After relocating Saki's childhood home, Jin consulted with Reinhard.
"What should we do about the Rankenhaus?"
"Hmm, it would be next to impossible to grow the exact same ivy, after all."
Whether they moved the original structure or rebuilt it here, the building itself wouldn't be an issue, but Reinhard pointed out that there was likely nothing they could do about the ivy covering its walls.
"In that case...?"
"I think it'd be best to build a replica and just let the ivy slowly creep over it over time."
Jin nodded.
"Is Berche fine with that as well?"
Reinhard gave an affirmative nod.
"Yeah, we talked it over yesterday."
"I see."
At that point, Jin made a suggestion.
"By the way, Reinhard, I had an idea the other day. Mind hearing me out?"
"Of course!"
"All right, thanks."
Jin moved to the dining hall, gathering everyone together while he was at it.
"What I came up with is a 'Duplicator.'"
"A 'Duplicator'?" Reinhard echoed, parroting the word.
"Yeah. A magi-device that analyzes a target's size, structure, materials, and so on, and constructs an exact replica."
Jin envisioned something akin to a combination of a 3D scanner and a 3D printer.
"I see. That sounds interesting."
"Wouldn't the structural analysis be really difficult, though?"
"How would you even pull that off...?"
Some grew intrigued, some pondered the technical hurdles, and others had no idea where to even begin.
"For simple objects, I don't think it would be too hard."
To demonstrate, Jin had Reiko bring over a light silver cup and a lump of light silver.
"Like this, you cast 'Analyze' on the cup to inspect its materials and dimensions... and then, based on that information, 'Forming.'"
"Ooh!"
A cup identical down to the millimeter was produced.
"This is made from a single material, but I'm hoping we can eventually handle more complex items as well."
"It certainly sounds wonderful."
Berche agreed, picturing the device's immense value.
"Though it probably won't be that simple," Saki chimed in, voicing her concerns. "The biggest hurdle will be the materials. Even if you can analyze what the target is made of, preparing those exact same raw ingredients won't be easy."
"That's true."
After all, the goal was not merely to craft something that looked similar, but to recreate an identical replica down to the finest detail.
"A process of sourcing the materials alongside the analysis would be necessary, then."
"That's what it comes down to."
"While mimicking the shape of individual parts is doable, replicating a 'magi-device' would be tricky, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah, that's the real sticking point."
Even from this brief discussion, it was clear that crafting a Duplicator would be no easy task.
"For instance, assuming we leave the host processing to Laojun, could we manage if we supply the materials via transporter each time?" Jin proposed.
"It probably wouldn't work unless we went that far," Reinhard agreed.
Saki also chimed in with a grin. "Kufu, it would be so much easier if we could just synthesize elements directly, though."
Between the flashing communicator from the other day and the Duplicator today, they had only explored the concepts without reaching a definitive solution. Even so, the members of the Jin Family thoroughly enjoyed brainstorming sessions like this.
"Who knows? The breakthrough might just pop up out of nowhere one day," Jin said.
"That's how it goes. You often stumble upon great ideas while doing something completely unrelated," Reinhard agreed.
"Still, Jin-nii, I think it would be worth making a magi-device that can duplicate single-material objects for now," Elsa suggested.
"Right. It would definitely come in handy for manufacturing parts."
"Besides, while building that kind of magi-device, a flash of inspiration might strike."
"Ah, good point."
"Yeah, I totally get that," Hanna agreed alongside Jin.
"Now then, regarding that flashing communicator we talked about the other day..." Jin said, resetting the discussion.
"Yeah?"
"Since we strayed pretty far from our original goal, I think we should start by building something true to the basic concept."
"Sounds good, but what do you have in mind specifically?"
"We install a high-visibility lamp at the top of the control tower and use preset flashing patterns as signals," Jin explained.
"That's gotten quite simple," Reinhard noted, though that had been the original intention all along.
"We just need to standardize the signal patterns globally and make a lamp with great visibility... maybe something in orange?"
"In that case, changing the colors could let us convey more information," Elsa offered.
"I see. Like using red and yellow, where red means course instructions and yellow means speed adjustments."
"Mm, that works. And if we add more colors, we could send instructions to multiple aircraft at the same time."
If red was designated for A, yellow for B, and green for C, commands could be issued to three aircraft simultaneously.
"Green would probably have poor visibility in fog, though."
"Mm. So we can just limit that to clear weather."
To begin with, having multiple aircraft or balloons take off and land at the same time in low visibility was hazardous, Elsa pointed out.
"True enough. Simple might just be best after all."
"Kufu, I suppose this is how every great idea begins," Saki said with an appreciative chuckle.
"In that case, I think we should leave this to Avalon," Elsa suggested, explaining that they could standardize it by notifying every nation through the World Conference.
Everyone agreed with the plan.
"Come to think of it, are the Adriana-style lectures still going on right now?" Jin asked as the thought occurred to him.
"Yes, My Lord. The first series of lectures ran for two weeks starting July 15, concluding on July 29. The second series is scheduled to begin on August 15," Laojun reported.
Jin nodded.
"I see. Calling it 'free time' might not be entirely accurate, but it seems like a good window to bring this to them."
With that settled, they decided to pay a visit to Avalon the very next day.