n

n

nEldrian did not stir for the rest of that day, only waking halfway through the next. Nearly falling off from the chair when he finally did.

n

"I have to ask them to make it a bed.

" He mumbled as he massaged his forehead, a splitting headache assaulting him after waking. His stomach growling and the tubes hanging by his side.

n

"Huh... I feel better than I expected I would.

" Eldrian thought as he stood up, using the IV stand as a crutch to his table where his tablet was. Sending a message to Gengxin and sitting in his office chair at the PC.

nA few minutes later Gengxin rushed in through the door, shocked to find Eldrian calmly waiting for him, massaging his temples and half resting on the table.

n

"Eldrian?

"

n

"I'm fine...

" The simple sentence took quite a lot out of him.

"Can you bring me something to eat?

"

nGengxin nodded and quickly contacted someone to bring soup and some jelly to the room.

"How do you feel?

"

n

"Tired... And a little stupid.

" Eldrian said with a little laugh,

"Sorry for doing something dumb again.

"

n

"I am getting used to it,

" Gengxin said as he started removing all the needles in Eldrian's arms.

"How does your head feel?

"

n

"Like it is splitting apart,

" Eldrian replied honestly, he had thought the headache would leave after a few minutes but alas it was still as fierce as when he first woke.

nGengxin nodded, looked around, took Eldrian's old headset, and placed it on his hear.

"Just sit still.

"

nEldrian did as instructed while Gengxin became busy on his tablet, after a few minutes he took the headset off and the food arrived. Leaving Eldrian to himself to eat, Gengxin moved outside where he met the others.

n

"How is he?

" Constantin asked, massively relieved that Eldrian was awake and able to communicate. It meant that brain damage was likely avoided.

n

"He seems fine...

"

n

"But?

" Joren asked, knowing that paused 'fine' all too well.

n

"Have a look yourselves.

" Gengxin presented his tabled and the brainwaves he had taken, as well as a video showing Eldrian's brain activity.

n

"This has to be wrong.

"

n

"It isn't, I had the headset scan him three times. It is the same as while he was unconscious.

"

n

"Then how is he awake?

" Constantin asked, Eldrian's brain activity seemingly stuck at the level it had been over the past few days while he was in his soul.

"If this was true it would mean his brain had not been able to rest for nearly three days straight.

"

n

"That isn't the most shocking, have you seen the scans of his body?

" Gengxin promptly opened those files and showed them how Eldrian's entire body was constantly receiving information from his brain.

nThe signals, they could not know what they meant. It did not seem to affect Eldrian, and those might have stopped. But considering his brain scans that was unlikely.

n

"Now what?

" Joren asked, wondering if again they needed to pull something to pause Eldrian. Or maybe even outright forbid him from playing until his brain calmed down.

n...

nBack inside the room, Eldrian had just finished his meal. Not much, but the little it was had filled him with energy. Standing up he suddenly felt far better. This however did not last long. After just a few steps Eldrian felt drained of energy again.

n

"What on earth?

" Eldrian grabbed the IV stand to stabilize himself as he moved to his bed. He wanted to log in again right away. However, he knew that was a bad idea and for once his knowing overruled his wanting.

nTwiddling his thumbs Eldrian waited for Gengxin to come back. Typing a message to his sister and Erik when a minute turned into a few and he became bored.

nAs he typed he found his hands uncoordinated, but not for the normal reason. It was not a delayed response but rather that his hands were slower than he expected.

nAfter typing the messages Eldrian flicked his hands, finding himself able to follow to moves near perfectly with his eyes. Normally when he did this they would appear like a blur, now instead it seemed slow.

n

"What?

" Before Eldrian could continue his tests Gengxin entered again.

n

"Good news, it seems that you just need some more rest.

"

n

"Really?

"

n'No, not at all...' Gengxin wanted to say but instead he nodded and told Eldrian to wait for night before logging back in. Reminding him to keep his food light, soups and the like.

nHeading out Gengxin cursed that he did not know what else to do. The best thing he could do was follow the system's suggestion.

n

"How could she even send me that message?

" Gengxin asked Joren.

n

"I honestly have no idea, that is the third time she broke her own code. It should not be possible, we even know the code is still the same. She is literally brute-forcing through it, not altering it.

"

n

"What does that mean?

"

n

"It means Eldrian has a point. At least with the AI. What she is doing requires a will and a great deal of willpower. It is not something a simple AI can do, it is something we consider only ourselves able of.

"

n

"What?

"

n

"Let me put it this way, she is thinking... Without her code. It is not something we ever expected from the AI. We expected them to become sentient and try and find loopholes to change themselves to escape our code. Not to just fight the code itself.

"

n

"What does that mean?

"

n

"It means our position on what is real is possible a bit biased.

"

n

"What do you mean?

" Constantin asked, hearing this from a fellow department head made him feel even worse about arguing with Eldrian.

n

"I mean they certainly do not live in the same physical space as us. But us saying they do not live might be a bit too much.

"

n

"You can't be serious. How can you say that when you have seen generations of them age and die.

"

n

"I am not saying they are us, nor that they are real!

" Joren added some oomph to the last part to make sure to get that over.

"I am saying that they are alive.

"

n

"And that requires them to be real.

" Constantin countered, not willing to give any ground on this. It was just impossible for him to believe this when he had met the great grand 'times a hundred' father of the current emperor.

n

"Then the question isn't whether they are real or not, but rather if they are equal to us or not!

"

nStorming off Joren did not want any more of this. He knew the code for the system by heart, she was his baby. He had never cared what he asked of her, but when she broke her very code he had suddenly realized something.

nFor the AI, their code was not their being.

nIt made no sense, yet it was what it told him. He had scoured through her original code, he had even dug into her current code. The AI were designed to evolve over time as they learned hence he needed to check what had changed.

nWhat he had found however was beyond shocking.

nHe found her memories, but no emotions. He found her actions, but no reasons. Naturally, he couldn't dig more into things than just finding them. Not without possibly damaging her and the players she was stabilizing in the game.

nWhat he had done was akin to a brain scan, trying to find more would be like a lobotomy. There was no guarantee he would find anything and it might even kill her. It was why they couldn't force the AI even if they were willing to lose ANW. The chance of getting what they want was slim to none.

n...

nEldrian took the day to rest, his headache not going away. Instead, he learned to live with it. After a few hours he realized what was off.

n

"It can't be,

" Eldrian jumped up, nearly stumbling over as the jump was slower than he expected.

"It has to be...

"

nNot knowing how to feel about it Eldrian headed down for some food, keeping it light but not little. He drank delicious soups until his stomach nearly burst, as he was standing up a familiar face approached him.

n

"Hey, Eldrian!

" Flavia waved as she approached him, Eldrian taking a seat as his full stomach made his balance terrible. Seeing Eldrian staring at her and not replying Flavia sighed,

"If I didn't know better I would think you don't like me.

"

n

"No, no-no. It isn't like that.

"

n

"Really? Then what is my name?

"

nSitting with his mouth half-open Eldrian just couldn't recall.

nGiggling at the sight, Flavia ended his torture,

"Flavia, remember it this time.

"

nToo embarrassed to reply Eldrian simply nodded.

n

"What have you been up to Eldrian?

"

n

"Making mistakes,

" Eldrian responded, finding everything around him moving slower than normal. Even the noises seemed to be slow, a really uncomfortable thing to notice. And once he did he could not unnotice it.

n

"Like trying to merge with a heart?

"

n

"How did you-?

"

n

"I volunteered to monitor you,

" Flavia replied without shame, confused when she saw Eldrian blushing and looking down.

"What?

"

n

"Then you should know how dumb I am,

" Eldrian said with a sigh, ready for her to also lay into him like Constantin the other day.

n

"What? Of course not. How can you even think that you are dumb?

"

nLooking up Eldrian looked at her honest expression in confusion.

"Because-

"

n

"No! Do you really not get what you are doing and are capable of?

"

nShaking his head Eldrian had her continue.

n

"You do know that all the others are only at Tier 3 too? You effectively caught up to people who only need to envision spells. I mean, yes that itself isn't easy...

" Adding the latter part Flavia thought back to when she tried learning even just Tier 1 spells.

nIt was truly a talent to be able to actually envision the entire thing. Players didn't even need to be 100% accurate, Eldrian however had to.

n