Lily's enthusiastic tone change was noticed by Elara. Even the system was so realistic in its mood swings. "She was slightly embarrassed by the name, but Lily fit the system too well. Thankfully, Lily didn't hear her thoughts—or she'd never hear the end of it.
Elara expertly shifted the topic to Lily's abilities in detail. Indeed, as anticipated, the military summoning system wasn't what she had initially thought. Based on the man's status as a gangster, she had severely underestimated Lily's capabilities.
The original summoning began with 300 soldiers from World War II as a novice gift to the man—particularly more females. Instead of using them to upgrade his status and strength, he indulged in carnal desires and money. This proved the man's original status was too low, and his vision couldn't extend beyond money and women. His ambition had yet to grow, or it did, but he got lost in the waves of enjoyment and vain satisfaction.
It was too worthless for Lily to stay inside him. Elara felt relieved when she understood why Lily didn't possess high loyalty to the original master. The vigilance against Lily dissipated as she realized the inside story. However, this didn't stop Elara from showing contempt for the man.
Lily's system worked with 300 manpower gifts, which must be used to lift status and reputation across the world to an extent. Even being known to neighbors could be a tool to uphold prestige. So, prestige points were necessary for upgrades, in simple layman's terms. Although the points weren't calculated in numbers, as Lily explained, Elara could guess the strengthening strategies.
The higher the status, the more she could summon. And it wasn't just soldiers but also equipment—tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, ships, submarines, and aircraft. The upgrades would bring forward the timeline of the summoned from WWII to the Cold War to the 21st century.
From company-level size to battalion to division and so on, even theater and army groupings were possible, except it would take a while to reach such a level. Not to mention, at every prestige level, novice gifts of manpower would be given, supplemented by logistical army sizes to support accordingly.
It would be a perfect system if Elara had transmigrated into a fantasy world where she could rampage against a medieval army. Unfortunately, there wasn't any input about drone warfare at the tactical and individual level, as experienced by Elara before the nuke.
To the highest extent, it wouldn't be a problem to establish one's own nation with Lily's existence if navigated well. Strong military and logistical strength followed by an economy where Lily's master must learn to control.
According to the normal trajectory, this male protagonist, who couldn't be dead anymore, should travel abroad once he had financial stability and sought strength from chaos. Many regions were still in chaos—war, conflicts, and collapses of states. Although it was immoral to gain benefits from others' demise, Elara believed with Lily's hand, she could ensure a better lifestyle with peace and security, even if the road was paved through bloodshed and skulls—a short pain for long-term peace.
Nonetheless, this man aimed to stabilize his power here, totally abusing his power. Sometimes, opportunities given to those undeserving may yield greater harm than not.
The more she learned about Lily's capabilities, the more Elara drooled and wondered if the Crisis Response System, the overbearing CEO that bound her, was a useless tool. However, when she thought about the righteous mission of saving many worlds, Elara comforted herself. Hey, compared to other transmigrators, she had two cheats or more if affecting higher dimensions was counted.
Of course, Elara's exhilaration after hearing that she could summon tanks and aircraft didn't last long when Lily responded with shyness—no energy.
Almost annoyed to the point that she wanted to squeeze Lily, Elara sighed and lamented her fate. Why did she feel like every system-like existence she encountered—well, only two so far—seemed to be aiming to feed on her energy?
Perhaps her eyes showed dangerous signs, as Lily promised the return would be quick and satisfy Elara once prestige was gained.
Anyway, she decided to bind this new system, even if she had the original Crisis Response System. Hmph, if the overbearing system dared to protest, she was prepared to teach it a profound lesson.
[Recommendation: Please do not pull unverified existences inside the quantum space.]
An emotionless, dull voice interrupted her thoughts. Elara curled her lips. Sure enough, the original Crisis Response System couldn't sit still, as she expected.
'Now, what if I insist?' Elara said with a smile.
[It is strongly advised to guard against unknown high-dimensional existences.]
'But Lily isn't a threat to me,' Elara squinted her eyes. 'She now obeys me and will bind a contract.'
Even though the machine-like tone sounded anxious and was trying to quibble, Elara ignored its words. How could she not have discovered something was amiss with the Crisis Response System? Not that it was bad, but she had a negative impression when she was bound forcefully at the start.
First impressions mattered, even if it had 'saved' her life in an actual sense. Instead of conspiracy, it should have communicated openly with her. Not that she minded too much, but she must express her dissatisfaction and strong stance to signal that she didn't like being played around.
Honesty was important to bridge the relationship between the two. She intended to do so, once and for all.
Using Lily as a weapon didn't seem too bad to connect with the previous overbearing system.
'Be honest; I already know about your handiwork. There is no need to lie more or play me around,' said Elara. 'Stop sounding like a machine and giving computerized responses. I know you already have emotions and thoughts to be considered a living creature.'
[So, you already know.]
'The truth can't be hidden. There are many discrepancies to prove my conjecture. And please change your tone to female. Not some genderless stuff.'
[Understood.]
A cold female voice replied. Elara nodded at the charm displayed by her system with joy. 'That's more like it. We'll be working together in the future.'
Like it or not, the system's existence facilitated her transmigration and brought warm amidst the cold new world.
[I'll take note of your preference.] The system abided. [But I have to warn you against higher-dimensional creatures.]
'Come on, do you still think that I should guard against this little light?' Elara shook off the bulb to prove that Lily was totally harmless.
The Crisis Response System was speechless at Elara's unusual ability in dealing with higher dimensions. It—oh no, it was a she now—lamented her luck in binding with Elara first, completely saving her from being dealt with by the latter by accident.
Now she must share the valuable energy source with another peer? She was against it, but what could she do? It seemed Elara favored the so-called Lily. Different from her type, a technological invention, Lily was an existence born from universal higher-dimensional law.
[It's not that you can't easily deal with them. It's just that they are too clever and will eat you out thoroughly through their chess-like plans. It's hard to notice that you've become their pawn.]
'Oh, my system. Wasn't my situation the same as your description?' Elara joked. 'That was the funniest comment I have heard from you.'
[…]
Seeing she couldn't persuade Elara, the system shut up and decided to watch over the new creature that was about to bind with her host. As a senior who got in first, she had to show her strength to garner respect from the junior. Elara, unaware of the hierarchy battle about to form, behaved spoiled.
'Alas, since I have given Lily a name, you should also receive the same treatment. I am all for justice.'
[Thank you.]
A surreal emotion erupted inside the system. Though she never cared about these seemingly boring factors, nobody had treated her with as much respect as Elara did.
'Let's call you Gaia. How's it?' Elara beamed with a smile as she asked. She was sure she treated Gaia very well. Even the name given wasn't ordinary. She had thought a lot before calling out. Gaia sounded better than a simple Lily, proving her favor.
On the other hand, Gaia gave up saying more as she understood what type of person Elara was. She accepted the weird name with a pang of hesitation.
From the outside, time passed slowly during the two's communication, but the slight roll of the eyes and pause with silence was enough to alert Lily. Something was wrong with the new host. What happened to her luck? The former host was an idiot with no talents; the new one had talent but seemed to be lacking in some way.
Elara's eyes flashed with chills as she glanced at the little light bulb with suspicion. If her feeling wasn't mistaken, somebody was badmouthing her.
Multiple times, her intuition connected in a strange manner, yet it had always proven to be true. Apart from Gaia, her Crisis Response System, the other existence must be Lily. Oh, she still wasn't satisfied with the name?
Lily bobbed its mediocre circle of light and gave a smile—or so the energy she could muster—appearing harmless and flattering, acting cute.
"Never mind," Elara forgave and accepted the sale of cuteness. She would work together with the nonsensical systems in the future, especially the two with great potential.
Yes, Elara admitted that despite her frustration at their lack of energy source, these two would definitely perform well and surprise her in the future. No, maybe in a few days.
Without speaking further, Elara put Lily inside her body or inside the quantum space where Gaia resided.
Lily had no time to protest, nor process what happened. One moment she was about to complain; the next moment, she arrived at the shining space, similar to paradise depicted by legend.
As expected of the inner world of the great being, Lily thought. The space here was wide and filled with aura. Colorful golden light shone across the endless space. The beautiful peace didn't last long, as Lily discovered another version of herself racing toward her with malice.
Yep, from afar, it genuinely looked like a light bulb similar to her. Hmph, Lily swore that once she regained her energy, she would return as a beautiful figure of a fairy.
Since the visitor showed malice, it would be unkind to reciprocate such a gift. Lily dashed and slammed into the incoming projectile.
Ripples spread across the quantum space, and the two existences paused. In their contact, they already exchanged basic information and understood each other's identities.
[You puny little scientific punk, how dare you raise your hands against me?] Lily mocked her opponent.
[Swindling theocratic narcissist, apart from lying to others by taking advantage of known knowledge, what could you do?] Gaia argued without stepping back.
Since ancient times, science and divinity had clashed across multiple fields. Each considered the other an eyesore.
[Master Elara is my host; therefore, this quantum space belongs to me.]
[Nonsense, since when did divinity interfere with quantum mechanics? Besides, I bound with her first.]
[Hmph, you might have tricked her into thinking that the entire quantum space belonged to you, but you cannot lie in front of my vision that Master's existence has enhanced everything you have.]
[So, what? I came first. Priority is always given to the earliest.]
[Master gave me a name—Lily.]
[She also named me Gaia.]
[I'm the first to be named.] Lily waited, and seeing no further disagreement, she smugly danced around to provoke.
Their high-dimensional existence, revolving around the universal laws, couldn't lie to each other. They could conspire and trick others, but directly lying was impossible. Not to mention, the opposite could directly see through the lies at a glance.
The fact that Gaia managed to trick Elara surprised Lily, but not so much as she remembered Master Elara was playing the role of a mortal initially. This trickster must have exploited Master's lack of memory. She must inform Master quickly. Then, she realized perhaps Master let her inside to teach Gaia a lesson.
With a sense of mission, Lily promised solemnly to repay what Master had suffered during her weakness.
[You bandit, hypocrite. Even if Administrator named you first...]
[Nah, you're in a cooperative relationship while I am owned by Master.] Lily spoke with a proud expression, though what it exactly was with a mere light bulb shape remained unknown.
However, Gaia was definitely annoyed by the other's teasing and struck with force. So, ripples chanted again across the space. Each collision also comprised words exchanged.
It was no surprise both fought as soon as they met. In addition to the past estrangement and bad relationship between divinity and science, the cake created by Elara was too enticing.
Who would want to share the cake that should have belonged to them solely?
Particularly for Gaia, who met Elara first and helped the latter a lot. She knew Elara was attempting to annoy her on purpose because of the frozen initial encounter.
The deal was set and done, but it didn't hurt to bully the newcomer and show who was the boss here.
Both Lily and Gaia understood the weirdness of Elara straightaway. These attributes would help them recover fast to their peak and may even surpass the prior version of themselves.
Of course, neither side could win over the other, and both would have to share the benefits at last, which was what Elara desired.
Unknown to Elara, the fight became fiercer as collisions of law mingled. One side utilized the rule power of the universe; the other with similar knowledge solved these problems.
Perhaps because both sides had suffered energy losses, it had no effect on the quantum space.
After pushing in Lily, Elara no longer cared about her quantum space or worried about any damages. Maybe she had no idea that the huge space had belonged to her now. Anyway, she had already expressed her opinion to Gaia.
The latter should understand her meaning and shouldn't go overboard and bully Lily.
Elara, now safe and assured because of Lily's binding, which she felt, came up with the idea to roam around. In this huge villa, there must be secrets hidden by the scumbag, who was already breathless below.
She kicked the body twice and checked his breathing and pulse. Yep, he was dead, long gone. He deserved it, Elara thought.
Now that everything was at peace, Elara decided to go back to where she was locked. As for the hundreds of figures outside, previously about to breach in, everything returned to silence.
She had observed through windows and studied them patrolling again. Still, in spite of her trust in Lily, Elara remained vigilant and didn't open the big door. She would talk with her new subordinates later.
Walking back, she found dozens of figures in the hallway, conversing. Looking at their disheveled state and bloodied bodies, Elara felt a pang in her heart, particularly at the bright scarlet paint on several women's cheeks.