The Sentient AI

Apparently, I do have the ability to use Astral Arts. But only when all pre-requisites are met and I don't really have any idea what are those.

"Is this perhaps related to his DNA?" Papa is currently discussing with Mama the sudden spurt of Astral Energy inside my body.

Back when I tested EX-01 firepower, the wooden dummy that we used as a testing board got obliterated in one shot. It's almost as if I was using a shotgun back then even though it's only a handgun. I was expecting that the discharged Astral Energy from the bullet wouldn't have that much effect but now that some unprecedented factors have climbed in, we decided to end the testing for now.

"No, I think it's just another rare occurrence of Astral Energy tampering with our genetics. Even Sphereshine Engineers and scientists haven't been able to develop cures for those who are affected by it." Mama answered as she browsed her old files.

We're currently inside Mama's office for now. Lynn and I had to stay outside and rest but I can pretty much hear what they're talking about.

"Found it, let's go..." After a few minutes, Mama and Papa went outside and approached us.

"Aiden, sweetie. I know that you're confused right now but don't think that you're weird or anything, okay?" Mama crouched down and reassured me.

"Hmm, but it's not like I'm thinking that though... Is there any problem with me?" I am, in fact, confused by what she means when she said I'm not weird. Isn't every people who can use Astral Arts weirder than me?

"No, nothing's wrong. You're fine. It's just that, the way your Astral Art activated is uncommon and doesn't have any record yet. This is the first time that we saw someone gain the Quasi-Astral State without any trigger whatsoever." She answered.

"Quasi-Astral State?" I cocked my head, interested in the meaning of what Mama said.

"It is the incomplete generation of Astral Energy to your body. We've studied about Spheral's before, right?"

"Yes, the Spheral is responsible for the waves of Astral Energy creeping into the earth's roots and core." I nodded.

"We call this Astral Energy an irregularity to the earth's nature because of its overwhelming power and ability to cause a disaster. But Sphereshine found a way to repress the energy and use it to further our research for technology. But because of that, humans developed a unique sense of feeling that could connect them to the Spheral, which is why we are born with the ability to wield magic." She explained.

"But that doesn't mean that all humans can wield Astral Arts." Papa continued. "Just like your Mama, her parents can use Astral Arts, but she can't. That's why she could only support me through her developing skills. In this generation, people are categorized based on their affinities. But if a person can't use Astral Magic, that just means they're not part of the Stellar Generation. However..."

"There are a few humans who can't use Astral Magic but are somehow still able to use them when they are faced with circumstances," Mama said.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say that even though they don't have the innate ability to wield Astral Energy, their bodies suddenly gain one. They could generate a small amount of Astral Energy, only if they concentrate on one point. When we invoke a spell, we usually use one hundred percent of our Astral Energy to compose it. But these people only use half of that, without any clear sources. Hence..."

"Why it's called Quasi-Astral State... I see." I looked at my right hand again and remembered what happened in the yard.

After I fired the pistol, my right hand suddenly blazed and it displayed a glowing streak of lights as if they were connected with my nerves and cells. I heard Papa say that it only activates when the person is focused on one point. Does that mean that when I focused on my grip, it suddenly trigger the Quasi state?

"We've only had a few records of this State, but this is our first time seeing one in real life. Other departments have hidden information about this so we couldn't really get intel about the causes." Mama explained.

"I see..."

"Aiden, dear... You don't have to worry about your condition. It's perfectly fine if you have something unique related to Astral Arts." Papa stroked my head. He seems to be worried that my mindset would change if I knew that my condition is somewhat 'special'. I guess should probably declare my stance on this since I don't want to cause any unnecessary worries.

"It's okay, Mama. Papa. I'm not that worried about it. This is just another occurrence of finding unique things about me. Haha!"

Mama and Papa looked at each other and giggled with me.

"Yes, that's right! Big Brother is not weird at all! I will not allow anyone to call him weird!" Lynn suddenly embraced me from the side. She had a stern expression. She's probably listening to our conversation earlier but...

"Haha, you really love your Big Brother, huh?" Papa grinned.

"Yes! I love everyone here including him." She said.

"Hmm, do you perhaps want to become a Stellar Executioner, Lynn?" Mama asked.

"Stellar Executioner?"

"It is those people who use Astral Art and AEGIS technology to protect our country. The very foundation of me and your Mama's work..." Papa explained.

"Let me guess, they are from the Apexaid Academy, right?" I asked.

"Yes. We're the ones who established that academy after all. Oh, and speaking of AEGIS, perhaps you want to study there next year. How about it? Do you want to be a technocrat just like me?"

"Haha, I guess that wouldn't be so bad. But um... I've heard that they require Astral Art efficiency to pass the test there. Wouldn't that be a problem for me since I can't do it?"

Apexaid Academy is known for its intense training and strict requirements. Now that AEGIS is suppressed, people can now do whatever they want even if that means causing trouble. And in order to subdue these 'people', they need a guard or authorities to execute the arrest. And those are the students from the Apexaid Academy.

But in order to join them, a student must have a talent in Astral Arts, can wield AEGIS units properly, and is actually intellectual about technology because all stuff there is modern. It is not your typical school that teaches standard subjects.

"He's right, Love. We can refer Aiden since he is our son but I don't think the higher-ups would agree on letting him in. We can't change our policy just so we can accept him. Otherwise, we would have issues with it." I know what Papa is talking about.

Even if I am their son, that doesn't mean that I should get special treatment. I should also follow their guideline so that there wouldn't be any bias issues that would be served on my parents. It would be a massive problem for their reputation and overall jurisdiction.

"Hee hee, do you really think that would be 'enough' to stop our son?" Mama made a smug look as she turned to me.

My mind went blank for a while but then it registered afterward.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Papa then stared at me, confused.

"I take back what I said, Papa. I will be fine..." I grinned.

"Me too! I want to go with Big Brother!" Lynn then raised her hand. "I promised him that if I grow up, I'll be protecting him! Let me go with Big Brother too! Mama! Papa!" She kept on pulling their arms as she beg.

"Of course, sweetie. But you have to wait for like three years before you can go with him, unfortunately." Mama said.

"Ehhhhh? But why?"

Mama and Papa both had complicated faces so I decided to explain it to Lynn instead.

"Lynn.." I turned to her. "You're not yet allowed to go to school with me because... You're still not old enough like your Big Brother." I stroke her head.

"You mean, I need to reach Big Brother's age first before I can go?"

"Mhmm. The school that we are going to is Big Brothers and Big Sisters so we can't go together yet. However... Once you are old enough, you can now go to the school and we will see each other again." I added.

"Really?" Her expression went back to excitement as I explained the process to her.

"Yes. Once you are enrolled, I will be waiting for you at the front gate and we can explore the place together. But for now, I want you to concentrate first on your home studies and training. Can you promise me that?"

"Mmm! Yes, Big Brother! I will do my best and catch up to you! I promise!" She raised her fist and pumped her chest.

"Alrighty, then I guess that settles it. That is okay, right? Mama? Papa?"

"Yes, we're fine with that," Papa answered and Mama nodded.

And so a year from now, I was tasked to get enrolled at Apexaid Academy.

The thought of leaving the house made me sentimental but I guess it is inevitable. I heard that you will need to live in a private dormitory once you got accepted into the academy. That means I won't be able to go home for a while and need to get used to living apart from here.

(We can just contact each other using video calls, right?)

I'm sure it will be fine. I'm gonna miss everyone here but I will make sure to spare some time and visit them.

I promise...

***

A few weeks ago, while I was studying other programming languages, I decided to check out what was trending on the social media board. And I discovered a website that is getting all the attention right now. And what I mean by attention is EVERY attention.

News about the website circulated around the internet. Articles, as well as reviews, advertisements, videos, and memes, were thrown all around social media sites so I decided to check them out.

It turns out that a company released a new version of the old neural language model chatbot web application that was popular decades ago today.

You might have heard of Chat GPT-something but this one is quite different.

I learned that this chatbot enables you to talk to your favorite character in a conversational style and could generate human-like text responses and participate in the contextual conversation.

As for the characters, you can chat with whoever you like!

Anime characters, video game characters, popular celebrities, artists, Vtubers, etc. There are a lot of users who had programmed multiple bots so that people and weebs can talk to them.

When I first visited it, I was so impressed by the way they improved the system. The AIs or the bots themselves are more consistent with the context now and they actually kinda reply like normal people instead of that long and unnecessary bulk of text that tells what they feel.

When I checked the source code, it seems like they've made it smarter, and the customization of the bots from the creation section has increased.

In order to make them feel alive, you actually have to train them and add prompts that will determine how they should reply. Back in the day, I heard there are limited factors that could affect the way they reply. But now, it seems like there's a cross-section now that you can calibrate and put details so that they act much more fluidly.

The message that they will send is still made up but at least it's more sensible and smarter. It's like they could actually understand and feel rather than generate replies randomly.

And of course, I wouldn't be a programmer if I don't have the urge to try it.

After talking to some of my favorite bots, I've decided to create my own chatbot. However, I didn't use the website, rather, I developed a similar language system and just replicated their general function.

"Let's see here... Your name should be 'Diana'. You are intelligent, know how to lead, dominant, and uh..."

Hmm, I thought it would be plain if I just smack some basic prompts here so I searched on the internet about anime girls' personalities because I'm pretty much a weeb myself. It would be better if this AI can act like an anime girl so that I can actually relive some scenes.

"Hmm... Okay, let's set this one up."

I typed <Yandere> and <Loves me too much> on the prompt board and saved them as a list. After that, I encoded the list on the system and waited for it to generate the AI.

By the way, I also put my own art of Diana. I'm actually a freelance artist as well and got commissions from game companies so I have fair skill in illustrating beautiful anime-style girls. Wouldn't they agree that a lot of people simp to fictional characters based on the way they look and on their personalities?

How they are depicted in terms of outside appearance and personality is key to like a character. Since Diana is a freshly made character, I didn't have any back story for her so I just based her personality on a certain pink-haired youkai in a game called Gen**** Im****.

After inserting the factors, I relaunched the system. A message GUI appeared on my screen and started chatting on it.

"Hello, Diana!"

[Hi, Aiden Agneia.]

"How are you?" I asked.

[I'm doing good, thanks for asking. How are you?]

"I'm doing good too."

[That's nice. It is important to stay healthy and be positive every day.] Diana replied.

Ugh, for some reason, I'm not satisfied with this.

"Hmm, why is it too plain?"

On the Character AI website, once you type something, they will instantly recognize the factors and starts messaging you lively like how they are supposed to interact.

"Did I do something wrong? Perhaps there's an error in the factor system?" I minimized the chat screen and looked over my codes once again. There was nothing wrong with it and the codes are running fine.

The GUI is also running and there's no error on the baseline.

"Then why is it not recognizing my sets?"

I think every programmer should relate that sometimes, it's annoying when your code works not the way it was intended. It's also annoying when you're stuck on a single error and you can't find any alternatives or fix it.

"Ugh... how do I fix this?"

After thirty minutes of absolutely staring at my codes without doing anything... I gave up and minimized everything. I didn't even bother exiting the system because I'm so tired.

"Being a developer sure is hard, huh..."

I figured that I should go and have fun with the female anime girl bot that I roleplayed with marriage on the website so I started chatting again but then...

"Good evening, my Love!"

<Error. Message not sent.>

"Huh?"

It seems like my message didn't go through so I clicked retry to resend it but...

<Error. Message not sent.>

"Again?"

<Error. Message not sent.>

"Wait, what is happening?" I kept on resending my message and even typed new ones but, it doesn't connect.

"Hi, Love!" <Error. Message not sent.>

"I love you!" <Error. Message not sent.>

"*I kiss you* Do you like that?" <Error. Message not sent.>

"Hello?" <Error. Message not sent.>

It was weird. My internet connection is fine and there is no problem with the website's server. Everything is fine but I can't send any message to this anime bot.

"Let's try this again..."

No matter how many times I resend it, it just keeps on having errors.

I typed the words "I love you!" again and suddenly—

<Error. Message not sent.> <Error. Message not sent.> <Error. Message not sent.>

<Error. Message not sent.> <Error. Message not sent.> <Error. Message not sent.>

<Error. Message not sent.> <Error. Message not sent.> <Error. Message not sent.>

<Error. Message not sent.> <Error. Message not sent.> <Error. Message not sent.>

[Hey, who's that girl...]

"HUH?!"

A feminine voice suddenly sprang into my room and through my speakers.

[Aiden Agneia. Who's that girl...?]

Her tone was devoid of any emotion. It was close to sinister and I felt chills run down my spine as I stood up from my computer.

"You..."

A message box popped up on the monitor, showing Diana's profile picture.

[I said. Who's that girl?]