At that moment, Silver Wolf fell silent.
She then made one last attempt to resist. "You can post your quests, but I know how to tempt a player. I'll just post one of my own."
But Herta delivered the final blow. "Quests need rewards, right? I may not know what players like, but I can offer rewards that you can't. What now?"
Silver Wolf was speechless. She had to admit Herta had dealt her a crushing blow. Now, she regretted provoking Herta after invading the space station.
However, she still had a chance to save face.
"Alright, fine. Livestream if you want, just make sure no faces show."
Seeing Silver Wolf behave so sensibly, Herta patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I have principles. I'll only stream the game footage—no one will see your face. And as promised, while you're on my space station for the competition, you'll be safe."
As a true genius, Herta had many goals. She wanted to test Pei Guang, probe the Emanators, and maybe even understand more about the Aeons themselves. But at the same time, she also wanted to exact a bit of revenge on Silver Wolf. Of course, Herta believed in leaving room for future encounters—no need to burn bridges completely.
After all, her plan was never to permanently delete Silver Wolf's accounts. At most, she'd lock them up to scare her. Watching Silver Wolf try to act righteous while being terrified made Herta feel quite satisfied.
And naturally, Herta recorded Silver Wolf's amusing reactions. Through the livestream, she would also enjoy watching Pei Guang make Silver Wolf stumble. Winning or losing didn't matter. Herta's whole goal with this bet was simply to have more people watch Silver Wolf squirm.
Thinking about it now, it was incredibly satisfying. But, Herta was also careful—she'd keep the most amusing parts of Silver Wolf's downfall for herself.
Since Silver Wolf and Pei Guang have such a strangely compatible dynamic, there's a chance that she might become one of the Trailblazers in the future—or at least a companion to the players. It's fine to mess with her, but pushing her too far wouldn't be a good idea.
As for Silver Wolf, what could she do? She had no choice but to agree. In fact, she even felt a bit relieved. As long as her face wouldn't be shown and it was just game footage, it didn't really matter.
Facing a major boss like Herta wasn't something she could handle right now. As a player, when confronted by a boss before she had fully leveled up, Silver Wolf would always bend to the boss's demands—temporarily, of course. She'd agree to their terms for now, with plans to deal with them later, once she was strong enough.
As Silver Wolf silently plotted how she might one day "conquer" Herta, the latter reminded her, "The Trailblazers have just arrived at my office. Your competition is about to begin~"
Silver Wolf said nothing, simply attempting to teleport to Herta's office using her own skills. However, she quickly realized that Herta had blocked all teleports to her office—essentially putting up a "No Teleportation Allowed" zone.
Silver Wolf grumbled, "So jealous. Their teleportation works without any restrictions."
Herta smirked, "I'm jealous too. If I had that kind of ability, I wouldn't have to keep running around."
Silver Wolf added with a touch of sarcasm, "Right? Even in a game, they can't have a setup this ridiculous."
Herta replied, "Who knows? Maybe the games he plays aren't even from this world."
Silver Wolf's eyes lit up at the thought. "Could be! His arrival was like he was just thrown in here. He even managed to crash into the Fragmentum and dispel it! Games from another world—otherworldly games!!!"
At that moment, Silver Wolf's eyes sparkled. She had played countless games across the universe, but there was something oddly frustrating about it. Despite all the planets and civilizations out there, it wasn't uncommon for people in different worlds to share similar appearances or life experiences.
This led to a strange homogeneity across many games, something that really irked her as a gamer. Imagine going through all the effort to explore the universe, thinking you'd find new and exciting games to play, only to end up playing games that felt like more advanced versions of ones you already had. The disappointment was immeasurable!
But now, hearing about the possibility of playing a truly new game—even if it had some similarities in gameplay but wasn't the same—was thrilling for her!
Herta waved off Silver Wolf's excitement. "Don't think too much about it. It'll only give you a headache. But hey, if you ever come across some interesting information, especially about Pei Guang, feel free to share it with me. I might even help you out."
Silver Wolf was taken aback. "Really?"
She hadn't expected that, after provoking Herta, she might actually get help from her.
Herta shrugged, "I keep things professional. I never said I was letting you off the hook. To me, you're just a good test subject. His power to bend reality is so strange that calling him a growing Aeon wouldn't even be a stretch."
Silver Wolf mused, "If we go by the logic of games and novels, he might even come from a higher-dimensional world, brought here by some special being to raise the level of our universe. Heck, maybe there are even readers or players watching this story unfold, or playing from his perspective! And my actions don't really affect the future, so I'm just part of an event storyline?"
Herta grinned with anticipation. "Who knows? But whatever the case, one day we'll uncover the secrets he holds."
Silver Wolf shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. As long as the rewards are good, I'm fine with a complicated quest."
For Herta, Silver Wolf had a similar appeal to Pei Guang—there were some interesting overlaps in their personalities. She wasn't daring enough to experiment on Pei Guang directly, but Silver Wolf? That was a different story. Worst case, she'd only anger the Stellaron Hunters.
Besides, now that Silver Wolf was effectively a player, there would be plenty of quests she'd have to take on. Even if she didn't accept, Pei Guang surely would.
As for Silver Wolf's attitude? It was simple: "Sis, if you don't delete my accounts, you're the best. You can even ban me, I'll take it—but please, don't delete them. Love ya~"
After all, she had tons of limited-time event items and rare gear she'd farmed for years. She'd rather be killed than have those deleted. She may be a super hacker, but once data gets wiped out on a physical level, not even Emanators could help her restore it.
Just look at what the geniuses in the Genius Society had done—each one had brought monumental changes to their era.
Like she always said, if you were going to challenge a boss, you should at least level up first. Otherwise, it was just throwing yourself into the fire.
Meanwhile, Pei Guang, Stelle, and March 7th had already teleported into Herta's office.
Stelle looked around the room and, upon spotting one of Herta's puppets, her face lit up with delight.
Herta immediately cut her off. "Stop right there—this isn't your quest reward!"
Herta wasn't too worried about Pei Guang trying anything. She had analyzed his behavioral patterns and familiarized herself with how he approached games. Based on what she'd observed, she understood Pei Guang's logic well.
As long as everything was explained, Pei Guang wouldn't do anything outside the limits.
But that was also the headache. Because while a player like Pei Guang wouldn't do things restricted by the game, he would do everything else.