Second Implant

I noticed that the projection had a sharklike head and two massive fins on both sides of its face as well as a horn on the top of its' head. Then after that, I looked at the kind of clothing that it was wearing and noticed that it wore simple robes and a set of sandals that had small spikes at the base for grip control.

"As I said the main reason I was activated was because one of the chosen have arrived in these ruins. If he passes my test, I will bestow upon him and all his companions a reward that will help ensure the success of his journey." the AI told everyone as it walked in front of all of us.

"What will happen to him or possibly to us all if he should fail this test!?" William asked as he stepped in front of everyone while waving his hands so that the shark would at least be able to tell that he was quite serious about his words.

The AI stopped moving when it was right in front of William and looked him directly in the eyes. "If he should fail, I will activate our death bots to ensure that none of you escape with your lives so that another candidate who is worthy might find these ruins once again."

As soon as the AI spoke everyone stopped moving and looked at me before speaking. "That adds no pressure on you Danny". And they all said simultaneously as they placed their right hands on my back and pushed me forward so that I was in between the AI projection and them.

"So, your name is Danny. All right Danny are you ready for the test to begin?" the AI asked me before it moved its right hand for me to follow it.

I made sure to follow him quickly because I knew that he would be the only one that would be able to provide me with the answers that I had been wanting. If I had to go through some kind of test how hard could it possibly be? I thought to myself as I followed the AI around these ruins.

"All right let's begin the series of tests that I will use to determine if you are truly Worthy to become the next deity that will ensure your race is survival.

The first test will be a test of your logic. I will give you a scenario and three possible options. The option that you go with will help me determine how you think so ensure that you go with whatever seems the most natural to you".

"Okay let's begin the test. I am ready for whatever you throw at me." I said to the projection as I sat down on a bench that was located by a medical building along the main road.

"Okay, so the scenario that you are in involves your home world. It is going to be under attack in two days by an enemy force. You are charged with trying to save this world and you have three options available to you."

"What are the three options that I can choose between?" I asked as I rested my hands on my chin while thinking.

"Your first option would be going to a neighboring world to ask for help but if you do that the ruler of this world will gain a political footing since you were not able to solve your world problems on your own as well as bringing dishonor to your entire family.

Your second option would be to go ahead and meet the enemy in a different area so that you can redirect the attack and spare your people the torture that comes with war.

The final option would be to have all your scientists focus on developing a cutting-edge new piece of technology that will ensure your victory and will make you look like a hero among your people.

Which scenario do you choose?". The AI asked me after it got done explaining all my available choices.

"That is a no-brainer; if you ask me. I would always choose option number two. The first reason would be to spare all my people from the grief of war. The second one is because it would also be the better economic choice in the end" I said with confidence in every word as it left my mouth.

"You are correct. That is the most logical option available to you". The AI said.

"What is your second test. If it is as simple as the last one then I can take it without worry".

"The final test will be a test of your conviction to the mission. I want you to kill one of your teammates and if you fail then I will kill you in turn; just remember that".

"Does it matter which one I take down?" I asked him to make sure that I would be able to take down whoever I please.

"Yes, you can kill whoever you wish". The ai said to me.

So that he would not consider me to not be worthy of his help I rose from my bench and began moving towards my teammates in the distance.

I pulled out my dual scythes and attacked the AI projection with a flurry of attacks even though I knew that they would face straight through it.

"You have passed the last challenge. This means that your logic is sound because you did not follow my orders just because I gave them to you. You also value your teammate's lives over the mission which will make you an effective leader one day".

After I placed my weapons in their resting places around my hilt, I noticed that everyone from my team rushed over to where I was standing.

"Is everything okay Danny?" Trent asked.

"Everything is fine I only attacked the AI projection because it was part of a test and obviously as you can tell I passed, or I would be dead". I told Trent so he would calm down and try not to do anything reckless.

"Now that he has passed the test; I will be giving each one of you a reward of your choosing to help Danny achieve his destiny if it is within my power." the AI projection said to everyone.

Raven grabbed me and pulled me over towards where the group was and we all began to discuss the kinds of things that we would be able to ask this projection for.

"Come on do not tell me that you believe this AI's BS," William said.

"I understand why you have not chosen to believe the AI, but today has taught us something. what we have learned today is that things are not always what they seem and that there may be a mysterious hand at work." Raven said to William.

"Well, I at least want to see what it has to offer us that will help make us stronger people. it doesn't matter if I believe all of the stuff that it says about Danny being the chosen one or not as long as it ensures the success of our missions it will bring happiness to our people." Sid said as he walked away from the group since he no longer seemed like he needed to talk to any of us.

I followed Sid because even if I did not want to believe what he said; the AI would be the best way for me to get information on the deity that communicates with me in my dreams.

"So, what is it that you desire?" the Ai asked Sid.

"I want to know if there is a way for me to possibly either enhance my talent or possibly unlock a second one". Sid said to the AI with much conviction behind every word.

"All right if that is what you desire allow me to activate one of our advanced scanners and make your body go through a large variety of different types of scans so that I can see what it can find within you".

As soon as the AI finished speaking, I saw a triangular-shaped machine fly in front of us both. Then it started to scan Sid's entire body with a variety of different color beams. After about five minutes the drone stopped scanning him.

"Did you know that you have an implant in your body that is blocking your talent's manifestation?" The AI said to Sid.

"You are talking like you are crazy. I got the implant removed when I turned sixteen during my Klitron." Sid said out of slight depression.

"If you do not believe my words, I will give you visual proof that you have another implant within your body." the AI said as it quickly snapped its fingers.

Then I saw a white beam come out of the drone and it showed an x-ray of Sid's body. While I was searching for this implant that the AI said existed inside of him, I felt someone bump into me. I turned around and saw that it was Raven.

"Sorry I was just curious to see what this second implant that the AI talked about". she said in apology.

"See you have an implant within your right wrist that is blocking more of your power from flowing throughout your body." the AI said as it zoomed in on the wrist area of the projection and made it easy to see that there was a chip that was inside of Sid's wrist.

"Thank you for showing me proof of that. would it be possible for you to scan each of us to see if we also have the implant in our wrists as proof of it happening to everyone?" Sid asked the AI.

"Yes, I can do that. If I do that this will be the final thing that I will be able to do for you individually" the AI told Sid.

"That is fine with me," Sid said.

Then the drone began scanning each of us with the same variety of colored beams that it originally scanned Sid with. After it finished, I saw projections of each of our x-rays with the right-hand wrist area enlarged.

"Wait why does Trent not have an implant in his wrist?" I asked everyone.

"I bet it is because he is a specialist and a different breed of fighter for The Terran Collective," William said to me as if it was very obvious.

"If you find that weird Danny; you should look at your second implant," Raven said as she adjusted my face to where I looked at my second implant location.

I looked at my implant location and noticed that the second implant was shattered within my wrist into a bunch of tiny pieces. The destruction of this implant might explain why I have two healing talents instead of just one.

"All right now that I have done that; what do each of you want from me?" the AI asked as the x-rays were deactivated and the drones left.

"I request that I would like to have access to your archives. As a scientist I might be able to use some of your technology to help advance our race," Saul said to the AI.

"The archives will be available to you as long as you are not trying to use our ancient information as a means to win wars. As a generally peaceful people we were very opposed to war so that is why I will not help you if violence is your end goal".

"My intentions are purely scientific, but I cannot tell you what will come out of this research," Saul said as he bowed to the AI out of respect.

"That is an honest enough answer. I am going to upload your mind with the code to the archives so that no one else will know it at all. Also, if you try to tell anyone the code, I have activated a mind wipe skill that will wipe your mind of everything that you learned here".

"I accept those terms," Saul said while still bowing at the AI.

"Now that you have taken care of their requests my request would be for you to remove our second implants so that we become better fighters," William said.

"If that is what you desire then each of you will need to enter our medical facility to your left and a drone will remove the implant from your wrists.

When you finish that I will be here to help fulfill the wishes of the remaining two of you". The AI said as it stood still and let us go our own way.

I opened the door so that I could enter the medical facility and remove the implant shards that were in my wrist.

The future was still quite uncertain but at least I had learned that this AI projection was truthful and not just propaganda as I had originally thought.