Seeing the sudden appearance of the mission result screen, Jiang Mo sighed softly.
"Clearly I'm here to bring you joy, but you try every possible way to toy with me. This is just..."
He shook his head, as if unable to deal with Aha's bottomless craving for amusement.
Almost the moment he spoke, the text on the light screen changed again.
[You didn't die, did you~? The ending is good! I even gave you a purple trait for free~]
"Who says social death doesn't count as death?"
Jiang Mo rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the golden card, engraved with the Path of Elation and glowing with a purple light.
"Let's hope this one is more... human."
As his fingers brushed across the back of the card, it dissolved into purple light. Text appeared on the screen:
[Congratulations! You've obtained the trait: "Knowledge Absorption IV" · Purple]["Knowledge Absorption IV": Your absorption of knowledge is increased by 200%, making it easier for you to play the role of a "private tutor."]["Elation" Effect: At regular intervals, you must make an unreasonable demand to Herta that she cannot refuse.]
Reading through the effect, especially the last line in bold red, Jiang Mo clenched his teeth in frustration.
He knew Aha had no good intentions. Claiming to help while creating chaos at every turn.
First it was stockings. What's next? He didn't even want to imagine.
Are you sure you're the Aeon of Elation and not some degenerate pervert possessed by delusions? Why are you so obsessed with turning people into weird fetishes?
That's enough.
"Sigh. I can't take this anymore. Having something like that in my life must be fate."
Jiang Mo sighed helplessly, then left the dining room and headed toward his room.
As Herta had mentioned, there was still a math analysis class in the afternoon. As a proper tutor, he needed to prepare for it.
"...Maybe I should secretly return these stockings to her when I get the chance."
Meanwhile, in her room, Herta didn't open Foundations of Imaginary Energy like usual.
Instead, she rested her chin in her hand and gazed out the window, looking somewhat lost in thought.
"Emotions, huh... Something like that can actually act as a non-rational variable in academic concepts?"
She tilted her head slightly, her mind still stuck on the "problem" Jiang Mo had casually raised.
Hailed since childhood as a genius among geniuses, Herta had always considered emotions to be utterly superfluous.
Her parents were too busy to spend time with her, and she had grown up surrounded by cold, emotionless robots.
Peers avoided her for being too intelligent, even calling her a "monster" behind her back. Another reason she chose to isolate herself and study alone at home.
As for the private tutors, there was never even a hint of emotional connection.
Most were in their thirties or forties, yet found themselves completely outpaced in mere weeks by a little girl who surpassed their twenty years of academic training. Some even broke down under the pressure.
They either froze in shock or became overwhelmed. Not one ever provided the kind of academic companionship she longed for.
So in the absence of it, she grew used to solitude.
But that solitude eventually became loneliness.
She had always wanted to find someone who could talk to her about academics like a peer—someone who could become a friend.
Someone who could make her life less monotonous.
And Jiang Mo, at least for now, was the most suitable person she had ever met.
He raised questions she had never considered and constantly made absurd, nonsensical demands.
It was all so new to her.
Thinking about this, Herta casually crossed her legs. Having grown used to the warmth of stockings, taking them off had left her legs feeling exposed and uncomfortable.
Staring at the green leaves outside the window under a clear blue sky, she slowly closed her eyes and ended her contemplation.
"Hope you can last until I manage to give my robots emotions."
With that, she lowered her head and resumed her research on imaginary energy theory.
What Jiang Mo didn't realize was that his offhand remark had already become a serious research topic for Herta.
.....
Herta Space Station
Watching a screen flashing with footage of Jiang Mo and Herta, the real Herta nodded with interest before turning toward a floating jester mask that had emerged from the corner of the room.
"If I'm not mistaken, this was all your doing, wasn't it?"
"Hahahahaha! And if it was, so what? If not, so what? It's happening right in front of you. To you. Isn't it fun?"
The mask spun mid-air with excitement, and Herta scoffed, shaking her head.
"Sure, it's entertaining. But it's not impressive."
"After all, it wasn't my own actions or his. It was just you, manipulating everything."
"That's not fair~ I only gave a little push. Besides, who says I'm the one pulling the strings? Hahahahaha! When humans start to ponder, the tinheads begin to panic."
"...What do you mean by that?"
Herta frowned slightly. Something felt wrong.
Then, a sudden cold sensation touched her arm, followed by an all-too-familiar voice.
"Herta, ma'am. What would you like for lunch today? I'll make the arrangements."
Startled, Herta instinctively reached for her wand-like staff and almost cast a spell at the puppet clinging to her arm but stopped herself just in time.
The puppet tilted its head with an oddly human gesture, asking with innocent eyes:
"Did I do something wrong, ma'am? Would you like to return me to the forge for remaking?"
Her eyes widened in disbelief. Before she could fully process what was happening, the jester mask erupted in crazed laughter, spinning wildly in the air.
"Hahahahaha! This is too good! I didn't expect it to work like this! What an elating surprise!"