Limitless by John Gold (best e reader for android txt) 📕

stand out for their computing power, their capacity, and the advanced operations they can execute, though the problem is the technological limitations inherent in the maximum frequency microprocessors can work at without overheating. And the more information I collect, the more intrigued I am. Modern ArtIns were all built on designs and work published by Lunar. But when I find the source and date, I’m horrified. A hundred and thirty years ago, there was someone who was able to create and develop a concept for artificial intelligence, laying out its postulates, its limitations, and ways to create it. That was seventy years before Lunar appeared, five years before Armadillo Industries was founded. So, Lunar knew how to make ArtIns before they created the largest corporation in the world. I have to wonder what kind of tech they have now.

And that was more than just an article; it was a well-articulated concept, parts of which were pulled to make the different kinds of ArtIns. Whether it’s for fighting, household use, manufacturing, services, or anything else, artificial intelligence was developed by combining the different postulates laid out in the article. But nobody understood what the author was really driving at. He wanted to create an ArtIn that would bring humankind together. War, societal stratification, hunger, and dissatisfaction are all part of the world model the author described. There’s cruelty, high death rates, inequality, and much more. But in that society, people can all rise higher if they try hard enough.

The idea smacks of Project Chrysalis and its distorted view of game balance, though it wasn’t around back then.

The author was writing about ArtIns, though the way he thought, reasoned, and drew conclusions led me to the truth. It’s a broad understanding, so I’ll describe what the article told me.

There’s no challenging the way things really work in the world, and that is the same everywhere, from atoms to mammals to human society. People use their experience to form an idea of the truth. The better they grasp it, the simpler it is for them to reach their goals and adapt within society. That’s what the truth is.

The understanding of truth and ideas described in the article become the foundation of the ArtIn I get to work on. I need a powerful program package to automate manufacturing, execute my plan designed to destroy Leon’s company, and support my anonymity. It takes me a whole week to cover my tracks after purchasing uranium, a raw material tracked closely across the whole solar system. Stealing it from a military station would have gotten me caught.

To make sure I have eyes on all the different things going on, I create an ArtIn that buys raw materials and maintains anonymity. It also keeps track of my operation to destroy Leon’s company in the background.

That’s what I’ve been working on the past year. Currently, I only have the core of my ArtIn written, with some separate functions designed. I combine my streams of consciousness to get a grasp of the entire problem and situation before assigning each of them a section of code. That lets me work something like an entire group of production ArtIns. In the meantime, my neuronet version keeps me in close contact with my med capsule, sending information on my current condition to someone somewhere in Lunar. Femida is keeping an eye on me, collecting information about me as she does, which is why I don’t trust her.

It’s been ten hours since I cast my panacea. Finally, the message I’ve been waiting for pops up in the chat.

New unique class rank: Demigod

Your mental body is inextricably tied to your source of strength in the astral. Your physical body is still intact, and you can’t use your divine energy for spells. All your energy turns into mana, and your strength source drops by 10% every time you die. If it runs out completely, you will lose your demigod class rank.

I immediately check my reserve.

Divine energy reserve: 100000000/100000000

It’s been a bit less than an hour and a half in the outside world. By the time Femida gets here, I finish writing the code for the ArtIn and log out after realizing that my brain is beginning to get overworked. I spent a total of almost twenty-four hours in the astral, or eight days in astral time. But Femida only shows up the next day. She’s gloomy, annoyed, and about to take her frustration out on me.

“Why didn’t you write me when you left the Gray Lands?”

“Who’d you have on your tail?”

We’re standing on the roof, the sun is caressing us with its rays, and there’s a breeze playing with Femida’s shock of red hair.

“We ran for days, collapsing tunnels, trying to get away from the groups chasing us. Eventually, we found our way into the Spring Forest underground. There’s a system down there for teleporting enemies, and we hit one of the traps.”

“And?”

“They got Ekron. She just had time to shove me back into the portal before they hit her with magic.”

“And she can’t get out?”

The girl grunts. A crooked, lofty smile tinged with sadness plays at the corner of her mouth.

“In every elf forest, there’s a tree guardian they have to worship. There’s an oracle, too, an all-seeing woman who takes care of the elves in her forest. And while she’s about as strong as the archmage outside her forest, she’s even stronger inside it. She gets buffs from the tree god there. One of the mana streams from their stationary storages is tied to her, as well.”

“So, she’s a mobile weapon of mass destruction? Unlimited mana, unlimited destructive power, and the support of a god?”

“Yep.”

Hm, I wonder why Femida has red hair. It isn’t her color. Red hair doesn’t occur naturally.

“And you just happened to tell me about it. I made up my mind to help, obviously, because it was my decision, and you didn’t ask me for anything. Really, the whole thing is my fault.”

This time, her smile is vivacious and beautiful. That