Warning : This Chapter Consist Mostly of Worldbuilding
The sun has long gone and the dark has comfortably put itself as the ruler of sky. It's pure black sky out there. The moon and stars that usually light up the night was deafen by the clouds. The calming sounds of the ruffling leaves and the waves crashing against the sand were the only noise you could hear as the base fall tuck themselves into the dream world.
"Hmm…" Currently, I'm on the record room, or more specifically the kitchen side of it, brewing some coffee. I know I should be sleeping right now especially since there would be a meeting tomorrow but there's a lot of thing that prevents me to do that. "Fuh…" I blow the steam away to check on the water level on the cup. It's perfect.
I grab my cup and start making my way toward my room. Hmm… maybe I should make 2 more cups just in case the investigation takes longer than I anticipated. Nah… I'll get there when I get there. For now, a cup should do and beside, I could just ask those fuckers about it.
*Creak
Why did I slowly open the door of my own room like I was sneaking in? There's nobody in this building other than me. Stella and the others has long gone home, leaving me alone.
"Sigh…" I put my cup on the table and sit down on my seat. In front of me was the document that Sheffy had brought earlier the day, my laptop and my phone. "Which one…?" I ask myself. Should I investigate the siren ship first and how did I knew about it or the Eternalize Program and the Arizona's summoning? I keep on pondering what's the best use of my time right now. I no doubt has to be asleep by midnight. I can stay awake until the dawn but because of the important meeting tomorrow, that's option has gone out of the window.
Sigh… I guess the Eternalize program first since it's probably easier to find any sort of information regarding that. Maybe I could also read the document that Sheffy gives me while I search for that in my laptop.
*Siiip*
I took a sip of my coffee as I open chrome on my laptop and search for 'Eternalize Program'. Thousands of news articles immediately pop out, flooding my search result. I guess I was right about how easy it is to gain information about it. I click one of the news and a new tab opens up. I click another news but this time, it's in video format.
"Eternalize Program is a…" I put the video on the background as I return back to the news tab and read it. This is the easiest and most efficient way of researching something. It works even better because there is an actual person explaining about it in the video unlike those virtual voice that would make you sleepy.
I read the entire news in matter of minutes. They really, really need to add more information in these things. I close the news tab and open up another one and just like the first one, I finish this one in a single minute. "Sigh…" I close and open another one again and again and again and again. Well at least with each news I gain a little bit of information but I would love it if there's an info dumb that I can just read.
Hmm… there's probably already one. I better check the chat. Those fuckers usually work fast.
I minimize the chrome and open up a chatting app. It wasn't a popular chatting app, it's old fashioned, it's lack in emoticon and there isn't a lot of moving animation but honestly for me, it's enough. It did its job and you can share anything without any size limit which is very good considering there are more modern and popular apps that ask you to pay a fortune just to send something pass 500 MB.
The amount of unread messages though… man, these guys have been active.
The Best: Alright bitches, who is still alive?
Naive: God damn it.
Naive: You're not dead.
The Best: Why aren't you asleep?
Naive: I'm in Paris right now. I just had breakfast.
The Best: Paris?
The Best: The fuck you're doing there? Holiday?!
The Best: You really have it easy huh?
Naive: Bitch I wish!
Naive: It's just work, meeting and bullshit all day long!
Naive: I'm 5 minutes away from another meeting!
Four eyes: That's just adulthood. That's how things work.
Oh look who decide to join… the one that I want to talk the most regarding the Eternalize Project.
The Best: Good, you're here. I need to ask about the Eternalize Program.
Four eyes: Too late, already post it earlier.
Four eyes: Just search Eternalize.
The Best: Files or what?
Four eyes: Folder.
I click on the search column and put the filter to folder and search for the word 'Eternalize'. It immediately shows me a folder with the size of 90 Mb. So small… Maybe it's a little bit too small for my own comfort. Maybe they still missing a couple of things in here.
The Best: Why is it only 90 Mb?
Naive: Not everything has to pass 200 Mb, buddy.
Naive: Sometimes things are just that simple that it only got 90 Mb of data.
Four eyes: Although it hurts me to agree with the prince, but he's right.
Naive: I thought I told you to stop calling me that!
The Best: Shut up, Naive!
Naive: Oh for fuck sake!
When will he learn that those will always be his nicknames? I click on the files and download it and it immediately finish. I open the folder and several PDF files, Word files, and videos were inside of it. Ah shit… I don't have time to read all of these!
Naive: Fuck you guys!
The Best: Don't you have a meeting to attend to?
Naive: It's an online meeting.
Four eyes: You'll fuck up and tomorrow, your news will be all over the media.
Naive: I will not!
That's a big red flag. Can't wait for tomorrow news! Imagine the headline, 'Son of UN leader fuck up on a meeting online because he can't prioritize which is more important'. That would be a good read!
The Best: What will you even talk about in the meeting? How much money can be thrown away before the mass know about it?
Naive: Fuck off! Do you know how hard it is to use the UN money right now?
Naive: You have to ask like 5 different governmental body to even use a single cent of it.
Four eyes: Good, at the very least I can be sure you don't use it for something stupid.
The Best: Look at the fucking mirror, buddy.
This fucker spent a shit ton of fortune to invent bullshits that has a bigger chance of exploding than actually working as intended. I start using his things as bomb for fuck sake! Because it has higher chance of exploding and damaging something than an actual grenade.
The Best: Alright, explain the Eternalize Program but pretend that I don't know anything about it.
Four eyes: You actually don't know, do you?
The Best: I said pretend.
Naive: That mean yes.
Four eyes: Don't worry, I was expecting that from you anyway.
The Best: Oh you guys are fucking asshole.
The four eyes son of a bitch starts explaining thing here and there and I manage to catch the gist of what the Eternalize program is. Basically, it's a project to prolong the life of a human by manipulating the cells. If you're asking me to explain it in a scientific way then don't bother because it's just filled with stupid science mumbo jumbo that I can't even hope to comprehend. Reading the Four Eyes's messages are like reading a magic book.
The seed for the Eternalize program has been planted years before the siren invasion. At that time, the Eternalize process can only be gain through a shit ton of money so it was only available to the rich. The process was mostly lost after the siren invasion and the World Health Organization (WHO) have been spending the years trying to regain the lost knowledge and perfecting it.
The Eternalize program aim to use this to increase humanity lifespan by literally making everyone live longer. Yep, everyone. It's all seems to be so good to be true and of course, it is. Naive tells me that the meeting he is attending it to talk about these. Its seem that the Iris Orthodoxy's president is suspicious about the program and would like an explanation.
Of course I ask the Four eyes to tell me the real prospect behind this program. Well, the gist of longevity is what was advertised to the public but it gets a lot more complicated than that. What the Eternalize program did to cells is basically forcing it to stay the way it is for a lot longer than naturally.
For example, let's imagine your cells is aging with you, so a 23 years old man would've a 23 years old cells. Normally people's cells can only be 23 years old for a year of their lifetime but if that person take the Eternalize program at 23 years old, his cells would keep being 23 for at least 2 years. Hypothetically, this would grant the person a double lifespan and it would be understandable why there would be an age limit because there wouldn't be any benefit in prolonging people's childhood.
The age limit of this program is 20 years old which is understandable but there is another reason for that. You see, the current conscription age is 16 years old but that would be change. Starting from next year, the conscription age would be rank up to 20 years old which mean most of the conscripts would've already taken the Eternalize program before being deploy. The Eternalize program would give the conscript a better chance of surviving since it has been said that the program buffed cell's regeneration ability.
The Best: So the redeployment program main purpose is to fill the ranks that would be empty once they raise the age of conscription, right?
Naive: Yep and the Navy were the one that needed those the most.
Naive: Why do you think the UN has become more defensive lately?
The Best: True, I haven't read any big win in the news lately.
The Best: Usually they would hyperbole a small win but to think there isn't any is weird.
Emo: You guys are annoying.
Four eyes: Why are you still awake?
Emo: I just wake up because my phone keep lighting up like disco ball.
The Best: Oh look, the genocidal maniac is here.
Emo: Fuck off.
The Best: Since the Eternalize Program minimum age requirement is 20 years old, I assume all of you have taken it?
Four eyes: Check the folder.
Four eyes: There's a spreadsheet that listed who has taken the program.
Emo: He is too lazy to do that.
The Best: You know me so well.
The Best: I guess I'm the only one who hasn't taken it then.
Naive: What are you talking about? You already take it.
Wait what?! I immediately open the spreadsheet that the four eyes told me and search for my name. Yep, it's there but why is it there?! I don't even know about this Eternalize program before now and yet my name register as someone who already took it!
The Best: Wait how?!
The Best: I don't remember taking it in my life before.
Emo: Your memory isn't the best so it's not a surprise.
The Best: Fuck you!
Naive: It's probably my sister.
The Best: Of course…
The Best: What's the machine looks like?
Four eyes: Check the folder.
Sigh… of course. I check the downloaded file and found the photo of the machine. It has a shape like an egg completed with pure white walls and a little window in the front that, I assume, is used to look at the patient from the outside. Another picture shows the inside of it which is also pure white with a breathing apparatus hanging from the top.
Now that I'm looking at the machine, a particular 'testing' come to mind. A couple of years ago when I was still at the Army, I was tasked to try a new 'healing machine'. The treatment consists of dipping me into a solution of water for a set amount of time and the scientists would do some mumbo jumbo science stuffs. Don't know what it was because I was inside the egg but I knew they did something. At that time, I don't believe it to be anything more than bullshit science and trial because I don't feel anything weird after I got out of it and assume that it was a failure so I pay it no mind. To think that was a program to keep me young… Sigh…
The Best: You need to teach your sister the concept of consent.
Naive: No use.
Naive: If you can't tell her not to do it then there's no chance for me.
Four eyes: She's married right?
Naive: Yep.
Emo: Igo, marry Mia.
Four eyes: You really think that would work?
Emo: There's a chance but likely no.
Emo: At least your marriage life would be like a soap opera.
The Best: Thanks for bringing me up and smashing me back down, assholes.
Emo: Okay.
Four eyes: No probs.
Naive: That's what friends are for.
Raccoon: That's what we're here for.
[Blank]: Thumbs up
The Best: You guys just come in so shut up!
Raccoon: No.
[Blank]: X
Four eyes: Hey trash digger, how's Dragon Empery?
Raccoon: The same as usual.
[Blank]: Fire
The Best: Wait, why are you guys on the Dragon Empery?
Raccoon: Detective stuffs.
[Blank]: Magnifying glass
The Best: Oh yeah, talking about detective stuffs. There is something that I want you guys to look into.
Four eyes: Oh no…
Emo: Oh no…
Naive: Oh no…
Raccoon: Oh no…
[Blank]: Oh no…
Sigh… these motherfuckers… seriously… I want to ask these guys about the wisdom cube summoning. I know Azur Lane is a secret that I need to keep and telling them about this would probably get them under a watch list but let's be real, we're already in a shit ton of watch list so why not add more?
The Best: So there's this organization called Azur Lane…
Raccoon: STOP!
Raccoon: Do you know how much agents are now camping near my room?!
[Blank]: BoxBoxBoxBoxBoxBoxBoxBoxBox
The Best: I assume that means a lot…
Raccoon: YES!
Naive: Yeah, we already know.
Naive: My sister told me about you joining this organization.
Naive: It must be heaven for you, huh?
The Best: On the outside, yes but it's just another paperwork hell.
Raccoon: Tell me about it…
Raccoon: Dragon Empery would be beautiful they said…
Raccoon: The food is good they said…
Raccoon: The scenery is the best they said…
Raccoon: What's the point in all of that if I'm stuck in my room!
Naive: Same…
Four eyes: Because of you joining this organization, we got another pair of eyes watching us.
Emo: Fuck you, dude.
Emo: They literally send people to follow me now whenever I go outside.
The Best: Good, your suffering is my entertainment.
The Best: I assume your sister already told you who's the Fleet Admiral?
Naive: No… Who?
The Best: Stella.
Four eyes: Oof… that gotta be awkward.
Emo: Feels bad man…
Naive: That's a surprise…
The Best: Yeah… here's the deal.
Raccoon: She wants to be back with you?
Emo: Dude… If Naive's sister know about you 2 timing…
Four eyes: You're going to be hunted till the end of the earth
[Blank]: Dead
Raccoon: You're going to make the princess cheat on her king.
Ah shit! I just realized that! She would use the 2 timing excuse to persuade me to 3 timing instead! FUCK! I thought she genuinely have move on from me once she married someone so I don't think much of her! This is bad! She could also use it as a blackmail material!
The Best: Oh fuck off!
The Best: I wouldn't let it!
Naive: You really think my sister would accept a 'No'?
The Best: No…
Naive: Exactly.
The Best: But she already has a husband, right?
Naive: You have no idea how dysfunctional her family life is.
Naive: I start to think that I'm living in a middle age soap opera.
Emo: You're not?
Naive: Honestly, I don't know…
The Best: Whatever, I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
Four eyes: Which is just days away…
The Best: Raccoon, I'll PM the detail to you.
I open up my private massage with Raccoon. As much as I want to just tell him on the group massage, I don't want my chat to be interrupted by the others.
Raccoon: Dude seriously? Are you going to make me look into something that's going to get me in trouble?
The Best: But you're already in trouble.
Raccoon: I know!
The Best: How about I commission you?
The Best: At the very least you're going to get some money.
Raccoon: Money is not one of my problem.
The Best: Yeah, but it's my money.
Raccoon: What's the different?
The Best: It's mine.
Raccoon: …
Raccoon: Oh, for fuck sake!
Raccoon: FINE! I'll look into it.
The Best: Noice!
Raccoon: Alright, so what do I need to dig?
The Best: An experiment report. The title is 'Wisdom Cube Experiments Number 43: Effect of Multiple Electrical Attributes on the Wisdom Cube'.
Raccoon: An experiment report? That's very unlike you but sure…
Raccoon: For now, give me 1000. I may ask for more once I get a taste of the security.
The Best: Thanks man.
The Best: Also… while you're at it.
The Best: Get me every report about wisdom cube experiment that you can get.
The Best: I'll pay you for each one of them.
Raccoon: Sure… they probably store their reports on at least a server which mean it would be easy once I breakthrough their security.
The Best: Alright, send me the files and I'll give you the money.
Raccoon: Deal.
Now that have been taken care of, let's get back to the group chat.
Tower: You guys have been absurdly noisy.
Tower: What's going on?
Four eyes: The dumbass come and make trouble again.
The Best: No I didn't!
Tower: Seriously…
Tower: What did you do this time?
The Best: Living.
The Best: Whatever…
The Best: It's nighttime where I'm at so fuck you guys and I see you tomorrow.
Four eyes: What? Stella doesn't like it when you stay up late?
Emo: She's probably behind him right now.
Tower: Say hello to her for me.
Naive: Getting sleepy, child?
Raccoon: Told you to start drinking coffee instead of chocolate milk
[Blank]: Baby
The Best: Fuck you guys…
Sigh… why do I even still chatting with these assholes is beyond me. I close the app down and take another sip of my coffee. Look Raccoon, I'm drinking coffee right here. And I never said that I'm going to sleep, it's just now that I have something else that I need to research.
*Siiiip*
I grab the document that Sheffy brought to me and read the tittle. 'Kinetics Artifactual Navy-Self-regulative En-lore Node (KAN-SEN) reproduction study' and it was initiated by someone named 'Anzeel'. Whoever this person is, they must be a pervert because the only person that would think about this kind of stuffs is me and I'm a pervert myself. Also KAN-SEN? So that's what the shipgirl are called legally… why does it sounds so cold? Shipgirl sounds warmer and you get an impression that they're human but KAN-SEN… it's too… I don't know. I'm uncomfortable calling them that. It makes them sounds like a machine.
*Flips*
Hmm… 'This experiment was performed on an egg cell taken from one of the Eagle Union's Navy KAN-SEN'. The egg cell itself huh… I wonder whose egg cell it was. I doubt I can go to the Eagle Union's apartment and ask them one by one. That would make things very awkward between me and them. I would also out myself as a weirdo that study shipgirl's reproduction system. I can only imagine the face of disappointment Stella would throw at me when she knew about this.
I start reading through the document while occasionally sipping my coffee and I have to say… this is one hell of a ride. No amount of alcohol can match the state of my mind after I finish reading this. I like to meet this Anzeel person and punch their face on my own. Not out of anger but out of pure bewilderment. The cup that I had drinking out of has been emptied but I don't think I would like to add more. Sleeping after reading this book is a must because the content is just mindboggling.
Just like any other experiment, the first thing the researchers does is examine and determine the properties of the subject, which in this particular experiment is the egg cell. They determine that, structurally, it's almost identical to normal human's egg cell. The only different in structure is that the egg cell from the shipgirl appear to have something else inside of it. Its shape like a cube and it's almost as big as the nucleus. Anzeel hypothesize that this is a dormant wisdom cube and the small amount of energy that the cell emits is the proof of it.
Well, this is still a hypothesis so there's no clarification yet. What has been clarified is that the little energy that was emitted kills sperm cells. In fact, if the egg cell detects any sperm cells near it, it would excrete a chemical cocktail glutamate and substance P (SP) that are the main transmitters associated with the sensation of pain and the little cube would pulse in which the energy level would rise and kill the sperm cells. The wisdom cube would then return back to its dormant state once it can't detect any more sperm cells.
This mean that I can't ejaculate inside the girls or it will cause them pain. Would it be more painful if there's more sperm cells inside of them? Ugh… I don't want to find that out. Maybe I should order some condoms and wait for it to arrive before taking it to the next step with Sheffy and Belfast. I'm pervert but not an asshole. I don't want to torture the shipgirls but I can't exactly import condom here now can I? It would raise a lot of eyebrows and I would be under heavy surveillance.
The researchers found out about the egg cell's sperm killing property from drowning the egg cell in sperm and the next thing they know, the sperm cells were all dead and the mixture is almost as pure as water. The researchers then try to analyze the egg cell again and notice that it's energy really, really doesn't like the chromosome Y for some reason. A sperm cell with chromosome X as one of its 23 chromosomes would survive much longer before being terminated than a sperm cell with chromosome Y. This could indicate that the shipgirl could only produce female offspring like the mythical race Amazon. The researchers then tried to take it up a notch by dropping a single egg cell into a 1000 liters of sperm and the egg purify the mixture in almost a day.
'We wonder if the egg cell purifying property could be altered to purify another substance'. 'Further experiment would be needed'. As expected of a researcher, they always want to find out more but I wonder, what kind of substance does Anzeel wants to purify? Radioactive material? I mean that would make the most sense considering the state of North Africa right now. 'The KAN-SEN's egg cells may be able to be use as a water purifier if we can harness their purifying power'. I don't even… I mean… what the fuck, man? I just… I can't… I really want to punch Anzeel in the face.
I know Sheffy gave me this as a reassurance but now I'm even more doubtful about the future that she wanted. I guess I have to follow my first plan of only ejaculating outside but now, it's not because of the pregnancy risk. 'To avoid any discomfort and pain, we recommend that all KAN-SEN to be prohibited to conduct sexual activity that would cause an insertion of sperm cells into their vaginal area'. Noted and I am going to follow that prohibition even though I don't agree with you calling them KAN-SEN.
'Unlike normal human female, it seems that KAN-SEN doesn't possess menstruation cycle. This could also be an indication that the this particular KAN-SEN might not be physically mature.' Wait?! Are you telling me that Anzel are doing the experiment one of the younger shipgirls?! That should definitely put them in a criminal list! 'This could also be one of the supporting fact that none of the KAN-SEN are sexually mature even with the oldest KAN-SEN humanity have managed to summon (25 years old) because of their extended lifespan.' Wait what!? A human sexual maturity usually happened before the age 20 years old so wouldn't the oldest shipgirl be classified as mature or adult? DAMN! Without knowing who the shipgirl that partake in this experiment, I couldn't pinpoint when did they actually took the egg cell. There's a lot of redacted date here and there and when there is an actual date, it would just be for something that isn't important.
'As shown in previous experiment, KAN-SEN's lifespan are much greater than those of normal humans.' Well… can't say I'm surprise by this. The more and more I read about this girl, the more I understand why the government separate them as another species. They seem to be a better version of human, an evolved human. 'KAN-SEN's sexual maturity might be one of the things that are affected by the KAN-SEN's extended lifespan.' Might is the working word here. I might need to read Anzeel research on KAN-SEN's lifespan to get the full context. Either that or I wait for Raccoon to give me the uncensored one but god knows when will he actually have it.
'We hypothesize that like human, the KAN-SEN would start developing their egg cell once they start hitting a certain age group.' 'As of now, the current egg cell might be still in its dormant state as indicated by the cube which act as a shield.' As a shield… huh… but to think it's cause pain to the shipgirl itself… that's a little bit excessive. 'A KAN-SEN's sexual maturity might finally allow the egg cells to accept sperm cell but it might also might cause the cube to take a more active role.' Hmm… I guess I understand where they're coming from. Just like they said, the wisdom cube act more like an alarm in which it's dormant as long as nothing triggers it. 'It's also theorize that someone with a high affinity toward the wisdom cube might be the answer' Huh? Who could that be? 'As indicated by previous experiment, cells from human with some affinity with the wisdom cube would emit the same energy as the wisdom cube.' Is that so? I really need to read the others documents. 'The strength of this energy is related to the affinity with the wisdom cube. The higher the affinity, the stronger the energy.'
Energy… Could I be… one of them? But I never sense this energy that they're talking before. How do they determine how high someone affinity with the wisdom cube? Maybe I should take their test.
'As sperm cell is one of human's cells, it also made sense that it would emit the energy of the wisdom cube and this energy could, theoretically, cancel the energy that is emitted by the KAN-SEN's egg cell hence allowing an insemination.' 'Further study is needed to determine this theory.'
"Sigh…" I close the document and put it away. The shipgirls… are really something else, huh? I thought this light reading section might entice me to fuck the shipgirl without being afraid of the risk of pregnancy but this is just pushing me the other way. It's just making me want to distance myself from them before I can order some condoms. If I was one of those humans with high affinity then I might make Sheffy pregnant but if I wasn't, it would just cause her pain.
I'll consult with Sheffy tomorrow after the meeting and I might be able to convince her to be patient. For now, I should close the investigation on this matter and start the other investigation. Why the fuck would Observer gives me the siren destroyer information? The only person that I could ask for now is that asshole in the cube.
I know I could ask Observer but let's be real, she won't tell me why she did it. She would probably just giggle at me and said 'Next time, darling~~' and it's not like I have anyone else I can talk to.
I shut my laptop down before I leave my room and make my way toward the wisdom cube storing room. Standing in front of the door always feels weird but it somehow feels even weirder now. The sensation that I'm feeling right now… is because I becoming more conscious about the wisdom cube energy. I just read it so of course that's on the back of my mind right now.
I punch in the code and as the door opens up, the sensation gets stronger and stronger until every hair in my body stood up, even my pubic hair. With a concern heart, I walk into the room. The deeper I go inside the room, the stronger the energy. It feels like thousands of microscopic needles piercing through my skin but it somehow making me feel comfortable. I need to grab a cube and run away before I decide to make this my new bedroom.
I stretch my hand toward one of the cube. When my palm touches the cube, it almost immediately pulls me toward that place but since I know how to exit it, I just cancel it. Now I know how to safely touch the cube without being transported but it would still make a spectacle. I now know what Stella and Belfast mean by 'root of light' crawling up my skins. I wonder if those roots are actually my bloodstreams, which mean that my blood are glowing bright blue. I'm becoming a horseshoe crab.
I carefully transported the cube out of the room before closing the door behind me. I still doesn't understand how time dilation work between the inside of the cube and the real world but I better prepare just in case it will take me an entire night to investigate about this. I then carefully bring the cube into my room and place it on the bed. Let's lock the door first before diving into the unknown because let's be real, I have 0 idea where the fuck am I going. Saying I'm going inside the cube make zero sense.
"Fuh… Here goes nothing." I let my body calm down and get enveloped by the root and dive into the cube. The entire world around me was consumed by an excessive amount of white until there's nothing more of the real world. This scenery reminds me of the first time I dive into the cube.
"Well, well, well… look who we have here." I would never get used to hearing my own voice coming from someone else's mouth especially when that person is identical with me. The asshole slowly drifts down from god-know-where and stand in front of me. "Since you're here, I assume you've research about Arizona?"
"Still in progress." I stand up and face him directly. "It's not easy you know? To get something from the government?" I think it's genuinely a lot harder to get an accurate information than actual physical objects from the government. "But that's not why I'm here."
"Huh? Then who? Her sister?"
"No, I want to talk about the siren." His face immediately turns to smug and he chuckle at me like he was looking down on me. I hate this guy. "Can I ask you to tell me everything you know about them?"
"Nope." He turns her body around and snaps her fingers. The pure white sheet of a world immediately changed into a lush jungle. In front of us was a huge tree with a large treehouse built into it. "Just like Arizona, you need to find it on your own." He climbs the tree and perch on one of the branches.
"What stakes do you have by not telling me?" I always wonder. He definitely knew something but he never let anything out. "Is it detrimental to your goal for me to find out about the siren?" Now that I think about it, the siren has another version of the wisdom cube just like him. Could he be one of those wisdom cubes that humanity managed to purify? Is that where the shipgirl come from? And if he is one of the siren's wisdom cube… "Are you a siren?"
"That's a lot of question you know?" He bounces up from the branch and landed on the treehouse. "Well, I don't have any stake in humanity survival." Humanity huh? So he is an outsider. "Their extinction and survival would mean nothing to me." Why? Does he have grudge against humanity? "But it would mean a lot to me for you to learn more about the siren."
"Huh?! Then why didn't you tell me anything?"
"That's because it would mean nothing if you don't find it out yourself." What the fuck does he mean by that?! Find out by myself?! We barely understand the siren even after years of wars and battles! "And for the last question," The fucker chuckle which makes me almost puke from how happy he sounds. "I'm going to answer with another question. What is a 'siren'?"
"The fuck are you saying?" What is a siren? Why did he ask me, someone who has been on a war with them for years, that? Could he be talking about the old school legend siren or the one that humanity fighting right now? "Those emo-looking pale sluts that has pushed humanity to the brink of extinction."
"That was way ruder than I anticipate." Yeah I can tell by your expression. I have never seen my face look so surprise like the one he has right now. "Sigh… I don't know what I was expecting." What does he mean by that? Me being rude to the siren? Well, that's a must and calling them sluts isn't wrong, Purifier herself said that she has had sex with multiple people at once.
"Are we talking about the same siren?"
"Yes," He jumps down from the treehouse and gracefully land on his two feet. "and no." That's an excessive break for just 3 words. "You would understand what I meant when you found out more about the siren."
"And one way of doing that is by you telling me!" How hard it is just to be a good lore dumpster. All he needs to do was run his mouth like there's no tomorrow. "You're my doppeldanger—" "Doppelganger." "Dopperganger." "Doppelganger." "Dappergranger."
"Sigh… look, I can't give you any information about the siren before you find out for yourself." This son of a bitch! "Like the information you gain about the siren's destroyer." … why didn't you say about it earlier?! That'll make it easier for me since he knew why I'm coming here for.
"Since you know that I know about the fact that I knew the siren's destroyer." Try saying that 10 times fast. "then you will tell me all about it, right?"
"There's no need for me to tell you anything, you already have all the information that you need is inside of your mind." Not everything, there's some information that have unusual words and writing that I can't read but that's not the point here.
"But what I want to know is why and how does it get into my brain?" The bastard then gives me the weirdest looks I have ever seen plastered on my face.
"How did you not know about that? It's your own mind." Yes, that's why I'm asking you. I wouldn't be here if I don't have a big question mark above my head. "If this is how you lure out information from me, it's not working." Not thinking about that but hey, I wouldn't reject some more knowledge and info.
"No. I genuinely doesn't know how I got all of this information." He looks at me like I was a creep. I mean I understand why, if someone comes up to me and ask how the hell did he know about stuffs to me, I would also look at that person like he is a weirdo. "Look, it sounds weird but that's a fact."
"Hmm… you have meet the siren, right?" I nod my head. He hums to himself at first before a big grin appears on his face and he chuckle. "Hmm… Hah! I see where they're going with this."
"Really?! Where?"
"Don't worry, just go along with what they're doing and you'll learn something that will immensely help you." Immensely? Well, I guess I did learn some stuffs about the siren by interacting with them but not to the extent where it will give humanity an advantage. At best it gives me an understanding of their personality.
"Be pacific." "Specific." "Yeah, that."
"And why would I tell you that?"
"Because you stole my body."
"Copy not stole." Potato tomato, they're the same. "And I'll stand by my point from earlier, I can't tell you anything because I'm sure you'll immediately try to use it," What's bad about that?! If I want to use it immediately then that mean it's a useful knowledge to have. "and it could have dire consequences."
"Who gives a shit?! Tell me!" I try to grab his collar but he instantly slaps my hands away and give me a good kick on my stomach which send me flying backward. "GUH! You fucking bitch!" I angrily stand up and charge at him. He casually jumps up to the treehouse before I can manage to land any hit on him.
"I would like for this world to survive even if it's just for a couple more years." …that dire… really? A world ending consequences? "Unless you learn it the right way, you'll never have any chance of doing it right." Could this be an intimidation? So that I would do things his way. "The role that you're taking right now, being the only soul that could access me, is a high stake high reward role." I hate this job! "Fucking it up is out the question."
"Not telling me would rise the chance of me fucking it up."
"True… but that fuck up consequences would be miniscule compare to what I was talking about." Miniscule? How miniscule are we talking about here? "Listen, I know how important it is for you to seek out more knowledge just to give your species a chance of survival but this isn't something that you can just do with just a piece of the puzzle." So how much puzzle pieces do I need to actually do this safely?
"How the fuck do I know where to start if I don't even know what I'm even doing?"
"I already told you what you need to do," Huh? When? "Go research about Arizona's summoning, you'll get several puzzle pieces there." That'll take time… why can't things just be instant?
"Sigh… you really don't understand anything about humanity's governments huh?" I wish I could just ask the government to hand me over the documents of the experiments. "Fine, I'll look into it but answer my one question," "Hmm?" "Did you take a role in inserting the knowledge about the siren destroyer inside my mind?"
"No, it wouldn't give you any benefit." What does he mean by that?! Doesn't he know that knowing is half the battle!? "Beside, what can you do with the information? Doubt you're brave enough to share it with anybody." …fuck he got me… even if I know all of the functions of the siren destroyer's instruments and its layout, it wouldn't effect anything much. Azur Lane's main goal as of now isn't to study the siren but to eliminate them from reaching the beaches and the girls seem to be doing a great job at it even without knowing the knowledge that I have now. I can't tell them unless I have something that I can use to force them not to interfere with what I am and will do. Trying to reverse engineer their techs without taking immense precautions would just put us at risk of a sabotage.
"I hate you." And myself for being a fucking moron. "Before I go out, is there any wisdom cube trick that you would like me to have because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get it anywhere except here?"
"Well, I guess I can. It's just a simple trick though." He stands in front of me with both of hands in front of his chest like he was holding something between them. "Alright, copy my move." And I did, I move my hands a couple of centimeters in front of my chest. "Close your eyes and then imagine the wisdom cube in your hand." That's easy, I just need to imagine a weird blue cube in my hands. I might as well prepare to exit this place once he's done teaching me this trick. My body was in some sort of limbo between this world and the real world when he starts talking again. "Okay, strengthen your grips on the wisdom cube and slowly pull them ap—"
Apart right? Because that what I did before his voice vanishes. I open up my eyes and notice that I was already in the real world. Fuck, did I accidently leave that place too early? Man, now I have to get back… in…side… the… CUBES!?
When my eyes travel down where the cube was, it was gone and was replace by several little pieces of wisdom cubes that were scattered on my bed. It is almost as if someone has cut the wisdom cube to make several little cubelets but the most important part is, WHAT THE FUCK AM I GOING TO DO!? Why did I believe him!? I should have just scram once I'm done with him!
"Huh?!" I instinctively raise my hands up from shock and fear of fucking things up more but I notice somethings even more distressing. The blue glowing roots on my arms, they aren't disappearing. They aren't fading. The roots keep it's glow even when I'm not physically touching the cube. Oh fuck… Oh fuck.. Oh fuck! Oh fuck! OH FUCK! Is this going to be permanent now?! Ah shit! What am I going to do?!
Alright Igo, let's calm down… I can cover it up with something! I quickly get to my drawer and grab a long sleeves shirt but I spot that the roots are traveling down my fingers and spread out all over the shirt. A pure white long sleeve shirt that was made from cotton with 7 buttons is now being decorated by blue glowing roots. Fuck… this is going to ruin the shi—! After the root finish spreading through the shirt, it transforms into tens of little cubelets.
"Oh fucking…" noo… I just… that shirt just become little wisdom cubes. I just transform my fucking shirt into wisdom cubes! Shit! I hold my hands in front of my chest and carefully sit back down on my bed. Now… I need to be careful not to touch anything. I have to calm down and think from there. "*Inhale*… *Exhale*… *Inhale*… *Exhale*" The blue glow of the roots slowly but surely calming down as my heart relax down to its normal state.
Good… good… calming down is the best option in any kind of situations. I keep my breath on a steady pace and my heart beat soon followed. The glow of the root… it follows the rhythm of my heart beat almost like it was my pulse. The root then slowly dissipates before it completely gone after a couple of minute of normal pulse.
Alright, now that have been taken care of, what am I going to do? I could get another wisdom cube from the storing room to visit that fucker again but I better not for now. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Thankfully, all of the cubes are perfectly shaped so in theory I could stack them up to make the larger cube and there's only a tiny chance of the others finding it out but that would make sense with the cubelets that come from the original wisdom cubes, I don't know if I can do that with the shirt's cubelets but I better try it out since I don't have any other way out of this.
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Hey would you look at that! It's perfect!
"Sigh… I should've always prepare for the worst."
"I would like to formally ask for a truce, please."
"Years have pass and you gotta move on, Stella."
"My… my chance…"
Ah… she is aiming for me.