ORCO

Since the dawn of humanity, we have developed abilities to survive in a world that has many predators who would otherwise hunt humans or enslave them, even among their own kind. Our bodies are filled with mysteries that are still being unlocked. Even though EVOs are discovering new abilities each day, humanity is yet to achieve its true potential.

Melv opened his eyes a bit. He could see a ceiling or rather a familiar ceiling, it's his own room.

"Wait, how did I get here? Where is Noah?" He fell unconscious again due to fatigue.

He slept the whole next day. At around 5 PM in the evening he woke up. He had forgotten about the beating at this moment. Only one thing came to mind as there was a growling sound coming out from his stomach. He was hungry. He needed food. He could not see Noah, so he went out alone for some food.

He returned around 7 PM and brought along some Ramen. But Noah was still not there. He wondered where he went. Now he was not hungry anymore. Suddenly, he remembered what had happened the earlier night and a chill broke down his spine.

"Where is Noah? What Happened to him? Did he not make it?" All thoughts gathered in his mind. But if not for Noah how did he reach home. He could not find a proper answer to any of his questions. Being the Mr. Melodrama he is, he had thought to great lengths. Let's not delve into such thoughts.

Suddenly he found a note and sighed with relief. It said, "Will be late... Noah."

Noah returned late at night and slept quietly.

The next morning, Noah woke up to Melv's loud cry.

"Where were you? I thought something happened to you? Are you still in pain?" wiping his tears, asked Melv. He was so relieved to see Noah.

"I am fine. No need to worry."

"Well, what happened? How did we.."

"Let's get ready for school. We missed yesterday's classes.." Noah cut Melv's speech abruptly.

He was still not ready to talk about that night.

They got ready and reached the academy. The other students were not calling them trash anymore. The word has already been out about their win against Ton and Kaisha. Though being Delta class, Ton was quite powerful. Beating him meant, Noah and Melv cannot be looked upon like trash anymore.

Everyone in Delta class was whispering something or the other. They wanted to talk to Noah and Melv but again did not want to anger the already angry Ton. Ton was gruntling at the sight of Noah. He thought the job was finished.

The periods went by but Noah could not even concentrate. He was trying to make out an answer other than the obvious one.

After the third period got over, an announcement was made. The last Field Assignment will be given on Thursday. The students have 10 days to finish it. The score will be calculated by the special devices that will be distributed before leaving for the assignment.

Field assignments mentioned earlier are one part of the assessment. The total of all assessments will be used to rank the students. The top 3 will have a chance to face off with the upper class last 3 in an individual match and change classes.

Noah left after the announcement citing the need for preparation. He went back home and started to work on his machine. The core got a bit damaged in the fight but he can manage with it. Tech is the only thing he can concentrate on in any situation. It gives him an immense amount of satisfaction making stuff.

It was almost 9, he was still at it. Melv came back.

"Did you have dinner...waaa", yawned Melv. Noah was so deeply into his stuff, he didn't even respond. This was a natural reaction as Melv knew better.

"I am off to bed then…" Melv went and slept.

It was almost around 2 AM in the night, Noah finished his machine.

"Finally it's ready. Optically Rendered Cognitive OpenAI or in short ORCO" as Noah termed it.

OpenAI was a company that first brought AI to the open market. They made it open-sourced later on. But the name has been kept through the ages as a symbol.

ORCO reminds of a certain wizard of Eternia.

This one though was an AI-powered holo device. Somewhat like a mini JARVIS. Well, if you have heard the name that is. Noah powered it on. It took some time and started with a beep sound.

The AI operators used by the Corps have the enormous computational capability and are set up over huge data centers. The ones sold by them are mini portable versions that come with customizable face and voice packs as per customer needs. You can set any face, even Monalisa.

The one Noah made was the most basic due to the lack of materials.

The device projected a holo plane from it and an old mechanical face was rendered. The voice sounded like a female in her mid-30s from the greeting. "Hello, Noah. How can I help you?"

"I need you to process something..." said Noah as he entered a memory chip into the device. It was the same chip from his DreamGear that had the dreams stored.

"Let me process the files", said ORCO.

It took a while to process the data.

"There is a file where you are on a Holiday at a Mountain Resort in the Alps with your parents. There is a file where you are EQ 22 and the top student of RedRock Academy. There is a file where you are a Harem master …."

"Ahmm...stop stop. I am not interested in those. There should be a file from last Friday. I want you to analyze its content..." said an embarrassed Noah as he cut ORCOs words midway.

"It is a huge file. I could only look at the short summary of it. Analyzing the whole thing would take a lot of time. Do you want me to start analyzing?"

"Tell me the summary first then..." said Noah as he was becoming impatient.

"This is a record of details pertaining to the history of humanity from the rise of EVO to its final day. The monologues of the past and future catastrophe. The information is as per the original timeline and contains details of a large number of aspects related to humanity. Please use this information wisely."

"That's it?"

"Yes, that is what the summary states. The data is large. Shall I start the analysis?" ORCO asked.

"Yes but before that can you check the last update date?"

"2100/11/09...that is 9th of November 2100"

"What did you say?" shouted a shocked Noah.

"2100/11/09. This is the date written in the data."

"Check again. How can it be? A future date? It's not possible."

"I have rechecked. The creation and update date is the same...2100/11/09"

"This doesn't make sense. Data from a future date in my dream."

"Did you see the Created by? Is it some organization?"

"The data field is Null. No data present on the creator."

"Either this is some prank or the data was transferred really from the future. But who would play this prank? Melv won't do such a thing. Looks like I will get some answers after the analysis is complete. ORCO, go ahead with the analysis. How long will it take?"

"The data is segregated into clusters. I can start with the first cluster. Seeing the size of it, at least 3 hours."

"That's gonna be long. I should probably get some sleep."

But with all the things in his mind, he could not sleep. He started recollecting the things that happened to him since the dream.

The first thing that occurred was a minor yet significant thing.

In the battle against Ton and Kaisha, he knew exactly which herbicide to use against the poison of Pink Charm Mountain Laurel. He had known some herbicides but not the one that would work specifically against Pink Charm Mountain Laurel. Though he thought it was a fluke.

The second time was the Cold Gun he used in the Underground Battle Arena.

The design mechanics came to him suddenly. He knew exactly what to make. This was something he shouldn't have known, the concept though being old but the application details were ahead of his time. He thought it to be coincidental as well.

The Third time was just after the battle.

In conversation with an unknown person, he could identify him accurately as Solomon Glass and also state his job. It was as if he had a profile of him in his head. As Solomon said, the information was not public knowledge and not many people can recognize him. It was again something a commoner like him shouldn't have known. This is when he started to question himself.

And...then the fourth time.

That changed his perspective totally.

...