episode_0312

A few days before the animal experiment began. At the declaration made across a single table, the superintendent let out a short sigh.

“Within a few years, Violet will become a walking red zone.”

“…Is that true?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Seijis put down the documents he had been examining.

Though he couldn’t fully comprehend the detailed theories or calculation formulas, what the research report implied was clear.

Destruction.

“What we’ve seen so far is based on the most conservative assumptions. As Professor Bernike pointed out, some of the tissues and nerves that comprise Violet’s brain are similar to those of a demonic beast. Therefore, if the proliferation continues as it is now, the changes could accelerate beyond our predictions. Every time she takes a step, she will unconsciously twist causality and distort spacetime around her. She could also mutate all intelligent beings around her into parts of herself.”

The deep wrinkles around Albert’s eyes became even more pronounced.

“However, her own cognitive abilities will struggle to keep up with her mana manipulation skills. Moreover, she has absorbed the existence known as an Apostle. Depending on the situation, she might even use that power, unconsciously.”

“Is this why you called me? I thought you were quietly conducting your research independently.”

Seijis interlocked his fingers and quietly watched the two men. The unspoken pressure emanating from him made Yurik break out in a cold sweat, and he hastily gulped down a glass of water. Only Professor Albert remained seated, composed.

“Well, this issue is a priority, but for a while now, I’ve felt surveillance from the Inspection Bureau and various public institutions in the academy city. Every time I ordered equipment, processed documents, or contacted educational institutions, restrictions tightened, or I felt like someone was constantly watching. It didn’t seem to be the Clans, and although they didn’t know what we were doing, I suspected they had noticed something. Was I right?”

“You knew.”

At his attitude, no longer bothering to hide anything, Yurik leaned back, looking exasperated, while Albert even sensed brazenness from the superintendent’s expressionless face. Shrugging his shoulders, the professor continued.

“So, I’m asking for your understanding in advance. I know you’re particularly sensitive when it comes to my student. You also dig into things excessively for an Inspection Bureau agent.”

Lifeless black eyes pierced the two researchers sharply.

“Even knowing it’s such a dangerous endeavor, why do you continue to research Violet?”

The words thrown by the man before him were laced with sharp accusation. Yurik flinched momentarily at the sharp tone, but quickly composed himself and replied with an unwavering voice.

“It’s for the sake of the people. If we utilize Violet’s talent, we can turn everyone without superpowers into Awakened ones. Is that all? We might also be able to build a similar network between individuals. It will be an incredible innovation! A way to make the world a better place…”

“The first Secretary-General of Luminexa must have thought the same. How could he have known that the atomic bomb, created to defeat demonic beasts, would be used in internecine human wars? Let’s consider why the Teatime Accord was drafted.”

Unconsciously, Seijis responded with a sneer at the naive ideals. The wounds left by a harsh reality in the future throbbed, and he suddenly couldn’t bear it.

“That’s different from this. We are-”

“Internal documents and confidential meeting minutes of Magnabyss, acquired by the Inspection Bureau, also stated this: that to prevent an impending crisis, a certain degree of risk and sacrifice must be accepted.”

“…”

Yurik bit his lip and lowered his gaze. The superintendent, watching his reaction, fell into thought.

That man’s argument has merit. Theoretically, that is.

And the attempts of dreamers, captivated by shimmering stars, to drag them down to earth brought about great catastrophes.

The Federation created clone armies and planet-destroying self-destruct systems under the pretext of security, and Restraidna was obsessed with creating colossal humanoid weapons with the blood and sweat of thousands.

The Obsidian Legion and the Federation Army Intelligence Department devised a plan to neutralize supers, and Magnabyss became desperate to turn archmages into demigods. Arcite conspired with aliens to hatch bizarre plots.

‘Even Laplacia, her intentions were benevolent!’

The superintendent, looking at the confused doctor with his head bowed, was momentarily seized by the urge to reveal a dark truth. What attitude would this naive young scholar display if he were to hear the truth of the interdimensional invasion from a hundred years ago?

The most horrific outcome caused by pure goodwill and ideals.

‘The dreamers who yearned for equality, they too must have thought like you and flung open the gates to another dimension.’

Unable to bear the tense atmosphere, Professor Albert interjected.

“Now, calm down. Yurik is doing all this with good intentions, isn’t he? Don’t push him too hard. I know what you’re worried about too.”

“You mean the erosion problem?”

It was a horrific thought, even to imagine. A power that not even that witch possessed.

In vague fear, a chilling thought crossed his mind.

‘Rather than becoming playthings, neither living nor dying, in the clutches of those demons from another dimension, wouldn’t it be a better choice for humanity to be assimilated by Violet?’

No. That must never happen.

Seijis flinched at the thought that had crossed his mind. He knew he had become overly radical, but how had he come up with such an idea?

An act akin to euthanasia.

If that were the case, there would be no meaning in having struggled through countless hardships and a slim probability to return to this timeline.

‘Never again, let’s not think like this.’

The superintendent, lost in silence. Albert, whom he considered to have calmed down, continued his explanation with a relaxed smile.

“Don’t worry, such a large-scale leakage won’t happen. Our attempt is at most a mere imitation of the perception expansion method that existed in the past. Even in the worst-case scenario, Violet’s collective consciousness network is fundamentally a space perfectly isolated from the outside world. Unless there’s a direct connection, a major catastrophe won’t occur. It’s the same principle as radio waves not being able to transmit a common cold virus.”

“Isn’t there the precedent of Polaris?”

At the superintendent’s sharp remark, Albert sighed. The professor instantly felt like an Earth scientist facing someone who insisted the Earth was flat.

‘Look at this frustrating fellow.’

He had clearly stated it in the report, yet.

“Did you read it properly? It should be there. What those Magnabyss fellows made can be thought of as a kind of electronic warfare equipment. A machine that indiscriminately broadcasts powerful jamming waves into the air. You saw the scale of the facilities Valefor and Sturges installed beneath the academy to do that, didn’t you? Compared to that, our experiment is no different from an old-fashioned internet connection where you fumble to plug a telephone line into a closed, massive communication network. Ah, do you even know what a modem is?”

Yurik snickered at Albert’s analogy, but Seijis didn’t even twitch an eyebrow. The professor, feeling disappointed that his joke had fallen flat, continued speaking.

“Anyway, if there’s no separate device to act as a relay, even in the worst case, only a single person connected to the network would be affected. We’ve also designed five safety procedures for that ‘what if’ scenario.”

It felt like a somewhat more realistic and rational explanation than the one given by the researcher earlier. Nevertheless, the skepticism on the superintendent’s face didn’t fade. At that sight, Albert too felt irritation welling up.

“Honestly, what kind of grudge do you hold? You treat my student as some kind of indiscriminate meme attack weapon, I swear.”

Seijis responded without batting an eye.

“Since you put it that way, I’ll ask you one thing. Do you, Professor, prioritize research results over your student’s well-being?”

Suddenly, Albert’s face flushed crimson.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Of course, Violet’s safety is the top priority! Why am I doing this research? World peace? Human progress? Those are merely natural byproducts. The real reason? It’s because I can’t bear to see my student become an uncontrollable, massive mana calculator! Our mission is to help that child safely develop her abilities!”

His anger was momentary, soon subsiding into a deep sigh.

“Our primary goal is to improve Violet’s aether perception ability to match her given talent, and furthermore, to treat any potential issues in her brain. If that’s resolved, the potential runaway problem in the future will also be solved, and utilizing her computational power will become easier.”

Albert lowered his head listlessly. Fatigue settled in his eyes.

“Is that all? As someone from the Inspection Bureau, you know, don’t you? How crazy the world is turning. Indeed, whether it’s the Federation or the Clans, it’s a reality that they’re pulling various schemes behind the scenes. Demonic beasts are growing stronger, and there’s also that fellow, the Apostle, isn’t there? I was once a hunter. It’s the job of people like us to hunt down and kill monsters coming from outside this world. Violet won’t be able to stand by and watch such things happen in the future. Someday, she will clash with the powers of this world and the monsters from other dimensions. Because that’s just how her personality is.”

The gravity of Albert’s words weighed down the surrounding air. His concerns didn’t seem to be mere groundless fears.

“As an educator, I couldn’t just stand by and watch. To teach her to move in a good direction. Isn’t it the right thing for an educator to awaken talent so she can face any storm in the world? So that she can stand tall even before those monsters from another dimension who may cross over someday.”

As he finished speaking, Seijis blinked. He organized his thoughts, puzzled by his previous reaction.

They were clearly working for Violet’s sake.

‘There was no reason to get this agitated.’

Was it because of his injury? He couldn’t fathom why he had become so sharp-edged. Thinking it over carefully, it was baffling. He hadn’t seen this in the future, yet the professor was certainly acting for his own reasonable motives.

He was aware of the dangers, and if his goals were as stated, then observing the research for now seemed appropriate.

“I understand that there is no risk of erosion.”

“It’s good that you understand. Then-”

Just as he was about to stop thinking about the erosion and assimilation problem, a flash of lightning struck his mind.

An idea suddenly shot up his spine.

Seijis’s eyes widened.

‘Why hadn’t I thought of this before?’

The question burst out reflexively.

“Wait a minute, if we assume such a relay device exists, does that mean it’s possible to massively assimilate an unspecified multitude of people into the Violet Network?”

“I told you. To do that, you’d need to tear open a closed network, open it to the outside, and have a very powerful device and system to force aether waves into other people’s consciousness. Things like the aether particle accelerator buried under Polaris, or powerful facilities and artifact equipment like the Vision Prism. Even if we wanted to do such a thing intentionally, it’s impossible because we lack the money and time-”

“…So it’s possible. Understood.”

The professor flinched and looked at the man before him.

“…Superintendent. What are you thinking right now?”

****

The animal experiment, which began in the morning.

The purpose of the experiment, they said, was to prevent the subject from becoming ‘our Violet’ during the cognitive expansion process.

The scene unfolding before their eyes was like a moment from a science fiction movie. Several acrylic boxes were connected to the experimental setup, and inside them, mice with tags on their ears were lined up.

“Recording starting. Time is 9 AM. Six subjects…”

Subject 1122 lay in a chair and put on a helmet. Five minutes after the experiment began, an unexpected reaction occurred.

The mice inside the acrylic cases began to tremble as if agitated. And then, an unbelievable sight unfolded.

“Whoa! They’re walking!”

「No way, did they become Violet mice?」

「We might be able to make animals intelligent!」

The mice looked around, tilting their heads. With their bright red eyes, they surveyed their surroundings, then walked around inside the acrylic box on two legs, as if discovering a new world.

“Do you feel anything?”

“No, nothing connected to the network.”

The two observed the mice with wondrous eyes, conversing.

“Indeed, the network’s full effect applies only to highly intelligent organisms. It seems impossible to erode and turn them into other avatars if they are not human.”

“Still, their behavior is distinctly different. Has their intelligence increased…? We should compare them with the control group.”

Perhaps due to the influence of contact with the Violet Network, the mice acted like small humans. Walking around, or lying down and rolling. When they were given a peanut, they stared blankly at it, then happily wagged their tails, ran to take it, and sat on the floor to eat it.

“Shall we observe their interaction with other test subjects?”

“Let’s do that. First, we’ll perform an intelligence test, and from this appearance alone, we can’t confirm a significant intelligence increase… Violet! What are you doing!”

Before he could finish speaking, Subject 5442 picked up a large mouse from one of the cages and put it with the test subject.

“I’ll put a friend in here!”

“You can’t do that! I specifically removed that one because it’s so ferocious!”

“Really? Oof!”

Suddenly, a biting pressure at his fingertip, the fiercely struggling mouse bit his finger. He wasn’t injured, blocked by aetheric defense, but he was startled and threw it. The mouse fell into the cage containing the test subject.

“Oops.”

The larger mouse, seeing the experimental mouse, squeaked softly, then immediately opened its mouth and charged. At that moment, an unbelievable sight unfolded.

“Squeak! Squeak squeak!”

The bipedal mouse stared intently at the large one, then leaped up like a small martial artist. A dropkick exploded on the large mouse’s head.

-Wham!

The large mouse, startled by the impact, let out a short shriek. The bipedal mouse moved around as if dancing, kicking, dodging, and unilaterally beating the large mouse. Scenes from a martial arts movie unfolding on a palm-sized stage.

“To think a mouse could fight like a human. We are recording this, right?”

“Of course. This is…”

Soon, the large mouse was beaten down and thrown out. The bipedal mouse climbed onto the large one, like a champion, and proudly puffed out its chest, placing its front paws on its hips.

“Squeak squeak!”

“…”

The afterglow of victory was short-lived; the mouse soon trembled violently, then suddenly collapsed. The heroic bipedalism from moments before vanished, and the mouse reverted to its original state, foolishly looking around.

“Effect lasted 30 minutes, confirmed.”

“We didn’t expect results like this.”

Upon seeing that sight, we couldn’t possibly suppress our pounding hearts.

「The animal became a genius!」

「As expected, our Violet is a genius!」