>>112910
If I were to wager a proper theme to give this entire update a synopsis is
The Consequences of Power .
It isn't just about how destructive power can be, it's about what you do achieve it. We started the entire puzzle to calibrate Pulse for Nita, we are technically doing it for more power. But fundamentally, we are doing this for HER. Adjutant even talks about it near end when she is unsure if they don't achieve anything and he assures her he'd have done that all the same, this isn't just about power or just about her, he is enjoying this, we are doing this because we like it, and we are learning more about her. We aren't seeking power alone and this isn't blindsiding us, the kart is never put before the horse, we never lose sight of the goal or anything like that.
This is one of the parallels done with Nerida as mentioned before as she is seeking power for the greater good to protect the weak even though this is killing her and risks killing countless innocents.
But is also a parallel done with the development of AIs.
In an attempt to protect people Academy Acropolis made a joint with Yggdrasil to build Charon. They recognized the tons of risks with an AI as powerful as that, war broke out to neutralize this and everyone involved died in the process. As if that wasn't enough, Charon's research is the base in which they developed Edda who is NOT an AI meant just to
protect humanity but also a mean the Board of Directors would use for immortality. And them all, Tau included, knowing her dangers, tried to suppress any emotions involved. Edda was forced to watch just like Charon but while Charon still had a modicum of personality, she had to keep stomping down those feelings, analyzing everything robotically eventually coming to the conclusion the only proper solution is getting rid of flesh and keeping people as data.
For their goals they killed themselves over an actual functional AI (Charon) and by trying to suppress a growing problem they ignored it and let the other one rise to power (Edda). Edda is essentially painted as a Bad End version of Charon. And both AIs serve to prove our human cast's point of views and worries.
>Nita fears the destruction her own power can cause. And she accepts herself to wield it without ignoring that or her feelings. In fact, contrary to Edda it's by bringing up her feelings to the surface she finally learns proper control. Her playstyle even reflects that: if you play without care, Nita will kill herself with the accumulated burn, if you pay attention handholding her and timing her skills properly you not only avoid the damage, you also get the benefit of healing herself in proportion.
>Nerida is seeking power and risking too much for greater good. Edda is explicitly used as an example of what happens if she keeps going that path. Charon becoming Yogurt is then used to show her to actually handle this. Stop ignoring the damage, being more honest to her emotions. She is right that AIs can be used for greater good, but them, and power itself has to be handled with actual care. It only causes problems to use someone as a tool, it's why Edda caused so many problems. Conceding on that made her finally find goals more than that, and in turn the Adjutant could reach her, save her life and cure the contamination she only held off. Her playstyle as an Operative also reflect how you can either play with her self-sustained kit or actually exploit the fact it doesn't care for other sources and enable bonkers damage with a team built to captalize on her skills instead of making her hold everything alone.
>Adjutant is the one that recognized all these issues. He is the one that did the quest for Nita, he is the one that points that to Nerida using Edda. He recognized Charon as a synthetic/humanoid but approached her as a person instead and this kindness was paid with kindness. Power isn't an end goal and he knows it can't be a mean either without proper care. In a twist, this doesn't just save Yogurt, but also reaches Edda earning us actual gratitude from her in spite of the differences. We have an actual helpful powerful AI on our side as Yogurt now due to that, Nerida is alive due to that and Nita awakened her full power due to that.
If this was approached any other way, all three of them would be dead.
And this helped in turn finally develop Edda we see everything from her point of view, she knows how fucked up everything was from her inception and how manipulative people were, she has been using Alter Egos in previous chapters to try to find further answers and seems we actually gave one for her. She isn't going to stop, at least not until she finds a better answer to her purpose but this at least opened her eyes to all these emotions and how to be human. What was once a flaw she accidentally acquired and was exploited now worked to humanize her and put us on grounds to start proper discussions and negotiations.
This entire update addressed and fixed a ton of issues Snowbreak had so far with the addition of exposure much long needed all along.