--Sunday, August 30, 2172
[Master, I just detected something very strange. Someone suspicious contacted the model that Yumiko hit a while back.]
Hearing his reliable assistant, Kai raised an eyebrow and turned to look at her while replying through the mental connection they shared.
[Is it 'those' guys?]
[I'm not sure, Master, but all the strange situations that have started happening to Yumiko these past few days seem to be pointing in the same direction…] Sage replied with a serious expression on her beautiful face and quickly created a holographic screen in [In] state in front of her master, which displayed an imposing building bearing a company's name.
[Detnerat? Did they find out we're entering the hero suit business and want to sabotage us…?] Kai asked, somewhat puzzled, as he looked at the sign. Sage soon replied in an uncertain tone.
[It's hard to say, Master. Technically, they're competitors, so they might fear a possible cooperation between the Yaoyorozu Group and Ayanami Mode, something that could definitely affect their recent attempts to enter the hero support equipment market, but…]
[They depend too heavily on our chips and industrial machinery; they can't afford to make us angry.] Kai finished Sage's words, equally confused. The beautiful fairy nodded before sending a telepathic message and creating more holographic screens.
[Exactly. But at the same time, Detnerat has a history of attempting deceptive and immoral tricks, like their recent "leaks," so it's not unthinkable. In any case, we currently hold about 2.5% of their shares through different funds and foundations, so I'll try to raise it to 5% to gain the right to call a shareholders' meeting.]
[Good idea; do it. But if this test works as we expect, let's try to access their systems to take a look. It's been a while since we played with that "Skeptic." I'm curious to see if he's learned any new tricks.] Kai sent the telepathic message with a wicked smile that soon spread to Sage's face, who replied in a slightly mischievous tone.
[Understood, Master. I'll arrange everything.]
…
"We brought him!!"
Upon arriving at the medical room, Tomoko announced loudly while pushing Kai—who was finishing his mental conversation with his reliable assistant—to the center of the room. The girls surrounded the medical capsule in the middle of the room while looking at Kai with equal parts expectation and nerves.
"Well then, let's get started, although first of all we're going to run some basic tests." Keiko spoke in a serious tone, to which Kai nodded casually before getting into the capsule.
"Alright, check whatever you want."
Under the gaze of the 8 beautiful women, Kai lay down in the medical capsule, which soon closed and began performing various examinations to check his health. But while those examinations were taking place, Kai closed his eyes and then began breathing deeply using a strange breathing method.
Thanks to his breathing method, the aura covering Kai began to intensify and expand in all directions at great speed, soon managing to cover the entire medical room and dozens of meters around it. At that moment, the aura covering everything contracted dozens of meters and then expanded, resembling a lung in total synchrony with Kai's breathing.
[Let's begin, Sage.]
Sensing that the examinations were finishing, Kai gave the order to his reliable assistant through a telepathic message. The beautiful fairy soon replied in a serious tone while sitting down on her master's forehead in the lotus position.
[Ready, Master.]
[I leave it in your hands, Sage.] Kai sent the message in a serious tone and then began drifting into drowsiness.
Meanwhile, outside the capsule, the girls watched intently and visibly nervously as their beloved began to normalize his breathing until finally falling completely asleep in less than a minute. At that moment, around the beautiful fairy sitting in the lotus position on Kai's forehead, small electric sparks began to emerge but soon faded away.
The girls' eyes—especially Nejire's and Tomoko's—showed visible traces of anticipation, but upon seeing the electric sparks disappear completely, they couldn't help but look at each other in confusion. However, knowing who was the person that knew the most about that ability after Kai, the girls soon turned to look at Keiko, who was staring at a computer with incredibly serious eyes.
Confused, the girls gathered around Keiko to look at the laptop, where they could only find black screens full of letters that looked like a log updating in real time at great speed. Even more confused, the girls turned to look at Momo, who simply shook her head and murmured helplessly.
"Don't look at me. It looks like a nested observer, but I don't understand a word of those logs."
"He did it." Right at that moment, Keiko commented with a huge smile on her face, which made all the girls jump up to look at the medical capsule.
But to everyone's disappointment, everything remained exactly the same: Kai completely asleep with Sage sitting on his forehead in the lotus position with her wings changing color in rapid succession. With an excited smile, Keiko explained while typing quickly into a terminal on the computer.
"You're not going to see anything, but what's happening is monumental. Kai can now access the internet from his dreams, and time moves 9 times faster for him. In other words, Kai can work the equivalent of three days in a single night's sleep!"
"Is that why he'll have more free time?! He'll work from his dreams?!" Ryuko couldn't help but exclaim, full of surprise, as she looked at Kai sleeping soundly inside the medical capsule. Keiko nodded before answering while pressing the Enter key on her keyboard.
"Exactly. It's insane, and it worked."
Right at that moment, holographic screens appeared throughout the medical room, on which Kai appeared standing in the middle of what seemed to be his workshop, and soon his voice rang out.
"Hi, girls. Due to the time differences, it's not possible to make a call, but let me introduce you to my [Time Palace] through this video."
"Is this Kai in his dream…?" Shino couldn't help but murmur as her gaze alternated between the sleeping Kai and the smiling Kai in the video, who soon spoke again.
"In case you're wondering, yes, I'm the same Kai, and yes, I'm dreaming. Inspired by Momo's and Nejire's dreams, I created this ability that allows my body to rest properly while my consciousness stays active, so I'm basically in the middle of a lucid dream.
"But for this ability to work correctly and be completely harmless, I had to make a couple of sacrifices. First, I can only use it once every 16 hours and for a maximum of 8 hours each time; second, the lucid dream always takes place in the mansion, and that can't be changed; and lastly, the time acceleration is limited to 9 times and can't be changed.
"In exchange, I can fall asleep whenever I want with Sage's help, or end the dream whenever I see fit, and Sage can perceive the surroundings for me and forcibly wake me up in case of danger. That said, if I wake up, I have to wait 12 hours to enter the [Time Palace] again."
Hearing Kai's explanation, the girls looked at each other with different expressions, though they all seemed to share two feelings: admiration and expectation. At that moment, Yumiko looked at Keiko and asked in an incredibly serious tone.
"Keiko… What are the chances that Kai could allow other people to enter his [Time Palace]?"
"For ordinary people, slim. But for us, it's only a matter of time." Keiko explained in a serious tone, looking Yumiko directly in the eyes. Upon hearing Keiko, a serious expression formed on Nemuri's face, and she soon asked.
"How much time exactly?"
"I'm hoping a couple of months at most. I'm working on it as my top priority right now." Keiko explained in a solemn tone. Seeing the seriousness of the trio, Momo, Nejire, Ryuko, and Tomoko couldn't help but look at each other in confusion, and finally Nejire asked, tilting her head.
"Why are you saying it like that? Is something serious going on?"
"Quite serious." Shino commented in a worried tone, which made the others look at her in confusion. After letting out a small sigh, Shino explained in a more serious tone.
"Even though that ability may be physically harmless, it will undoubtedly greatly affect Kai's mind… From now on, Kai will be completely alone for three days every 16 hours… Over time, that will definitely end up affecting him."
Hearing the explanation, the girls finally realized the real implications of that amazing ability. Momo murmured while looking at the smiling image of Kai's paused video, where a beautiful fairy could be seen sitting on his shoulder.
"At least he has Sage, so he won't be completely alone."
"Luckily he has her, but we should still try to get to him as quickly as possible." Ryuko murmured with concern. Tomoko turned to look at Momo and asked in a serious tone.
"Momo, you can move around in your dreams, right?"
"Are you suggesting…?" Momo murmured in surprise as she looked at Tomoko, who nodded seriously.
"Yes, you could try going into his dreams to keep him company."
"I could try…" Momo commented in a thoughtful tone, but at that moment Keiko let out a small sigh and explained.
"The idea isn't bad, but even if it worked, Kai is now experiencing everything 9 times faster than normal, so you could be affected."
Keiko typed a couple of times on her computer, which caused a holographic screen showing a strange helmet to appear.
"That's why Kai and I started developing this helmet. Using the latest advances in medical technology, what we've learned from my thought-acceleration ability, and the Accomplice, we hope to make it so our brains can operate at that increased speed without suffering damage while still resting properly. But it's far from ready."
"I could still try. With the [Vital Reactor], I can speed up my thoughts and reflexes." Momo commented seriously while looking at her mother, who shook her head and explained.
"You can do it for short periods of time, a few minutes at most. Here we're talking about hours, sweetheart; they're completely different dimensions."
Hearing her mother, Momo made a small pout, but at that moment, Nemuri commented seriously.
"Keiko is right, Momo. Besides, Kai won't let you take unnecessary risks."
"Darling will definitely get angry if we become reckless over mere suspicions… Maybe it's best to wait until we actually see problems." Ryuko spoke seriously, but Nejire exclaimed with a sad pout.
"But I don't want Kai-chan to spend three days without me. What if he forgets me?"
Hearing Nejire, Tomoko, Momo, and even Ryuko, Shino, and Yumiko pressed their lips together in discomfort, which led Nemuri to show a beautiful smile before commenting.
"For now, let's look at the bright side. We'll have Kai around more often now, and we can spoil him plenty during that time, and we could talk to him to convince him not to use that ability every night."
"That's all we can do…" Ryuko murmured quietly, to which the other girls could only sigh in agreement. At that moment, Keiko spoke seriously.
"By the way, girls, you'd better avoid mentioning this ability to anyone outside the family. Kai is practically tripling his life expectancy with this ability, and if we can really enter it, we will too. If word gets out, we could attract unwanted attention."
""Alright."" The girls replied in unison and then looked at Kai sleeping in the medical capsule with different expressions.
…
…
…
"Well, everything seems to be in order. The workshop is exactly the same as the original, and we've already managed to reduce the latency to acceptable levels. It's time to get to work."
In the middle of his workshop, Kai commented in a calm voice while looking at the beautiful miniature fairy sitting on his desk. Sage nodded before commenting with a smile.
"Right away, Master. Everything is ready to begin the infiltration into Detnerat's systems."
Kai nodded calmly, but instead of getting to work, he looked up at the ceiling and spun around in his chair, at which point he asked casually.
"By the way, Sage, in the end, what happened with La Brava? Is she still wasting her time with that 'villain'?"
"Yes, Master, she's still the same. Making silly videos on the internet." Sage replied instantly, at which point several holographic screens appeared in the air showing videos of an older, somewhat handsome man playing at being a blogger villain.
"…What a waste of talent…" Kai couldn't help but murmur in disappointment, then added while settling back into his chair.
"Send her the offer again."
"Right away." Sage nodded calmly, at which moment Kai seemed to remember something, turned to look at the beautiful fairy, and spoke.
"By the way, Sage, check whether Nezu actually made the improvements to the workshop and make sure the accommodations for Mei to start working are ready. I promised her, and knowing her, she'll be at my workshop door first thing tomorrow morning."
"Don't worry, Master, everything is already in place. We're just waiting for some new machines to arrive, but all the basics are set up." Sage replied calmly, so Kai nodded in satisfaction before commenting cheerfully.
"Perfect. Then let's go kick our old acquaintance Skeptic's ass."
***
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