement and shock as she grasped more information about the Stigmata.
"Are you going to run the tests or not? If not, I'm leaving!" Stelle turned, pretending she was about to walk out.
"The creator of this thing... who could it possibly be?"
Herta frowned in confusion, seemingly not having heard Stelle's words at all.
"There were actually two creators of the Stigmata. The one who created the prototype was a biologist named Mobius. The scientist who modified it to the state you see now was named MEI."
Caelus's voice, though several decibels lower than Stelle's, instantly snapped Herta out of her contemplation. She sharply raised her head and looked straight at Caelus.
"You know about this?"
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