"1 point."
"The contours of your brow bone and nose bridge are very nice."
"2 points!"
"Long eyelashes."
"0.5 point."
"Why only 0.5?"
"Because your eyelashes are prettier than mine, praising them like that feels more like sarcasm."
...
The two went back and forth like this, playing a ga of picking faults while haggling for half the day, until Erald Sparrow acknowledged she had exhausted all the "good" points about Erald, yet was still 3 points shy of Erald's set standard.
"Do I really need to make up this so-called 20 points? I'm already starting to feel tired of this pointless little ga."
"Having stared at each other for too long, Erald Sparrow reluctantly closed her eyes and said, "Isn't it a bit unfair to set such a harsh rule for soone you've just t?"
"Sigh, I've already subtly hinted to you, youngster. You really are thick, your thinking has beco imprisoned."
Erald shook her head: "No helping it, to ensure you can successfully achieve your goal, let the embodint of intelligence, beauty, and kindness, the Chief, guide you out of your confusion. Do you know what Affinity ans? It ans any action that can increase my fondness for you is allowed, and praising my beauty today is just one way to do it."
"So?"
"Think carefully, youngster, what can you do now that would make happier?" Erald looked at Erald Sparrow, her languid and slightly sly expression reminiscent of a cat: "Just to clarify, complinting my intelligence, wisdom, or scholarly achievents won't work, as I get those praises every day."
...So does that an she's rarely praised for her looks?
Erald Sparrow couldn't help but think so.
"Minus 5 points," Erald's voice turned cold instantly.
"I didn't say anything." Erald Sparrow feigned innocence.
"My intelligence tells you are secretly thinking of sothing that would tarnish the Chief's reputation," Erald was ruthless.
"Hmm."
A single thought caused her progress to backslide, and Erald Sparrow once again fell into contemplation. She had to seriously consider the interactions with Erald over the past few months and analyze the underlying logic behind her various behaviors to deduce her actual needs...
Then, she ca up with an unsubstantiated answer.
Although there was no real basis for it and it sounded like she might be overthinking, it did seem logical. Besides, there was no real penalty for a wrong guess.
"Enough joking around, we have a lot of work to do, Erald."
Thus, she spoke, half-utilitarian, half-sincere: "I have chosen you, I need your help."
Erald's mouth curled into a smile.
"50 points, no, 100 points."
She gave an unexpectedly high score that made one question their hearing: "Well done, worthy of being a Magical Girl who nearly beca my colleague. I am satisfied with your quick-wittedness."
"You have chosen ."
She said so and lazily stretched: "This ans we are allies, I've offered you my highest price, hence I need your recognition of ."
"And you need my help."
She lowered her hands and made a pushing motion in the air behind her: "No interpretation needed for these words, just your willingness to say it to is enough, and my answer is only one."
Click.
A door, previously unseen by Erald Sparrow, opened in the void, revealing countless intricate tubes and research apparatuses behind it.
"At your service."
She half-opened her eyes and smiled under the bright lights of the research lab: "Welco to the marrow of the Kingdom, the heart of the Research Institute, my true personal laboratory."
"The heart of the Research Institute?" Erald Sparrow whispered to herself.
"Not to boast, but it's just stating the fact, the prosperity of the Research Institute began with and will only end with ."
Erald entered through the door, stood inside, and waved to Erald Sparrow: "Co, what you want is right here."
Different from the temporary research site set up in Fangting City, this place called the "true personal laboratory" by Erald was not filled with nurous experintal instrunts. In fact, apart from a few indecipherable pieces of experintal equipnt and so breeding tanks with strange organic matter floating in them, what was most abundant were the monitoring devices glowing with Magic Power.
Rather than a laboratory, this place was more of a monitoring room, with neatly aligned screens showing over ten, or even close to twenty, different perspectives from Fairy dolls.
The scenes shown by the dolls were mostly similar, each set within temporary research sites filled with various experintal equipnt, yet the interiors of these sites had nurous differences, proving that each view correlated to a separate research site.
By distributing temporary research sites around the world and controlling avatars from within the Research Institute, Erald Sparrow was able to conduct experints in various laboratories focusing on different aspects. This ensured that regardless of how many projects had to be managed simultaneously, they could be handled concurrently. This was the work thod chosen by Erald.
"If any research site encounters a problem, I can transfer the data to another site that's close by imdiately to ensure no experintal results are lost. Having one more research site and avatar is like having an extra pair of hands, which can significantly increase my work efficiency."
Reviews
All reviews (0)