Giliath demands your power stones!
*
Crow, Vita, Kloe, and I with Tamamo still held in my arms and Angelica holding my hand slowly arrived at the open floor terrace. It was mostly made of grass with scattered trees.
Off to the side was a large enough area to where Kloe and I would frequently spar.
In the past I had suggested to Grandmother to plant several sakura trees on this terrace. They have been growing quite well and perhaps due to the orbal energy around us we may even get to see them start blooming soon.
Enjoying the cool breeze, we soon arrived in our private quarters. They immediately spotted a few monitors placed against a wall, all connected to a machine of sorts to power them. In its middle was a vermillion laptop, which I frequently used for my record keeping. Off to the side stood an orbal repeater with a decent sized antenna used to receive specific radio waves that passed through.
The so-called wifi signals.
That's right, in a way, the Trailsverse was very similar to my past life in terms of its science. Ignoring the fact that orbal energy was the cleanest source of energy there was.
The concept of the internet didn't even exist a decade ago. Actualizing it here was a feat in itself. It's been nine years since the internet became the internet here, and it's expansion has been rapidly developing. So much as to where our recipients on the other side, they were now set to do a connection test in Crossbell City.
And they just so happened to reach out to us to help them with this connection test. With two receiving ends, it was only a matter of time until it was time to initiate the test.
"What is all this?", Vita couldn't help but ask as she sat off at one of the tables to the side. Angelica began to pour some tea and Tamamo on the table next to Vita at its edge letting her tails droop down and swing around happily. Crow joined them at the table while Kloe began to fiddle with the orbal repeater.
"Hmm. Now that I think about it, you probably haven't been exposed to orbal technology much, have you, Vita?", I asked with interest.
"Aside from the everyday appliances that have been appearing on the market and how we travel around, not really. I do know of an individual who is crazy over it though.", Vita said as she rested her hand on her chin.
'She must be referring to that crazy professor in Ouroboros...', I thought to myself. 'I am not sure how many interactions Vita has had with him yet, but seeing her reaction like this, it was probably not many.', I continued to think.
Thinking that, I nodded my head at Vita.
"The Epstein Foundation revealing the Orbal Network project to the public was pretty revolutionary in of itself, but I'll try to keep it simple. It's a method to send and receive information over a very large distance. And this repeater here is used to help receive the signal to where I'm trying to send it to.", I started to explain.
"I see. This signal not visible to us either, right?", Vita asked.
"It isn't. But with the introduction of a means to store data, it allows us to customize it in any way shape or form. Are you ready, Kloe?", I responded, only to turn my head toward Kloe as I began to work my vermillion plated laptop.
Kloe was working with the orbal repeater. After a few moments the antenna started to light up green. It was near one of our windows, so she proceeded to open the window, and we all felt a cool breeze sweep the room. There were minimal clouds out today too after getting a clear look outside.
"Ready to engage, Brother. Weather conditions look optimal too so there shouldn't be much interference today. With any luck we'll be able to see our friends in Crossbell.", Kloe responded happily with a smile.
"Excellent.", I responded, only to log into my laptop.
Operating systems weren't really a thing here in Zemuria. That meant no Windows, no Macintosh, et cetera. Orbal energy and the radio waves would just receive directly into the kernel, and we could code anything we want from there to display on screen. For the terminal in Crossbell, it was the logo of the CPD that remained in the background, with simple input commands of providing data, only to connect to the police department HQ, and receive its responding data accordingly. Most of the time one was rewarded after completing quests, but you get the idea.
There was the Capel system invented by Professor Russell, but that just started to take shape for it to be renowned to be the fastest in data processing and converting it. And right now, the Capel computer is likely assisting the creation of that cruise ship used in the sky saga, the Arseille.
With that said, for my background, I decided on the Auslese royal symbol for now. There was a cable connecting my laptop to the giant screen above, so everyone soon saw a blue colored screen light up. Aside from a couple of icons that I customized to store data for record keeping, it was mostly bare.
It then took off after initializing the screen. With the help of the orbal repeater, it didn't take long for us to see a singular window appear on the screen.
All of us saw a blue haired girl seemingly no younger than nine or ten years old appear on a screen. The moment she saw all of us, a smile bloomed on her face.
"Connection test successful. Can you hear me, Naoto?", The girl asked me as I looked at the screen.
"Loud and clear, Tio. It really has been a while, hasn't it?", I happily asked.
"Yes. It is good to see you're in good health.", Tio replied as she nodded her head.
"Haha, I could say the same to you. Sounds like you've been pretty busy both in Leman and Crossbell.", I answered.
Hearing that, Tio cracked a rare smile. Seeing this, I blinked my eyes for a moment. I do wonder if the Gnosis drug has been affecting her as of late. She has received a heightened intellect and a boost in her senses as a result of it, allowing Tio go so far as being able to sense and perceive mana. But the drawback was that her emotions became heavily suppressed, but it's not like they are gone. She did stay with us back then for a while, so hopefully that was able to help her situation regarding this.
This thought only lasted for a moment though as we heard a second voice sound out to us, only to have an eight or nine year old boy with scruffy blonde hair appear on screen next to Tio.
"Hmph, you CAN actually smile, huh? So this is the guy you prefer over me?", The boy said, only to squint his eyes behind his glasses at me the moment he uttered that. Hearing that, Tio's eyes turned deadpan and she shifted sideways.
"Shut it, Jona. Need I remind you that you're one grade away from failing this year? One word to the Professor and I can get you kicked out of the foundation.", Tio said with a deadpan look as she looked at the blonde haired boy next to her. He immediately frowned the moment Tio retorted that.
"Y-You wouldn't do that now, would you? I'm like the only friend you have over there!", The boy called Jona retorted as his eyes shifted rightward with a worried lookin in his eyes.
"Try me.", Tio retorted back. "Do not forget who you are in the presence of. You do remember what I told you, right?", Tio asked as her eyes squinted.
"Right...", Jona answered back, only to turn quiet for a moment. We then saw Jona look around our room. A bit of shock appeared in his eyes. He could even see a couple maids working in the background, moving clothes around and cleaning up as we were in our room.
"This place is WAY too fancy for my liking. Makes me want to vomit--!?", Jona tried to reply back with a compliant, only for us to see Tio suddenly go off the screen for a moment. A dull thwacking sound reached our ears right after, only to have a deadpan Tio show back up on the screen.
"H-Hey! What was that for?", Jona complained, only to have a visible bruise appear on his head.
"You reap what you sow.", Tio simply replied. Hearing that caused us to laugh from our end. Sadly that was short lived as we heard a third voice reach our ears. Even my eyes blinked for a moment, as we heard a rather aged man's voice sound off as a third screen appeared on the main monitor.
"Disciple candidate, I needn't remind you that we are in the middle of performing a test now, right? I do hope you are using those fingers of yours to retrieve my data, and not fool around with that classmate of yours.", The third figure said, letting out a small complaint of this own. The moment this figure appeared, surprise reached our eyes.
"You are...", I tried to say as I looked at the aged man on screen. He was old enough match Grandmother in age, perhaps he's older than her? He was already starting to sport a set of white hair. He was even wearing a monocle on one of his eyes. Aside from being distracted by Tio's actions for a moment, this aged man quickly composed himself, only to look back at us. His eyes then darted my way, only to have his hand
"Hmph. Curiosity had the best of me of knowing who my disciple candidate would reach out to, but to think it would be those two brats from Liberl...", The aged man said. Yet for some reason, my eye started to twitch as he said that. "That damned Russell better not be with you guys.", The aged man retorted. Hearing that, Kloe smiled.
"Fortunately, Professor Russell is not present. We were only expecting to meet our friends today, but it is an honor to meet a leading founder of the Epstein Foundation. This test must be quite important if it was to be monitored personally by you.", Kloe responded in a respectful tone.
"At least one of you knows how to respect your elders. But if you must know, I am merely here due to a pique of interest. Nothing more, nothing less. I have satisfied my curiosity for now. So I will be taking my leave. Still, I do hate owing favors, but sending my disciple candidate here was a blessing a couple years ago, Your Highness. She has been doing quite remarkable in the Foundation as of late. Should you desire my profile of the work that I do, I will make an exception. Do mind it will only be one time.", The aged man said, only to look back toward me. I couldn't help but blink the moment he said that.
Did THE Professor Schmidt just say he owes me a favor? All I was doing at the time was to provide Tio a place to use her newfound knowledge ahead of time, but guess that turned out well, huh?
"Thank you. It might be short, but it was good to meet you, Professor Schmidt.", I replied respectfully as well. Right after I said that, Professor Schmidt had one last look at us before he vanished from sight off the screen. It was now just Tio and Jona again.
"Hmph. That old man only does what he wants to do.", Jona retorted.
"Haha, sorry about that. The Professor can be quite lofty at times. But he did prove his point. We are here to collect data and ensure the connection stays on its course during our stay in Crossbell.", Tio replied with a rare laugh. "So far as we've been chatting, it looks like it's been stable.", Tio continued to say.
"I couldn't agree with you more, Tio. Still, I didn't think you would already be acquainted Professor Schmidt like that.", I said, feeling amazed at Tio.
"A lot has happened since you brought me here, Naoto. But I am grateful that we parted ways then.", Tio replied, revealing another rare smile. Yet the moment Jona saw this he frowned again.
"Gross. Can you like, stop doing that? You smiling more than once is starting to weird me out.", Jona started to say, only to see Tio look back at him with a deadpan look. Seeing Tio's intent, Jona knew to shut his mouth. This earned another laugh from us.
Still, before we realized it, most of the day blew right past us as we continued to chat with Tio, and subsequently, Jona. It appears the two had already gotten acquainted, and it was still early in the years to where Jona wasn't kicked out of the Foundation. With him being this close to Tio, I do wonder if that will still happen this time around and become his infamous hacker ego, or continue his studies instead?
Crow and Vita also enjoyed the time spent here, getting acquainted with us too. Crow was just as happy go lucky as he was in the games, and just treated today as an event like he normally would, not giving a shit about what would happen. I have a feeling I will get along with Crow quite well, once he comes to see me attending Thors together with him.
Vita also came to learn of Emma's resolution, and that brought another wave of surprise to her. With Emma and Celine now back in Eryn to train their magic further, it was now only Vita who was out and about. She had thought about it and wondered if she should focus on what she was currently doing, and that was assisting Crow with his trial. I did inform Vita, however, that when the time comes, Emma will still be assisting with my trial.
With that said, Crow and Vita left, going about their own lives after enjoying a day spent in Grancel Castle. Tio and Jona had also disconnected from our call after having collected enough data for Professor Schmidt. Even if we were to end the call here, Tio ensured me that their connection would still be available for the time being should we want to call again. It looks like getting the orbal network up and running was still in its initial phase, but it seems it was going well on their end.
It was now just Angelica, Kloe and I enjoying the evening together. We were going to get ourselves ready for bed, but I soon heard a tapping sound coming from the veranda, which caused me to halt what I was currently doing. Angelica and Kloe were curious as well, but I took it upon us three to go check it out...
*
[Insert picture of Tio Plato here[
[Insert picture of Jona Sacred here]
[Insert picture of Professor Schmidt here]