The Herta's Couples Experiment

Lin Hai's gaze rested calmly on the Lucky Star in Cipher's hand. Suddenly, he spoke.

"You don't actually control it, do you? You don't know anything about it."

Cipher's fingers paused slightly as she toyed with the Lucky Star, and her cat ears twitched.

She looked up, a flicker of surprise in her eyes. "Oh? How did you figure that out?"

Her voice was still light and cheerful.

"It told me," Lin Hai replied, his answer brief and mysterious.

"How did it tell you?" Cipher's curiosity was piqued.

"Through the power it gave me," Lin Hai explained calmly. "The form the power takes, its source, and its timing all speak the truth."

The information on the contract panel that had appeared in his mind had already revealed the connection between the growth of his power and intimacy.

Hugging, holding hands, kissing, and finally consummating a marriage were the path to unlocking that power.

Cipher's explanation now seemed feeble and riddled with holes.

A flicker of panic crossed Cipher's eyes, but she quickly recovered her composure. Trying to maintain the illusion that she was in control, she parted her red lips and spun a new lie.

"Looks like I can't hide it from you... That's right, actually, I used the Lucky Star to channel power to you..."

"There's no need to keep covering it up," Lin Hai interrupted her. "You don't understand how the Lucky Star works. But although you misled me, the end result wasn't bad. It even brought unexpected gains, so I won't hold it against you!"

With her lie completely exposed, Cipher froze for a moment. Then her shoulders relaxed, and a more genuine smile appeared on her face.

"Tsk, you saw right through me... All right! That's right, I know next to nothing about this thing."

She admitted it freely, her candor surprising.

Lin Hai smiled slightly. "You can return to your original world at any time through the Lucky Star."

"Go back?" Cipher shook her head almost immediately. She looked around the warm, comfortable living room, a hint of languor in her eyes.

"I want to live a peaceful life for a while now. This place... looks pretty nice."

She paused, her tone turning serious. "I can pay rent. I definitely won't stay here for free!"

"There's no rush about the rent." Lin Hai gestured for her to relax. "You can stay in the spare bedroom for now."

"Okay! Thank you!"

Cipher's eyes lit up, and her tail swayed gently behind her. She was clearly very pleased with the arrangement.

Lin Hai picked up the remote and turned on the television. A fast-paced military film began playing on the screen.

Cipher curled up naturally on the other side of the sofa. At first, she only glanced curiously at the screen, but the story soon drew her in, and she became absorbed in it.

After watching the film for a while, Lin Hai returned to his bedroom alone.

Outside the window, the city lights blurred into a hazy glow.

He closed his eyes, turned his attention inward, and carefully sensed the changes within his body.

Power filled his limbs and bones, while a mysterious energy flowed quietly within him—that was Path Power!

He could see it clearly.

The leap in his constitution was a strengthening of the flesh: his bones were tougher, and his vitality was as dense as mercury.

Path Power, on the other hand, was more like a spirit that clung to his soul yet resonated with the vast universe.

What made Lin Hai most special was the way he drew upon this power.

Ordinary Pathstriders had to strictly practice the philosophy and will of a particular Path.

Only after undergoing trials could they earn an Aeon's gaze and blessing.

But Lin Hai was different.

The Contract Lucky Star bypassed all those stringent rules, directly gifting him this power from the origin of the universe.

This almost cheating-like path of growth filled Lin Hai's heart with an indescribable joy.

Just as he was immersed in this realization, however, an abrupt change occurred!

Without warning, the space around him began to warp and shatter like a broken mirror.

The sight of his bedroom faded and peeled away in an instant.

Before Lin Hai could react, a powerful pulling force swept him through time and space.

By the time he steadied himself again, the scene before him had completely changed.

His familiar bedroom was gone, replaced by a vast space filled with the feel of cutting-edge technology.

Bands of blue data flowed across the cold metal walls, and beyond the enormous observation window in the distance lay the depths of space and brilliant nebulae.

This was the Herta Space Station.

Directly in front of Lin Hai, a girl in an exquisite dress, with an extraordinary bearing, was quietly watching him.

Her arms were crossed over her chest. It was The Herta herself.

"Ah, you're here." The Herta's voice was calm. "My preliminary analysis of your Lucky Star revealed some... rather interesting data fluctuations..."

"...I thought it was necessary to discuss them with you in person."

Relying on her astonishing intellect and technological methods, The Herta had made some progress in her research on the Lucky Star.

Constrained by a special force field, the Lucky Star floated in midair, surrounded by several detection devices whose streams of data constantly refreshed.

After a series of extremely rigorous scans and excitation experiments, an unprecedented discovery presented itself to The Herta.

Around this seemingly ordinary Lucky Star was an extremely well-hidden energy field, one that almost blended into the background quantum fluctuations.

The energy field's signal was faint enough to fool the vast majority of conventional detectors.

Only by using the laboratory's most advanced and sensitive quantum state capture array had The Herta succeeded in finding it.

The Lucky Star's energy field had a very small range, closely enveloping only the Lucky Star itself.

It could not be excited.

According to The Herta's calculations, once it was initially excited, its projected energy level would be beyond imagination!

Even a conservative estimate put the potential energy it contained above the combined output of all the energy modules on the Herta Space Station.

An... incredible treasure!

The Herta told Lin Hai everything she had discovered in her experiments.

After listening, Lin Hai did not find it very strange.

After all, over the past few days, he had personally experienced how extraordinary the Contract Lucky Star was.

Lin Hai took a deep breath and slowly walked into the experimental force field.

As he approached the Lucky Star, the readings on the detection devices changed dramatically!

The previously faint energy field around the Lucky Star seemed to be infused with life. Its activity increased markedly, and it began to display more complex structural dimensions.

"Interesting." The Herta noticed the change and turned to Lin Hai. "It seems only your approach can effectively trigger a deeper response from it. Do you have any idea what's behind this change?"

"I know a few methods." Lin Hai nodded and, under The Herta's curious gaze, proposed a remarkable plan.

"For example, having dinner together, taking a walk together, or watching a movie... all of those can further excite the Lucky Star's energy."

The Herta was slightly taken aback.

Her intense thirst for knowledge led her to accept the proposal. "Very well. Let's test your methods."