NOVPUB"There are no new discoveries yet?" Aron asked without looking up from the report.
"No," Ayaka replied, her tone neutral but edged with disappointment. "Unfortunately, it seems that at my current level, it's impossible to uncover anything new about the Fountain of Life material."
Aron nodded slowly, flipping through the pages of her report, detailed with charts, test results, and hypotheses. "Have you managed to contact Laifu again since her first appearance?"
"No," she answered with a faint sigh. "And considering the scale of the universe she operates in, I doubt it will happen again, unless we do something at least ten times more attention-grabbing than what drew her in the first place."
"You'll probably live longer than all of us," Aron said with a soft chuckle, trying to lighten the mood. "Don't worry too much, you're bound to cross paths again eventually."
Ayaka smiled faintly, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "It's still undecided whether that's a blessing or a curse."
He understood. They both bore burdens that others couldn't fathom. She, as the embodiment of Lady Laifu, and he, with his Runic Heart and the system, were effectively immortal or at least, far beyond ordinary lifespans.
"Don't worry," Aron said gently. "Just as we pushed the average lifespan to two hundred years, another breakthrough will come. We're still studying your body, trying to uncover insights from the changes it's gone through. If there's a way to extend life further, we'll find it. I'm not planning on watching everyone I care about fade away either."
Her expression softened. "Thank you, sir."
"You still have your position credit," Aron reminded her. "You can use it for any available role you're interested in, whether it's a promotion, a transfer to another department, or even something entirely different. Don't forget about it if you ever feel like changing your career."
This position credit was one of the empire's highest forms of recognition, granted only to those who had done something truly extraordinary. It acted like a universal coupon: it could fast-track a promotion, unlock exclusive job opportunities, or waive certain qualification requirements if the person was willing to undergo the necessary training. Even if left unused, it came with a baseline benefit, tripling the individual's salary, with no upper limit on how high it could go. The final amount depended on how highly their contribution was rated.
"I'll keep that in mind," she said, bowing slightly. "Have a nice day, Your Excellency."
"You too," he replied, watching her leave.
Ayaka walked out of the office within the CUBE, heading straight to the basement. Now used to doing it regularly, she stepped through the stargate and returned to Alpha Centauri, her thoughts already drifting toward what came next.
"How is the production going?" Aron asked, now alone in the office.
{We've reached fifty percent completion,} Nyx replied. {The remaining units should be done within two months, as we're running production under wartime mobilization protocols. As for training, all personnel are currently running war simulations across every star system under our control to ensure they're not caught off guard.}
She began forming a physical body from the vat of nanomachines embedded in his office, her voice now matched by presence.
{We're still in the process of establishing a reliable intelligence network through Mnemosyne. The challenge is that the VR devices we're distributing within the Conclave lack brain scanners, which limits how much we can verify. We're forced to rely solely on behavioral patterns and interactions within VR to determine which information is credible and which is just a misdirection effort by the Conclave governments.}
With the moon-sized quantum VR server now operational, the flood of users and data was beyond what could be filtered instantly. Without a purpose-built program, even valuable intel risked falling through the cracks or being underutilized.
"Any progress on the other Little Protagonists?" Aron asked.
{Ah, I was planning to include that in the next monthly report,} Nyx replied, her tone light, almost teasing. {But since you brought it up……….. I made a promise to one of them. We're going to revive their species back to one million genetically unique individuals… once they finish helping us.}
Aron coughed sharply, caught completely off guard. "Cough, Why the heck did you promise that?" he asked, more curious than angry. He trusted her judgment, but a commitment of that scale wasn't something made lightly.
{She's one of the concubines of the Xor'Vak Grand Elder,} Nyx said with a smug smile forming on her newly formed face, clearly enjoying the moment.
"............" Aron stared at her in stunned silence. No words formed, no thoughts came. Just a long, drawn-out pause as he processed what she'd just said.
Finally, after regaining control of his faculties, he asked, "Alright… give me the full lore behind that promise."
{She is one of the many concubines the Grand Elder has been collecting for himself,} Nyx began, her tone darkening slightly. {Her entire civilization was wiped out in a genocidal campaign. Afterward, the Grand Elder claimed what remained of her people as a vassal civilization and took her and her family and the remaining people of her race under his protection, only to later force her into becoming one of his concubines. When she initially resisted, he executed the last remaining members of her race and threatened to do the same to her family if she didn't comply.}
"That's… way too much to process all at once. Just show me what happened," Aron said, cutting her off. The emotional weight packed into her short summary was enough to make him want the full story, but not in pieces.
{But Miss Rina banned you from using VR and AR for a full month, remember? How am I supposed to show you anything?} Nyx teased, the glint in her nanomachine eyes mischievous.
Rina had insisted on a month-long VR/AR detox for him after realizing he'd been spending more time in virtual space than with their family. He'd agreed, knowing she was right.
"Then let's leave it for the monthly meeting," Aron said with a resigned sigh. "It'll be over by then anyway."
Besides, it wasn't urgent enough to break his promise, and anything related to the Little Protagonists was still under Nyx's jurisdiction. More data would likely come in by then, too, making the full picture even clearer.
