The ten-minute adjustment period passed in the blink of an eye.
When Artoria opened her eyes again, the exhaustion and heaviness accumulated over a thousand years had not completely vanished from her azure pupils. Instead, they had been replaced by a brighter, sharper light, as if she had been reborn through fire. Deep within that light lay a calm born of endless knowledge and wisdom, the determination of one who has burned their bridges, and a warm, resilient spark of hope rekindled by the return of her 'family'.
Hexi keenly captured this subtle change. She wasn't sure what Artoria had discussed with that so-called 'Symbiotic Intelligence,' but she could feel that her student and collaborator's state of mind seemed more stable, and even... possessed a peculiar confidence she hadn't seen before. This wasn't blind optimism, but a more solid confidence rooted in some new variable.
"Finished communicating?" Hexi didn't press for details, asking calmly instead.
"Mm." Artoria nodded, her gaze returning to the suspended blueprint of the complex configuration. Her voice was steady and clear. "Teacher, the plan remains unchanged. However... I may need to add several Auxiliary Energy Interfaces and perform one final optimization on the Core Stability Algorithm. My 'partner' has brought some... additional energy with unique properties. It might provide a bit of extra stability and... 'vitality' support during the final stage."
She didn't mention the 'innate creation source qi,' merely summarizing it vaguely as'special energy.' Hexi didn't press further either; having lived for so long, she knew everyone had their own secrets and trump cards, as long as they didn't affect the big picture. She simply nodded. "Very well. The Sky-based Computing Cluster will fully cooperate with you. Remember, Core Consciousness Migration is the final step, and it's also the most fragile and irreversible one. Your spirit must be deeply synchronized with her consciousness frequency to guide her to 'believe' and 'enter' this new 'home.' Any slight interference or error could lead to information loss or personality distortion."
"I understand." Artoria took a deep breath, and a soft silver light glowed at her fingertips—a manifestation of her mobilizing her own mental power to establish a preliminary connection with the Dark Plane. A thousand years of hard study had not only allowed her to Master knowledge but also gave her the preliminary ability to'see' and, to a limited extent, 'interfere' with the Dark Plane. She began to perform the final fine-tuning of the complex blueprint according to the plan she had rehearsed countless times in her mind, combined with the system's suggestions.
Hexi stepped aside and pressed her hands down slightly. An invisible force field enveloped the entire laboratory, isolating all internal and external interference. The Sky-based Computing Cluster operated at full power, providing nearly infinite computing support, monitoring the fluctuations of every energy node and the stability of every line of Dark Information Code.
Artoria became completely immersed. Her consciousness seemed to transform into countless fine silver threads, merging into the energy configuration before her, into the precise structures composed of rare materials, and into the vast, sea-like dark information encoding. She was no longer a bystander but had become the creator and guide of this soon-to-be-born 'Information World'.
The construction process began. This wasn't a simple infusion of energy or stacking of matter; it was the transformation of her will, her understanding, and every bit of her memory and emotion regarding Minerva into the most precise 'instructions' and 'rules,' etched into the foundational framework of the Dark Plane.
She 'recalled' everything about Minerva. The silver hair and black dress under the cold moonlight when they first met; the sharp, precise flashes of her blade in battle; her slightly flushed cheeks when she clumsily but sincerely said "I love you"; the unspoken tacit understanding when fighting side-by-side in the ruined World; and... at the final moment, the deep-seated attachment and resolve in those azure eyes as she pushed her away. These fragments of memory, along with Minerva's way of thinking, behavioral logic, and emotional patterns, were carefully extracted, analyzed, and dismantled by her, then converted into 'information environment parameters' that best suited the essence of Minerva's consciousness.
Light flowed through the laboratory. Countless precious materials, under precise energy guidance, were decomposed, reorganized, and embedded into preset nodes according to the blueprint. Deep blue, silver-white, and pale gold lights intertwined, forming an increasingly complex, three-dimensional, and 'real' energy structure. It was no longer a cold model but a prototype gradually emitting a strange'sense of presence'—the prototype of a pure and stable 'Information Island' deep within the Dark Plane, created specifically for Minerva.
The system's energy—those pure 10.24 million units of Standard Universal Energy—flowed like a trickling stream under Artoria's precise guidance, injecting into various key energy circuits and providing abundant, stable power. The system itself also entered an unprecedented 'working state.' It was no longer noisy but had transformed into the most reliable background assistant deep within Artoria's consciousness, frantically calculating every detail, monitoring every bit of energy flow, and checking for gaps to ensure everything was foolproof.
Time passed amidst intense tension. Several hours later, when the last energy node was lit and the final segment of core code was written, the entire configuration shuddered violently, emitting a soft and steady glow. It was a success! A stable, pure 'Dark Plane Information Carrier' highly compatible with Minerva's consciousness had been successfully anchored and activated in the gap between reality and the Dark Plane!
A flash of approval crossed Hexi's eyes. In such a short time (relatively speaking), Artoria had completed such a complex operation perfectly. This level of control and focus far exceeded her expectations.
But the most critical step had only just begun.
Artoria turned her gaze toward the life-support pod floating quietly nearby. Inside the pod, Minerva was still asleep. Beneath the hideous wound on her chest, the faint'Source' light belonging to mother earth and those purple-black pollution energies were still silently entangling and annihilating each other.
"Teacher, I'm going to begin." Artoria's voice was soft, yet carried an unquestionable resolve.
Hexi nodded and raised her hand to activate the highest-level Stasis Field, establishing the most precise energy and information link between the life-support pod and the newly constructed Dark Plane carrier.
Artoria closed her eyes. Her entire mental power, like the finest yet toughest silk threads, carefully reached out. It penetrated the life-support pod, ignored the mechanical damage and energy chaos, and directly and gently touched the deepest part of Minerva's consciousness—that pure information aggregate that, though teetering, still maintained a complete structure and emitted the warm fluctuations unique to the existence known as 'Minerva'.
"Minerva..." Artoria called out softly in the depths of her consciousness, using her most gentle and familiar voice.
There was no response. The information aggregate merely flickered slightly, like a candle in the wind.
Artoria was not discouraged. Her mental power, like the gentlest tentacles, lightly wrapped around that fragile light, attempting to establish a deeper link and provide guidance. Just as her consciousness and Minerva's core consciousness were about to fully synchronize—
As if passing through an invisible membrane, her 'vision' suddenly changed! It was no longer the cold scene of the laboratory, but countless shattered, flickering images rushing toward her like a tide! Those were... Minerva's memory fragments! They were the past deeply hidden in the depths of her consciousness, etched into the information structure even while the subject slept!
She'saw' it—the endless barren land, the collapsed ruins of civilization, cold and mechanical instructions, never-ending battles, slaughtering those twisted mechanical constructs, the constant 'recycling' and resetting of companions, and that deep-seated loyalty and hesitation toward humanity embedded in the base layer of her programming... Those were the dark, oppressive memories of 'YoRHa Unit 2B,' smelling of gunpowder and rust.
Immediately after, the scene shifted. She'saw' herself—the visitor from another World who looked a bit disheveled under the moonlight when they first met, carrying a vitality and persistence that were out of place in that hopeless World. She saw them fighting side-by-side, saw the clumsy confession under the moonlight, saw the warmth of leaning against each other in the ruins, and saw the light named'Self' and 'Love' gradually light up in Minerva's azure eyes, which originally held only combat and instructions... These were the memories where colors gradually became vivid and warm after their meeting.
Then, there was that final moment—the blinding light, the destructive fluctuations, Minerva pushing her away without hesitation while she herself was swallowed by the light, her mechanical body shattering, her consciousness falling into bottomless darkness... and, at the moment of sinking into the deepest darkness, that heart-wrenching attachment and unwillingness she didn't have time to voice.
Artoria's heart tightened suddenly, and tears almost burst from her eyes. But she forced herself to steady her mind, because more, even subtler, and almost imperceptible 'perceptions' were flooding in.
These weren't clear images, but a hazy, intermittent, yet incredibly real 'feeling'.
She felt it... a long, cold, deathly silent darkness. It was the millennium during which Minerva's consciousness had been submerged (though her perception of time was blurred). Yet, within that boundless darkness and cold, there was always a tiny, extremely faint, yet never-extinguished 'warmth.' That warmth came from a familiar aura, a familiar mental ripple that surrounded her day after day, year after year, attempting to warm her, calling out to her, never giving up.
She 'felt' the exhaustion of that aura's Master—the collapse after countless instances of exhausting her mental strength, the confusion and persistence when facing a vast ocean of knowledge, the tension and stubbornness when facing god-like existences alone, and the sorrow and longing of weeping silently over her sleeping face in the dead of night... For a thousand years, this perception was intermittent, like occasional glimmers of light piercing through the darkness, yet it clearly branded another person's persistence, sacrifice, loneliness, and deep love into the depths of her dormant consciousness.
She could not respond, could not move, and could not even form clear thoughts. But she 'knew' that someone had never left. Someone was burning their everything for a slim hope of awakening her, trekking along a lonely road with no end in sight.
This perception, this 'knowing,' was like a lighthouse in the dark, a warm current beneath an ice field, silently supporting her broken consciousness. It prevented her from completely dissipating in the endless cold and silence, and instead, under a miraculous resilience, it tenaciously maintained its integrity, waiting... for that beam of light to finally pierce the darkness and bring her back.
All the memory fragments and hazy perceptions flowed through Artoria's consciousness like a fast-forwarded film, yet it felt as if an incredibly long time had passed. The link between her mental power and Minerva's consciousness reached an unprecedented level of closeness and synchronization through this deep resonance of memory and emotion. She was not just guiding; she was sharing, using the hardships and longings of her thousand-year trek to respond to the perception and waiting within Minerva's thousand-year silence.
At the very moment this mental resonance reached its peak, Artoria guided Minerva's consciousness, preparing to leave that riddled shell and move into the new 'home' in the Dark Plane—at the final second—
A sudden change occurred!
The remaining glimmer of 'Origin' belonging to mother earth at Minerva's chest seemed to sense that the consciousness was about to leave completely. It suddenly erupted with an extremely faint ripple of unwilling attachment! Simultaneously, the purple-black pollution energy acted like sharks scenting blood, counterattacking frantically in an attempt to erode Artoria along the mental link!
Artoria let out a muffled groan, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. The mental link vibrated violently, the migration process stalled instantly, and there were even signs of collapse!
"Now's the time! Little Artoria, use this!" The System's voice rang out sharply in her mind, carrying unprecedented tension and resolve! A wisp of warm, gentle aura—yet one containing an unspeakable, majestic vitality and the intent of creation, appearing as a pale gold color like the dawn of chaos—was precisely injected by the System without hesitation into the collapsing mental link. More accurately, it was injected into the nearly extinguished glimmer of 'Origin' at Minerva's chest!
innate creation source qi!
This wisp of life energy from a high-dimensional cultivation World, containing a trace of the origin that opened the heavens and earth, created a mysterious resonance with mother earth's inclusive and nurturing 'Origin' will! It did not try to repair the broken origin; instead, like the gentlest comfort, it softly enveloped that glimmer of light, smoothing out its final unwillingness and ripples. It was as if it injected a spark of 'vitality' and 'direction,' making it no longer obsess over the broken shell, but instead'see' that pure, warm 'new home' in the Dark Plane filled with Artoria's aura and their shared memories!
That glimmer of light flickered gently, like a final burst of lucidity, transmitting an extremely faint thought of relief and blessing. Then, it actively 'pushed' Minerva's complete consciousness along the mental link guided by Artoria, light and resolute, throwing it toward the long-awaited point of light in the Dark Plane!
The purple-black pollution energy missed its mark, churning and annihilating in vain within the life-support pod. Finally, as the 'Origin' glimmer fell completely silent and Minerva's consciousness departed, it gradually lost its activity and slowly dissipated.
Success!
Artoria's mental power receded like a tide. She snapped her eyes open and looked at the floating Dark Plane carrier, which was now emitting a stable and soft light. She could feel a warm, familiar, though weak but incredibly clear presence had safely and completely settled within! Those originally cold data streams and energy structures seemed to be injected with a soul, beginning to radiate an unspeakable vitality and rhythm unique to 'Minerva'! Moreover, through the lingering echoes of the deeply synchronized mental link that hadn't been fully severed, she could clearly feel that the newborn consciousness was filled with attachment, dependence, and a deep, sea-like longing and... heartache that spanned a thousand years of sleep and perception.
Hexi also breathed a sigh of relief, a look of being unburdened flashing in her eyes. The most dangerous step was actually resolved at the last moment by that strange, pale gold aura that even made her heart palpitate. What was that? She looked at Artoria, but now was clearly not the time to ask.
Artoria ignored the blood on her lip. Her entire mind was focused on the consciousness that had just settled into the Dark Plane carrier. Carefully, through the pre-set, gentlest sensory simulation interface, she transmitted the simplest signals to that consciousness—light, warmth, safety, and... her presence.
Once, twice... like a mother gently patting a newborn baby's back, and like a silent consolation spanning a thousand years of time.
Time seemed to freeze in the laboratory. Every second was incredibly long.
An unknown amount of time passed—perhaps a moment, perhaps a century.
The light at the core of the Dark Plane carrier flickered once, extremely slightly and regularly. Then, an extremely faint voice, carrying the confusion of just waking up, like a mumble yet incredibly clear, rang directly in the depths of Artoria's soul and was also converted through the pre-set information channel into a soft electronic synthesized voice, sounding gently in the silent laboratory—
"Hua... Ling...?"
The voice was very light and weak, carrying the hoarseness and uncertainty of a first awakening, yet it was like a dawn piercing through a thousand years of darkness, like a stone thrown into a dead, silent lake, instantly stirring up a colossal wave in Artoria's heart!
Success! She succeeded! Minerva's consciousness was saved! She 'heard' it! She 'responded'! Moreover, the emotion contained in that call, which had not faded after a thousand years of sleep, was so real and so fervent!
A thousand years of loneliness, a thousand years of trekking, a thousand years of arduous study—all the exhaustion, all the weight, all the despair and persistence collapsed with a bang at the moment she heard her name called so familiarly and affectionately. It turned into a scalding torrent, instantly washing away all of Artoria's defenses.
She suddenly covered her mouth, but tears surged out uncontrollably like a river breaching a dam. Those were not tears of sorrow; they were scalding tears of extreme joy, of released pressure, of regaining what was lost, of a thousand years of longing finally finding an echo! She trembled, trying to respond, only to find herself choking up, unable to make any complete sound. Only in the depths of her consciousness, from the Dark Plane carrier already linked to her soul, came clear and unmistakable waves of warmth carrying dependence, attachment, heartache, and the innocent confusion of just waking up.
That was Minerva. Her Minerva. Her lover. Her... place of return. She could feel that although Minerva had just awakened and was still very weak, unable to transmit complex thoughts, that perception and waiting rooted in the soul link spanning a thousand years of darkness had already turned into the deepest emotional bond, tying them tightly together. She knew of her sacrifices, had felt her loneliness, and felt heartache for her hardships.
Hexi watched this scene quietly, seeing her student, who had been as calm and resilient as a single day for a thousand years, now crying like a child. She did not disturb her, only silently reinforced the laboratory's silence field, the corner of her mouth curving into an extremely faint but genuine arc of relief.
And in the depths of Artoria's consciousness, the System's electronic voice also carried a thick nasal sound (simulated), as it whispered contentedly: [...This is great...]
The soul has returned, finally finding its home.
The name is called, and my heart is at peace. The thousand-year vigil and perception, at the moment of awakening, turned into a call spanning time and space, tying two hearts tightly together once again.
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