"I have good news and I have bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
Himeko and the others exchanged glances. For Herta to make such a serious statement, they weren't particularly eager to hear either the good news or the bad.
But since it concerned Caelus's physical condition, Himeko, as the navigator, made the choice.
"Let's hear the good news first."
Herta nodded. With a surprisingly relaxed posture, she spread her hands and began.
"The good news is, you don't have to worry about Caelus being rejected by [The Trailblaze] or anything like that. The experiment just now confirmed that Caelus has, without a doubt, obtained the power of [The Trailblaze]. He is, in every sense of the word, a genuine Nameless."
This piece of good news brought a wave of relief to Himeko, March 7th, Dan Heng, and Welt. But if that was the good news, then what was the bad news?
They all turned to Herta with questioning looks. Without waiting for them to ask, Herta delivered the other piece of news.
"The bad news is... this little guy devoured [The Trailblaze]."
As Herta spoke, her face was devoid of expression, but her calm tone sent shockwaves through the hearts of Himeko and the others.
March 7th, stunned, covered her mouth with both hands. It took her a moment to stammer out a response.
"De-devour? Lady Herta, are you sure you're using the right word?"
In the current context, "devour" was far from a positive term.
"I don't think there's any other word that better describes Caelus's situation right now." Herta crossed her arms, her gaze shifting to Caelus.
Caelus, confused, looked down at his own hands and clenched them into fists, not noticing anything unusual about his body.
Seeing everyone's eyes fixed on him, Herta stopped beating around the bush and laid out her findings and her theory.
"Normally, a Pathstrider is merely a user of a Path's power. Even an Emanator is just a more powerful user. The Astral Express ticket helps the Nameless gather the scattered power of the Path. But Caelus's situation is different. After the power of [The Trailblaze] entered his body, it vanished completely. The previous experiment showed that a portion of the blessings of [The Trailblaze]'s power did manifest on him."
"However, instead of calling them the blessings of [The Trailblaze], it would be more accurate to say that after Caelus himself assimilated [The Trailblaze], they became a manifestation of his own power. In my view, it's as if he devoured the Path of [The Trailblaze] to complete himself."
After Herta's explanation, the confusion on the faces of Himeko and the others lessened slightly, but they still didn't fully understand. Herta elaborated further.
"The scholars of today define a Path as a concept. Let's make a hypothesis. [The Hunt] symbolizes vengeance and restraint. [The Trailblaze] symbolizes the desire to explore. [The Erudition] symbolizes wisdom... and so on. If you think about it carefully, you'll realize that all of these concepts can be found within a single person. And [The Trailblaze] simply represents the part of Caelus that is his desire to explore. Does that explanation make it clearer for you?"
Himeko and the others silently nodded. They now understood what Herta meant when she said Caelus had devoured [The Trailblaze] to complete himself.
However, Dan Heng suddenly frowned and retorted, "Lady Herta, by that logic, how would you explain [The Finality]? According to you, [The Finality] represents time reversal and a determined future."
The greatest characteristic of [The Finality] is time. It is known to all that Terminus, the Finality, travels from the end of time towards its beginning, knowing all that is to come. That doesn't seem to be a point of commonality one can find in a person, does it?
Herta just spread her hands helplessly. "I don't know either. How long have I been researching this? You expect me to understand everything? That's impossible! Up to this point, this is all just my own speculation."
The group was taken aback, but they supposed she was right. Including the previous tests, Herta had only examined Caelus for a total of three hours. To expect her to figure everything out in that short time was asking too much, even for a genius.
Dan Heng's words, however, had enlightened Caelus. If a common point couldn't be found in a person, what about a god?
Time reversal couldn't be found in a person, but it could certainly be found in Steve in Creative Mode!
For Steve in Creative Mode, reversing the flow of time was a matter of typing a simple command. And while Terminus represents a portion of the known future, that too could be loosely connected to Creative Mode, where one can shape the world into whatever one desires.
Could it be that these Paths correspond to different facets of Creative Mode's power?
As Caelus was pondering this, Welt voiced his own concerns, his brow furrowed.
"So, Lady Herta, in your opinion, is this a good thing or a bad thing? In the future, if Caelus comes into contact with other Paths, will it cause harm to his body?"
"Have you ever seen a person get hurt because their left and right brain are fighting each other?"
Welt fell silent. That was a fair point.
"However..." Herta's tone suddenly shifted, becoming serious as she looked at Caelus again. "Caelus, and the rest of you, if you don't want any trouble, it's best to keep this under wraps. As of now, this is all just my personal speculation. Nothing can be confirmed until Caelus comes into contact with another Path. But if my guess turns out to be true... I must warn you. While there are some in the universe who can walk multiple Paths, they are exceedingly rare! The moment others find out that Caelus can devour Paths, he will undoubtedly attract a lot of trouble!"
Everyone nodded in unison. They had intended to keep this matter to themselves even without Herta's warning.
Seeing that they understood, Herta nodded and prepared to leave. With this turn of events, she was now even more eager to contact Ruan Mei and the others. But before she left, she turned back and gave Caelus one last reminder.
"Remember to set me as a special contact. If something comes up, I'll contact you."
"Got it."
Caelus agreed. Only then did Herta leave, satisfied. Caelus immediately sank back into his speculation about Creative Mode.
After Herta left, the others all turned their gazes to Caelus. Seeing him "spacing out," they thought he had been frightened by Herta's words. Himeko quickly placed a hand on his shoulder and offered gentle words of comfort.
"Don't worry, Caelus. Now that you've joined the Astral Express, no matter what happens, we'll all stand with you."
"Th-that's right!"
March 7th's voice trembled slightly, her small hands clenched nervously in front of her. Even though she herself had been terrified by Herta's stern warning, she still summoned her courage to try and comfort Caelus.
"No matter what happens, we'll... we'll still protect you!"
PS: The issue with the inaccurate description of the Paths has been revised.