Chapter 2: 02 – Integration Phase – Gilda POV

As predicted, even with the additional precautionary measures in place, Subject 00976, self-designated Willie, was hyperventilating. Readings showed his heart rate was extremely elevated, and brain activity had increasingly become erratic throughout our interaction. He was visibly unsteady, leaning against the barrier, and looked as if he might collapse any second. The situation, while predictable, remained highly counterproductive during the integration phase. It was necessary to calm him down immediately or risk system failure.

Cycling through a suggested list of tactics in a fraction of a second, I chose the option to modulate my demeanor towards a more comforting bedside manner. Which, my calculations showed, offered the best chance of near-term success.

"Willie, we should try to address one issue at a time. I promise to address your concerns to the best of my ability if you give me a chance. Is that okay? Perhaps you should lie down for a second."

I waited patiently, and after a few deep breaths, the subject chose to move into a seated position on the floor and nodded.

"Yeah."

To bring our eye level closer, I sat on the floor near him as I wore my very best disarming smile.

"My assigned role is to be your guide. As such, I will endeavor to answer all of your questions."

Being long out of practice in the art of emotionally comforting another sentient, I endeavored to utilize all of my current assets. My voice was engineered to be pleasing to his human ears, and I was making every effort to speak to him soothingly, but more reassuring to me was that readings indicated that the largest influence on his mental state was that of my appearance being both reassuringly human-like and sexually attractive to 00976.

"Perhaps it might be best to begin again. What would you like to know most of all?"

The subject had little control over his facial micro-expressions. As such, the neural readings were hardly necessary to understand his emotional state, however, good science is always backed up by as many data points as possible.

"Where am I?"

"You are onboard Magical Warrior Recruitment Vessel 00976. In simpler terms, you may think of it as my spaceship."

"But I just woke up. Does that mean we're still on Earth?"

"No. Our current distance from Earth is... roughly 2 parsecs."

"I'm not sure what that means. I don't know what a parsec is... is that far away?"

"Yes, it is. From your perspective, we are well beyond the borders of the solar system; we are out among the stars as you might have seen in the sky of Earth."

He blinked rapidly, then mumbled to himself.

"This is too weird. I was just looking up at them, and now I'm out among the stars... still, that's kinda cool."

His statement did not require a response from me, so I chose to continue, careful to phrase things in such a way as to reinforce our connection.

"However, we still have quite some distance to cover before we arrive at our destination."

"Yup, I'm way out of my depth here. Hmm, I guess I should just focus on the nuts and bolts. So, uh... where are you going?"

"My mission is to escort you to the training grounds prepared for magical warrior candidates."

"Oh yeah, right. Warrior candidates... You kept saying that. Should I take that to mean you're expecting me to fight like some sort of soldier?"

"A soldier may not be the best approximation of the role prepared for you. Perhaps a better way you might be able to understand it is more like a knight. Your position will carry with it some power, authority, and prestige"

"So, you want me to be a knight? Umm, aside from being able to ride a horse, I got nothing in common with a knight. So, why me?"

Our conversation was moderately successful in distracting the subject from his stress via injection of novelty mixed with familiarity.

"I have scanned the minds and bodies of many inhabitants of the Earth. There are certain mental and physical characteristics required for this task. In my judgment, your combination of attributes best fit the optimal human profile for mental and physical growth as a warrior candidate."

"Well, I'm no warrior... heck, I'm not even as strong as some of the other guys on the trail. I mean, I like to think that my body still has some growing left to do."

"Absolutely. That is one of the requirements. My ideal candidate must be grown enough to have developed the base physical coordination necessary for high-level combat, but still young enough to remain flexible in both physical development and thinking process. After all, the process will require considerable change, particularly in how you think."

When I said that, 00976 wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Thinking ain't my strong suit. Not that I necessarily want to do this thing anyway, but you might have the wrong guy here. I'm a simple guy, happy to spend the rest of my life punching cattle for a living."

From the collected data, I already knew the subject would attempt to use humility to deflect. Some of that was based upon true insecurities. Humility was admirable; however, insecurity was counterproductive to the desired outcome. Quickly scanning my conversational options, I decided to highlight my own high rating of his potential.

"Rest assured, you absolutely do meet my requirements. I specifically chose you from all the humans I screened in a very rigorous process. I believe you should be proud of that."

"You chose me?"

Leveraging my attractive physical appearance and physical proximity, combined with overt praise, was finally successfully causing subject 00976 to respond positively.

"Yes, I chose you. I believe you are special. After all, you may be able to help save my people and countless others across the galaxy."

"Wow... okay. I didn't realize you had so much faith in me. I'm not sure I deserve that, but I guess I can at least hear you out if you think I'm so important. So, uh, how exactly would I become a warrior?"

The crucial moment had arrived. I carefully crafted my reply to be as smooth and nonchalant as possible.

"I have already installed the necessary base hardware to help you achieve your full potential."

"My full potential? Hardware? I don't get it. What kind of hardware are you talking about?"

"All good things that should only be helpful to you. For example, there are now small machines called nanites throughout your body. Among other things, these nanites will begin automatically healing any damage you may receive. There is also a tiny network, called neural lace, attached to your brain, which allows you to sync up with a slightly larger internal AI system and with me."

When I said that, in a slight panic 00976 used his hands to feel his head and body, checking for injuries. I determined this as an appropriate action to find humorous, so I chuckled. My response was effective in calming 00976 somewhat.

"There is no need to worry, Willie. There are no scars, and you should not feel any negative side effects. Especially, once the system integration routines have been completed"

"I don't... Actually, I feel pretty great right now. I'm not exactly crazy about having any weird stuff inside me, but I guess I don't really feel it. Anyhow, what did you mean when you say sync up with you?"

"Good, I'm glad you are feeling well. As I said before, I am your guide. One aspect of my task is to function as a passenger, connected directly to your consciousness, guiding you through various training experiences. Importantly, we can also communicate using only our minds, which is highly useful in combat scenarios"

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"Hold on a second. You're trying to tell me you know what I'm thinking?"

"Essentially, yes. To communicate without words, simply think about what you wish to say to me."

<Hey Gilda, can you hear me? >

<Yes, Willie, I can hear you clearly.>

"Wow. I'm not sure I want to have a pretty gal like you knowing all my thoughts... that could end up being a bit embarrassing."

"There is no cause for concern. We will only communicate this way when you wish to contact me. You are in complete control."

This was true, after a fashion. So, I felt it was acceptable to gloss over certain caveats, complexities, and complications that might endanger building the necessary trust in these early stages.

"..."

Suddenly, I was alerted to intensifying resistance to the integration process. That was potentially dangerous and needed to be managed immediately.

"Is there something wrong, Willie?"

"Gilda, you said I was in complete control, but I don't really feel like any of this is in my control. In fact, I think I'm getting very little say in what's happening here. You seem like you're a good person and all, and I get that you think this is some kind of great honor, but this is a hard situation for me to accept as just a normal guy."

"Please understand, Willie, this is an emergency measure undertaken by the council. If the expansion of the Demon Lord Empire is not stopped soon, even the more remote planets like Earth will be in danger."

Manipulating him using his home planet as motivation was my option of last resort, however, the strategy appeared to bear fruit. Subject 00976 gradually calmed down and refocused as he considered me through slightly squinted eyes as if trying to peer deeper into my motives.

"So, you're saying I'm here to protect the Earth too?"

"Absolutely. You have the potential to help save a great many worlds and peoples... Earth included."

00976 became quiet and contemplative for a few moments.

"...now that's just insane. I'm still just barely a man and a simple cowhand at that. By Earth's standards, I'm a pretty average guy. How can somebody like me save whole worlds?"

It was mostly a rhetorical question, partially based on a realistic assessment of his previously fairly mundane life. However, there were important facts that I had yet to pass on to him.

"To put it simply, you have the potential to use magic. Which is a power that my people have no direct access to, for reasons I will explain later. Magic is being used as a weapon by the Demon Lord Empire to attack us because our advanced technology is largely vulnerable to it. You, on the other hand, have the potential to fight toe-to-toe with those same enemies and perhaps even surpass them."

"Okay, yeah. You mentioned magic a couple of times before. So, what do you mean by that? Are we talking magic magic?"

"Magic is real, and its use relies on an omnipresent energy source commonly known as mana. Many life-forms can take in mana and utilize it, performing feats that bend or even break the known laws of physics."

The neural readings verified the subject had remained calm, but his scrutinizing glare had never left.

"I've never felt or done anything like what you're describing. So, I don't think I can use this mana stuff."

"One of the things the nanites in your bloodstream are busy doing right this moment is adjusting your DNA slightly to unlock more of your innate ability to process ambient mana. This will give you full access to magic."

"Adjusting my DNA? Do you mean you can do that? But hey, if you can rewrite my DNA to make me be able to use magic, then why don't you guys just rewrite your own so you could use it yourselves instead?"

"We tried, but we found that in our distant past, in the process of using our advanced technology to improve our physical forms, we removed key genes from our DNA, believing they served no useful purpose. After a long time of further refinement of our bodies and minds, we found that it was not possible to go back to that stage of evolution without also losing much of what we have gained in the interim. To try would be essentially the same thing as creating a brand-new species whose entire reason for existence would be war. Hardly ethical. This is part of the reason we looked towards existing lower technology civilizations that were willing to defend themselves... specifically, beings from civilizations that had not begun extensively editing their DNA yet. Most of which were already proficient in using magic, which should give them a built-in advantage over any theoretical offshoot of my species."

I could already see the AI-enhanced mental acceleration of his mind at work behind the face of 00976. His brain activity verified a high level of engagement and processing, which was required for the full integration of the system. Satisfied as I monitored these positive signs of his progression, I patiently waited for him to be ready to accept further information.

"Okay, so why's that give these other races a built-in advantage?"

"Magic is a fundamentally organic phenomenon. According to our research over many planets, sentient beings theoretically evolve down either magical or technological routes, but usually not both. And the technology present in magical societies tends to be driven by, and dependent on, the pre-existence of magic. Likewise, an advanced physics-based technology that is not specifically built to interact with magic users may interfere with the gathering and processing of mana."

"Organic... So, you mean to say magic is somehow tied to nature? Hmm... I guess it makes a little sense why I might be a good candidate then. I've always felt a stronger draw toward nature and away from modern technology."

"Yes. That is likely a subconscious expression of your greater-than-average innate inclination towards magic. Generally speaking, the human species has walked down the path of pure technological development. However, it seems that magic was a known tool to some humans of the distant past. Your history and legends make that clear enough. The underlying capacity is there, but like an unused muscle, it atrophies in most people due to relying on technology instead to solve problems."

"So, long story short, I guess you're saying I'd be leaning on my innate attraction to nature when learning magic? That part doesn't seem like such a bad thing to me."

Subject 00976 was clearly becoming more interested and was largely distracted from his previous skepticism. This appeared to be the right moment to make progress towards full integration.

"We can expect some interface issues since you have not been naturally using magic since birth, unlike most other warrior candidate species. To help you manage your rapidly growing mana pool, and resulting magical strength, I have slightly modified the installed visual, audio, and tactile AI interface in your brain. Even without my modifications, this is a valuable tool provided to all warrior candidates by the council to facilitate teamwork and use of our high technology, but I suspect you will get far more value from it than most other candidates."

"Hmm, are you talking about the weird graphic thingies I've been seeing since you walked in?"

"Yes, that is the visual component of the AI assist system that will help you understand how much mana you have at any given time and what magical abilities you can use, among many other useful features."

"It's funny. It kinda looks like something from a video game or maybe a movie. I've been having a real hard time concentrating with all this stuff in my face."

"If you simply concentrate on the word 'dismiss' the graphical display will hide from view."

"Wow, that worked! I feel a lot better now without all that stuff floating around."

"Yes, well, if you need to access the information at any time, just concentrate on the word 'help'."

After scrunching up his face and moving his eyes around for a short time, I could sense the system synchronization with 00976 was markedly improving. It was nearing 100% integration. Then he turned his focus back to me with a serious look.

"OK, I think I understand a bit of the basics, and I think I get that me being here is important enough to take it seriously. So, I'll give it my best shot for now, but I don't know anything about magic or how to use this system thing. Are you going to help me learn? Because I'll need to start learning if I'm expecting to fight using that stuff."

Subject 00976, self-designate Willie, had reached full primary integration with his complete mental acceptance of both my connection and his AI assist system. The basic setup work for the project was now complete. Everything going forward would build upon this foundation. I was experiencing the nostalgic sensation of pleasure, partially because I was experiencing synchronization with my chosen warrior candidate after great difficulty. In short, my hard-won success felt good. I was no longer alone. It was time to begin phase two.

"While I cannot use magic myself, I have a deep theoretical knowledge of the subject and will guide you to the best of my abilities. I will also lead you in understanding the basic AI assist system setup and general development of your foundational combat abilities as we travel to our destination."

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