章節 1294: Ignition
There were a few small hiccups here and there but, in the blink of an eye, the first week of class came to pass without incident. The only borderline instances were students trying to use their Companions in unsanctioned battles but, as they soon learned, this didn't pan out as they expected.
It was mentioned in the handbook that Companions were unable to follow any order that led to the harming of another person. Their purpose was to protect their partners, not be used as weapons to give them an advantage against normal students.
The closest thing to someone nearly getting expelled outright was when one student attempted to bait some of their former classmates into attacking them. This might have worked if not for the fact her Companion had already informed the staff of her intentions from the moment she planned to make contact with her former classmates.
By the time the girl was preparing to spring her trap, Sion had appeared in the area with her usual smile and a pair of twin Companions rising her shoulders. She gave a stern warning to the students of the Clock Tower before bringing the offending student back to the faculty room. Here, the girl was given a chance to defend her actions but, rather than try to make an excuse, she openly admitted to her intentions. This didn't particularly earn her any favors but, if she had tried to play off the event and mislead them, it would have been grounds for immediate expulsion from the program.
In truth, Vahn knew why the girl had been plotting against her former students as her past was filled with a series of unfortunate events. She had basically fled to the department in order to escape and, in order to give her hope, Vahn had accepted her application despite the fact she wasn't exactly an ideal candidate.
As part of the girl's punishment, she was required to attend weekly in-house therapy sessions and, in order to prevent similar instances from occurring, a seminar regarding the nature of the Companions was held in order to clear up any potential misunderstandings. Here, Vahn explained that they were intended to prevent conflict, not aid in the perpetuation of violence.
Though it was possible to fight alongside your Companion in a training environment, there would never come an opportunity where they could be used in an offensive battle against other people. Their nature was to protect, not cause harm at the behest of their partner.
To wrap everything up, he also strictly laid out that none of the students had any kind of authority over their Companions as, from the very beginning, they were intended to be partners, not servants or pets. If they failed to treat their Companions with the respect all sapient species deserved, they would not be allowed to keep them. Even if humans served as the backbone of nearly every Record he visited in the future, he did not believe in the rampant sense of superiority most humans had. He would never allow that kind of behavior in Avalon so, if they wanted to complete the program, the students needed to fix their former mentalities and curb their bad habits...
Fortunately, the students took his words very seriously so, in the aftermath of that one incident, most students began treating their Companions properly. This even extended to the students who had wanted to 'train' their Companions by having them clash against each other in unsanctioned battles. They were inspired by a popular children's cartoon but, despite their attempts to coax the adorable creatures, the Companions simply refused while sending a ping to the mother system informing it of the violation.
Vahn had less empathy for the students with this kind of mentality but, as they were young and it was very exciting to watch Companions battle, he also didn't blame them. The appearance, nature, and characteristics of a Companion made people default to viewing them as pets and, with combat potential that even exceeded the students themselves, it was easy to rationalize helping them grow even stronger. There were even students who, upon realizing that Astrid had several Companions in her entourage, believed they could acquire more for themselves to build battle teams to use against other 'trainers'.
Instances like this reminded Vahn that the students, despite many of them being considered adults by the standards of the Empire, were still just children. They were easily influenced by their situation and their interests so it was easy for them to get carried away. Since this was the very reason behind the department using a pseudo-military structure, he was hoping they would mature a bit before the time for their graduation approached. Still, as he did understand where they were coming from, Vahn had Da Vinci implement a virtual world loosely based on the popular cartoon, albeit with restrictions in place to prevent moral degeneration and mental instabilities from developing...
---
Though his primary focuses were cementing the position of his new department and completing the tasks assigned to him by Scáthach, Vahn had one other big project he was involved with. This related to the strengthening of the Chaldea Security Organization and the activation of CHALDEAS itself. It was one of the projects that would serve to strengthen the foundation of the Empire. Even before the duel between Artoria and Lorelei, preparations had been made to secure the facility and root out any potentially dangerous elements from the organization so, with the emergence of Sherlock, it was finally time to link the powerful artifact to the Bounded Field of the planet itself.
Vahn currently found himself standing on an ornate walkway in a massive chamber where only a small amount of blue light illuminated his surroundings. Despite this, his eyes could easily see a very detailed representation of the planet earth suspended between five disc-like rings, each with varying orientation. It almost looked on orrery but, with only the planet earth being present, this illusion was quickly shattered.
From over an intercom system, Vahn heard a moment of static before Olga's voice, sounding more than a little excited, came through, saying, "All of the readings are holding stable. Projections show a 94.317% chance of successful ignition. We are ready to begin when you are, Vahn!"
Hearing that the rate of success still wasn't one-hundred percent, Vahn was a little troubled but, unless he wanted to wait for Da Vinci to overhaul the entire system, there wasn't much he could do. Fortunately, even if it failed to ignite, they would just have to perform maintenance on some of the damaged systems before trying again after a few hours. This would normally take several months, at the very least, but they had the benefit of an unlimited power source with cooperation from Maxwell.
With his own excitement building, Vahn gave a nod to indicate it was time to start up CHALDEAS. He was looking forward to learning how the system would function while he was present so he elected to have a front-row seat to the historical event. The only other 'person' in attendance of the event, as it was more than a little dangerous to be anywhere near the core, was Alaya who, for once, seemed less focused on draining him dry as she focused on the massive artifact, runes streaming across her violet eyes...
Suddenly, a phenomenal amount of power began to build within the chamber as a latticework of hexagonal crystals began to illuminate on the floor. These were condensed Spiritron crystals and, upon being activated, they appeared as both a solid and a liquid simultaneously as vibrant blue light began to radiate from them. At the same time, a gentle whirring could be heard and, moments later, the discs surrounding the earth proxy began to rotate. Their speed began to gradually build with the ever-increasing flow of Magical Power while, at the very center of the formation, the previously dull and lifeless earth began to ignite into a ball of gaseous flames...
The primary reason behind Vahn's presence within the chamber was due to the fact that, when it was activated, CHALDEAS could momentarily rival the mass of the sun itself. This meant that, if the rings failed, the entire building, and everyone inside, could be pulled into its destructive embrace. It would be like a planet caught into the inescapable pull of a Black Hole and, upon contact, the Spiritrons in their body would break down while the molecules constituting their body would be annihilated.
There weren't any issues with the protective measures but, on the off chance something did go wrong, Vahn had a few ways to deal with it. He suspected that Alaya was the one that helped them out in the original timeline but, as she was unable to take such actions on her own, it now fell upon him to prevent a tragedy.
Fortunately, Da Vinci had helped to upgrade CHALDEAS so, while there was a powerful burst of heat and radiation cast off during the ignition phase, the system was able to boot without issue. Once it was active, the nature of the Global Environment Model forced it into a pseudo-spiritron state where it had functionally no mass. All of its destructive potential was contained and, rather than appear as a burning ball of flames, it quickly turned into an awe-inspiringly beautiful sapphire-colored projection of the entire planet...
From within the control room, a celebratory cheer rang out and, though her relationship with her father had been a bit rocky over the last few years, Olga leaped into his arms to give him a hug. She was perhaps the most excited by this development as, while it meant she would have less time to spend within Avalon, she had been feeling guilty about just idling about and training. She wanted to prove her worth and, though Vahn often praised her efforts, now she could provide actual results for him...
While the celebration was taking place above, Vahn was still in a state of awe as he stared at the vibrant blue sphere. It was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen and, if he focused his intent, he could feel a phenomenal amount of life radiating from it. He was even tempted to reach out and touch it but, knowing the consequences of such an act, he could only admire it from a few meters away, its beauty reflected in his eyes...
Alaya was seemingly under the same spell but, after the data stream faded from her irises, she gave Vahn a small start by saying, "This system can still be improved. It currently only shows the Bounded Field of the Surface. If it is refined, you will be able to use it as a method to communicate with Gaia without having to reach the core. At the very least, you can attune it to the frequency of the other textures..."
With her words completed, Alaya seemed to lose interest in CHALDEAS as she quickly resumed her usual position. This left Vahn with a thoughtful expression on his face as, even amongst all the data they had compiled, there was nothing pertaining to using CHALDEAS to view other textures. Da Vinci had more than likely thought about using it as such but, as there was currently no need to do so, she had been focused solely on preventing it from destroying the facility if it failed to be contained.
Knowing Da Vinci was who Alaya was referencing, Vahn gave CHALDEAS one last look before sighing in a somewhat melancholic manner as he teleported out of the chamber. He enjoyed the feeling of basking in the condensed aura of an entire planet so he decided to adjust his schedule to make time for meditating within the chamber every few days. Just being near it made him feel like he was on the verge of a major breakthrough so, trusting his instincts, Vahn would frequent CHALDEAS often in the future...
(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'This ain't Pokemans...!','CERN has nothing on Chaldea xD','Captivating beauty')
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章節 1295: Existential
With the activation of CHALDEAS, it truly felt like there wasn't much that could stop the rise of the Empire. They now had unlimited wealth, several sources for functionally infinite energy, the ability to summon anyone that has ever existed, and a system that allowed them to view the present and future of the current time axis. Though there were a few blind spots in the areas where powerful Bounded Fields existed, this allowed them to know the location of any potential enemies as there was no method to conceal the existence of the Bounded Field itself.
To make things even more difficult for their enemies, Sherlock had access to the data provided by CHALDEAS and the information compiled by Ark, the Mother System, and the Atlas Temple's TRI-HERMES, a Pseudo-Spiritronic Processor that had thousands of years of research and nearly every recorded piece of history stored within its databanks. This, combined with the ability to peer into the future, allowed Sherlock to determine not only when an incident would occur but, using his EX-Rank deductive abilities, uncover the scheme that set events into motion.
If they wanted to, it was possible to know the physical location of any entity on the Surface texture and, if used in the most extreme manner, they could even prevent crimes before they happened...
Despite this, Vahn limited the ways in which CHALDEAS could be used as he didn't believe in the concept of a fixed future. His presence within the Record fundamentally altered the flow of events in a way that even Akasha and her Superiors would never be able to guess. The only time it could be used to prevent an incident was when LAPLACE, the Phenomenon Recording Cyber-Daemon System, detected that the planet, or a large portion of the population, was in danger. Everything else would be stored away as data to be compiled and analyzed by Ark. This would be used to build a case study of persons of interest, allowing them to determine how specific policies and major events set into motion by the Empire changed the projected flow of time.
Vahn was a proponent of the idea that it was better to focus on the present moment than base all of your decisions on events that had yet to take place. It was very possible that you set into motion the very event you were trying to prevent. It was also unjust to criminalize people who had yet to actually commit any criminal acts so, while the data would be monitored closely, it would primarily be used to prevent crimes in progress or during their planning stage...
---
Despite being an actual God, Vahn felt the power granted to him by CHALDEAS transcended his previous comprehension of power in its entirety. Though it was nothing more than a projection of the planet's current state, he could feel the phenomenal power it kept within itself. He had never noticed just how much energy a planet could possess but, considering it was literally the original body of entities like Gaia and Alaya, it made sense that the source of various Gods and other Tier 5 entities was an incomprehensibly powerful existence.
Now, several days after CHALDEAS had been activated, Vahn found himself meditating in front of the sapphire blue sphere once more. Though he couldn't absorb the energy within, or interact with it in any meaningful way, just feeling the energy from trillions of lives made him feel as if he was one with the planet itself. It was distinctly different from what he experienced whenever he activated the limited omniscience provided by his Divinity...it was something far more pure...more serene...
Unfortunately, the stronger this feeling became, the more pained Vahn felt as he knew the world itself was in pain. It feared the death imposed on it by people that were so consumed with their own self-importance they didn't even recognize the very planet they lived on was alive. The only thing that mattered to them was their individual happiness and, while this alone wasn't something to be ashamed of, their lack of accountability was leading to the death of their species.
With the system shop and Sis's tireless perusal of information pertaining to the Nasuverse, Vahn had come to know that the most futuristic account of humanity dated to a period just over fifteen thousand years in the future. They would always end up dying out due to some reason or another and, even if they managed to begin seeding other planets, this action alone guaranteed they met a terrible end. After all, planets wouldn't react kindly to migrants that had already killed their host planet. Because of this, Alaya had to sacrifice herself to provide them Sanctuary for them, despite knowing even this would not guarantee the survival of the self-destructive species...
What bothered Vahn the most was that there weren't any account of Artoria's Effervescent Utopia of Avalon, despite both Merlin, Scáthach, and Alaya attesting to the fact it would inevitably exist. He didn't doubt their words were the truth but, considering even a Utopia should have kept some kind of records, it was hard to believe not even a single piece of information from that era could be found within the system shop. This implied that Avalon became some kind of metaphysical plane where record keeping was unnecessary but, even if it was an object from the actual Heaven or Hell, Vahn should at least be able to peruse it within the shop...
Without any answers the questions that plagued his heart and mind, Vahn did what Tsubaki and many others had taught him in the past...he simply stopped worrying about it. The present was the only thing that truly mattered and, feeling himself on the verge of some kind of breakthrough, Vahn had been spending a lot of his free time in the outside world meditating before CHALDEAS.
Though he didn't really know what kind of breakthrough he was heading toward, Vahn's instincts told him it was a major one. Even Alaya seemed to be aware of this so, whenever he was in deep meditation, she would detach herself from his body to watch him attentively from the side. Vahn had come to understand this indicated she was in direct communication with Akasha so they must have noticed something abnormal about his current state as well...
What Vahn didn't realize was that Akasha and her Superiors had become increasingly enamored with everything he did. Though Vahn's power was still inconsequential, even the most minute of actions carried out by him could have far-reaching consequences. The very fabric of Space and Time seemed to slowly be adapting to his intrusion into the Root System and, though he had yet to venture into other worlds, millions of unexpected events, some even beyond the scope of the System itself, had come to pass.
It was for this reason that Akasha was given her promotion and, while the Root System had been irreversibly compromised, she didn't particularly mind. It was far more important to collect new data and, considering how Vahn's influence was fundamentally altering the nature of the System, she was far more interested to see what other changes his presence would bring. This, of course, extended to her Superiors as well and, though it had yet to take any action, even Termina Nasu had been monitoring the proceedings attentively.
The original purpose of the Root System: Akasha was to collect data in the hopes of recreating the original Project: EDEN. This was still its primary objective but, as the data pertaining to Vahn had an even higher designation of importance, it didn't matter if the entire system was destroyed. A secondary Root System was already in development, this one engineered for the sole purpose of trying to create an entity similar in nature to Vahn himself...
---
Unaware of the grand impact he had on Termina Nasu and the Record as a whole, Vahn reached out his hand until it was only a single centimeter from the surface of CHALDEAS. If he moved just one centimeter further, his current vessel would be obliterated with such finality that, even if there was ambient Source Energy left behind, he would not be able to gather it back together. This was due to the fact that, despite having no actual influence on the Soul, it could completely shatter the Ego of the person that came into contact with it.
Despite knowing this, Vahn was extremely tempted to touch the surface. His Ego was supposed to be indestructible and, though he would obviously suffer a backlash, The Path guaranteed that he would be able to overcome it. This stirred up a rather morbid fascination with the concept of annihilation so Vahn couldn't help feel extremely tempted by the beautiful luminescent sphere of light. Doing so would allow him to confirm that his Ego was truly indestructible, vanquishing many of the lingering insecurities he had when facing concepts like eternity...
It was a shame that he couldn't risk being out of commission for even a few hours, much less the few days that it would likely take for him to regain his awareness. Since this would also cause his other vessels to dissolve away into apparent nothingness, it would lead to unnecessary panic and a variety of other issues that couldn't be addressed until his return. He didn't have it in himself to put his family and friends through such a period of uncertainty so, for the time being, this single centimeter might as well represent the distance between one side of the universe and the other...
Releasing a somewhat melancholic sigh, Vahn retracted his hand away from the surface before ultimately turning his back to CHALDEAS and looking up at the control room. There, Olga and several other technicians and operators were staring at him with concerned looks on their faces, despite this being a rather common occurrence in the last few days. Vahn just smiled back at the group before sending a telepathic message to Olga and vanishing from the chamber, courtesy of Alaya.
Back in the control room, Olga's face became slightly red and, after delegating responsibilities to her Vice-Director, a woman on loan from the Atlas Temple named Nunet, she quickly alighted under the amused gazes of several staff members. Though they knew better than to gossip, they all knew where their youthful Director was going so they couldn't help but smile and giggles as the pale-haired woman made her exit...
Upon leaving behind the control room, Olga made her way toward the large space that served as both her personal workshop and office. There was an attached bedroom but, rather than rest, she often found herself fatigued every time she visited it. This time wouldn't be an exception as each visit from Vahn was punctuated by them spending time together. Though this would often start off with a simple conversation, Olga couldn't restrain the urges in her body so, with his Divinity, Vahn always made sure she was completely satisfied before returning back to Avalon.
Now, Olga had come to expect this turn of events so, by the time she reached her private room, her heart was racing as an anxious and aching feeling spread through her body. She couldn't help but feel nervous each time she was with Vahn as, compared to the version of herself she tried to present to others, he always peeled back her layers and left her completely exposed. He had also taught her many things so, in order to earn his praise, Olga made sure to practice a lot in order to surprise him the next time they were together...
(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'When even unlimited power is inconsequential...','JUST DO IT~!','Vahn is actually Angra Mainyu. Look at him corrupting this innocent woman...!')
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