World Seed: Game Start (32 page)

I
kept watching, waiting to see what would happen with my Aura Sight.
My computer was much closer to the Seed than the flash drive had been
downstairs, but I would rather experiment with something easily
replaceable. If it worked on the flash drive, then I could try with
my computer.

After
nearly a full hour, something happened. The flash drive began
emitting its own mana, in small amounts. However, this was plenty for
me to see its aura forming. Since the aura is appearing from scratch,
I thought it might even help me memorize and recreate the process.

I
kept staring at the flash drive, constantly working my Aura Sight to
memorize every detail as the lights formed into a hard pattern.
Reaching out, I touched it with my Mana Sense to fill in the gaps,
until an hour later I had fully memorized the aura of the flash
drive. Looking over to my computer, I extended my Mana Sense towards
it, searching for a similar aura.

I
did manage to find it, which I assumed to be my computer’s
fifty exabyte hard drive. However, the pattern was more complex,
likely to be because it allowed for far more data storage. I took my
time memorizing this aura as well, another hour and a half. By the
time I was done, it was just under two hours left before I would be
able to log into the game again.

I
debated with myself, should my first experiment by attempting to
mimic a data storage device, or to alter it? After some time, I
decided to go for the former, but with an additional precaution. A
flash drive by itself is useless. You also need an input device. For
that, I would need a camera and microphone. Thankfully, my computer
has both.

Again,
I reached out my Mana Sense to my computer, attempting to isolate the
aura of the camera. Once I had it, I traced it back to the
motherboard, then the hard drive to study the connections, and then
took in the full aura. For the most part, there were similarities
between it and my own, though the ones in the computer were more
complex, less natural. Likewise, the connections between the
microphone and the motherboard were very similar.

For
my first experiment, I focused on my right eye. Gritting my teeth, I
prepared myself for an intense pain if this didn’t work. With
my brain as the motherboard, I began altering the connections between
it and my eye, and then my eye itself. While the shape of the eye
remained the same, there was a clear uncomfortable feeling from it,
like I had an eyelash stuck inside. This persisted for several
minutes until I finished the process.

Chapter 29:
Civilization, at last!

After
I had received the Cybernetic Adaptation spell, I conducted a few
brief experiments. Thankfully, I discovered that the altered eye did
not prevent the use of Aura Sight. My next experiment was the
‘record’ feature of the Cybernetic eye. From my
understanding, the spell is split into a passive and active mode. The
passive mode increases my ability to see things, to an extent where I
was practically able to ‘zoom in’ on tiny objects across
the room. Maybe once I figure out how to better control Technomancy,
I’ll have telescopic vision.

The
active portion of the spell was what would allow me to save an image
into my mind. Looking out the window, I poured a constant stream of
mana into the Cybernetic eye, and could faintly see a red glow in
front of me. At the same time, I felt like I might never forget the
simple scenery of the cityscape outside my window.

Even
though it was just a brief look, I quickly closed my eyes and focused
on the memory. I found that I could reexamine every detail of what I
had captured, even things I had not initially focused on. For
instance, I was able to point out all the different birds in the sky,
or count how many people I was able to see. As long as I upgraded my
memory storage and retrieval abilities, I should literally have a
photographic memory for everything I record.

I
still had a bit of time left before I could get back in game, and I
wouldn’t suffer if I was a few minutes late anyways. As such, I
got back onto my computer and looked up all I could about how the
brain stores and retrieves memories. If I was going to be messing
around with my own head, I needed to be very careful which parts I
tampered with. If I accidentally changed the section of the brain
dealing with emotion into an extra memory storage, then I’d be
screwed.

After
a little while, I had all the necessary information in front of me.
For convenience, I simply ‘recorded’ it all down with my
Cybernetic eye so that I could review it whenever I needed. Sadly, I
did actually have to go back over it to review, as the information
wasn’t automatically transferred when I did this. I’d
probably need a software update for that to happen.

Once
I had that taken care of, I again used my Aura Sight with the
Cybernetic Eye to record my computer’s hard drive and
motherboard, so that I could accurately remember them in the future.
Afterwards, I used the same method to re-memorize all of the auras I
had learned thus far, by putting them in front of me with my Mana
Manipulation, then recording them. This way, I shouldn’t run
the risk of forgetting key parts of an aura I already memorized.

The
last thing I did before getting back into the Seed was to analyze it
with my Mana Sense. I had my suspicions, but I wanted to verify. Once
my mana scanned the Seed, I found that it was practically bursting
with magic. Every aspect of the device seemed to have magic
incorporated into it, and if I looked deeply enough I even saw tiny,
unfamiliar symbols embedded in the aura.

Must
be runes… I shook my head, and didn’t dare try to copy
any part of the Seed. After all, I had no idea what any of the runes
did. Some may have even been countermeasures against being copied for
all I knew. In the end, I just got back in the device and let it send
me off to Hascion.

When
I opened my eyes, I was back in the elven village at the edge of the
woods. Looking over myself, I confirmed that I hadn’t lost any
of my equipment. In fact, when I logged in, I noticed that my
Technomancy had even increased in level a bit, likely due to my
experimenting.

“
Huh?
How did we get back here?” I heard the familiar voice coming
from my wrist, and looked down to see my companion AI bracelet.
Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be damaged. “We were just
flying… right?”

“
What
do you remember?” I decided to ask out of curiosity, while
probing the bracelet with my Mana Sense. Like with the Seed, I could
see a few runes embedded in the structure of the aura, though it was
nowhere near as complex as the device that brought me here.

“
We
were flying, the harpy eagle came in, and there was a brief feeling
of pain. After that, we just appeared here. What happened?” She
looked up to me, obviously confused with the events that had gone on.

“
We,
or to be more accurate, I died. Apparently, the eagle had a wind
blade or something extending from its wing, so it cut me in half as
it passed by.” That was interesting. Maybe when a player died,
their gear was stored until they logged back in. If that was the
case, it would have been a strange sight for a naked human to
suddenly fall from the sky, cut in half like that.

I
could at least be thankful that the two deaths I experienced so far
were quick and painless, instead of being eaten alive… Though
I had experienced that as well, I just didn’t die from it. “I…
I see. I would rather that not happen again, if you would be so
kind.” She looked pleadingly to me, making me laugh.

“
Don’t
worry, I don’t plan on dying often. This next trip should be
far safer, but first, I want to visit the mage’s tower again.
By the way, how far did we make it before?” I asked as I
started walking to my new destination.

“
About
two thirds of the distance. Had you managed to sustain flight for
another forty minutes at your previous speed, you would have arrived
at the edge of the city.” Now that she knew what was going on,
her tone quickly returned to normal.

“
Sweet…
in hindsight, surprised I made it that far. Next time, we’ll be
going on foot.” Once I went into the mage’s tower, it was
an easy matter to find the Technomancy instructor. Although he was
still not exactly friendly, he did his job properly and answered my
questions regarding magic software.

Apparently,
in order to create a software for Technomancy, or other devices that
use magic to read information, it is necessary to upload it to a
special device called a Soft Stick. When asked, the Technomancy
teacher showed me what it looked like, and I nodded my head in
satisfaction. This was the same type of metal strip that Jarl had
used to upload the affinity program to Celeste.

They
were basically CDs for magic. Each strip was capable of holding a
single program, but that program could be erased or replaced as
needed. Once a program was uploaded, the aura of the Soft Stick would
shift to match it. I was rather thankful when I learned that the
actual programming was not done in runes, but in a coding language.
Apparently, the runic programming came in the form of simply
enchanting an item.

I
asked how I could upload a software onto a Soft Stick, and how I
could get one for myself. Thankfully, I learned that my companion AI
bracelet was a suitable terminal to upload software from, and that a
single Soft Stick cost one silver. I happily bought it, and went off
to work. My last question for him had been on how to adapt a living
brain in order to house an AI.

This
seemed to be a common question, because it didn’t take too long
to say that it was possible. Although it would not be a direct
adaptation, but rather an addition. If I were to simply try to
augment my brain to house my AI, then I would have essentially been
replacing myself with Celeste. Instead, it was possible to create a
secondary system through which the AI would reside. She would have
access to all my senses and be capable of communicating with me, but
be unable to directly control me. Likewise, she would lose any
abilities granted by the hardware she initially occupied.

When
I asked how I could do this, he told me to head to the capital,
because it was something too advanced for my current ability. He was
actually surprised when he noticed the change in my eye, as not many
people choose to directly alter themselves as soon as they receive
Technomancy. I didn’t mention that I was planning to do the
same for my other senses as well, and even my memory.

After
I left the tower, I summoned Yin out of my grove, and asked her to go
find her favorite fruit. Since I’m taking the birds with me, I
might as well plant a heart’s apple tree in my grove for them
to enjoy. While she was gone, I had Celeste open up a holographic
window for me to work with. Since she herself was a program, she was
naturally well versed in the programming language. Otherwise, things
like a self diagnostic or virus scanning would be impossible.

With
her help, I quickly got the flow of this game’s programming
language, which wasn’t that different than my world. There were
many new terms, to compensate for the presence of magic, and a few
gimmicks in the language itself. Thankfully, Celeste doubled as a
debugging software, able to quickly correct any errors I made. I had
considered leaving the entire thing up to her, but decided against
it. I wanted to be able to do this myself.

About
ten minutes later, Yin was returning with a heart shaped apple just
as I finished this software patch. I had the options of either
applying it to Celeste, or saving it on a Soft Stick. Apparently,
mass-produced programs could not copied onto a second Soft Stick,
since they had some protections against illegally redistributing
them. Though, it was likely possible to overcome this with hacking,
just like in the real world.

After
returning Yin to my grove, and planting the heart’s apple
seeds, I placed the Soft Stick up in front of my Cybernetic eye, and
activated Aura Sight. Using my Mana Manipulation while attuning to
Technomancy, I gradually incorporated the software into my eye.