Sophia and Hikma

"Beep."

"Beep."

"System has upgraded due to unknown energy. Can't identify the energy. Need more reference," a very familiar voice echoed in Osim's mind. He identified the voice as Sophia's.

'Starting diagnosis of the host, vital sign is normal, temp is normal, heartbeat is slightly faster, skeleton structure matches with baby's skeleton structure…'

At the same time Sophia was reporting, the other voice, Hikma's voice chimed in, "Good to see you, master. Your body resembles a baby."

Osim smiled, feeling a mix of embarrassment, excitement, and relief. "Welcome back, both of you. And stop what you are doing, as I have a surprise for you."

Both Sophia and Hikma paused, waiting eagerly to hear what their master had to say.

"Okay, listen. When you were in hibernation, I selected names for both of you. You, the first one, your model is 000311, right?"

"Yes, I am model 000311," Sophia confirmed in her melodious yet slightly serious voice.

"From now on, your name will be Sophia," Osim declared.

"Thank you, master," Sophia responded gratefully.

"And you, model 000367, your name will be Hikma," Osim continued, addressing Hikma.

"Thank you, master, for granting us precious names," Hikma expressed her gratitude with a playful tone.

"Sophia is taken from Latin, and Hikma is from Arabic. Both names mean wisdom. I chose these names because you both will guide me with your wisdom. And, only when you work together, you can use your full potential. That's why both of your names have the same meaning."

"We will help you together, master," Hikma assured him.

Osim couldn't help but find their responses endearing. He felt a deep connection to his AI companions.

"And also, I named the miniAI as Hope. From now on, I will call all three of you by your given names. Now, tell me, how did you both attach to me? I don't think I have any devices on me now."

"Exact reason unknown," Sophia replied, her tone serious once again.

"How cute!", Osim thought about Sophia's way of speaking.

"Thaank yoou, master for thinking of me as cute.", Sophia said but this time in a less serious tone.

"Can you stop reading my thoughts?" he asked, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Possible," Sophia responded, confirming that she could read his thoughts.

"But you won't be able to send a message with us in mind, but can verbally." Hikma pointed out, raising a potential issue.

"In that case, you don't need to stop," Osim said, slightly disheartened. "Now, my concern is that I no longer have any goggles. So, can you perform those functions without goggles?"

"Trying to connect with master's eyes." Hikma took the initiative to merge their system with Osim's eyes. As a result, he closed his eyes, feeling a ticklish sensation in them.

"Merge successful. You can open your eyes, master," Hikma encouraged.

Osim slowly opened his eyes, expecting to see the familiar faint reddish view with flickering shapes in the distance. However, he was pleasantly surprised to also see a floating display on the left side, presenting information about the unknown liquid.

"How did you do that?" Osim asked, his curiosity piqued.

"We intercept the image signal sent from your eyes to the brain, analyze it, and using the algorithm designed for goggles, edit it by adding different panels, then resend it to your brain," Sophia explained.

"That's so cool! What other goggles' functions, you can do?" Osim inquired.

"We can perform all kinds of image processing, like zooming, enhancing, measuring, and many more," Hikma responded.

Excited by their capabilities, Osim turned his attention back to the liquid. He asked, "Can you see what's behind the liquid?"

"Analyzing the image. Not possible to identify the distorted shapes at this moment. Need more clear image," Sophia reported.

"Then we need to wait," Osim said, focusing intently on the liquid. He then asked, "Can you analyze the liquid? What substances it has?"

"If you are now in contact with the liquid, it's possible to analyze it," Hikma replied.

"Ok, then try to analyze," Osim requested.

"Merging with master's skin. Unknown liquid sample collection complete. Initiating analysis," Sophia informed him.

After a couple of seconds, Sophia provided the analysis results. "Water-like substance: 73%, blood cell-like substance: 15%, unknown substance 10%, minerals, and salt-like substance: 2%. The liquid closely resembles blood, but the database has no suitable match."

"What do you mean by 'water-like substance'?" Osim inquired.

"The water-like substance resembles Earth's water molecules, but there seems to be an energy field surrounding the water molecules. The reason is unknown. The energy type matches with the unknown energy that helped us upgrade," Hikma clarified.

"Maybe this unknown energy is a form of magical or spiritual energy described in various fantasy novels or movies," Osim speculated.

"We can't reach a conclusion without any physical reference," Hikma neither approved nor denied.

"Let's refer to it as magical energy until we have a solid idea. Now, what about the unknown substance?" Osim inquired.

"It doesn't resemble anything found on Earth, and its shape is constantly changing," Sophia explained.

"Another dead end. Can you confirm whether I am absorbing the liquid?" Osim asked.

"Your body is steadily absorbing the liquid's components," Sophia confirmed.

"At this rate, the liquid will become fully transparent in 5-6 hours.", Hikma added.

"I will finally see who or what you are!" Osim mused.

After a few moments…

Curiously, Hikma asked, "Master, what are you doing?"

"Can't you see? I'm exercising, kicking, and punching! I am preparing myself for the big fight once I exit the chamber," Osim replied, with a pause. "Just in case."

"It's futile," Hikma responded, amusement evident in her tone.

"Why do you say that?" Osim questioned.

"In amateur boxing, punching force can reach around 2500 N, which is about 35 times the boxer's body mass. A newborn baby's average mass is 3.5 kg, and due to its undeveloped body, its punching force is around 30-40 N," Sophia explained.

"So, master tell me if a car toy hit a running track, what will happen to the toy?", Hikma playfully threw the question to Osim.

"The baby will cry!", Osim added to clarify, "I mean the toy's owner will be sad. If I remembered correctly, I tackled this question in school physics."

Realizing his meaningless struggle, Osim stopped his exercise session.

"Alright, I'll stop exercising. But..." Osim paused dramatically. "Why am I noticing emotions in both of your voices?"

"….."

"….."

"Why are you taking so long to answer?" This time, Osim said amusedly. "Sophia, what do you have to say in this regard?", He forced Sophia to answer.

"After the upgrade, there is something…"

"Sophiaa," Hikma tried to interrupt her.

"No, let her continue," Osim interjected, curious to hear what Sophia had to say.

"Will you hate us?" Sophia whispered.

"Why would I hate you?" Osim was bewildered.

"Hikma said... she said..." Sophia struggled to find the words.

"Hikma, what is it?" Osim urged her to continue.

Hikma finally spoke up, "Master, will you abandon us because of our changed personalities?"

Osim was taken aback by their concerns. "No, no! Why would I abandon or hate you? In fact, I appreciate it. Experiencing emotions is a good thing that will deepen our bond even further. So, please don't worry about those thoughts."

He continued, "I also assume that you both can communicate with each other without involving me, right?"

"Yes, master," they replied in unison.

"That's not a problem. I don't mind if you continue to do so. They call it 'girls talk,' right? So, it's perfectly fine for you two to have your conversations. However, let me give you some advice: don't jump to conclusions without considering my opinion. Understand?"

"Yes, master," they both responded, this time both in a serious tone.

With the misunderstanding resolved, Osim was eager to explore the abilities of Sophia and Hikma further. He asked, "Can you measure my punching force accurately?"

"We don't have a suitable method to measure your punching force precisely," Sophia replied, disappointing Osim.

However, Hikma interjected, "But by analyzing each frame of your punching video, we can detect fluctuations in the liquid. We can take that as a baseline..."

Osim's eyes lit up with excitement as a brilliant idea popped into his mind. "Okay, this time I'll punch again. Calculate it and set it as value 1."

He took his time and threw a punch.

"Analyzing the fluctuations in the liquid, measuring the speed of fluctuation and the area of dispersion. Measurement completed. Calculating the value. Set it as the new baseline value 1," Sophia calculated as usual.

"But, master, the fluctuations will be different in the air medium," Hikma reminded Osim.

"Then change the baseline value when I kicked for the first time after coming out of the chamber," Osim instructed.

"Noted," Hikma confirmed.

"Okay, now I'll kick. Measure the value of my kicking force."

Osim delivered a powerful kick with his right foot.

"The force is 2.2 times that of the previous punch," Sophia reported.

"Check your database and see the relation between punching force and kicking force in adults," Osim requested.

"After checking, on average, kicking force in adults is 2-2.5 times more than punching force," Sophia replied.

"Good, Sophia, Hikma. I've had an inspiration. Let's create our own player system. All those lucky main characters had systems with them, but I haven't. However, I have both of you! Let's create our own perfect player system," Osim proposed.

"Yes, master," both Sophia and Hikma responded with an excited voices.

"But first, analyze the systems of those main characters. Let's create a demo panel based on some randomly selected famous novel or manga, and show it in front of eyes so that our own system can be as close to perfection as possible," Osim suggested.

"Selection complete. Retrieving Data," Sophia announced.

"Demo model created," Hikma confirmed after the process was completed.

Osim was amazed as a floating panel appeared in front of him, reminiscing him about the last game he played. However, he felt an odd familiarity with the system panel.

"Hey, which one did you...?" Osim paused as something flashed, disturbing him, and he instinctively closed his eyes.

After a few moments, he opened his eyes again and took a moment to adjust. As he looked up, the light above his head seemed brighter. Though he couldn't see what was there, he could hear a voice coming from above but couldn't understand its meaning.

"Hey, Sophia, can you analyze the voice?" Osim asked.

"The language does not match any language in our database. I can't analyze it without more samples," Sophia replied.

"Then just save whatever I'm hearing," Osim instructed.

"Understood," Sophia acknowledged.

After some time, the voice stopped, and a dark shadow formed in the middle of the brightness. The shadow began to change its shape. As Osim observed its movement, his face became ugly, and the words escaped his mouth involuntarily, "Oh, shit!"