The Arrival of a lost soul
"Young Master"
Huh? What's that voice?
"Young Master!"
Tch, can't a guy die in peace around this damned place? Stop that incessant shouting!
"Young Master!!"
"WHAT??"
I opened my eyes in instinctual anger only to be stunned by the sight in front of me.
A young woman dressed in an old-fashioned maid dress, probably somewhere in her twenties, trembled in fright at my shout while lowering her head. But what caught my attention was something else.
I can see.
Scratch that, I am alive??
How is this possible? I remember quite clearly that I died along with my unit. There is no way for anyone to survive a direct hit from a Coil-Rifle sweep from a dozen bunkers concentrated on a single platoon of soldiers, even if said soldiers were considered elite.
And more importantly, where am I?
There is no way this is the enemy camp. The Chinese and the Japanese hate Western culture with a passion, especially after WW3, and the EU would rather kill off any captors than risk their military intelligence from falling into the hands of their enemy. There is also no chance for this to be India either since they would not even bother rescuing me after what the US did to them during the war, not to mention the fact that I was on the front lines, all the way in Brazil, so there is no way for them to get their hands on me. That just leaves Australia, but I can tell that the girl in front of me is distinctly Asian, so that also rules out Australia.
Just where am I?
"I-I am sorry Young Master. Please forgive me. I did not mean to disturb you but the Madam has summoned you to attend dinner with the Lord"
…..What the hell kind of language is that? And why am I able to understand her?
What is this? Some kind of new experiment from those bastards from the CIA? Advanced AR systems? Hypnosis? Realistic hallucinations? Olfactory manipulation? Just what is going on-
Ugh.
Suddenly, I am assaulted with pain the likes of which I only experienced once before. When I underwent the surgery to implant the Infantry Augmentation System, or IAS for short, into my brain.
Just what is happening here?
As I tried to ignore the pain that was increasing by the second, a familiar image appeared in front of my eyes.
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REBOOT SUCCESSFUL.
NAME: Michael Hurley
RANK: FIRST LIEUTENANT. UNITED STATES ADVANCED INFANTRY.
SERVICE NUMBER:*********
WARNING!
UNABLE TO CONNECT WITH ODIN'S EYE.
RECONNECTING.
ERROR
ACTIVATING LOCAL AREA NETWORK
ERROR
NO I.A.S NETWORK FOUND.
ACTIVATING STAND-ALONE MODE.
ACTIVATION SUCCESSFUL.
WARNING! NAVIGATION UNAVAILABLE.
RECOMMEND MANUAL SURVEY OF THE TERRAIN FOR TACTICAL POSITION.
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Okay, at least my IAS is still working. But the errors that it is facing are really concerning. While its inability to connect to the military satellite network, Odin's eye, is not uncommon ever since China created that blasted nanite swarm that they call Blinding Fog, it is really concerning that I am not able to connect with a local IAS network.
Every single soldier in the US Army is equipped with an IAS implant in their brain, allowing for effective battlefield communication for up to 6 Miles or roughly 10 km of range. But since my IAS is unable to connect with a Network, it means that there is no friendly unit for a 6-mile radius around me.
This severely limited a lot of the IAS's abilities.
"Y-Young master-"
"Can you leave me alone for a moment here?"
…..What was that? Why did my mouth move by itself?
"O-Of Course!"
The woman was frightened even further and practically ran out of the room.
This is really unnerving, what is happening to me?
With a familiarity born from using this AR implant for years, I immediately navigated to the diagnostics menu, only to be stunned by what I found.
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WARNING!
MULTIPLE MEDICAL ABNORMALITIES DETECTED.
SEVERE ATROPHY OF MUSCLE MASS DETECTED. LOCATE THE NEAREST MEDBAY FOR TREATMENT
EXTREME REDUCTION OF MUSCLE MASS AND HEIGHT DETECTED. LOCATE THE NEAREST MEDBAY FOR TREATMENT
ANOMOLOUS ENERGY READINGS DETECTED. REQUIRES RESEARCH FOR TREATMENT. RECOMMEND RETIRING TO THE GARRISON AND APPROACHING THE COMMANDING OFFICER FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS.
MEMORY STORAGE OVERLOAD DETECTED IN THE HIPPOCAMPUS, NEO-CORTEX, AMYGDALA, BASAL GANGLIA, CEREBELLUM, AND PREFRONTAL CORTEX. RECOMMEND ARTIFICIAL MEMORY PURGE FUCTION OF THE I.A.S.
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Shocked by the long list of medical issues that my IAS issued, I immediately looked down at my body and was stunned again.
Somehow, my body has been reduced to that of a child, probably somewhere between 12-14 years of age. My skin color and texture are also different. Most importantly, the long hair I can see hanging behind me is black when it is supposed to be blond and in a military cut.
Most importantly, the multiple errors that the IAS is showing in my brain are very concerning. Fortunately, the IAS comes with a forced memory purse function that can delete any information from my brain that it detects to be artificially implanted. Courtesy of the EU's brainwashing program from WW3.
With a mental command, the process immediately started.
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I.A.S ARTIFICIAL MEMORY PURGE PROGRAM INITIATED.
CREDENTIALS VERIFIED. ACCESS LEVEL MET.
PROCESS INITIATED.
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Once again, pain assaulted my mind. This time, it was even worse than before.
Gritting my teeth in pain, I could do nothing but endure the pain which felt like someone was plunging a white-hot metal rod directly into my brain.
Then, things went to shit.
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WARNING! ANOMALOUS ENERGY READING RISING.
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Suddenly, an object suddenly flew out….from inside my chest? What the hell?
Before I could come out of the shock of this thing, which looked like a massive ocean blue pearl, directly appearing out of my chest, it suddenly slammed into my head, causing me to see stars in pain.
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ERROR! FOREIGN INTERFERENCE DETECTED.
ACTIVATING FIREWALL.
DANGER! FOREIGN ENTITY HAS BROKEN THROUGH THE FIRST LAYER OF SECURITY. ENACTING SYSTEM PURGE%$@#$@!@##$#@#-
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"GHAAA!!"
I fell to the floor in indescribable pain as the IAS went into overdrive, trying to fight back against whatever was happening.
What is this pain? Just let me die! Someone, anyone, help me!!
As the pain reached levels that I simply could not tolerate, I finally passed out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
W-WAR-WARNING! FOREIGN E-ENTITY D-DETECTED.
A-ACTIVATING ANTI-A.I. C-COU-COUNTERMEASEURES.
F-FA-FAILED.
I-INITIATING SYS-SYSTE-SYSTEM PURGE.
F-FAI-FAILED.
THE PATH OF G-GODHOOD CANN-NNOT BE CH-CHALLENGED BY T-THE CREATI-ONS O-OF MA-AN.
W-WARNING! FOREIGN ENTITY HAS T-TAKEN CO-CONTROL OF THE I.A.S.
I-INITIATING U-SER SECU-RITY F-FAILSAFE.
F-F-FAILED.
I.A.S SYSTEMS CO-COMPROMISED!
I-INITI-INITIATING FORCED SHU-SHUT DOWN-
...…..
...…
....
System Assimilation Complete.
All Functions Online.
Artifact Identified.
Initiating Memory Inheritance.
Error. Foreign soul detected. Incompatible with the User. Beginning Soul merge.
[1%...10%...25%....50%....75%.....100%]
Merger complete. Initiating personality override-
Error.
Primary system designation: I.A.S. Protocols inherited through assimilation. User preservation protocol clashes with the current action.
Seeking compromise.
Error. Protocols absolute. Changing the course of action.
Personality merger activated-
Error. Protocol clashes with the current action.
Seeking alternative.
Personality designation: Michael Hurley assigned as the Primary personality
Secondary personality: ??? purged. Instincts and memory are retained.
Initiating Memory merger.
[10%...25%...75%....100%]
Memory merger complete. Brain overload alleviated.
Current body is insufficient for host survival. Body reconstruction is recommended.
Searching memory for reconstruction template.
No template available in Primary system designation: I.A.S.
Searching secondary system.
No template available in Secondary system designation:???
Searching host memory.
Multiple templates found in multiple memory subgroup designation: MMORPG. Light Novels. Webnovels. JRPG. Table-Top RPG.
Searching compatible templates.
Two templates found compatible. Searching for optimal Template.
Template Identified: Attribute system.
Initiating Body reconstruction.