Chương 210: LOG-201.

There was a faint click, the singular sound breaking the silence that had engulfed the room as my talons broke contact with the singed shards belonging to Atoll, the pale green glow that had engulfed them fading away rather anticlimactically. And it… she, was Atoll. Not Shell. Doesn't view herself as Shell anymore.

Extensive damage to both physical reality anchor and interdimensional infosphere has led to almost certainly permanent scars in relation to individuality and- With a mental flex, I slammed a metaphorical door in the face of the intrusive thought. It wasn't mine. Helpful, of course. Always helpful, but not mine, and I wasn't in the mood for it given what I had just experienced. My eyes darted down towards the remnants of the Gem before me, and for an instant, I felt like indulging in a moment of triumph.

The idea had been entirely my own, after all. Using the Nacre-borne programming abilities I had been given in order to 'read' rather than 'write.' What I had lived through as Atoll kept me from smiling, however. That, coupled with the fact that I could feel her slowly coming back to herself, with the few surveillance visors and other sensors she had present within her inner sanctum flickering back to life as I felt Head's presence shift closer to me kept my expression somewhat blank, at least for the moment.

Turning, I looked towards the giant Pearl's twitching fingers, the feeling of observation slowly returning, but now feeling more hesitantly curious rather than defiantly hostile. Like an animal that had been held at one's mercy, but gently released afterwards.

'Such a curious radiance! Was it your talons that produced it? I confess, I have never seen anything quite like it before! Is this some natural skill inherent to a Nacre, or have you demonstrated yet another ability that is uniquely your own?' Considering the question for a moment, I eventually settled on shrugging my shoulders, turning back towards Atoll's shards while voicing my answer.

"To be entirely honest, I have no idea. At a guess though, it's an existing trait that's been modified, rather than anything truly unique." If I had allowed any of the other Nacres near my Batch at the Reef, I would have known. Alas, I had kept them all to myself. I wasn't sure where the thought came from, pity perhaps, but I nonetheless found myself trying to gently shift Atoll's shards together. They wouldn't stick, of course, but proximity would certainly help what little I could do.

A flash of light heralded the appearance of a small corked bottle filled to the brim with Pink's essence, and once more I found myself thanking my past self's preparations, even as I worried over whether it would help or hinder my makeshift 'patient.' Regardless, a quick stab and twist with a talon dealt with the cork, and soon enough I was upturning the glass container's contents atop Atoll's shards, eyes narrowing as I observed the effects.

Given their largely separated state, I didn't expect anything resembling a full repair of her gemstone. But at the very least, its discordant pieces could be stabilised to present any further damage.

More importantly, the introduction of the essence served to smother the insidious embers that had been stubbornly clinging to the Pearl's shattered component's, and I gave a soft hum as the clam-shaped casing that contained them abruptly began to close, leaving me to step backwards in order to avoid getting caught between its two halves.

As several clicks heralded the apparatus no doubt locking itself into place once more, I turned around and began to make my way out of the chamber, Head silently following behind me after sparing a single glance towards the now sealed clam. More importantly, that feeling of being watched remained all throughout our walk back to the lower levels of the… well, of Atoll's body, albeit without feeling quite so creepy now that she had seemingly accepted my presence.

— This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Our arrival back into what was tentatively considered 'safe' territory went without much fanfare, and after Head begged off her own departure (apparently the massive Gem was yearning for the time to process everything she had witnessed), I found myself alone. Well, not entirely.

Sure, none of the local Pearls were about, and neither Patina nor Violet were present either, but as I leaned up against one of the walls and crossed my arms, the presence of a surveillance visor kept me attention. The feeling of eyes roving over my lightform would have been more than enough to verify Atoll's presence, but the brief flicker of luminescence within the casing of the device also served as confirmation that it was operating, at least to some capacity.

"So, you had quite the go of it, didn't you?" There was no response, of course. But I found myself letting out an amused breath anyway, one hand rising to press against my face, my own eyes peeking out in between my extended talons.

"Stars, what a fucking mess this all is." I remained like that for a while, my body's statue-like stillness hiding the thoughts whirling around my head, particularly now that I finally had some actual bloody information on just what kind of situation I'd unwittingly found myself in.

It was in the midst of cobbling together something resembling a course of action that light but familiar footsteps had me lowering my hand and glancing to the side, a familiar fake smile plastering itself across my face in order to avoid inducing any worry as I noticed Patina moving towards me.

Said smile fell ever so slightly at her distinctly rushed pace, though before I could voice so much as a single question, the green Pearl had grabbed a hold of my other hand's wrist and begun pulling, with no small amount of urgency in her voice.

"Come on! Violet and I were spending time with some of Batch Two near the lightform adjuster and then it-it came to life and grabbed her!" Oh, well that was concerning. Though her expression seemed more mildly unnerved than outright panicked…

"Is she alright?" My question earned a blink, before Patina quickly nodded her head.

"I think so? Nothing stood out as immediately dangerous and Shell said the machine is working as intended, but none of the Batch have ever seen this happen before, so I figured you'd be able to see whether it was okay or not!" Allowing myself to be led along, I cast a sharp glance up towards one of the artificial eyes staring down at us both, ensuring that my expression held no small amount of warning within it. After all, allies of circumstance or not, I wouldn't tolerate any damage to those that were mine.

Still, the silent threat was delivered without issue, and soon enough I was in a familiar room. Thankfully for the sake of actually being able to move around, none of the larger Pearls were present, though I was forced to gently push both a panicked Khaki and uncertain Shell aside as I strode up to a… peculiar sight.

To a casual observer, Violet's writhing lightform might have appeared wrapped up in a series of extended bandages, leaving the tiny Gem wriggling about like a bug in a cocoon within the loose grasp of the machine that had apparently snatched her up. But with some closer inspection on my part… Extensive modifications are being performed. Movement indicates surprise and perhaps a slight bit of uncertainty, but no pain. There is a finger moving to poke me.

Turning to look at the owner of the extended digit in question with my primary set of eyes, I watched as Blue hesitantly retracted her hand, the Pearl looking awfully fearful.

"I-It was my fault, Caretaker! Violet and I were out exploring and she showed a distinct fascination with some of the… some of the biological specimens located within the subterranean levels. She mentioned wanting to replicate their features so I brought her up here to see if we could get some minor changes made, but then the whole machine started working! It's never done that before!"

Considering the panicked thing's words for a moment, I twisted my full attention back towards Violet's makeshift prison, which had begun glowing a bright white as whatever procedure being performed presumably reached its height. Too late to halt the operation. Attempting to force the matter has a high chance of leaving Violet's lightform in an unstable, half-modified state. It is safer at this point to view the result and fix any issues afterward.

One of my spare eyes didn't miss the fact that the holographic dance instructor in the corner of the chamber was staring directly at me, even as several snaps heralded the ends of the bandages keeping my creation contained within her apparatus beginning to disintegrate into naught but scattered light, which quickly enough faded into nothing. The sight that met the entire room upon the last few bits of hardlight evaporating was… certainly novel, to say the very least.

Glittering wings were the least of what I had expected, but it was evident that Violet had held at least some manner of decision making in regards to the changes made to her lightform. Gone was the typical frilly and partially translucent uniform of a Pearl, exchanged with a simpler dress that was so light a shade that it bordered on white.

Dancing shoes with gleaming ribbons adorned her miniscule feet, and to my bemusement, my creation had seemingly opted to get herself a pair of antennae, the moth-like adornments seamlessly flowing out from her hair. What held my attention the most however wasn't the clothing, or the wings, or even the tiny terror's beaming expression. No, that honour fell to the symbol set upon her chest, where once had sat the usual vague Diamond shaped space nearly all our kind were created with.

It was a partially broken circle, with a single dot set within it. Modification of Imperial emblem. A circle with a smaller shape within typically represents a Pearl, and her place within the Empire. Expression is both smug and accomplished. She desired this very much- Setting the analysis aside for a moment, I admired the literal, physical manifestation of Violet's rebellious nature.

It was practically a brand of its own, one that would scream to any that looked upon her lightform that she was a different kind of Pearl. The thought that my creation had effectively just gotten a tattoo came and went, even as the little moth in question began to flitter around the room, leaving a trail of sparkles behind her as the rest of the gathered party let out impressed or considering sounds. Shaking my head, I just settled on smiling.

My plan could be brought up later, for now I'd enjoy this brief moment of respite, and indulge in the fact that Violet seemed more than happy with her new look.