Chapter 402: Preparation

Early Morning - Mid Winter : Sirathan Acardi Laboratory

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*Beep* "Unknown device connection detected. Scanning."

-Please work this time...- Anxiously watching the monitor as a loading screen appeared, I waited with baited breath before the Lab's voice came back over the intercom.

*Beep* "Video feed detected."

My eyes instantly lit up. -Wait it recognized it...-

"Do you wish to preview it?"

"Yes!" Eagerly standing up, I spoke so fast I wasn't sure the AI would recognize what I said.

But after just a second of waiting with bated breath, the loading screen on the monitor was replaced by a window displaying the aerial view of a forest covered in clouds.

"HAHA, NO WAY!" Throwing my hands in the air, I felt adrenaline rip through my veins. -To think that actually worked!-

It had only been a few days since Father, Hera, and I finished inspecting all the satellites at that point, but while Hera and Father rushed back home to prepare for the festival, I decided to linger about for a bit to see if I could figure out how to get at least one of the four older optical satellites usable before the day Mother wanted me back by, but things weren't exactly looking great.

In order to get the satellite to connect to anything, I had to add another module to the satellite to allow it to communicate to the connection tower in the Death's Gape, and in-turn the laboratory, through quantum tethering.

It was honestly a bit of a shot in the dark, but after some trial and error, and taking the time to look at the communication modules of the other old laboratories, I managed to recreate the Acardi converter that translated traditional electrical signals into qubit, and get the video feed streamed to the laboratory with almost no delay. -Gosh, it's so beautiful...-

Not only was there not any distortion, there wasn't even any artifacting. -It's actually a clean signal...-

Now, it was true that I couldn't send any commands to the satellite, so if I wished to zoom out or aim it anywhere, I would have to move it manually. -But that's fine...-

Because now that I had a basis of communication established, it was just a matter of time before I figured out how to have the lab give it commands. -It just sucks that I'll have to put that on hold for now...- Mom wanted me at the estate in Atlas in just a few hours, so further experimentation would be a bit limited.

And while I really wanted to create a fabric of space in the void, and experiment there, the moment I tried, I found that electrons didn't care about divinity, the flow of time, or something like the fabric of space, just like space mana. That meant, in order to test electronics in the void, quantum or not, I had to find something called 'divinity's constant', essentially being the pace of time for Delphi so that the electronics would function in a way that seemed normal.

But just as it sounded.. that was something way above my pay grade. Not only did I have no clue where to even begin with gauging the pace of time, I didn't have the control over my divinity required for it.

-It's really a shame.. but...- Thinking back to the ARX satellites and their mix of runes, magic, and electronics, I had to wonder... -I wonder if ARX is a computer that bypasses time dilation...-

It was just a guess, but at the same time was a possibility that made my mind race. "Hooh, but I need to calm down for now..." With a few hours to kill, I wanted to add the new communication modules to the other similarly dated optical satellites, hook them up to the lab, and then see if I could get them hooked up with a tablet.

But while I was a bit pessimistic about it, the AI seemed more than confident.

After stealing a tablet from one of the many specimen displays in another part of the lab, the lab's AI was quick to update its software, before explaining that it wouldn't be able to play a video feed unless it was plugged into something that could communicate directly to the satellite or the lab.

Which gave me an idea. -What if I took the module I added to the satellites.. and added it to the tablet?-

Of course, with the tablet being small, I had to build it externally and connect it with a cable along with a few other modifications, but not too long later, boom. My tablet could receive a live video feed from the four satellites I managed to get connected to it.

-Look at that...- Having zoomed out the satellites quite a bit, each camera showed a different part of the world, from views of a vast sea, a huge forest, and even a city somewhere in the middle of the Main Continent being more than easily visible. -It'll definitely be a while before I can really use these things as an extra set of eyes like I wanted to,- At the very least I needed to be able to control them. -But, for now, it's a pretty cool proof of concept... Even if I was.. expecting a bit more...-

But for now, it would have to suffice.

After all, it was time for me to start preparing for the festival. But unlike what I was expecting, being a Ragnarok, being Nott, and someone who'd stand next to Hera, saying I had 'a lot' on my plate was an indescribable understatement.

*Flutter* Cycling through several stacks of paper while several maids and tailors did measurements on my different forms, I did my best to multitask.

But it was hard with Mother talking to me as well. "Gold will look really good with your black scales.. but the purple, hmm..."

"Miss, we actually have some new jewelry in. It is a type of mythril made from pure platinum." Quickly walking over to a wooden chest the tailors brought, one of the young, teal-scaled women pulled a piece of jewelry out of a chest with a vibrant purple metal decorated with a slightly pale jade. "It's quite a rare metal so we may need to order more if we want to make all his jewelry out of it, but it should be possible."

"Hm..." Mother quickly looked me up and down a few times before nodding. "Alright. Change the detailing to something white as well."

"As you wish." She was quick to bow. "For the armor, what kind of colors would you like? We think a white with purple and black accents would be best for contrast."

"Do a black, and use the glow in his scales for the main accent, with white as the tertiary."

Gently nodding, the tailor moved the jewelry she was holding back into the chest before walking back over to me. "Please change to your humanoid form so we can get measurements."

-Uh.. okay...- *Flash* Quickly changing, I held my arms out to let them do their thing, pulling back my sleeves and undressing me a bit to get measurements against the skin.

"And for the hair..." Walking out in front of me, she squinted at me. "Maybe we leave it... Spread your wings for me."

Following her instructions, I quickly spread them out before folding them up against my lower back again.

"Let's shorten it a bit." Waving over the maids, they quickly got to cutting away at my hair. "That's definitely better. What do you think Mistress?"

Mother was quick to nod with a pleased curl in her tail. "I agree. With some jewelry and a more formal attire, he'll be good... Use white-based jewelry for his humanoid form."

With a quick nod, the tailor had a short back and forth with Mother about what would look best before eventually, they finished and left, leaving just Mother while I tried to wrap up the paperwork I was working on.

"Okay, I guess it's about time I give you a rundown on the festival now that they're gone." Sitting up, pridefully holding her wings back, Mother's warm smile slowly brightened with excitement.

Because of all the paperwork I was working on, I already had a general idea of what to expect, but Mother was quick to start her rundown regardless.

"The Coming of Age festival this time around is going to work a little differently from past festivals. Starting next week, the younger generation of dragons will leave their nests in order to travel around Bahamut and make connections with others in their generation, and others in the cities they visit. The way this will work is that, next week, everyone is going to pick a city connected to their starting city on this map."

Quickly handing me a piece of paper with a map, I looked at exactly a dozen cities that were connected in a circle around Bahamut.

"The city they choose to go to at the start will determine the direction they go around the circle, and they will follow that sequence of cities, stopping for about a month in each city until they reach the city they started in. Typically you can go at whatever pace you like for this, but it's frowned upon to leave early, so please keep that in mind. Take your time to enjoy yourself a bit." Her smile widened the longer she spoke. "Each city will have different events taking place to help everyone mix and socialize, but individual noble families will be hosting parties for those that wish to attend, regardless of status, so do whatever you want and have fun!"

Gently nodding, I continued to listen intently.

"Then, after exactly twelve months, when most people should be returning to their home city, everyone will come to Atlas, including parents to celebrate together and go over things like the state of Bahamut. This is when Hera is planning to reveal herself as Monarch, and when she wants you to expose to the people of Bahamut who you really are. At that time, we will also go into more detail about the future of Bahamut, the government, and how things will work from then on."

-Interesting...- "So that's when all of Hera's changes will finally be set in stone?"

Gently nodding, Mother's expression brightened. "It'll be the day Bahamut's future shifts toward a new horizon! The next generation will be released to do as they please, and the historians will have to mark the beginning of a new era. You and Hera will finally be able to do whatever you want without care for the eyes of the public as well." Giving me a somewhat smug look for a moment, I felt like the room suddenly went silent. "Speaking of you and Hera... Why don't you invite her to come with you during the festival?"

-Huh?- Tilting my head, I gave her an odd look. "Well I figured since she has already experienced the festival-"

"I'm not sure what her festival was like when she was young, if there even was one back then, but I can say with certainty that she's never been with you, so bring her along." Her smug look slowly mixed with pride as she spoke. "It's not like you aren't in a similar situation to her, so why not enjoy some time together?"

Pausing to think, my gaze slowly turned to the ground before smiling and continuing more softly. "Alright... I'll go see what she wants to do after I finish this paperwork."

"Hoho~," Hiding her smile with the edge of her wing, she let out a warm chuckle. "I think that's a wonderful idea~."

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