novelraw Chapter 294: Main Core… when did you become so useful?
Chapter 294: Main Core… when did you become so useful?
Once that was done and over, Ale ended up absorbing only about half of the Mana that had attempted to corrode her into ash. The rest of the Mana left before she was able to do anything with it.
She noticed no one seemed to be doing what she was doing, and didn't elaborate on it.
"Mana density has returned to normal huh..." Ale said aloud as the readings on the wall returned to normal.
They had put the sensor data in a wall at some point and [Elder] evaluated it with her.
[Vulcanus] had not returned or said anything to her, and since only [Elder] had remained... at least for some time, he had left too at some point. Leaving Ale alone with the pod, whether that was because they wanted her to leave her to finish dealing with the corrupted Mana, or because they wanted her not be ashamed and run to the pod in case it turned dangerous?
Ale was not sure.
Either way Ale now had a decision to make, the first option was to go and go after Vulcanus, deal with that and no longer have to worry about this and whatever thing he wanted. Perhaps grill him about what the deal was with them, that is to say, how they spoke and acted around Alexa.
The other option would be to go after [Elder] and find out more about their suspicions towards Vulcanus. Perhaps join the resistance? Not that Ale would win something about that. She was not at risk, at all, from Vulcanus.exe, and since Vulcanus (The normal one, the human half) seemed to also want to groom (God, that sounded so bad)...
Since the human half of Vulcanus wanted to raise Ale (That sounds better, with less nasty connotations) into a Lieutenant. It didn't matter to Ale which one was at the helm.
If anything, the current situation was better for Ale, as she would find easier success if the status quo was kept.
The last option was to go after [Big Sister] and [Golem], to speak and deal with whatever they lived while she was gone. Actually that is what she was going to do.
She had decided that as one of the most important things she wanted to do. So she would commit to that, turning to look at her pod, a new question came to mind.
"Main Core, what the heck do we do about the pod?" Ale asked aloud, "Amm.... Sapphire? You there?"
[There are no instructions within the glider for how to proceed. We could assimilate the materials and fill the Mana stores with new blueprints to use.]
[Currently categorizing what blueprints you have access to, but a new source of data could be useful.]
...Was Main Core re-downloading the blueprints they had collected so far? Why? Why make a new database?
Well, Main Core was always a weird guy... Now she was being a weird gal, so everything was weird all over the place.
"[You can leave the pod there, Vulcanus will dismantle it under the guise of studying Saintsworths technology.]" The speakers spoke almost instantly, "[Whenever you want to return just ask Vulcanus, walk to a Saintsworths building with the golden eagle drawn on it, or go to Alexa's school. Any of those will give you access to the teleportation artifact.]"
[Rejected hostile attempt at downloading Core Dump data.]
...
"Thanks for answering," Ale said trying to not think too much about what Core had said.
"[Good job on the firewall update.]" Sapphire didn't seem too surprised, "[Alexanders did say you would eventually notice it and stop me from doing this, not that I expected it would be this soon... Most of the time Alexa's projects either break apart or are sublimated into... whatever she feels like would fit at the time.]"
Totally not ominous at all, no sir.
"[...Interesting...]" Sapphire said as Ale felt a sudden bombardment of queries sent their way.
Main Core was dealing with most of those, but... was this an attempt to overwhelm their firewall and break past it? If so...
"Main Core, cut the connection with the local network." Ale commanded and a second later the incoming request vanished from her awareness, "What is the meaning of this? I didn't think you would want to crash our system."
"[One does not find someone who managed to circumvent the ND0 System that often, even Alexanders only managed to do that recently. Well, at least reliabily withouth having to turn his brain into mush.]" Sapphire seemed to find it funny as she giggled a little at the end, but turn his brain into mush? There were other people who could survive doing that? "[We shall speak about this when you return to Aquila with us.]"
[Connection seems to have been lost, sending query... Barrage of connection attempts have stopped.]
[Gradually setting up Connection to the outer network, setting up DDOS defense, and rerouting channels.]
Main Core seemed ready to deal with an attack like this after only one encounter, that was promising. Ale would probably just cut the Connection to the external networks if it happened again.
But she could see that as a troublesome way to deal with it, more so if they needed to keep said Connection for some reason. So Main Core's answer was appropriate and what Ale should have done from the beginning, not that she would bother with something like that. Or well, she would have done so, if it mattered, but at the moment this was more of a miscellaneous bothersome thing to do. And perhaps she would have just given the Core Dump data...
... Why would she even do that?
"I don't owe them anything, do I?" Ale said aloud thinking on that, "If so, why is that the first thought that came to mind was that I wouldn't mind giving them the Core Dump?"
[I would advise against that, Mistress.]
Of course, Main Core answered as thus.
[I can, instead, provide a limited version with the data required at the moment and proof of its authenticity if you wish to accommodate their demands.]
"... Ask for whatever they want next time, but don't release the Core Dumps." Ale said shaking her head, "I'll talk with Alexa about this too later, there is no reason to give away our Core Dumps this easily."
[Noted.]
Ale wondered if this was also part of the mental guidance that she was getting before, there didn't seem to be any other reason to such a behaviour, their upbringing as a bioweapon sure as hell...
"No wait," Ale started walking in circles as she looked up and down the pod, "That is actually in line with what we used to do, isn't it? We did give the core dumps as soon as they asked."
They gave at least one core dump per day plus a full backup weekly, sometimes more than one if they asked. Ale knew some of the other P4 series had been sold thanks to the bank heist mission.
But then what had happened to the Core Dumps? Those were basically a copy of Alexa's life as P4. So... did Alexanders have those copies?
"Main Core, remind me to ask about the Core Dumps from when we were in the test chambers." Ale said, placing a hand on the pod, "Also, prepare to extract all the extra materials available from this thing without damaging its integrity and raising suspicion."
[Noted. Starting scan of glider.]
[Spreading Mana tendrils.]
[Trace of materials started.]
...Trace... That sounded... kinda cool actually.
"Trace On." Ale said as she closed her eyes and felt her Mana start to behave... in a way that she hadn't seen before, it was almost as if the energy turned into a living thing and subsumed itself with the pod.
Soon Ale could see a blueprint of the glider inside her mind, how it worked, what materials it was composed and how she could tweak the design and modify it to her tastes.
"This... does not look like how we used to do this," Ale said aloud as she frowned her head, she had an almost innate understanding of what she could cannibalize and how it would affect the stability of the thing, and whenever she wanted to take some of that away...
[Starting deconstruction.]
The Mana started to surround said materials as Nanites came out from the Mana and got into work. The materials they consumed turned into Mana and Ale noticed how she had a clearer understanding of said materials.
As well as how to make more of it and how much Mana it would cost her.
"It doesn't go to the banked storage?" Ale said surprised, was this what P4 had said when it mentioned that they weren't using their Core Powers right? Was Ale now using it on the right way?
She got the feeling that it was not what P4 meant, but she would need to check on that later.
"Main Core, we can't take our time on this, strip everything that could be explained and let's move on." Ale said shaking her head, she would need to check more on this later, for now, she had more things to do.
[Acknowledged.]
[Starting work.]
Soon she noticed how the glider lost roughly a third of its mass, it didn't change that much, but to Ale that knew that this thing no longer had any spares, fuel of any kind or anything besides its hull and the electronic components to open and clsoe the door.
Well, it changed quite greatly.
"Okay, then... let's go to find [Big Sister] and [Golem]." Ale said mostly to herself and Main Core, was she speaking more aloud and while alone? That didn't seem like a healthy thing to do.
But then again, she had been stressed out of her mind while coming here, and... her side work did have her talking to the air, so perhaps it wasn't that weird.
[Subject Big Sister may be at your former residence. Perhaps going there would be a good start.]
Oh right, she was also talking to Main Core who now was more alive... thanks to whatever the old asshole and the younger asshole had done. Truly, the works of two assholes brought something good.
"Good idea Main Core," Ale would rather those two never work again though, even if she got ahead thanks to said work effort.
Her actual Mana Core felt stronger, and all the extra corrupted Mana that was purified gave her some extra Nanite swarms to work with.
Speaking off, Ale focused inwardly and called upon something they hadn't called in literal ages.
StatusName:Ale SaintsworthsHead:HumanRace:HumanRight Arm:AugmentedSubrace:BioWeaponLeft Arm:AugmentedGender:FemaleTorso:ReinforcedAge:12yearsRight Leg:AugmentedWeight:40kgsLeft Leg:AugmentedHeight:1,35cmsSkeleton System:DragoniteOverall Status:HealthyMuscular System:ReinforcedCurrent Form:True HumanNanite Foundry:On Sub Nanite Foundry:ActiveBody StatusStrength54unitsHealth:24Dexterity:50unitsMana:47Constitution7unitsStamina:29Luck15unitsNanite Swarm:10The weird-ass status screen that turned her attributes into something that was visible in a numerical way, almost similar to one of the RPG games she had played. Ale wondered if this interpretation was because some of Alexanders shenanigans. Or perhaps because of a childish streak in Alexa.
She was, after all, the source of their change and how they perceived the world.
Either way, "Nanite Swarm count went up by four..." Ale said as she read her status screen, "Mana points increased by twenty? I feel like those should have increased by more."
What was more important, though, was something else.
"Biomass... I am lighter?" Ale was now around 12 to 15 kilograms lighter than before, she did a quick scan of her body and... "I still have everything though?"
Her body was still the same as always, she still had the reinforced skeletal system, the multiple AI Cores around her body that gave her an easy connection point to the technology she made in her body. Nothing had changed.
If anything, she should have been heavier than before.
[Mana constructs were remade using current new technology available.]
Main Core was the one to answer her question.
"What do you mean?" Ale said focusing on the changes, finding them... interesting to say the least. "The material of the skeleton system... is not steel?"
Previously her skeletal system was an alloy between steel and whatever other metals she found, that meant some of her nanites were in continous duty to heal the damage to her muscles and nerves. And also turning off the pain receptors there.
But now?
The material was still an alloy, yes. But it was different.
"That is... Mythril? Mixed with Durasteel?" Ale could see the two metals mixed in the creation of her new skeletal system. "...I see..."
The first was good for mana transmission and the second was both light and durable, and neither was something Ale had in excess, so how had this came to be?
"Main Core? Explanations?" Ale said sighing, "You did this right?"
[It was deemed that this could not be delayed longer, part of the corrupted Mana was used on the reinforcement of Host.]
[It was deemed safe to do, as thus using a previous blueprint stored within Host's memories, this was achieved.]
"Thank you," Ale could indeed rest easier this way, also this meant that she didn't need to worry as much about her weight being the reason why her actual identity got exposed.
And more importantly... She didn't need to spend more Mana in keeping her body stable, since neither material was toxic to her body.
...They weren't right?
"Do we need to spend mana to keep my body's stability?" Ale decided to ask before assuming, "Are these new alloys something that could cause damage to me?"
[Negative.]
[There are no reactions from the new alloy.]
[A query was sent to check for this same topic.]
[The ND0 System answered that new materials are not toxic to their creators. And most Mana-derived materials qualify as thus when one uses their Core Powers to achieve said material.]
"...You asked the ND0 System... and it answered?" Ale was surprised as she turned her stare towards the ceiling, "Really?"
[A query was sent through the appropriate channels, it did ask something back of us. But that was not something that would put Host at risk and the answer was deemed more important.]
"What did it ask?" Ale said narrowing her eyes, the last time that thing asked something of them... it was not a nice thing.
[A talk.]
... That was it?
"Fine, remind me to talk with that thing later." Ale said sighing, "That is easy enough, well. Did you ask the local AI for directions to [Big Sister]?"
If Main Core was this productive, it may have just asked for that after all.
[Subject Big Sister was found.]
[Currently waiting at an empty apartment at this address.]
"...Well, that was our home all right." Ale said with a smile on her face, "You were right in this one too, [Big Sister] is waiting for us at home, so might as well go there."
So with that, Ale walked outside the room. She didn't find evidence of [Golem] or anyone else, there was a warning in some of the announcement boards in the walls.
They had evacuated the whole place because the mana density had spiked, not that it affected Ale, actually it made her life easier, since she wouldn't need to worry about meeting anyone in the way.
Actually...
"Might as well put this to use." Ale pulled at her bracelet and unfolded her mask, placing it on her face. She was inside a Villain organization, so she needed to match the vibes.
It was time for Columbus Ohio to see Rhapsody once again... at least for now anyway.