Episode 012: Warrior Build, I Am Not

Groaning and getting manhandled as I unintentionally stopped from that revelation, I saw a peaceful resolution to my predicament getting farther and farther away.

Yes, real life was not like games or movies. But it was beginning to feel as if reality and fiction were beginning to blend for me. I suppose my logic disorientation was only normal, now that I was suddenly in a world with elves and magic.

Things only existing in fantasy suddenly became my very current reality.

So, that feeling like I won’t just get a slap on my wrist and sent on my way I’ve been feeling in my gut? It just solidified into a stone in my stomach.

While I was fairly athletic, it was more along the likes of extreme sports than fighting in any form. I liked all kinds of boarding (skateboard, wakeboard, snowboard), racing, and parkour. I took lessons in karate when I was young but hated it and dropped it as soon as I could. I spent most of my teen years doing archery but elves.

Honestly, the most experience I had with fights are with my sisters. I do have some moves and techniques learned from Misaki-nee but that wasn’t meant for such a large group that I was marched up to, the giant tree’s roots housing an amphitheater of some sort.

Glancing around where my “trial” will take place, I also remembered all my fights with my younger sister. The little devil-child basically taught me dodging skills.

Made me learn to lockpick. How to—

I forced myself to focus on the present rather than the questionably legal things I had to learn because of The Brat. Victoria would have probably burned down the entire forest by now in my situation.

Resisting the urge to tap a foot nervously, I spotted Eti Lifeflight. I also recognized Captain Grine, who had changed out of her patrol uniform, behind Ing; were they actually related after all?

I froze when I suddenly felt 37 come back ‘online.’ Without a hangover migraine, it was easier to separate our—I suppose it can be called “sense of self.” I still felt like he was still crossing over my “mental” boundary but I have a feeling this was a side-effect of the telepathic bond. Despite being a baby AI, I saw the numbers in the changelog and his “hard drive space” dwarfed my brain by magnitudes.

I readily acknowledged 37 was a lot “greater” than me.

[I do not understand. Nori and I are partners. I was made to assist you.]

Never mind, I thought wryly. Was he adapting through experience? Definitely sentient by my standards; let’s just hope it doesn’t turn into an Ultron situation. I suppose it’s a plus I liked to read a lot if a baby AI had to learn from what was in my brain.

Yeah, that was it. Nori, just consider 37 a bijuu.

I could feel the AI’s confusion as I moved on, wondering if the upgrade was finished.

[… The upgrade is finished. GUI has improved. You are at Level 1 with 100/100 HP. MP will unlock on Level Up. Experience until level up: 30 exp.

[Scenario calculations have been done. Your first quest is to escape from Aure City.]

He probably told me telepathically because it was inconvenient for me to take out my phone with dozens of eyes on my form. That 37 started talking to me also distracted me from Eti’s speech (which was probably not as important considering the AI could probably put my world’s supercomputers to shame and had more information of this world than I did).

I was wondering why, if he could manipulate my eyes to see the flow of energy, he didn’t just overlay a HUD. Then again, I was not an expert on computers, so it might not be possible.

[… Nori, what is an HUD?]

Right. Alien baby AI.