The day after the Illusion Beast incident was resolved, inside the Clone Dolly Workshop research facility, Misaki stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Su Mo as they gazed at the massive cultivation tank before them. Inside floated a colossal brain. This was the Exterior Brain—a biologically engineered computing device, designed to possess the same abilities as Shokuhou Misaki herself, yet outputting far beyond her natural limits. Strictly speaking, it could be considered an amplified version of her Mental Out ability.
"So, according to you, Su Mo-sensei… this Exterior Brain now holds top-level access to the Level Upper Network?" After hearing Su Mo's explanation, Misaki asked for confirmation, curiosity flickering in her voice. Yesterday, she had obediently swapped Uiharu's memory card under Su Mo's orders. But at the time, she hadn't even known what she was swapping. She'd simply followed his instructions. Now, listening to his detailed explanation, she finally understood. The audio file on the swapped card not only severed the connection between the Illusion Beast and the Network—it also built a new Network in its place.
Although the Illusion Beast had been destroyed, a new network was quietly established in the background. And, thanks to Anti-Skill's emergency broadcast across all hospitals, Su Mo's version of the Level Upper Terminal had been played publicly for hours. With that level of repeated exposure, any student who had heard it had passively connected to Su Mo's Network. Moreover, because it was a public broadcast, it wasn't just previous Level Upper Terminal users who were affected. Even ability users who'd never used the device—patients in hospitals across the city—were now linked to the network.
Unlike Kiyama Harumi, who'd painstakingly spread her audio manually, Su Mo had used Anti-Skill's own systems to distribute his version effortlessly. As a result, his network now boasted over fifty thousand connected users—far surpassing anything Kiyama had achieved, even after her years of work.
Hearing Misaki's question, Su Mo nodded calmly. "That's right. I had Nunotaba Shinobu bind the brainwave controls directly to the Exterior Brain. Thanks to its built-in security protocols, this version of the Network won't be detected like the previous one."
"Want to try it? He turned to Misaki. The Exterior Brain had originally been designed as an amplifier for her Mental Out. But this time, it was different. Previously, the Exterior Brain only enhanced her output power. Now, with the Dream Network layered atop it, its computational capacity had also surged exponentially. In other words, it should now enhance Misaki in every conceivable way.
"Alright." Eager to see what the newly augmented Exterior Brain could do, Misaki immediately initiated the connection.
A few seconds later—
"Bzzt… bzzt…" Blue-white electricity crackled from Misaki's fingertips.
"So… this is Mikoto's power?" Curious, she played around with the ability. As the owner of the Level Upper Network, Misaki could now tap into the esper powers of all its connected users. This particular power likely came from one of the many electric-type espers within the network. After experimenting with the electric shock, she tested other abilities—telekinesis, flame generation, freezing, fluid manipulation… she tried them all, but something felt off.
"Strange… even though I can access all these abilities, none of them seem to reach Level 5 standards." With the network's computational power, that shouldn't have been the case. Misaki herself possessed Level 5 processing power. But no matter what ability she used, none could rise beyond Level 4.
"There's a limit to computational enhancement, after all." Su Mo noticed the problem too.
"There's a fundamental difference between Level 5 espers and those below them. You can't bridge that gap through computation alone." He wasn't surprised. In the original timeline, both Kiyama Harumi and Gensei Kihara had connected to the Network, yet neither had reached Level 5 strength. No matter how many abilities they accessed, each maxed out at Level 4. In other words, simply stacking computational resources wasn't enough to break through the wall.
"Though… there might be exceptions." Su Mo didn't believe it was completely impossible. For ordinary espers, the gap between Level 4 and Level 5 was simply too vast. Computational power alone wasn't enough to overcome it. But for those who already had the potential to reach Level 5, the situation was different. Names flashed through Su Mo's mind. In Academy City, those capable of becoming Level 5s weren't limited to the eight publicly acknowledged ones. Beyond those, there were several more who held latent potential.
Musujime Awaki, with her Move Point.
Junko Hokaze, with her Rampage Dress.
Mitsuari Ayu, with her Mental Stinger.
All of them possessed the capacity to ascend. But most important of all… was one particular individual.
Takitsubo Rikou.
On the surface, her ability—AIM Stalker—seemed like a simple tracking-type power. But in truth, it allowed her to directly interfere with the AIM diffusion fields of others. In other words, Rikou's ability let her tamper with other espers' powers themselves. If Takitsubo Rikou ever reached Level 5…
Her ability would evolve into direct control over other people's AIM diffusion fields. In other words, she could directly manipulate all esper powers—enhancing, weakening, swapping, or even multiplying an ability within someone's Personal Reality. At that point, Takitsubo Rikou would be capable of replacing every development institution in Academy City, single-handedly raising any esper's ability to any desired level. While reaching Level 6 would still be impossible, anything below that would be entirely within her control.
If she ever reached that stage, even Accelerator could have his powers stripped away instantly. She would become the undisputed queen ruling over every esper in Academy City. At that point, mass-producing Level 5 espers would be a trivial matter.
"I just don't know if Takitsubo Rikou in her current state can achieve that yet," Su Mo thought silently. If it were possible, then by utilizing that function of mass-producing Level 5s, Su Mo could foster significant power within this city. Not only that, but it would also let him strengthen his own ability—taking his gravitational manipulation to a new level. With that thought, plans were already forming in his mind.
Meanwhile, after a while of further testing, Shokuhou Misaki didn't discover any major problems. As long as the computational load wasn't excessive, the Level Upper Network wouldn't interfere with the daily lives of its connected users. In fact, it would even offer a slight boost to their abilities. As long as Su Mo didn't push things too far, there wouldn't be any issues like the Illusion Beast emerging again.
Once the safety of the Network was confirmed, Su Mo suggested that Misaki distribute Level Upper Terminals to her faction members. With her terminal-level access, she could allocate computational resources directly to her own people through the Exterior Brain. In Misaki's faction, there were plenty of Level 3 and Level 4 espers. With computational reinforcement, their abilities could be significantly amplified, strengthening Misaki's personal forces.
Naturally, Misaki found this suggestion interesting. Though, true to her personality, she wouldn't force anyone. Most likely, she'd let whoever wanted to use the Terminal do so voluntarily. After all, with her Mental Out ability, she had no reason to worry about information leaks.
...
...
While Su Mo of the Toaru world had finally stabilized the Dream Network and begun preparing for the mass production of Level 5s, over in the Genshin world, Su Mo was taking his first steps into this world's alchemy. Introduced by Jean, Su Mo finally met the head alchemist of the Knights of Favonius: Albedo.
Since Su Mo himself was now a master alchemist, their discussion was held as equals. They exchanged their perspectives—Su Mo's being alchemy based on equivalent exchange and elemental transformation, while Albedo's leaned towards the creation of life. After sharing their theoretical insights, both recognized the other's expertise.
"No wonder you're the Honorary Knight. Your understanding of alchemy surpasses my own," Albedo said honestly, looking at Su Mo with admiration. He enjoyed interacting with brilliant minds—especially those who could inspire him. Su Mo's sheer depth of knowledge easily satisfied that requirement, even exceeding that of Albedo's own master. Su Mo shook his head modestly. "You flatter me. Our exchange today has been equally enlightening."
He wasn't being humble. In the realm of ordinary material transmutation, Albedo's knowledge lagged behind Su Mo. But when it came to bio-alchemy, Albedo was leagues ahead—a true specialist in the creation of life. After a full day of discussion, Su Mo had roughly grasped the key points of biological transmutation. While he still wasn't capable of creating life, he had gained the power to temporarily create mimicry-based lifeforms.