Chapter 52: System Update
1.3k 17 43
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

POV – Stanley

Stanley sat in the middle of the throne room testing the limits of his talents. In had only been a couple hours since Schrödinger began attempting to fix glitches and bugs that appeared.

“Tada! All finished!” Schrödinger appeared with the smuggest grin a cat face possibly could have.

Before the system had been damaged, thus the help it provided was limited. Now, though, with the help of an AI, several issues had been resolved.

“Here take a look.” Schrödinger said, waving his tail from the center of the room toward Stanley.

<A program is asking for permission to install.>

<Download?>

<Yes? / No?>

<Warning this is an unrecognized publisher!>

<Downloading from unrecognized sources is not recommended and potentially illegal. Please see section 7-II of the intergalactic system treaty for additional information about system regulations and personal legal responsibilities.>

Stanley blinked at the message in surprise.

Legal responsibilities?

Intergalactic system treaty?

“Sorry, that’s an automated message. Let me just change that.” Schrödinger quickly interfered and the message disappeared replaced with a different message.

<Super-amazing download containing new features available!>

<Download?>

<Yes? / Yes?>

<Created by the cutest and coolest cat in the universe!>

<Absolutely no danger involved!>

There isn’t even an option to say ‘No’… Why do I feel as though I accidentally installed a virus?

This is shadier than a used cars salesman attempting to sell a spaceship ride to Jupiter.

Should… should I really download it?

[Stanley chose to download the program.]

Right… well, okay. That answers that question. Despite my instincts that I developed over years on the Internet screaming this is a bad idea, I agreed to the download.

After it finished downloading, the system suddenly began running smoother than before and new features became available.

The first thing that popped up was a system menu.

<Ability>

<Talents>

<Map>

In addition to the normal system’s capability that allowed the identification of his ability, the program allowed him to view his current talents and their cooldown along with a providing a map.

Still, although the number of features added is limited, Stanley was surprised at the usefulness of the options created.

The most impressive of the options is the full scale version of the map. It projected the surrounding area in large scale in-front of him. Instead of a typically flat map, the holographic map portrayed a realistic elevation and with an editable scale.

Throughout the map of the city, there were around a thousand of red dots. As it turns out, the map has the useful feature of showcasing the location of monsters through red dots.

“So a map was standard before the system reset?” Stanley asked surprised at the completeness of features available on the map.

Schrödinger responded in a semi-playful tone, “Mmmhmm. That’s why it didn’t take a particularly long time to fix. The only other thing I fixed was a bug that caused the translation system to fail while translating the written word. I can’t really be bothered to fix the other issues though.”

Can an AI be lazy? Because it sounds like he’s being lazy.

Still, this update sounds useful. If Tracy and I had this map system when we were exploring Hell Difficulty, it would’ve been a million times easier.

Speaking of Tracy… I need to get back to her. She must be getting worried at this point. I didn’t think going into that game would lead to being teleported to another area.

Stanley stared at the dots moving about the city and asked carefully. “Are these red dots doppelgangers?”

“Yep. City’s plagued with them. Around half the population.” Schrödinger said pouncing over toward the map.

What? Half of the population? How is that possible?

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Stanley moved toward the map staring at the many dots, before pacing back and forth.

Schrödinger flicked his ear and answered, “Hmm… Well, not particularly. Doppelgangers are mostly harmless. They aren’t particularly powerful either.”

Really? That’s odd, the female doppelganger from earlier knocked me out easily. Although I suppose she did leave me alive.

“Why are they considered monsters then and not part of the intelligent races?” Stanley asked pacing throughout the room.

Schrödinger explained, “It’s mainly a species distinction. They purify mana and are born from mana, even if they’re wiped out some will eventually be recreated from mana. Anyway, you can basically ignore them. They can only cause weak people trouble. With your ability at rank 4, they won’t be able to cause you any problems.”

Okay… That’s odd… How does he know my ability’s rank?

Still, I'm not going to confront him on his complete disregard for my privacy.

“Right… Well, I didn’t notice any bugs while going through the system. Do you know the way out of this zone?” Stanley asked, fishing for information.

Schrödinger’s tail gestured toward the map. A white beacon stretching to the sky appeared in a location near the southwest corner of the city on the map.

“There you go… I’ll go ahead and make that a standard feature.” Schrödinger casually stated.

Memorizing the location of the beacon, Stanley absentmindedly replied, “Right… Thanks. I’m gonna get going.”

As Stanley began walking away, Schrödinger meowed, “If you need anything, let me knyow.”

Turning around as he walked away, Stanley asked, “How?”

“Well, I’ll be monitoring you anyway… but, if I’m busy with other things, you can contact me using the new contact option I just added to your menu.”

Right… cause that isn’t creepy at all.

I’m starting to see the reason the other AI locked him up.

No regard for privacy.

Favoritism for particular individuals.

… and, judging by the state of the Decima Game we played earlier, several murderous tendencies.

Was it really a good idea to release him back into the system?

POV Swap - Rin

As Rin steadily walked forward back toward the base camp, countless questions clouded her mind and anger burned in her heart.

She still doesn’t agree with Tobias’ assessment that it was necessary to reload to here. In fact, at this point, Rin was livid with him.

They could’ve found another way to deal with the illness created by the void flower. Even if it took longer, it would’ve been worth it.

That’s why… That why this was a mistake.

That’s why Rin was livid with him and herself for listening to him. She should never have chosen to reload this far back.

She should never have listened to Tobias and should’ve just found another way. Unfortunately, she would never see him again.

Sure, Tobias was here…. But he wasn’t her Tobias.

He wasn’t the Tobias she’d spent years with and married. He was a shadow, a seed with the potential to become him… But he wasn’t Tobias.

Even looking at him caused her heart to ache.

Her Tobias confidently assured her they were the same person… But after comparing them, she knew in her heart.

They weren’t.

And it broke her heart.

All this trouble because of some stupid flower was killing him.

She loved him… but she didn’t love him.

She loved the person Tobias was and gradually came to love the person Tobias became… But that meant she didn’t love the person he was anymore.

At the moment, Rin hated her power. It only allowed her to travel backward in time, never forward in time.

Meaning Tobias, her Tobias, is gone forever.

Unwilling to give up and lacking many other options, her only choice is to either attempt to build this Tobias back into the person she loves… Or fall back in love with this version of Tobias.

Both are monumentally difficult tasks.

However, Rin’s never given up on something before merely because it was difficult.

POV – Tobias

When Rin and I arrived back at the basecamp, it was already morning. Sidney remained asleep within the barrier I set up for her, but Bai Xiaobao was nowhere to been seen.

Alright… That’s slightly odd. I wouldn't peg Bai Xiaobao as someone who would head off on his own.

Breaking the barrier around Sidney, I checked on her. She’s still breathing, so that’s good.

“Well, Sidney seems fine.” I stated as I headed back toward Rin, who had begun packing up her bag, before asking. “Do you know where Bai Xiaobao went?”

Rin gesturing with a knife into the distance and announced, “I told him to leave. He’s too troublesome to keep around.”

Okay… Well, “I’d appreciate it if you’d talk to me before making decisions like that.”

“I did.” Rin commented, her wolf-ears flicking in the process.

Right… How am I supposed to respond to that?

I know she didn’t talk to me about it which means she must’ve spoken to the future me about it.

“Okay… Can I ask if you know anything about this wristband.” I asked gesturing to the wristband on my left-wrist.

“How long ago did you get it?” Rin inquired as she stood up and touched the wristband on my left arm.

Realizing exactly why she hadn’t addressed it, Rin was already used to me having it. Thinking back on the exact timing, I replied to Rin’s question, “Errr… Since yesterday around noon?”

“Yesterday?” Rin muttered to herself, obviously busy thinking about something.

Choosing to patiently wait for an answer, I stood there awkwardly as Rin held onto my wrist.

Rin pondered, “I believe the message you left for yourself was, choose the spear.”

Choose the spear? That isn’t particularly helpful.

“Anything else?” I asked hopeful for more, potentially useful, information.

Rin shook her head, refusing to provide further information, “You stated that telling that you more would be detrimental.”

Apparently Rin reloading this far back wasn’t unplanned, I seem to have made various preparations...

Which leads to one question, “If I made so many preparations, I should have examined the Hell Difficulty tutorial and what ability to choose beside the void flower. Tell me, what ability did I decide on.”

“None, you won’t be acquiring an different ability. Train the ability you already have.” Rin stated, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward her.

“The unnoticed has limited combat potential. To survive at the later zones of Hell Difficulty I need another ability.”

“I wasn’t talking about the unnoticed.” Rin mentioned, cutting open a wound on my arm using her sword and collecting the blood that dripped from it into her waterskin.

“Ow! What the hell are you doing?” I yelped and confronted her, shocked and distracted by the sudden pain from my arm.

“Anti-petrification potion.” Rin informed unhelpfully and let go of my arm.

The wound had already healed, but the phantom pain remained. Rubbing the left over blood away, I asked, “Couldn’t you have warned me?”

“No. You wouldn’t have agreed.” Rin said with certainty.

Grumbling to myself, I argued, “I might have…”

“You never agree when I ask. It’s always, ‘Why do you need it?’ and ‘What do you mean there no reason beside curiosity?’. It gets very annoying.” Rin casually said, while attempting to imitate my voice.

I’m not sure whether I should feel angry about her bluntness or the casual admittance to there being no reason beside curiosity that she wanted my blood and took it without asking.

Deciding to let it go for now, I changed the topic. “Besides that, you mentioned training another ability besides the unnoticed?”

“Your precognition.” Rin commented, sealing up the waterskin.

Precognition? What precognition?

Is she talking about how I know information about future zones and artifacts? That isn’t precognition that’s because I wrote about it.

Have I not explained that to her before?

Why would I avoid explaining it? Well, I suppose it is a difficult concept to explain.

…But a fake ability isn’t helpful.

Maybe the wristband will have something helpful in that regard.

I spoke dismissing her, “Well, I’ll work on it. More importantly, can you tell me what’s written on the room where the wristband was.”

Rin answered, “Just read it yourself. The translation system will be repaired any minute now.”

Huh? Why would the translation system be repaired?

<Global system update in progress…>

What is this? What did I change that caused this to happen?

43