Questers Valley - Chapter 5: The System

[Hello,] said a feminine voice. [I am your Gamified Intelligence Assistant. Or GIA, for short.]

“Woah.” Zack glanced around the room, expecting to see the source of the strange voice. He met Camille’s eyes instead. “Did you hear that?” 

“Um . . .” She glanced nervously around the room. “Hear what?”

[She can’t hear me,] said the voice. [I can only speak with you and your squadmates.]

“Never mind,” Zack said to Camille. “It’s in my head.”

Her expression grew more tense. “Um, Zack? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said. “It didn’t hurt at all.” He felt at his sternum where he’d placed the sphere a few seconds before. A faint blue light shone from beneath the fabric of his t-shirt, but it wasn’t half as bright as Daudilus’s sphere had been. Was that because they were in town, where the ambient mana was weaker?

“Are you sure?” She leaned forward. “I could drive you to see Doctor Gilder.”

Zack waved that away. “Hello, Gia? Are you there?”

[Yes, Zack?] The voice in his head sounded cheerful enough, but also a bit unnatural. 

He blinked. “You know my name?”

[Yes,] Gia said. [Your companion just told me.]

“Oh.” Zack gestured to the aforementioned companion, who looked even more nervous than before. “This is Camille. Camille ”—Zack gestured to his chest. “The magic ball’s name is Gia.” 

[I am a mana core, not a magic ball,] said Gia.

“This is creeping me out,” said Camille. Her knuckles were white as she clutched the fabric of her sweater

“Sorry.” Zack held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Hey, Gia? Can you make your voice audible for Camille?”

[Unfortunately, you don’t meet the mana requirements for that technique. Or any technique, for that matter.] Gia’s voice sounded slightly amused by this fact. [But I see another core on the nearby bed. If Camille inserts that core, I can speak with you both over the squad channel.]

Zack met Camille’s eyes and shook his head. “She can’t talk to you unless you have a core”

“She?” Camille asked with a raised eyebrow.

Zack frowned and glanced to the side. “Are you a she, Gia?”

[As a mana-powered artificial intelligence, I don't have a physical form or gender. But yes, you can call me whatever you prefer.]

Zack gave a slow nod and relayed this to Camille, hoping that it would help her relax. He’d heard of dense knowledge mana networks that could form mana spirits, so this wasn’t entirely unheard of.

He shifted back to his talk with Gia. “What are you, exactly?”

[I am your Gamified Intelligence Assistant. Or GIA, for short.]

“Right, I got that part. But what can you do?”

[I help gnome Commandos like you keep track of your personal growth, skills, quests, and techniques. Would you like information on any of these subjects.]

Zack wasn’t a gnome, but he ignored that part for now. “Show me my skills.” 

This time, a block of text appeared in his mind’s eye. The text was white, on a mana-blue background.

You have zero skills.

“What? But I’m a martial artist. I’ve been training for five years. Why don’t I have some fighting skills?”

[My apologies. I can see your actions, but I don’t have access to your memories. You will need to demonstrate these so-called combat skills to me.] Her voice sounded skeptical, which seemed more than a little unfair.

“Fine,” Zack said. “You mentioned quests?”

You currently have zero active quests. 

Would you like me to make one for you?

Yes / No

“Sure,” Zack said. “Might as well.”

Camille put her face in her palm. “Zack, please tell me you didn’t just sell your soul or something.”

“Of course not.” He glanced at the other core, which was still sitting on his bed.“Are you sure you don’t want to try one of these? Might make things easier.”

“No!” Camille slid back in her chair and raised hands. ““But why are you asking it about skills and quests? Why not ask it something important?

He frowned. “Like what?”

She gave him a frank look. “Gee, I don’t know. Is this thing going to kill you? Can you remove the sphere, or is it stuck in your chest forever? Or are there are any side effects? Like lethal mana poisoning?”

[I am capable of answering all three of those questions,] Gia said. [Would you like me to?]

“Yes,” Zack said. “Please answer Camille’s questions before she has a heart attack.”

[No, I’m not going to kill you. That much should be obvious from my primary function. Yes, you can remove the core with the ‘Eject Core’ command. Verbal or mental. And no, I’m aware of no negative side effects. My designers believed that all races once had mana cores, and your body has evolved to handle it.]

Zack repeated this all for Camille’s benefit.

“Okay,” Camille said. “Try that eject command. That’s a good test to see if it’s lying.”

Zack hesitated. “If I eject the core, can I put it back?” He saw Camille’s reasoning, but he didn’t actually want to stop using this thing permanently. 

[Yes,] Gia said. [This can result in lost progress. But in your case, you have little progress to lose.]

“Okay.” Zack drew in a deep breath. “Eject core.”

Another block of text appeared in his mind’s eye.

Are you sure you want to eject your core? 

Progress might be lost. 

Say ‘confirm,’ verbally or mentally.

“Confirm,” Zack said.

Mana flowed out from the center of his chest, coalescing into a glass-like sphere beneath his t-shirt. The sphere fell onto Zack’s lap, and he held it up for Camille to see. “There. Happy now?”

“Is the voice gone?” she asked.

Zack looked around the room. “Gia? Are you still there?”

No reply.

“Yeah,” he said after a short pause. “She’s gone.”

Camille relaxed a little. “I guess that’s a good sign, then.” She shot a glance at the nearby alarm clock. “I have to get Ashton to school, and then I have work right after that.”

“Okay,” Zack said. “I’ll be okay here on my own.”

She gave a slow nod. “Promise me you won’t die of mana poisoning or something?”

“Promise,” Zack said with a grin.

She spent a few minutes gathering her books, along with her little brother. They said their goodbyes after that, leaving Zack alone in his family suite. Camille was his second best friend, and she asked some good questions. Questions he never would have thought to ask on his own.

For all that, it was hard to have a three-way conversation between her and Gia. Maybe now, he could make some real progress on this thing. Daudilus had gained magical powers in a matter of minutes, while he’d just had a boring conversation.

Zack lifted his shirt and pushed the sphere back through his skin.

[Hello Zack, ready to start your training?]

Zack grinned. “Let’s do it.”