Nakama was hard at work when Gaius returned to his tent. In her right hand was one of Gaius’ knives, undoubtedly taken from his cloak that he’d left behind when he went to Liam’s funeral. In her left was a block of wood, which had been carved halfway. Gaius himself could make out the beginnings of a wooden human from it, given that a head and two arms were already visible.
Standing on her shoulder was a wooden figurine. The artificial intelligence, Nexus, was clearly focused on Nakama’s work, as the second figurine that Gaius had taken along was lying lifeless on the bed. Occasionally, Nexus would whisper a few words, and the little girl would reflect its desires accordingly.
A slim torso…chiselled abdominal muscles…as Nakama continued to carve what Nexus viewed as the ideal body, Gaius couldn’t help but wonder if the artificial intelligence was a male, or if it had just been influenced by its previous masters. The former wasn’t so bad, but Gaius had the feeling that Nexus had to be influenced by Gaius’ predecessors for some reason.
The little girl exhaled loudly and placed her tools down neatly.
“Nakama.” Gaius took this chance to call out, and fatigue vanished from her little face as she jumped off the bed and ran towards him. Patting her head, Gaius said, “I see you and Nexus are good friends now, eh?”
She nodded vigorously. “Nexus is so interesting!”
Gaius laughed and turned to the wooden figurine that was now sitting on Nakama’s head. “Didn’t know you identified as a male, though.”
“Male?” The figurine cocked his head. “Oh. I remember Master Yong Yue griping about his body before, and how it wasn’t as good as those he’d seen on—”
Gaius shot a warning glance at Nexus, and the artificial intelligence stopped speaking.
“On what?” Nakama asked off-handedly, as she continued to stare at the half-completed wooden sculpture in her hand.
The wooden figurine on her head looked at Gaius nervously, and then said, “On his tours around the Northern continent.”
Gaius cast another threatening look at the nervous wooden figurine, which nodded frantically in response. Nexus’ cover story was simple — it was an artefact that had appeared after he killed a couple of Energy Savages, the name that Major Degurechaff had given monsters that were made up of energy.
According to his story, Nexus used to serve other people in the capacity of an advisor, and his previous master had vanished one day, leaving Nexus abandoned in the snow. After which, one of those Energy Savages had swallowed it up, and brought it on a grand tour around Heritage, only seeing the light of day after Gaius sliced Nexus’ prison into two.
Gaius did have a few doubts regarding this story, but intelligent artefacts weren’t as rare as he actually thought. It was just that most of these artefacts usually served in the backline, helping to organise files and documents.
“Nexus. A word, please.” Gaius carried Nakama back to her bed, before picking up the inactive wooden figurine, which came to life as he touched it. “Nakama, you should take a break while I ask Nexus some questions.”
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“Ok!”
Holding on to the wooden figurine, Gaius left the tent.
“You went to the Harvester’s funeral, yes?”
“Indeed,” replied Gaius.
“I think I know what questions you want to ask now, but go ahead.”
Gaius looked up at the grey firmament. “Do you have any idea about the so-called afterlife? What happens after death? Where do the souls of the dead go?”
“Many of my previous masters have asked this question,” replied Nexus. “Some asked it a decade after they transmigrated, others only as they were about to close their eyes for the last time. But the only answer I can give is that the concept of Hades, Hell, Purgatory, Yomostu Hirasaka and what have you does not exist at all in Orb.”
“Which is to say that no one talked about it before, even in the Holy Temple?”
“I cannot speak for certain, but death…what comes after death is rarely spoken of, even amongst the highest echelons of Orb,” replied the artificial intelligence. “And you look like you’ve done your own experiments in that respect, judging from that obnoxious look on your face.”
“Obnoxious?” The little lecturer sniffed. “Ridiculous. But I have indeed done an experiment regarding this.”
A moment of silence passed, one in which Nexus glanced at Gaius’ face and sighed loud enough to scare anyone else passing by. “Fine. I’ll bite. How did you test your hypothesis out?”
“Simple,” replied Gaius, who was suppressing a small grin. “I approached someone who was grieving over Harvester Liam’s death, and then directly asked him about what came after death.”
“How did that work out?”
Gaius mulled for a moment. “For starters, the Campmaster was injured quite badly, for some reason. Primarily internal, given that he was coughing up a lot of blood. I think his cultivation went rampant for a moment, given that he was blasting out power willy-nilly, and finally, his mind was slower than I would have expected.”
The last one stemmed from the fact that the Campmaster had told him about the existence of demigods and their characteristics, because no matter how the little boy looked at it, such knowledge was probably one of the most classified in Ark City. By Gaius’ reckoning, the Campmaster must have been addled in the few minutes after he ‘unveiled’ himself to actually tell Gaius about these beings.
“Looks like it’s not just a mental suggestion that’s preventing people from thinking about these issues, then.” Nexus pulled its body out from Gaius’ fist and turned to face him. “Something within the body is also programmed to inflict self-harm through physical means, including a force to drive one’s cultivation berserk. Right now, we’re operating on the assumption that virtually everyone is prevented from thinking this way…so it’s most likely one of the great gods.”
“And given the timing in which I became aware…”
“It’s unlikely to be the Human God’s doing either.” Nexus completed Gaius’ words. “Unless, of course, a portion of his power is rebelling against another.”
“No chance of that happening, however,” replied Gaius. “I’m not even going to try foreshadowing that.”
“Who do you think you are, a main character in a story?” The wooden figurine dropped onto the ground and walked into the tent. “Come on, your sister’s getting really bored now. Go and entertain her before she turns me into some Nutcracker soldier or something.”
Gaius observed a bunch of Harvesters carrying wooden poles and metal plates rushing into the depths of Heritage Basestation idly, and shook his head, before joining the figurine-and-girl duo in the tent. The rest of the day passed in a peaceful blur, as a girl and a wooden figurine had fun playing at dolls, with a smiling Gaius snarking at Nexus every so often.