Chương 186: LOG-177.

Nacre Three was having an excellent cycle, so far. First was the fact that her wonderful creation, her Viridian, had taken charge in such a way that served only to further highlight the former Pearl's flawlessness, reassigning those dull pieces of coral One and Two to lesser tasks while taking over the majority of responsibility for this time slot's Batch training session.

Second was that the Overseer had seen fit to assign her to observing past recordings taken of the group of future servants, ostensibly to see if anything had been missed during their refinement, or if anything could be added to the schedule. Some might have called it busy work, of course. And it largely was. But her creation wasn't one to waste effort on such a thing when she was clearly devoting her full attention to ensuring all of Batch Eighteen came out just as flawless as she had!

Humming to herself within the privacy of her office, the Caretaker watched as one of the Pearls (Eighteen E to be specific) briefly lagged behind in the midst of a manoeuvre. Briefly, because prior to the Overseer's arrival such a mistake would likely have failed to be noticed, even by Three's strict standards. Of course, Viridian was quick to point it out, and the crimson Pearl faltered slightly as she was singled out for a remedial session by her taskmaster.

Oh, the poor dear, she almost reminded Three of Sixteen A… The Nacre briefly paused the recording with a tap of one of her claws, hand coming up to idly fiddle with her hair while her other arm kept her propped up atop her desk. Sixteen A… she had been lesser to Viridian, of course. Just like the rest of Batch Sixteen. Not through any fault of their own, of course, but still. It was a shame, what had happened to the poor thing.

Holding back a soft shudder at whatever imaginary results her mind conjured up of the Pearl, twisted and corrupted based upon what little she had heard of the Pink One lithoplague, Nacre Three settled for a soft grimace, before trying to focus upon the recordings once more. At the very least Viridian had made it off of that cursed planet intact. Now that would've been a loss that simply couldn't be permitted, under any circumstances. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road.

If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. — Nacre Three strode through the empty halls of the Reef, talons gently clicking against each other as she made her way down from her office to the training area currently being used by Batch Eighteen. In the end, she'd gotten through more than half of the recordings, the process made relatively quick simply due to the fact that, more often than not, her creation's Pearls didn't make mistakes.

And as a result, she'd decided to take a quick look at how the Batch were doing presently, if only to get a view she could compare with the past. Of course such a thing should have been possible to do remotely, she had previously been afforded the right to access a few of the facility's surveillance systems thanks to her authority, but those privileges had seemingly been revoked by order of the Overseer herself, locking the Nacres out of the visual feeds. It wasn't hard to guess why.

Her creation was clearly applying downright experimental practices with the Batch, and didn't want any of the lesser Caretakers to attempt replicating such methods until they were honed, refined, and ready for mass deployment. It simply made sense. Still, Nacre Three knew better than to try and adopt such a thing herself, not until Viridian deemed it ready at least, so it surely wouldn't hurt to just take a quick glance, no?

Her walk continued, and as she grew closer and closer to her target destination, she noted just how… quiet, the Reef had become since the Overseer had been assigned to it. Oh, it had never necessarily been a loud facility, of course. But there had always been a slight hustle and bustle from this or that Gem, or even just the idle chatter that filtered through the corridors whenever it did get particularly silent.

Stars, she could have sworn there had been a few Storm Quartz guards stationed around this particular hallway, at some point, the bulky soldiers usually having quiet conversations before straightening to attention whenever she passed by. Ah, but there was surely a purpose to it. Who was she to question a flawless Gem's wisdom? One chosen and uplifted by White Diamond herself, no less? Smiling to reassure herself (not that it was particularly needed, of course!), the Nacre stopped in front of the door she knew sectioned off into the auditorium Batch Eighteen were currently in, staring up at the top of its edge for inspection. A moment later, after Shell had no doubt confirmed her identity and credentials, the barrier slid open, permitting her entry. Slipping inside, the Caretaker endeavoured to be as quiet as possible. Not because she wasn't permitted to be present, naturally, but because she simply didn't wish to be disruptive.

And so, practically creeping her way up towards the balcony that would provide a few of the full Batch, Nacre Three finally got a small look, barely peeking over the edge of the structure to glance at the variety of colours below. The result was… surprising. Each Pearl appeared to be standing in perfect formation, utterly silent and focusing on a datapad gently clutched within their hands. Studying something, no doubt. What could it be, she wondered?

She knew that each Gem had inherited Viridian's flawless, eidetic memory, so the utility of having them perfectly memorise information was clear enough. Perhaps it was a new set of dancing routines? Oh! Or songs, perhaps? Her creation had been ever so adept at coming up with new ones when put on the spot. Goodness, the Overseer wasn't even present! That's how well behaved this Batch was!

Withholding a giddy sound, the Nacre finally slunk back out of sight, the door to the training auditorium sliding back shut behind her. Clearly the Pearls were being prepared for something unique! Something special! Oh, she couldn't wait to see the final results!