On the warship deck.
"Those moles already reported results to Master God? Master God wants to verify in half an hour?"
Hearing this news, Kainath's expression visibly turned green.
"That's right! Meeting location is at the Flügel base. Don't be late!"
After giving basic reminders, Jibril's figure directly disappeared.
"Damn those moles, picking exactly this time to be so fast!"
Sensing time flowing second by second, Kainath gritted her teeth, getting anxious.
In imaginary energy research, she'd already given her utmost, not only confirming imaginary energy's existence but detecting many properties.
For ordinary people, accomplishing this much in just a few days was already quite impressive.
But for her, this achievement was completely inadequate.
Forget that Ryuga had bestowed her the Forest God's Star Grail, giving her extremely favorable experimental conditions to directly activate her Star Grail to verify conjectures.
The existing achievement itself actually had nothing particularly remarkable, belonging to the type where as long as one knew imaginary energy existed, one would inevitably research results.
In spell research, merely confirming its existence beforehand was already quite favorable conditions.
She'd thought this competition had at least another week or two, never expecting Ocain's side to move so quickly.
"No way! I can't lose to anyone, especially not those damn moles!"
Though under Ryuga's regulations, even defeat wouldn't involve punishing deities—at most name-based penalties like having Elves defer to Dwarves in the future.
But even so, this was defeat she absolutely couldn't bear.
She actually didn't much care about Elves, just didn't want to lose to those disgusting enemies.
"Those guys holding Star Grails definitely progressed faster than me. To surpass them, I must find another path."
After careful thought, Kainath felt increasingly troubled.
For a divine realm-level genius like her, whether others helped actually didn't mean much.
Even if Dwarves had two divine species, they couldn't gain much advantage. Forge God Ocain aside from cooperating with experiments might not help much.
The reason their progress differed so greatly was mainly accumulation issues.
When researching [Star Grail Smash], Dwarves already thoroughly understood Star Grails. Now they just needed to deeply explore Star Grail performance to master the technique of using Star Grails to communicate with imaginary energy.
But she was different. Having always researched spells before, she lacked this accumulation and naturally fell behind.
Now only half an hour remained.
If she continued researching the related interference between Star Grails and imaginary energy, she definitely couldn't match the Dwarves.
To overtake on a curve, she must find some opportunity to directly research imaginary energy.
Such opportunity shouldn't exist, but—
"Miss March 7th, can you please help me? This is my life's request!"
Kainath immediately came before March 7th, with desperate determination lowering her head, seeking help from the girl before her.
If this were before the great war and she encountered a similar individual, she'd just kidnap them directly.
But now it was post-war, and the girl was Ryuga-sama's friend. She naturally didn't dare use force.
Fortunately, she'd observed before—this pink-haired girl wasn't very cautious and was easy to fool. As long as she was sincere enough, she should agree.
"Eh? No need to be so formal! Just say what help you need directly."
As expected, March 7th wasn't comfortable with such polite etiquette, looking somewhat soft-hearted.
"Thank you, Miss March 7th! It's nothing major, just want to research you a bit—"
Kainath immediately looked up, eyes full of gratitude toward March 7th, her words as vague as possible.
Just then, Artoria who'd just retrieved Avalon approached.
"Sorry, according to Master's orders, I'm responsible for protecting Miss March 7th's safety. So no matter what you're doing, I must accompany Miss March 7th."
The ahoge king spoke rigidly, clearly with no room for negotiation.
"Miss Artoria, thank you! And thank Ryuga-sama too!"
March 7th was quite moved for a moment, not expecting she'd even get a bodyguard assigned.
Ryuga-sama really is a good person!
"Good! No problem. I just wanted to borrow Miss March 7th's power anyway—won't harm her. Please rest assured and come along, Miss Artoria."
Kainath immediately abandoned several quick-result methods, deciding to add dozens more safety measures.
A girl who could get Ryuga to personally assign a dedicated bodyguard—no matter how foolish, she had no right to carelessly trick. Absolutely mustn't treat lightly.
"Mm."
Artoria nodded slightly, seriously following March 7th to Kainath's laboratory.
Her ahoge told her this Elf before them resembled her sister Morgan—not an easy character. Must watch closely.
Phantasma Avant Heim, the Flügel's base, in the grand hall originally used to have audiences with the War God.
As the second-generation War God, current master of the Flügel, and throne's master, Jibril didn't sit on the War God's throne.
Instead, like the most intimate handmaiden, she devotedly attended the man on the throne.
The one who could surpass the War God and sit in the main seat was naturally only Jibril's master, the No Game No Life world's One True God, Star Grail controller Ryuga.
However, unlike the War God period's serious atmosphere, though the divine hall was also quiet now, it didn't easily make people tense.
Fanlo clutched Ryuga's hem, standing at the other side. Huby blankly watched her two masters. Azriel led the Flügel arranging food and drinks. Forge God Ocain and Loni stood nervously below the throne, eyes respectful yet excited.
"Where are Kainath and March 7th?"
Ryuga asked.
He'd already commanded Jibril to notify both sides half an hour early to come verify imaginary energy research results.
Now Loni and Forge God Ocain had arrived early below the throne, but Kainath was nowhere to be seen, and even the lively March 7th was missing.
This was somewhat strange.
"I already notified them. There's still two minutes before the latest assembly time. Should I go urge them again?"
Jibril immediately answered.
"No need. Then we'll wait another two minutes."
Ryuga shook his head, already having an answer in mind.
Hearing him say this, Ocain and Loni beside them exchanged excited glances.
Loni immediately stepped forward and knelt, presenting his research results.
"Ryuga-sama, this is the achievement we researched. I've successfully mastered the method of obtaining imaginary energy through Star Grails. The key lies in the resonance of Star Grail imaginary number transformation frequency. Please review it!"
As Kainath predicted, Loni who already deeply understood Star Grails had solved the imaginary energy acquisition problem, discovering War God Artosh's secret.
The strong and the wise were different. The strong created miracles, the wise explained miracles.
Though in combat power Dwarves were far inferior to the War God, in researching power, the War God might not match them.
Just as at life's end Artosh didn't know what power he drew from thin air, so-called strongest was simply strongest, not omniscient and omnipotent.
"Knowing to utilize the Star Grail's own imaginary number properties is quite good."
After receiving the inscribed spell data Loni handed over, Ryuga merely glanced once to understand the theory and mechanism he constructed.
Star Grails could communicate with imaginary energy because they inherently had this mechanism, just not activated under normal frequencies.
Loni used his talent and intuition to find one frequency among countless possibilities that could communicate with imaginary energy, successfully verifying its effectiveness.
Though there was a luck component, this could also be considered his talent.
"Though the application range is limited, it's enough for you to gradually master imaginary energy and obtain power approaching Artosh."
Ryuga gave this evaluation.
Artosh's strength was naturally exceptional, but definitely not without reason—he just didn't need to know the reason himself.
After successfully analyzing imaginary energy concepts, continuing research would give Ocain the same key to unlock imaginary energy, raising his strength a tier.
Of course, just as he couldn't defeat the original Artosh, even mastering imaginary energy, he definitely couldn't match Jibril.
The War God's combat domain bonuses absolutely couldn't be compensated for by energy alone.
Hearing Ryuga see through the key point at a glance, Loni trembled slightly, his gaze toward Ryuga even more reverent.
"Yes! Ryuga-sama!"
Worthy of the One True God—seeing at a glance he'd half-guessed the answer.
But it didn't matter. Overall, Ryuga-sama still recognized his achievement. Even with a luck component, he truly did find the method to obtain imaginary energy.
Though not yet perfect, it was enough to win this competition.
Regardless, it was stronger than the Elf side.
In such short time, that Elf probably hadn't even thoroughly researched Star Grails, right?
She must be trembling in her laboratory, not even daring to show her face.
Otherwise, why hadn't she appeared after so long?
Thinking this, he and Ocain exchanged glances, eyes full of smugness.
Now only one minute remained until assembly time. What could be accomplished in one minute? Could that hateful Elf surpass him?
Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
This victory meant having all Elves bow before Dwarves, calling themselves defeated.
In the post-war world, this was enough to vent their frustration.
Just as they mentally calculated how to vent, the final thirty seconds arrived—Kainath brought March 7th, panting as they reached the divine hall.
"Master God-sama, please forgive my tardiness. I've brought you the latest results."
To be continued…
You're right, I apologize for the name inconsistencies. Let me be more careful with the No Game No Life terminology.
To be continued...