Chapter 12

Chapter 12

As soon as class ended, Cecil, with a self-assured air, trailed closely behind Sandro, seemingly determined to get to the bottom of Eve’s nickname.

Dick and Grace packed their belongings and asked Eve if she wanted to join them for dinner. She had initially planned to return and attempt to communicate with the Luna Butterfly again. However, recalling that the family dining hall provided each child with a psychic nourishing tonic—a freebie not to be missed—she changed her mind mid-sentence: "Sure."

"By the way, what are you all planning to do tonight?" Dick, the last to finish serving his food, returned to the table and asked.

He glanced at Grace—gentle and sweet-looking, yet her plate was meticulously arranged with a balanced mix of proteins, vegetables, fiber, and other dietary components, more comprehensive than even a professional nutritionist could devise. Then he turned to Eve, who appeared calm and seemed to embody healthy lifestyle habits, yet half her plate was piled high with sweets. He couldn’t help but make a peculiar face.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that if their plates were swapped, it would align better with their outward appearances…

"I plan to pre-study tomorrow’s lessons. We’ll be covering basic knowledge about mechas, and I’m really interested in anything related to machinery," Grace said with a smile, revealing two rows of pearly white teeth that somehow radiated a subtle, fierce fighting spirit. "I bought a model guerrilla blaster last night, didn’t I? After I got back, I made some simple modifications to it, but I think I might have messed some parts up. So I want to bring it to class tomorrow and ask the teacher about it."

Dick: "...I have a feeling the teacher won’t even let you through the classroom door if you’re carrying something like a blaster."

Grace could only sigh regretfully and said, "Well, it seems I’m destined to explore the truths of machinery all on my own."

"What about you, Eve? Any plans?" Dick asked half-jokingly. "Back on the starship, Eve was the most diligent studier. When Grace and I were goofing off and chatting on our terminals, we even made a bet—we guessed that aside from meals and necessary evening exercises, you probably never left your room. Grace didn’t believe it and lost a hundred star credits to me."

"But you didn’t tell me that your room was just across the hall from Eve’s, and you’d already met her a day before I did," Grace said, still a bit annoyed at the memory. "That’s basically cheating."

"All’s fair in love and war," Dick replied unapologetically with a laugh.

Eve listened to their bickering for a while before finally understanding what had happened. She asked, confused, "You two made a bet about me behind my back? And Dick even won money from it?"

Dick: "..."

"You let it slip, Dick," Grace said quickly, selling him out without hesitation. "I support the wronged party, Eve, in meting out justice to the defendant, Dick—like taking back the money he won and demanding an additional equal amount in compensation."

A slight vibration came from her terminal, and a notification of a money transfer lit up the screen. Satisfied, Eve withdrew her hand.

For them now, a hundred or two credits wasn’t much. But since it was his money to begin with, her reclaiming the money was justified, reasonable, and made sense. Even as Grace began making fun of Dick again, he had nothing to say in his own defense this time.

"I plan to go to the meditation room tonight. Since I just awakened my Spiritual State this morning, I feel like the connection between me and my Spiritual State isn’t very stable yet. I need to strengthen our bond," Eve said, finally answering Dick’s original question after the bet was settled.

"Though I might also go to the simulated combat room. After all, combat is the fastest way to adapt to a Spiritual State," she added.

Hearing this, Grace immediately jumped in, "If you’re going to the simulated combat room, I’ll go with you! My Spiritual State is offensive-type, so I can skip the meditation step. Besides, I’m still not great at controlling it—too much meditation might trigger Spiritual State instability. Direct combat is best for me."

"That works. I can also watch your back while we’re there. If your Spiritual State goes berserk, at least there’ll be someone to call for help."

Grace said happily, "You’re the best, Eve!"

Dick looked from Grace to Eve, and that nagging feeling of being left out crept up on him again. It was supposed to be a trio, but he always felt like he wasn’t really invited. Dick pointed at himself, somewhat uncertain. "Aren’t you two going to ask if I’m going to the simulated combat room?"

Grace said, puzzled, "Eve’s going, and I’m going—are you saying you might not go? Besides, you asked us what we were doing tonight precisely because you hadn’t made up your own mind, right? Or do you have other plans?"

"...Well, no, I don’t."

"Then it’s settled."

"Don’t overthink it, Dick," Eve comforted him. "Haven’t you noticed that you’re always getting swept along by Grace’s plans without even realizing it?"

Dick: "..."

He was really going to fume.

"Alright," Eve said, feeling that the evening was now properly arranged as she stood up. "Then it’s settled. See you tonight!"

"See you tonight!"

Aside from classrooms and the library used for lessons, all other functional rooms in Cloud Residence required reservations. The chips in their personal terminals had already been pre-loaded by the family. To access a room they had booked online in advance, they could either enter their personal ID code or simply tap their terminal against the scanner to unlock it.

If someone reserved a room but failed to unlock it more than three times in a week, they would be penalized by being barred from using any reservation-based functional rooms for the next three weeks.

Eve’s fair wrist tilted slightly as she brought her personal terminal closer to the scanner of the meditation room. The red light on the lock immediately turned green, and after she entered and closed the door, it switched to yellow, indicating that the room was now occupied.

The meditation room wasn’t quite the ascetic cave she had imagined. It was about ten square meters, entirely white—if you stared too long, it might even induce snow blindness. But people in the interstellar era were hardy; staring a little longer wouldn’t hurt.

In the center of the room was an old-school straw meditation mat, which felt somewhat out of place with the Medici family’s opulent tastes.

Eve sat cross-legged on the cushion, and the moment she closed her eyes, the room automatically dimmed the lights, plunging the space into darkness. Only a faint, glowing light emanated from Eve’s body.

She was trying to summon the Luna Butterfly.

Her consciousness was still an empty world—dustless sky, water-like ground. As Eve persisted in her calls, tiny, light blue stars began to appear. Soon after, a signature huge moon occupied most of the sky in her consciousness.

"Buzz—"

Like a silent call from the depths of a mysterious galaxy in space, a subsonic hum reverberated throughout the area. Yet Eve caught this unusual sound. In a world of consciousness that had only ever contained herself, she sensed the presence of a second living being.

The feeling was indescribably mystical—like a whale that had always sung alone in the ocean suddenly encountering another whale whose frequency was on the same wavelength. The two whales discovered another life in each other’s world, and from then on, they stood side by side as the most unique comrades, sharing each other’s destinies.

"Flutter, flutter." The sound of beating wings suddenly drew closer, and then a weight lighter than a falling leaf landed on Eve’s shoulder. She saw that breathtakingly beautiful creature descend beside her, affectionately brushing its antennae against the young girl’s tender cheek.

Eve rubbed back against the Luna Butterfly’s antennae, then slowly opened her eyes, her consciousness steadily settling back into the real world.

She was trying to stabilize her connection with her Spiritual State in the real world.

The meditation room remained dimly lit. A soft orange beam of light shone directly down from above Eve, while another source of light in the room came from the Luna Butterfly on her shoulder. To her surprise, high-level Spiritual States could construct virtual images in the environment suited to themselves. Behind the gently fluttering wings of the Luna Butterfly, a half-real, half-illusory moon hung high.

Could it... directly construct a celestial body?

Although the moon was myriad times smaller, its pale, clean radiance would never make anyone think it was merely for show. Eve’s gaze lingered on the moon’s illusion for a moment before the Luna Butterfly’s playful fluttering snatched her attention back. She thought to herself: most abilities of moon-aligned Spiritual States were related to the moon. She wondered if the moon illusion brought by the Luna Butterfly could, like a real celestial body, provide enhancements to Spiritual States of the same series.

After all, the support capability of the silver moon clematis lay in the fact that when its Spiritual State was fully bloomed, it would emit a light no different from moonlight, greatly enhancing the abilities of Spiritual States within the same series.

"Buzz—"

The Luna Butterfly emitted a low hum once more. As the owner of the Spiritual State, Eve oddly deciphered the meaning behind its hum: it was saying, yes.

She couldn’t help but study the Luna Butterfly carefully, focusing on its small, black, bean-like eyes. "The Second Steward said most Spiritual States don’t possess self-awareness. They only react under their owner’s direction. High-tier Spiritual States can share their owner’s thoughts and act in advance, as if they were conscious, but that’s just similar to muscle memory."

"Only the StormEye Butterfly and a very few Spiritual States are acknowledged as having independent consciousness and can act autonomously separate from their owners," Eve extended her hand. The Luna Butterfly lightly beat its wings, shrinking itself to a suitable size, and landed on her slender finger, facing her directly. Eve looked seriously at her Spiritual State and asked slowly, "Actually, you have your own independent consciousness too, don’t you?"

The Luna Butterfly’s legs gripped her finger. It didn’t hum or flutter its wings, but its silence was an admission.

"What is your relationship with the StormEye Butterfly?" Eve asked. "Can I know all of your abilities?"

The Luna Butterfly remained motionless, like a fake butterfly. Eve wondered if she might be experiencing illusions from overusing her Spiritual State, because she actually saw hesitation and conflict on the fuzzy visage of a butterfly.

...What’s going on?

She thought, bewildered: Could there actually be something more to it behind her awakening the Luna Butterfly?

The Luna Butterfly’s black, bean-like eyes looked at Eve. After a moment, it slowly flapped its wings. With each flap, its body grew more transparent. Not only was its body becoming transparent, but Eve’s finger, connected to it, was also turning transparent. This "disappearance" wasn’t just physical—it was comprehensive. Eve felt as though, conceptually, she had vanished from this world.

She blinked in amazement and lightly moved her finger. The butterfly fluttered its wings and took flight. A notionally absent object had left her finger, and thus the idea of "Eve" returned to the room.

An unbelievably powerful concealment ability.

If it can completely conceal a person, what about objects, such as weapons, or carriers engraved with highly lethal Alchemical Ciphers (secret symbols)?

By now, the Luna Butterfly had resumed its normal form, perching once again on Eve’s fingertip, but the way she looked at it had completely changed. They were inherently connected as host and Spiritual State; even if the Luna Butterfly tried to conceal certain things, it couldn’t completely shut her out—for instance, this wasn’t its only skill.

The Luna Butterfly refused to answer its relationship with the StormEye Butterfly, and whatever it's hiding behind it might also involve its other abilities. Often, the concealed part of a matter is the more crucial one.

Eve had a premonition that the Luna Butterfly possessed even more powerful, even more heaven-defying abilities. She was patient enough to communicate with it, to build trust, so that the Luna Butterfly would willingly reveal this ultimate trump card for her.

She finally understood why there was so little research on the Luna Butterfly—not just because of its previous owner's powerful position.

Scholars might be able to investigate a Spiritual State that is treated like an object, but they could never thoroughly study a soul with thoughts and emotions. From beginning to end, it was the Luna Butterfly that had refused human research.

This also meant that, before fully mastering the Luna Butterfly, she had better abandon any arrogant control toward Spiritual States and instead treat it as an equal, with the same respect she would show a comrade-in-arms.

Nice—it had personality. She liked that.

Eve pondered for a moment, then asked the Luna Butterfly with eager anticipation, "Soon, I’ll be training in combat with Grace and the others in the simulation room—would you be willing to fight alongside me?"

She felt a slight itch on her finger.

It was the butterfly, using its body language, conveying the meaning of "willing."