The system didn't celebrate growth.
It warned about it.
An Unusual Metric
Lin Chen noticed the change before the alert arrived.
Response efficiency was up.
Error margins were down.
Yet—
Decision latency had increased.
By milliseconds.
Enough to matter.
System Alert
[Performance Note: Cognitive Load — Rising.]
[Cause: External Observation Layer.]
Lin Chen frowned.
Observation had a cost.
Not in access.
In attention.
Dr. Hart's Concern
"You can't scale intuition forever," she said.
"Eventually, the system starts waiting for you."
"That's unacceptable," Lin Chen replied.
Waiting meant dependence.
Dependence meant weakness.
A Hard Truth
The system had been designed around one mind.
His.
Expansion meant dilution.
Unless—
A Dangerous Idea
"What if," Dr. Hart said slowly,
"you stop being the center?"
The room went silent.
System Response
[Concept Detected: Distributed Authority.]
[Risk Level: High.]
[Potential Gain: Structural Independence.]
High risk.
High reward.
Lin Chen's Decision
"Prepare a secondary node," he said.
Dr. Hart looked up sharply.
"That changes everything."
"I know," Lin Chen replied.
"That's why we do it."
End of Chapter 68