Theresa had no idea that Noldrei had already come to secretly check on her work.
But Shirogane Miyuki already knew. He had actually met Noldrei, and from the first moment, he knew the true nature of this leader.
Having worked in the Second Academy City for a long time now, he too felt a bit lost between what was real and what was virtual.
But Noldrei was very unique...
Shirogane Miyuki couldn't quite put his finger on what made him so unique. The feeling was as if...
He sensed it. It felt as if all the problems everyone else cared about were insignificant to him. Nothing could stir much of a ripple in Noldrei, at most making him feel, "Wow, how novel. So this is how they solved it?"
"How is your work going here? Do you have enough professional staff to handle it now?"
Solving humanity's psychological trauma didn't just rely on real-world work like genetic modification and restoring brain activity. It also required another group of people to enter the 'Stigma' or 'dreamscapes' to deal with these things.
These people were like psychologists, except these new psychologists worked by entering the 'dreams' of those troubled by mental illness to solve their problems.
"We don't have enough staff at all. The former psychologists..." Shirogane Miyuki sighed. "Most of the psychologists from before were incompetent. It's so hard. I now know that those psychologists were completely unqualified. They couldn't do anything besides spouting chicken soup for the soul and administering tranquilizers. They were just making money based on their authority."
"Their work back then... sigh... it's hard to put into words."
Shirogane Miyuki had seen too many of these unlearned charlatans who relied on the effects of tranquilizers. If the patient figured it out on their own, then it was a "masterful treatment." If the patient's condition worsened, then it was an "unprecedented mental illness," and they could churn out a few more papers.
But after the materialization of the psyche, this group of doctors seemed to have collectively gone mute, unable to say a word. Few of them dared to truly delve into the spiritual world of their patients to find the root of their problems.
Rita looked at the people floating in the nutrient tanks, their heads covered with patches whose effects she didn't understand.
It felt like they were using the machine from Inception to treat mental illness.
"How are the results? Can you basically meet the requirements of Academy City?"
Noldrei was more concerned with the current situation. He knew very well in his heart that the results would certainly not be very good. It would mostly rely on Theresa's dream-eating ability to complete this work, forcing people to forget these past psychological traumas.
"Meeting the requirements is possible, but..."
Shirogane Miyuki smiled wryly. "This requirement is almost entirely dependent on the leader's own efforts. And we haven't fully mastered the internal gene sequence adjustments of the Stigma Space. If we could externally regulate the Stigma Space, we could also deal with these people's psychological traumas much faster."
Noldrei pressed on, "Hasn't Misteln been able to help you? Her transcription ability should be able to manipulate the internal state of the Stigma Space."
"It's useful, but limited. Because Miss Misteln can't transcribe things she doesn't know, and we are too ignorant in this area. Trying to determine the influence of genetic information through exhaustive methods is extremely difficult. We need to cooperate with the Far East Academy City on more research work related to the Gene Tree."
All Shirogane Miyuki could use was the power of Academy City's Gene Tree.
Noldrei himself carried the greatest treasure—a repository of human genes spanning one hundred and thirty thousand years, a compilation of all the genetic information developed by humanity.
He could use this information to construct his own structural state anytime, anywhere.
This accumulation was not just from humanity's own reproduction and evolution, but also from the plunder of genetic information from numerous parallel universes.
The Gene Tree was constructed based on the biological chain. Obtaining the information of the Gene Tree could even allow one to recreate the process of life's past proliferation on Earth.
Shirogane Miyuki wanted to use this method to reverse-engineer the relationship between the human spiritual world and genetic information, in order to better research how to treat human psychological trauma.
"That will be a bit difficult. Those corporate research institutes won't easily hand over their treasures to you. Are you prepared to stand against them? Or perhaps, can you find a way to make a corresponding exchange?"
Noldrei didn't deny Shirogane Miyuki's research method. Studying the human spiritual world was, after all, just a matter of going from the inside out, or from the outside in.
Shirogane Miyuki wasn't worried about this. He explained, "They will definitely be willing to exchange. Even people within the same Stigma organization won't give up on researching the possibility of influencing the Stigma Space from the outside through genetic information. It's not just to break the Stigma organization's own shackles on people. They will also take the initiative to touch these related powers in order to break other competing Stigma organizations."
Rita was a little surprised. "Is it possible for Stigma organizations to be dismantled?"
Noldrei said as if it were a matter of course, "Of course it's possible. Just as the Will of the Stigma can be reshaped according to the original owner's will and connect with real-life organs for preservation. Even a centralized will as powerful as the Kaslana's Stigma-Emperor will one day be breached from the outside."
The Kaslana family had inherited the will to fight the Honkai for generations. Of course, it wasn't because they were all selfless good people. How many of them were influenced by the Will of the Stigma to walk this path was a story not meant for outsiders.
"The Will of the Stigma can be changed according to the owner's will, which means this Stigma power can be mentally controlled from the outside. Since this line of thought exists, there will definitely be a group of people who will pursue the power in Kiana's hands."
"Since this is an inevitable result, it is also inevitable that Kiana will one day lose the power of the emperor."
"Shirogane, you've thought this through very well! This is indeed profitable for those corporate organizations. They will definitely increase their investment in research in this area."
Noldrei's praise didn't make Shirogane Miyuki happy. Instead, it made him a little scared.
He just wanted to find a better way to solve humanity's psychological trauma. How did it suddenly turn into overthrowing the central authority of the council?
The two Academy Cities were completely at odds in their Stigma research.
Shirogane Miyuki couldn't understand why the Academy City council would allow this situation to exist. Weren't they worried about the internal forces of Academy City splitting apart?