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Chapter 346: Morning Issues
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Scarlet wanted to say something else but she did not so and chose to remain silent. She nodded on her left where five of the twelve Magistrates with her went outside to follow Siva’s instructions.
On the other hand, “Cortana, scan.”
“Done. Just as you’ve thought, there are indeed a few tracing devices installed in the equipments.”
“Are they broken?”
“No, the devices are external. I can hack into their mainframes with no issues but I need you to make contact with them.”
Siva smiled and turned to Scarlet, “Seal the area. I don’t want anyone spying on what I’m about to do here.”
Scarlet bowed and gave the orders to the High Magistrates and they ‘floated’ around inside the warehouse and cast a special barrier magic. The walls became covered with icy mists that blocked all kinds of scrying, and in one glance, the entire warehouse looked as if it was a room sculpted from writhing white clouds.
“Done.” She reported. “No spying devices and Scrying Magic lower than Tier-7 will be able to see what will happen here.”
Siva took note of her terms and, again, felt that he and the rest of the world had been living at the bottom of a well because of it.
He walked towards the pile of resources and, with a swipe of his hand ‘absorbed’ them all inside his Inventory Pus Ultra. He only left a few equipment with the external spying devises attached to them.
“We can use these things in the future.” he said.
He began to work on the devices; pulling a panel window, a few NanoCubes, then physically going inside their cases, hacking into their systems with careful precision so as to not damage them.
The first time he did this was back in Alexandria.
Back then, he had to spend quite some time to be able to hack into a simple locking mechanism. But this time, with Cortana, he only needed to make contact and he was already done.
The devices themselves were only thumb-sized; small enough to be put to almost anything.
“For a futuristic spying device, these things are really too big.”
“Boss, it’s because these devices are installed with audio-visual scanners that sends data within their visual spectrum to their installer; aside from the fact that their battery life is exactly 40 years starting from six hours ago. They’re pretty brand new too.”
“Oh? So how far is the range of their cover?”
“Well, as far as the eye can see but with precision of only 100 Mega Pixels. They are also only able to optically zoom-in four times.”
Siva acknowledged, “Yeah, as small as they are, they cannot be that powerful, considering that their sole purpose is not for entertainment but for spying… its features are already good enough since there are enhancing apps all around the world available for processing what it lacked.”
Siva finished and received 11 thumb-sized items that looked like ice cream cones.
*****
Draco was really curious but he didn’t dare to be negligent and summoned the panel that would show him what he was doing inside.
There were five people here who didn’t even hide their intent on keeping watch over him.
He looked at the mist-layered interior of the entire warehouse through the windows and knew that he had been doubted without an excuse. His back began to sweat coldly.
After 15 minutes, Draco received a message on his NPC panel and after a few seconds, Siva and the group inside came out.
Siva walked towards Draco and gave him a nod, “I have received the items. I will now bring these men back with me, along with their facilities and families. You didn’t do anything to them, did you?”
Draco frowned —what do you take me for?!
But he didn’t refute and only said, “I follow the Laws of the Kingdom to the letter so I will not do anything that will tarnish the reputation of The Wall to the city.”
“I will trust you on that. Well, I will be seeing you tomorrow noon, then. Remember you words.”
Draco gritted his teeth as he nodded, “I will.”
Having received what he came for, Siva ‘floated’ his way out of the entire district.
Only when they were a good distance away did Draco ordered people to go inside the place.
“There is nothing here, sir!” shouted a knight.
Draco swallowed and pulled out a window and checked the message he received. His breathing stopped. He gasped for air.
There was a video file in there, something sent from the devices…… deliberately.
[You failed me, Blue Draco, so I’ll see you again.]
That was what the video had.
“ZELGAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
Draco howled to the sky, cursing the name who brought all this shame upon him.
*****
The next morning.
A single, golden ray of light beamed from the far horizons and bathed the land with its radiance through the gaps between the hills.
The blue sky dawned with the patches of white, drifting ever slowly, aimlessly wandering to the far reaching vistas upon this mortal plain.
Rustling leaves sounded like a lullaby, the cooling breeze like a cotton blanket, the autumn color of the surroundings caressed ones senses, inviting you in to shut your eyes a little bit longer so that you may enjoy Sandy’s dreams for an extended time.
Siva was in a private courtyard, with a garden that had a huge pond full of koi fish, a bridge atop of it, and a flower bed with humming fairy.
This was in the outer edges of the 5km-wide area owned solely by the Enchantment Temple, on the opposite side of the large castle, facing the wider southern sky, sited higher than the hill where the Grand Mansion stood. It was a 100m-large area and the courtyard itself was half the height of the City Walls far away.
Beyond the tall rock fences of this courtyard that looked like natural rock formations, are farmlands owned by the kingdom’s nobles.
—no… to be precise, those are farmlands owned by the nobles under the banner of the Council of Elders.
This courtyard residence was something meant only to be enjoyed by VIP guests of the Temple.
In here, there was a two story house that looked nothing like a luxurious dwelling but when you go inside it, the house’s interior changes into a very large mansion —the same spatial magic used for maximizing the space within the Grand Mansion.
Here, Scarlet Carmine was nothing more but his housekeeper. As much as Siva wanted to deny her, she insisted the position and thus, he had no choice but to acquiesce to her demands.
Besides, this is just for the next two days or so.
During the whole night, Scion, who was still not used to long hours of being logged in, had went back to sleep as soon as he came back.
The rest of the night, Siva spent it designing the new [S-Generator] for his BM-Puppets.
A few minutes ago, she came back in and now, a humming fairy in thin white magician’s robes was in the wide flower field, picking up flowers.
Siva was in a good mood because he had enough materials for the production of his upgraded [S-Generators].
“Boss, for the next four days, you must not use your PNF because I will be using them for mass-production of the newly improved S-Generators.”
“Have you finished installing the first finished product to the [Destroyer]?”
“Yes, sir.”
At this time, Siva was fiddling with a new design for the ultimate form of his Black Master Armament… or at least something closer to what he had envisioned its ultimate form will be.
“I have the image in my head but I can’t get the right calculations…”
“Even I don’t understand what your impression of its final form, boss. So far, all my data pertains of you wanting it as versatile as possible, yet each time you are closing in on its final blueprint, your mind would always change and in the end, the final form you want is not yet the final form.”
“True. The versatility of the BMA has now been achieved and thanks to the [Erebus] serving as the prototype, I got better constructing the sleeve puppets as its skin and tendons. But I still am not quite satisfied with it.”
“Magic, boss. You’re thinking about magic.”
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Siva turned his eyes away from his panel and put it on that beautiful image of Scion happily picking up flowers into the bundle in her hand.
“That’s right. Magic. That’s something that must not miss from the design.”
“You have to get that Record and learn how to construct magic from these guys. Don’t worry. I will archive everything as best as I can.”
“I have no doubt in your capabilities.”
“Nya…?”
“…”
That said, Siva made a mental note to ask Scarlet Carmine to be his teacher regarding this thing called magic… no matter what.
“Well then…” Siva took out the 11 cone gadgets he had taken from the equipments last night. “If my instincts are not lying to me, Cortana, do you think you could utilize that image in my mind to create a prototype for this one?”
Cortana closed her eyes and when she opened them again, there was a faint smile on her lips.
“It is possible, sir. But for a prototype, I have also downloaded a certain video series regarding that request you have in your mind to better suit its appearance. If you want to, I can also develop a dedicated ground-up AI just for this project and even put a separate personality algorithm based on that video series as reference for it. Do you want me to continue?”
“That AI… like a Battle-AI?”
“No sir. Although I can also do that, but it will be problematic since my programming does not allow me to create an advanced Battle-AI with character algorithm capabilities. All I can do is design an AI that has a limited processing capability like a child but with an unbreakable firewall and ‘loyalty’ core program. That will make sure that nothing will be able to hack on it.”
While she was talking, Siva was thinking and he was also watching Scion get visited by birds and butterflies.
She has a hundred percent affinity with Mana and by logic, Mana is life, so all simple lifeforms must be naturally attracted to her.
It was a sight to see.
Her smile and laughter, her happy graceful sight in that flower field, the cool morning breeze her accompanying music; and the golden ray of sol in this time of day like a blessing from above.
“Just make sure that it can serve her properly.”
“I’ll use two of these things, then, just to be sure, and implement a separate [Auricle Scan] function with an interactive ground-up AI that can learn as she grows old.”
“Right. Put in as much of your capabilities as possible as well. And triple, no, tenfold the firewall to protect its ‘loyalty’ program. Make it as like an actual child as it can… who can learn and grow alongside with her.”
“But that would require more power supply.”
What he had in mind was basically a mini-version of Cortana for Scion. He had 20B NanoCubes he can use for its body and in terms of programming, there was Cortana. What he lacked was its power supply.
Siva looked at the 11 small devices he had put in the table near him and assented, “Use it all.”
“Understood.”
Since he had Tesla Coils, he can always design a new power source for portable mobile devices just like this one… although it can take time.
*****
After that short break from his work, Siva came back to designing on how to improve the BMA and the BM-Puppets.
So far, its maximum capabilities are supporting his BM-Puppets, enhancing/changing forms of/for his weapons, and then, with the [Orbiter Bracelet], he can deploy the BMA within a distance of 2.5km away from him through Cortana’s [Communications Link] capability as a Battle-AI.
—that’s just about it.
Cortana herself is the main weapon Siva had to almost anything electronic in this and the outside world(s).
“My biggest concern is how to increase the scan range and as well as the information the Auricle Scan-function can do.”
“These are all Military-grade secret, boss, and the Net and the game world keeps these secrets out from normal access. Unless you want me to hack into the government database, we won’t get that kind of information.”
“We can’t, Cortana. Remember that you came from the World Government as well and so I have enough reason to suspect that aside from you, the World Government has an AI that is stronger and has more powerful processing capabilities as yours. Also… I don’t think they only have one or two. Perhaps, they even have ten or more.”
Cortana was silent.
If she had pride, then she will not take this lightly.
If she doesn’t, then she’d only process this idea as Siva’s worry of being found out.
“Even if the [other guy] is in there, I believe that we will only add more things for him to worry about if we do that. He can’t always take care of things we can’t handle on this side. So our main goal is to do what we can to finish the tasks on this side of the two worlds.”
“If that is the case, then I shall hack into the main database of this world’s strongest AI and steal some important information for your benefits.”
Siva sighed, “Although I know you’re referencing your words and actions to my needs and wants, I will still say no to that, Cortana. I will still suggest that we try to talk a proper exchange with this AI as much as possible. Only when I am threatened am I going to allow you to hack into any electronic danger and assimilate its functionalities.”
“Yes sir.”
“And why are you proud? Sigh… anyways, you’ve already read my mind so I know you know how I want to resolve the issue.”
“I shall go and try to arrange a meeting as soon as this AI’s shell shows the tiniest of openings.”
“Then I will leave that to you.”
So far, the range of the integrated [Auricle Scan] within the Absolute Domain is 100m, and the data it can scan is limited to:
–Pressure
–Speed
–Atmospheric Movement
–Humidity
–Temperature
–Sonar (with integrated Sonometer)
–Matter Scanner
–Item Analyzer
–Radar
–Physical Spatial Mapping
The last functions, radar and physical spatial mapping, were determined through the ‘space’ occupied by the Absolute Domain, meaning, the 200m circle around Siva.
Cortana uses that to space as her skin, then uses the Sonar and Sonometer functions to determine audio inputs from the surroundings and enhance her ‘scanning’ capability to determine all the exact placements and movements of any physical matter in the range of the Auricle Scan.
And the rest… were all the default functions of the [Auricle Scan] from the Auricle Device.
“Now, how to add visual rendering to enhance the functionality of the Absolute Domain…”
Range… this was his weakness.
“I can’t let that person get close to me.” He could still remember the fear he felt when he felt that spell drape his body like a bucket full of ice water.
That person, no, that woman, no matter who she is, had cast a spell to him and only because his sensitivity to Mana had been increased was he able to ‘feel’ it. Despite it not having any obvious effects, Siva still feared that his ‘Magic Knight’ cover might have been exposed because of it.
“Increasing its range and precision is mandatory!”
As he thought about it, he also gave Cortana her mental orders to calculate the necessary resource to increase the effectivity of this mechanical function.
Mechanical Functions does not require mana to be used since they are dependent on the items’ mechanical design.
[CURRENT SKILLS AND ABILITIES]
ABILITY SLOTS
>>> 01) Killing Zone
>>> 02) Malevolent Aura
>>> 03) Kamaitachi (PASSIVE)
>>> 04) Hammer Blast
>>> 05) Transcendence (MOD Ability, ACTIVE)
>>> 06) Attention (ACTIVE)
>>> 07) *Absolute Domain
>>> 08) Orbiter Control
>>> 09) Beast Language (PASSIVE)
>>> 10) --
UNUSED
> Time-Space Cabinet (ACTIVE)
> World Realm Utility (ACTIVE)
> Split Dimension (ACTIVE)
Mechanical Abilities
*Generator
*Omni Forms
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Equipment Items (in inventory): 600+ slots
Black Master Armament
***BlackTech + Black Master Armament
Mjolnir
Black Dragon Blade of Triune
Sparrow Rapier
Skeleton Key
Naiki’s Scepter of Divinity
Accessories (currently equipped)
>>> 01) Inventory Plus Ultra
>>> 02) Beast Blood Pendant
>>> 03) Chalice of the Blood Dragon God
>>> 04) Faceless Phantom Mask
>>> 05) Orbiter Bracelet
>>> 06) --
>>> 07) --
>>> 08) --
>>> 09) --
>>> 10) --
>>> 11) --
>>> 12) --
>>> 13) --
>>> 14) --
>>> 15) –
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[CURRENT INVENTORY]
Items: 39,5XX slots
NanoCube (x20 Billion)
Black Ironwood Alloy (x35 Mega-crates)
Tesla Coils (500T)
Cryo-modules (x7)
NM-Converter
Dead Man’s Chest
Plasma Smoke Screen Grenade (x4)
Stun E-Grenade (x30)
Anti-Glare Masks (x4)
Nano-Cryo Preserver
Battleship Rewloola
Resource Items: 411,XXX slots
Assorted Monster Resources
***S-Ranked Monster Resource (4 boxes)
***A-Ranked Monster Resource (14 boxes)
***B-Ranked Monster Resource (29 boxes)
***C-Ranked Monster Resource (35 boxes)
***D-Ranked Monster Resource (41 boxes)
*Unknown* True Dragon Carcase (x1)
Dragon Drill Spikes (x4)
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“But the fact remains that I am now almost lacking in monster resource. I have the dragon carcass but in three days, it will begin to rot and within six, it will completely deteriorate to almost an abnormal and unusable level. I have to get that Full Record from that Pistareen and learn magic…”
—no, wait…
“Cortana, do you think we can—”
“—Impossible sir. I’ve already analyzed the seven Cryo-modules you’ve harvested and they can only be used with a suitable power supply.”
Siva became dejected.
“But the Asgard doesn’t have a working electric power distribution system.”
“That’s why I suggested at least 900 Megatons of Tesla Coils, sir. We will create our own Stark-grade Power Supply!”
“…”
“Anyways, sir, the Cryogenic Elements you have required from Draco is going to be useful. We just have to go back to the Asgard as soon as we get the package later.”
“Have you contacted Coralline?”
“Yes sir. And as of last night, the giant fridge facility we’ve designed is ready to be used.”
Siva paused for a moment to juggle his memory.
“Aren’t we messing up the order?”
“The Cryogenic Element is already liquid-ready, boss… once it makes contact to the object, it will seep-in through the pores. Until the next time we have to apply it, we should have finished all of our preparations with the power supply for Asgard.”
“How long, exactly?”
“Five days.”
“That so…”
“Well, we still do have a backup, boss. The 600K Plasma Smoke Screen Grenades we’ll be getting later today should be enough for two a two-days’ worth of extension. Adding to that the 900K from Pistareen, they should be enough to extend the duration of the preservation for another three days’ worth of time for a total of five days.”
If it wasn’t for the fact that the Dragon Resource is really important to him, he wouldn’t be thinking of these things deeply.
Again, Siva paused, “I just hope that with all these preparations, the Asgard will at least be a bit safer for a bit more time.”
What Siva was worried about are the Devil Generals. He couldn’t forget how Mefisto had just appeared like that despite the distance and the protection of the barriers in the castle base.
And only seconds later, even the Sword-God’s golem avatar couldn’t react at that sudden attack; enough, in fact, to the point that he even asked help from Siva.
His clash against Sefirah had showed him that this game had more secrets to it than what he had first thought… and it also made him realized how weak he was against the elements that can hurt Baron.
RPG: Terroa, wasn’t just a simple time-consuming game for everybody. It had an inner plan within its plan and he had the feeling that it was connected to the makers of the game... to the reason why his entire family was broken into pieces.
“World Government… UNICORN…” unwittingly, Siva begun to mutter as he became lost in his own thought. “In the end, I need all the strength I can have, whether it is my own strength or the kind of strength in the form of other people.”
“Rex…”
“Boss, there are visitors.”
“Hm?”
Having awoken from his trance, Siva raised his head to see a retreating Scion wearing a worried face.
Siva traced her gaze’s direction and as well a red indicator on his vision, towards the road meant for vehicles to pass through to get to their location.
There were four black limousines sandwiching a white limousine. Scion ran over to his side while still hugging the flowers she had picked up.
“Wear your mask.”
“Ah, okay.” Scion was startled and gave it just one thought command to equip her half-moon mask that covered the left side of her face.
Siva had always been wearing his Magic Knight Disguise, the [Faceless Mask], so he didn’t have to worry about changing his appearance.
From the road, the five limousines drove through the front of the house and Siva came out of the front door to see the four black limos puke a set of distinctively-armoured people.
They bore a set of armour atop their wizard robes that had red and blue themes within them.
“Ho?”
When he saw one person disembark, from the white limousine, Siva already knew who these people belong to and how and why they are able to enter the property of the Grand Mansion as if they already owned it.
Of all the people connected to the Enchantment Temple he had met, there was only one who had left a sour impression on his memory.
Scion was behind him on his left while Scarlet was on his right. When that ‘person’ disembarked from the white limousine, his gaze first landed on that masked figure on Siva’s left.
It got stuck there for a moment before he came to his senses and opened the door for his principal.
When his ‘escorts’ were all in place, a fat man in a white and red wizard robe came out of the car and wore a gloating disdainful glare at Siva.
“Why are you in my residence?”
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A familiar face returns for another beating.
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Next Chapter: Siva’s resolve.
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