3 3 301 DialogEnable The tests on the new frame are over quickly. The new frame "Scire" has proven to operate adequately in low gravity.
4 4 201 1 500499
5 5 301 1 Yarha Good job... The results are better than what we expected, Karenina. 1
6 6 201 1 500494 12
7 7 301 1 Karenina Tch. It's over already? I was just getting started. 1
8 8 201 1 500495
9 9 301 1 Teddy Enough. Are you planning to break the Moon apart... 1
10 10 201 1 500319
11 11 301 1 Collins What do you say, Karen? This frame is doing alright, isn't it? 1
12 12 301 Karenina gives Collins a sidelong glance, loathing to answer the man walking toward her with his arms extended.
13 13 203 1 0.25 -400
14 14 201 2 500494 12 400
15 15 301 1 Karenina It's you again... You certainly look like you've got nothing to do. 2
16 16 301 Collins Ah, my looks can be deceiving. You have no idea how much I care about this frame's performance. 1
17 17 301 Karenina I don't know how you did it, but it certainly performs better than other regular models... 2
18 18 301 Collins Construct Tech hasn't stopped advancing, after all. The field has been expanding like bread dough rising ever since your grandfather Dr. Kalon established its foundation. 1
19 19 204 2 7
20 20 301 Karenina is surprised to hear her grandfather's name from Collins.
21 21 204 2 4
22 22 301 Karenina ...Hey, do you know Grandpa? 2
23 23 301 Karenina's grandfather never told her about his past. She only learned about some of it through various documents and files.
24 24 301 But she has a feeling that some key information has been scraped from each of these files as if someone has been intentionally hiding Kalon's past.
25 25 301 Collins So Dr. Kalon didn't tell his granddaughter anything for real. What a madman! Wasting that genius brain of his... 1
26 26 301 Everyone in the slums where Karenina grew up treated the oddly-behaving Kalon as a madman, but he never seemed to mind.
27 27 301 Collins "Don't forget the value of life"—I also heard him say that quite a lot. As a researcher of the Construct experiment, he was certainly an odd fella even before he went cuckoo. 1
28 28 204 1 14
29 29 301 Collins But that was precisely why he was one of the few people I respected... How nice it'd be if he were still with us. 1
30 30 301 Collins looks like he is about to cry before suddenly smacking his forehead excitedly as if he has recalled something.
31 31 204 1
32 32 301 Collins Right! Let me show you Dr. Kalon's lab. 1
33 33 201 2 500499 7 400
34 34 301 1 Yarha Mr. Collins...! The lab... 2
35 35 204 2
36 36 301 Collins waves his hand and stops Yarha from continuing.
37 37 201 2 500494 7 400
38 38 301 1 Karenina Grandpa... was here on the lunar base? 2
39 39 301 Collins Haha! Rather, over half of this lunar base was built for Dr. Kalon and his Construct experiments. 1
40 40 202 2 1
41 41 201 2 500496 400
42 42 301 1 Liszt quietly reminds Collins how dangerous he is acting.
43 43 301 Liszt Are you sure about telling them our biggest secret...? This can mess up all of our plans. 2
44 44 301 Collins It's fine. The cat would be out of the bag sooner or later if our wish were to come true. If they can help us unlock that mysterious "treasure trove" quicker, nothing else matters. 1
45 45 202 1 2
46 46 401 2 1516
47 47 301 Collins starts moving without waiting for anyone. Karenina hesitates for one second before deciding to follow, only to find Teddy holding onto her wrist.
48 48 201 1 500495 400
49 49 201 2 500494 12 -400
50 50 301 1 Teddy Hey... Don't you find these people suspicious? 1
51 51 204 2 4
52 52 301 Karenina Suspicious as hell. But... I think it's true that they know something about Grandpa that even Babylonia doesn't know. 2
53 53 301 Karenina Not that I care about his past, but I guess I couldn't stay away from any opportunity to know more about him... He was my only family, after all. I don't expect a rich girl from a big family like you to understand. 2
54 54 204 1 14
55 55 301 Teddy Family... Forget it. I'll come with you. 1
56 56 301 AniZhuanchangBegin Teddy shakes her head and follows Collins alongside Karenina.
59 59 301 AniZhuanchangEnd Collins leads the two of them through several security checkpoints under careful inspection. Each checkpoint is guarded by a few Construct soldiers without squad designation.
60 60 201 1 500494 12
61 61 301 1 Karenina That's a lot of guards for one laboratory... 1
62 62 201 1 500319
63 63 301 1 Collins Haha... Well, we have a baby angel in there we can't afford to let loose—not that these folks can do much if she does intend to go. 1
64 64 401 2 647
65 65 301 AniZhuanchangBegin Collins does not explain further. After going through the last checkpoint, he opens the door to the Construct Laboratory.
71 71 301 AniZhuanchangEnd The dark environment almost devours whatever light comes through the door from the outside, leaving the ghostly blue light emitted by the device in the center of the room the only thing glowing.
72 72 301 Teddy Hey, isn't that the Omega Prototype we made...
73 73 301 AniZhuanchangBegin It is the Mega-Omega Weapon, requiring the zero-point reactor to keep running. Several times the size of its original design, it was built to test and observe the practicality of the Omega Weapon.
74 74 104 0|0|0 0
75 75 402 610
76 76 401 1 50
77 77 301 AniZhuanchangEnd But as the blue light flashes, they see a pale, young girl inside—bounded, she looks to be at peace as if she is sleeping.
78 78 301 She is the first Ascendant humans know about, the culprit of Babylonia's near-fall, and the first Ascendant to approach humans directly.
79 79 301 Karenina Luna...!
80 80 301 Almost instinctively, Karenina takes out her weapon and aims at Luna, but she is surprised to find all the guarding Construct soldiers pointing their guns at her.
81 81 301 Karenina What... what are you doing?! Do you know what that is?!
82 82 301 Collins Of course... Everything here is built for her.
83 83 301 Collins casually gestures to the surrounding soldiers to lower their arms before stepping toward Luna, standing before her under the blue light, watching the girl with delight.
84 84 301 Karenina Bull****! Get out of my way! She's an Ascendant... An enemy to all of humankind!
85 85 301 Collins Sure, Ascendants can take lives. The Punishing Virus she wields can take lives.
86 86 301 Collins grins and turns around, staring at Karenina fearlessly.
87 87 301 Collins But Constructs can also take lives, and so can that hammer you wield.
88 88 301 Collins Ascendants aren't necessarily humanity's enemies, unlike "being weak"... Isn't that why we armed ourselves with science, changing the world?
89 89 301 AniZhuanchangBegin Collins When the day we unlock the secrets of the Ascendants comes, granting us the power of the Ascension-Network, those beings that once threatened humanity's existence will turn into the light that guides our evolution.
92 92 301 AniZhuanchangEnd Collins flicks his hand, and all the lights in the laboratory focus on where he stands.
93 93 201 1 500319
94 94 301 1 Collins Like how it witnessed the development of Constructs... this... Moon... will witness the second time humanity evolves—the moment we become Ascendants. 1
95 95 201 1 500494 5
96 96 301 1 Karenina Turning humans into Ascendants?! Did you hurt your head...? 1
97 97 201 1 500319
98 98 301 1 Collins I was there when "Luna" was born. I know what happened in City 075—what she did was akin to sacrificing herself. Doesn't that prove that humans and Ascendants aren't really that different? 1
99 99 301 Collins Eternal life, unlimited power... We don't need to fear the Punishing Virus anymore! It will be ours to command... 1
100 100 301 Collins Of course, that's the ideal outcome. Right now, all we can do is use this Mega-Omega Weapon as insurance when we awake Luna and ask her about what we couldn't find with technological means—the secrets of the Ascnet. 1
101 101 301 Collins might be mad, but he is not a fool. His grandiose vision is not built on a shaky foundation.
102 102 201 1 500494 4
103 103 301 1 Karenina Even if Luna wants to escape, this cage can absorb the Punishing Virus to cripple or even kill her... But without zero-point energy, this cage is nothing but a pretty vase. 1
104 104 201 1 500495 5
105 105 301 1 Teddy That's why you need us to restart the zero-point reactor. Clearly... that is what you're truly after. But there's no way the Parliament would approve it. Who the hell are you guys? 1
106 106 201 1 500319
107 107 301 1 Collins laughs wildly, slowly walking toward the center of the laboratory.
108 108 301 1 AniZhuanchangBegin Collins Hahahaha! We're the oldest madmen in human history. You might have heard of the name we use to call ourselves—Kurono. 1
