Skill: *[Far Speak]

Designation: Telepsychic type

Scant information exists on [Farspeak]. However, from what is known, old documents recovered at the sights of old mage towers where the golem-artificers of old did their work revealed that its capabilities included long range communication and relational triangulation. It is considered somewhere in the realm of tier 4 to tier 5 magic. Unfortunately, despite being valuable, very few people use it due to its difficulty and incomplete information on its matrices. It has been preceded by [Message] as the choice method of long range communication, though the former is more reliant on mage-links and relay steles. *To be updated as more information is unearthed--World Compendium of Skills , The Order of Vesper, Church of Thea.

For the umpteenth time, a young, would-be father rubbed at his face and sighed. The night was still young but he didn’t have one of those sylvani horologyres to tell what time it was.

Something unprecedented had happened to throw him off his game. It wasn’t as if someone just out of the blue placed a swaddled baby at his doorstep, definitely not a clandestine lover.

Insofar as his memory served him, he was not one for trysts. No, even if Aldmoor had a red district, he was still a youngster in the ways of that world and wouldn’t be caught dead in such a place.

But why did it befuddle him so? You try being a father to a daughter with split personalities who also happened to be a magical artificial intelligence . Those would have been the least of his worries if the said girl had not orchestrated a breakout by purporting to hack into golems; okay, maybe hack was too strong a word.

Control, charm…none of them fit either. Bottomline was, it was only a matter of time before the Guard came calling, claiming her to be a security threat and demanding that she reveal her class if she had one.

Of course that meant she would be traced back to him and then the tellusphere would be discovered. Not even the guildmaster would be able to keep the Guard away from ransacking his secret lab.

Actually that was the best case scenario, the worst case; the snoopy snotty dwarves would be the first people on the scene.

A mansion that had a history of having resided an enchanter who might or might not have had a run-in with them in the past that happened to have a string of strange incidents? That was fodder for people to start poking their noses where they did not belong.

In fact, unbeknownst to Arthur, it hadn't taken much for an Aldmoorian guardsman to blurb about the girl who talked to golems. And that was in a bar of all places.

Bars and dwarves were practically joined at the hip. Time was running out for Arthur, whether he knew it or not. Time did not wait for no man, unless he was a chronomancer which unfortunately he wasn't.

“So explain to me again how you could talk to golems?”

“Confusion; was my explanation not enough?” the girl said. She was peering over the worktable. There were some rough sketches of an aership on parchment. Her eyes seemed to linger a little before she toddled back to her seat.

It seemed that her foster parent had caught his break as it were. “ I used a variation of a [Far Speak] spell matrix, reconstituted its components and set it to monitor around me for human traffic before I made my escape.”

‘A godsdamn magical wifi mesh network’ Arthur felt like screaming at the implications. That [Far Speak] was a telepsychic type spell or skill that put the workings of the telecry closer to his grasp. Unfortunately the only specimen he had was lost to him; presumed eaten by the child in front of him.

”And the mind projections?

”A variation of the same ” the child affirmed. “A rudimentary telepsychic link; its matrices are comparably, primitive. Conclusion; it was the foundation of contemporary [Far Speak] created with personal communication in mind.”

“Can you use it again, does it have a range?”

The child seemed to hesitate a beat before she replied. There was a warning in her tone.

“We would not recommend using such a method of communication. It is not sustainable in the long run as it greatly heightens the probability of brain bleed from prolonged use. Possible prognosis would include lose of mental faculties and insanity”

‘Feck! So the rumors of people losing their wills were true?!’ Arthur's eyes almost bugged out.

“Wait, but I've used it a lot of times.How come nothing has happened to me?”

“The [Far Speak] matrix inherent is considered obsolete. Later developments added to the matrix to enable peer to peer communication are missing. That you have survived this is perhaps thanks to your inherited bloodline traits.”

“What you're saying is I might have survived because of [regeneration].”

“Affirmative; it is the most plausible deduction.”

Arthur let that declaration sink in. He had once again dodged a bullet because of dumb luck; for all he knew his brain would have slowly haemorrhaged without his knowledge.

And on Eryth, he didn't know if there were any neurologists who could attend to a case of magically self-inflicted stroke. Would potions have healed it right?

Once he'd gotten that out of the way however, the fact still remained that he had lost his phone...the only thing that held the key to his memories. Sure, from time to time he'd get flashes of them when he was doing something that naturally came to him, but even that was slow going.

Secondly, without the telecry, he would not be able to claim his third boon from the dryad. Volemhir was essentially the executor.

'The old bastard said in his correspondence that his delivery was contingent my ability to decipher the telecry's matrices. I now know that it worked on the same principles as [Far Speak] ’ were Arthur's musing. Surely if she could recall something as miscellaneous as phone specifications—

“Kitten...Ugh, I'm going to need a name for you. I still can't reconcile the cute and cuddly you from a couple days ago to the you of now,” Arthur groaned. “What should I call you?”

The child stopped swinging their legs atop the padded work chair. It seemed that even [ Host-Mind] was not immune to [Spirit-Body]'s impulses. She seemed to purse her lips as she looked around the workshop, taking in the view of the artifacts, reagents and raw materials.

“Enlightenment, ..” she murmured. Her head scanned everything one more time, before her eyes finally met Arthur's.

“Arcis means enlightenment. Also, Archives and Records Centers Information System” she grinned. [For Host-Mind] such a name embodied what they were. It was in their matrix to learn and assimilate.

“So Arcis…” Arthur spoke, letting the significance of the name sink in.“ Some of the things you might have used to build your body might have been important to me,” Arthur said. “I was wondering if I could have them back. Surely if you can recall things from Earth you must know what one of them contained right?”

“Assumption; mundane object contains...records of music, literature, visuals, communication. Clarification; all information was to a certain degree of success assimilated into my memory matrix. Component designated processor and core memory was used as a template for the artificial intelligence center. In human terms, the brain.”

Arthur seemed to come up short on his next response. He blinked, then blinked again with disbelief written all over his face. The child seemed to shrink away under his stare,[ Spirit-Body]'s tendencies were showing through. However, she let out a little sigh, unbefitting of such a young face.

“Conclusion; Integration of magical and mundane technology does not make me a golem…” she cast about for her next works. “ Assimilation of mundane object designated smart-phone was essential to my auxiliary processes. It is therefore a crucial part of my self-preservation. In comparable Earth pop-culture that would make me

“An android?” Arthur

“Correction; a synth” the child answered.

“Huh?...

Her eyes seemed to flicker in consecutive blinks glowing faintly as they did. When it stopped, she had a faraway look in her eyes,

“An android implies solely electromechanical components. Less than a tenth of 1 part in 10 of the collective entity known as child can be considered the latter—”

‘What a roundabout way of saying 0.01 percent’

“ Suggestion; inclusion of 9 parts in 10 of arcane origin suggests I am a new synthetic sapient. Evidence; the entity known as World has not chosen a racial designation for me—”

Her eyes narrowed as she added,

“Supplementary conclusion; the ability to synthesize organic matter and assimilate the mana therein, also known as eating, disqualifies the designation known as Android.”

The stress and vitriol on the last word was not lost on Arthur. He almost thought the temperature in the room had suddenly dropped.

“Hey, easy easy; I catch your drift. Synth it is then.” Arthur placated the little girl who'd taken on severe countenance. It looked out of place on such a soft face. Were it not for the gravity of the situation, Arthur would've been rolling on the floor with laughter.

‘A synthetic race huh?Are there more of them out there?'Arthur mulled. ’No she's the first of her kind; I hope I did not unleash a cataclysm on Eryth. Well, no matter—’

“Then...there is no way I'm getting that one back is there?” Arthur slumped.

Arcis shook her head. “Observation; assimilated matter cannot be reconstituted only transmuted.”

“Huh?”

“Secondary assumption; arcane object correlating to [Far Speak] matrix contained a mana signature, identity; Volemhir Wintersheart's—”

Arthur's eyebrows almost flew off his face.

“Probability of reconstitution is 9 parts out of 10. Matrices responsible for functioning have been logged and analyzed. Suggestion; attempt to recover mundane object might be possible if contents are integrated into arcane object designated telecry.”

Arthur suddenly stood up, his forlornness overtaken by a hopeful expression “Then?”

Arcis’ features softened a little. For a moment, Arthur almost thought of her as that innocent child again.

“Attempt to transmute hybrid artifact from nothing will require a significant amount of mana,” she turned towards the tellusphere.

‘The Q-Engine?!’ Arthur intimated what she wanted as he too followed her gaze. He nodded, though a little doubtful if the girl could pull it off.

After a beat, she added, “—and time”

’Of course, it wouldn't have been that easy.’

“Projections put completion at 6 quarts, 34 pars, and 7 casions” she said as she got down from her chair. She turned and started walking towards the tellusphere’s containment cube.

Arthur followed right behind her, curious about what she was going to do. Hopefully the thing was too big to pop in her mouth like candy; not like she could take a bite out of it like she did the crystals.

Alone, the duo came to the containment casing containing the gadget. It was sealed but not locked since Arthur didn’t have the control slate for it; thanks to a certain someone. She looked at him as if gauging his expression before taking a step closer to the artifact in its prison.

“Wai—” he began, wanting to exercise caution, he was not about to create the previous incident; however much he’d read up on it, its creator had failed to document safety precautions. But she’d already touched the containment structure. Its lid popped open and the spheroid artifact started levitating just as it had done the first time. Only this round, it seemed tame instead of lashing out like a poltergeist throwing things around.

“[Gestalt]” Arthur heard the girl murmur. Her eyes lit up amber with magic as did the rune circles on the tellusphere which twinkled like small cities lighting up a faraway planet.

‘Of course, haha. you assimilate what you consume’ Arthur almost wanted to laugh helplessly. Revelation after revelation and he'd thought the girl had shown him all.

Arthur would have to a sit-down with her about her abilities. Who knew what other absurd skills a marriage of the arcane and the technological had birthed? Arcis was practically walking magitech and that meant her worth had doubled. They would come.

Even as he looked on ,the tellusphere split in the middle into equal halves; two hemispheres rotated opposite to one another before they locked down with the ring of metal and the rune pattern changed. What had been a disjointed mess previously was turned into lines and circles that looked orderly as if they were always meant to be.

With her miniature suns for eyes, she turned to regard Arthur. Her voice had an echoing quality as if coming through an auto tune, “Observation; mana reserves have met acceptable thresholds.”

With a falling intonation she added, “Transmutation and integration of objects designated smartphone and telecry will now begin ,” as she brought her small hands together. Between her palms, light spilled out. “[Matter Transmutation]!” she incanted.

Navigating the human emotions bleeding over from the boundary between the two entities was murkier than it seemed. There was nothing that was calculable nor logic to be followed. Values assigned to events and outcomes were not discrete. However, [Host-Mind] was not above adapting; the human condition was just another challenge that needed solving.It had to be, after logging an anomalous event where [Spirit-Body] seemed to freeze in the hands of the guard.

Further examination yielded no results whatsoever; something that aggravated an ancient entity to no end, even if they did not know it. Only conjecture of ingrained memories from when Spirit-Body had a corporeal form. It was an involuntary reaction and unpredictability was dangerous.

Knowing the implications of the human psyche, Host-Mind also instituted its own measures to deal with such events if they ever occurred in future. In spite of that, there were a couple of concepts it had already grasped like blackmail for example; a form of transaction where one party held all control. And lying, obfuscation of facts to exploit information asymmetry. There was no hesitation to it; logical processes only dealt with blacks and whites.

[Host-Mind] also recognized its proximity to the source of the tether as the cause of its control over the vessel known as Arcis .

That was how their persona in Arcis had become more dominant than before. They had the right of way to take over or relinquish control as they pleased; the source of this phenomenon was the tellusphere. That was something worth studying later. For now, Host-Mind , in lieu of Arcis, had a job to do.

Their current objective, smartphone-telecry integration was going swimmingly. Nonetheless they'd lied about the duration they'd take to transmute the artifact. In less than 6 quarts, the magitech hybrid would be ready. In 6 quarts, Host-Mind would go into hibernation to expedite the migration of its consciousness into their synth brain.

Prior to that, [Host-Mind] would use the time to look over the blueprint designated Stormbreaker. It seemed fascinating and piqued its interest; [Host-Mind] had their own plans for the vessel.

There were glaring errors and design flaws they would have to rectify; Host-Mind predicted that the human designated Arcis' foster parent would have slept by then.

For some reason, [Host-Mind] was infuriated by the assembly timeline. It seemed needlessly long and inefficient. It would not remain that way, not if they could help it. While they'd been in the lab [Host-Mind] had been using [Scan] overlaid with [Far Speak] to search for decrepit golems.

[Scan] had been one of its latest skill analyses that could be used to lock onto and detect magical entities within a certain radius. Unfortunately, [Host-Mind] hadn't had the capacity to go through all the skills before then, else they wouldn't have run into the guard.

There were two successful hits on its radius however and they seemed to come from underground; those would come in handy for semi-automation of shipbuilding. Even while [Host-Mind] worked, part of them was devoted to directing their excavation towards the lift shaft. By morning, they would reach the lab before the man awoke.

The two newcomers would also serve as additional security measures; the lab was too insecure for their own tastes. With their previous background as the entity that was meant to one day control a dungeon, securing a measly lab was child's play...pun intended.

Finally, being the dominant persona accorded it the leeway to devote it's attention to several processes at once instead of playing nanny to the impetuous [Spirit-Body]. [Host-Mind] felt their awareness expand, thanks to its proximity to the tellusphere. And so, Host-Mind worked through the night.

[Conditions Met: Bloodline Heritage Class acquired]

[Bloodline Heritage Class-Synth]

[Synth Level 3]

[Arcis | Synth Level 3]

Arthur got a rude awakening. It wasn’t the coldness of the floor—he’d spread his cloak there; neither was it the ruckus emanating from the lift doors as an incessant knocking reverberated through several centums of thick dwarf-steel.

Nor was it the vibration and intermittent flashes of hybridized magitech belting out an alarm loud enough to rouse the undead. But hold on, it wasn’t even his numb hand, even though he felt the sensation of being strangled by a boa. Arthur had slept through worse things.

Actually, the occurrence that set in motion a chain of events, was the shock of hair that had blown onto his nose. Consequently, his other hand had on reflex, moved to extract it before a sneeze built up, but the same hand had the wailing artifact. The consequence? He might as well have face-palmed with a brick. Remember that one time you were reading your phone in bed and it happened to slip over your face? Yeah that.

“ Oh for the love of—”

The sounds from the palm sized artifact cut off; only to be replaced by an even louder sound to drown them all.

“Pick up the damn hail boy!” a voice bellowed, deep and gritty like the voice of a drill sergeant. It was one bugle away from boot-camp rousal.

Arthur got up with a start, unfortunately, he’d underestimated or forgotten the weight of the koala-like snuggler on his right hand—he promptly slammed back down. The source of the voice skittered away with a metallic sound.

“ What was that?! When did you plan on telling me you finally cracked my rune craft, mmh? I was beginning to think you’d given up,”the voice added. An audible harrumph could be heard at the very end.

“Elder Volemhir,” Arthur groaned as he palmed his forehead. He had a feeling he was about to have a day of ill-luck; he could smell it like Aeskyre could smell storms. He hadn't even woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Scratch that, he hadn’t woken from a bed, period.