Chapter 380

Rushing through permanent life choices was always a bad idea. James knew that. He also knew you shouldn’t rush through decisions in games that could be permanent. It was why people could spend many, many hours on character creation in games. The more options, the longer such things could take.

Which meant the 10 minutes he’d had to make his AI, had left him extremely aggravated. Because, in the end, he’d had to rush. He’d cut corners, and now, as the AI began to take shape before him, he knew there was a chance he’d pay for those life choices.

The AI Creation Tool had continued to get more complex as he selected different features. After Race, it gave him the chance to assign different classes to it up to its current level. Which, as far as he could tell, was level 50. It seemed for each floor James had in his dungeon, the AI would gain 10 levels. He’d…wanted to be a little more precise with this, in the off chance the Warmonger AI could participate in battle, but there were literally infinite options when it came to selecting classes. So, after a quick discussion with Rue and Steve, he’d figured he would just go with what he didn’t have in his party. A tank.

After selecting a class tree appropriate for a tanky build, he was given options to select gear for the AI, as well as adjust its features. James ignored adjusting the features, selecting instead the autogenerate option for the AI. As for gear, he slapped on the tankiest gear he could think of. Meaning it was now wearing armor crafted from James’s fifth floor. Good ol Arctic Cyberpunk Armor… It looked ridiculous and awesome at the same time.

Finally, he had to choose personality options. This had been the most frustrating part of the whole damned thing. When it came to creating the AI, it seemed the developers, aka Steve, had decided to have the Dungeon Core players fill out a variety of questionnaires. The more they filled out, the better their AI’s personality and such could fit what they wanted. As James went through them, it felt instead like he was speed dating, or doing one of those cheesy personality tests. James stopped after the third one, considering he was getting questions like “What would your ideal type of date be,” and “If a train passed by a stop at 11:30am, and was moving at 60mph, on a twisting track, adjusting for a decrease in speed on those turns, how long would it take to reach a station that was 600 kilometers away, assuming max speed on turns was 52km.” James had cussed audibly at Steve for that one. First off, what the fuck math problem, and second off…why couldn’t they use the same damned units of measurement.

Needless to say, he was more than a little apprehensive as the air before him continued to swirl. They had 2 minutes before the skirmishes would go live. Meaning only 2 minutes to try and get a feel for this new, permanent AI that would serve as the face of James’s dungeon for adventurers.

“I hope he has a deep voice.” Rue said nonchalantly as the air before them continued to swirl. The system, James knew, was currently trying to piece together an AI to fit all of the right parameters, as well as generated the model for the AI, putting together all its features, and the likes. On top of that, rendering in the armor pieces, and formulating everything for size, use, and the likes, probably took a little longer than normal. This, after all, wasn’t the same as the quick, standard selections they normal utilized when it came to mob and boss mob creation. This was creating a perfectly unique AI with a sole job in mind.

“That’s what you’re hoping for? Really?” James couldn’t believe her. It also made him slightly aware of the fact his voice, for all intents and purposes, wasn’t crazy deep.

“There’s something sexy about a deep voice.” She said with a chuckle. “Don’t you like when my voice goes sultry?” She twisted as she spoke, low and heavy, giving him a wink. He silently cursed her and turned his focus back to the forming mass before them. One minute to go.

“If you leave me for a bear, I’m going to hate you.” He’d ultimately chosen a race that was available from his fifth floor. Being slightly stereotypical, he’d opted for his Warmonger to be a large, ferocious seeming beast. The Solar Bear had a race option that he could choose for the AI, called a Cybear, and he’d selected it.

“I’d never leave you, goof.” She said with a laugh, “but, bears can be cuddly.”

Any further conversation was halted as the creature finally took form before them. It’s fur, from what they could see, was white as snow. It stood, awkwardly, in the middle of the hot springs, with a height of close to 8 feet. Its massive form was predominately bearlike, though its stance, and way of holding itself, was human.

Its body was covered in cybernetic armor that glowed brilliantly with power. It’s pauldrons on its shoulders had solar panels on them, and from their electricity raced across the circuits of the power armor it wore. One arm held a massive glowing shield, with the head of a Pall Sheep emblazoned on it. Its other hand was clutched around the metal shaft of a massive, three-headed flail. Power lines ran through the weapon, causing the spiked balls at the end of the flail to glow dangerously.

One cybernetic, glowing green eye, and a normal, blue eye, turned to look down at James and Rue. The bearlike face opened its maw, revealing rows of teeth, and chuckled.

“Damnit.” James muttered at the sound. It was deep. So deep the laugh caused the water of the heart springs to ripple around it. Rue practically squirmed in excitement.

“Have no fear,” the Cybear said, it’s voice resonating around it. “For the mighty Cybear is here.”

James groaned. “Cool cool.” He said, looking up at it. “Does the mighty Cybear have a name?”

The Cybear shook his head. “I’ve just been created.” The AI said. It was quite self-aware it seemed. “It’s up to you, to name this Cybear. Once you have, I shall protect you against all who bear you ill-will.” The Cybear chuckled again. Great…he’d summoned a pun loving, hero type Cybear. Just great.

A prompt opened up in front of James, giving him the option to name the bear. He looked from Steve, to Rue, resigning himself to the fact that the game had saddled him with a pun loving AI. If that was the case, so be it. James could be funny. And…he didn’t really have time to do anything else, considering he had mere seconds before the Cybear would be whisked away to its job.

“Very well. Welcome to the team, Vinnie.” Technically, James had just named him Vinnie the Pooh…in a moment of weakness. But his regret was fleeting as the massive Cybear before him grinned and faded away, teleporting instantly to the Warmonger stand in the Adventurers Guild. A second later, James got two new notifications.

Achievement Unlocked – I Built a Friend – Create an AI companion

Rewards: +5000 xp, + 1000 resources, +2 Dungeon Tokens

Achievement Unlocked – Build A Bear Workshop- Create an AI of a Bear Race

Rewards: +1 Cosmetic Upgrade for the AI.