Alice was right.
Ding!
[Name: Alice]
[Rank: Apprentice Hero]
[Level: 2]
[Health: 100 / 100]
[Initial Hero Attributes]
[Vitality: 10 “How healthy your body is”]
[Mobility: 8 “How well you can travel”]
[Balance: 9 “How well you can stay on your feet”]
[Endurance: 10 “How long you can keep going”]
[Coordination: 8 “How smoothly you move”]
It was already mid-afternoon, and time was limited, the main quest must be finished before the sun fully sets on the horizon.
But a small smile appeared on Alice’s face.
In fact, compared to balance and coordination, Alice was more concerned about one particular attribute, which she believed would determine whether she could successfully complete the main quest today.
Endurance.
The village was quite vast, occupying most of the underground gym, which covered almost an entire floor of the facility.
Alice would need to run from one location to another with her short legs, and accomplishing such a task would require a considerable amount of stamina.
Just yesterday morning, Alice had still been stumbling over her own feet.
Yet today, she could already run long distances.
System.
The flying little fairy appeared.
[Yes, young hero.]
Can I challenge the main quest now?
The flying little fairy rose into the air.
[Are you sure you want to challenge the main quest now?
Once you start running, you will not be allowed to stop or rest until the mission is completed.]
The little girl nodded firmly.
The flying little fairy raised a hand, and a notification window appeared before everyone participating in the AR simulation.
Ding!
[The Apprentice Hero wishes to challenge the main quest “Fast as the Wind.”]
[As an Apprentice Hero, you must be able to run swiftly on your own feet and familiarize yourself with the village’s layout, especially the shortest routes connecting its important landmarks.]
[Objectives:
□ Visit the Village Square
□ Visit the Healing Hut
□ Visit the Training Grounds
□ Visit the Village Market]
[Rewards:
• Promotion to Novice Hero
• Access to the Armory, Village Library, Spiritual Pool, Obstacle Course
• Additional bonus rewards]
[Time Remaining: 2 hours and 50 minutes]
[Please proceed to the Village Entrance, the designated starting point.]
[To ensure the smooth completion of the quest, please plan the most efficient route between the landmarks.]
Inwardly, Alice could not help but think that before the game had been raised to Difficult Mode, they most likely had never intended to make her run through every landmark without stopping.
They definitely added that rule afterward.
That was fine with her.
In fact, Alice preferred it this way.
The medical staff and researchers, however, were feeling somewhat shocked again.
They were still in shock after reviewing the latest report from the neuro-medical pod when they suddenly received the quest notification.
They hurried toward the training ground from all directions and found the test subject surrounded by instructors.
The instructors were trying to persuade the little girl to complete one more training set or another lap around the training ground to raise her stats a little further before attempting the main quest.
As though annoyed by all the noise, the little girl asked the system fairy to relay her words.
I want to challenge the quest while I’m still full of energy.
“…”
“Okay, that is reasonable.”
“But don’t we have the neuro-medical pod?
After a final set, you can quickly recover.”
The little girl shook her head.
I want to challenge it now.
I’m confident I can do it.
The instructors exchanged helpless looks before finally admitting defeat.
“Alright, but take it easy.
You have nearly three hours.
Don’t push yourself too hard and burn through your stamina too early.”
I know.
Soon, the group gathered near the village entrance.
Meanwhile, the researchers were whispering and chuckling among themselves.
“See?
Difficult mode wasn’t that difficult for the test subject after all.
It’s only been two days, and her overall performance is already exponentially better than last week.”
“These results have shattered the organization’s records.
Even if we stopped the AR simulation right now, the current data alone would be enough to secure an award from headquarters.”
“I can literally laugh in my sleep now.”
“Ho ho ho…”
“Hehe…”
“Muwahaha…”
“Shh!”
One of the nearby medical staff members immediately glared at them and put a finger to her lips.
“You’re too loud.
Keep it down.”
The researchers pouted.
“It’s not like they’ll hear us anyway…”
“Did you say something?”
Faced with the cold stare of the female medical staff member, the researchers immediately wilted.
“No, nothing.”
“Girls can be really scary.”
“Test Subject C3 is pretty scary too.”
“She’s a real monster,” one researcher agreed.
“But that’s good for us.
Dr.
Smith was celebrating earlier in his office.
I heard him bragging about our test subject over the phone.”
“Where is he now?” This story is hosted at novelping.com.
“He told me he’s organizing the data so we can finish the papers as quickly as possible.”
The other researchers were taken aback.
“But the program isn’t finished yet.
The test subject is still only an Apprentice Hero.
Even if she clears the main quest today, she’ll only become a Level 3 Novice Hero.”
“Yeah.
We’re supposed to finalize the data after the test subject graduates from Level 4 Senior Hero rank and reaches Level 5 Adventurer Hero rank.”
The researcher shrugged.
“That’s what he told me, anyway.
I think he’s just being cautious.
We are only handling the nano-assistive research, but Dr.
Smith is not just part of our research team, he is also involved in the Neural-Link’s neural interface, that was why he became a team leader in the integrated project combining the two.
The results here can become material for two or three separate experimental research papers.”
“The man is ambitious.
He says that he will quickly apply for a transfer to the Level 4 facilities once this project is over.”
“So none of you have enough ambition, and you all want to die right now?”
A cold female voice suddenly interrupted.
“Forget Level 4 facilities.
I can personally send all of you straight to heaven if you don’t shut up.”
The researchers immediately fell silent.
Only after the rowdy group of highly intelligent idiots finally settled down did the female medical staff member, Naomi, look away.
Her gaze landed on the little girl waiting by the village entrance.
When the program had first begun, Naomi had been genuinely excited about Test Subject C3’s rehabilitation program.
It was the first pilot project combining the neuro-medical pod’s AR functions with the neural interface and nanofluid technology.
The vision behind the project was simple.
The AR features would gamify the rehabilitation process, making recovery engaging, motivating, and enjoyable for patients.
Once the technology advanced into full VR integration, the possibilities would become even greater.
Patients would only need to remain inside the medical pod.
Any improvements achieved in the virtual world through quests, training, and leveling up would be translated into real-world physical progress, which was possible through the combination of the neural interface and nanofluid systems, while the neuro-medical pod supplied the necessary medical treatment and therapeutic support.
It was the sort of miraculous technology that people could only imagine in novels and movies.
Yet they were actually bringing that miracle into reality with their own hands!
However, the actions of the Artificial Intelligence Department worried Naomi.
Unlike these silly researchers who were pretty much confined to their Level 2 laboratory, Naomi was a member of the medical staff dispatched from headquarters.
Over the years, she had encountered patients from countless departments and research experimental trials.
Naomi understood that the organization’s waters was much deeper than most people could imagine, and they might possibly be stepping on the gray waters.
As someone who had grown up within the organization and benefited from it throughout her entire life, Naomi remained loyal to it.
Even so, the patients involved in artificial intelligence projects had always unsettled her.
Some of them, she had met before they volunteered for the closed clinical trials conducted by the Artificial Intelligence Department.
But when she met those patients afterwards, Naomi always felt that something was different.
Something was off.
They were no longer quite the same people they had been before.
The psychological evaluations and mental health reports were always transferred directly to the Artificial Intelligence Department, leading Naomi to suspect that the data itself was part of their research.
But that already felt far beyond the gray boundaries of scientific pursuit.
And now, they had set their sights on this test subject as well, making their interest in Test Subject C3 very obvious.
Naomi could not help but sigh.
It helps me a lot.
m(_ _)m Many thanks to my lovely readers rosestone215, freelove_dom, Miao_3136, sarah_mark, ShenYanxia, u5d00 for voting for my novel!
It means so much to me~