"Hmm…"
Kiana found herself deep in thought, staring at the two Lynelles—one big, one small—who had suddenly appeared in her room.
"What weird stuff are you thinking about now, idiot?"
But before long, one of Kiana's eyes abruptly flickered gold—clearly, Sirin, residing within Kiana's head, couldn't stand to watch anymore.
"So, what was Kiana just thinking about?" Lynelle asked curiously, watching the white-haired girl's literal "left-brain-right-brain conflict" play out before her.
"That idiot Kiana was wondering when you got yourself a daughter."
"Uh..."
Thinking about how Corruption-chan over on the Star Rail side was probably taking full advantage of her sleep to cuddle up to her, Lynelle felt a twinge of guilt.
"Wh-what are you talking about? This is actually just a puppet."
"Puppet?!"
Maybe it was because Sirin had been mainly responsible for St. Freya's defense alongside Kiana, but the word 'puppet' nearly triggered a stress reaction in her.
Even the antenna-like hair on her head seemed ready to stand on end.
"Mm, to be precise, it's something I'm using to replace the original puppet and fuse with the Herrscher of Dominance's core."
Lynelle picked up 093 like a large, living doll and settled her in her arms.
"Think about it. If we tried to find candidates suitable for the Herrscher of Dominance's core like we did with the previous ones, finding a thousand people would be a hassle, ensuring they aren't corrupted by the core is a hassle, and managing them to prevent them from using sudden power for evil is another hassle."
"Maybe over a long, long time we could actually find a thousand suitable people, but at the rate Herrschers are appearing now, the Finality would probably descend before we even got a hundred."
"And if we just ignore the Dominance core, not only would we be wasting its ridiculously overpowered authority, but Otto would definitely be eyeing it greedily."
"So, the puppet model itself is the most convenient. It allows for rapid expansion, and it's hard for any 'other ideas' to arise due to the core's tempting nature."
"To prevent that, I even specially installed a secondary terminal in these puppets to act as a fuse. But the terminal, ELF Elysia, hasn't arrived yet, so you might have to wait until next time to meet her."
"You mean…" Kiana reached out, curiously pinching 093 in Lynelle's arms.
"This is Lynelle's prototype puppet? She feels so soft, almost no different from you… Ehehe, Lynelle, Lynelle, can I…"
"Don't even think about it." Lynelle gently tapped the white-haired fluffball with a light chop.
"Isn't having just me to hug enough? Besides, these puppets don't have those kinds of weird functions…"
"I didn't even say what I wanted to do yet…" Kiana muttered. "But, can this puppet not talk yet?"
"No, her functions are actually quite complete. I brought her this time just to confirm the feasibility of mass production."
"Since these puppets, like Otto, are mainly made from Soulium, I need to check the Soulium reserves of both Anti-Entropy and Schicksal."
Lynelle shook her head. "Also, I'm currently debugging the parameters for the Lynelle Network with her… This network is something I borrowed from someone else."
"It wasn't very compatible with Lynelle 093 and the others originally, so I have to slowly debug it myself using my authority."
"Then… what would happen if you didn't debug it?" Kiana asked, intrigued.
"Hold on, let me give you a demonstration…" Saying this, Lynelle tapped a few spots on the puppet. Instantly, 093's eyes sparkled with life.
Then… under Kiana's shocked gaze, this Lynelle 093, she… raised both hands straight up.
"Big Sister Lynelle is a peerless gem! Big Sister Lynelle is an unrivaled genius! Bis Sister Lynelle is an inimitable beauty!"
Staring at 093, who seemed one step away from shouting 'Loyalty!', Kiana and Sirin both fell into silent bewilderment.
"Well, there you have it… Haphazardly connecting to someone else's network might cause the network's own modules to overwrite the puppet's personality modules. And because the network comes with a bunch of weird stuff like a 'Compliment Module' pre-installed, I have to manually clean it up first before use."
Lynelle spread her hands helplessly and cut off 093's power supply.
The girl, who had been vigorously cheering a moment ago, obediently leaned back against Lynelle.
"According to my current plan, I need to make at least three or four hundred of these puppets, each fusing with a shard of the Dominance core we got from Dr. Mobius. Then I'll disperse them across the various Anti-Entropy and Schicksal bases, forming a massive network of puppets."
"Wait, wait, wait—"
Kiana raised her hand again. "I have an objection!"
"Hm?" Lynelle tilted her head.
"There's a very real problem…" Kiana stopped playing with 093's cheek.
"Your puppets are this cute, Lynelle. Even if they look young, there are always people into that, right?"
"And even ignoring those with… questionable tastes, you know there are still quite a few cases of Valkyrie abductions in the world even now."
"Quite a few reckless small organizations try to capture Valkyries for research, hoping to crudely obtain the power of the Stigmata."
"These little Lynelles are so adorable, what if someone snatches them?"
"That's simple. I was just about to mention that."
Lynelle wore an expression that said 'I expected this question'. "I mentioned needing three to four hundred puppets earlier, but I didn't finish… Kiana, I need you to do something."
"Wh-what…"
"Fuse the remaining part of the Dominance core. Yourself."
"Ah?"
The look on Kiana's face was indescribably strange, the kind of look that screamed…
Oh no, I've become a thousand people.jpg
"I definitely don't lack the ability to fuse other Herrscher cores…" Sirin, who had been thoughtfully silent, spoke up.
"I specifically had Einstein check it. Her conclusion was that, maybe due to some talent, I have a remarkably high compatibility with all the Herrscher cores that have appeared so far."
"To be blunt, even with the core I'm least compatible with, Reason, my compatibility alone is probably higher than Bronya and Mr. Welt combined."
"But… why do this? Kiana hasn't even fully mastered the Fire core she recently fused. Fusing another one recklessly…"
"That's another point I wanted to address." Lynelle raised a finger. "The Herrscher of Dominance can merge the power of all its puppets."
"In subsequent tests on the core, we discovered that the Herrscher of Dominance actually lost quite unfairly. They had a special ultimate move, but before they could use it, I blew up the necessary condition for it."
"With a sufficiently strong thousand-person network connection, they could, in an instant, transfer all that power to a single puppet."
"But because their hearts weren't unified, this operation required the Theater of Domination. The Theater, to some extent, suppresses the puppets' 'self', forcibly merging them into a mob."
"However, the newly created Lynelle Network I'm planning has none of these problems. So, as long as the network's 'bandwidth' is sufficient, any single Lynelle puppet could instantly gain the complete authority of Dominance."
"As for the bandwidth problem… I think if even one Corruption core plus a copy of the Corruption Authority of the same magnitude isn't enough 'bandwidth', then maybe only the Finality could unleash this move."
"So, Lynelle, you mean…" A look of realization dawned on Kiana's face. "If I connect myself to the puppet network, I could also use this method to instantly boost my power?"
"Not just a boost. In my plan, all Herrschers need to connect to this network—" Lynelle shook her head. "Because this act itself is to protect Kiana's safety, and also a test."
"Maybe in a while, Einstein or Tesla will come have a talk with you. They'll tell you about Anti-Entropy's most classified project—the Project Selene."
"It was their original method to counter Finality, by gathering all the cores into Selene and then choosing a 'pilot' for it to fight the Herrscher of Finality. And the pilot they initially envisioned…"
Kiana instantly recalled the mission concerning Arc City she'd participated in right before the entrance exam.
"…Was me?"
"Mm." Lynelle nodded. "Of course, this project might have been scrapped or re-evaluated for various reasons now."
"But from my personal perspective, using the Herrscher of Dominance's core for a preliminary test run of this project is the most appropriate approach."
"If the final plan to counter Finality really is like that, then starting now to gradually adapt to various authorities through the Lynelle Network is undoubtedly helpful for you."
--+--
After finishing her chat with Kiana, Lynelle took the now-debugged puppet to report the puppet's status and her own ideas to the two doctors.
As expected, the plan received unanimous praise from the doctors—in fact, probably due to their trust in the Corruption authority, Einstein and the others didn't even ask how Lynelle had managed to create that puppet network.
The subsequent plan to let Kiana pre-adapt to other core authorities via the puppet network received even more glowing reviews.
After all, although Lynelle knew Kiana was destined to become Finality, no one else had that intel.
To them, the whole Selene series of plans was a last resort, a desperate gamble with extremely high stakes.
Moreover, for this second-cycle Kiana under Lynelle's care, steadily and securely adapting to all authorities through the puppet network was clearly a much more suitable method.
Unlike the first-cycle Kiana, who had suffered multiple heavy blows, whose strength relied entirely on desperate, life-or-death bursts, and who even developed severe suicidal tendencies, the second-cycle Kiana improved her strength step by solid step.
This was evident in everything: the cultural lessons she learned under Sirin's tutelage, the martial skills passed down by Cecilia and Siegfried, and the Flame core fused only after rigorous experimental trials.
To use an analogy, Kiana's growth curve in the second cycle resembled Durandal's more—her strength almost never hit a bottleneck; if she studied hard, she improved.
Under these circumstances, Lynelle's proposed plan clearly suited Kiana's growth path much better, since all her current strength was built up bit by bit through exactly that kind of training and learning.
"Oh, Einstein, one more thing you need to watch out for…"
After finishing the puppet network discussion, Lynelle quickly moved on to the next issue.
"Regarding those cores drifting in Imaginary Space, you absolutely need to find a way to collect them as soon as possible."
"According to reliable intel, Otto is also very interested in the Herrscher of Dominance's core. In some plans he's been preparing, the Dominance core might be a crucial component."
"So, since we already have over four hundred shards here, we absolutely cannot fall behind in collecting the rest. We need to at least maintain a sixty-forty ratio."
"Otherwise, with the authority of the Herrscher of Dominance, Otto might cause us major problems later."
"Don't worry." Einstein nodded. "Tesla is already handling that. Using the pile of Imaginary Weavers that 'dropped' in Nagazora City earlier, Tesla is researching a new type of external Titan armor, trying to allow the Titan units to operate freely in Imaginary Space."
"But… I am a bit curious. Where exactly are you getting such detailed 'reliable intel' from, Lynelle?"
"Oh, this…" A slightly embarrassed look crossed Lynelle's face.
"It's probably from when my mother found Otto and kept summoning her fists in attack position, until she finally got the info out of him."
"Suddenly that feels way less reliable…"
"Ehe? Anyway, Doctors, you need to be careful for a while. For certain reasons coming up, I might be awake a bit less… Definitely remember to guard against fire, theft, and Otto."
After finishing her conversation with Einstein, Lynelle promptly left the room.
Although the Herrscher of Dominance incident was over for now, there was still plenty of work waiting for her.
Debugging puppets, fusing cores, and core retrieval operations all required her participation to some extent.
Unlike before, when she could just be an absentee manager and check in occasionally, this time, since she didn't know when she might fall into "Ena's Dream," she had to get everything settled as quickly as possible before she could responsibly take her leave.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.