On this day,
Kiana was babysitting.
She was playing with little Griseo.
"Wheee~ Up you go~"
"Hehe… so high, so high…"
The game of lifting the little one high up in the air made little Griseo giggle with joy.
Her speech was still adorably babylike, not quite clear and distinct yet but that was hardly an issue.
In fact, it added an extra layer of heart-melting, milky-cutie charm and really, who could resist such a little sweetheart?
Generally speaking, even though people in Fire Moth knew Kiana was around, they seldom came over to bother her.
Blanca must have been truly at her wit's end to ask Kiana to look after little Griseo.
After all, though Ato was her biological father and doted on his daughter, he was still a rough-around-the-edges guy who wasn't exactly detail-oriented.
If little Griseo was left with Kiana, not only would Kiana take care of her, but Elysia, Vill-V, Mobius, and others would also occasionally pop up around Kiana and help out.
Besides, let's not forget, Blanca was actually Kiana's distant cousin.
In other words, Kiana was little Griseo's aunt.
So wouldn't it be better for the aunt to babysit?
Especially since little Griseo adored her.
So Blanca went along with it and made the decision.
She had thought that after leaving Mobius's lab, she could transition from the first Flawless to a laid-back slacker.
She'd even specifically chosen a decent logistics position.
It shouldn't have been too bad, right?
But who would've guessed…
Thanks to Kiana, the combat teams were under much less pressure. At the very least, things had genuinely eased up for them lately.
On the other hand, the logistics team had way too much to consider, with calculations here and tasks there.
Even if the overtime came in waves, Blanca was looking utterly worn out these days.
How could she possibly have the energy to look after little Griseo?
At first, she considered just leaving little Griseo with Mobius.
But because of that… by the next day, rumors were already flying.
For example:
"Look!"
"Dr. Mobius really has taken little Griseo as a hostage."
"She's still dead set on getting Blanca back!"
Or:
"What was predicted in the Sky Screen is actually true."
"The unofficial histories were right all along!"
Honestly, during those few days, even though Mobius didn't pay much attention to gossip, hearing Elysia dramatically recite these comments right in front of her… was enough to make her veins bulge in frustration.
But even so, she never once tried to send little Griseo away.
So now, although Kiana often looked after little Griseo, played with her, and carried her around, a lot of that time was actually spent in Mobius's lab, right by Mobius's side.
It was almost as if… just seeing little Griseo put Mobius in a better mood.
She really was everyone's little joy-bringer.
The power of being the group's darling was no joke.
But then again…
Most people didn't really dare to disturb Kiana, afraid of upsetting her.
But there were some people Kiana didn't mind at all.
Like Mei, Kevin, Su, Vill-V, and so on…
The thing was, they all had their own things to keep them busy.
So that was that.
For example, Kevin had already started training.
Su, after some thought, joined the command department as a strategist, focusing on listening and learning.
Vill-V was holed up in her workshop all day, though no one really knew what she was up to.
As for Mobius, Kiana knew—she had already begun researching the MANTIS technology and was gradually making progress.
This didn't really surprise Kiana, though.
After all, her anchoring of the future wasn't just empty talk.
Take herself, for instance.
Because she had anchored her destiny as becoming the Herrscher of Finality, the future was influencing the present, reversing cause and effect.
Even if she did nothing… she was still growing stronger, gradually mastering the power of Finality.
As if it were heaven-sent.
Let me stress again—this wasn't like forcing a seedling to grow.
It felt more like the future was catalyzing the past, and the past was aligning more closely with the future.
A person without direction grows far slower than one with a clear goal.
Because she had a definite destination, she could stay on course without wasting time.
In the anchored future, MANTIS technology became one of Mobius's signature achievements.
So!
It wasn't that others couldn't develop MANTIS technology, but only Mobius had that innate advantage.
Countless inspirations seemed to come to her as if the future was spoon-feeding her breakthroughs.
A technology that should have matured only by the time of the 7th Herrscher was already taking shape now.
And in such a short time?
Still, Kiana didn't see this as a bad thing.
'If I'm using an accelerator, but still have to follow the original pace, then what's the point of having the accelerator?'
But it wasn't as if everything came in a sudden flash of enlightenment.
Mobius would still experience every step and stage of the research—it's just that some less critical parts might be slightly streamlined.
But that didn't hinder her growth.
It's like solving a problem—if I know the theorem, I can use it directly. But if I don't, or if the theorem hasn't been discovered yet, I'd have to prove it from scratch.
Although Kiana hadn't explicitly asked Mobius how it felt for her now, she understood it very well herself.
There were many ways to wield her authority that she'd just… somehow knew, or suddenly thought of.
The downside was, while she knew how to use them, she didn't know how to teach them.
Otherwise, Elysia wouldn't have had to struggle so much.
But even so, since Elysia had also anchored her future—never mind how she might compare to an Aeon later—as the Herrscher of Origin, she was developing rapidly, as if leaping forward.
It wasn't nearly as slow as one might think.
Kiana had tested it and concluded that although she'd told Mobius, Sakura, and Rin that they would all become Aeons in the future, and had even seen that possibility down the line, because that future was so incredibly far away—almost irrelevant to mention now—that possibility hadn't given them any feedback yet.
Maybe hints of it would appear later.
But still, a seed had been planted. It was something to look forward to, even if just a little.
"Kiana."
"Hmm?"
Just then,
Miss Mei rarely sought her out.
She seemed a little shy, though her usual demeanor made it hard to tell.
Kiana held little Griseo in her arms, and both of them looked over.
Ah… the familiar lab coat, the familiar smell of disinfectant, the vibes of a laboratory—really, so unoriginal…
"Is something up?" Kiana asked.
She knew if Mei had sought her out personally, it must be for a good reason—Mei didn't waste time on idle visits.
So she cut straight to the point.
Generally, if Mei had a request, Kiana wouldn't refuse. She was always pretty easygoing with the girls.
Besides, she'd always had a soft spot for Mei.
--+--
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