Author’s Corner: Sorry for the chapter being later than usual! Hope you enjoy it! Also, I’m impressed with the maturity of the readers. There was not a single ‘Do a barrel roll!’ comment about last chapter!

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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.

New Skill Unlocked!Programming - Intermediate Level 2

Exp: 75%

The ability to write code and create programs for technology.

Software Applied to Cybernetic Adaptation: EyePhotographic Learning

This software enables the owner of a Cybernetic Eye to instantly know the contents of images they record, even if they are unable to understand the meaning behind it.

Mana Cost: +50% cost to record images.

I smiled, satisfied with that. Sadly, the software wasn’t retroactive, so I didn’t immediately know the information regarding the brain that I had looked up before. And it was also nice seeing that Programming was my currently highest level skill. If I worked a bit longer on the code, I might be able to reduce the cost to record images, but I’ll save that for later.

Moving out of town, I decided that this time I would change into my wolf form to run towards the city. Since the wind wolves don’t differ much visually from normal wolves, they shouldn’t bother me if I take that form. Surprisingly, my Cybernetic eye remained even after I changed. I guess, since I was using a different type of magic to create it, Nature Magic wouldn’t automatically change it to match a new form. I wasn’t going to complain, since that meant I had one eye that still had perfect vision. I actually went ahead and spent the extra mana to alter my other eye as well, temporarily.

Once I had rested for a few minutes and grown accustomed to the new forms, I ran off out of the forest, once again heading to the city. Though, this time the city wasn’t quite on the horizon due to the change in elevation, that was soon fixed. I should also note that I saw something I hadn’t noticed the first time I took my wolf form, and that was the metal bracelet on my front paw. It seemed to have adapted to my new size just like my armor would.

With this form, I was largely unobstructed during my travel. The only attack that came for me was from another elf, who seemed to have misunderstood me as an attacking wind wolf. After that encounter, which was solved by me running away for dear life, I ran parallel to the road without running on it. There was little difference for me, but for normal people on the road, it relieved them to see that I wasn’t attacking. They would be on guard as I approached, but relax the moment I left.

My running speed as a wolf was only about half of that of my flight form, but the additional measure of safety was worth it. As a result, the normally two hour flight turned into a four hour run. I heard a little beep from my wrist some time around the third hour, and knew that Celeste was letting me know I had officially gone further than the last time. That thought made me chuckle slightly, an odd sound in my wolf form.

While running, I began to make ideas for other programs I would make once I had ‘reformatted’ my brain for increased memory. My mind already counted as a simple operating system, so I at least didn’t have to make that from scratch. I would, however, need to make a program to let me experiment with my memorized auras to combine different aspects of creatures and create new forms. While I could simply do it manually one piece at a time, having a preset would save me a bit of time when I need it most.

After the fourth hour, I finally approached a large steel wall, and jumped over onto the road. A pair of guards looked at me warily, moving to grab what looked like pistols at their waists as I shifted into my elf form and dismissed the Cybernetic spell on my left eye. Immediately, the two relaxed, and even bowed respectfully to me. I guess that druids really are respected a lot in this society.