Departure

"Or it may be more easily detected by the Confederation Technical Group," Vivi said. "If Eye of the Sand knows about Node Three's special properties, they may place it later on the list and deal with the other four nodes first."

"But it's also possible that they'll prioritize Node Three." Harry stood up. "A special response means it's easier to detect, but it also means that if the operation succeeds, the effects will be more pronounced."

"It was indeed used during the Rune Array tests before the Purification procedure. The Confederation Technical Group tested multiple different magic input frequencies at Node Three to evaluate the effects of the Purification procedure." Vivi stretched out her foot and gave Harry a kick.

"If Eye of the Sand has obtained that batch of test data," Cassandra's voice came from the stairway. At some point, she had already come downstairs. "Then they may understand Node Three's response characteristics to magical input even better than the Confederation Technical Group does. The Confederation Technical Group's test data is confidential, but Eye of the Sand was able to access the old rune structures of Node Seven and Node Zero. That means their intelligence network reaches the Confederation's core archives."

"Then Node Three is Eye of the Sand's next target," Harry said.

"Most likely." Vivi turned away from the map. "Rosier suggested investigating Node Three first, because its special response characteristics mean that if Eye of the Sand carried out an operation there, the traces they left behind might be more obvious than at the other nodes."

"When do we leave?" Harry asked.

"Now." Vivi slipped her phone back into the inner pocket of her robe. "Rosier said there are deep purple magical residues on the surface of Node Three's sealing layer, with a concentration matching Node Seven's.