Ch.198Polygamy (3)

For a scientist engaged in research, two things are crucial.

Time, and money.

There are costs involved in generating ideas and designing experiments.

If one cannot wait for that, there’s no understanding. In that respect, Rustila had a high level of understanding about research.

Well, she could wait forever.

But that time came earlier than expected.

“Hello. Is this Stronium? Yes, Chairman. Yes.”

Eidel began making calls to various places.

He was looking for companies that could build the equipment.

“This part should be fixed. Oh, and here too!”

Mezulen was cheerfully modifying the blueprints.

It was to clarify the design of the equipment.

[— ‘The Fragment of Purity’ is confused.]

The constellation of purity and love, Virgo, had to understand the context because she didn’t know why they were suddenly acting this way. She could grasp the general idea, but couldn’t tell exactly what they were trying to do.

[“What on earth are you trying to do?”]

“Research.”

[“So could you tell me what kind of research?”]

Despite the polite question, Rustila just smiled. She didn’t share her thoughts with the constellation. Unlike foreign gods, constellations couldn’t freely peek into their contractor’s thoughts.

Rustila smiled secretly, hiding it from Virgo.

There were two ways to be with Eidel. Among them, the conventional method was to defeat the ‘End’ and then terminate the contract with Virgo.

The problem was that human patience and lifespan weren’t that abundant.

No one knew when the ‘End’ would come, and due to the nature of the research, it was difficult to estimate when the graviton bomb would be completed. She couldn’t wait forever.

And whenever such problems arose, humans found answers. As they always did.

“Hehehe. I’m excited.”

Mezulen chuckled while modifying the blueprint.

“Mezulen has changed.”

“That Eidel has finally corrupted someone.”

Welton Yusoford and Mathers Byteling felt a creepy sensation. At this rate, they might end up being influenced the same way.

It is said that the most fearful thing is losing oneself in darkness.

“I, I don’t want to write more papers.”

“I heard Mezulen said the same thing at first.”

“Damn……”

While Mathers was spitting out a rich curse, the final modification of the blueprint was completed.

“I think this will work? Let’s send it to the company.”

Virgo repeatedly asked what they were doing, but no one could stop the accelerating train.

“Oh, I got a text from Seti.”

“What does it say?”

“She says she’ll provide materials and money, but we should moderate ourselves.”

There was an additional comment saying ‘if you don’t want to die,’ but he didn’t mention it.

Anyway, entrusting research funding to Seti was a wise choice.

Her investments never fail. They haven’t so far, and they won’t in the future. It’s thanks to the blessing of the God of Wealth and Investment.

That’s why her price was astronomical. People everywhere were begging her for investment advice.

But in the Rheinland family, such a fund manager was free of charge.

[I’ve put in about 100 trillion for now, so distribute it well. I can’t give more this month because I need to reinvest]

100 trillion credits.

From now on, he could receive this much money monthly, steadily, perhaps more, until death.

Eidel immediately started spending.

“Chairman, I need it as soon as possible. Yes. As soon as possible. I’ll give you a hefty incentive. The setup should be in Stellarium, not Irueyel. Yes.”

Eidel hung up with a Buddha-like smile.

[“You’re not trying to put me in a resonator like that time, are you?”]

“Come on, Constellation. How could mortals like us be so disrespectful to a constellation who helps us? That was an accident, I tell you?”

Virgo felt an inexplicable anxiety but composed herself.

She was Virgo. Although she only had a quarter of her full power, she was one of the greatest constellations forming the 12 zodiacs. Even if something unfortunate happened, she could handle it.

Yes. What was there to fear?

***

She shouldn’t have been so complacent.

“Rustila, would you like to go inside?”

Eidel pointed to the newly brought research equipment. It was a cylindrical structure large enough for one person to enter. It was clearly smaller than the quantum gravity resonator.

“What is this?”

“A fish trap.”

Virgo frowned.

“It took a month to make this combined with that. Still, technology has improved a lot these days. In the past, it would have taken at least three months for production…”

When the trap opened, the interior was revealed. It was crystal-finished, looking just like a room covered with mirrors. Mezulen said:

“The inside is cleaner than I thought?”

“The technicians did a good job with the finishing.”

“There won’t be any safety issues, right?”

“You just need to go in and out. We’ve already verified that it’s harmless to humans.”

Eidel smiled contentedly.

Before Virgo could tell her to stop, Rustila jumped into the trap like a martial artist using lightness skills.

After a while, the entrance closed and was covered.

Then Virgo felt a strange sensation.

She was still connected to Rustila, but she felt a clear sense of growing distance from her.

It felt chilling, like being touched by a foreign god.

It wasn’t just Virgo. ‘Vega,’ who had been with Rustila from the beginning, and other individual constellations were also having a strange experience, as if being filtered through a net.

It was then that Rustila’s voice was heard.

“Eidel! The connection with the constellations is weakening!”

“Don’t worry. It will return to normal once the equipment operation is finished.”

The confused Virgo thought. Could the connection be blocked?

Why? How? By what method? This had never happened even once during all the battles with various foreign gods.

Then Eidel brought in a large piece of equipment.

More precisely, it was a ‘part’ of that equipment. He connected something that looked like an electrode to the trap and logged into the control computer. Then the registered constellations appeared on the monitor. Their neural networks were also nakedly visible.

“Sonia, Erica. Help me out.”

He mobilized graphics cards to visualize the neural networks. Sonia and Erica sighed while connected in parallel.

Soon, the ‘neural mesh structure’ of the constellation rose in 3D. Mezulen marveled:

“Wow, I’m seeing this for real for the first time.”

This was a video that could only be seen in the latest research in constellation biology. It was a fresh and special experience for Mezulen, who wanted to become a foreign god biologist. Eidel asked:

“Do you know which part needs to be removed to eliminate the constellation’s penalty?”

“Well, I heard not much research has been done in that area. We might need to bring in professors who study that field.”

“But since it’s a constellation, wouldn’t it be okay to experiment with it?”

“That’s true.”

Virgo’s thoughts momentarily stopped. Not in a figurative sense, but they actually stuttered like there was noise.

[“Wait! Something’s wrong! Let me out of here!”]

“Since the penalty is only with Virgo, I think we should just focus on her and exclude the other constellations.”

[“Kyaaaak!”]

***

Mezulen and I literally went wild and toyed with Virgo. Since it was vacation period, we had nothing else to do besides research.

Internship? Building specs? Go to hell. For graduate school aspirants, this is what building specs means.

When we got stuck, we even brought in professors from the biology department. Thanks to my reputation, they all agreed to help. Me, setting up appointments with professors from other departments, I might be a bit amazing.

[— ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ laughs hysterically.]

[— ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ is watching your current research with immense interest and attention.]

[— You have received 5000 Pron as an admission fee!]

Anyway, another two weeks passed like this.

In between, several people including Zernya came to visit, but I didn’t meet them using the excuse of being busy.

It was actually true that I was busy. The data was being extracted better than expected, so it seemed like I could write more papers.

[“Kyaaaak!”]

“This seems to have worked.”

There had been numerous attempts and failures during that time. I entered a question, I don’t know how many times, into the terminal.

[— ILOVEPHYSICS(System User): How are you feeling?]

[— Virgo (Respondent): “Just kill me…”]

There was an area we hadn’t touched. Again.

[“Kyaaaak!”]

[— ILOVEPHYSICS(System User): How are you feeling?]

[— Virgo (Respondent): “Good. Really good.”]

[— ILOVEPHYSICS(System User): Constellation. This research is very helpful not only for you but also for human development and preventing the destruction of the universe. Thank you for your cooperation.]

[— Virgo (Respondent): “Of course. Heuung.”]

We’ve broken her spirit and changed her neural circuit configuration to make her speak respectfully. Cartesia helped a lot in this process.

Apparently, whether foreign gods or constellations, their neural networks are similar and easy to manipulate.

Thanks to that, the trial and error that would have taken months was about to end in just two weeks.

[— ILOVEPHYSICS(System User): I will ask you a few questions.]

[— ILOVEPHYSICS(System User): I understand that you currently have a spiritual contract with a girl named ‘Rustila Kersil’. If this is correct, please enter 1, if not, enter 2.]

[— Virgo (Respondent): “1.”]

[— ILOVEPHYSICS(System User): Thank you.]

[— ILOVEPHYSICS(System User): Were there any restrictions in the process of contracting with ‘Rustila Kersil’? If yes, enter 1, if no or you don’t remember, enter 2.]

[— Virgo (Respondent): “1.”]

[— ILOVEPHYSICS(System User): Do you remember what restrictions there were? If you remember, please enter them in detail.]

[— Virgo (Respondent): “Virginity should be maintained as much as possible. The contractor’s purity is the minimum condition for the main star to shine. It doesn’t have to be strictly kept, but if the light of the main star is lost, there may be damage in delivering Aether.”]

[— ILOVEPHYSICS(System User): Is there anything else? If not, enter 1, if there is, please continue to enter it in the terminal.]

[— Virgo (Respondent): “1.”]

To summarize:

The source of the ‘Fragment of Purity’ is purity itself. This is a basic setup that cannot be changed. Purity can be lost, but the provided Aether will be reduced accordingly.

However, we succeeded in changing the thoughts of the stars other than the main star.

[— ILOVEPHYSICS(System User): Can your contractor get institutionally married? If there could be penalties in the provided Aether due to marriage, please let me know.]

[— Virgo (Respondent): “There are no penalties for such actions.”]

I asked a few more things afterward. To summarize, confession, dating, acts of affection, all were possible.

[— SYSTEM: Saving current results.]

“…Done.”

At this moment, I took my hands off the keyboard. The trap opened, releasing the imprisoned constellations. Virgo remained quiet, but other constellations were in an uproar.

[“You’re really a crazy human…”]

Vega clicked his tongue. The constellation’s sigh flowed into my mind.

[“…Well, I’m fine as long as Rusti is happy.”]

I looked back. It was night now, and everyone had gone to sleep, so there was no one except Rustila.

Rustila approaching slowly with trembling pupils.

“Eidel.”

She asked.

“Is it done now?”

I quietly nodded. I had barely slept, so my head was throbbing. But I couldn’t close my eyes now.

“…I love you.”

Because I had to answer those words.

***

Deep into the dawn.

“Tell him I can’t meet him again today…! I’m going to stomp all over him.”

Zernya, who had finished her daily routine late at night again, grumbled as she entered the Natural Sciences Building.