Solving The Problem

"Do we really have to?" Rinka said, while wiping the tears from her face.

"Sometimes life is like that Rinka, we have to suffer now so that we can prosper later." Tinka said before continuing.

"Just like how your dad spent all those years trying to save us, even though it must have hurt him to not be able to see us for so long."

"Your dad has sacrificed a lot in life, and all he wants is for you to not have to suffer in the same way he has."

"Was life really that hard for dad?" Rinka couldn't help but ask.

"More than you can imagine. By the time he was your age, he had already lost both his parents, and was forced to wander the world by himself."

"Everything your dad has was fought for with his own two hands, and after fighting so long, he just wants you to have the childhood he never did."

"Really?" Rinka said with tear filled eyes, having never really thought about her fathers past.

"Really!" Tinka smiled.

"Okay! Then let's go! I'm going to get strong for dad so he never has to worry ever again!" Rinka said while pumping her fist in the air.

Seeing her, the family couldn't help but smile slightly, the mood somewhat relieved after all the sadness.

"By the way, where do you think Minos went?" Meninka asked.

"You know Minos, he's probably off in his cave thinking things through." Tinka smiled.

"I'm going to go and see what he's up to!" Rinka said.

"Don't, give your father some space. He'll come back when he's ready." Tinka said, grabbing Rinka by the arm just as she was about to run out the room.

…

Meanwhile, back at the cave, Minos had already created his fifth prototype in the span of a few hours, his improvements having been tremendous.

By now, the device was already small enough to fit comfortably in his pocket, not to mention its video and sound quality had been massively upgraded.

Part of this was because Minos had access to better materials, but the bigger part was simply due to his own changes.

Taking the Lukalu people's technology, Minos tweaked it here and there, letting it reach an even higher level of efficiency.

Holding up the hand-sized device, Minos pressed down on the power button, causing the small screen to flash on before going dark again.

Pulling out another older prototype, Minos changed up the signal strength a bit before both devices were communicating at the same wavelength.

As Minos made the last change, the black screen on his hand-sized device began flickering in an array of colors before finally settling on a still image.

Looking at the device, Minos smiled contently before speaking into it, quickly making sure that the sound transfer worked as well.

With everything working, Minos placed the devices down with satisfaction, having solved one part of the riddle.

Of course the far more difficult part was the signal tower that he had previously envisioned, but fortunately, the technology behind it wasn't actually that complicated.

Essentially, it just had to take any signal sent into it, recreate it, and then send it towards the next nearest signal tower.

Do this a dozen or so times, and eventually the signal will land back in the communication device, successfully transferring both sound and image from unfathomable distances!

With the hand-sized communication device finished, Minos gathered his puppets, which had already created a few prototypes of their own.

taking up the head-sized metallic ball from the puppet, Minos inspected it with a close eye before handing it back.

This was what Minos called a signal renewer, and it did exactly as the name sounded, so now all he needed was the tower part that could amplify the signal.

So after testing the signal renewer and making sure it worked, Minos and his puppets got to work on building the tower, which in a way, was the most important part.

The stronger the tower was, the further the signals could be sent, and therefore, the less overall towers he would need.

Heading out of the cave, Minos and his puppets headed into the forest before finding a large empty field.

Opening his spatial ring, Minos dumped out some of the materials he had hoarded over all these years.

Standing at the front, Minos like a foreman, watched as his puppets got to work putting the pieces together.

Some puppets went to smelt, others went to hammer, and some went to nail, but each was doing a critical job.

With his split souls, Minos could not only operate each puppet with maximum efficiency, but he could also allow them to synergize with each other, working with one mind and one goal.

Compared to having even a hundred real workers, this was far better, because Minos didn't have to shout any commands, he was already controlling everything despite sitting back comfortably.

While his puppets were working, Minos was overseeing the entire project, making sure he didn't make any mistakes along the way.

The sun began setting as the large tower reached completion, eventually being done just as the sun set completely beyond the horizon.

With the tower done, Minos climbed up and set the signal renewer in its place, placing the final piece by himself.

With the signal renewer secured, Minos jumped back down before looking up at his work and nodding with a smile.

Now the only question was how far it could send a signal, but this would be hard to test without actual checking first hand.

Running back to the cave, Minos placed his puppets away securely before heading back home, though not to sleep.

Heading inside, he found the dining room empty, everyone off to their own rooms, so Minos tiptoed and headed to Tinka and Rinka's room before knocking gently.

Opening the door, Minos found both TInka and Rinka fast asleep, so despite his strong urge to test his device right now, he could only slip into the bed and put it off for the morning.

…

The next day, Minos woke up bright and early, though even then, he found the room already empty.

Getting up and stretching, Minos headed towards the dining room, seeing the family gathered for breakfast.

"Minos, you're up. I was just about to call you." Tinka smiled.

"What's for breakfast?" Minos asked.

"Fish!" Rinka said joyfully, fish being her favorite food in the world.

"You guys eat, I've got to test something, though I actually do need your help Tinka." Minos spoke.

"Help? What should I do?"

"Here, just take this." Minos said, as he handed the communication device to Tinka.

"What is this?" Tinka asked curiously.

"It's the answer to our problems." Minos laughed.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Tinka kept questioning.

"I call it a 'Communication Device' and it essentially can send sound and image from long distances. Here, watch this." Minos said, before activating his own and connecting it to Tinka's.

"Really!" Rinka said with amazement, before Tinka could even respond.

Smiling, Minos didn't answer, just turning the devices on, showing the evidence first hand.

The family had already seen Crystal Recorders and Crystal Display, but this strange device that fused both was still quite unique.

"Testing, one, two, three." Minos said, while waving into the device's recorder.

Tinka and the others were gathered with the other device, watching in wonder as Minos's image and voice was seemingly recreated on the device's small screen.

"Amazing!!!" Rinka said while jumping around.

"So you're saying we can use this thing to keep in contact even after you guys head off for the Aleph Empire." Ronkus stated, having immediately seen Minos's purpose in creating such a thing.

"Exactly." Minos smiled.

"My boy, you really have a solution to everything, don't you?" Ronkus laughed happily.

Of course, while this little device couldn't compare to having his daughter and granddaughter right beside him, it was the next best thing, and at least this way they could still keep in contact.

"Thank you." Meninka suddenly said, her heart filled with love for this son-of-law of her's that seemed to be perfect in every way.