Multiverse: I Share Five Senses Linked with World's Top Daughters

Then she knelt on the grass beside them, conjured several more candles, and lit them.

She pressed her palms together.

"May Celestia be free of that navigator lady's coffee..."

"That's enough!" Alice's antics made Jiang Lianqiu laugh.

Nahida quietly watched the little farce from the side. Only then did she give a soft cough, drawing everyone's attention back to the floating golden runes.

Her expression remained as gentle and patient as ever, but Jiang Lianqiu noticed that the glow in her clover-shaped pupils was brighter than usual—that was the sign that she was concentrating deeply.

"Let me give you a detailed explanation of these runes. So far, we know the following."

Nahida raised a hand and lightly tapped with her fingertips. The three rings of golden runes suddenly slowed, every symbol becoming clearly visible.

"First, they do indeed originate from the Tree of Existence—I have verified this repeatedly, and there is no issue with tracing the path of the information flow. If the Tree of Existence is compared to an underground river running through the entire universe, then these runes are ice crystals mixed into that river. They come from the same source as the river, but their form and nature are completely different."

"Second, they possess some kind of active resistance. They refuse to be understood, refuse to be analyzed, and even refuse to be observed. I just tried to touch one of the runes, but before my fingertip could make contact, it actively shifted its trajectory. This behavior—"

She paused, as though choosing her words.

"—doesn't seem like meaningless noise."

Alice had already sat back down on her suitcase. Klee climbed up and curled into her arms, and mother and daughter tilted their heads toward them together, their movements remarkably synchronized.

Alice asked, "So this thing is alive?"