12 Chapter 12

*Azriel's pov*

Robots, I've always loved robots. Ever since I was young, I've always been fascinated by them. Watching the various works of animation and movies pushed me further into pursuing my dream. That one day, I would make my own robot.

The world was in chaos when I was born. Death was looming over everyone. Both mom and dad did their best to raise me and take care of me even though they were busy trying to find the cure, like every other scientist in the world.

I remember dad used to say "Make the best of today, for tomorrow might not arrive." *chuckle* He would always get scolded by mom for saying such depressing words. I was 10 years old when I first ever saw him getting scolded, I asked my mom why she was scolding him for saying facts.

She replied holding me in her embrace "Honey, even if what your father said is correct, we mustn't be pessimistic about our future. If we are not optimistic about what would happen tomorrow, what is the point of living? New opportunities, new chances, new possibilities, all waiting for us, for better or worse. But that is what makes life worth living is it not? To experience such things and overcome difficulties. Don't follow in your father's footsteps and be pessimistic about everything,"

Any other ordinary 10-year-old wouldn't understand what they were saying but I was different. As both mom and dad were part of the brightest scientists in the world, I inherited their intellect. Being born during conflicts made me, no, all children mature faster. We have little time to play, having to run from the monsters and help out the adults with survival.

The warmth of mom's embrace, I missed dearly. The terrible jokes from dad, I wish to hear again. *tears gather around the eyes* I missed them so so much. *closes eyes, letting the tears drop down the cheeks*

*Breathed in deeply* Their death was what motivated me deeply to make sure that no other sons or daughters would lose their parents by the WCS and vice versa. I took up both their fields of expertise, genetics, and technology. Dad was a geneticist and mom was tech-savvy.

*chuckle* I remember dad being jealous since I loved playing with mom more because of her gadgets made for me. I had a lot of fun playing with the toy-sized mecha that had propulsion jets and could move and fly remotely for a brief period of time. It took her a few years to make it work and it was the best birthday gift I received.

After their deaths, I spent almost all my time studying and learning. I made my first ever artificial intelligence at the age of 19 but it has limited intelligence since I didn't have the resources, such as servers and data storage units, to improve its intelligence.

It was also just a casual side project back then as I was busy with project 'Blacklight'. I was selected to be the head of the project because of my parents and my ability as a geneticist. I was the son of two of the brightest scientists and did manage to improve human regenerative abilities by 47% after all.

It was my first project before becoming the head of the project 'Blacklight'. Afterward, every day was just experimenting and more experimenting with the said virus. I was disappointed that the project would be abandoned and that my coworkers, with whom I had spent a lot of time with, would just move on because it was deemed too dangerous.

I continued the project on my own while helping out with the creation of the very first androids. I was very elated to be part of this project as my dream was finally coming true. Working with the world's smartest individuals as they dedicated their entire attention to one project was a really enlightening experience.

They didn't wish to make the androids similar to humans down to their anatomy at first as it was tedious and expensive to do so when I first brought it up, even though this was the reason they wanted me to be part of this project. Thus I wanted nothing but perfection for the first androids and I was adamant about it. But of course, they refused again for some reason as the majority of the scientists just view these androids as a means to an end.

I tried to reason with them that the androids are just more than tools and that they would become a crucial part of humanity in the future but yet again, I was refused. I was confused at that time and asked myself why I was made to join the project if it wasn't for my vast knowledge of human anatomy. Although I wasn't the only geneticist present in this group and I'm not being narcissistic but I was the top expert in my profession.

The reason they just wanted to make the androids simple was that it would be easier to make and the leftover money for the project would go into their pockets but I didn't know about it back then.

I had had enough of being refused so, I threatened them that I would release their deep dark secrets to the world if they don't comply while locking down the room we were in. I wasn't one to sit around and just go with the flow when I could change the flow in my favor.

They were outraged obviously but were silenced when their secrets were revealed to them one by one. Every single one of them had quirks to balance out their intelligence. The same can be said for me as I was obsessed with anything to do with robots and androids. But mine was harmless, mostly, but some of their quirks were so disgusting that I wished I hadn't known about it.

They still reasoned that the resources to do detailed anatomy close to a human would be too much and impractical, which was just an excuse, they were just being lazy. So I replied "It's all for the greater good, you either do what I told you to do or say goodbye to your life," *chuckle* the looks on their faces were priceless. I really went crazy back then.

I know the cost would be high to produce each android with my specifications but I didn't care. Only to find out later that the higher-ups were willing to cough out as many resources as they can to make the project 'Gestalt' a success. Meaning that we didn't have to worry about resources for the android creation project. I was mad that the scientists were consumed with greed when they could've made a masterpiece.

Apparently, I found out that they had extremely low expectations of the project 'Gestalt'. They wanted to waste the rest of their lives in luxury before dying. I was taken aback. These people, the smartest of us humans, had already given up before even trying. Most of them being one step into the grave also contributed to this as there weren't many young geniuses.

I was able to persuade them to at least leave the androids as a legacy so that even if mankind perished, the androids would still be around to carry on the legacy of humans. This motivated them and they later told me with a laugh that even if I went through with the threat, they wouldn't have cared. Just like that, somehow we all became closer to one another.

After putting in all our sweat and tears, we finally managed to create the first androids. There were two of them, two females, twins, with red hair. I was proud of what we have achieved and I even was able to merge my first ever artificial intelligence into them, making it as a part of the base for their whole being. Their name, Devola and Popola.