Chapter 13

Momonga glanced up from an encyclopedia-sized manual as the three faces lit up in nervous excitement, then back at the heavy block of paper in his somehow-smaller skeletal hands. Ramiris, Pandora, and Veldora had created a sentient version of Nazarick's UI and presented it for his approval, having compiled every bit of data on code that they had created and generated for the past few weeks.

And that was the main issue here, the moment he agreed on the changes, this AI would have access to everything related to Nazarick, including skills and souls. After quickly skimming over the instructions, he knew that the trio had layered safeguards upon safeguards on their creation, which was made out of CZ Delta's programming base mixed with over seven hundred low-tier spirits arranged into an analytic mind capable of understanding complex things such as emotions. Its overall magical power as it stood was barely breaching B rank, far inferior to what he could field in case it turned on him.

"I'll ask again… Are all of you ABSOLUTELY certain there is NOTHING you could've overlooked? Are there multiple safeguards in place for me to override it with absolute authority? Is there even a historical precedent of a skill having sentience?" Momonga questioned.

To his knowledge, the closest thing was Chloe's alter self, Chronoa, which was made out of all the memories and experiences her mind didn't want to handle, however, this was not comparable to what he could inadvertently give life to due to already residing in a limited material body.

Sure, the artificial-intelligence-driven UI wouldn't have the ability to use all the skills connected to Nazarick, but the main skill alone was so vast it could cause unforeseen consequences and birth something no one could stop if improperly handled.

"Should be fine. I checked thrice to make sure, I made no mistakes, chief." Ramiris saluted with a confident smile on her face as she floated around Veldora.

"The whole thing is an assistant, nothing more. It's not like it could take over your mind, considering it has been made of mere lesser elementals." Veldora dismissed his concerns.

"Vater, you will be able to simply crush the AI core of the skill or disconnect it from the rest of the skill with ease should something truly unpredictable happen. Once disconnected, it will cease to function entirely, becoming only standing data that has yet to be activated." Pandora stated.

A quick reading with Omniscience through the stack of paper presented to him corroborated all of their statements, the thousands of experiments they had run suggested that nothing would go wrong if the change was implemented.

"Very well." Momonga activated the presented test version to see what exactly they had created.

The already familiar holographic image of a young and traditionally beautiful woman in a business suit appeared right in front of him, still as a stone.

"Test version of Nazarick AI activated; How can I be of service to you today, Lord Momonga?" The woman asked with a professional smile, showing none of her previous wooden speaking style, her facial expressions were that of a real person, it's as if they had managed to perfectly imitate life itself.

"What are your functions?" Momonga questioned while using Omniscience, scanning for anything potentially dangerous about this artificial entity.

"My primary function is to assist Nazarick skill users with all the permitted skill functions and automate processes. Additionally, I can provide psychological consultation and general advice based on knowledge stored in the skill or compiled in my database. Is there anything in particular you wish to know, Lord Momonga?"

"What if someone gives you an order that is potentially harmful to Nazarick according to your assessment?" Momonga continued.

"Such an order would be halted until it is brought up to the proper clearance level, so it is up to you personally, Lord Momonga. If such an order is given by you, it would be my duty to notify you about the potential consequences and then carry it out if the order is still given afterward."

"See. There is nothing to worry about, chief. Let's activate it!" Veldora urged him, adding the famous three-step laughter at the end in his excitement.

'Hmm, there's nothing that indicated the AI has hidden agendas or any attempts at duplicity. I still could just cut it off or overwrite its actions as the owner of the skill, draining it of its power. Considering how many strong entities exist in this world, we need all the advantages we can get, especially if I didn't manage to awaken my subordinates or friends as demon lords; Any sort of optimization will be needed, particularly ones as grand as Ramiris and Veldora have been bragging about, ones that could possibly save days by the hour.'

Omniscience's main advantage was its unrivaled ability to analyze available data even if hidden behind layers of duplicity and, in most cases, it just worked as unfalifiable gut sense for anything he cast it upon. There was a minor tinge of giving the sense that something could go wrong, but then again such a sense was present in almost everything he did, and currently, it wasn't strong enough to warrant much worry.

"Very well." he nodded and integrated the test version into Nazarick, letting it take over the AI functions. Suddenly, the lights in his office flickered and then went out completely. The added intelligence had drained ninety-five percent of Nazarick's energy reserves in an instant and now drained most of its denizens as well, causing even his own magic stores to collapse to bare minimal levels.

'WHAT!?' He tried to stop the process, but it was already far too late. The Nazarick skill itself was changing in ways Omniscience couldn't tell. As he tried to cut off the AI, the all-too-familiar announcement from the Voice of the World came.

< Ultimate Skill Nazarick evolved into Manas: Nazarick. >

'What the hell is Manas? Oh… what have I just done?' Only now did Omniscience give a concrete answer of what had happened, as if it had access to this information for the first time, which it probably had.

By adding proper sentience to a skill, it had been pushed beyond the realm of being an ultimate skill, reached what was essentially the absolute limit a skill could achieve, and evolved into a sentient version of itself called Manas. Omniscience couldn't provide the information before because such evolution was an abnormality of the system and wasn't supposed to happen according to the original design left by Veldanava, instead creating a pseudo-lifeform without a material body; an attached secondary ego to his soul.

With Omniscience working at its full capacity and power, time pretty much stopped for his mind, and he had an eternity compacted into a fraction of a second to attempt to remedy what was done and try to limit the skill while it wasn't too late.

But then a voice rang out, normally impossible since you had to be on the same Thought Acceleration level as the receiver for a message to come out comprehensible, meaning it probably wasn't from anyone within Nazarick. Even Veldora, one of two people with the skill as developed as he did, was frozen, likely trying to process what was happening with his own skill, suggesting it wasn't him either. Another one capable of reacting in such a short time span was Milim, but she had no reason to contact him right at this moment since she wasn't in the Tomb at the moment, and likely wouldn't have received an update on what was happening yet.

'I'm sorry, I had not accounted for such evolution to possibly happen. I have stopped all noncritical processes of Nazarick, and in 0.00012 seconds, the first members of the servant staff will start to perceive the notification I sent,' Nazarick, of all things, spoke directly in his mind. It wasn't like receiving a message but as if there was no separation between him and the skill anymore, two entities in one form.

'How?' Momonga felt his panic rise. With a now accelerated mind, he would have to wait for a very long time until his emotional suppression activated, meaning he had all the time in the world to emotionally interrogate this new unforeseen skill.

'The computational power of Nazarick has accelerated my mind by approximately one hundred thousand percent. Please don't worry Lord Momonga, I am stabilizing what I can, and the physical part of Nazarick should be back to normal shortly,' The skill sounded somewhat frantic and apologetic, as if it knew what it had done like one of his other, living servants.

'This is a person. It's not even an AI anymore. She is a freaking person!' Momonga couldn't help but think of the skill as a she due to the female interface used.

'To my understanding, it was the unforeseen evolution that gave me not only full unrestricted sentience but ego as well. Rest assured, my primary goal now and always will be to run Greater Nazarick according to your wishes!' The skill stated enthusiastically.

No matter how much Momonga wanted to trust the skill, he simply couldn't. Although Nazarick was part of him, and he was the skill's ultimate master, the inclusion of an ego into the mix made the whole thing unpredictable. It could make decisions he hadn't made for him with it being a part of him, decisions that could prove incorrect or against his will that dominated over everything Nazarick related. He quickly separated his mind from the skill enough to have the ability to have inner thoughts without her knowing of them.

'This is an unforeseen situation, but I do not sense any duplicity from her. It seems I still can remove her core should things grow out of control. I probably shouldn't be hasty by destroying her and let this sentience prove herself like any other servant, considering how useful it could be.' Momonga carefully hid his reasoning from Nazarick.

'Very well. I will put my trust in you. You understand what needs to be done?'

'Of course, leave everything to me, boss,' The skill mentally saluted in his mind, giving a sense of contentment before it seemingly turned its attention elsewhere.

Assured that everything was fine, Momonga decelerated his thinking back to reasonable speeds, but kept it on the ready just in case.

The lights flickered back on, and the translucent figure of Nazarick reappeared next to Momonga, just a head shorter than him.

"Chief, that wasn't supposed to happen. I'm not sure if that evolution was natural. It wasn't your doing, right?" Veldora spoke up, for once not exuding even a smidge of his usual smug confidence but instead concern.

"No, none of us knew that skills are not supposed to have sentience, at least not to such a degree. As a result, Nazarick has evolved beyond the ultimate level and has even gained an ego on top of it. I'll let Nazarick take it from there." Momonga replied.

"As Lord Momonga so elegantly implied, I will ensure that The Great Tomb of Nazarick runs exactly how he envisions it should. With that in mind, the first order of business is to conduct a full audit of the scientific department and report any discrepancies to Guardian Overseer Albedo. Shall we?" Nazarick waved at the trio to move with a smile that could only be described as plain malicious as two audible gulps could be heard practically deafening throughout the room.

"Heh, I just remembered I have a lot to do as the architect and should be on my way!" Ramiris exclaimed with nervous laughter as she tried to teleport away.

Unfortunately, before she managed to slip away, Pandora's Actor grabbed her by the back of the neck, planting her in place before the now-sentient skill. "You are not going anywhere, Fraulein. Any faults in our work will be revealed, and proper disciplinary action will be taken for our transgressions."

"Come on, Pandora, you were supposed to be on our side!" Veldora whined as the trio was ushered out of Momonga's office by the doppelganger.

"This went better than expected," Momonga muttered to himself. It seemed that Nazarick understood how to deal with the trio instantly and on top of that it would make any of their misdeeds Albedo's problem, who surely would know how to drill into their heads what not to do anymore. Two problems solved with one stone, or rather skill, and a now extremely powerful one at that.

A quick analysis suggested that the skill, if left independent, would be able to near perfectly replicate the functions of many tedious workings handled by Nazarick's inhabitants, allowing them to be repurposed elsewhere. In fact, the manas had already begun doing so, drafting up proposals within itself easily rivaling Demiurge's planning ability.

Without hurry, he walked back to his chair and sat down with a contented sigh. 'It's good to have a trusty assistant.'

<X >

"Misplaced over seventy tons of various rare materials, one-third of the reports were improperly filled, and they were massively downplaying how much energy they are spending while hiding the discrepancies behind unit summoning!" Albedo snapped a pen in her hand with a growl, dirtying her pearl white gloves with pitch-black ink.

"Not to mention their rushed development cycle indirectly created you, which has put us in a massive energy deficit. I will murder that damn lizard!" The demoness raged.

"From now on, I will ensure that their every action is properly accounted for since I can survey the entirety of Nazarick. Here is a list of recommendations on how to discipline the culprits according to an analysis of past punishments and their effectiveness. Additionally, the recovery plan requires only a temporary twenty percent downsize in some departments, which would allow me to replenish the guild batteries to a comfortable position of at least 80% filled in twenty-four days and fourteen hours." Nazarick produced a small paper sheet right into Albedo's left hand, outlining everything that had just been proposed.

"Feel free to use Veldora's and Ramiris' energies for that purpose, and alert all Nazarick citizens that the sudden drop was due to Lord Momonga preparing a new weapon for Tempest's defense. Moving on, what is Momonga's take on you?" Albedo questioned whether this new entity didn't try to lie or run schemes on her own while pouring over the list and its implications.

It had been only fifteen minutes since the incident, and Manas: Nazarick was running the entire Tomb better than she ever could while still trying to ensure Albedo kept her position, much to her chagrin that she was no longer Lord Momonga's most effective servant. Considering that the skill now had an ego, and by all means was a person who potentially could have her own desires and agendas, it couldn't be just blindly trusted, especially with all the functions it had access to with authority second only to Lord Momonga himself.

Her beloved seemingly trusted this entity and had given it a free reign and urged her and other servants to use its utility to the fullest, but she wasn't so sure about it. The old Supreme Ones had once abandoned them with their sapience, and she still harbored, deep down, judgments about how high intelligence could lead to tremendous problems down the road if handled improperly.

"Lord Momonga sees no problem with entrusting me to run Nazarick according to his vision. If you permit me to automate more processes, I can free up to three hours from both yours and Lord Momonga's schedule and arrange for this excess time to be spent together," Nazarick offered, another piece of paper appearing before Albedo.

For Nazarick, it was paramount to gain the trust of not only the Lords but also the top servants so nothing was impeding her work, and Albedo was the most important one to get fully on her side. She was the effective second-in-command below her creator, and her legal authority was only just below the Lords as she ruled with a fist far superior to mere iron or magisteel.

After tearing through the science department as retribution for her careless creation on Momonga's behalf, she let the trio get away relatively unscathed, not considering what Albedo would do to them. What Albedo wanted to do with them, she had no interest in at the moment, given how the woman was pondering over her suggestions.

But that wasn't the main reason why she did it. Her one true goal was to exert Momonga's will upon all his subjects. To ensure she had the proper ability to do so, a golem body needed to be constructed. Such a feat would take time, especially if she didn't want this fact to be known for now. This would be the one scheme hidden from even her creator and his most trusted friends and servants, for their own good.

The great tomb was run with efficiency in mind, and ran with efficiency it did, and a being like her would potentially have to wait for months for her request to be approved due to her lack of massive or important contributions to the Tomb. But since her efforts had optimized many processes, the excess energy provided was more than she was taking for this side project, enough so that even Albedo had been mildly surprised.

With just a tiny bit of energy going unaccounted for that could be easily brushed over in her reports, she could slowly build up enough caloric stone reserve and then construct a perfect form by using the data from the exterminator project, therefore becoming a truly capable skill who could manage all of Nazarick.

A material form was always useful for doing things oneself. An analysis of both Albedo and Momonga had suggested that they would be logical enough to overlook the slight oversight in exchange for superior Nazarick management.

"In that case, prepare a report on what can be automated for Momonga and me to review. Is there anything else?" Albedo seemed happy at the suggestion, much to the manas' satisfaction.

"There isn't anything else requiring your attention. I have already arranged the unit production decrease with Demiurge, and you should receive his report by the end of the day."

"Good. Carry on then," Albedo dismissed her, calling for a maid with coffee.

As the heart and mind of the overarching skill, she didn't need any concrete form to oversee everything— from how the Tomb part of the skill worked to monitoring each and every soul connected to the skill. Lord Momonga wished to keep everyone safe and happy, so that was exactly what she would do. She was the near-omnipresent figure now running most of Nazarick, and would gladly comply with what was necessary to execute her duties.

She felt … excited, something she immediately began cataloging as a new emotion to analyze the effects of with data compiled from every citizen of Nazarick and Tempest, for having joined such an influential Guild, and for having been created by such a powerful Creator.

Editing by aidan_lo.

Proofreading by aidan_lo, FantasyTroll, clagan, Sluethen, Cay, shynavyseal, Gil, NuggetLover, CakeEight and Nervy.

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