章 84: Hacking Wardrobes, Rewiring Lion, Building Gaming Rig, Another Regular Day
From now on I will be posting one every two chapters on WN to make a bigger gap.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quinella played with her hair as she watched what Ravel was doing. There was an amused smile on her face.
"To think such a cruel woman could hide behind that noble lady look."
'Assassinations, money syphoning, arming rebels and manipulating information.'
The Assistant realised that so far, this girl was useful, especially to her. Dealing with common rabble before Project Eden was a worthwhile investment.
This devil girl could find out which people are capable, and then they could be transported to colonies outside Earth.
'Something to think about~.'
Ravel's tactics are that of a ruthless dictator. Her 'game style' is somewhat worthwhile, but that's where Quinella started to see shortcomings.
The Phenex devil knew that she was in a simulation. So, she is not afraid of risky moves for power grabs.
'I see. My thanks, Ravel. We shall improve on this shortcoming.'
In the following simulation, she will have a risk bar. Once that risk bar reaches a certain level, it will be game over.
Just because it's a game doesn't mean you shouldn't worry about losing your life.
Quinella thought about that to herself as she stopped playing with her hair, and instead, she looked away and started to ponder how to improve the test.
The beauty wants to ace this assignment. If it means turning Ravel into Lelouch Vi Britannia, then so be it.
"Mistress, a message from Master. He requests that Axiom pick up Ares from the Underworld and deliver him back to Greece." The second in command notified the Platinum-haired assistant.
"Very well, then set course for the last known location of Ares."
After giving the order, the slowly floating Daedalus-Class Assault Carrier proceeded to change course and rapidly accelerate towards its destination.
~~~
Marcus massaged his forehead as he just got a call from Ares. The Inventor forgot that his buddy was still in the Underworld. Well, Persephone was— 'very persuasive'. There was a gap in memories around that time. He forgot that he had let loose the War God.
Only after getting a call from him did Marcus recall that he left Ares stranded in the Underworld without the ability to teleport out.
With this sorted out, he thought about what to do next. He realised that his room was so barren that it looked like a hotel room.
Maybe even worse. At least a hotel room has something on the walls! Not as plain as this.
"Hmm…" He looked around and noticed he had enough space on the floor.
"Aurora, send my royal guards to bring my lion here."
[Certainly, sir, should I request the basket, too?]
"Do so." With a nod, he replied before bringing his fingers closer and imagining where he would place the basket for his pet lion.
Then he looked at his table. It was barren and without anything on it.
"Hmm…"
He looked at his wardrobe for a bit, stroking his chin, thinking what to do before a couple of ideas popped into his mind. His mother might ground him and not allow him to visit his garage; however, it doesn't mean he doesn't have the means to access his technomancy.
Marcus walked over to his wardrobe and pressed twice on the screen before holding his finger on the screen for ten seconds.
A window with settings popped. The inventor scrolled down, pressed creator settings, and turned them on.
With that on, he returned to the main screen. He pressed the 'Create' tab. A list of clothes appeared on the screen; however, at the bottom, there was a new option. It said 'other', so he pressed on it. This tab has empty choices.
'Quinella sure is pedantic when it comes to things like these.'
Seeing it was empty, Marcus again opened the settings windows and turned on the module download option.
Then he returned to the other options and imported stuff from the Aurora network. What he is doing is 'jailbreaking' a piece of tech.
The wardrobe has a built-in automated assembly line. Assembly lines can make anything. However, these wardrobes are tuned to only make clothes.
So what he did was hack the OS and import modules, or more precisely, the rest of the schematics from the Aurora Network.
As the percentage slowly went up, Marcus ended up sitting on the spinning chair and proceeded to spin and wait for it to finish.
He was pondering what to do with his jailbreak wardrobe.
First things first is some Gundam figures, maybe a poster or two, and lastly, a gaming PC. He should get a game or two.
Just to finish the room's decorations.
"Hmm, what year is it?"
He checked the date via his console.
"2008, huh… well, Modern Warfare 2 is not out yet. Well, I guess I can always play some Counter-Strike." He pondered his options.
Once the download was complete, Marcus walked over and checked what things he could print with the wardrobe.
"Ugh… need to sort out these things." There were thousands of options. The OS on this was not tailored to have that many things to print. It is only supposed to make clothes.
Same with the fridge version or the microwave version, they all can be jailbroken, but just like this wardrobe, they all have their classifications.
Regardless, he created folders and sorted things into them. On top of that, he downloaded updates for the OS to include a better framework.
'If I want to play the latest games, I need the latest PC. Playing stuff with my inventions will fuck up the experience.'
~~~
"What is he doing?" Sirin poked her head through Marcus' doors and looked at how he was building a PC.
"Role-playing as a grounded teen," Athena said with an eye roll.
"I thought grounded kids are not allowed to play with their computers!"
"He is. As you can see, he is not using his fancy technology."
"But he hacked the wardrobe!" Sirin pointed out that he was pulling out non-clothes from it!
"Well, it is what it is. At least he didn't make the wardrobe into a killer robot from that boredom. At this moment, he has something to do, but later on. Well, we can only hope he doesn't do something crazy." Athena commented with a wry smile on her lips.
"Not that I care, but he has you, me, those ship girls and other things to keep him entertained until this grounding period is over."
"I suppose you are right." At that moment, the pair walked aside as a pair of Royal guards brought in a golden lion who was trying to bite the guard, and the other one had a big basket for the lion to sleep in.
"Is that a lion?"
"Nemean Lion. Yes." Athena massaged her temples, seeing that beast. She forgot that Marcus had it. But since he is staying here, he will have his pet with him.
"...Nemean? As in—"
"Once that lion grows, it will be the size of a small truck, and that fur will be impenetrable. Those Teeth can even damage a god. That beast is not a pet by any stretch of imagination." Athena explained as her frustration just kept on growing.
"...Then—"
"Ares. My idiot of a brother gave it to Marcus as a bribe for renovating his house." The Goddess of Wisdom explained to her.
"You gods are reckless," Sirin spoke with a baffled tone. Hell, she shouldn't be surprised. But still, that's a monster, not a lion.
"Tell me something I don't know." Athena deadpanned.
~~~
Marcus smiled as he saw his royal guards bringing the lion to him. He got up from the floor and took the golden beast from them.
The other guard placed the basket before the pair left.
The Inventor looked at the lion's red eyes. The pair looked at each other.
For a second, he got serious as he focused his psionic powers on him. Nemean Lion's basis is that of a monster that causes terror.
It will take a while until the lion develops proper self-awareness and becomes less monstrous than it was with the original one. But Marcus has no time for that. So he went right there and rearranged its brain with his psionic powers.
Like a Lego, he rearranged its mind and made the beast behave like a cat.
When Successor to Solomon finished, he opened his eyes, and he got a lick on his face from the lion.
"Pfff–hahaha, that look on your face!" Sirin proceeded to laugh as she was watching the whole thing.
Marcus wiped his face with his hand before looking at the Herrscher, standing next to the doors to his room.
"Yes-Yes, very funny. Why don't you stop stalking and just enter the room." He said with an eye roll as his gaze went to the lion, who no longer looked murderous.
"I am not stalking. I am simply curious. I had never seen a mythical animal before." She explained herself with a blush as her fingers played with her long hair.
"Still, come here and take a seat." He motioned for her to sit on his bed.
She blushed some more as she realised she would sit on his bed. The girl's maiden mind realised how 'naughty' this was!
"Really? I made your body, Sirin. Why such reluctance?" Marcus eye-rolled at the girl's behaviour.
*Hmph!*
"You behave like a brick! Not understanding a girl's heart!" With a loud huff, she walked over and plopped on his bed.
"So what now? Oh, mighty Conqueror? What are you going to do?" Her voice had a tint of mocking. She finds it amusing that his mother grounded him like that!
"Nothing. I don't need to do anything. Everything that I need is in motion. At this moment, I am like a farmer who has spread the seeds, and now I only need to wait for them to grow." He explained to her as he placed the lion down and returned to work on his PC.
"...Project Eden?" Sirin casually mentioned it.
Marcus, for a second, stopped and looked at her.
"More or less."
"You think your parents would approve of what you are planning?" She asked with a slightly raised eyebrow, her golden orange eyes digging into his eyes.
"By the time the project happens, my parents will be in space."
"And what if they want to see other people? Won't they question what will happen to the bigger world?" Sirin pondered. She understood that he cares what his parents think. Yet, he is planning to commit massive genocide.
"It would seem that you are required some reading to do." He casually replied after hearing her question.
"...Hmm?"
"The plan is that I take my garage to space." He sighed as he placed RAM into the motherboard.
"The barriers around the country will act as a proper bubble for space." He explained with a sigh as he proceeded to open the box for the graphics card.
"That means the entirety of the country will be lifted and taken to space. The rest— well, you know the rest." Marcus didn't need to explain what happened next.
"...You are planning to take everything. And discard the rest…" Sirin finally understood. To think that he will take the whole country. If he does that, it will take a long time for his parents or other people to understand what will happen to other humans!
"For Herrecher, who kills without care, you sure care a lot." The inventor commented on that fact. His Sirin is changing by the day.
The Void Queen huffed once more, crossing her arms.
"This is another reality. It's different from my original place. People don't experiment on other people. There is no crazy organisation as Schicksal! So, I might care a little." She said the last part with a tiny mosquito voice.
By then, the golden lion cub ended up on the bed and Sirin's lap. The white-haired girl's eyes nearly sparkled as she saw how cute the beast was acting around her!
The beauty stroked the fur, wanting to see the beast's reaction to her strokes.
"Humans are the same no matter the reality. They are 'nicer' here because there is no Honkai. But give a big threat—"
"Like you." She pointed at him. After all, he is the biggest boogeyman humanity has seen so far.
"Like me. And they will show their real colours. Humans are still flesh and blood. That much doesn't change." He said that while inserting the Graphics card and then connecting the cables.
"Instincts to survive will make one do very questionable things. This latest experiment will show that to everyone." He said with a small snort.
"You just love tormenting everyone," Sirin commented while picking up the lion and looking at him up close.
"Says the girl who tormented herself for years." He pointed with amusement as he connected the Hard Drive.
"I am what they made me. You, on the other hand, are self-made. My choices were their doing. You, you made those yourself." She pointed that out while the lion was cooing at her.
The Herrscher's eyes sparkled with happiness at how cute the cub of a monster capable of destroying cities looked!
"True. Not going deny that." Strangely, he didn't deny any of that.
"That's the thing. If you studied history, you would realise why conquerors are conquerors."
"And that is?" For a moment, her attention went from the lion to him. She lowered the lion back to her lap and stroked its fur again.
"They did it because they could." He plainly said that as he proceeded to put in the energy block.
"...So you conquer the planet then remove all population because you can?" She asked with a frown.
"Indeed. If I allow things to do as they are, we will have a dead wasteland before the end of the century." He nodded as he proceeded to tidy up all the cables inside the gaming computer.
"Won't it be better if you are to share your technology with everyone? It would solve everything." She finally asked the burning question.
"I could. But what for? Do you think people will gladly accept my things with open arms? They all think they are privileged to get my stuff. My AI is constantly monitoring the entirety of the whole planet.
Even if I could give endless energy, the world would collapse upon itself. All the capitalists would panic as the wealth which was separating them from 'common folk' doesn't exist anymore or doesn't have that kind of meaning. On the other side of the spectrum, we have all the authoritarians who would destroy my stuff first before accepting any of it because it shatters their hold on the population.
Regardless of which, my inventions are toxic for the people who control the masses." Marcus explained to her as he finished setting up his PC.
Next was connecting the cables. The inventor made sure to get a great audio system because why not? And fantastic headphones for online gaming because he doesn't have one.
As he was adding finishing touches, Sirin grimaced, thinking that this was far too complex for her.
'Might as well nuke them. I tried to help, but it was just too complex. I think part of me just accepted that they are too complex. That's why I became a Herrscher.' Now, she started to think about the other things that led her to this place.
'I suppose Kiana Kaslana just went with the whole 'Fighting for the beauty of the world' because humans were too complex, so she decided to be a park ranger. Or something. That's the most logical conclusion: she was fighting for the world's beauty, not human beauty.' The Void Queen tried to make sense of what she was thinking.
~~~~~~Later~~~~~~
As evening arrived, Marcus' expression went through many disgusted looks. He was close at breaking point. Installing Windows, even with his 'high specs' PC, took ages!
'I suppose it was foolish of me to do things the old fashioned way! I should have at least used an SSD instead of old-style drives! Even if they don't exist! Fuck it! Who has enough patience for this shit!?'
Regardless, the installation was complete, and he downloaded Steam. Since Modern Warfare 2 is not out yet, he wanted to download some other games.
"Right, I need to buy stuff." He looked confused for a second before pulling out his phone.
He went through names on his phone. It wasn't big so he quickly found his girl.
Marcus proceeded to call Latia.
[*Ring*]
[*Ring*]
[*Ring*]
[Yes? Master, why are you calling me the old-fashioned way?] The blonde devil was confused by the abrupt call; she nearly dropped her phone.
"I am grounded. So I can't use my consoles." He said that as he pressed 'add card details' on the PC.
"I need credit card details as I am buying games on a mundane PC. Give me something." Marcus said with a sigh.
[R-Right, one moment.] The girl didn't ask more questions. It sounded weird as it gets.
Marcus started to fill in the details as he was listening, telling him from address to expiring date.
Once done, he finished the call and continued to fill in more stuff.
"...Damn, it appears I forgot to fill up my Email address." He sighed one more time.
"Why do regular people go through this much nonsense just to play games?" He complained as he went to Google to create his Gmail.
"Because they don't have quantum computers and reality-bending particles," Sirin told him as she was lying in his bed while holding an already sleeping lion.
"Fair point. They should invent those. By that point, I would only need to download the schematics for games and just play it." He replied with a hopeful tone.
After creating Gmail with the name 'SolomonTheSecond'. Marcus was ready to play games!
But then a nerve popped on his forehead as he saw the download bar appear!
"...Fuck…" He immediately stood up.
"This is a torture! I am going to get some food. Do you want something?" Since he can't blow up stuff or make something, he might as well drown his anger with food!
"...I am fine."
"...No to pizza? Or some ice cream." He 'pushed' with a knowing smirk.
Sirin's eyebrows twitched, and she slightly narrowed her golden orange eyes.
"One day, you will tell me how you know about me!" She said with a pouty look.
"Is that a yes or a no?" He enquired for an answer, which only made her sigh in resignation.
"I will come with you. I wish to understand the intricacies of pizza making." Sirin said softly as she slowly pushed the lion away before standing up from the bed she had been on for several hours.
"Sure, we can explore the mysteries of pizza making together."
With an eye roll, she followed him downstairs. He first saw a pair of ship girls watching World War Two documentaries with Roland, Marcus' father. On the other end of the room was Athena reading a book.
"Where is Na'er?" The Inventor asked his fiance as he saw the black hair of Nyx on one of the couches. It only left his Dragon girl.
"She went with your mother to shop."
"...Shop?" He frowned when he heard that. Who does that? Wasn't it one of the reasons why he invented molecular manipulation? To stop wasting time with pointless stuff.
"Don't look at me like that. She wants to see her colleagues and talk about the Titanic cruise."
"Oh, that kind of shop visit. I see." Marcus swiftly forgot about the shop visit and went to the kitchen with his Herrscher.
~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~
"Stop the car here. I found what I was looking for." Michael said with a small smile.
"Certainly, sir." The man in black stopped the car, and the pair of blondes left the vehicle and walked towards a pair of ladies.
Michael's faction originally had a hold of these lands, which Marcus now calls his. While their presence was small and minuscular, it was still here.
Arranging things like cars and information gathering was still working, even now. The Archangels could infiltrate the country with a small amount of difficulty.
All they needed was mundane clothes, no desire for conflicts, and no signature of supernatural energies. Things like these were easy for angels to do. After all, they used to mingle with mundanes all the time.
Then, there was this illusionary power. Something they could easily fall for, but at this moment, this illusionary power was not working.
How do they know? It's because Michael could see Marcus' mother.
He has seen the pictures of hers. The reason why the illusions are not covering her is because of the silver-haired girl who was with her.
The girl was emitting impressive draconic energies. She is strong—a strong bodyguard.
Michael and Gabriel approached with smiles.
"Excuse me, might I have a moment of your time?"
"Hmm? How can I help you?" Rose asked curiously. These two did look like foreigners.
"I am Michael, and this is my sister Gabriel. We represent the Heaven faction." As he said that, he pointed at the sky.
"...Heaven—Faction?"
At that moment, Gu Yuena stepped forward, and her spear appeared in her hands. Her aura surged, and defensive protocols kicked in.
"We don't mean any harm!" Michael swiftly waved his hands.
"Relax, Na'er. They are with heaven. If that is the case, then they are good people." Rose said with a sigh as he looked up. Seeing one of the Airships was already approaching in the distance.
"Call them off."
"...But…" The Dragoness had a sweaty forehead. Looking at her creator's mother and then at the angels.
'To think that these people could infiltrate so deep into our lands… The emperor won't be happy at all.'
"It's fine. Don't you trust my son's capabilities?" Rose used her trump card.
"...I do…" Just like that, she dismissed her spear and contacted the defences to stand down.
Just like that, the airship turned around and returned to the spaceport.
"Well? What can I do for heaven's faction? I assume you want me to speak with my son about something?" Rose was feeling excited to assist the heavens!
"...Indeed. Your son has a reputation. Our faction doesn't have much to offer. And on top of that, we are in dire need of his expertise."
"I see. Then why don't you come with us? We can speak with Marcus together~" Rose was happy to do this. After blowing up a country, won't it be good karma to make her son help with heavens to balance it out?"
~~~~~~Around Same Time with Marcus~~~~~~
Marcus freaked out when he saw a pair of blondes in front of his mother!
He was asking how the fuck this happened! He has a quantum computer calculating possibilities, on top of that, running background checks, utilising Realitus to turn away any possible criminals from entering his country! By this point, his AI has been doing essential police work.
But how those two sneaked in! Less than 2 kilometres away from his home, no less!
"Can you explain to me how they slipped past my net!?" Marcus furiously asked as he was cutting pepperoni for his pizza.
[Basic scans start according to the fundamentals of what a criminal looks like. Angels do not have such characteristics.
Michael could pass because he had no aura and didn't fall into criminal fundamental looks, which start with eye eyebrows. We had no previous idea what he looked like, and on top of that, he was with an innocent-looking girl.]
"You saying he passed the most advanced computer in human history is fooled by a 'good guy'?"
[Precisely]
"Do you know how bullshit this sounds?" Marcus was not impressive. His cynical side was rising against this injustice.
He didn't program Aurora to do this!
[This Artificial Intelligence only follows its programming protocols, sir. If you have any enquiries, please contact my creator.]
For a second, he stopped in his tracks.
'Did she just gaslight me!?'
The inventor took a deep breath, calming himself. What she said is true. His system is only discriminating against forces which want to harm him or his family. There is nothing about people who just want to talk. Considering Heaven forces are supposed to be the 'good guys', fascists but still good guys.
After thinking for a bit, he immediately sends a message to Quinella.
[Marcus: Once you drop Ares, return to base immediately. I want you to run diagnostics on the Security system of our territories.
Two Archangels appear less than 2 kilometres away from my house!]
After sending that, he proceeded to return to making his pizza.
~~~
Michael was quite pleased that his plan had worked. He wanted to approach Marcus' parents because he felt that the inventor and conqueror was quite a filial son.
How did he get this hunch? Well, the teen said to himself over the television about getting Titanic for his mother.
Going to such lengths means he cares, so why not approach his parents to persuade him to fix the heaven system?
He also had over ten minutes to talk with his mother as they returned from the supermarket.
The dragon girl continues to watch him like a hawk.
That is understandable, but he has Gabriel, who is using her bubbly personality to make her lower her guard.
"To think that someone could create a Dragon Emperor. I am impressed." Gabriel enquired as she was walking next to Gu Yuena.
"Dragon Empress. I am female, and my classification is Dragonoid. Making me a dragon and human hybrid. With all the perks and no weaknesses." The Silver-haired girl felt that she needed to brag in front of this last-gen creation.
"Impressive." Not that Gabriel cared about her 'specs'. Such nonchalant agreement rubbed her the wrong way!
"Still, it appears your creator doesn't trust our intentions," Michael said as he looked around.
"I can see at least fifteen snipers. If I could use my powers, I could detect more." The Leader of heaven said with some sweat on his forehead.
"Don't worry, Mr. Michael, my boy is quite cynical and suspicious. He became even more so after he became the leader of his faction." Rose said with a sigh. She was surprised that there were snipers deployed already.
"Can you tell them to back off? I don't think Heaven would try anything?" Marcus' mother said to Gu Yuena.
"...But…"
She gave her a look.
"...As you wish." With a resigned sigh, she contacted the garrison.
"We can't endanger someone who won the Great War of the Underworld," Michael said with a strained smile.
"So that's how it's called now? Sadly, the supernatural doesn't have a channel to watch the news. I am curious to know how the war went." Rose said with a disappointed sigh.
"Mrs Goldman, you are pretty used to the supernatural. Not the first time? I am not counting the Marcus faction."
"Yes. I am used to it. My son is engaged to a Goddess, and his best friend is the God of War.
On top of that, Norse Gods sometimes shop in my supermarket. As they say, they are paying respects and patronage to the mother of the Great Conqueror." The mother of Inventor sighed in resignation. Her life became a wacky one.
"I see it's good to hear that you know about us. It makes it easier to interact."
"Yes. Regardless, come in. I will prepare some snacks so you two can speak with Marcus." As she said, she opened the doors, and people were already waiting for them.
Nyx and Athena looked at them closely. Ship girls were at the backs and looked closely at the pair of angels.
In front of them, the group leading them was Marcus, who was eating a slice of pizza.
"Mark! Angels need your help! They said their system broke down. Can you look at it?" His mother approached him swiftly.
"I could, but I am grounded." He answers with a plain voice. He does not care about their circumstances at all. Instead, he was enjoying his double pepperoni with salami and mushrooms pizza with extra cheese.
"I will take off a week of your grounding if you help the heavens in their need of help." His mother smoothly worked this out. The pair of blonde angels were happy to hear that she could quickly adjust to such circumstances.
"Deal. Not that I know how long I am grounded in the first place." Marcus agreed to this. At the same time, he was confused as she never specified how long this would last.
"I haven't decided yet. Marcus. For now, assist the angels." Rose motioned towards Michael and Gabriel.
The Inventor rolled his eyes at his mother's manipulations as Enterprise said: It's genetics.
He looked at the pair of angels. For now, he didn't say anything; instead, he finished eating his slice of pizza.
"I already have an idea what is going on. Your system is linked to the Underworld. The biblical faction doesn't have a proper underworld to speak of. The moment I activated the system installed in Hades Realm. It should have crashed your system." He explained with a bored shrug he didn't care about them.
"...You have a system!?" Michael's reaction was dumbstruck.
He was disappointed to hear that Marcus was the successor to Solomon. He heard it from his mother. They all thought that he was the second coming of their father. But hearing that he was next to Solomon made him anxious. But at the same time, they felt resignation.
With how advanced and well-fortified he was, there was very little they could do.
"Indeed I do. And a superior one at that. With time passing by, all of those sacred gears will end up in my care, and they will be maintained how they are supposed to.
Honestly, I don't see why your faction should even continue existing." He sighed while using his psionic powers to clean his fingers.
But with one glance from his mother, he relented.
"At least I could restart it and make sure your place doesn't fall apart."
~~~
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