I connected Minerva to the improved phone I made in the Library World. Her broadcast tower should be able to interface with my phone easily, and I wanted to keep in contact with her. Once I finished her integration, I had Tom follow me outside and brought him to the storage shed. I pulled out my fancy new bike with its engine and presented it in all of its glory.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, man. I mean, I walked here and this is much better than walking, but you have creation powers. Can’t you do something a little better for us?”

“Ha-ha, yea let me see what I can cook up, ya pansy. A little bike riding might even be good for you, y’know?”

“Hey! I got plenty of exercise walking here and helping you install those panels. Let me enjoy the comforts of civilization once again.”

I closed my eyes and went through the various vehicles I had schematics for. Nothing was really jumping out at me, until I remembered the iconic Puma from a web series I had watched online. Pretty much everyone had seen it if you were familiar with the game series Ring: Battle Evolved or Ring 2-4.

“Yea, yea. Alright, you’re gonna love this.”

I didn’t have enough True Knowledge about the vehicle from the game, so I couldn’t even try to create it outright. However, I could create a frame and model it after the vehicle then add an engine and transmission.

I created the frame first out of steel and overlayed it in the graphene compound to give it more protection. Once I finished, I added the modeled panels out of thin aluminum and covered them in the graphene material to look exactly like the Puma from the game. This should make the vehicle extremely lightweight and pretty much bulletproof. Luckily, I had a much higher mana pool than when I first created the engine for the bicycle.

I created motors and a battery bank modeled after the Nikola cars that had been taking over the world before this all happened. This would be much easier to maintain and more reliable than creating a normal combustion engine and transmission for the Puma.

Once everything was together, I started work on the interior. I created racing seats made from carbon with 5-point harnesses and connected the steering wheel. I put a touch screen car control in and gave us some climate control.

Tom was off to the side wondering what I was creating until he saw the pieces come together and form the famous Puma from one of our favorite games.

“No way you’re making a Puma! That’s so awesome! Can I drive?!”

“On the way back you can take it over, ha-ha. I’m not done yet, give me a minute and it’ll be finished for real.”

Once I finished the interior design, I had to add a turret to the back so I copied the design from the wall and integrated it with the frame in the rear. With this, it finally looked like the real thing. Of course, the turret would be automated under Minerva’s control. Why would I rely on having a person in the open waiting to be shot or fall off? We weren’t Spartans with superhuman strength and armor to protect us.

I hopped in and started it up, checking over all the systems to make sure they functioned properly before directing Minerva from my phone to connect with the Puma. She booted up on the console and displayed the relevant controls for me.

Beckoning to the eager Tom outside, he hopped in and fastened the harness before we took off. It should be fairly quick getting to town like this, but let's see if we can approach the limits of this thing on the way.

I floored it down the road from my house, leaving smoke behind me as the rubber tires roasted from the torque. We hit 70 MPH in less than 4 seconds with each independent motor on the wheels going all out. This was pretty good for me considering most vehicles on the market before wouldn’t be able to achieve similar speeds.

I tested the control by weaving in and out of the painted lane in the road. It could take turns like no other vehicle I had ever driven. This thing responded on a dime and actively corrected wheel spin and power to each wheel for the best control thanks to Minerva’s constant analysis and activity.

I let her take full control of the car to see what she could do. To say I was surprised was an understatement. Maybe I shouldn’t have included video game driving mechanics in the training she underwent. She started drifting from side to side, pushing the absolute limits of the vehicle on speed and the g-force that we could handle. Sliding around obstacles she started veering off the road and circling trees like a rally car driver as she hopped back on the road from a ditch at an angle that let her slide sideways back into our lane.

She evened back out and let me take control of the vehicle again, showing a “Sorry =D” on the console in the vehicle.

“Seems like she’s getting a little bit of a personality huh Ava? I didn’t think she would start to learn about things that I haven’t directed her to so quickly.”

“Yea, it looks like the combination of things she took in gave her some ability to relate to the kind of attitude around most soldiers. She’ll probably be what you would call an adrenaline junkie in the future if she keeps this up.”

I laughed in my mind, thinking about a hyped-up super intelligence becoming an adrenaline junkie chasing the next high from approaching the limits of the facilities available to her.

Tom was shaking beside me, leaving a hand imprint on the interior I designed as he held on to the “Oh Shit” handle for dear life.

“Hey man, could you tell her to not do that while I’m in here? I played as many Essential Speed games as the next guy, but that was way more intense than I thought it would be.”

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful as I navigated to the town for the first time since my last near-death experience. We arrived at the town as several of Minerva’s drones came in from the perimeter and surrounded us.

I had an awkward feeling inside my body as I thought about interacting with some of the people that might recognize me and explaining my situation as well as theirs. Hopefully, everything would flow as smoothly as possible, but I had a feeling that things wouldn’t be that simple.