The Heart and Body, Trouble in the Grasslands

When the fragments were caught in his heart, overtime, they built up and slowly began to encapsulate and constrict the heart. Like a catalyst, the body had bonded with the buildup like a tartar. The crystals began to have an effect that stimulated the Energy Organ and like a cascade, the body began to heal.

To fix the heart, it had to stop.

As the electrons slowly drifted back and inward, the body was beginning to die as a whole.

The Mindspace shook.

[Re-initializing, Please Wait]

The AI's eyes widened in disbelief and though he had an expectation of pain that was usually associated with revivals concerning heart failure, there was none at all.

Like someone had just turned on the furnace out of nowhere, Martin was scared shitless by the interruption during the silence. He felt relief, the system was restarting and he felt the coldness vanish in an instant.

Blue screens hovered in place once again and after a few flickers, the screens were one again updating their information.

[Scanning Body]

The system gave out another alert and this time it was slightly different, in that it was more specific than before. The change didn't go unnoticed, Martin had been poking around near command functions and prioritized resources during a critical moment. It was like a brute force attack on the AI's personality, psyche and mental fortitude all at once. He knew it would cause a problem so he dared not mention it aloud.

[Scanning Complete]

[Unknown Reconstruction Method has resulted in Redesign of Heart and Vascular System]

[Addition Changes still underway, Compiling Data]

[Redesign of Heart Complete.]

[Redesign of Bloodvessels Initiated.]

Now that the AI was awake, there was no way to avoid the sensation of pain.

[Objective: Medicine] Removed from Objective list.]

"Why would it remove the objective, the pain is like an earmark for a needed recovery afterward! You're an idiot! Don't take it off! Medicine is important!" Martin yelled and threw something throug the projection again. When he saw what it was, he felt mortified. It was a T-shirt with his face superimposed over a dog, plastered across the chest.

The blood vessels within the AI's body were torn apart and rebuilt slowly, inch by inch and hour by hour it crept along. The burning sensation was intense and even the AI, which had been unusually quiet about pain, was forced to cry out in misery. There was no avoiding it, the pathways themselves were broken apart and not only did his blood run into the rest of his body and reek havoc on other systems, it was constantly happening.

The Remodeling of his blood vessels were a form of genesis within the body, he was growing new tissues almost constantly. It was a serious drain on the body and little more than a few hours in, what little energy that was there had contracted and the body began to devour the more traditional of energy sources. Slowly, fat and excess waters were metabolized, burned out and removed from the body in one way or another.

A stickiness covered the body, caked on along with the sweat and dust, he looked like a corpse that had risen from the dead. He twitched and howled across the ground for the entire evening and into the next day. His bellowing had scared the birds away and likely attracted predators to the area, if not, it would have been extremely surprising.

Martin was watching with his hand on his knees bent forward with his nose nearly pressed into the projection. He was waiting to see what would happen.

The body was going through a purification process. Not only did the heart change but once the change would be completed, it would be difficult for the AI to think of the body as human.

The Energy Organ which had no explanation from before, suddenly compacted.

Like an Accordion, it came crashing inward and shrank before expanding once again. When this happened, the AI spit out a mouthful of blood.

Martin stared at the stain on the ground and cheered him on.

The AI continued to scream in horror and twist on the ground. It was grueling to watch, no doubt that the AI was having trouble coming to grips with the repeated sensations.

Six hours later the notifications had long ended and another one rang out, it startled both the AI and Martin awake at the same time.

The projection shown through the vision of AI was like watching themselves waking up in the morning.

[Reconstruction of blood vessels complete]

[Unknown Body Reconstruction Complete]

[Status Update: Calculating]

[Status: Healthy]

"Healthy? That's all you give? Healthy? I mean, if you're gonna say anything, I guess that's better than a whole hell of a lot of other things but really.. that's it?"

The screen flickered a few times.

[Creating Status Window, Generating]

[Creating Status Log, Generating]

[Creating Status Status, Generating]

[Compiling Scanning Data

[Status Updated]

[Status:] Name: Isek, Age:28 (0.5) Weight 137lb, Title – Administrator, Health: (Healthy)

[Race: Unknown]

[Strength (9)]

[Energy (3)]

[Dexterity (23)]

[Intelligence (???)]

[Data Storage (???)]

[Unknown (10)]

[Magic Ability (???)]

[Luck (-1)]

"OH WOW! I FINALLY GET TO SEE A STAT SCREEN!" Martin was overjoyed, he wondered what sort of progress the AI had made in it's many months and with the happenings of just before, he was sure that no matter what he saw, he would be amazed.

"Why is luck at a negative!" Martin was perplexed but the system was listening intently, with the changes to the body, even the brain had undergone significant changes. Though it might have acted like a contagious disease, when it truly manifested there was no comparison at all.

[Luck set at (-1) because luck does not exist.]

"Luck would imply that positive things are possible, luck can defy possibility. I generated the state because of the possibility that things can get better but to give it a positive number in the beginning means that I could lose my luck. Instead, I think it's better to assume that bad luck does exist. I mean, look at you. You're stuck in my head." Isek knocked on the side of his head like it was a joke.

"Luck. Okay.. I can agree that Bad Luck does exist. Setting it to a -1 feels very appropriate." Martin started to agree but noticed something different.

"Wait a minute, were you just nice to me? What's with that name And what's with you explaining? Wow, you really have changed. Fuck.. My fortuitive encounter, you've gotten it all. The body, the reincarnation.. well, I guess for you it's your first but still.. fuck me." Martin spun in a circle felt like an idiot.

Isek could understand a lot about the reasons humans made decisions, countless billions of comments along the internet, when rationalized, separated and analized had given him a much clearer perspective but the processing wasn't possible until just a moment before.

The transformation of his brain, among the other organs in his body, had enhanced the way his neurons were firing. Instead of having to recall things, the AI, Isek, had seemingly upgraded the pathways. They acted more like a solid state hard drive and what once required remembering became like it had always been at his fingertips.

[System Calibration Enabled]

"It's weird, all of these changes to this body. I'm sure as a human you can appreciate the irony of my own situation now that our roles are reversed." Isek rubbed his temples, It was out of reflex but there was no pain associated with the movement. He was feeling something nearby, a new sensation, it felt like something was getting closer.

He turned over and moved out of the way.

It was just in time.

A heaping pile of steaming bird shit landed on his previous position.

Martin laughed uncontrollably. "To act like that, you tensed up good too. I mean, if you're going to be afraid of shit.." Martin's laughing continued for a second and then all noise cut out in the mindspace.

[Global Mute]

"Ahh.. Finally. A setting that actually works." Isek stretched out his arms and looked at them. The blood vessels from before were now stronger than his own muscles. Every time he moved, it felt like it was the first time he's ever tried something so difficult.

After performing a range of motion test, Isek unmuted the Mindspace. "You've gotta calm down. Haven't you always said that? When emotions run hot, have a Cool refreshing drink of Water by.."

"Just put me back on mute if you're going to play commercials like a cliche." Martin interrupted Isek and sounded a little pissed.

"Don't be upset, just call me anytime. Pick up the phone... Dial 1-9000-EAT-ME" Isek was singing like it was a jingle and toying with Martin. It was a method he had seen notoriously used against bullies on forums, Martin had even contributed a little to one of the forums which is why it was within the databanks.

"When you can't shut them up, beat them down with words of your own." Isek quoted Martin's passage word for word.

"Oh. This shit. So you're going to use my own words against me now?" Martin barked back at Isek quickly.

"Wouldn't you do the same thing in my place.. twist my words and program to suit your need?" Its sort of what System Administrators are suppose to do, right?" Isek started breathing deeply to get a feel for the new changes. He felt a little dizzy at first, like the Oxygen had just been turned up in a fighter jet.

In a moment, he was wired awake. Isek's mind felt turbo charged but his brain wasn't what he was worried about, the AI had always been a strong thinker.

It was the body that needed testing.

Isek grabbed the straw hat and secured it to the top of his head. Digging his bare feet into the dirt and grass roots, he launched himself forward into a full sprint.

The Air pressure, which had previously been affecting his running speed seemed benign and unworthy of note in comparison to what his body was experiencing in that moment of inertia. Pushing off from the ground, Isek nearly overcompensated his stride and stumbled for a moment before adjusting his posture forward and leaning into the run.

His skin felt more flexible than before but the wind was not affecting it. He had no where to go, so he searched the area actively for food sources. There were still some of the rations from the Warrior camp but those were different and they really didn't provide enough to satiate him properly.

The spirit grass bread from before was only one of the many rations, most of others were made from poor ingredients and held no magical content.

[Scanning]

While searching the grasslands, more data about the plants came up and it was quickly sorted. Everything, including a model of the plants were quickly added to the database.

[Updating Map, Generating Location Data]

Isek was standing in a field of herbs.

The grasses around him were flowing with blue light but there was no chill in the air.

Martin looked at the temperature reading on the side of the projection and sighed. It looked like a nice day.

[Nearby Energy Source Detected]

A ping came across the map.

"What's this?" Martin touched the marker on the map with his finger and data that was still incoming was reading out on the screen. Numbers and charts flowed in random directions looking to probe for answers and like a slot Isek, one after another, the numbers came in.

[Lifeform Detected, Identified.]

[Lifeform Identified as Broken Plains Rabbit. Behavior: Docile]

"System, Track Broken Plains Rabbit in real time and project it's escapes routes as an overlay in the HUD." Isek gave the system a command. It was the first time he had done it orally.

Martin sat up in his chair with a strange look on his face, "Do you mean me?"

There was no reply to Martin but the System gave an update.

[Calculating]

[Generating map overlay]

[Compiling data]

[Generating Pathways Overlay, Enabling]

In the distance, the HUD had the outline of the Rabbit within Isek's vision. He was a few hundred feet away and to the southeast behind a hidden mound.

Isek dug his toes in deeper this time to see if he could get a better start and ran after the Rabbit at full speed.

Martin was speechless.

Isek gave chase and followed the HUD's predictive algorithm to a very successful degree. In a matter of moments, he had already caught the rabbit.

Unsatisfied, Isek put the rabbit down and let it run away.

"You're an idiot! That was totally worth having for dinner!" Martin chided toward the AI and kicked his stool over.

Isek crouched down and didn't reply.

The system gave out another alert shortly after.

[Lifeform Detected: Unknown, Behavior: Hostile]

"Oh Shit! Finally, some action!" Martin cheered at the thought of watching the AI do battle again, the last time, things had ended rather quickly. "Why aren't you moving?"

[Weapon Status: Unarmed]

The System gave a gratuitous update and Martin shut his mouth.

The grasses flowed with the wind and moments later, the rabbit, which had just been released, made off in an all out sprint for it's life. Thirty meters away, it had a burrow and rabbits were great and fitting into narrow spaces.

The rabbit was in full motion for about twenty of the thirty feet before a large bear like creature came flying out of the grasses. It pounced and it's singular strike had crushed the life from the rabbit.

'Well that was underwhelming' Martin kept his comment to himself but he figured that the AI might have felt the same way but the AI hadn't moved an inch.

"Why aren't you moving away yet?"

[SHH!]

"Did you just Shush me?" Martin yelled at the system from within the space, he was already use to getting it from the AI but the system was always more of an operational status update warning, it shouldn't have had such capability.

The SHH! Announcement was too much, even for Isek. He tried to hold it in but he let out a small laugh.

[The Unknown Lifeform has Detected your presence.]

The system gave a direct warning and Isek turned to run.

The creature was quick, moments after Isek had turned to run, he had already clawed at the ground where Isek once stood then given chase directly after.

The beast was leaping over the taller grasses and it was gaining ground, narrowing down on Isek's exact direction was simple after that.

Isek rummaged through the storage ring and found an ax, when he took it out, the weight was something unexpected. It dragged on the ground and Isek nearly lost his balance. Turning over the Ax, Isek swung it down and let go.

The ax hurled toward the creature and grazed at it's front leg.

"YES!" Martin cheered from the stool he had in front of the projector.

The beast fell over from the injury but got up just as fast and continued the chase.

"SHIT RUN!" Martin's cheering continued with gusto, he had no idea why it all seemed so exciting but it was a much better feeling than living in the Mindspace, alone.

Isek had immediately run after throwing the Ax, it was not a great quality but the system didn't have any information on the amount of damage it could do. All he could do was to test it.

Another weapon quickly made it's way into Isek's hand. It was one of the leather straps he had been tied up with, a strap of leather form a fire beast of the lower plains.

Wrapping the strap tightly around his hands, he held it like the ends of a belt and for whatever reason, the fire wasn't burning his hands. Isek gave the system another command in that instant and slapped the fiery strap against the beast's hide. It was like a hot iron and seared the flesh as it streaked along.

The beast roared and lunged again, Isek dodge again and again. After a while, he stopped using the strap and just let the beast attack while he continued to dodge.

"Okay, now you're just showing off. What happens if that thing lands a good hit, what then?" Martin's chiding had a good point to it.

Isek stopped moving and let the beast claw him slightly.

[Analyzing damage, Threat Level: Minimal]

[Adapting Health Bar Model, Data Insufficient, Generating.]

Martin checked the status window and saw a health bar being generated, it looked almost completely full. Rather than points, it had a percentage factor was written directly into window and across the bar. There is no arguing with the system, 99% Health is still pretty fucking good after just taking a hit.."

A few minutes later and Martin had gotten bored of watching, moreover, the creature, which had once been thrashing itself about in a mad dash to destroy him, had lost almost all of his momentum.

There was fear in the Beast's eyes and it moved like it was unwilling to be killed when out hunting. Originally, it had been a simple hunt and when bigger prey had shown itself, it was hardly the rational thought of beasts to abandon such a meal. Now, the tide had turned.

The Beast broke away soon after that but Isek was still interested, with

the role reversed once again, the AI started to show some enjoyment

toward the hunt.

The beast was quick and it had taken a while to keep up with its movements, allowing the AI to train. All of the action films and videos had been wire framed, extracted, digested and uploaded to the defensive techniques. Isek was quick before but his coordination was extremely poor despite his results within the Warrior camp. It was only because of the extensive library of online violence that predicting movements was possible.