Starting with Firefly, Speedrunning Worlds — Part 36

Was it really that impressive? Then why did Herta need to control things remotely? She could just let the puppet do it!

"Uh, sorry."

"I was being too naive. If it can't be done, then forget it."

Seeing the Herta puppet's reaction, Firefly scratched her head. It seemed she had made things sound too easy. She had only thought that if they were going to modify it, they might as well do a better job.

She hadn't expected it to be this complicated...

Some of the future people's technology really wasn't as simple as she had imagined.

After all, it didn't exist in this era.

"It's not impossible. Why don't you try seeing if you can draw a fragment of Ms. Herta, or someone else from the Genius Society?"

Seeing Firefly apologize to her, the angry Herta puppet felt a little embarrassed instead.

After all, she was merely a robot puppet belonging to Firefly. There was no need for Firefly to apologize to her at all. After thinking for a moment, she made the suggestion.

"Huh? You can draw fragments too?"

Firefly was astonished.

Fragments could actually be drawn? There had been no explanation for that at all.

If she really drew a fragment, that would be far too interesting.

"Of course you can."

The Herta puppet answered with absolute certainty.

"Then I'll give it a try?"

Even if character fragments really could be drawn, the odds were probably very low!

Still, Firefly couldn't help wanting to try.

She had earned quite a few points again earlier, especially after obtaining the Vision Driver, which had directly forced the dgp to suspend.

That achievement alone, together with Kamen Rider Glare, had earned her 3,000 points.

Including the Playing Card Jamato from before, she had a total of 3,068 points.

The mission to clear out all the Playing Card Jamato hadn't been completed, but compared to that, the Driver was more important. There was nothing to regret!

She didn't have enough points for twenty pulls yet, but Firefly wasn't obsessed with only pulling in round numbers. She would do a ten-pull first, then use the rest for single pulls.

The difficulty of clearing this world hadn't been as high as she had imagined. She might not necessarily need Emanator-level strength.

And regardless of how lucky she was with the draws—

At least the rewards could be used in later worlds, so they would definitely not go to waste. There were still six—no, more than a dozen worlds left to clear.

After all, the power of the Aeons was right in front of her. How could she possibly give it up?

"Ten-pull draw, activate!"

She put in 1,600 points, and a burst of purple light flashed brightly.

This was bad—only one purple item at the guaranteed minimum.

She skipped all the little blue trash and locked onto the purple item.

[(Purple) Phantylia Heliobus Fragment]

"..."

"Lord Ravager Phantylia?!"

Why had she drawn something like this?

Not a single Lord Ravager was a good person, and Phantylia was even a Heliobus.

Heliobi were rare members of the Incorporeal Order—energy lifeforms without fixed physical forms that delighted in seizing the fleshly bodies of intelligent beings and controlling them.

Ordinary Heliobi were already dangerous enough, but Phantylia was even more terrifying. She was an Emanator of Destruction.

Then again, while she was certainly dangerous, she was also very useful. Firefly would keep it for now. If she encountered any difficult Heliobus-related problems in the future, it should be of great help.

Since even a fragment of Phantylia could be drawn, Firefly became even more convinced that character fragments could be drawn as well.

Heliobus fragments generally possessed their own consciousness. If she took this fragment out, would it become a little Phantylia, like what happened after the great Heliobus Ignamar was shattered?

Probably.

She continued drawing, though she could only do single pulls now.

After skipping several blue-quality items in a row, fortunately, she got a purple item early instead of needing to hit the guarantee.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the fragment she wanted, but it was related to Herta.

[(Purple) Four-Star Erudition Light Cone Portrait of a Girl]

[Portrait of a Girl]

Light Cone Description: At first, it held exactly the same pose as the figure in the previous portrait.

She looked at the face identical to her own and decided that this still was not her. "How could there possibly be two identical portraits in the world?" She fiddled with its joints, taught it to open its eyes, and taught its fingers to become softer. Satisfied, she finally stopped.

"Completely different from yesterday—this is who I am today."

Looking at Herta's image on the Light Cone, Firefly recalled that this Light Cone was what had made her start liking Herta in the first place. She was just too adorable.

"I didn't get a fragment of Ms. Herta. I only got this, so you can have it!"

After admiring the image on the Light Cone for a moment, she sensed the distinct power of the Path of Erudition within it, as well as Herta's aura.

Firefly then handed it to the Herta puppet beside her.

Ukiyo Ace's Troubles

"..."

The Herta puppet silently accepted the Light Cone and examined it from side to side, though it was unclear what she was looking for.

"Even if it isn't a fragment of Ms. Herta, it's still power related to Herta. And with the help of the Path of Erudition, making a copy of a storage card shouldn't be difficult, right?"

Watching the Herta puppet's actions, Firefly sat by the table with her small chin propped on both hands and softly asked.

The power of Light Cones was remarkable. Unlike in the game, in the real Honkai: Star Rail universe, every Light Cone was a rare commodity.

They were a technology from the Garden of Recollection, capable of sealing memories within fragments of light for one to carry around. Using them could improve one's various abilities.

The Interastral Peace Corporation had channels to acquire them, but their prices were exorbitant. Very few people had ever actually seen a Light Cone.

In a sense, Light Cones were quite similar to Providence Cards and Buckles, but they were even more miraculous—perhaps even beyond technology itself.

"I'll give it a try."

Having accepted the Light Cone, the Herta puppet made no promises, but it likely would not be much of a problem.

"Then I'll leave it to you."

With that answer, Firefly was reassured.

"Is Neon trapped in the Kurama Family estate and unable to get out?"

Leaving the bedroom and giving the Herta puppet some space, Firefly looked around the empty house and muttered softly to herself.

Kurama Neon had said earlier that she needed to go home, but there had been no news from her since. Still, Firefly was certain that nothing had happened to her; she was still at the Kurama Family estate.

With the things Firefly had given her, she should not have been unable to leave.

Even if the guards and bodyguards might have become more vigilant.

Firefly took out her phone and sent Kurama Neon a message. Checking the time, she saw it was about time. Without giving it any more thought, she left the house.

The work she had submitted was about to begin serialization. This trip was to finalize the details and receive an advance on her manuscript fees.

Because she really was out of money.

These past few days, she had not asked Kurama Neon for money, nor had she used her powers to obtain any illegally. As for Herta, Firefly had only asked her to handle other, more important matters.

But now, things could finally ease up a little.

The work she had submitted was not copied from anywhere—it was entirely original!

It was just that many themes and ideas from her previous life had never appeared in this world. She had casually written something based on those experiences, and it had passed the publishing review right away, earning her the chance to debut through the fastest possible serialization.

She took the train to her destination, and everything went smoothly without any complications. Likewise, she did not run into any delightfully stereotypical fellow beautiful girl writers or gorgeous editors.

Her editor was a middle-aged man who looked steady and composed.

Instead, Firefly's appearance had caught everyone's attention. No one had expected the person who submitted the work to be such a beautiful girl.

So the beautiful girl writer... was Firefly herself.

Before long, Firefly left the publishing house. That day, she had successfully confirmed the serialization date and received an advance on part of her manuscript fees and royalties.

Firefly did not hurry home afterward. It was already noon, and now that she had money in hand, she could not keep treating herself poorly.

After all, she had never advocated excessive frugality. Being broke was one thing, but once she had money, she definitely could not mistreat her stomach. Food that actually went into her belly was the most worthwhile and meaningful thing to spend money on.

She used her phone to search for nearby food, then settled on a place that was inexpensive yet highly rated.

The atmosphere and surroundings were good, and the food was supposedly decent as well.

When she arrived at the restaurant, she found that it was indeed as described. There were not too many people, and it was fairly quiet.

In any case, she liked this kind of dining environment.

However, Firefly spotted a familiar figure there.

Not far away, Ukiyo Ace was sitting alone. The food on his table had barely been touched. He simply stared blankly out the window with lifeless eyes, lost in thought.

Because of Firefly's appearance and interference, the Ukiyo Ace of this world had not become a Desire God before. Naturally, he had not fulfilled that wish to become a world-famous superstar, the star among stars.

Even sitting here, he would not attract too many lovestruck girls gathering around to watch him.

Thinking about Ukiyo Ace, Firefly did nothing.