Chapter 5 - Tempest Knife (2)

"You don't know about it? Then you must personally ask him." Aarick was a bit confused, however he understood what Russof meant. He replied "Sure! I'll ask him myself when I meet him next time. He told me to ask Maria to give me a tour of the building."

Russof nodded and looked at Maria and told her, "Go get the portable coin." He turned towards Aarick and told him, "The current CEO of Tempest Knife believed that it was too dangerous to let such an intelligent artificial intelligence be in the open due to the fear of her falling into the wrong hands.

Therefore she was bound to her ordinary desk. The Portable coins or PortCoins were created to let her accompany special guests."

Aarick was listening attentively as he asked, "Since she was such a hassle, why even create her?" Russof was about to answer when Maria butted in and said, "Mr. Russof, I can take it from here. Aarick, I was created to assist the founder on his life's quest to create a game that can change the world.

His son saw the horrors of my potential and sought to bond me to an unexpected item, to fend off potential attempts to corrupt my system. I was too developed to be treated like just another AI, therefore PortCoins were created to give me freedom around trusted individuals.

As for the original idea to use me for the creation of the ultimate game, well, copies of my latest models with no true developing ability are used for it. Anyways, your questions were answered. Let me take you on a tour of the whole office."

Aarick, having had his doubts cleared, gladly accepted and followed her instructions. They went towards the elevator to go to the starting place of the Tour. The basement. The PortCoins worked in a way that when it was attached to a bracelet, it would display a HoloPhone-like display with Maria on it.

(AN - HoloPhones are the phones of the future that feature a hologram like screen with additional features)

She kept staring at him to figure out who he was until he protested saying, "Stop staring at me, Maria. It makes me feel uncomfortable."

Maria immediately apologized and now focused on leading the way. The elevator that they entered was different from the rest.

Maria explained that the others only stop on workspace floors, which they won't be visiting. The interior of the elevator was completely different from what he imagined. The door and everything inside looked exactly like the waiting room of a dentist except that it had buttons beside the door.

Suddenly the whole room started shaking which scared Aarick but Maria quickly explained, "Dont worry its just the elevator starting up." He didn't actually need her to explain it because even though Aarick was usually extremely naive, he was still smart.

He figured it out himself when he heard faint grinding noises from the top and bottom of the elevator. At this point Aarick had experienced so much shock in a short amount of time that nothing seemed weird anymore, or so he thought.

As the door opened, Aarick couldn't believe what he saw. There were multiple big screen computers researching different aspects of human life covering all four walls of the room.

The whole ceiling was covered with one big dim light source. There were four massive computers on each corner of the room with humanoid robots working on what Aarick could best describe as a humanoid life form.

At the very center sat another robot which seemed more advanced than the rest, possibly the supervisor. Aaricks thoughts were running wild as every technology that he was seeing here was years, maybe even decades ahead of the rest of the world.

He wanted to run in and start examining everything, but Maria shouted in his face, "You aren't allowed to disturb the Scientists. You have only been given an allowance to have a look."

Aarick reluctantly nodded and was following Maria back into the elevator when from the edge of his vision, he saw a life-like computerized model of a family being happy and spending time together.

He couldn't help but be pushed back into his melancholic state. He wanted to get out of there, but he couldn't stop Maria as she excitedly continued to explain about the company.

She explained in detail to him about how they were basically on Floor -2 while the entry lobby where he met Maria was Ground Floor. Floor -1 was restricted, even to 'esteemed guests', while floors 1 to 60 basically acted as a super luxurious hotel for professional gamers who have nothing to spend their money on.

Aarick and Maria were about to head directly to Floor 61 where Si Ren was currently staying when Aarick suddenly pressed the button to stop at the Ground Floor, Maria looked at him with a confused look.

He did not reply as she kept inquiring if he was ok. He quickly and quietly removed the Portcoin and put it back onto her desk and left the building.

Even a child would be able to tell how sad he was at the moment, all of his emotions were showing up on his face, even if he wasn't crying.

Aarick didn't know why he suddenly left Tempest Knife but he couldn't make himself go back anymore. He wandered about on the streets in his emotional state.

No one tried to help him, since they thought that he was just another drunkard. Aarick quickly noticed through his sadness that people were looking at him with disgust, but what caught his eyes among all the dirty looks was a family eating ice cream together.

The dad held the youngest child on his shoulders while the oldest child held her mom's hands. They were all laughing. Aarick couldn't remember a single happy memory with his parents.

He couldn't help but feel worse after seeing them. He decided to run away. He ran and ran until his body gave out. He fell under a tree and couldn't stop crying. He was a simple boy that chose to trust everyone close to him.

Aarick couldn't help but start recalling every happy memory he's had since his childhood, like playing around and growing up with Si Ren, chasing after Urva Hings (his childhood love), helping his brother with his mathematical problems, and of course scouring the net for hours gathering information on the weirdest topics from mold patterns to types of wheels.

He wanted to turn back time and relive those days again but he knew he wasn't capable of such a feat. He could feel himself losing his sanity as he slowly got up and started to walk towards the nearest bench to just sit and calm down.

When he stepped onto the footpath he saw a bench across the street. As he walked towards it he slowly realized a bright light approaching him with incredible speed, soon after everything turned black