As always, Giliath demands your power stones!
*****
With the connection successfully established across the Orbal Network, I took a moment to pause, observing Tio's heartfelt smile. She would be turning just ten years old this year, making Tio three years younger than me. She has come a long way, hasn't she? Just knowing that brought a smile to my face, smiling along with Tio.
She was one of the few survivors of the DG Cult. Now I know that Trails through Daybreak was set to release, which would kick off the Calvard arc with a brand new cast of characters, but unfortunately, I was brought into Zemuria before I could dive into that portion of the Trailsverse. I do not know if there were more DG Cult survivors. But what I do know is what I currently know. Tio was one of the people I successfully brought out of that place. Alongside Tio, it was Ennea, Sherryl, Van, and Renne. We were all subjected to the Gnosis drug during our stay in those caves.
Among the side-effects we received, Tio likely had it the worst. She lost most of her emotions. To compensate for that, Tio received exceedingly sharp senses that allowed her to detect lots of different types of energies and their flows. She could even detect magic particles in the air, or whenever someone was going to cast a magic spell.
As for Sherryl, she now has to deal with an abnormal body. Renne's mind became a mess, but has greatly improved with my assistance being there for her. Ennea's view on the world likely became twisted, as she now displays unyielding loyalty toward me. I have been in contact with Van since he returned to Calvard, for the most part it looks like he hadn't been affected much by Gnosis. Every so often though, Van would bring up that 'Demon Core', whatever that meant. If anything, the Gnosis drug was absorbed into that.
And that left me. Most of the side-effects of Gnosis thankfully got absorbed by the Gamer System. It recalculated the effects the drug gave me, creating the Endurance skill. I now take less damage no matter what type of attack I receive compared to a normal person.
With my interference of the DG Cult, things played out differently. I rescued everyone much earlier than the original timeframe. Tio should have been rescued by Guy during the extermination in S1198, but she was already freed by then. And on top of that, she was scouted by the Epstein Foundation earlier than anticipated. She did originally return to her parents, but they became quickly estranged with each other after seeing the effect Gnosis had on Tio, and Tio fled her home. This shouldn't have happened until S1201, but now I see Tio directly working with Professor Schmidt and the Epstein Foundation before my very eyes.
Will this stop me from wanting Tio to continue down this path? Absolutely not. Tio isn't like a normal kid. I'm glad the foundation was quickly able to pick up on Tio's genius mind. To them, it didn't matter if the person was that young or not. That place offered a great chance to let Tio continue to grow. To the point which had Tio collect practical data and experience by joining the SSS.
I do hope that Tio will still get approved to join the SSS. That won't happen until another four years, so there is still some time before then.
Keeping that to the back of my head, I suddenly felt my side get jabbed by an elbow, only to see Lechter drape his arm over my left shoulder. I could see a playful smile on his lips seeing him butt into the screen again. Tio's expression shifted back into her deadpan look seeing Lechter do this.
"Get this kid, little princey-boy here is looking to round up the old crew again! Even little old me wasn't left out. Pretty exciting right?", Lechter suddenly said, causing me to pause in my current tracks entirely. My eyes turned cold the moment he said that.
"I dare you to call me that again, Lechter.", I retorted with a serious voice. Lechter couldn't help but blink his eyes at me seeing me do this.
"C'mon man. Liven up a little! Oh wait, you aren't a kid anymore, haha!", Lechter replied back with a playful laugh.
"Just so you know, I'm set to debut into high society next year. So yes, don't treat me like a kid anymore. Get that into your head.", I responded back.
"Roger, roger!", Lechter said, giving me a half-hearted salute. I could only shake my shoulder seeing this.
"High society huh? Isn't that where all those fancy-dandy nobles attend those stuffy parties and all that? Gross.", Jona said, sticking his tongue out in disgust. "Count me out. There's no way I could ever be a part of that life.", Jona continued.
"I know, right? I love the free life. I totally get your view point.", Lechter said, giving Jona a thumbs up. Jona just stared back at Lechter seeing him act so carefree.
"Joking aside, is what this deadbeat said, true, Naoto? Are you really wanting to gather up the friends we've made?", Tio asked, garnering her interest. My gaze switched back onto Tio again, and I nodded my head.
"Ouch. Do I really look like a deadbeat to you, kid?", Lechter asked with a frown while I answered Tio's doubt.
"We should have thrown you overboard.", Tio retorted back at Lechter. Seeing the serious look in Tio's eyes, Lechter felt his blood run cold. His gut started to speak to him, and he knew to shut his mouth, so he did.
"Hahaha. It is true what Lechter said, Tio. I invited a few individuals over here, and I'm looking to round up our friends too. It's too much to explain just over this video call, but are you interested, Tio?", I decided to ask her. Tio quickly nodded her head.
"Mmm.", Tio happily nodded in response to me, signaling that she wanted to come over here. Professor Schmidt glanced his eyes over toward the blue-haired girl before him.
"You really haven't mentioned many desires since the foundation took you in, prized pupil. You have displayed excellent results since you've joined the Orbal Network project, unlike a certain institute student here. If you do want some time off, I can propose a draft to the engineers back in Leman.", Professor Schmidt suggested.
"You'd do that, Professor?", Tio asked with surprise. I too became surprised hearing Professor Schmidt say that.
"It's the least I can do. It's not like I won't give time off to people who need it. Moreso, you've given me adequate data for me to continue my own research for the time being. The data we are receiving now is just icing on a cake.", Professor Schmidt said, nodding his head in confirmation.
"So the Professor says. Which brings me to my next point, where exactly are you anyways? I did see in the report that we'll be connecting to Erebonia. I think it mentioned the capital city too. It looks like you are in a bedroom of sorts?", Jona questioned, tilting his head to the side. I revealed a playful grin hearing that.
"We sure are in Heimdallr. Let me introduce you all to someone. Now introducing Erebonia's greatest treasure, Her Highness, Princess Alfin!", I declared, reaching off-screen to bring Princess Alfin over.
"D-Do we really need to do this, Big Brother? This is pretty embarrassing as it is...", Princess Alfin's voice called out to those inside the basement floor of the IBC building. I pushed Lechter off-screen, only to bring in a beautiful golden-blonde haired girl beside me. Everyone raised their eyes seeing the crown princess of Erebonia enter their view.
"Holy shit, is that really Erebonia's princess? Just where the hell are we connected to!?", Jona exclaimed.
"Valflame Palace, most likely.", Tio declared.
"That giant-ass palace!?", Jona said, yelling out in shock. "Now that I recall, there was that insane news drop last night...Something about the princess getting engaged to someone?", Jona questioned.
"The very same. I'm surprised to see that news reached Crossbell City already, but there were news reporters from the CNS, so it makes sense.", I replied with a nod of my head.
"The recipient was you, wasn't it, Naoto? You must be quite happy.", Tio said.
"Mmm. So this is the Tio person you previously brought up huh, Big Brother? Did you mention to these people that you are planning to head to Crossbell City tomorrow?", Princess Alfin responded, nodding her head to confirm Tio's words that Princess Alfin and I were engaged. More surprise reached everyone's eyes, especially Tio's eyes.
"You are coming to Crossbell, Naoto?", Tio tried to ask in excitement, but her mostly deadpan look remained. I scratched my cheek hearing that.
"Haha, it was supposed to be a surprise, but yes. I'll be going to Crossbell tomorrow. It's a bit late but we all can enjoy another party to celebrate the new year. I have some unfinished business there I need to wrap up. I'll be busy for the next couple of weeks once I come back to Heimdallr. I may have restricted communications during that.", I said, nodding my head.
"Should I put off requesting some time off until after those couple of weeks are done, then?", Tio decided to ask.
"That would be for the best. I know most should be able to come here after these next couple weeks, I am not sure if Van will be able to attend. He's started high school. He's attending Calvard's number one school. I heard it's pretty strict over there. I don't know if he can take any time off to come here.", I said, wondering how Van was currently doing. I do know they were on winter break, and his friends back there celebrated the new year. Together with a couple individuals I found surprising, but made sense as Sara was still there. I didn't expect Toval to be with them either. He normally lurks around Legram's guild branch. With Sara and Lavi here in Heimdallr now, but no Toval, they likely parted ways. I haven't seen Toval since I left Legram.
"Sheesh, you really do know a lot of people, Your Highness. You can't just name-drop someone expecting us to know. Let me guess, this Van person is one of those friends you and Tio made?", Jona asked with a doubtful look.
"He sure is. I'll tell you guys about him some time, but not now. I need to see if he can even come out here first. Aside from that though, Professor Schmidt, it's good that you are with Tio currently. For that certain matter we previously discussed, it has seen some progress. I have a certain someone who's going to investigate its origin. To my knowledge, they keep addressing it as the 'Second Genesis'. I haven't a clue as to what that means, unfortunately.", I said, shrugging my head, drawing Professor Schmidt's gaze my way.
"The 'Second Genesis'...", Professor Schmidt uttered, only to nod his head at my words.
"The heck kind of name is that? Sounds like some weird-ass orbment.", Jona responded with another curse. Professor Schmidt ignored Jona's remark and spoke back to me.
"I haven't made much progress on the matter either, I'm afraid. That name did point myself toward the founder of the Orbal Revolution, my teacher. But most of his notes have been lost, or remained with his family. I did come across a name, however.", Professor Schmidt said, drawing my name.
"Oi, you can't just throw out Epstein's name like that!", Jona retorted again.
"Just shut it, Jona. Do I need to remind you that your grade is on the line here?", Tio said coldly.
"Right...", Jona uttered, gulping some saliva down as he said that, promptly shutting his lips as he did. It was quite funny seeing Jona and Tio's banter in full view like this, but I kept my eyes on Professor Schmidt's words. Is he suggesting the 'Second Genesis' is tied to Professor Epstein himself? And Professor Schmidt mentioned a name. My curiosity grew.
"A name huh? I've come across a lot of people, so perhaps I know them.", I responded.
"Have you heard the name, 'Claudel', Naoto?", Professor Schmidt asked me.
"Claudel?", I asked, showing confusion in my eyes. I haven't come across that name before. Unless...is Professor Schmidt referring to that new character that made an appearance during Reverie's final daydream? My eyes turned somewhat serious.
"Her name wouldn't happen to be Agnès Claudel, would it, Professor?", I asked.