Herta

Appearance: Herta takes the form of a ball-jointed puppet depicting a petite young woman with long brown hair and purple eyes.

She wears a frilled white, black, and purple dress that exposes her shoulders, adorned with a lock and chain pinned around her torso. She also wears a black beret decorated with a purple flower, and a purple choker with a key hanging from it. Her footwear of choice is a pair of dark purple and white boots.

Character Stories: Character Details

Herta space station's [sic] true master. As the human with the highest IQ on the Blue, she only does what she's interested in, dropping projects the moment she loses interest — the best example being the space station. She typically appears in the form of a remote-controlled puppet. "It's about seventy percent similar to how I looked as a child." — Herta

Character Story: Part I

• Unlocked at Character Level 20

Madam Herta's manuscripts are extremely valuable assets.

Its core rarity is not in how Madam Herta rarely pens to paper, but because to a genius like her, nothing is ever worth recording.

Scientific research that would take normal researchers ten years — or even a lifetime — to achieve may be able to shed light on an entirely new domain of research, but they are to Herta as ordinary as turning on a LED light. Who would waste time trying to systematically record such trivial matters?

It's not just Madam Herta — any documentation written by a Genius Society member is a priceless treasure. However, Herta is more generous and more understanding toward normal people like us. She leaves her handwritten drafts behind in random places around the space station with as much generosity as she allows researchers to study the Curios she collected.

Of course, we all firmly understand that Madam Herta isn't being lazy and just discarding incomplete drafts around the place. It's so she can claim to investors with plausible deniability that "I've finished writing that paper, but can't find it anywhere."

Character Story: Part II

• Unlocked at Character Level 40

Everybody knows that qualifying as a researcher on the Herta space station [sic] is a cherished goal of the wider scientific community. Today, we're interviewing its owner, Madam Herta. First of all, can you please tell us what was your motivation for setting up a scientific research oasis like this?

"I have so much stuff, and nowhere to put it."

Ah, truly an unforeseen outcome! Even unintentional acts from the brilliant Madam Herta can benefit millions of ordinary people. However, evil will always strive in vain to destroy such a wondrous place. Madam Herta, what are your thoughts about the Antimatter Legion's last invasion?

"Don't come back."

Oh... such a severe warning. This must form an indispensable part of Madam Herta's illustrious achievements. The mere Antimatter Legion dares to invade this space station — but you don't even deserve Madam Herta's attention! Let's move on to the next question, then!

Character Story: Part III

• Unlocked at Character Level 60

Recent research progress on the space station has been hampered by the impact of the accident. Several researchers have been blaming themselves for betraying Madam Herta's trust and preference. May I ask: Do you have anything you'd like to say to everyone?

"Nope. Keep up the great work."

Everyone wishes to contribute to your scientific research, Madam Herta...

"No thanks."

Indeed, no researcher could ever hope to match Madam Herta's scientific ability, which is why we're deeply impressed by your wisdom and insights. Could you please tell us, Madam Herta, whether you have any research recommendations for everyone? We'd love to learn from you!

"No."

Madam Herta, your intellect and talents are obvious to all, but normal people like us could never hope to be like you... Could you please give us any pointers, such as in what domain we might devote our limited cognitive resources to?

"You should go home and sleep."

Character Story: Part IV

• Unlocked at Character Level 80

Madam Herta, you are so considerate. Indeed, the research that Genius Society members conduct are so complex that ordinary people may not even be able to understand the papers' titles. So, let's talk about something else: The space station is filled with your loyal supporters. Everyone is curious about your personal situation. For example, the manuscript that you're writing — when are you planning on publishing the latest chapter?

"I don't think it really matters, but more importantly — Elias Salas once said that the most challenging thing of all is self-improvement. So, let's examine this question more carefully: When writing a paper, the key question is how to write that paper —"

Um... err... I see. But Madam Herta, we all love your book How I Joined the Genius Society...

"I don't think it really matters, but more importantly — Zandar once said that even those who have made it to the top still need to practice self-improvement. So, let's examine this question more carefully: When considering joining the Genius Society, the question is how does one go about joining the Genius Society —"

Are you in... auto-answering mode?

"I don't think it really matters, but more importantly — Yu Qingtu once said that being an academic is a matter of ambition. So, let's examine this question more carefully: When considering what is called auto-answering mode, the question is how to automate the answers —"

Data Bank: Scholars can usually leave their names in history with one great achievement. Herta, however, had countless achievements, and that was why she received the glance of Nous and became a member of the Genius Society.

All members of the Genius Society are oddballs, and Herta is no exception. Her scholarship is entirely driven by interest. If she lost interest halfway through a project, she would instantly discard all her work. Therefore, multiple topics that could have made critical advancements to civilization were stopped because they were "not interesting." Even though the Intelligentsia Guild had obtained her manuscripts after great difficulty, they often could do nothing to further progress the studies.

However, Herta nowadays seems to have expanded her interests a little. She has started to contact the Interastral Peace Corporation, has helped the Xianzhou chase off abominations, and even has had some friction with the Garden of Recollection... She is already very sociable compared to the other odd hermits of the Genius Society. Who knows what else she might take an interest in? Maybe she doesn't even know herself.