89. The New Generation of IS

The following weekend, on Sunday, to be exact, Izumi went to Tabane's world after he had finished coding. The core used as the power source of artificial intelligence had been given various kinds of commands through coding. And from now on, Izumi will gradually start assembling his own IS.

When Izumi arrived at Tabane's laboratory, he was surprised by Kuroneko who was inside.

"Kuroneko. Since when were you here?"

Kuroneko who saw Izumi just averted her eyes indifferently.

Izumi shook his head, then turned to Tabane beside him.

"Sigh… never mind. Tabane-chan, I finished coding. Can you teach me the next step?"

Tabane smiled, then pulled him somewhere. Tabane knew what happened with Kuroneko and Izumi. That was why Tabane deliberately kept the two of them away. If they fight, her laboratory could be affected. Other people may not know that Tabane's laboratory is a valuable asset for the whole world. Only, Tabane didn't think so.

The lab is hers. If, for example, someone dared to attack her laboratory, she would not hesitate to bombard the world by hacking into military base computers to launch missiles and nukes.

When Izumi walked beside her and saw her expression. Izumi became curious.

"Did something good happen?" Izumi asked.

She looked somewhat happy as if she had just won a lottery prize.

Tabane looked at Izumi. She sweetly smiled at him.

"Hehe. My friends come all the way here. Of course, I'm happy. Besides, I'm always alone in the laboratory."

Hearing what Tabane said, Izumi was reminded of his past, both in his previous life and in his current life.

In the world of his previous life. He has no friends because he is often sick. And in his life now, especially before entering high school. He rarely communicates with other people.

Izumi and Tabane have similarities. Tabane has been treated like a golden child since she was a child because of her intelligence. It made other children so afraid when they wanted to hang out with her.

And when she grew up, especially when Tabane presented her thesis, hardly anyone paid much attention to her, and most of them even scoffed at her. Ever since Tabane changed. She didn't care about the world anymore.

Subconsciously, Izumi stroked Tabane's head.

"I see. I don't mind coming here every two or three days. After all, assembling the IS would make it easier for me to do it here. At home, I can only handle the software part."

Tabane was frozen instantly when Izumi stroked her head. But then, she grinned.

"Hehe. Izumi-chan, are you going to comfort me because of my past?"

"Isn't that the case?" Izumi looked at her.

Tabane held her chin. Without looking at him, she replied, "Hmmm. We both have an unpleasant past. You can feel it, so you're trying to make me feel comfortable. Isn't that right?"

Izumi smiled awkwardly.

"Short of. Anyway, we already have friends in the chat group. So we can start burying our dark past. In the future, our chat group will also increase members. So we don't have to dwell on that stupid past."

"You're right. The past needs to be remembered, but it doesn't need to be stepped on again."

Tabane took Izumi to a place where she kept both the prototype, first-generation and second-generation ISs. She showed the various features that should be installed in the IS. Shielder, hyper sensor, automatic repair, life-saving barrier, Equalizer, and an IS suit.

Izumi sat down and opened his laptop. Looking at the display on the laptop screen, Tabane asked.

"Izumi-chan, did you build a new processor?"

"You sure are observant. You can tell with just one look." Izumi nodded. Then, Tabane pointed at his laptop.

"This model of laptop disappeared from this world long ago. But your laptop's speed is as fast as my hologram computer. So I thought you made your own processor."

"Hologram computer, huh?" Izumi pondered.

"Do you wanna build one?" Tabane asked.

"Yeah, that would be nice."

After that, Tabane taught Izumi how to make a holographic computer. Whatever is needed, starting from software, hardware, and materials.

"So, the creation of a hologram computer based on Equalizer which is used as weapons storage for IS?"

Tabane shook her head.

"No, it's the opposite." Tabane replied.

"Then, let me study it first."

At that moment, Izumi with a serious face started studying the components of the holographic computer.

While doing so, Izumi felt a very very soft sensation on his head. It was Tabane who was behind him resting her twin peaks on Izumi's head.

Izumi instantly froze. Following that, Izumi said to her,

"Tabane-chan, your "Booba" got in the way."

"Ufufufu. Do you want to touch them?" Tabane said teasingly.

"I didn't know there was such a beautiful language in this world. I think I should write it down in the dictionary." Izumi muttered.

"You can touch them if you want, you know!" Tabane said.

Knowing Tabane's character, Izumi refused to fall into her trap.

"Ugh. Tabane-chan, if you kept teasing me like this. I won't be able to hold back."

Tabane backed away from Izumi while chuckling.

"Alright, alright. I'll bring you a drink. Hot or cold?"

"Cold."

And from that day on, he abandoned his current project to create his own IS. Though, it was abandoned temporarily.

— — — —

July 3, 2010.

It had been about a month and a half after Izumi focused on creating his IS.

In that month, he became known to novel readers and novel writers because of the rapid sales of his novels. The novel he submitted immediately became a hot topic thanks to the newest concept based on a virtual reality game.

His accounts on social media, Twitter, and Facebook pages began to be followed by many people. Even his account on Nico Nico and YouTube began to be subscribed. Even though he only posted a short video about his novel on Youtube and Nico Nico.

Somehow his novels sold more than 40k copies from 3 volumes of Konosuba. While the Sword Art Online novel sold about 15k copies with just one volume.

He had a total profit from his novels of around ¥5.000.000. That's quite a large amount for a high schooler like him. But, it was still not enough if he wanted to buy property.

He planned to build his own company. But with his own money, he would not be able to. The only way is to find investors. However, this is not an easy thing to do unless he already has something that can attract investors' attention.

Well, he actually has. But he can not show it to the public. He succeeded in creating the latest generation of IS. And it can be said that his IS is the first 4th generation.

His IS suit is designed like a long-sleeved undershirt like those worn by soccer players in winter. The suit enhances the weak electricity on the skin and passes the signal to the IS itself, improving Izumi's movements.

The current IS made by him didn't store data such as long-range weapons in the storage weapon interface yet. Izumi only stored data such as sword, blade, dagger, twin daggers, gloves, staff, and spear. With those weapons, Izumi might be able to use martial arts using his IS in the future.

The storage weapon interface can switch its function freely and does not require a time-consuming process, different from the previous generation of IS.

The speed of Izumi's IS can reach Mach 2.2, around 2700 km per hour. It will be faster than the Akatsubaki made by Tabane in the novel, in which Akatsubaki only has a speed of Mach 2.

The form of the IS is almost similar to the Vanishing Dragon Balance Breaker without the helmet and tail. Based on the blueprint when he made the IS, except for the front body, navy blue-colored armor covered the limbs and the back. On the back, there is a pair of unfolded blue-glow wings which are applications of the Fold-out Armor, enabling the IS to configure itself to a form that maximizes a specific role, whether the attack, defense, or mobility. That's the actual appearance on 1st shift form. When it was still on the default setting, the color was pale gray just like the color of metal scrap.

His IS form when not in use takes the form of a ring according to his blueprints. As for the name, he gave the name Theomars after the character's name in the game which is a water element of Ifrit.

Izumi immediately contacted Tabane to try piloting his IS for the first time. He couldn't wait to try it.