Starting with Firefly, Speedrunning the World — Part 10

"Good grief, don't tell me you just stripped these off them or stole them directly?"

Looking at this "contraband," especially the lingering warmth in Fu Xuan's white stockings, Firefly seriously suspected the system had just stripped them off her.

They even smelled faintly of something. She had no idea whether it was Fu Xuan's sweat or the fragrance of her body wash.

Not that it smelled bad.

[How could I? Ahem... How could I do something so immoral as stripping things directly off other people?]

Even though it answered like that, Firefly felt that its tone was terribly guilty.

But she did not dwell on it any further. Those were secondary matters—the important thing was her golden legendary item.

Judging by its name alone, though, it did not seem very friendly.

[Blessing of Abundance]

Use/Description: After using the Blessing of Abundance, a phantom of Yaoshi will descend upon the designated planet and bestow a world-encompassing blessing.

Note: The Abundance Aeon only handles the blessing. You bear the consequences yourself!

"Uh..."

It looked incredibly powerful, capable of blessing an entire planet, but it also seemed utterly useless.

Bear the consequences herself?!

What did that mean? It gave life but did not take responsibility for what came after!

As everyone knew, Yaoshi's blessings were both blessings and curses.

Sure enough, even pulling gold did not necessarily mean getting something useful. Still, looking at her remaining points, the girl decided to keep trying. The odds of pulling gold were so high—maybe the next one would send her soaring.

"Again."

Another ten-pull. This time, however, purple light arrived instead, with no gold in sight. Sure enough, the chance of getting consecutive gold pulls was still too low.

[(Blue) Sparkle's Mask]

[(Blue) Robin's Earrings]

[(Blue) A Small Curio Collected by Jing Yuan]

[(Blue) White Stockings Worn by Fu Xuan]

[(Blue) Silver Wolf's Game Account]

[(Purple) Herta Puppet]

"?"

Firefly was furious.

Why was it all this stuff again?!

Where were the promised Light Cones and Relics?

And were Fu Xuan's white stockings and Silver Wolf's game account duplicates? Or had Fu Xuan just changed into a new pair before the system stripped those off too?

And just how many game accounts did Silver Wolf have?

If she kept pulling, would the system steal every single one of her game accounts?

The guaranteed purple item from a ten-pull was actually a Herta puppet.

Ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous!

Still, with this Herta puppet, could the real Herta remotely control it across worlds?

If she could, that would be amazing.

As an Emanator of the Erudition Aeon, member #83 of the Genius Society, and a brilliant scientist of extraordinary intelligence, Herta would make many things much easier.

Any future human or statue of a goddess of creation would only be fit to serve as Herta's experimental data!

Even if she could not wield the power of an Emanator, as the most intelligent person on all of Blue Planet, she could still provide immense logistical support.

But clearly, the girl had thought too much!

After finding an empty place and taking out the Herta puppet, she immediately learned that the real Herta could not descend upon it.

"Then what use are you?"

Looking at the incredibly lifelike Herta puppet before her, Firefly sounded somewhat disappointed upon learning that it could not contact the real Herta.

Could it only be used as a decoration?

It was indeed quite cute, and it would be adorable to keep by her side as an ornament, but that could not count as a purple-quality reward, could it?

A ten-pull guaranteed one purple item, and getting something so useless was far too disappointing.

No, that was not right!

It was not completely useless.

"I possess basic artificial intelligence. You may order me to carry out certain basic tasks. Additionally, I can assist you in battle."

Herta's puppet answered Firefly expressionlessly. It looked very intelligent, yet somehow not all that intelligent.

"Fight? Are you strong?"

Sizing up the puppet before her, Firefly could not tell that she possessed any particular strength. She was simply a little Herta doll.

With those distinctive puppet joints, she looked like a life-sized BJD doll.

"No. I only have the most basic self-defense mechanisms set by Miss Herta. I can only deal with enemies of very limited strength."

"I see."

Firefly had her give it a try and found that she really was quite ordinary. At best, she could barely contend with Jyamato Fortress head-on. Taking apart a city by herself would not be a problem.

And she was especially good at spinning in circles!

She could barely be considered a purple-rarity item.

Firefly reached out and felt her over. Not only did the puppet look incredibly real, she felt almost exactly like a real person too. Impressive.

This would do. Having a puppet to keep her company was not bad either!

She did not waste any more of her points.

Her remaining points were not enough for another ten-pull, so Firefly gave up on drawing cards and obediently exchanged them all for the power of the Path of Destruction.

But the improvement was not that great...

"It's already gotten so late. I need to find somewhere to stay."

With all the important matters taken care of, Firefly looked at the sky and realized that night had already fallen.

Without much thought, she prepared to take Herta's puppet to find a hotel. There were still plenty of functions this Herta had that she had not figured out, and she needed to study them carefully.

According to her own introduction, she possessed a certain degree of artificial intelligence.

Firefly had no idea exactly what level it had reached, or whether it could build a website on its own or breach the firewalls of some major corporations.

Come to think of it, this world—including those future people—was made up of data-based lifeforms. If it were a powerful enough artificial intelligence, would it be capable of directly erasing everything?

Looking at it that way, if she had transformed into Silver Wolf in this world, she would have been far more suited to the job!

As she pondered these things, Firefly reached the entrance of a hotel. When she patted herself down, she finally realized that she had no money.

In her original world, she had been used to going out with just her phone. Everything could be paid for by phone anyway. And with the money she earned, as long as she did not get married or raise children, she had enough to comfortably coast through life.

She had not planned on getting married either, so she could be said to have achieved financial freedom.

Her habitual way of thinking had really made her overlook everyday matters involving money.

"What do I do now?"

The thousand yen she had picked up earlier was only enough for a bowl of soba. Now, she could be said to be completely penniless.

If she had known, she should have picked up some money for emergencies while she was in the Jyamato domain. It had never even crossed her mind.

A single penny could stump a hero.

Firefly understood that now. She had reached the hotel entrance, yet could not even get a room because she had no money.

Although Sam was powerful, Firefly could not bring herself to rob people for money through such immoral means.

After thinking for a while, Firefly shifted her gaze to the adorable Herta puppet beside her.

"Herta, go get some money."

Hadn't she said she was an artificial intelligence?

Making money should be easy for an artificial intelligence, right? Stocks, currencies, that sort of thing—surely Herta's puppet could handle it effortlessly!

Firefly was filled with anticipation for this Herta puppet.

She had been wrong before. This puppet really was useful after all.

However...

"Get money?"

Hearing Firefly's words, Herta's puppet adorably tilted her head in confusion. Then, she seemed to understand something.

"Get money, get money..."

Herta's puppet swept her gaze across the surroundings, then locked onto a bank not far away. At some point, a massive crystal hammer had suddenly appeared in her hand.

She began walking toward the bank step by step.

Seeing the way Herta's puppet was acting, Firefly immediately panicked. When she told her to get money, did she seriously intend to just go rob a bank?

That was way too absurd. Without thinking, Firefly grabbed hold of her.