Vertin: No, we are not aware of that. 37 and I had just entered the cave when the investigator sent back the ritual.
The transmission is weakening. Ms. Radio musters all her strength, struggling to hold on to the fleeting signal in the air.
Vertin: I see. Thank you for the thorough explanation, Madam Lucy. I'll make sure to inform the members of Apeiron.
Vertin: ...
Is it really possible to remember all those numbers and technical details?
Vertin: If possible, could you kindly explain this to them again after we set up the communication device?
The lab has never been busier since the day it was built.
The scattered files are neatly gathered, and more integers have come to help sort through the years of documents.
Ms. Radio is placed next to the IDM with a sense of reverence.
The computer screen lights up, a familiar voice comes out of the speakers.
X: The next thing's the acoustic components. Totally understandable if you don't have any on hand. Regulus, can you help me find some ...
Regulus: What are you saying, mate? Of course, this great Disk Jockey would have the acoustic components!
Regulus: I'll have you know, I made friends with the dolphins as soon as I had the chance, hoping they'd retrieve some of the radio components from APPLe II.
Regulus: And guess what? They actually found some!
She attaches the acoustic component onto the IDM, beaming with excitement.
Regulus: Hello? Testing, testing, one, two, three.
The screeching feedback forces everyone to cover their ears.
X: Perfect. You finally have a communicator equipped with a speaker. Before, there were too many ears for one tiny radio.
X: Ah?!
Believer V: Wh-what now? Another attack?
X: Not quite. That's the sound of our colleague, Medicine Pocket, hard at work.
Finally, a real communicator for Team Timekeeper.
X gets up, skirts around Medicine Pocket's mess on the floor, and casually makes himself a cappuccino.
X: How goes it on your end, Vertin?
X: The "Storm" is only eight hours away. Has the "immunity zone" on the island stopped shrinking?
Vertin: I think so. No one in the Hall of Apeiron's affected by the Storm Syndrome so far.
Vertin: The "immunity zone" seems stable for now.
Vertin: Manus Vindictae and the humans have left. There should be no further destruction on the island.
X: Hmm, so the decay of the immunity zone is not linear. It seems to be influenced by the islanders' mindset toward the Truth, and it eventually reaches a stopping point.
He puts down the cup and thinks about everything he heard from the call.
X: Could it be that the ritual on this island, rooted in the power of faith and belief, serves to amplify only the radius of the "Storm" immunity? Fascinating.
Cryptography Lead: That can wait, Researcher X.
Ulrich, impatient as ever, interrupts his musings with a more important concern.
There are still pressing matters to discuss with the Timekeeper through the device.
Cryptography Lead: There's one thing I'd like to confirm, Timekeeper.
Cryptography Lead: About the question Ms. 37 asked in the cave, "How can we escape the darkness of the phenomenal world, and be freed from the 'Emanation' forever?"
Cryptography Lead: To my understanding, that is almost the same as asking how we can be immune to the "Storm."
Vertin: Yes, and 37 also said the transcendental Truth was beyond the limits of her mortal flesh. Apeiron answered her with an eerie sound, one that could drive anyone mad just by hearing it.
Vertin: It was then that the scroll 6 gave her unfurled and transcribed the sound into a string of numbers, providing us with the code.
Cryptography Lead: Yes, that's the key to our problem!
Cryptography Lead: We both received a solution to the same question simultaneously—immunity against the "Storm."
Cryptography Lead: This could be our Rosetta Stone, Timekeeper! We've found our own Rosetta Stone!
His voice rises in excitement as he becomes fully immersed in his thoughts.
Meanwhile, his listener's mind is starting to wander with a big question mark in the air.
Vertin: Rosetta Stone?
Lucy: Allow me to explain.
The director interjects with a well-timed explanation.
Lucy: The Rosetta Stone is a stone tablet inscribed with a decree in three different languages: Hieroglyphs, Demotic, and Ancient Greek.
Lucy: Hieroglyphs were the sacred writing for the divine, while Demotic script was known as "the language of the people." Both scripts were ancient Egyptian, lost to time when the tablet was discovered.
Lucy: However, because scholars were still able to read Ancient Greek, and through comparing the three inscriptions that all said the same thing, they were finally able to understand the Hieroglyphs.
Lucy: And now, we too have our own set of "inscriptions" to decode.
Lucy: The first is similar to Hieroglyphs, as the Truth Ms. 37 heard in the cave is completely unintelligible and can drive people insane just by listening to it.
Lucy: The second is like Demotic script, a ritual we obtained from Arcana that can place a "curse" upon those who read it aloud. It cannot be handled by ordinary people.
Lucy: Finally, the numerical code you shared with us is like the readable Ancient Greek—without any divine powers, but crucial in deciphering the other two inscriptions.
37: How intriguing!
37's voice chimed in over the line, clearly excited by the analogy.
37: That is to say, if we work together and combine our research, we may unlock even deeper knowledge that only belongs to the divine?
Cryptography Lead: Exactly! We're looking for the same answer to the same question, like how the same decree is inscribed onto the tablet in different forms.
Cryptography Lead: And just like the inscriptions on the tablet, we have three versions of the ritual!
Cryptography Lead: If we can delve into the essence of the ritual and master its inner workings,
Cryptography Lead: we may eventually transcribe it into a side-effect-free ritual that can be used by everyone!
37: Yes!
37: It should work! Because the nature of the universe flows in all things alike!
Cryptography Lead: I'm glad you think so, Ms. 37!
The girl on the other end of the phone is equally ecstatic. There's no question that they're in sync on this incredible idea. The ferrofluid happily swirls around in its fishbowl.
Regrettably, his boss is a practical thinker.
Lucy: Your hypothesis is based on too many assumptions, Ulrich. It requires further refinement and confirmation.
Lucy: We now have valid incantations. We should continue in this direction.
Her words are like a bucket of ice water dumped over their heads.
As always, the robot steers them to a more practical path.
Lucy: You mentioned the word "transcribe," just like the Timekeeper did. It holds the answer to improving the ritual.
Vertin: You mean ...
Lucy: The scroll you mentioned that can "bridge the gap between you and the supreme existence during communion."
Lucy: It is the scroll that transcribed the eerie sound and saved 37 from the lethal side effects.
Lucy: Does this mean it could potentially lessen the negative effects of the immunity incantation?
Cryptography Lead: ...!
Everyone in the lab realizes it at once.
Reducing the side effects is faster than trying to come up with a perfect, side-effect-free incantation from scratch.
Now, the solution is right in front of them—the scroll that can solve arcanum with arcanum.
Cryptography Lead: Wait, Madam Lucy, let me take it from here—
Lucy: We would like to borrow this scroll for research.
Lucy: If you lend us this scroll, we will make significant advancements on the research, and we promise to provide every assistance you require in the future.
The ferrofluid flinches into the shape of a droplet of sweat. It was too late to stop her.
The atmosphere on the other end of the call changes dramatically.
888: Lend you the scroll?
The Custodian leaps up from her corner in disbelief.
888: Are you asking us to give the legacy of Apeiron, our most cherished possession, to YOU, a scientific research organization that serves humans?
The lab falls silent, reflecting the seriousness of the request.
For a school of thought that has always kept its knowledge hidden, this is a major threat to its core beliefs and sacred vows.
But the silence is broken again by that cheery voice.
The voice that always questions and doubts.
37: Why not?
37: We are seekers of Truth, are we not?
