LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 375
Witch Violet shuddered at the strange sensation of being shattered into countless fragments.
All the sensations she felt within the network were becoming hazy like fog.
Violet, drifting like smoke, blinked her confused eyes.
‘Why am I here?’
Violet pondered this question. Surely she should have disappeared into thin air, like smoke.
Suddenly, the witch realized that her body was moving independently of her will.
‘What the heck? Why is it acting on its own…?’
The witch soon grasped the cause.
Her understanding of the Palace of Memories, the space that the fakes called the network, was profound. And she was filled with despair.
She was already scattered into fragments.
‘What the heck! Why are there multiple me…?’
The witch’s consciousness drifted in chaos. Even while being torn apart in all directions, Violet desperately tried to comprehend the situation.
But she couldn’t even guess how things were changing or in what direction.
Abruptly, the witch’s gaze landed on a vast, thin painting she had never seen before. The weaving machine that produced the fabric etched with the painting, and the countless shining threads behind it,
And it was only when she looked beyond the hole in the ceiling that she saw the sky that the witch finally grasped the essence of the problem. She understood where she existed.
‘Why am I shattered?’
Witch Violet finally faced the truth.
Among the light crystals embedded like stars in the network sky, she realized that she was shattered and scattered in each and every thread.
It was the result of fakes causing strange changes in the network.
Violet’s self was gradually fading away.
‘No, I won’t disappear like this!’
With a desperate determination, Violet scattered throughout the rebuilt network.
The witch was completely dispersed into the enormous world of the network. All that remained were red particles floating in the air like a heat haze.
“What is this?”
The Small Violets sensed some oddity and shook their heads in confusion.
None of the Violets knew what had happened.
Only time would tell the answer.
**
Our Violets faced a serious crisis.
“I’m small!”
“I’ve turned into a Small Violet!”
I decided to call it the Small Violet Pandemic.
This phenomenon of Violets shrinking in size was nothing short of tragic.
“I’m becoming a fool! Huh!”
Everything began with the Small Violet phenomenon that first manifested in Unit 10151.
When the blueprint was modified, the other versions appeared, looking unbelievably small and young.
They had shrunk to a diminutive height of just around 120 cm.
The application of the blueprint itself was perfect. We could change our bodies as desired with the modified blueprint.
But that was precisely where the problem began.
“Got it! I’m a Small Violet!”
“It’s a mini version!”
Having become a Small Violet, I was utterly useless.
“Ugh! The sword is too heavy!”
Maybe due to their smaller stature, the Small Violets were significantly weaker than my original form.
It felt like their overall physical abilities had decreased. Even if I hadn’t tried actual combat or shooting, their durability had surely dropped as well.
With muscles reduced and most of it turned into soft flesh, that was to be expected.
But the real problem lay elsewhere.
“What is this! My body won’t return to normal!”
Like being stuck in a state of Small Violet, my body wouldn’t revert back.
“Yikes!”
Attempting regeneration and reversion repeatedly, the me who had become a Small Violet remained in a childlike state.
To make matters worse, our Violets’ cognitive capabilities began to decline gradually.
“Ugh… This is annoying…”
“By the way, don’t I look cute?”
The Small Violets seemed to have a noticeable limitation in processing speed compared to our Violets.
It seemed that their language skills and concentration had visibly deteriorated.
Even the other versions of me felt their thoughts becoming extremely simplistic and tedious, possibly due to the network’s influence.
“I’m sleepy…!”
“I’m hungry!”
Thinking about it, since I was sleepy and hungry, it might be time to take a little break. Small Violets are weak and cute…
“Eh?!”
“This isn’t right! Get a grip!”
A sudden ominous premonition sent chills down my spine.
The genius Violets’ intelligence was gradually declining.
Important plans were being pushed aside, and we were only chasing simple things!
Why was my head like this?
There must have been a critical mistake during the blueprint application process.
“Ugh!”
“Yikes! I’ve turned into a mini Violet too!”
In the end, the Small Violets were a failure.
The first blueprint we created was one with no advantages other than being small and cute.
A grave mistake made without deep thought.
“Ahh… My consciousness is fading away…”
Our Violets’ awareness grew more and more muddled. A situation where we couldn’t even guess what to do.
Okay, let’s think calmly.
First, we need to do things one by one. I have to return to my original body.
But… wasn’t this young form my original body?
“Right! I’m cute!”
“I’m the small and cute Violet!”
Maybe that really could be true.
I am Small Violet. A delightful and lovable existence. The lady of the Cascadia household would surely think so too.
I’m the cutest and most charming being in the world.
After all, cuteness is the top value that Clone Democracy should pursue.
How silly of me to be worried about such things…
“No! Get a grip! I’m not Fool Violet!”
As Unit 5543 clutched her head and screamed, other Small Violets looked on in bewilderment.
Then they began to speak one by one.
“Fool?”
“I’m not a fool! I’m a genius!”
I desperately fought with another version of myself inside.
Stumbling and wavering as if possessed by the network, I finally managed to make my way back to the weaving machine.
The blueprint that caught my eye was the first one I had touched among others.
I quickly reached out. A golden, thin fabric depicting the complete figure of a small girl sparkled.
-Snap!
“Yikes!”
After a long series of trial and error, we finally regained our original forms from being Small Violets.
“I almost lived as a Small Violet!”
The first revision of the blueprint ended in failure.
Amidst the disappointment, we comforted and encouraged ourselves.
“We can do better next time!”
Surely, there must be some way to utilize what we made.
**
Learning from our first failure, we dedicated ourselves seriously to research.
Based on the blueprints, we could surely create a more advanced Violet body.
Even if we didn’t know the exact principles, just like babies learn to walk naturally without being taught, we continued the work of extracting and modifying copies of blueprints from the network.
“Alright! This time, let’s create a stronger body!”
Unit 4532 took out a pencil first and began scribbling on the copies, following her instincts and adding what seemed like strong ideas one by one.
Strangely, with every stroke of the pencil against the paper, odd illusions flickered in front of me.
It seemed as if thousands of chains were splitting into various directions and then mixing together to be reassembled, flashing before disappearing.
Between each chain were different colored sticks, and every time I purposefully drew with the pencil, the chains and sticks would break and stick together in bizarre ways.
As if entranced, once the work was done, voila! Blueprints depicting me in a subtly altered style were completed.
Just applying these would be the end.
Of course, most attempts ended in failure. Either there were no changes at all, or they simply resulted in fatal side effects.
“Yikes!”
When I attempted regeneration based on one blueprint, a Violet with grotesquely twisted arms appeared.
Some Violets seemed to have internal organ problems, letting out a screech and dying right after being created.
“This is kind of dangerous…”
It was clear that should luck turn bad, mutant Violets would be mass-produced.
I immediately tore up the failed blueprints.
Fortunately, the original blueprint was the network itself.
The entire structure of this mental space we existed in was practically the original blueprint of Violets, so making a few copies didn’t affect our essence at all.
It had to be like that.
“Ugh… then is it true that I only have one successful model as a Small Violet?”
“I guess so. At least it’s one that can walk, talk, and function properly, right?”
The Small Violet was undoubtedly a complete product of coincidence.
It may have been somewhat weaker and did not reach the genius level of the original, but it was still more stable than the later variants.
There might be some way to utilize it somehow.
“Let’s analyze it!”
From the research, I discovered a few noteworthy advantages.
The most prominent thing was that the magical power consumption was significantly lower.
The generation speed and magical power consumption rate for the Small Violet were only half that of the original.
For now, in order to grow back to my current Violet form, I would need to use half of it again.
And another interesting characteristic was that.
“Wow! Guys! The monsters don’t see me!”
Strangely, the Small Violet had a faint presence.
Unit 5312, moving to test things in the wilds of the Red Zone, quickly hid as a strange creature approached.
The bizarre monster, resembling a mix between a scorpion and a bear, raised its foreleg and swung its tail as it drew near.
Normally, the monster would instantly sense us and charge.
“Growl…?”
The monster seemed to sense something was off and looked around, simply passing where Unit 5312 was hidden.
Upon closer inspection, it was more than just a case of lower presence; as a Small Violet, I appeared blurry even in another Violet’s sight.
“Huh? I look blurry!”
“Transparent Violet!”
This small form had the critical issue of decreased intelligence, but it also had its unique advantages.
The collective intelligence gradually shifted perspective.
“Small Mode has its own potential uses!”
It might even be useful in non-combat scenarios.
Moreover, combining this with the magical wavelength disruption vaccine we would develop in the future could allow us to perfectly evade detection.
“Alright!”
As we celebrated this unexpected success for a moment, we recalled that there was still an unresolved mystery remaining.
That was the mystery of the acceleration capability observed at the initial appearance of the first Small Violet.
“What could it be?”
I pondered deeply about this déjà vu hovering around my body and mind.
This strange afterimage, the flow of ether emitted from it, and its method of manipulation felt incredibly familiar.
“Aha.”
This sensation of slipping just off my fingertips; could it be an Apostle’s ability?
I took a deep breath and concentrated the network’s capacity to recreate that acceleration from back then, reviving the previous sensations.
-Zing!
In that brief moment, it felt as if I had sliced time into ten and then divided it ten more times; a keen sense severed the connection between me and the world.
The scenery before my eyes flipped into bizarre colors before disappearing in an instant.
“I think I understand…”
As I slowly organized my thoughts, I turned my gaze beyond the sea.
It felt like I would finally find a clue to solve the decisive issues I hadn’t resolved until now.