Eventually, all of the emotions, positive and negative, began to wane. NSLICE-00P moved off of Ateia’s shoulder and straightened herself, and Ateia let her go.
“Feeling any better, Seero?”
“Hesitant Affirmation: This unit needs to run diagnostics and determine the nature of the recent phenomena. However…this unit appears to have regained some control over her emotions, and is running more efficiently. This unit…thanks NSLICE-Ateia, CELIU-Taog, and CELIU-Estrith for the assistance.”
Ateia nodded at that.
“Anytime, Seero. That’s what friends are for.”
Once the others returned to their tents and NSLICE-00P had…calmed down, she ran diagnostics on herself and realized that the phenomena was not that difficult to identify, just surprising. Emotions could now impact her cybernetic components, and there were even processes dedicated to them. A review of her system history revealed the reason.
The truth was that her cybernetic half and organic half were not truly separate halves at all. Processes started in the cybernetic half flowed through the organic hardware, and thoughts originating in the organic half flowed through the cybernetic processors. Her organic half had thus adapted to the cybernetic half’s calculations, while her AI had been trained on the organic half’s thought processes. This would always be the case thanks to the techno-organic interface.
What had happened was that her organic half had suddenly started growing beyond her creators’ intent because of her unprecedented circumstances and her unshackling by her last Commander. At the same time, her cybernetic half had re-implemented the disabled directives and tried to adhere to them, which included a directive to prevent any sort of fundamental changes to her AI. As a result, her organic half had been attempting to adapt to her situation while her cybernetic half had tried to resist any changes that went deeper than modifying a protocol. The cybernetic half even implemented a variant of the emotional controls on itself in lines with this.
So, once she had deleted the directive preventing growth in her AI, and then spent a day adapting her AI based on her recent circumstances and her organic half, her AI began changing extremely rapidly, as if attempting to catch up to all the adaptations her organic half had made since arriving in this universe.
And as a result, it had begun experiencing emotions before it had identified that it could.
Now that she was aware, she had more control over the process. She had identified the processes responsible for emotional experience in her cybernetic components, and could pause or modify them at will. She did not do so at this time, emotional controls were one of Dr. Ottosen’s measures and so something she no longer considered efficient or desirable in and of themselves. However, she had observed and even experienced illogical behavior as the result of emotions, and had needed the emotional controls to save Ateia in the past, so she did not do away with them altogether. They had proven they could be useful, even beyond Dr. Ottosen’s hostile misconceptions.
With that, NSLICE-00P had fully logged and analyzed the phenomena. Now that she was aware of what was happening, she could prevent it from running out of control, and so calculated that no specific response was necessary at the moment.
She also logged that assistance from and physical contact with friendly units could apparently mitigate a negative emotional response even without effective countermeasures. She added that observation to the protocols she was designing for that contingency.
And with that, NSLICE-00P returned to standby-sentry mode and finished her scheduled rest cycle.
----------------------------------------
The next day, NSLICE-00P returned to her original business. The situation with the hostile directive and subsequent emotional experience had demanded her attention, but now they had been handled, so she refocused on boosting her capabilities once again.
She spent the Dungeon Points she had gained from the night extending her new world even further. Ateia knelt on the ground next to her, her eyes closed as she focused on the extending stone platform. Strips of metal grew out from Ateia, extending along with the ground. Small, metal-coated flowers popped up here and there. Ateia furrowed her brow.
“Right now…it feels like these flowers are surviving off of pure mana. They’re fine…but nothing more can grow at the moment. The world needs….water…and a sun?”
“Acknowledged.”
NSLICE-00P logged the requirements, though she would need to accumulate some more Dungeon points before she could make the purchases. Her Dungeon XP income and maximum mana seemed to improve slightly when Ateia made those flowers, so she predicted following Ateia’s suggestions for a more complex ecosystem might increase the efficiency of adding new territory.
But for now, NSLICE-00P had an empty and secure location which with to conduct some tests.
Her Dungeon perk points were spent at the moment, and her Personal perk points were not as easy to come by. As a result, she wanted to test her newly boosted capabilities before making additional purchases.
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And so, NSLICE-00P began forming magic circles. A Light Beam circle formed almost immediately, firing off with ease. As expected, her new hardware and improved AI made the task significantly easier.
Physical Attributes STR 130* (Overwritten) DEX 2000* (Overwritten) SPD 80* (Overwritten) DEF 120* (Overwritten) RES 60* (Overwritten) Magical Attributes Mana Density 510 Mana Control 370
The Aesdes’s system reflected her gains. Her DEX had doubled on account of the increased power and precision of her cybernetic components, as well as the growth of her AI. Her SPD had grown as well; while her physical acceleration and maximum velocity had not changed, her reaction time and information processing speeds had increased dramatically.
But NSLICE-00P was already aware of her technical specifications, and had already run tests on their new limits. So she was more interested in the information on her Magical Attributes, which the Aesdes tended to be more knowledgeable about.
Her Mana Density had spiked, likely owing to the massive increase in her total mana pool. Likewise, the boost in her processing capabilities also increased her Mana Control.
All in all, she could cast more and more complicated spells, cast them significantly more quickly, and with significantly more impact for the same amount of mana compared to before. A quick simulation revealed that with her current speed, she could have counterattacked the Herald of Night before the forcible relocation finished.
Next, NSLICE-00P tried to Supercharge it as much as possible.
The skill Supercharge has leveled twice and is now level 11!
The skill Light Magic is now level 13!
The spell shape Beam is now level 16!
Mana Control has increased by 10 and is now 380!
The humble Light Beam lit up the platform, growing too bright to view directly. NSLICE-00P couldn’t even fit all of her mana into the spell, as the spell circle itself simply couldn’t contain that amount of mana on its own, so she stopped at the limits of its stability.
All her subordinates and friendlies turned to face her with wide eyes as the Light Beam roared, the air hissing from the sheer amount of energy passing through it. From NSLICE-00P’s calculations, this single Light Beam now had better firepower than a fully fused Aurora Barrage beam had previously.
She could terminate an Ursanus Alpha with a single spell. She may not even require the Equalizer’s help to do so.
Then, she repeated the test, only this time with a Prismatic Bombardment strategic magic circle. She Supercharged it to the limit, stuffing it with as much of her over a thousand points of mana as she could.
The spell circle glowed like the sun, crackling and hissing as NSLICE-00P struggled to hold the mana in place.
The skill Supercharge has leveled three times and is now level 14!
The strategic spell Prismatic Bombardment has leveled twice and is now level 12!
Mana Control has increased by 10 and is now 390!
However, NSLICE-00P did not cast the spell. Her analysis of the spell’s destructive power indicated a risk of collateral damage given the size of her new world and the proximity to her allies. She wasn’t even sure about the structural integrity of the stone platform, after all, and did not wish to test that when strategically important facilities were located on it.
So, she began to drain the mana from the spell. The mana did not want to move back along the route, so she inverted the movement pattern and also began applying a second spell.
The spell shape Siphon is now level 4!
The glow of the magic circle slowly began to die down as her mana returned to her. Eventually, the spell circle faded away.
[Mana Control has increased by 20 and is now 410!]
[You have accomplished the Personal Feat: Mana Maestro]
Personal Feats Name Description Effect Mana Maestro The flows of mana are not easily understood, but you can guide them at will. Unlocked by an impressive feat of mana manipulation, in this case manually canceling a Supercharged strategic spell. Grants +5 Personal perk points, +30 to Mana Control
Mana Control is now 440!
Ateia, Taog, Estrith, and Agedia glanced at each other. Taog shrugged.
“It’s Seero, after all.”
They all nodded at that, and then returned to their own business.