Forty-Eight Hours

.

The two girls participating in the experiment were placed inside two Crystal Prisms about ten meters apart. After greeting each other, they signaled to the surrounding staff that they were ready to connect, then slowly closed their eyes.

As data synchronization began, Bubble and Milia simultaneously entered a state resembling deep sleep. The Central Machine Room fell silent, with only the faint sound of energy flowing and the occasional beep from monitoring equipment. Within the two Crystal Prisms, one of the New Empire's most advanced Shilin Mainframes and one information aggregate of unknown purpose left behind by the Old Empire began a soul-deep exchange in their own way.

I started imagining lilies in bloom...

"This is truly incredible."

Tawell's eyes shone with enthusiasm. "Such an enormous flow of information, and such illogical computational methods... perhaps this is the first time Bubble has truly brought her computing power fully into play. A Mother Machine's performance truly cannot be compared to mass-produced models—but what concerns me more is this little girl named Milia. Her information structure actually stores such a complex set of rules. If we can fully understand those rules, perhaps our Shadow Space could expand to encompass the entire universe. Then the capital would become a truly impregnable city. Theoretically, at least..."

I gave this research fanatic a sidelong look. "And then, just like the Vengeance Legion, we'd eventually go insane from being locked in there."

"Your Majesty, there is currently no evidence that Milia is definitely the only way to open Shadow Space. Furthermore, the reason the Vengeance Legion created her and then left her behind in the real world remains unknown." Tawell immediately replied in an extremely serious tone.

I felt I probably had nothing more to discuss with someone so prone to fixating on details. Besides,