"So there really was an effect in the end?"
Before the LCD screen, Luo Shu held Tabane Shinonono in his arms, asking with some surprise.
"Probably because we've just begun the awakening process? Having received no external signals for so long, such sudden input might have caused an overreaction?"
Tabane seemed slightly unsettled by the discomfort, squirming uneasily in Luo Shu's embrace:
"But in previous research, I tried using equipment to channel emotions into the Wisdom Cube, attempting to awaken the power within partially."
"Yet the infused mental energy dissipated quickly without any response."
"Whereas this time, the instruments actually detected fluctuations..."
Here, Tabane blinked, then smirked mischievously:
"Seems the child within this Wisdom Cube is a bit of a... naughty one."
"Huh?" Luo Shu froze for a moment. A shipgirl with such tendencies? Well, now that he thought about it, several shipgirls did have rather... risqué settings in their lore—though strictly towards their commanders.
So the Wisdom Cube currently serving as Tabane's virtual reality host belonged to one of those shipgirls?
That left far too many possibilities...
"This complicates things slightly. If this child only responds to... that sort of stimulation, the quantity required to awaken her..."
Tabane nibbled her finger while staring at the screen, then tilted her head to glance at Luo Shu:
"Feels like it might be lethal."
Luo Shu immediately wanted to refute that he'd survive—dying from such a cause would be too humiliating.
Yet Tabane abruptly shifted tone, lamenting mournfully:
"Feels like I'd be the one getting wrecked."
"No good. Current stimulation protocol won't work."
"Need to experiment with broader emotional spectra."
"Even if you say that, where would I find crowds to enter VR and supply sufficient emotional data?"
'Though, come to think of it, could mental energy really transmit through network cables? This tech felt suspiciously black-box...'
Luo Shu internally complained before pausing to ask:
"After actual testing, though, VR tech still feels somewhat inconvenient."
"Inconvenient for baseline civilian data collection?"
Tabane seemed to grasp Luo Shu's concerns effortlessly, much like how she intuitively located his... other sensitive points:
"True. As entertainment, not everyone would engage with it."
"The only device currently harvesting national data at scale remains smartphones."
"Want me to manufacture a VR product to replace phones?"
She made it sound as simple as buying tea eggs downstairs.
And infuriatingly, Tabane absolutely had the capability.
Yet Luo Shu understood the ramifications of such disruption all too clearly:
"Too rapid a stride risks tearing the seams."
Tinkering with virtual games wouldn't cause much commotion, but touching mobile phones...
How much capital within the Five Great Powers is invested in the mobile industry, and what percentage of it belongs to state-backed enterprises?
If someone created a product that completely overturned all this... the fallout would likely result in six gunshot wounds to the back, officially ruled as suicide.
"The mobile phone industry involves too many interests. It's better not to touch it for now."
According to Luo Shu's estimate, it would take at least an Apostle—no, an Angel-level entity capable of cleansing surface civilisations — to forcibly introduce such a groundbreaking product while disregarding national powers.
"So for now, we should focus our channel on games. After all, games hold strong appeal for young people."
Although most Familia members lurking in the shadows are young women, that doesn't necessarily mean that young women wouldn't enjoy games.
From this perspective, specialising in games would undoubtedly affect the search for hidden Familia candidates, but this could be offset by other channels, such as hospitals, health insurance, or driver's licenses.
And specialising in games could collect spiritual energy to awaken shipgirls.
According to the Wisdom Cube's settings, newly born shipgirls possess military strength capable of suppressing the modern Union's armed forces.
If this setting holds true, then investing in awakening shipgirls would undoubtedly be worthwhile.
A direct combat force, at least at the Demigod level, who would definitely become Familia members—any investment below the limit would be cost-effective.
"But can emotional spiritual energy really awaken shipgirls?"
Luo Shu somewhat doubted the method's reliability. Unfortunately, neither Raziel nor searches and divinations through the Mysticism Encyclopaedia could provide any insight into Wisdom Cubes.
"But we don't have any alternative plans, do we?"
Facing Luo Shu's question, Tabane Shinonono shrugged and replied:
"If we had a living shipgirl now, I could master the awakening technology for Wisdom Cubes within three days."
"After all, the difficulty of researching existing things is completely different from researching non-existent things."
It's like how pharmaceutical companies spend decades and billions of dollars developing new drugs, only for China to replicate them in just a month.
Going from zero to one is fundamentally different from going from one to infinity.
The former is practically creating something new, while the latter is merely replicating what already exists.
"So you're saying that obtaining one new shipgirl would allow us to obtain countless more..."
Luo Shu had to admit—he was tempted.
An entire race with baseline Demigod strength, perfectly suited to become Familia members.
Wouldn't such a race be practically indistinguishable from the angels and demons of mythology?
And the cost of awakening this race would just be setting up some virtual gaming equipment and getting hundreds of thousands of players online simultaneously to provide spiritual energy...
Though troublesome and with a low probability of success, the returns were enticing enough for Luo Shu.
Even Lacus probably couldn't refuse such returns.
Therefore...
"How long until we can mass-produce virtual reality equipment?"
Facing Luo Shu's question, Tabane Shinonono tilted her head slightly in thought, then smiled and said, "If we have sufficient materials, we can set up the production line within three days and achieve a daily output of around a thousand units in five days."
"That's quite fast... But then, the remaining issue would be coordination from other departments."
At this thought, Luo Shu almost wished he could grab the Commerce Department's higher-ups by the collar right now and force them to release their VR technology resources immediately.
But alas, progress had to be made step by step.
With this in mind, Luo Shu narrowed his eyes and said in an ambiguous tone:
"The SDS departmental meeting on May 1st..."
"Let's hope they'll be sensible about it."