"I believe this to be our greatest chance. And the possible returns on this kind of investnt are so insanely high, it would be foolish not to invest as little as it takes to get it tested."
Taking a sip of delicious, freshly served coffee, I looked up at Chihiro's face.
"That I'm not denying," Chihiro said, leaning back in his chair while snacking on so kind of citrus-flavored sponge cake. "But just as you speak of the returns, I need to raise the issue of the risks."
For the very first ti, I felt as if I had t a wall.
This was supposed to be just a simple eting, a boring example of Chihiro learning the mundane details of the factory project and its recent near-miss of a disaster. In the strictest sense, that's what was supposed to be the main topic before we moved to the inspection of the work-site.
"I saw that ball of pure, raw energy," Chihiro spoke again, the serious look in his eyes contrasting with his seemingly calm, cake-focused expression. And as he raised those eyes of his…
'Oh…'
I had lost contact with the man shortly after we sohow avoided the catastrophe at the factory. Ever since it happened, we had pretty much only talked once, on a video call back at the mansion.
But now that I looked into his eyes, I saw two things.
One, the reason why he was so against trying the factory angle again.
Two, just how massive of an impact this near-miss left on the man.
As a cultivator just a re step away from the tenth stage, his perception of the world around him and the essence of spirituality was inherently stronger.
In other words, Chihiro saw and understood the scope of the energy we had casually created in a re mont. He did so at a much better, deeper, and more wholeso level than anyone else.
And now, this experience left him with traces of post-traumatic stress disorder in his eyes.
'Oh shit…'
The weight of this realization made slump down as I only now grasped the wider aning of what actually happened back at the factory.
'It wasn't just and Claire… It was everyone's life that was at stake back then.' I gritted my teeth. 'Heck, the danger is quite likely to still be there!'
But…
For so reason, I just couldn't stand the idea of… giving up.
Sure, there were mishaps, but… that was the price of progress.
Being the first ones to venture into those unexplored areas of creation, we inherently had to ss with forces no one else understood properly.
And right now, from where I stood, Chihiro's quite understandable fear of what could happen had turned him blind to the hope of what could happen.
That's why, while I could fully understand where the man was coming from, I just couldn't accept throwing away all the progress we had made thus far… Just because the results were so insanely great, we were unprepared to deal with them.
Mistakes were made, sure, but…
Now should be the ti to take them as lessons, improve on the designs, and then try again, now much better prepared!
But…
How exactly was I supposed to convince Chihiro, my literal sponsor, to do this?
"Okay, cease brooding like that, you two," Claire sighed as she put away the long, elegant spoon she used to snack on her massive, sickeningly sweet parfait.
She then leaned her head over and gave her dad a taxing look.
"You have three days left before the big day. We still have ti to solve everything," she said before heaving a long sigh, as if weary of the burden of explaining sothing so simple and obvious.
"Right now, it's not the factory but the shadow of what happened that's haunting you that's the biggest issue," she stated as if it were a truth that stared everyone in the face yet no one was witty enough to invoke it.
She then raised her arms and shrugged, "Solving the factory problem is the easiest and fastest way to deal with your inner demons while allowing you to enjoy the added benefits of the capacity you saw yourself."
Chihiro opened his eyes a bit as he stared right back into his daughter's face, taken aback by what turned out to be her perfect attempt at dismantling all his moods and leaving nothing but uncomfortable but bare facts for him to face.
"As for you," still holding her moody expression, she cast her eyes down upon , "you need to REALLY think about everything. And as much as I don't want you to use it much…" This ti it was Claire who lowered her eyes before pressing her lips into a thin line.
Seeing her face, though, so filled with unwillingness and tension, I couldn't help but sigh and shake my head.
"I know, I know, I don't mind using it once I've recovered enough. But with that said…" I turned my eyes away, buying myself so ti by taking a sip of the coffee, served by the owner himself in the closed-off section of his roof-based garden.
"What if there really is a connection between my constitution and this entire problem?"
This wasn't an issue we could just ignore.
On one hand, I hoped for this to blow over as nothing beyond my arrogance, my self-serving thought that a part of could sohow beco a seed for a deity. On the other hand, however, what if that really was the case?
What if using this weird constitution of mine would beco the spark that set this ball of energy back at the factory alight again?!
"That's…" Chihiro heaved, struggling to find an answer on the spot, especially since he was barely on board with the idea of doing sothing.
"Huh? You don't need to use it back at the factory, though," Claire pointed out, catching off guard with this realization… and then when I noticed just how insanely obvious it was!
"Oh right, for so reason I didn't think about it…" I muttered, lowering my eyes, more shocked than embarrassed.
"Then it's settled," Claire shrugged her shoulders, only to put down her parfait and reach for her glass of iced wine. And as she raised it to her lips, "When do we begin?"
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