Having secured a definitive affirmation, Prince Peach exited the commercial hotel where Cyan and Nishi were temporarily residing.
"Master, what occupies your thoughts?" Nishi asked, shutting the door behind the departing monarch and turning to look at Cyan, who was locked deep within a phase of tactical calculation.
"This Prince does not operate with a baseline as simple as his exterior optics present."
Cyan possessed a distinct sensory intuition that Prince Peach was systematically concealing critical variables. Tracing the operational timeline—from the exact micro-second the Mario brothers over-consumed pastries and collapsed into medical facilities, to encountering that highly suspect Toad within the Bowser territory, and finally to the completely unimpeded exit vector they experienced after executing the Prince's extraction—the sequence of variables was entirely too fluid.
Every single marker dripped with the distinct profile of a strategic conspiracy, heavily implying that an external entity was currently collaborating with Prince Peach to execute a hidden sub-routine.
"Nishi, initiate a continuous surveillance protocol on Prince Peach. Since the discharge of the Mario brothers from medical care, he has actively withheld data lines from our knowledge." Cyan locked her silver-white eyes firmly onto Nishi's features, evaluating her parameters. "Given your current build profile, is there a probability of your presence being compromised?"
"Master, you are aggressively underestimating my baseline specifications! I operated as a professional thief prior to my entry into this hub!" Nishi placed her hands on her hips, throwing her chest out with an expression of playful defiance. "Just watch me; I will maintain a flawless lock on his coordinates!"
"The exact micro-second the Mario brothers are discharged, Prince Peach will inevitably travel directly to their residential sector to initiate an interface. Execute your deployment during that specific window; I require a comprehensive record of their vocal data."
"Eh? Master, how can you establish with such absolute certainty that Prince Peach will seek out the Mario brothers at their private residence?" Seeing Cyan's extreme level of confidence, Nishi inquired curiously, "What if he simply issues an official royal summation to invite them into the palace corridors for administrative dialogue?"
"Because he must systematically lay his cards on the table before them. Within this localized world matrix, those two brothers represent the solitary units possessing the required combat parameters to engage Bowsette in direct front-line conflict. To achieve the long-term objectives harbored by the Prince and the shadow entity backing him, it is mathematically impossible to execute the script while keeping the brothers in an information vacuum." Cyan paused briefly to recalibrate her phrasing before continuing, "Never lose sight of the primary structural reality: the true main protagonists of this world layer are not Prince Peach, nor are they Bowsette. The focal anchors remain strictly the Mario brothers."
"Furthermore, Prince Peach will actively desist from conducting this dialogue within the palace castle to prevent the Mushroom Chancellor from acquiring the data line. If the Chancellor filters his impending operations, the probability of his strategic design being permanently vetoed scales to maximum."
"Master, have you already fully reverse-engineered the strategic blueprints of Prince Peach and his hidden collaborator?" Nishi looked at Cyan with her eyes sparkling like stars, feeling an immense wave of validation regarding her historical decision to bind herself to Cyan's vanguard.
"This constitutes an analytical projection synthesized strictly from our current context markers..." Based on the active data points at her disposal, Cyan could only extrapolate to this specific boundary. "As for whether my tactical deduction aligns perfectly with reality, the answer will materialize the moment we observe Prince Peach's behavioral execution following the brothers' discharge."
"Master! Your cognitive processing parameters are genuinely magnificent!" Nishi squealed with absolute admiration, throwing her physical frame forward to launch a playful ambush on Cyan.
However, Cyan smoothly executed a localized leap, shifting her position from the mattress to the floor. Watching Nishi faceplant onto the bed, Cyan remarked calmly, "Do you desire to learn Hamon? I have completed initial experimental trials confirming that this energetic system can be acquired without consuming a standard Skill Book. Its properties optimize physical durability, scale longevity markers, and if practiced with absolute consistency, systematically increase your core attribute parameters."
[Skill Name: Hamon Training (Special Passive)]
[Skill Level: LV1]
[Mana/Spirit Cost: None (Passive)]
[Skill Effect: Utilizes a specialized respiration matrix to generate energetic currents directly within the biological bloodstream. Optimizes core parameters: Strength +1, Agility +1, Constitution +1, Spirit +1.]
[Special Note: This asset is classified as a Special Passive; it cannot be scaled utilizing standard Skill Points.]
Although Cyan's personal skill tier for Hamon had not experienced a numerical level increase, the structural enhancement to her physical chassis was already visibly manifest. The skill interface now explicitly cataloged the precise attribute modifiers running through her physical and mental arrays!
Cyan theorized that the ultimate tier of the Hamon skill was likely hardcoded directly to the total storage volume of Hamon energy retained within the user's biological reservoir.
"Eh? Is that genuinely accurate?" Nishi immediately bounced up from the mattress, her disappointment evaporating as she stared at Cyan with pure joy. She had been harboring intense covetous desires regarding Cyan's capacity to wrap her physical frame in arcs of golden electricity for a significant duration.
"Naturally. However, the initial assimilation matrix carries a highly distinct threshold of physiological discomfort. If your objective is to scale your combat parameters, you must maintain absolute psychological fortitude."
"Master, who exactly did you utilize as your initial experimental test subject?" Nishi asked, a hint of curiosity surfacing regarding Cyan's earlier phrasing.
"Sophie... Elnie."
"Two distinct entities?"
"A singular unit."
Following the disclosure, Cyan systematically transmitted the unique respiration cadence of the Hamon matrix to Nishi, directing her to execute initial trial cycles independently. If her biological systems failed to achieve stabilization, Cyan intended to deploy the exact method she had used on Elnie—directly injecting a fraction of her own active Hamon currents into Nishi's network to kickstart her internal engine.
Nishi concentrated her focus, altering her respiration parameters to mimic the strange, rhythmic cadence. The physiological feedback was intensely uncomfortable, yet it remained well within her tolerance limits.
Endure... endure... I must maintain absolute structural control!
Beads of sweat rapidly pooled across Nishi's forehead, completely soaking through her garments as her lungs struggled against the bizarre internal pressures of the specialized breathing style. Yet, despite her extreme focus, she failed to perceive even a single micro-unit of the Hamon energy Cyan had described.
"It's a complete failure! I am entirely unable to sense any energetic currents..." Nishi opened her eyes, her vocal chords feeling violently parched as though she were on the verge of terminal dehydration. Noticing that the exterior environment had completely shifted into total nocturnal darkness, she quickly rose to pour herself a glass of water, draining the liquid in a frantic sequence of gulps.
"It appears that merely mastering the external mechanics of the respiration cadence is structurally insufficient to unlock the Hamon matrix," Cyan observed, her silver-white eyes tracking Nishi's metrics. Throughout the entire duration of Nishi's practice cycle, Cyan had maintained a strict visual lock on her, monitoring her physiological fluctuations.
"Could it be that my internal intellect parameters are simply too deficient?" Nishi sighed, her morale experiencing a minor deflation after expending so much effort without generating a single spark of energy.
"Your cognitive processing speed scales higher than Elnie's baseline."
Hearing Cyan's objective assessment, Nishi's internal psychological parameters instantly experienced a comfortable stabilization.
Cyan stepped to the windows, cleanly drawing the heavy curtains closed. Sensing no external observation units within her sensory arrays, she systematically stimulated her own bloodstream, calling upon her internal Hamon reserves. The golden energy responded instantly to her neurological commands, weeping outward through her dermal pores to stabilize around her physical chassis like a dense, luminous mist of radiant golden light.
"So incredibly beautiful..." Nishi whispered, her gaze completely locking up as she stared at the profound, warm, and hope-inducing luminescence radiating from Cyan's frame.
"Desist from freezing your cognitive arrays. Focus your sensory tracking entirely on this phenomenon; this is the absolute reality of Hamon."
Cyan advanced to Nishi's coordinates, placing her hand gently against her chest plate. A controlled portion of the radiant mist stabilized around her palm and surged cleanly through Nishi's dermal layers, entering her internal matrix.
Nishi frantically closed her eyes, instantly initiating the specialized Hamon respiration sequence to trap the incoming current.
This constitutes the reality of Hamon?
With Cyan acting as an external power source, Nishi successfully established an absolute lock on the energetic frequency. An expression of pure joy surfaced on her features as she cracked her eyes open, a hint of concern entering her tone: "Master, transferring your own internal energetic reserves into my system... will it induce a negative modifier on your personal combat parameters?"
"It carries zero negative structural feedback."
The golden luminescence surrounding Cyan's frame smoothly receded into her pores. Releasing a low, controlled breath, she stated, "Permanently substitute your standard baseline respiration with this specialized cadence. Through this optimization loop, your system will maintain an active training state twenty-four hours a day."
"That is an absolute logistical exaggeration! It is structurally impossible! Nobody can maintain that bizarre breathing format indefinitely!" Nishi shook her head frantically, believing that Cyan was presenting an operational metric that breached the boundaries of human capacity.
"If your objective is to maximize your combat parameters, this is the solitary viable vector."
"Then, Master, your personal system..."
"The specialized Hamon respiration matrix has permanently overwritten my default biological breathing protocols. Even within my subconscious processing arrays, my system automatically executes the Hamon cadence."
"..."
Master, I possess a distinct intuition that you are merely executing a highly refined flex right now...
Nishi swallowed the phrase hovering at the edge of her lips, offering a strained nod as she murmured, "I will apply my absolute maximum efforts."
Two days later, during the afternoon hours, the Mario brothers achieved full physiological clearance and were formally discharged from the medical sector.
Inside the mushroom-shaped domicile residential unit occupied by Mario and Luigi, Prince Peach stood before the two brothers, systematically articulating the current geopolitical crisis.
"Mario! Luigi! I officially solicit your direct intervention! Execute this deployment for the sake of the Mushroom Kingdom, and more critically, for the long-term future of our entire civilization!" Prince Peach extended his hands forward, requesting the immediate mobilization of the two brothers.
"Prince Peach, regardless of the hazard tier involved, Luigi and my person will march directly upon Bowsette's citadel to reduce her combat parameters to zero! We shall restore the historical peace of the Mushroom Kingdom!" Mario and Luigi shouted in unison, their emotional states spiking as they firmly grasped the Prince's hands.
"No. The strategic objective I am requesting of your vanguard scales far beyond a standard military neutralization! My ultimate design is to secure the Bowser Queen's hand in marriage, thereby forcing a systematic geopolitical integration of the Mushroom Kingdom and the Bowser Kingdom!" Prince Peach shook his head, cleanly disclosing his absolute strategic intention to the two brothers.
"Uh... about that..."
Hearing the Prince's declaration, Mario and Luigi's cognitive arrays experienced an instantaneous lockup. Marriage was an absolute, high-tier personal administrative event; what precise combat parameters could they deploy to assist in a matrimonial acquisition?
"Provided I can successfully integrate our kingdoms via a marital union—even if the arrangement exists strictly as a nominal, symbolic construct—the Bowser Queen will be permanently stripped of her capacity to execute external military aggression! Do you genuinely desire to stand by and watch the transmutative horrors unleashed upon our populace repeat themselves across the borders of neighboring sovereign nations? Mario! Luigi! Look at the structural macro-security of the Seven Kingdoms!"
Prince Peach's features shifted into an expression of absolute, supreme martyrdom—a pure manifestation of 'if I must plunge into hell to safeguard the world, then so be it.' His vocal output carried such an intense layer of raw sincerity that Mario and Luigi's visual sensors instantaneously welled up with immense tears.
Completely overwhelmed by his noble sacrifice, they squeezed his hands firmly, their voices cracking with intense emotion: "Prince Peach... you have endured an absolute nightmare of psychological stress for the sake of our kingdom!"
Who exactly was the Bowser Queen? Across the length of the land, her violent infamy was so absolute that merely whispering her name was mathematically proven to stop infants from crying!
The exact millisecond Prince Peach vacated the Mario residence, Nishi smoothly deactivated her stealth parameters and emerged from her concealed vantage point, a deep thread of tactical calculation running through her gaze.
Exactly as Master projected... this Prince Peach operates with an extreme level of hidden variables...
If this data line tracks cleanly, does it mean the individual who systematically poisoned the Mario brothers' pastry assets earlier was also this exact Prince Peach? Aligning with Master's secondary hypothesis, he absolutely possesses an external collaborator assisting his deployment from the shadows. Could that entity be... an operative from the Bowser Kingdom?
Returning to the hotel suite, Nishi provided a flawless, verbatim audio-visual playback of the dialogue executed between Prince Peach and the Mario brothers to Cyan.
"Master, do we initiate a manual override and embed ourselves directly into this subplot?" Nishi asked, her features reflecting an intense desire to stir up chaos.
"Prioritize the completion parameters of the primary Survival Mission."
Cyan possessed zero intrinsic interest in disrupting the geopolitical marital designs of this world layer.
The traitor within the Bowser Kingdom who is currently coordinating variables with Prince Peach possesses the capacity to extract architectural blueprints and systematically relocate elite guard details; their administrative rank must scale exceptionally high...
Once Survival Mission 1 transitions to a cleared state, Survival Mission 2 will highly likely compel us to execute a hard choice between two divergent outcomes. Scenario A: Assist Prince Peach in forcing a marital union upon Bowsette. Scenario B: Intervene to liberate Bowsette from the structural trap engineered by her advisor. The quest parameters will almost certainly lock onto one of these two matrices.
Reaching this specific boundary of calculation, Cyan articulated her theoretical projections cleanly to Nishi.
"Ah! Forcing someone to marry that bloated little sphere is an absolute moral deficit! However, we cannot afford to compromise our Survival Mission metrics," Nishi groaned, clutching her head in intense psychological frustration.
"The system architecture may also present us with a dual-choice vector, permitting our vanguard to manually select which faction we desire to back," Cyan introduced a secondary structural possibility.
"If the system executes that script, wouldn't we be forced to deploy combat parameters directly against the main protagonists of this entire world layer? Master... can your current build profile handle that tier of engagement?" Nishi blinked her eyes rapidly, little stars of intense anticipation flashing across her gaze as she looked at Cyan. In the depths of her soul, she harbored a profound distaste for executing a script that compelled an unwilling sovereign into a forced marriage.
"You must accelerate the scaling of your own parameters," Cyan remarked calmly, placing a hand firmly on Nishi's shoulder.
"Master! I will apply my absolute maximum efforts to assist your vanguard!" Nishi shouted, pumping her fist into the air with intense motivation, her cognitive matrix already generating a vivid mental image of Cyan completely pinning the Mario brothers and that obnoxious Prince Peach to the floor under her absolute physical dominance.
"..."