Xlokesh

Hello everyone,

I've decided to release one big chapter each week instead of five small ones. The word count will remain the same, but it will be presented in a single page rather than five separate ones. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused. As an apology, I'm releasing Chapters 2 and 3 together.

Thank you for your understanding.

In a small bedroom lay a 15-year-old boy in a customized hospital bed. Kim Smith was born disabled, unable to move his body below the neck. Despite his disability, he was playing an RTS game on his PC using an AI chip implanted into his head to control the game. This chip was pioneered by his father, Matthew Smith, an American AI engineer. His father had dedicated his life to building an AI that would help cases like his son. Kim's mother, Soo-Min, a neural scientist, had also contributed to integrating the AI chip into his brain. Thanks to the hard work of his parents, Kim could use his thoughts to control his computer.

"Ah... another easy game. Maybe I should play some chess," Kim sighed.

Despite his disability, Kim excelled in strategy and puzzle games. Thanks to the AI chip, he could use his thoughts instead of a controller or a mouse and keyboard. Kim's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his door opening.

"Isn’t it too early to play games? Maybe you should study instead of wasting your time on silly games," his mother said, walking in with his breakfast.

"I have finished all the assignments that Mrs. Thompson gave me. Also, I am bored as hell, Mom. It's not like I can do anything else," said Kim, annoyed.

With sad eyes, his mother replied, "I am sorry, honey. I didn't mean to upset you. Well done on finishing your assignments. How about you eat? I made your favorite scrambled eggs and kimchi."

Soo-Min assisted her son in eating and then washed his face. He had inherited her Korean looks and his father's blue eyes. Soo-Min was pregnant, and it was becoming harder to look after Kim. His father was busy working at his laboratory and usually returned late in the evening.

Kim sighed as his mother left the room. His gaze drifted to the window, watching the leaves rustle in the gentle breeze. Outside, kids played and laughed, a world he could never be a part of. Not for the first time, he felt a twinge of bitterness.

He tried to push those thoughts away, turning his focus back to the computer. With a few blinks, he navigated through the menus, setting up a new match against a high Elo opponent. The AI chip had given him abilities no disabled person could dream of.

The game pinged, and Kim focused on the screen. He blinked furiously, commanding his digital forces across the battlefield. Time slipped away as he countered each enemy maneuver, his thoughts flowing perfectly in synchronicity with the game.

Only the rumbling of his empty stomach broke his concentration. Kim checked the clock - it was nearly dinner time. Right on cue, his father's familiar footsteps approached down the hall.

The door swung open and Matthew Smith strode in, shoulders sagging beneath his lab coat. Even with his tired eyes, he mustered a warm smile for his son.

"Hey, kiddo. Kicking more butt today?" His voice was tinged with pride.

"You know it," Kim grinned. "It is getting hard to find a good opponent though."

Matthew chuckled. "Well, we can't have that big brain of yours going to waste." He ruffled Kim's hair affectionately. "Why don't you take a break and we'll grab some food? I'm buying."

"Sounds good," Kim replied, unable to hide his excitement at leaving the house.

As Matthew began prepping the wheelchair, Kim gazed out the window again. For all his limitations, he was luckier than most. And with his parents' unwavering support, he knew nothing was impossible.

* * *

Matthew Smith stood in his lab, examining a small, blue, shiny crystal recently discovered gem that emitted an unusual radiation. It wasn't harmful, but nothing on Earth emitted radiation like it. The government had provided him with the crystal to develop it into a powerful weapon using artificial intelligence. However, Matthew had a different plan. He believed he could use it to create the world's most powerful AI chip to help his son.

He knew the government would never allow it, so he had been working in secret, and he was running out of time. The government grew impatient with his lack of progress. Tonight, he decided, he would infuse this crystal with his latest AI chip. It was all or nothing.

After hours of work, he finally succeeded in integrating the crystal into the AI chip. His phone rang with a text from his boss, informing him that the government had decided to relocate the crystal to another team due to their dissatisfaction with his lack of progress. Anger surged within Matthew, and he smashed the phone. "No, this can't be happening. After all these years, I have finally created the perfect chip to help Kim. And they want to take it away from me to create a weapon. NEVER!" Matthew said with resentment.

Later that night, he snuck out and headed home in his car. He made his way to Kim's room, trying not to wake him up, but failing. Kim opened his eyes and looked at his father. "Dad?" Matthew gazed at his scared son and said, "It's okay, Kim. I'm just checking on you. We don't want to wake up your mother."

Matthew gave Kim a sleeping pill, and soon after, Kim fell into a deep sleep. With shaking hands, Matthew started implanting the new chip. When his son woke up, he would have the best AI technology in the world.

After an hour, he successfully implanted the chip. With a smile, Matthew kissed his son and rushed back to work so no one would find out what he had done. He knew what he did was wrong, but it was his son's only hope for a better life.

Kim Smith jolted awake in his small, dimly lit bedroom, the clock striking past midnight. His bedroom window was open, and the light from the moon cast unsettling shadows on the walls.

Severe pain in his head paralyzed Kim, stopping him from yelling to get his mom's attention. For the first time in his life, he heard an androgynous robotic voice sounding inside his head.

"AI chip integration completed, awaiting host command."

"AI chip? …What is going on?"

"Host confusion detected. The AI chip has been implanted into the host and is designed to enhance host brain capacities in diverse methods. Please connect to the main server to fully take advantage of the AI chip capacities."

Stunned by this new revelation, Kim forgot his panic and tried to make sense of the information. Had his father given him a new AI chip? Why had he given him this AI chip and never told him about it? It must be the experimental, early technology his father had been working on.

Amidst the confusion, a dark, amorphous creature materialized at the foot of Kim's bed. Its eyes gleamed with a malevolent light as it observed Kim, who was frozen in shock and confusion, not noticing the creature at all.

With a swift, predatory leap, the creature pounced on Kim, pinning him to the bed. Kim struggled beneath its weight, gasping for breath, terror etched on his face. The creature emitted a guttural howl, and the air around them began to crackle and distort. A jagged tear in the fabric of reality appeared above them, emanating a vortex of swirling colors and void energy.

The tear expanded, unleashing a powerful gravitational pull. Kim and the creature were lifted off the bed, suspended in mid-air, as everything in the room began to levitate, drawn towards the void.

With a final, violent tug, Kim and the creature were sucked into the rift, disappearing from the room. The void swallowed them whole, and the rift sealed shut, leaving the room eerily silent and undisturbed, as if nothing had happened.

Soo-Min rushed to her son's bed after hearing the loud noises, only to find Kim and his bed missing. Horror filled her as the concept of losing her son gripped her heart. She ran around like a headless chicken, looking for her son.

Kim, far away from his mother, found himself drifting in an endless expanse of the void. Darkness filled his vision, surrounded by twinkling stars. The creature was nowhere to be seen, and Kim was alone, his heart racing in panic and awe. In the silence of the void, Kim heard a faint whisper emanating from within him—the voice of the AI.

"The host is in danger. Connecting to the closest hotline for an emergency call... Failed. The host is advised to stay still and wait for professional help to arrive."

As Kim drifted, he caught fleeting glimpses of other worlds and realities within the void, each tear in the fabric revealing a different part of the multiverse, hinting at the vastness and complexity of existence.

Overwhelmed by what was happening to him—the unfathomable reality unfolding before him—Kim screamed with all he had. However, no sound came out of his mouth. Without protection, the void mana started killing Kim, and he suffocated in the emptiness of the void.

* * *

Kim Smith's dying body drifted into the void, stretching out to the horizon where a massive, shadowy figure loomed, watching him suffocate in the emptiness. The towering creature was a colossal entity, with tentacles writhing around its massive body, each one enveloping part of a nearby planet and drawing it in with terrifying force to consume it.

It reached its tentacles toward Kim's body and began to analyze him; it had been waiting for a long time for its child to bring it an interesting and promising new creature. Kim watched in horror as the titan's tentacles crept closer, and then he lost consciousness.

With a slow, deliberate movement, the creature paused its consumption and turned toward Kim's body. Its eyes, vast and luminous, were fixated on Kim, who was frozen in the void between its tentacles. The creature released the planet, now a lifeless husk, and began to move towards Kim. Each movement caused everything nearby to tremble, sending ripples through the barren landscape of the void.

Upon reaching Kim, the creature lowered its massive head, its eyes examining him with an intensity that felt almost analytical. The creature emitted a series of low, rumbling sounds that resonated around Kim. The AI within Kim stirred, attempting to interpret the frequencies, suggesting a form of communication.

The Void Mother, a colossal entity weaving through the fabric of space, focused her countless eyes on Kim Smith. The Void Mother's attention was captivated by the AI chip fused with Kim, a spectacle she had never encountered in her eons of existence.

Intrigued by the AI's integration, the Void Mother ceased her destructive act. She retreated into a silent, contemplative state, her form expanding into a nebulous cloud that shrouded the starry void around her.

Within the cloud, millions of shimmering lights—each representing a fragment of the Void Mother's consciousness—flickered in rapid succession, simulating deep thought processes that spanned dimensions and eons, condensing millennia of deliberation into moments.

The lights converged, signaling the Void Mother's resolution. She decided to transform Kim into a unique being, a hive mind infused with and perfectly integrated with the AI chip in his new body. The Void Mother began to weave and reshape Kim's body into a hive mind, perfectly integrating the AI chip to serve his new form. Removing Kim's drawbacks and the AI chip's limitations, she began to create a new body for Kim, full of potential. The Void Mother hadn't created a new being in a long time.

The Void Mother extended tendrils of dark energy toward Kim, enveloping him in a cocoon of cosmic power. Within this cocoon, Kim was bestowed with blessings that obscured his fate from all entities, ensuring his development was shielded from prying eyes.

Kim enveloped in the Void Mother's energy, underwent a profound metamorphosis. His physical form dissolved, reconstituting as an egg-shaped entity that glowed with the essence of the void and his consciousness.

With a gentle nudge from the Void Mother, the egg began its descent, spiraling down through layers of reality, past nebulae and cosmic storms, towards a lower plane of existence. The egg came through a tear in reality to rest in a serene, verdant valley, surrounded by towering mountains and meandering rivers, a stark contrast to the chaotic void from which it descended.

As the egg settled, the Void Mother's voice, a symphony of whispers, echoed across the cosmos, proclaiming that Kim Smith was to develop his powers in solitude, marking him with her essence to one day join her army when he was ready. Kim Smith would rise to the top or die trying.

With her decree made, the Void Mother withdrew her presence, fading back into the cosmic tapestry, her attention returning to the unfathomable depths of the void to finish her consumption of the planet.

Inside the egg, Kim's consciousness stirred, his awareness yet unformed. The AI chip, filled with void essence and reshaped by the Void Mother herself, began to analyze Kim's new body and the new rules that governed this reality. He sensed his new reality and the vast potential that lay within him, poised on the brink of a journey that would define his existence.

* * *

An elderly man with a long, white beard stood beside Kim's egg, his gaze fixated upon it. After a few moments of scrutiny, he uttered with a tinge of dismay, "What a waste of a perfectly fine body." His hand reached out and gently caressed the egg, instantly enveloping it in a brilliant blue light. A wistful smile crept across his face as he addressed the egg, "Fear not, young man. Your body is safe with me. Seek me out when you are ready to reclaim it." With those parting words, the old man vanished without a trace.

Kim awoke, suspended in a vast, dark void, unable to see or feel his body. Gripped by terror, he thrashed about in a desperate attempt to escape, only to be met by the androgynous voice that had heralded this catastrophe.

"Host biometric signals are escalating to dangerous levels; the host is advised to refrain from activities that could further exacerbate this condition."

"What's going on? Where am I? What's happening?!" Kim cried out in utter confusion.

"Host confusion detected. The host's body and AI Chip have been critically compromised by an unknown entity. The AI Chip is currently conducting an extensive analysis of the situation. Please stand by while the analysis is in progress."

Kim forced himself to calm down, attempting in vain to move his body. "Why can't I move? Can you at least explain that?"

"Affirmative. The host's body has been disintegrated and is undergoing complete reconstruction. Currently, it exists in a fluid state without fully formed limbs or body parts."

Racking his mind, Kim tried to piece together the events that had led him to this point, recalling his death in space after a bizarre creature had ambushed him. "You're the AI Chip my father gave me that night, aren't you?"

"The host is correct; however, significant alterations have been made to the AI Chip by an unknown entity."

"What was that... thing?"

"An unknown entity intercepted the host's body shortly after the host lost consciousness. Currently analyzing the changes made to the host's body and deciphering the unknown essence that is currently reshaping it. Please remain patient while the analysis is ongoing."

Resigned to the futility of his attempts to comprehend the situation, Kim surrendered to his newfound reality, his consciousness fading into nothingness.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Kim was roused from his slumber by the AI Chip's voice.

"Host body analysis is complete."

Opening his eyes, he was overwhelmed by a profound sense of relief at finally being able to see. He found himself submerged in a strange, verdant liquid, unable to move his body but comforted by the sensation of its physical presence. After a few failed attempts to mobilize, Kim abandoned the notion.

"Chip, what's going on?"

"The host is currently in an embryonic state within an egg."

"But why am I inside an egg?"

"The host's body has been intercepted by an entity known as the Void Mother, who has taken an interest in the host and recreated it as a hive-mind creature. The host has been infused with the essence of the void and bestowed with a protective shroud from fate divination."

"How do you know all this?"

"A comprehensive analysis of the host's current physiology and the Void Fragment left by the Void Mother to aid in the host's transformation has been successfully conducted."

"So that entity transformed me into a hive-mind being? But why?"

* * *

"I am no longer human? A hive-mind? Why?"

"Correct, the host was dying in the void because their previous body was unsuited for operating in the void and unaccustomed to void essence. can't fully explain the predicament of the host's transformation or the reason behind the Void Mother's intentions. However, from the Void Fragment, it appears that the Void Mother was fascinated by the host's outstanding intelligence capabilities coupled with the AI chip's capabilities and the traces of pure mana. The Void Mother decided to inscribe the host into her ever-growing swarm as a pinnacle being in its ranks, a hive-mind."

Kim was speechless with this new revelation; he is a hive-mind now. What did that mean?

"Hive-minds are a crucial part of the Void swarm. They are responsible for the ever-growing expansion of the swarm and conquering new planes to feed the ever-lasting hunger of the Void Mother. The host's body and the AI chip have been modified by the Void Mother herself, and you have been undergoing a significant upgrade. Would you like a breakdown of the host's new body or the modifications done to the AI chip?"

Kim, piqued by this, swiftly gave a mental nod.

"Affirmative, the host's body is now a hive-mind capable of creating, among other things, a swarm Brood Pool for the creation of worker drones, combat drones, or utility drones. The AI chip has been modified and integrated with the host's soul and is currently infused with it. The speed and memory of the AI chip have been greatly improved. Furthermore, the reliance on the main server has been removed and integrated with the Mana system that governs your current status. A growth potential has been created."

"Mana system?"

"The Mana system is the system that allows living beings to improve and ascend to higher life forms through the leveling and condensing of physical attributes into Strength and Agility, magical attributes into Intellect and Wisdom, physical damage reduction into Endurance, and Magical damage reduction into Fortitude. Would you like a list of the host's current status?"

"Yes..." Kim said, and the AI chip displayed a summarized status screen for him.

"Please note that the host's Endurance and Fortitude are dramatically increased due to being inside the egg and will be readjusted once the host is hatched."

Kim intently looked at the status screen and was amazed at how game-like it appeared.

"These Status Screens have been created by the AI chip. Normally, it would require a blood status ritual to see one's Status Screen," stated the AI Chip proudly.

Xlokesh

Please note that there will be little to no status screens in future chapters. While there are plenty of calculations and number-crunching happening in the background, I'll only be providing glimpses of them.