AI Girlfriend

The feeling of discomfort increasing, Felix slightly squirmed on the spot as he recognized the symptoms she was describing.

How could he not, he had suffered from them for his whole life. Except for the mind shattering thing, of course, but the fact remained, Vaena had more or less perfectly described his condition.

And that's exactly what made Felix uncomfortable. When he saw his Innate Skill, Felix believed that the counterpart was normal, a bit shitty, but that it was normal to have a weakness associated with a strength.

Then, when he learned it was a Curse, Felix simply took it as bad luck. Whether it truly was from a God or not didn't matter, it may have been a bug for all he knew.

But now, with Vaena describing the precise effects of his Curse in the real world, Felix couldn't sit still. Not because he believed he had been cursed by a God in real life, but for a far more realistic fear.

The game was closely monitoring him.

Since it was connected to his brain, Felix expected the game to know about his condition. However, what wasn't normal was for it to be so perfectly covered.

Felix had always wondered why he never felt the same exhaustion in the game as he did in real life. After all, it wasn't physical fatigue that he felt, but spiritual, so it should have transferred, yet it did not.

Now Felix knew. Somehow, the game had managed to treat his condition with Mana. But no matter how advanced the AI, Primazure, was, Felix refused to believe his condition was treated procedurally.

So the game, or rather the AI watching over it, Primazure, was closely monitoring him, and that unsettled Felix.

To start off, Felix had only started playing to relax and hopefully make some money. But things had drastically changed since then, and this particular revelation didn't sit well with him.

If anything though, it did give him a sliver of hope. Maybe, just maybe, if he managed to find a cure for his condition in the game, then he would find a path for a treatment in the real world. After all, while Mana didn't exist in the real world, his brain did manage to accept its existence, so maybe there was a path after all.

Taking a breath to calm himself, Felix muttered, "Thank you for your insight, Vaena."

The Elven woman showed a reserved smile before asking, "What will you be doing after this? Exploring the city, perhaps?"

Shaking his head, Felix said, "I have something to do first, a big battle with some other Otherworlders, should be fun."

Rolling her eyes, Vaena complained, "I wish I had immortality too."

Chuckling slightly, Felix shrugged, "We have different kinds of problems… what about you? Any plans for the great Master Rune Expert?"

Lightly hitting Felix on his shoulder, Vaena groaned, "Drop it will you? I understand you are a Runefather and above everything and everyone else."

"Damn right I am."

Snorting in amusement, Vaena revealed, "I started this trip to explore the continent, and to experience new things. Hopefully, this will lead me to growing as a person."

His eyebrows shooting up in surprise, Felix commented, "Really? That happens to be my long term goal too. How is it working for you until now?"

Shooting Felix a smug smile and crossing her arms, Vaena replied, "I already managed to go from Lord to Overlord, and reach Tier 2. As for my Rune training, well, I met you."

Stopping himself from ogling the pushed up breasts, Felix asked, "How do these ranks work? We don't have those. Do they bring boosts?"

Seemingly ignorant of the effect she had on Felix, or merely ignoring it, Vaena did not move her arms as she replied, "Not from the System, no. They are more of a grading system. Tells you if someone has passed a certain threshold or not. It can either be achieved through sheer Stats or with mastery over Mana. For example, as an Overlord, I reached the Presence Realm."

Frowning, Felix asked, "This Presence Realm, does it have anything to do with Infusion and Integration Realms? I keep hearing those terms, but no one explained them to me?"

Vaena's arms finally moved, making her chest giggle for a moment as she explained, "They are pretty simple. Those refer to your control over your Mana, sort of. First comes the Integration Realm, followed by the Infusion Realm, and then comes the Presence Realm.

"Someone in the Integration Realm should have perfectly integrated their usage of Mana into their fighting style. Someone in the Infusion Realm should be able to strengthen themselves with their Mana. As for the Presence Realm… Well, it is maybe a little too early for you to learn about that. Besides, you would be better off discovering it yourself. The name is pretty indicative of what it does too."

Tapping his fingers against the side of his knee, Felix queried, "The Deacon of Izrath I fought said I was in the Half-Infusion Realm, what does that mean?"

Vaena showed her hand to Felix, and explained, "Someone in the Integration Realm is capable of infusing their entire fist in Mana. Half-Step would be limited to a film under the skin. Is that what you do?"

Nodding, Felix asked, "Yes, that came rather naturally. How do you infuse your whole fist though? Won't your flesh, muscles and bones be harmed by your Mana, instead of strengthened?"

Shaking her head, Vaena replied, "Only if you mess it up. And don't worry, the first two Magic Realms are harder for Mages to grasp, and less useful."

"How so?"

"For most Mages, the Integration Realm doesn't really bring them anything, because they only fight with their magic, and getting in close quarters means death. As for the Infusion Realm, it serves to increase your physical power, something useless to most Mages."

"To most Mages, but the Infusion Realm could help me with the lack of Physical Stats. And why is the Infusion Realm harder to learn for a Mage? Shouldn't it be easier, since we have better Mana Manipulation?"

Vaena smiled and replied, "That's exactly what stops most of you Mages from reaching the Infusion Realm. As you said, simply pouring Mana into your body will only harm it. For it to be effective, you need to learn how Mana even can strengthen the body."

Frowning, Felix followed, "Through physical Skills, isn't it?"

Nodding, Vaena replied, "We call them Techniques, but yes. So if you want to reach the Infusion Realm, then I advise you to learn a Technique. That's what Mages who want to reach the Infusion Realm do."

"What if my Class stops me from learning them?"

Vaena looked surprised, but she reassured Felix, "Well, you can still reach the Presence Realm without reaching the Infusion Realm. It will be a lot harder, but it is possible."

It did not really do much though as Felix still felt annoyed. It felt like the world was doing everything it could to limit him. Start with an insane curse, and make his Class put a restriction on him that stops him from learning something that could have evened the odds.

Throwing his head back, Felix sighed softly. Seeing this, Vaena smiled and took out something.

"Here, have this."

Felix curiously picked up the object, but there was no description to it. However, he did feel it was magical in essence, and rubbing his finger over its wooden texture he felt some Runes engraved on it.

"What is it?"

"A token of the Fenìn Clan. We have shops and facilities in most kingdoms on the continent. If you show it to them, they will know you are a VIP. And if you happen to somehow gain entry in Ilin, then feel free to pass by. Not sure I will be there though."

Pocketing the token, Felix asked with a raised eyebrow, "Why would you give me something this precious? Your Clan sounds powerful, you mustn't be handing those willy nilly."

Vaena snickered in response, "If the old fogeys in my Clan knew I met a Runefather and didn't give them a token, they would ground me for a couple hundred years."

"Why do I feel like you aren't exaggerating?"

"Because I'm not. Took me long enough to get out of that place already. Did some stuff they didn't like."

Smiling, Felix asked, "Tough job, being the pampered princess of your clan?"

"Far from it actually. Me being the pampered princess, I mean. Used to be jealous when I was younger, but boy am I glad I'm not today. Can you imagine, having to watch your words around everyone all day?"

His smile genuine, Felix realized the Elven beauty might not be as gracious as he first thought. Thinking about it, she wasn't exactly putting on any manners when they worked together, but they were working, so it was different.

Deciding not to dive in too deep, Felix asked, "So, my lovely crude friend, any idea on where I should go? Interesting places, if possible."

Getting a little closer to Felix as she narrowed her eyes, she asked in a sultry voice, "You find me lovely?"

Not feeling any shame, Felix too got closer as he replied, "And very attractive too. Always had a thing for red heads. Why, I got a chance?"

Vaena and Felix were now only a few centimeters from each other. Biting her lower lip, Vaena asked, "What would you do, if I said yes?"

Touching her wrist with a finger, Felix slowly moved up her arm as he replied, "I am a philanthropist, but I would show you that my love is not reserved to them only."

Not moving Felix's finger, she placed her free hand in front of her mouth as she exclaimed softly, "Oh my, he has a silver tongue too."

"He can do a lot more with his tongue."

Vaena suddenly burst out laughing hearing that, waving her hand, "Sorry, sorry, don't mind me."

Smiling to himself, Felix wasn't terribly disappointed. He did not expect to have much of a chance with the sexy elf, but he would be mad at himself for not even trying something.

If something did happen, he wouldn't be the first to get an AI girlfriend, and he would actually have been able to do something with her.

Getting up, Vaena said, "I'm sure it would be fun, but we've both got things to do. Oh, and to answer your question, I see two places that could be interesting to you. The Empire, and the North."

"Empire and the North? Nothing more precise?"

Felix had already heard about the two from Chris, but the man had not been very talkative about either. So Felix knew of their existence, as well as a few things about how they worked, but that was about it. Unfortunately, Vaena did not seem intent on helping him either.

"Don't worry, you will manage. Here, give me your Communication Crystal."

Although Felix ended up not getting any more information, he did get to exchange contacts with her before she left. Felix shortly followed after her.

Getting out of the cave, Felix easily walked out of the Mountain Pass, without sighting a single member of Blue Light. More than a few hours had passed since Isaiah, Blue Light's Guild Leader, was killed by Drakon, so they must have had ample time to escape.

After all, they didn't have much of a choice. They had been planning on summoning an army from Izrath's Realm, an army that would have exterminated everyone in the city and its surroundings. If any of their recognized members showed up anywhere near the city, things wouldn't end well for them.

As he walked out of the area, Felix couldn't help but reflect on how Epoch was bringing out the morals of the players.

Felix, like pretty much every player, saw the NPCs as closer to people than inanimate programs, because of the scientific advancements in the real world.

AI had exploded about 60 years ago, and it only got better with time. Differentiating between a human and AI conversation had become very challenging, and with the social crisis more than a few people started having relationships with AI.

It was frowned at at first, but with time and progress, it became more popular. Well, it was still a small portion of the population that was mostly disappointed with life that did it, but that didn't change the fact that people hardly still saw AI as mere constructs.

So with that in mind, the actions of players in the game were interesting to look at. Players did not hesitate to kill NPCs, and commit what would be considered atrocious crimes in real life.

Mass slaughter was admittedly a bad thing to do, yet that was exactly what Blue Light had tried to do on Fìrma. If what they did was published online, which Felix didn't doubt Yasue had done, Felix could already predict the reaction of people.

Anger, but not because of the morality of the thing. Because of all the quests that would be lost.