820  Research


    Aron sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, appearing to be in a state of silent meditation. He wasn’t alone, as several clones of various individuals surrounded him, each adopting the same posture and engaging in the same activity as he was.


    To an ordinary observer, it might seem as though they were all meditating. However, someone with exceptional sensitivity to mana would have perceived the truth: mana waves radiated from each figure, varying in frequency and intensity. Aron himself emitted the most intense waves, as if releasing vast amounts of mana—equivalent to buckets—every second.


    Each individual appeared to be connected to others emitting similar mana wave frequencies, creating a harmonious link. They showed no interaction with waves of different frequencies, regardless of how much more intense those waves might have been in comparison to their own.


    This continued uninterrupted for about a minute. However, as soon as the minute passed, all of the meditating figures were teleported, reappearing far apart from one another, with at least a hundred meters of distance separating each individual. Despite this sudden separation, the mana wave connections remained intact, seemingly unaffected by the increased distance.


    After another minute, the distance separating the individuals was increased again, this time to a kilometer—a tenfold increase. Yet, the situation remained unchanged. The incremental distance increases continued, each time expanding further, until the farthest distance between individuals reached approximately 100 astronomical units. At that point, the expansion ceased, as it appeared this was the maximum range for maintaining the mana wave frequency connections.


    This remarkable result was made possible by a few individuals who acted as relays, facilitating the transmission of the signals and ensuring the network of connections remained intact across such vast distances.


    Aron was positioned at the center of all the individuals, radiating a brilliant glow in the mana spectrum. He was releasing the highest amount of mana among them, and unlike the others, his mana frequencies shifted periodically. Each change in frequency indicated a connection with a different group of individuals who operated within that specific frequency range.


    Without missing a beat, Nova materialized a hologram in front of him. It displayed all the relevant information from the earlier research, tailored in a way to allow Aron to review it as efficiently as possible.


    “Start a simulation and try to find a way to have as many frequencies as possible detected by a central point, using all of them as means to access a rudimentary version of the universal simulation,” Aron ordered Nova. He had gone through only a small portion of the data, but it quickly became apparent that the weaker the individual, the fewer frequencies they could use to access the system. This highlighted the need for a node that could accept all these different frequencies within a certain range, interpreting them as valid attempts to access the universal simulation and responding accordingly, to reduce the burden on the users.


    {Already on it,} Nova responded promptly as she created a new instance of herself specifically dedicated to addressing this task.


    Acknowledging her response, Aron turned his attention back to the data, resuming from where he had left off.


    He continued issuing different orders at various intervals whenever he encountered something he needed to address within the data in front of him. Nova would either assign an instance of herself to handle the task or delegate it to Lab City for further development. This allowed Aron to function as the head researcher, as most of the time he provided the direction and outlined the expected outcomes for specific tasks, all while keeping the overarching goal of the entire project in mind.


    Throughout this period, Nova could sense that Aron was genuinely enjoying himself, especially compared to everything he had done in the past few years. After spending time with his wife, family, and friends, this research had become one of the more fulfilling experiences for him. Aron particularly relished the challenges of this work, as it introduced an element of unpredictability. Most things in his life had become predictable due to the vast amount of information at his disposal, leaving little room for surprise. When something did surprise him, it was often something dangerous to him or the empire, and that kind of surprise wasn''t enjoyable. However, during this period of research, Aron was able to experience the thrill of the unknown without having to expend his mental bandwidth on concerns of danger.


    Although Aron could use SP to provide him with answers during his research, he had become quite stingy about spending them. There were two main reasons for this. First, he wanted to preserve as many SPs as possible for when they were truly needed. Second, he enjoyed the process of research without the immediate need for answers. Thanks to the universal simulation, he had ample time to conduct his research the traditional way, while also ensuring that this behavior didn’t turn into a harmful one.