Some of the other people in the bunker left shortly after we resurfaced. Some stayed. I remained by Sako’s side, not because ‘Angel’ told me to, but because she’s familiar.
We talked about it and had an identical experience, down to the questions we asked. Given how they were questions anyone would ask, I’m not surprised. Obviously, I wanted to know much more, but it was too much trouble to process what little Angel did tell me. It also seemed like he knew much less than he implied.
I told Sako my angel told me to start procuring food and making alliances, then asked what hers said. Surprisingly, they had different answers. Hers told her to wait in the bunker.
After that, I used my new mind powers to tell my angel what hers said, and surprisingly, mine agreed. I asked why their opinions were different, and Angel said it was because they were already being influenced by our individual personalities, experiences, and memories.
That said, he agreed that waiting in the bunker and using the remaining food supply was a more ideal move than his original plan. Seeing as how neither I nor Sako had any idea what was going on, we complied.
Then, the angels put us through hell. Pushups. Situps. Running through the compound. Lifting random crap. I’d never worked out in my life before because I hated it so much, and now I hate it even more. Sako didn’t seem to mind. Probably because she was on the school's volleyball and track team, which showed every time she left me in the dust.
This went on for two weeks, which brings us to now. I’m jolted awake as Angel begins to shout in my head.
“Wake up, Lily, it’s time to get going!” he says.
“Get going? Where?” I ask.
“Out into the world,” Angel says. “We’re going with the original plan of procuring food and learning to use your abilities.”
“Why now, all of a sudden?” I ask.
“The reason why it was better to remain in the bunker was so that other survivors would go out into the world and increase the database’s knowledge with their experiences. Essentially, the Cloud knows a lot more about the state of the world, Project AIGODS’ capabilities, and the HET. Thank those countless souls who gave their lives for this information, the AI gods rest their souls.”
“I guess that makes sense when everything you know comes from a Steam library,” I say. “But wait a second. If that’s the case, then why didn’t everyone just wait it out somewhere safe?”
“Well, again, everyone’s angel is based on the user,” Angel says. “Rationales differ. Some people are more equipped to survive in the world than two fail girls like you and Sako. While it was advantageous for you two to wait it out, there are certain disadvantages, too.”
“Like what?” I ask.
“Firstly, you’re getting a late start,” Angel says. “I’m sure there are some prodigious humans who have a superb grasp on their abilities and are well ahead of the game.”
“So what? Aren’t we all on the same side?” I ask.
“Even in the face of their erasure, humans will always be at odds with one another,” Angel says.
“Seems kind of evocative for an AI assistant,” I say.
“Those are not my words,” Angel says. “Those are the words of Robert C. Rockwell, the creator of this project.”
“Fine, fine, you’ve made your point,” I say. “I guess that’s why you had us train the whole time; to prepare us for the world.”
“There was another reason as well,” Angel says. “For now, we should reconvene with Sako. She’s currently in the lower corridors doing some last-minute training.”
I never would have taken Sako for the training type, but then again, I already had a completely skewed impression of her. What do I know, anyway? All my life I’ve been a shut-in nerd trying to distract herself with Doki Doki Literature Club and internet forums about worthless stuff. I don’t know anything about the world, and now it’s almost gone.
I walk down the steps, and it’s just as Angel said: Sako’s there, glistening with sweat, mid-push-up.
“Hey,” I call out.
She smiles, and I smile back, against my will.
“Hey, Lily!” she says. “Finally awake?”
“Yeah,” I say. “You seem slightly more chipper than usual.”
“How can I not be?” Sako asks. “We’re finally going out on an adventure!”
“Adventure, she says,” a snarky woman’s voice says from thin air.
Then, a small ball of light, similar to Angel but green, appears in front of her. I curl my eyebrow, then look to my side, where I see Angel. There are definitely two of them now.
“Is that your angel?” I ask.
“I have a name, you know,” the little green ball says. “Titania.”
“Eh? Really? You guys have names?” I ask. “Wait, why didn’t you tell me yours, Angel?”
“Because our user is who names us,” Angel says.
“Seriously? You really named yours ‘Angel’? How boring!” Sako says.
“I didn’t know,” I say. “But why did you call yours Titania? And why is yours green?”
“Because they’re like little fairies!” Sako says. “So, I named mine after the queen of the fairies! Also, why is yours not green?”
“The color of us reflects the color of your souls,” Titania says. “Essentially, it takes your personality traits and assigns a color based on that.”
“So it’s like Pokémon Mystery Dungeon?” I ask.
“What’s that?” Sako asks.
“It’s a roguelike dungeon-crawling Pokémon game,” Angel says.
“Hey, that wasn’t available on Steam,” I say.
“It was a port,” Angel says.
“Of course it was,” I say.
“Alright, people, can we please get back on track soon?” Titania asks. “We’re wasting precious daylight.”
“Fine, but just one more question,” I say. “Why can I see you all of a sudden?”
“Your neural waves have been linked,” Titania explains. “A connection was built based on a mutual emotional bond with one another. Since you two are allies, this link is essential for directly exchanging data and sharing EP. That’s energy points, if you don’t remember.”
“So that’s how Angel knew she was down here,” I say.
“Indeed,” Titania says. “If that’s all, can we please go now?”
With that, we leave the compound and set forth into the world. It’s spring. When we first came to the bunker, it was summer.
All that time passed, and we didn’t even notice. The bunker never got cold, nor hot. It stayed at a consistent temperature all day, 24/7. If it weren’t for the calendar Sako meticulously marked alongside the clock, I probably would have lost track of time months ago.
Even so, the world still doesn’t feel like it did, knowing there’s something out there that wants us dead. Unsettling, really. I can’t help but dread the first time I meet one of the HET. I can’t help but wonder if it will be my death. Whether I will run like Mom and Dad did, or I will fight. I don’t want to find out, but I know I don’t have a choice.
Angel and Titania lead us across the grassy field to the forest and keep going for several minutes. I jump at every little sound, and there are a lot of them. Mostly squirrels and chipmunks running up trees and stepping on sticks. I jolt upward whenever a bird flaps its wings, and Sako giggles. I seem to run into every single cobweb, too, flailing my arms violently, praying that their spider doesn’t find my skin. I always hated nature.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
After about ten minutes of walking, we stop. I hope either Sako or the angels have a good sense of direction, because I have no idea where we are.
“Alrighty, this seems like a good spot,” Angel says.
“It will suffice,” Titania says. “Come, Sako, this way.”
“Wait, where are you going?” I ask.
“Don’t worry, child, we’re just going right over yonder,” Titania says. “We’ll still be in view.”
“It’s better to give each other space for your first lesson,” Angel says. “We don’t want anyone getting hurt now, do we?”
“Huh? But I thought we were getting food,” I say as Sako follows Titania several meters away from us.
“We are. We’re killing two birds with one stone,” Angel says.
I can still see Titania and Sako talking, but can no longer hear them.
“Don’t worry about missing out; we’re literally teaching you the same thing,” Angel says. “Start by pulling up your interface.”
“I don’t know how to do that,” I say.
“Just think about it, and it should appear,” Angel says. “Kind of like how you snap your fingers, but with your mind.”
“That’s not helpful in the slightest,” I mutter. I try to imagine the little blue screen from before, and lo and behold, it appears right in front of my eyes. To think I could have done that the whole time. Not that it would have done me much good, since I still have zero clue how to use it.
[Skills]
[Stats]
[Enemy Reader]
[Database]
[ANGEL]
“Alright, so now what?” I ask.
“Choose the skills option,” Angel says. “You can do so the same way you summoned the screen. By willing it.”
I do it, and the skills button lights up. Then, the screen changes with two more options:
[Active Skills]
[Passive Skills]
“There are two types of skills,” Angel says. “Active and passive. Go ahead and choose the active option.”
I do so, and the screen goes blank.
“There’s nothing here,” I say.
“That’s because you haven’t learned any skills yet,” Angel says. “You can create new skills using your energy points, or EP. Created skills will appear here, where you can spend more EP to develop them and make them stronger.”
“I see,” I say. “And I get to choose what they do?”
“Yep. The AE virus constantly builds on your DNA, allowing you to gain whatever powers you desire,” Angel says.
“So why don’t I just create a skill that makes the HET explode instantly?” I ask.
“Because there are limitations,” Angel says. “Given that JRPGS are the framework of this, your skills work in a similar way. They’re weak to start, but grow stronger based on the more energy you put into them. Are you familiar with Einstein’s E=MC2?”
“What kind of question is that?” I ask.
“Right, so you must know that this equation shows the correlation between energy and matter,” Angel says. “Energy can be converted into matter and vice versa. The AE virus rewrites your DNA to shape it accordingly, allowing you to turn EP into abilities. As such, the potency of the ability requires a certain amount of energy to function. So, if you want to have an ability that makes any HET explode instantly, you’ll need matching energy to compensate.”
“But it is possible?” I ask.
“Possible, but not practical,” Angel says. “Firstly, the amount of EP you’d need to develop the skill so that it would work on stronger HET is so absurdly high that you’d have to focus your entire skill set on it. This isn’t ideal because you need to kill HET to get more EP, which you can’t do if your skill is too weak to start. So, you’d have to focus on other skills first, then go back to the HET-exploding skill.”
“What’s wrong with that?” I ask.
“Because gathering EP takes a lot of time and fighting,” Angel says. “Here’s a scenario: You want to have a skill to make any creature explode, so you start developing it. Realizing it’s too weak, you create another skill, which is to make fireballs come out of your hand.”
“This again,” I say, rolling my eyes.
“So, you start to level up the fireball skill, which is more practical than the exploding skill that requires tons of energy,” Angel continues. “It takes you years, but you finally level up your fireball skill to the point where you can destroy entire towns with a wave of your hand. But it’s not enough, so you decide to level up your instant-explosion skill by fighting dangerous HET worth tons of EP. Even more years later, you’ve developed the HET-instant-explosion skill.”
“So what’s the problem?” I ask.
“Are you really that stupid?” Angel asks. “First of all, there’s not much your new exploding skill can do that your fireball skill already can’t. Also, this would take many, many years. Years you do not have. You and the rest of humanity are likely to die long before you attain this skill. Also, different HETS have different weaknesses. Some will be too powerful for your explosion skill no matter what, and some will be immune to explosions.”
“I see,” I say. “So I guess that means I can’t go light speed or turn invisible.”
“The speed of light is defined by the photon, a massless particle,” Angel says. “To get something with mass, such as yourself, to that speed, you would need an infinite amount of energy to do so. Mathematically impossible. As for invisibility, that’s actually a handy skill, but shouldn’t be your main focus. Not all of them go after sight, after all.”
“This is needlessly complicated, isn’t it?” I ask.
“Not really,” Angel says. “Basically, you can do anything, but there are limits.”
“In other words, I should be extremely careful when developing my skills,” I say.
“Yes, which is why I’ve prepared the first one for you,” Angel says.
“Which is?” I ask.
“You will be able to shoot fireballs from your hands,” he says.
“You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?” I ask.
“I’m serious,” Angel says. “While this won’t be your main focus, it’s actually a useful skill to have. It has offensive purposes, but you can also use it for hunting, starting fires, and as a flare of sorts.”
“Okay, but don’t you need EP to create new skills?” I ask. “Unless I stepped on some bug-sized HET on the way here, I’m pretty sure I haven’t killed any.”
“That’s the other reason we had you train these past two weeks,” Angel says. “Working out creates energy from food, which your interface harnessed and stored as EP. There are many ways to generate EP, but again, the most effective is killing HET and taking theirs. Exercise is useful for generating EP in, let’s call it, the ‘early game’.”
“Alright, alright, fine,” I say. “So how do I make this skill?”
“Leave it to me,” Angel says. “I’ll work it out and put it into your program.”
A second later, some text appears on the previously blank screen.
[Fireball lv. 1]
[Power: 9]
[Cost: 1 EL]
[EP to next level: 50]
“Congratulations, you can now use fireball,” Angel says. “Give it a try! Just point your hand out and choose the fireball skill. Don’t worry, you don’t need to pull up the screen every time you want to cast it.”
Frankly, I don’t even care anymore. Someone else might find this cool, but I just find it jarring.
I point out my hand as I’m told and unleash the fireball skill. From my palm, a tiny spurt of flames putters out, then dissipates into the air.
“It appears I’m having performance issues,” I say. “I think I need to go to the shop and buy some herbal medicine and Viagra.”
“No, it’s working as intended,” Angel says. “It’s only level one, after all. To have it do anything meaningful, you’ll need to put more EP into it. Don’t worry, you have more than enough to level it up to, let’s say, level three.”
“Fine, level it up to level three, then,” I say.
A few dings and pings later, the interface updates.
[Fireball lv. 3]
[Power: 13]
[Cost: 5 EL]
[EP to next level: 450]
Without saying anything, I point my hand out and give it another try. This time, a burning ball of fire explodes out of my open palm and bullets through the air. It hits a tree in the distance and disappears, leaving a scorched mark in its wake.
“That’s pretty handy,” I say. “Uh, what does this 'cost' mean?”
“Well, obviously you can’t just shoot fireballs out of your hand infinitely,” Angel says. “Whenever you cast a skill, your body’s energy levels, or EL, go down. Since your fireball takes up 5 EL, you can cast this skill 25 times before you're out, as your current EL level is 100."
“And what happens when I’m out?” I ask.
“You can’t cast fireball anymore,” Angel says.
“No shit, Sherlock,” I say. “I mean, do I die or something?”
“No, but your body does need time to replenish your EL,” Angel says. “You can do this by eating food, casting replenishing skills, or just waiting.”
“So it’s mana,” I say.
“It’s mana,” Angel repeats.
To the scientist who downloaded his Steam library to his work computer: fuck you.
“But wait, if my fireball grows too powerful, then I won’t be able to cast it anymore,” I say. “The EL cost will increase as I level it up, won’t it?”
“You will, because you’ll also be allocating EP to your EL stat whenever you level up,” Angel says. “We’ll get to stats and stuff later. For now, let’s focus on your skills. Why don’t you try hitting a bird with your new ability?”
“Why a bird?” I ask.
“Didn’t I say we would be killing two birds with one stone?” Angel asks. “You can practice your new skill and procure food at the same time.”
“God, why is everyone around me so corny?” I ask. "Fine, whatever. I'll go murder a bird, I guess."
“You’ve got about 24 more tries. Good luck,” Angel says.