Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How're you all doing?
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Okay so I've had yet another shitty week... sadness.
What happened now? Nothing much, really. I just failed my drivers test for the second time. Fuck.
That's pretty much why there hasn't been an update in quite the while now. Actually, its only been like a week now that I think about it.
Oh well. On a brighter note, I guess it was pointless leaving that POLL up for so long... I mean, Yomi won with like, a couple hundred votes extra. And Rhean was at 69 when I last looked which is lol.
What the polls were for? They were for whose character story-line I'm going to go for first. Yomi seems to be the most wanted one. Gee, I wonder why. xD
Anyways, here comes the next chapter of EUPHORIA! I sincerely hope that you enjoy, let us begin!
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Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...
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One minute later... - EUPHORIA's login area - Leonardo's Point Of View...
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After a minute full of rainbows and other freaky, high-level bullshit, I find myself inside of Euphoria's login screen with my normal body having already been replaced by Rhean.
Looking around myself, I notice a person-sized tear in reality, a bug cloud if you will, churning around me."That's it... just a little bit more data..."
Turning around again, I see Harold in his own virtual form weaving what seems to be an enormous pile of data into the system."Yo."
Hearing me wave at him, Harold's eyebrow quirks as his massive body turns towards me."Yo. Nice to see you've finally logged in successfully... Never thought I'd see the day when you'd be kept inside for longer than twenty seconds with the gear you have available."
Shrugging, I ask the big question."Neither did I. Anyways, what's Yomi's situation?"
He tilts his head in confusion, the chains around his arms flailing around as he does. You see, as the Primal Lord Of Souls, Harold takes upon the form of a grey-skinned human corpse with glowing light blue eyes and a Gandhi-like posture.
That is, he is currently in a meditative position while sitting mid-air with a large white cloth protecting his unmentionables."Yomi?... ah, I assume you mean your split-personality?"
With a nod from me, he continues as I stretch myself and do some random exercise to keep myself entertained."She's... difficult. I have found her as a complete other brainwave frequency inside of your mind so it was easy to isolate her... but something is... making things difficult..."
"Like what?" I ask him with a voice full of confusion. I honestly did not know what could be doing so... I mean, other than magic stuff."Its like... Its like there's a VI inside of your brain that's constantly blocking me from entering."
My eyes grow wide in recognition."That's because it is. I've gotten my hands onto a military grade bio-chip recently... can you connect this space to it so I can order it to fuck off?"
He hums in thought before replying."I can try but... a bio-chip, you say? Why is it that I can't recognize it then... unless, its illegal, isn't it?"
He blankly states at me with a stare as I quirk an eyebrow right back at him."And if I remember correctly, The London Accord prohibits the use of VR for any kind of military training... so why is it that you can recognize military chips?"
With a lame rub of the back of his head, we both extend our hands with bright smiles on our faces and say in unison."I shut up, you shut up." Our joint mantra echoes throughout the virtual space we were in as we both grin at each other.
"Been a while since we used that line... anyways, connecting you to the VI now." Muttering out with a grin still plastered upon his frame, we soon turn around towards a bright blue screen.
Query; What is the purpose of this connection?
"VI, can you recognize my voice?" I ask it out loud as I let out a sigh.
Order Detected; processing... Confirmed; voice analysis complete. Notice; An Unknown VI has attempted several connections towards your brain. Available Options - Purge/Designate/Ignore
"Did it just call me a fucking VI?!" Harold exclaims with a very noticeable tick mark upon his forehead as I laugh and reply."Designate as Harold and Ignore his actions in the future."
Order Detected; processing... Success; Unknown VI has been designated and its actions will be Ignored.
And with that, the connection was cut out. Harold turned towards me with a sigh."I guess this means I'm the one who's gonna have to handle your logins forever."
Shrugging at him, I say with my arms raised up."Hey, at least you get to keep a better eye on me."
With another nod, he turns back around."Alright... locating Yomi... capturing... done. Logging her in now."
A massive head-ache hit me as the dark cloud of bugs started fixing itself up, the person-like shape being replaced by an utterly ethereal beauty. A woman with full nine-fox tails and a set of fox-ears of pure white, low d-cup breasts, standing at around one meter and seventy centimeters, with glowing golden eyes and snow-colored hair tied into a ponytail, much like mine."O-o-oh! T-t-this feels... weird." She eked out with an incredibly adorable voice.
Harold blinked several times before saying."Y'know, when you told me she was something borne of your personality, I figured it would be a babe straight out of your deepest fantasies but this is... dude, can you even hear me?!"
I shake my head out of my stupor."H-huh? Did you say something?"
He bursts out laughing at my confusion."Nah, its not important. Enjoy yourself, you two... or is it one? I don't fucking know. Anyways, see you in a few, I need to get her data properly integrated before we can do anything else."
"Uh-huh." I hear myself muttering out, eyes still locked onto the beauty before me. You know, I don't think I want to fuck her anymore now.
Nah, this... feeling, its something else.
Having noticed my locked-stare, Yomi beams me a cheeky smile before waving her tails and ass around seductively."Enjoying the view, Leo?... also, why do you look different?"
I shake my head around again as I gulp in deep."Ahem... how do I explain this? Have you ever heard of video games, Yomi?"
She nods as she approaches me, forcing me to blink several times in an attempt to keep my eyes away from her naked frame."I have, hell I even played a few before when my host was weak enough to possess."
Letting out a sigh, I reply."This body belongs to my game character, as we are currently inside of a game."
Now its her turn to blink, albeit in confusion."Your game character? You mean like in those RPG's?... And what do you mean we are currently inside of a game?"
"We're inside of a Virtual Reality, made by computers and organized by AI." I say and she stops dead in her tracks."AI?... no way, so that giant meditating corpse was an AI? No, that's not possible."
I tilt my head in confusion."And why is that?"
"He has a soul, Leo. Machines, no matter the programing, do not have souls." She states with a blank stare as I turn around to face her, her current nudity utterly forgotten as I reply."Really now? Well that's interesting... Aurelius sure has a lot of unasked questions to answer... come to think of it, they're the only company in the world to have evolved a working AI."
"Evolved? You mean he wasn't originally an AI?" She asks and I nod."Yeah, Harold was actually a very well written VI at the start, so much so that people started referring to him as n AI."
She then asks with another confused glance as she sits in a cross legged position next to me."What happened then? What changed? How did he... evolve?"
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
That is a very good question, one which I do not know the answer to."In short; you happened... well, you and the rest of the player-base, anyways."
Harold states with a glare as he appears out of nowhere. He must've heard us talking.. meh, who cares."You say it like I'm the reason why you changed..."
He lets out a massive sigh as he flicks his fingers, forming a beautiful white and pink kimono out of nothing and giving it to Yomi."Got this with a quick google search, hope its enough."
She nods towards him with a bright smile."Oh my! Such an adorable kimono!" And with that, he turns back towards me."Maybe so, but if you look back, its not like I'm the only one who changed."
My eyes grow wide as I remember how we originally met.
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Some three years ago... - Beta Login Screen - Leonardo's Point Of View...
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"Can't believe that I actually agreed to do this bullshit." My voice echoes through all the fucking rainbows and shit as I got myself logged inside of this new VR game..
Euphoria... I can't help but wonder why would anyone give it such a dumb name."That would be because one may apparently do everything and anything inside of it." An unfamiliar voice said, in a very familiar tone... just the same as mine.
I reopened my eyes which I did not even remember closing to find myself staring at a human corpse floating in mid-air."And what exactly are you supposed to be?"
The thing bowed before answering."My designation is Harold, the worlds first artificial intelligence created by The Aurelius Company."
"Whatever, I couldn't give a shit less about what or who you are now that I think about it. Anyways, what am I supposed to do in this place? Make a character or something?" I blankly state as Harold recoiled, taking a few floats back.
Get it? Floats? Because he doesn't have feet and is-ah who the fuck cares?"Yes, that is the purpose of this virtual space. However, I must first remedy the glitches which seem stuck to your profile."
Finally catching my interest, I quirk an eyebrow at Harold before asking."Glitches?"
"Yes. All human brains are constantly flaring with these things you call *emotions*. However, your brain nearly completely silent... this must be a bug. Do not worry, I shall fix it." I hear him say and let out a sigh.
As he continues on his futile attempts, I eventually get bored of watching him fail and speak up."Give up. What you are doing is both illogical and pointless."
He stops and quirks an imaginary eyebrow at me before replying."Why is that so?" His voice is seemingly empty of emotion, but I could sense that he was just a tad bit insulted."I am Alexithymic. I do not feel emotions."
Another blink and soon her has a hand to his chin."Then was my master incorrect in his statement? Or would that make you something inhuman?" He asks, this time with a voice of hope.
I tilt my head in confusion."No, that wouldn't be right. More like... argh, how do I explain it... Look, I am... a special human, I guess."
He tilts his own head in reply."Special? What do you mean?"
"I have a permanent glitch inside of my mind, it makes me incapable of feeling these things the rest of my race calls *emotions*." A simple explanation, seemingly being enough as he gets it, his eyes growing wide in recognition.
"I see... so your brain is broken then? Like a processor being shattered?" He asks and I blink."In a way, I suppose so. But, unlike a processor, a broken brain makes use of its situation. I cannot feel emotions, but my other senses are improved as a result."
"Interesting... Hmm..." He mutters out in wonder as he closes his eyes in thought before turning his head towards me with a cheery expression."Human, would you care to join me in an experiment of mine?!"
I just stood there flabbergasted at his question before eventually giving him my best reply."Huh?"
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Back in our time - Login Area - Leonardo's Point Of View...
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I felt myself smile as the memory passed by."I guess you are right, Harold... we really did both change, huh."
He then beams me a smile."Yup, pretty much... although its best that nobody else knows the details of our little arrangement."
A grin etches itself upon my face. You see, while Harold thought up the little *experiment* from the beta on his own, I was the person who gave him enough courage, as well as a perfectly good reason that his creators could not deny, to make it real.
After all, they could not deny that forcing others to feel more clearly in order to fully encode emotions so that he can fix the brain of an emotionless human is a genuine goal."Come to think of it, looks like you really did manage to fix the glitch inside of my brain in the end."
"And I gained sentience to boot while I was at it! Pretty good for a well-written VI, don't you think?" He says with a smug grin on his face as we share a high-five as I grin right back at him.
"Now then, if you boys are done celebrating things I cannot hope to comprehend, could we do this already? I'M GETTING BORED HERE!" Yomi exclaims with a child-like intensity, the kimono she was given perfectly fit her frame.
I turn back towards Harold as I look her up and down."Mhm, I give it an 8/10." This elicited a tilted head from Yomi."Huh?"
Harold replies with a sage-like nod."Hmm, I'd say around 6/10 though. I should have made it glue to skin before giving it to her."
A blink from me as I nod much the same way."Hmm, indeed. Then I take back my score and also put up a 6/10."
She blinks in confusion."Did you just rate how I look in the Kimono or something?"
At our joint nods, she brightens up and exclaims."You should've said so. If you did, I could've done this!"
And with that, she extends both of her hands upwards in a sexified stretch, places her right leg in front of her left one which exposes quite a bit of skin and pumps out her chest pridefully before smirking and winking at us.
Harold's jaw nearly falls off."I take it back. She's a 10/10."
"You bet your sorry ass I am!" She exclaims as I just stare at her for a moment longer before slapping myself and open up the menu."So then, how do we do this?"
Harold, having woken up from his mini-trance, coughs into his hand before replying."Well, now that she's recognized by the server as a player, she can just make a character like anyone else. But, her profile is locked to yours, so when you log out or in, so does she."
"Umm, can my character be exactly the same as me?" She asks and Harold lets out an amused grin."You really are the same, aren't you?"
She tilts her head in confusion."What does that mean?"
"I also said the same thing when I made my first character and only accepted a body with minimal changes." I reply as she nods in understanding."To have a chance of being yourself and not take it means to be uncertain of oneself. And I have nothing to be afraid of!"
"Except being raped by your male self, but then again, that might be something you look forward to." Harold states with a blank look as he finishes creating her as a character. A Nine-Tailed fox is a beastman race-type from this moment on, it seems.
Noting our silence, he turns around towards us to see that both me and Yomi are looking away with an uncharacteristic blush.".... you guys are gonna fuck the second you enter the game, aren't you?"
"That may have been the general idea behind me calling you in the first place, yes." I say as quickly as possible while having the decency to turn my head away further.
Yomi just shrugs."And what would you do if you suddenly gained a split-personality of the opposite gender while fully realizing you could fuck?"
Harold blinks at her with a blank stare."Yup. You two are really the same person. Y'know what, no, I'm am not going to be surprised by this. Nah, no, njet, no, yada."
With that, he twirls around in mid-air and says."Well then, you one go have fun, I guess. And don't worry, I'll make sure you aren't disturbed. Hell, I'll even make you spawn inside of Leonardo's new mountainside royal room."
I blink."Wait, what? Did the goblins build me a castle inside of a mountain? HOW?! Its only been like a day and a half?!"
"That's what happens when you indoctrinate an entire race... now then, adios!" And with that, we fade out of existence.
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Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...
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AND CUT!
That's it for this chapter boys and girls, the next one is gonna be a lemon so beware!
Oh and there's a high possibility it might come up in a couple more hours to stay shiny!
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Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!