One day, on Hourai Island.
"Shall we try doing it here too?"
Jin voiced a sudden thought that crossed his mind.
By "try doing it," he meant the demonstration they had recently held at Avalon.
"Though I feel like it's closer to a benchmark test, if anything."
The word "benchmark" originally seemed to refer to a surveyor's reference mark, but in modern Japan, it was most commonly used in the context of computer performance testing.
Since it involved comparing the performance of multiple devices with different specifications and configurations, the tests were geared more toward practical application than purely theoretical metrics.
"For simple performance measurement, there's things like a 1,000-meter dash or weightlifting."
"My Lord, using a force generator to apply roughly 5 Gs laterally as well might be advisable."
Laojun offered a suggestion.
"Ah, in that case, a 100-meter dash should be plenty."
As for the weightlifting, they could similarly use Gravity Magic to vary the weight of the barbell.
"What would really be interesting are reaction speed and fine motor skills."
"Understood....In that case, would it suffice if I randomly emit a laser beam solely as a marker and measure the time it takes from when it strikes the body until they leap away?"
"Yeah, that works."
Since the current Laojun was capable of partially controlling sub-ether waves, it possessed the fastest reaction speed among everyone on Hourai Island....Or at least, it should.
Jin thought that while casting a quick glance at Reiko beside him.
"What shall we do for fine motor skills?"
"Let's see... How about keeping the spheres at 5 millimeters, mixing in spheres of different hardness, and seeing how many they can move within a one-minute time limit without crushing them?"
"That sounds excellent. It will also reveal the feedback performance of their tactile sense."
Adamantite, lead, and magi-polyethylene. They would apply a thin nickel coating to each so their outward appearances were identical.
Because both the weight and hardness differed, it seemed like it would be quite a challenge.
Short-term memory didn't have much meaning, so Jin thought it might be nice to purely test calculation speed as well.
"Since there's no way anyone here would cheat, maybe we could see how many digits of a square root they can calculate within the time limit, or how far they can sum from 1 to n..."
Because this was a performance measurement rather than a sporting competition, shortcuts were strictly forbidden.
"For something straightforward, wouldn't seeing how far they can add sequential numbers in one second be ideal?"
"Yeah, that works too."
Because it was an internal trial, cheating was out of the question, meaning the exact same test could be repeated any number of times. That made it ideal for accurate comparisons.
Furthermore, while the sum was n(n+1)/2, using this formula was forbidden. The rule was strictly to add them sequentially starting from 1, much like an abacus certification exam.
"In that case, let's go with a weighted 100-meter dash, weight magic lifting, a one-minute 5-millimeter sphere transfer, and a two-second sequential sum calculation from 1 to n."
"That sounds splendid."
"All right, let's do it."
Thus, the Hourai Island Standard Benchmark Test was established, and trial runs were arranged to verify the procedures.
"I want to know where our Storm ranks compared to Hourai Island's golems."
"Yeah! We overhauled the control system for fine motor movements since then, after all!"
"No objections."
With requests from Rubina, Freddie, Greena, and the others, they decided to measure Storm—which was not Adriana-style—for reference as well.
The participating golems and automata from Hourai Island were Land 1, Sky 1, Marine 1, Smith 1, Cosmos 1, Ruby 1, Aqua 1, Perido 1, Amez 1, Topaz 1, Soleil, Luna, Laozi, Rei, Anne, and Lise.
The Mermaid units were mermaid-types, so they sat this one out.
"Though it might be fine to let them try the 5-millimeter spheres and calculations later," Jin mused.
Additionally, having Soleil and Luna—who were supposed to be identical models—as well as unit 1 from each of the Five-Colored Golem Maids participate was meant to check whether any meaningful differences had emerged between them.
"This is quite a spectacular sight."
"I-It's amazing."
"I wonder how it'll turn out..."
Freddie and the others watched with keen interest.
"All right, then let's start with the weighted 100-meter dash."
The trials took place on the airfield behind the laboratory.
"On your mark... Get set... Start!"
As expected, with heavy Gs applied vertically and in the direction of travel, they were unable to reach supersonic speeds, turning the race into an event visible to the naked eye.
They proceeded directly to the weight magic lifting.
After that came the one-minute 5-millimeter sphere transfer, followed by the two-second sequential sum calculation.
The results were as follows:
Land 1: 3.2 sec / 8 tons / 411 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 121
Sky 1: 5.1 sec / 3 tons / 424 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 123
Marine 1: 5.9 sec / 3 tons / 419 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 119
Smith 1: 4.5 sec / 4 tons / 545 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 178
Cosmos 1: 5.2 sec / 3 tons / 415 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 120
Ruby 1: 7.7 sec / 2 tons / 478 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 155
Aqua 1: 7.7 sec / 2 tons / 481 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 154
Perido 1: 7.7 sec / 2 tons / 482 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 157
Amez 1: 7.7 sec / 2 tons / 479 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 156
Topaz 1: 7.7 sec / 2 tons / 480 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 156
Soleil: 7.8 sec / 2 tons / 501 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 156
Luna: 7.8 sec / 2 tons / 502 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 156
Laozi: 6.0 sec / 3 tons / 477 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 1,795,672,303,598
Rei: 1.9 sec / 12 tons / 626 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 549
Anne: 9.0 sec / 1 ton / 454 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 102
Lise: 12.4 sec / 1 ton / 567 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 144
Storm: 21.7 sec / 1 ton / 221 spheres, 37 failures / Sum up to 57
Because the precision of the weight magic lifting was coarse and measurements under a ton lacked reliability, all values were rounded to the nearest ton.
Improving that precision was a task left for the future.
"Hmm, I knew it would happen, but we're thoroughly beaten in speed."
"It can't be helped. But while it's no replacement, at least its strength is somewhat respectable, isn't it?"
"Though that's factoring in the power of the outer frame as well."
Jin chimed into the conversation.
"The Hourai Island units use rare materials left and right, after all. The development concept is entirely different from Storm."
"Even if you count the 37 spheres it crushed, it's still no match."
"Without a tactile sense, it was forced to act much more cautiously, too."
"That area definitely needs modification."
"Laozi's calculation is, well, Laojun's capability, so that's in a league of its own."
Though astronomical, the result was only natural given the circumstances.
(Still...)
Inwardly, Jin felt puzzled.
The golems' performance was lower than expected. Furthermore, he couldn't help but wonder why Anne's performance hadn't been considerably higher.
The answer soon came.
"My Lord from 400 years ago set limiters for normal operation."
Except during missions to protect Hourai Island, Jin, or their own existence, the golems were capped at 50 percent capacity, Laojun explained.
Automata like Anne were reportedly restricted to a mere 20 percent.
(I see. He intended to minimize wear and tear after he was gone.)
Jin thus deduced the reasoning of his past self from four centuries ago.
"Oh, right, Jin-sama, would it be all right if I brought Mialis over next time to have her tested?"
"Ah, if that's the case, I'd like Shal to try too."
Both Mialis and Shal were automata built by Rubina and Greena.
"Yeah, of course. In fact, we should just set up the same testing apparatus on Onogoro Island."
"Oh, that'd be fun if everyone tested together!"
Following this, a temporary performance measurement craze swept through Onogoro Island.
Bonus:
"Hey, Jin-sama, aren't you going to test Reiko-chan?"
"Reiko, huh..."
Truth be told, he was curious. Reiko herself wore an expression that practically begged for a turn.
"All right, Reiko. Calculations aside, give it a shot at 30 percent output."
"Yes, Father."
The results were...
0.4 sec / 58 tons / 1,637 spheres, 0 failures / Sum up to 21,892
...and that was that.
"...That's incredible..."
"It's far too amazing."
"If this is at 30 percent, does that mean she puts out more than three times this power if she gets serious?"
Rubina, Freddie, and Greena were left speechless.
To that final question, Jin replied:
"No, given Reiko's internal construction, synergistic effects come into play, so simple multiplication doesn't really apply."
"Which means it's way more than three times, right?"
"Well, yeah."
"..."
"......"
"We'll do our best!!"
...Or so the story went, whether it really happened or not.