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Chapter 319: Cortana Evolves

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“Akhenaton, go back to the castle and repair your body… prepare to jump in three minutes! Oh, and don’t forget to bring those four spikes back with you! I need them.”

[…]

[…]

To those on the comms line and to those listening on the communications channel on the Fortress, this last remark caught them really off-guard.

Siva…. had really changed; or not. Perhaps this is his desperation kicking in.

Right now, he wasn’t actually in a safer situation and yet he was still able to think about looting in this place. Even Scion was lost for words. Not that she was aware of what it meant, but because she was not aware what Siva meant that she looked back at the people with a look asking for a bit of an explanation. Of course, no one gave her the answer.

On Siva’s side, four spikes from a True Dragon is still monster resource.

He wasn’t planning to die here and so of course, he wouldn’t waste this opportunity to gather a rare loot of a True Dragon’s bone projectile.

But then, Thorn asked, “Who is Cortana?”

He looked around him and all of them gave him a shrug of their shoulders or a tiny shake of their heads… none of them knew who this Cortana is.

Because of the situation, Siva failed to control his emotions and wasn’t in liberty to spare effort to hide Cortana.

They just had to ask him later on.

Siva remained silent when he heard the question but he ignored it, pretending that he hadn’t heard anything.

At the last moment of the Azeroth and LongHorn bombardments, an entirely different all-out attack was unleashed at the belly of the dragon.

Not a moment later, the alien spider and the puppets all rushed in like a group of swat team, led by the BMA that took the form of an entirely larger drill-shaped weapon.

The insides were only 30% of the entire defense strength of the dragon and less than 70% of that made it even more…. Ineteresting.

It was like preparing for a kebab.

More agonized cries came from the dragon and Siva was fed the information of the Master Puppet directly to his brain.

“How are you doing this?!” he yelped.

“It’s just reverse process, boss. Just like how I scan your neural inputs, I just fed you the output data on the puppets that I am controlling.”

“The Master Puppets weren’t fitted with any video or audio devices… these information… they’re…”

“From scans. Since we are on ‘land’ right now, I used the spare 30% output of the [Generator] to fit the BMA the function of using the [Absolute Domain] like an extended skin. I read the data and reverse feed it to you with a latency rate of 0.1%.”

“You mean within the 100m radius from the [core] of the BMA, it can also serve like a scanner?”

“Yes sir. I used the Auricle’s scanning capabilities as a reference to develop this function. It will eat up 30% of the [Generator’s] energy output.”

Siva’s mind worked.

One Master Puppet = 10% of the Energy Pool

He has seven right now, not counting the BMA itself who held the [Generator] on its body, so that’s 70% of the Energy Pool.

By using the remaining 30% that’s supposed to be used for the BMA’s flight capability, Siva gains an additional scanning ability that enhances his own personal perception of everything around him.

Yes, the Auricle can scan 150m away from Siva but the difference on that is that… the BMA can be remotely controlled via the [Orbiter Bracelet] and everything it scans is also treated as Siva’s own sensory extension.

And by what he understood from Cortana’s words is that he can scan, and project, his perception with a 100m accuracy within a 2.5km distance from his body through the BMA.

“It’s like having a clone that I can control with no problems of having a Game Over.”

“Exactly, sir.”

“The problem with this is that it has a very limited distance of 2.5km. It’s dependent on my bracelet.”

As soon as he said that, a thought also struck him and he looked at Cortana who didn’t reply to his statement since she had already read his mind.

She only gave him a smile.

“Of course, we can just Invent a signal repeater.”

Cortana nodded. “I will download the necessary information for the designs in the Net.”

“Heh… the final form of the BMA I have in mind is not even the most optimal form of it yet.”

Siva looked at Cortana who was standing in front of him on his vision.

If she was really capable of self-sufficiency and is not dependent on him to function, then perhaps she might just become the most brilliant individual in the entire world—

—both worlds!

This was a startling ability. It wasn’t an ability that can be listed in the Ability List on the Player Panel and it also wasn’t an ability that was installed in the BMA’s Information Window.

Meaning, it was Cortana’s ability and with him, or rather, through him, she can manifest this ability with the BMA.

Siva was startled, “How is this possible? I mean, how are you doing that? Why does it not affect me… how does it work? Why don’t I know it?”

“Boss… would you believe me if I… if I somehow ended up discovering my own capabilities when I learned how to study your neural patterns?”

“You mean how I think?”

Of course, Cortana was able to read Siva’s mind right now on how Siva felt that this is both overly offensive on his privacy and also kind of sparking curiosity on his end… as an engineer…

…as a scientist—

—as a physicist.

—as an Inventor………

—as a gamer.

—as a desperate who needed as much power he could personally control in his hands.

Being ‘studied’ how you think evoked pretty much over a dozen kinds of emotions in him; there were confusion, fury, understanding, curiosity; there is also compassion and indifference; there was also a spark of hope and strands of pride and thankful luck that his father sent her over.

Siva was shell-shocked, surprised, but it didn’t last that long. Of all the emotions in him right now, the most prevalent reaction in his heart is gratitude.

Because he understood that his father wouldn’t send Cortana to him if he knows that she will do him harm.

Everything that is [Cortana] and the facts that he had heard —both from his dad’s message and on what she spoke of— everything, all of it; he truly and one-sidedly believe in it because it came from his dad.

“So by studying how I think, you evolved this fast and is even surprised by your own capabilities?”

Cortana shrugged, “Pretty much.”

Whether it was intentional or is a real sign of her developing a real personality of her own, that expression of ‘ironic helplessness’ and acceptance could only be made by a real person.

Perhaps… she really is evolving…

To be an [AI] that had actually learned how to be self-sufficient and independent of any human intervention and inputs.

Capable of thinking matter for her own, to decide for the side that she wants… in fact, to actually have a ‘want’ rather than a ‘need’… this much is a sign she would have evolved.

Although she was far from it, she was on the way there… perhaps…

…Siva really is the [key] to giving her that chance to fully evolve into an independent sentient being.

BLUB!BLUB!BLUB~~!!

In the middle of Siva’s musings, bubbles began to form on the shaking stomach juices of the dragon and from there, the bubbles began to rile up and seemed to be boiling.

“What now…”

“The dragon is howling in pain, sir. It is preparing to heal itself again.”

Siva was sharing his thoughts regarding the control over the BMA and he could ‘see’ that the drilling on the insides of the dragon was proceeding in a very smooth manner.

For some reason, right now, he could see around him in a 300m-wide sphere, with him in the middle of it. This is the data provided by the Auricle Scan on his ear, now, being arranged and reorganized by Cortana as a spherical rendering of information that’s directly fed to Siva’s consciousness.

The actual latency is 0.01% which is negligible if considering actual world-awareness speed.

On Siva’s senses, even if it’s dark, he could still see everything around him down to the very last speck of dust —and even more.

“This is a very magnificent feeling. It’s like I can touch the wind itself as a physical substance.”

“It still has a lot of room for improvement, boss.”

“True. In addition to the [repeaters], we also have to design something that has the same functions as the Auricle’s [Scan]. I can’t believe you’ve only developed this now…”

“Yes, boss. I’ve only developed this ability just a few moments ago.”

BLUB!BLUB!BLUB~~!!

While looking down at the now boiling acidic gold and brown liquid, where Siva should be panicking, he was actually lost in thought.

Or rather, his senses was divided somewhere else that can also be explained as if having a third arm that was not physically connected to him.

He was aware of his physical body’s surrounding, of course, and that’s why he wasn’t flustered by the boiling acid of death in front of him.

“Soon…” he could feel it.

It was coming straight for him.

“Sir, ten seconds before the last three minutes.”

“Is it now?” Siva smiled. In his mental calculations, everything would still fit in this tiny window in the next moments more. “I will survive here. If there is a god, then perhaps he hasn’t abandoned me in this mess, after all.”

He summoned the hammer-axe and then held at the extended haft of the Dragon Blade.

Siva glanced at it and thought bitterly, “Without the main body of the BMA close to me, I can’t change the forms of the parts that it made.”

The hammer-axe is part of the [Omni Forms] of the Black Master Armament, after all. It wasn’t an independent item like the seven Master Puppets.

“Now then…” when he murmured this, Siva began to emit an orange aura on his body.

Legendary MOD!

Artemis MOD: «Transcendence»

POOM!!!

It’s like having a muffled explosion right inside the stomach of the dragon. His orange aura exploded like a supernova, rattling the wildly boiling acid juices for a moment, seething at the welcome of a transcendent being.

Inside this large cave, while his other arm was still stabbing its claw to the stomach wall, his other hand is now holding to the hammer-axe.

Siva, right now, looked like a War God, and there is now sign of his black smoke skin anywhere.

In fact… on his back… was a silhouette of a pair of golden dust wings.

His skin glowed gold and white, and what should have been the malevolent aura have been made an accessory to a gorgeous and elegant-looking Siva who’s face, right now, radiated a different kind of holiness on him.

Right…

This was some sort of Mortal holiness; the kind where women of certain preferences will kneel down and pray in front of him.

While the “Siva” that showed up in Dragona is the corrupted version influenced by Mefisto’s last sentiments; or a “Siva” who appeared at the Cellar Dungeons, being the cleansed form, the “Shiva” who had truly cared and loved Terra; or the “Siva” —the Trinity God— sealed by his own mortal side that has yet to come…… all three “Siva” had that [God] aura and presence with them.

This [Godly Presence] is what people feel and subconsciously fear of him; it’s what makes them uncontrollably bow down when he is awake.

In the larger picture of things, the [Mortal] is the Siva that Thorn and Volt hangs out with;

The [Divine] is the Siva that they saw in the Cellar Dungeons underneath Apus Epirus, a Siva that is compassionate and understanding, the Siva that is the embodiment of love and kindness;

And then the [God] is the Siva… the Siva that the world has yet to see, and fears to see, and does not want to see, for they are not sure of his own alignment, and thus is a threat to all life.

All these versions of Siva…

…had that godly presence on them and when the people who had felt that presence before could only see this Siva right now, they would all agree with a single statement: that this is, externally, a different “Siva”.

This “Siva”, externally, may be sorted as the Ying of the Yang, or even the white of the black…

Or in just shorter terms… he was the opposite of the cursed form of Siva.

He was simply… beautiful.

The scar on the left side of his face was still there and in fact, his casually indifferent gaze looked like that of a real transcendent being that does not care anything on the mundane world.

It was but a simple activation of a MOD and yet the changes it brought upon his presence was a complete turnaround.

In fact, his smile, right now, wasn’t that any bit different from how he was smiling on his cursed form.

All he did was simple activate the MOD’s ability but the revolting sight of his cursed form changed into what could inspire the world to willingly die and prostrate down on his feet.

—like what was said, this “Siva” right now is the complete opposite of the one earlier.

SPASH! SPASH! SPASH! SPASH~~!!

One figure after another arrived in front of him followed by a very loud cry of agony, alongside the shaking of the entire chamber.

Siva didn’t waste more time and jumped in midair, the BMA jumping to join him, transforming into his suit of armor in but a moment’s time.

The series of clanging sounds ended and all of his Master Puppets vanished inside his inventory.

“All openings sealed.” Cortana’s cool voice rang.

Right now, Siva had officially assumed an avatar of destruction; the golden orange aura radiating like smoke atop his armor.

Siva fell towards boiling acid but as soon as he had reached 30m above the searing boiling surface of that lake, he stopped and looked around him.

“Boss, the attacks had ended; starting countdown to jump now.”

Siva looked down at the boiling lake and saw that it was now stained with blood. The entrance of the Master Puppets wasn’t actually that gentle.

“Time to begin.”

Siva lifted his hammer-axe and with this action, it changed form into a giant sword, 3m long.

The Dragon Blade was still the handle, and on top of it was still the Godhammer, occupying half of the entire blade body.

Its blade formed segmented parts, with tiny gaps that looked like teeth in close inspection, shining with blue and white lights, pulsing with power, its every beat stressing the existence of his body’s golden-orange aura.

Even the red cape on his back was also tinged the orange of its gold, like wings fluttering in the wind that doesn’t exist in this cave of flesh.

“Cortana, assuming your learning phase is as its peak, can you use sound-pulse method to locate the heart of the dragon?”

“Give me ten seconds, boss.” Cortana replied with a tone of excitement. She closed his eyes, doing her work.

After five seconds, she opened his eyes and bid him a smile, “Please pull up two puppets and make them change according to this form.”

Cortana pulled up a window on her side but the information was directly fed to Siva via their link.

Siva swiped the air and pulled out the [Destroyer] and the [Gunslinger]. With but a thought, they abandoned their humanoid forms and changed into what looked like a satellite disc megaphone.

“I’ll control the [Absolute Domain].” She says, “I need charge, boss.”

“On it.”

A Stun E-Grenade appeared and crackled with its charged electricity on his hand and it was absorbed by the [core] at the back of Siva’s left hand.

The next that happened was that a wave of visible motes of white light formed around the satellite-disc megaphone and was absorbed inside it.

With another pulse, the 1.5m large device made a hum and activated its function.

It rotated for a five seconds before stopping on a direction where the humming sound stopped.

“Done.” She says, “I now have a map of the body of the dragon. Transmitting data… boss?”

“I got it.”

Siva stored the item and then fed another Stun E-Grenade to the [core] just to be sure and spoke to their comms channel.

“Cramer, Alice. I will only buy time. Go back to the island and prepare for the jump.”

[Just do your thing, brother.]

[Don’t make Mandy cry again.]

“I won’t. This won’t take more than three minutes.”

He has been informed that Akhenaton was at the base now and in the middle of repairing. Now that he had lesser things to worry about, he contacted the Miranda through Cortana’s initiative.

“Rafaela.” In the video call that connected, he saw the beautiful woman in his (bad) memories in her Commander Uniform that gave her a different kind of charm that the always provocative her that he was used to. “I don’t have time to chat but I still want to say my thanks. In three minutes, we will be jumping out. There is a possibility that the dragon will attack you after I left. Be prepared to escape the city’s vicinity.”

“What? It will attack Alexandria?”

“It may. It may not. But even if it does, trust my word that no danger will befall Alexandria. But I still need to tell you to at least get out of there.”

Rafaela paused for a moment, then nodded. She wanted to say more things but she knew that time was precious.

Newgate then spoke to her, “The dragon had put its aggro on us.”

“Siva!” she cried in surprise.

The dragon is going to attack the city.

.

.

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Is it friendship or skinship working its magic?

Siva makes contact with Rafaela…

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