Verlon woke feeling rather drained as if all his energy had been leached out. His stomach grumbled something fierce, and even his bones felt dehydrated to the max. He secured his camp and made sure he was safe before gorging himself on rations and water. He drank so much water his Endless Flask met its end, which was incredibly impressive considering the flask held enough water to take care of three people. He even went out to hunt a rodent to sate his ferocious hunger.

The entire time, he couldn’t stop thinking about the bracelet and mechanical voice. The voice hadn’t reached out to him yet, nor had anything happened in regard to the bracelet since he woke up. It was almost as if he had imagined the whole thing. At least, that's what he would've believed if he didn’t feel so energized and the watch wasn't still wrapped around his wrist. Every single one of his cells felt supercharged with energy as if he had drank several pots of coffee.

Verlon cleaned up his campsite and prepared to head out once more. He didn’t leave quite yet though, instead staring at the 'simple' watch on his wrist. Was there some kind of activation phrase he needed to say? Or maybe it was one of the buttons on the watch? "Umm... hello?"

He pressed a button on the side, causing the watch face to change from a normal analog clock to a weird version with numbers. It didn’t take long to realize it was a more efficient way of telling time since he didn't have to count the ticks of the hands. He pressed a few more buttons, toggling a stopwatch-type mode and adjusting the time to match his banged-up silver piece.

The final button he pressed, by far the smallest and located on the face of the watch itself, had an effect as the ‘watch’ part inside the round face disappeared. A straight blue line appeared. It flexed into a round shape and moved about in time with the mechanical voice from before. ‘Personality Interface Initiated…’ The voice changed and became far more pleasant to listen to. ‘At your service, Captain Boreal.’

He was taken aback for a moment. It was almost as if a real person was speaking to him and not an ancient relic. There was simply no way technology could accomplish such a thing. Surely the watch must be some magical construct. “Um… what exactly are you?”

‘This one is your personal Assistant Interface, AI for short, while you are using experimental Omega Tech and beyond thanks to Omega Labs benefits program.’ Light pulsed along with the moving line, casting a faint glow on his wrist.

“O-Okay, Ai, what is this ‘Omega Tech?’” Verlon asked. He kept hearing that phrase, so it must be important. Even its name had a grandiose feel to it. Omega... he recognized the word from his years of studying the ancient civilization. It meant the final end. So Final Tech? That was quite the cocky name, though quite fitting considering how far ahead the Empyreon Kingdom was before its fall.

‘Omega Tech - The technology to end all technology. It is the epitome of our glorious kingdom’s technological achievements.’ So this Ai thought he was part of the kingdom? Did it not know that hundreds if not thousands of years had passed since the Empyreon Kingdom’s fall?

Wait, if this thing was from the Empyreon Kingdom, who definitely used a different language, then how come he was able to understand it? “How can I understand you so easily?”

“Omega Lab’s AI systems use intentions rather than words to speak. The great creators found it to be a quicker and more effective way of communication.”

Weird. So it was sending intentions of speech patterns directly into his head rather than actually speaking a language? Then that must mean it has some capacity, however limited it may be, to read his mind. What was it called? He had seen it before in theories regarding how relics work… ah, neurotech. Technology to interface with the brain, or something like that. It must have some pretty advanced neurotech

This raised the question though; did that mean relics were technology after all? No, not necessarily. Even a blind man could see that the relics were part technological in nature. Verlon believed that they weren't wholly technology though. Magic had to play some part in how everything seemed to seamlessly flow. And this- this Ai that claimed to be pure tech might be an outlier. Or maybe even a piece of technology produced through magical means.

The Yellow Cross tried to communicate mentally instead of through speaking to test his theory. ‘I have yet to be given any of this Omega Tech, so why are you talking to me?’ He decided to play along with Ai as smoothly as he could in case it did have access to his brain. There was no telling what might happen if the device had a reaction at learning he wasn’t from the Empyreon Kingdom. At best nothing would happen. At worst, maybe it would fry his brain.

‘This one wouldn’t have been bound to your body had you not been in possession of Omega Tech. Captain Boreal is in possession of OT - Biotic Bundle - Hypon Flash.’

His stomach dropped at Ai's response. Just how far did its mental reading capabilities go? ‘H-how much of my mind can you read?’ Perhaps it was a bit hasty to ask such a question, but he desperately needed to know how deep the device's access was.

‘As Article 451 F 371 states, neurotech shall not have more access than directed thoughts. My apologies, Captain Boreal, this one can’t help notice you appear to be missing core knowledge.’ Maybe thanks to the “Personality Interface”, but he swore he could feel a slight bit of suspicion from the mechanical voice.

He spoke aloud in his panic to calm down the suspicions. “U-um, I got amnesia from the i-initial boot up of the neurotech?”

‘Hmm… Bug Report Upload Failure… Network Connection Failure… Second try - Failure… Third try - Failure... One-thousandth try - Failure… Attention Captain Boreal, we appear to be in a network deadzone. Any further Bug Reports will have to wait till this one can establish a connection.’

Probably because the ancient network systems were no longer functional. Of course, this was assuming the network systems worked anything like the radio towers of the empire. ‘Umm… the network systems are probably all knocked out.’

‘Acknowledged. Records show elimination of communication assets to be a priority in war. This one will store all reports internally till the time a proper connection is established.’

Now what? It was obvious the device couldn’t read his memories, thankfully. Otherwise, it would’ve realized he didn’t belong anywhere near the Empyreon Kingdom. So it must only be able to acquire the information he directly told it… or maybe it had some kind of scanner? It would be rather catastrophic if he walked into imperial lands and the device turned on him for being a traitor. ‘Do you have any scanners or something of the like?’

‘Affirmative, Captain Boreal. This one is equipped with photonic and several frequency scanners. If you wish to use them, simply hold the watch out towards something and let this one know. The watch will then be used as an ‘eye’. If you would like to turn on passive scanning, ask an Omega Tech technician for an upgrade to power systems.’

Phew! At least he didn’t have to worry about the potentially dangerous device learning by itself. It seemed to be alive, or at least had the illusion of life, so the fact it had restrictions was quite comforting. And what was up with its way of speaking? This one was quite an odd way to address itself. He couldn't figure out why the thing didn't just refer to itself as I.

Okay… now what was this about a Biotic Bundle; Hypnosis Glare or something like that? Verlon didn’t remember ever receiving such a thing… unless- no that would be crazy? It would explain where it went though… Maybe that orb back at the ruin was the Biotic Bundle? Maybe it was infused into his body somehow? It made the most sense. What was it for though?

‘What is this Biotic Bundle thing used for?’ He figured it was best to ask Ai. It seemed to have a vast repository of knowledge after all. Although the device was potentially a danger to him, the information could prove worth the danger.

‘Biotic Bundle - Hypon Flash: Emit a spectacular flash of light from a part of the user’s body.’ The image on the watch face changed into an outline of a person. Then, an expanding aura of light exploded out of the figure. ‘The guide for Hypon Flash recommends using it to blind an enemy.’

That sounded useful. A blinding light wouldn’t do much damage, but most denizens of Endenheim had sensitive eyes. He might be able to use it as an escape tool of sorts. Or maybe even used as a distraction to hide an attack. ‘How does it work?’

‘Simply focus with the intent to use it and Hypon Flash will activate.’

Interesting. He focused for a moment, imagining a bright light exploding from his body. His focus appeared to be quite lacking as nothing happened. ‘Um... Hypon Flash?’ Saying it with the intention to use it seemed to work. A brilliant white flash erupted from his body, illuminating all of the shadows around him for a brief moment. Interestingly enough, the flash didn’t hurt his eyes even though he was the closest thing to it.

He glanced down at his watch to see a small bar pop up. About a fourth of the bar’s energy drained away. So he could only use Hypon Flash four times? He hoped it could be recharged at the least like his boots. Otherwise, it would be quite a useless piece of tech. Oh, duh. It was a relic like his boots. It probably activated in the same manner. Here he was trying to force it to read his mind like an idiot.

‘How does it work technically speaking?’

‘Error - Classified Information.’ The voice became deeper and almost hostile and the light on the watch flashed red for a moment.

Verlon sighed. Of course, it would've been too easy like that. He threw on his backpack and stood up. The conversation with this Ai thing proved to be quite fruitful. He would’ve loved to settle down somewhere and converse more, but he wasn’t exactly in a safe space. Especially after becoming a literal shining beacon for a split second. A further dive into the inner workings of the mysterious device would have to wait till he returned to imperial lands.

Verlon sighed as he saw the vast walls of the Rhinegard. It had been a rough week since he left the Floating Mesa. His first day and a half of traveling through the Gravitic Highlands hadn’t been too rough, aside from the time he almost got caught by a roving pack of Stormhounds.

He did his usual thing, noting down everything that looked remotely interesting. This time, however, he added pulling beneficial plants to his list of activities. He hadn’t used as much space as he thought he would’ve back at the ruin, so he used it to gather the occasional herb or spice he passed by. Most he would sell to the Sekorium, but he would also use a fair amount to cook or for personal benefit. True spices were expensive, so the occasional plant he picked out in Endenheim could fill in the gap between his and Robin’s diet.

Suprisingly, everything had been going rather well. He even figured out that his Hypon Flash ambiently recharged two charges per day. Speaking of Ai, his untrusty assistant, he hadn’t learned too much from the seemingly living device. Most of his questions were blocked by the same Classified Information error as before. Those that remained were met with other errors about lacking a network connection to obtain information. Simply put, Ai only had a limited amount of knowledge already in its storage and couldn't pull information from nowhere.

It had been going well. His misadventures truly began when he entered the Steamglade. It took two days to travel across it normally, yet it took him four this time around. He got lost after the first night, even with his trusty compass.

His slowdown had been compounded when he nearly fell into a Corpse Bud’s ambush. It had been dangling from a tree, so he figured it was probably already dead and walked by without much thought. Normally it wasn’t something he would do, but he was already distracted by being lost. Right as he passed under the tree, his instincts screamed and he rolled to the side just in time to dodge the octopus-like critter’s pounce. From there, he unloaded the entirety of his Kar98 into the bugger’s body, completely obliterating the thing in rage.

Verlon’s irritation only faded after he finally found the edge of the Steamglade and worked his way back into the Craggy Chasms. Here, another issue arose. Since he became lost in the Steamglade, he wasn’t sure about his position in the Craggy Chasms. Unlike the Gravitic Highlands which had several defining features that could be used to pinpoint his location, the tier one and tier two zones had nothing of the sort.

So began another stent of being lost. Thankfully, he found a mining group not too long afterward and was put back on the right track. For a fee, of course. Verlon had given the group a couple of the plants he had scavenged in the Gravitic Highlands in exchange for directions. It was an unfair deal for him. He was just too tired to care. He hadn’t slept all too well in a while and he reeked from weeks out in Endenheim. Of course, he washed his clothes and body when he could, but nothing beat the cleanliness of a hot shower and proper laundry.

And so here he was, back at the edge of imperial lands. He took a deep breath, finding the freshness oddly unsatisfying since he almost missed the smoggy scent of home. The walls stood before him, in all their majestic glory. He glanced back out at the empty plains behind him, noting a storm was inbound. before finally heading towards the towering gates of the empire.

It's funny that the Empire of Dawn was even called an empire anymore, he mused. There hadn’t been an emperor since Emperor Ludwig III almost five hundred years ago. Truly, it was closer to an authoritarian regime where the military leaders ruled absolute. It was an empire in name only. Not that it mattered too much at the end of the day. It was still the only safe habitable space in the world, and the title of the government wouldn’t change that.

Verlon sped up slightly as he neared the gates. He was a bit past his promised two weeks, so his sister was probably worried sick.