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Chapter 303: My Own Terroa

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“Anyways, is your name really Cortana and it was not just any kind of code for the protocol?”

Cortana displayed a confused look, “Sir, as soon as I woke up for the first time from hearing your voice, I have always known my name was Cortana and not anything. If I am to classify myself into a single category that you can understand, then my core programming says that I am an entity just like a part of your own liver.”

In front of Rex was the ceiling. But Cortana was in front of him as if they met in the streets and she was standing there in front of him, having a normal conversation.

He creased his brows trying to understand how to interpret that but since he also understood that she was just ‘literally’ basing her own responses from his own way of thinking, he realized that he just had to stake his patience here.

Right now, Cortana is in a learning curve so it is just going to be a matter of time before she could really converse with him just like a normal AI.

If he had to actually classify Cortana, then she is just like an infant with a pretty grown up face.

“I don’t really know that but I get what you mean.”

The most noticeable functions of The Warden Console were its adaptive capability and its smart organizer functionality. And it was all made so to suite his needs and provide advices to better his style of living.

But figuratively, Rex also knew that Neth wouldn’t just send him a talking organizer because there are many of such apps and gadgets in the market available for the taking (although AG wouldn’t let him do so) so he knew that there must be more than just these superficial functions to Cortana.

He then thought to the message his dad told him.

“The Warden is an external program that serves as a firewall for Terroa. And right now, I am [The Warden] and Cortana is my main guideline and assistant, while the [Console] is my tool to be able to use [Cortana].”

>>> AN: this is a confusing grammar technique: [Cortana] is referred to as an object while ‘Cortana’ is referred to as a person/entity

As he was murmuring, he checked the list of the abilities of Cortana while he pondered deeper on the functionality of this [Warden Console] the way he understood it from his father’s explanation.

“Dad has Terroa to protect that’s how he could function. He said that Terroa is currently [Locked] so Cortana and [The Console] is now useless. It was the reason why he sent them to me to be able to be used… I seem to be missing something very important here…”

He continued to dedicate one part of his mind to thinking about this while the other part studied and organized the different abilities of [Cortana] according to his own use.

“Oh?” at one moment, he saw a very familiar and very useful function in the abilities list. “Cortana, can you tell me the limits and scope of ability of your [Scan] function?”

Cortana’s reply was prompt. She was learning.

“Sir, according to my reference archive, my [Scan] function has the same capabilities as the «Item Identifier» back in Terroa, with an added capability of utilizing the full package functionality of The Warden Protocol.”

“Ah, just like an anti-virus scan.” Rex blinked.

Of course, Cortana had read his mind. “Yes sir.”

“Then…” as his thought wandered here, a smile broke on his lips as his gaze wandered to the side of his bed, towards the NLD Console and the side table-cabinet that it rested to.

Rex sat up and then said, “Scan.”

“Scanning.” Cortana’s voice sounded a bit playful.

Right after his command, on his forehead, a third eye-like golden tattoo vertically appeared and opened its eyelids.

If there was another person to see this scene, he would be shocked and awed, creeped even, since there was golden eye that materialistically just appeared on Rex’s forehead.

What more, it actually shot a bluish beam of light, just like the same with the house’s scan function, that expanded wide to encompass the entire table in but a tenth of a second.

“Scan complete.”

“That fast?”

Cortana seem to ignore this reaction as she just spoke the result of his findings. Of course, she also referenced her response according to what Rex ‘wanted’ and ‘needed’ to happen with this scan.

“Sir, there seems to be a secret console that is attached to the NLD System in this cabinet. What more, the entire furniture itself is not made up of wood but is actually by bio-metal, and serves as a medical instrument that actively scans your neural activity when you are using the NLD.”

Rex felt his heart racing. He had seen that panel window that displayed his name and the results of a week-long graphical representation.

He knew that they were up to something but he had no idea what.

Reading his train of thoughts, Cortana’s ‘apathetic’ sweet voice rung on his ears, “Sir, I am right now capable of integrating this medical system to my core functionalities. I am also capable of scanning the entire AI-system that runs this house and also override the security protocols and take over its entire framework to include its entirety to my core functions palette. Would you like me to proceed?”

“You what…?”

Reading his thoughts again, Cortana drew another suggestion based on the limits of its capabilities, suiting what he needed and what he also pictured he wanted to happen in his mind. This was her [Organizer] function kicking in; “I can establish an active link on both the Online Network and the neural drive link’s Neural Network Port to… hm?”

When Cortana paused, Rex became exceedingly curious, “What is it?”

“I seem to have detected active scans from two small devices with a framework the same as my build…. only, their security measures are a little bit outdated than my own hardware programming.”

Rex, upon hearing this, immediately knew what it was and so he quickly run his thoughts NOT to get rid of it but to actually control it to trick AG.

He knew that it may have been these two devices that are making his activities known to AG.

“Can you control them?”

“Done.”

Rex blinked in surprise. That was fast. But after that, he felt his heart racing as he thought of the way on how to completely control his own life while still generally being grabbed in the neck by AG.

In his heart, he was really glad to have Cortana and in response to this train of thought, she made a curtsy gesture while wearing a pretty smile.

“It’s my pleasure to be of service.”

Seeing this ‘girly’ Cortana, Rex’s impulse took him over as he stretched a hand to rub her head.

“Eh?”

He was really surprised.

“I can touch you?”

“Augmented Reality functionality, sir, as I am also mounted with an advanced [email protected] functionality since it was part of my [Organizer] capability to both connect you online and as well receive calls and emails for you. Best of all, I can make sure that all of your information will be 100% secure.”

LIGHBULB!!!

“Ah! That’s it!” The other part of his mind that was delving into his thoughts about the things his dad spoke to him about Cortana, finally thought about it and so he exclaimed. “Cortana, tell me then, can you make sure that everything in this house is under my control?”

“Done.”

“…!!”

This is the power of 500 Yottabytes of processing capability…. with the functionalities of the things he could ever wish for on a Smart Organizer that was available in the market!

“So that’s what I was missing. I am The Warden and as a firewall, I need to establish the wall on something… and this house… this house is my own Terroa!”

He was so happy that he was practically laughing on his bed like a madman.

“Cortana!”

“Yes?” Rex knew that she already ‘knew’ what he was going to say but he ignored this since she still ‘courteously’ displayed an expectant expression.

Cortana was really learning fast… or he just had so many things in his mind that she could use to reference her responses for.

After all, the [Synch] was already complete and he had a surplus of millions of years of [memories].

He just doesn’t know if Cortana was also able to read these [memories] as well.

“Cortana, you are an angel…!!” Rex still said.

“Teehiihii…” Cortana made a cute face as she proudly showed her white teeth. In fact, her entire demeanor wasn’t that of a cute lady, but that of a servant that was praised by a master. “You’re the boss, so of course I’ll be useful to you!”

“Mn!” rex nodded and then stood up, going to the NLD cabinet-table and said “Cortana, I need, no, I want you to edit all information in any kind of saving archives in this entire thing that has to do with information regarding my activities in Terroa.”

“Done. Sir, I scanned 300,000+ files in regards to it… with majority being video files and reference files about a few [.itm] files regarding your game avatar named—GASP!!”

Cortana stopped, seeming to have been startled by something and she displayed a look of shock as she looked slowly at Rex… as he saw it.

No.

To be exact, she was looking beyond Rex since Rex was instinctively and attentively following the movement of her eyeballs.

Above him….

Cortana was looking above him.

Rex wanted to turn his head but he found that he couldn’t move his body. He can’t even scream. He can’t even move her eyeballs, not even a finger.

He was stuck there, looking at her ever gradually darkening expression while looking above him.

There was something there that’s looking at her!

It was something that could threaten her and was enough to render her dreadfully livid with shock.

Cortana was obviously afraid.

Her face crumpled into fear, something that was really unique and seemed to have been really a big impossibility for an ‘infant’ like her.

“Cortan—ARGH!!!”

Rex tried to call out to her but a very painful jolt of something seemed to have grabbed his mind and Rex felt the sudden pain to be enough to snatch his sanity away from him.

He felt himself falling towards the floor, all power that moved his body, vanishing from his limbs to his hair, he knew he was going to hit the side of the bed; and he also knew that it was going to be painful but he had no strength to stop his fall.

Cortana screamed in his quickly darkening vision and all he could do was ‘attempt’ to raise his hand to reach towards her.

But it was a futile attempt. He can’t even breathe right now.

“Sssshhh…”

A cold yet familiar voice ushered him.

“Relax, I’m going to take care of it.”

It was a reassuring kind of sentence and even the intent was also the sort that could be said to be from an ally.

But Rex knew that it wasn’t him.

It was someone else.

Someone is in the room!

No…. wait… he was sure he locked the door and even if Cortana had taken charge of the house’s system, she wouldn’t be stupid enough to turn off its anti-burglar security features so Rex was sure that nobody had sneaked-in inside the house.

Then who… whom did this voice came from? Why did it come from behind him? WHO was behind him and why is Cortana afraid of it?

“Hmm… this is really a funny feeling. You don’t have to know for now. Just fulfill your mission. I’ll take care of things on this side. You will know the right time to come back when it happens.”

When the voice finished speaking, Rex’s vision completely turned black and Cortana also closed her eyes as she fainted as well.

“You won’t even remember anything anyways.”

These were the last words Rex heard in the dark.

*****

Siva opened his eyes in the all-viewing sphere of Akhenaton. By now, he made this place his own personal room and no one else, including Volt and Thorn, was allowed to get inside here.

If there was something different, right below him is the Floating Castle and its 11 remaining small chain-connected islands, Apus Epirus, hovering above a deep dark hole at the center of the now 35km-wide large expanse of land he named…

“Pangaea?”

He was slumped on the ‘floor’ and he flipped his body to the side, reflexively grabbing his head as if he was checking something.

“Hm? Why did I grab my head?”

“Boss” a sweet voice came from behind him and he turned to see Cortana on her girly satin dress, only, she was as ethereal-looking just like how he first saw Akhenaton.

“Cortana, you’re here?”

“I don’t know myself, sir. I can’t remember how I got in here as well. But I know that I’ve been forcefully transported here and assumed this form as soon as I woke up. But more than that, there is a sealed part of my memory encoded with your DNA Signature, along with a unique password. It says [Key] but I can’t even scan it.”

“A [Key] file you say?”

“Yes sir. And no, I don’t think this has something to do with what you are thinking right now.”

At least she can still read my thoughts. Siva was slightly startled that he can’t remember how he ended logging in here.

There was a sealed memory on Cortana’s archive in addition to the fact that she herself can’t even remember how she was transported here as well.

Both of them seemed to have been thrown here regardless of their will.

The worst part is that they can’t even trace how.

“Aside from that [Key] file, what else had changed on you that you can’t remember? What about the last memory that you have before we went here?”

Cortana replied, worriedly, “Same as you, sir. My last memory is when you ordered me to take over the entire security framework of the house. But after that is the sealed memory I told you about earlier that was labeled as [Key].”

“So the [Key]…”

It was a good thing that Cortana had an RA-type of memory or else, he wouldn’t have a clue as to what had happened to him upon waking up here in Terroa.

But just before he wandered off the topic, he thought of something, “Cortana, how long is that sealed memory?”

“Referencing time difference… six minutes and 34 seconds, sir.”

Siva sat upright and leaned his back on the ‘wall’ of the all-viewing sphere behind him. On his right was the ‘combined form’ of two PNFs that looked nothing less of the original PNF he had, albeit it was 30% bigger than the one in his memory; with its operating sounds telling him of the ongoing processes in there.

He leaned his head back to the ‘wall’ and then bid a long sigh, trying to relax his panicking senses.

“It’s a message.”

“I see.”

As usual, Cortana’s replies were as always, based on what she have ‘read’ in his thoughts.

“I’m almost 85% sure now…”

“…I can only read your current thoughts and I can’t reference anything from your permanent memories. But based on the people you’ve thought about, there is a higher percentage that the one who imprinted these [memories] on you might be [Shiva] of the Gods and Devils Era.”

“The Divinity of [Siva]? How?”

“Based on your thoughts and on the information I’ve gathered so far, there is a big possibility that you have indeed existed in this Terran Universe during its inception.”

Rex closed his eyes and arranged his thoughts.

“This game is a joint project by the UNICORN and the Panorama Corporation. Both of them are based in Sweetzerland and the only time that I have been in there is around 4 years ago.”

After arriving at this thought, twelve bluish-green panel windows popped out in thin air followed by Cortana’s voice in a matter-of-fact tone.

“These are the only relative information regarding any significant news and events that had some kind of connection that had occurred in Lausanne, four years ago… particularly to the headquarters said to have been the place where the game was created. According to my analysis, the events you are involved with have been covered up.”

“I thought as much. There are organizations that are against the UNICORN and they might use that event to launch an anti-UNICORN propaganda.”

Rex checked the “news panels” one by one and in the middle of reading one news article, he then thought of something and looked at Cortana who was standing in a ‘corner’ while looking at him.

“Now that I think about it, how are you here?”

Cortana tilted her head, “Sir, you just thought that I am also a part of this game but was extracted by your father and made into an ‘external element’ so supposedly, The Warden’s [Lockdown] should’ve expelled me by now. But when I checked how the system is treating me…. it registered my core unit as an [item] of this world…. a Battle-AI…”

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Forcefully transported back to Terroa!!

Did that voice came from ‘him’ or……

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