"There is slight buffering within the connection traffic. Captain Hana, how long would it take for half of the internet to notice that we're making a hive-mind out of their clients illegally?"
"Five hours at best." Yoo Hana leaned back to her chair with little to no worry about the world. "Even if we're taking a partial amount of computation from each and every server, someone would notice and they will do anything to patch the hole to further prevent continuous resource loss.
"And after they realize that they can't do anything, they will eventually decide to shut down their data-centers, stopping us from profiting even if it would result in their total loss."
"Not every company will do that."
"But the majority will~ And 5 hours is the estimated time where our accumulated computation power began to deteriorate from these reasons."
"I see, so I have 5 hours to come up with new Soul Tech."
"Nope," Yoo Hana gazed at Hosua with an unhinged wide-open eyes. "You have 5 hours to complete the [Super Hardware Upgrades!] route so that we can add more features to your innate computing capability later~"
"Don't make me get used to your unreasonable demands…"
"After all, we won't know what kind of situation we shall encounter in the Apocalypse. In a case where the internet has fully stopped giving their services, you will be one and only hope for us to do anything."
Equipped with a computational hivemind stolen from various places on the internet Hosua started to multitask all of her work.
This kind of technology was not entirely new when it comes to normal populace access of this method.
Most gaming companies even provided a cloud gaming service to low end devices as long as their internet could handle the massive traffic of data.
Just like how those gaming company data centers were doing all of the rendering and the simulation of the game, the customer's device only has the responsibility of displaying the visual data and the computed engine processed by those cloud servers, while relaying the interaction input to the cloud in real time.
Hosua had always wanted this on her emulator when she was still a full fledged android, but most of these services are not free, and Hosua didn't want her owner to know that she had an ounce of sentience back then.
'Now that I look back at it, Yoo Hana probably realized the moment my soul was formed but decided to stay silent because it's more fun that way…'
And now, Hosua was finally able to access that service albeit not the exact same, which was also inherently illegal at the same time.
The tsukumogami could be seen shedding a happy tear with a smile.
'Even though I can't play a high-end game with a proper cloud provider at this moment, it is still a dream come true~!'
And with that, Hosua began to delve deeper into her own soul, conducting a large-scale exploration and experiment about the Partial Divinity supermicroscopic realm.
Using the extra computation, Hosua was able to utilize 1200 soul tentacles simultaneously. It hurt like hugging the furnace of hell, but the sensation of pain had already been interpreted as excitement to Hosua at this point.
One hour later, after thousands of experiments conducted at extreme speed, Hosua was able to create one chunk of palm-sized cobalt cube and niobium cube respectively.
[Soul Tech Level 3: Universal Matter Creation]
"I did it…!"
"You did it!"
Both of them band arms over each other's shoulder, and proceed to do their happy dance.
After a full minute of celebration, Hosua slumped over and hurled the bread that she had consumed a while ago.
"A… There goes my first ever breakfast."
Yoo Hana was already in her lab coat, protective goggles, and protective gloves. Hosua wanted to ask how in the world that she had those but decided to not pry further due to how her bedroom was not normal in the slightest.
Holding the forcefully made chunk of cobalt, Yoo Hana went deep into thinking, "I wonder if the strings did consist of all of the known particles."
"Won't the finding of these strings overwrite the standard model of particles instead?"
"That is too early to tell. Besides, the fact that you used it as a reference to create matter already proved that the standard model is practical to some degree." Hana raised one of her eyebrows, donning another smug. "Imagine, giving each scientist of humanity an Etherbrain-like tool so that we can just bend nature to our will! They would allow for a better comprehension, and a new branch of physics shall be born!
"If that's the case, then maybe it would be vital for the next Apocalypse and so on for humanity to be able to harness these Soul Tentacles individually, won't you think so~? Then again, you alone would be ten times more efficient than a hundred scientists when it comes to computation."
Hosua could be seen cleaning her own puke, while still looking like a nauseated, pale-faced alcoholic one could usually find at the bar. "You already think that far? We haven't even overcome the first Apocalypse yet."
"It might be a speculation, but I think the Etherbrain has a far more grander purpose than merely just allowing you to explore the adjacent realm of your soul and store something in it." Yoo Hana put the heavy niobium cube onto her microscope that took up the whole space of a one and a half meter table. "Hence why, you should keep experimenting with your own soul and Etherebrain while you're doing the second main route of the roadmap."
"I'll keep sending my report in the form of document files onto your computer then," said Hosua, while snacking on a cup of yogurt right after kicking the bucket.
The experiment kept on going, and Hosua was able to stretch the range of her soul tentacles through repetitive use and complex submicroscopic strings alteration.
It seemed like the soul itself had a similar property with that of a rubber in a conceptual manner. It started quite stiff and would become loose with repeated strain. The trait of the soul tentacle that encompasses the entirety of the soul's architectural structure was resilience, and there might be a possible chance of breaking apart when strained with a strength that it is not accustomed to.
The question of afterlife came to Hosua's mind.
What happens when people die?
Will the soul stay on the corpse or will they disperse into nothing?
Is there another realm of existence that reserves the souls of the dead?
Although, all of that paled in comparison to the fact that Hosua was able manifest elements like she was casting a DnD's magic.
"Huehuehuehue," murmured Hosua as she channeled a floating orb of fire on top of her palms.
'So cute,' Yoo Hana giggled. 'She looks like a kid.'
Realistically, there is no kid on earth who can create a suspended fireball in the air.