Once through the door, the same familiar laboratory greeted them. Lots of instruments were sitting around at a corner, unused. A giant screen was on the far side of the room, reflecting the topography of the area around Ark City. The tables had been cleared out, and something like a mini fridge was sitting on one of them.

Emily drifted over to the fridge and took out a luxurious chocolate coated cake. The sheer chill it emanated was enough to make Gemini gaze upon it with glimmering eyes, and for a moment, the Constellation thought that he was on Earth once more, looking at a birthday cake.

But he didn’t exactly know his birthday, so that was a moot point.

“This is my fifth edition of the Cocoa Choco Cake,” the Memory Sifter said, “complete with chocoballs on top. It’s what you’d call a lava cake too. Cut it open, and chocolate flows out slowly.”

Gemini felt Lila’s hand tighten around his.

“And we can have some too?” she asked.

“Definitely,” Emily replied. “It’s too much for me to eat alone; I’ll get fat. But I don’t have friends other than the two of you, so…”

Lila made a little whoop, and Gemini smiled. Emily cut out some slices, placing them on paper plates and sliding them over to the couple, before stopping the chocolate from flowing out with some qi. Placing the remaining half of the cake back into the fridge, the Memory Sifter took out a thick file and slid it over to Gemini.

“My research. You’ll probably read through it yourself, but I’m going to give you a summary anyway,” said Emily. “First of all, the CSS you have and the one the Champions have are different in a few ways. Simply put, the Champions’ CSS has far more functions than yours. For instance, your CSS lacks a mini map. Second, from your descriptions, although you are able to take injuries like the Champions, you lack their absurd regenerative ability. You cannot fight like the Champions of legends, although I suspect you know that already.”

“But my limbs will not fall off from a good slash. That’s more than enough for me,” Gemini replied, a faint smile on his face. “Until I die, my body will remain intact, no matter what happens. Like most video game characters.”

Emily nodded. “Yes. I was not born in the era of video games, but I understand the concept very well.”

“Video game?” Lila asked. “Gemini, explain!”

Gemini tilted his head. “You know of those little board games that have popped up in Ark City recently? Basically those, but more...”

He glanced at Emily. “It’s a definition I never bothered to check. What is the definition of a video game?”

“You’re asking me?!” She shook her head. “Well, I guess it’s a form of entertainment? Mmm…well, at any rate, the main point is that Gemini won’t lose an arm or a leg until he dies for real. He will only die from taking enough damage and nothing else.”

“What about my clone?” Gemini asked. “I can’t tell whether my clone has it or not. It’s there if I shift my consciousness over, but whether it’s there or not when I leave, I’m not sure, and I don’t dare to cut my arm off.”

“Wuss. It’s just a clone, right?” Emily asked. “Just cut it off and regrow it!”

“It still hurts,” Gemini replied. “Cutting anything’s a no-no.”

“Knew you’d say that,” she replied. “But I’ve already prepared a way to deal with this.”

“A way?”

“It’s really easy,” Emily replied. “Did you know? The Champions’ appearance has never changed. Hair length, nail length…up until their last recorded appearances, the Cardinal Champions looked the same from start to end.”

“And?” Gemini asked, curious. This was something he didn’t know about, since the Champions’ lives post-First Extermination was something of a secret, and the Constellations had been too taken by the prospect of saving the world to actually care about their predecessors.

“Which means that this CSS of theirs not only preserved their bodily integrity, but also ensured that their appearance would never change. I’m willing to bet that whatever power that had prevented them from being amputated was also responsible for keeping their appearance static,” Emily said. “And that’s how we’re going to experiment.”

She produced a nail-clipper. “Here, use this. Try to clip some nails.”

Body-grooming for Paragons or the Paragon-rank Constellations was essentially non-existent, since they could control every aspect of their body. Nail-clipping was something he never bothered thinking about for a long time, so even picking up a nail clipper was a rather novel experience.

Everyone watched in silence as Gemini trimmed his fingernail. Or he tried to, anyway. No matter how he pressed down on it, nothing seemed to move, and as he continued to exert more force, the nail clipper began to whine and bend. It broke a moment later, and the health bar at the top right corner of his vision dropped by an infinitesimal amount.

A minute passed by in silence.

“Wow. I never really noticed this through my ten years here,” Gemini muttered, “but this is impressive.”

“Beyond impressive, if you ask me,” Emily replied. “But we’ve proven that your CSS prevents anything like nail-clipping. How about haircuts?”

“Never had a haircut before,” Gemini replied. “We’ll just use nail-clippers, then.”

“Yes, let’s go,” Emily replied. “Looks like you found a boyfriend that would look good forever, eh?”

“Don’t tease her,” Gemini replied.

“You won’t go looking for other people when I get old, will you?” Lila asked.

“Of course not.” Gemini patted her head. “And you’re a Scholar. You won’t look all that different fifty years from now, as beautiful as ever.”

The two began to flirt, but before they could get anywhere, the Memory Sifter had cleared her throat. “Do you mind?”

“S-sorry.”

“Alright, bring out your clone. It’s time to test out some things.”