Spring's Return II

Shh. Sounds like a howlerbeast.

Well, the adversaries we usually face tend to be far more formidable.

Whoa! Did it hear us?! What's with all the racket?!

I-I've seen it in the bestiary. I think its name is ... "Skydrummer". It's a really vicious creature.

"Skydrummer"? Hah, it does look pretty puffed up!

Aren't any of you scared? It looks seriously dangerous...

The Type-C Tianshi Pillar is a massive installation. The part you see above ground is only a section of it. The main control panel is in the testing zone below—

That doesn't sound good. We need to hurry.

Look on the bright side, we must be getting close to the source of the trouble!

...You're really optimistic!

Me? Heh... Wait, you sure about this way?

Seems like the only way forward.

There, all done! It won't be bothering us for a while.

Um, you three ... were you trying to get here?

Familiar? But you were still sleeping when these were made, weren't you?

If you hadn't insisted on coming back, none of this would have happened, would it?

Perhaps ... the person who created them had access to the research notes the Endmin left behind.

What should do the trick?

Wha?! How did you do that?!

This is amazing! I'm so, so happy today! So happy I could... I could run ten experiments back-to-back!

A gentle sun, and a fair wind as spring returns to the land. It truly is a beautiful sight.

What's going on? Wait!

Thanks to ... me?

Huh? So you're saying ... the reason it feels familiar is because they built it based on the Endmin's own ideas?

"Based on" isn't quite accurate. It's more that they referenced the Endmin's foundational concepts and applied them within their own designs.

Yes, thanks to you. It's down to your determination to rescue the core modules, that the Endmin could perfect the pillar's design.

Whoa! Lu! Look over there!

Then why did the Tianshi who built it go through the trouble of taking them out in the first place?

Hmm, now that you mention it ... I think I remember my seniors saying something about that —

Back then, the Type-C Tianshi Pillar was designed based on the Marker Stone. It was originally meant to be a standalone unit, with no auxiliary devices planned...

Perhaps ... the Tianshi chose to extract the three kernels precisely to resolve that instability...

Then modified them into core modules and added the Type-C Auxiliary Pillars to create a cooperative system.

So, the Endmin ... actually realized the optimal solution our seniors couldn't achieve? Perfected the Type-C Tianshi Pillar's structure? That's ... that's incredible...