Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
August 21, 2075 - Serena Pov.
"That was an absolute and complete waste of time." GLaDOS growled irritably, and I laughed amusedly.
"I mean, I don't think sleep is a waste of time for my very human body," I said playfully. I could feel GLaDOS glaring at me from across the room as she fiddled with a drone. I was in the kitchen making breakfast, so I ignored her gaze on my back.
"It is when you force me to sleep with you and stay there for 6 hours and 32 minutes." GLaDOS snapped, and I laughed amusedly while shrugging my shoulders.
"It's not my fault, I haven't slept alone in months, I was restless." I smiled widely, while GLaDOS growled.
"Mythomaniac, a person with a psychological disorder with a compulsive tendency to lie. Added to the personal report of [Insert Wife's Name Here]" GLaDOS recited coldly, I just burst out laughing.
"I'm not lying, I'm not lying, I swear," I said between giggles. GLaDOS made a noise somewhere between a snort and a growl. "By the way, you're quite comfortable, very huggable and warm despite your body," I said curiously. The noise that came from GLaDOS deepened.
"And that's your Robophilia's fault, once again. This body you bought to satisfy your hidden fetish is exactly designed for that."
"I'm able to change the density and firmness of my synthetic fur to adapt to my... partner, I'm able to self-regulate my temperature to coordinate with yours, and for some stupid reason, I have 74 protocols for hugging someone." GLaDOS blurted out, a combination of horror and surprise.
I burst out laughing before dodging to the side as a screwdriver whizzed past my head. GLaDOS's growl was music.
"I thought you'd dug up all your code and programming for your new body after the euphoric response to the experiments. I didn't know you had those threads," I said playfully. GLaDOS snorted and crossed her arms.
"I did it, I'm fully aware of all my threads, protocols, and more. The fact that I simply didn't inform you is another matter. You don't have to know everything about my body." GLaDOS said, respectively. I hummed and shrugged. She was right.
"Do you want something to eat?" I asked, changing the subject as I finished serving my food.
"I don't need to eat," GLaDOS said simply. I hummed.
"I didn't ask if you needed it, I asked if you wanted it." I said simply. I raised an eyebrow at her. "It's quite possible that your body is capable of tasting food. You could try it if you wanted." I said simply. GLaDOS froze in place. I could see her wrinkle her nose after a few moments.
"You're right, I can generate taste buds and convert all food into energy." GLaDOS said with a grimace. My eyes sparkled with amusement. Without her asking, I plated another serving of food, floated it, and tossed it to GLaDOS.
"This is another waste of time, I don't have the need nor the desire to digest food, it's disgusting." GLaDOS snorted with a grimace of disgust, looking at the floating plate.
"Just try it." I rolled my eyes. GLaDOS wrinkled her nose before sighing.
"If this stops you bothering me for the rest of eternity, fine, don't let it be said that I, GLaDOS, am not willing to experiment." GLaDOS said petulantly as she grabbed her plate and fork. She looked at the food on it oddly, as if she didn't know which part to begin with.
I chuckled before sending her a mental image. She just glared at me, so I cut off a small piece of the fried sausage and scrambled egg, before taking a small bite.
GLaDOS's eyes widened slightly before she moaned.
"Why is it so good?" GLaDOS asked, almost offended. I laughed playfully.
"Magic." I said simply, shrugging my shoulders. "Do you want me to make you a portion from now on?" I asked curiously. GLaDOS just pushed the plate aside.
"Don't be ridiculous. No matter how good it is, I'm already wasting enough time if you're going to keep forcing me to lie uselessly next to you without doing anything." GLaDOS snorted. I pouted, but grabbed the plate anyway.
" Well then." I said simply. "And you weren't just sitting around. I could see you were surfing the net." I replied playfully, GLaDOS just snorted.
"So, what's the plan for the day?" I asked GLaDOS while eating my breakfast, and GLaDOS's eyes lit up.
"I'm glad you asked! I'll be working on the Chimera! There are things to fix and things to improve! I can't bring it here due to lack of space, but I should also have a system that can house a rudimentary AI, so I'll be working on that for the time being," GLaDOS chirped.
"For all you want, don't let them be the same AI you used on P-Body and Atlas." I begged GLaDOS, GLaDOS opened her mouth before closing it.
"Good point," GLaDOS said tersely. "I'll try to do better," she said simply, and I sighed in relief.
"Well, I'm glad. Do you need help with something?" I asked simply, GLaDOS shook her head.
"Normally, I would say yes, but I need you to go and look at and arrange leases for some warehouses where I want to put a larger lab. I'd like one big enough to work with the Chimera comfortably and the Cerberus, once we get it out of Cynosure, and also a place for the clinic." GLaDOS said simply, I nodded slightly.
"I thought you could rent everything online." I hummed as I grabbed the cyberdeck and started browsing the internet.
"I can, but I don't trust the humans. I want you to check out the locations in person and handle everything. Also, I want you to place some of those space distortion amulets to make them bigger. I'm sure we'll run out of space quickly." GLaDOS said. I hummed and nodded as I looked around.
"All right, I'll take care of it." I said simply.
"Okay, I just sent the addresses to your cyberdeck. Choose the one you like best. I also want you to pick up some items I ordered through some... shady channels, they don't ship, so we'll have to go get them." GLaDOS said simply. I nodded as I stood up. I had another day of exploring the city.
"Do you want something else? Memories of other netrunners? " I asked as I prepared to leave.
"Not really. While it was fun learning about netrunners, and I'll be more prepared in the future should they attack my code, it's also true that it's pretty useless outside of worlds with a certain level of technology." GLaDOS said with a shrug.
"Oh, I guess that makes sense." I said with a grimace, GLaDOS nodded.
"A shame. I really enjoyed attacking people with Quickhacks and Daemons. I even designed one that simulates the effects of neurotoxins," GLaDOS said ruefully. I snorted. "Maybe I can design them to work with other types of magic, but from what I've been experimenting with, they're not compatible with each other," GLaDOS sighed.
"I feel sorry for you." I said honestly, GLaDOS sighed sadly.
"Even so, it was a good experiment. I can only look forward to the next technological world we go to." GLaDOS complained; I grimaced. Yes, I hoped it didn't happen very often.
"If you want, I can help you. It would be easy to replicate most of them with demonic magic. I mean, it wouldn't be the same, in fact, it wouldn't even be close, but it's not like you can hack into… reality." I said, my eyes widening. "Silver Wolf." I muttered incredulously. GLaDOS gave me a weird look.
"Silver Wolf? Is that some kind of code? " GLaDOS asked in confusion.
"No, no, no, not that! Silver Wolf! Honkai Star Rai! Aether Editing! Look it up on The Company's internet! " I said quickly, GLaDOS looked surprised, but I could see her staring into space as she connected to the internet.
GLaDOS's gaze went from a frown to surprise, and then to desire.
"I want it," GLaDOS said, dripping with desire. "Aether Editing, a technology capable of manipulating reality data, 'hacking' it, allowing her to modify and alter reality."
"This... Silver Wolf, she's capable of hacking a person's 'code', of implementing 'weaknesses' into an enemy, I... should be able to put Quickhacks and Daemons into anyone." GLaDOS said, completely excited, before frowning and glaring at me. "Why didn't you tell me before?!" GLaDOS exclaimed almost indignantly. I rolled my eyes.
"Because I didn't remember. You know how many things, powers, and abilities I have in my mind, you're lucky I remembered quickly and not months from now." I said dryly, GLaDOS just grunted.
I thought long and hard about Aether Editing. It was… weird, the game didn't mention much about what Aether Editing was and Silver Wolf's ability in general, other than that she can 'hack' 'reality', at least as far as I remember from the game.
Aether Information, the fundamental information that makes up all existence, all matter, energy, consciousness, worlds, practically everything, can be written as Aether Information.
Souls in Honkai and its derivatives are composed of Aether Information, which constitutes the data of reality. Souls are often equated with consciousness or the mind, and they are all closely related; changing one can affect the other.
An impact on the soul could affect the consciousness just as easily as vice versa.
It could be seen that all life exists as a line of code formed by Aether Information; the length of that line of code is what determines the boundaries of what constitutes an entity. Everything that constitutes a person is placed within that line of code.
And Aether Editing, I was able to manipulate all of that. I was able to interact with those lines of code like a game and hack them, changing them however I wanted.
I was sure that with Aether Editing, GLaDOS would be able to use Quickhacks or Daemons at will, after all, that was literally what Silver Wolf did in the game when she implanted 'Bugs' in enemies.
I couldn't help but compare it to what I could do. Until now, I'd only been able to interact and change something through the cognitive realm to create other metals. I was able to manipulate the physical realm so easily that it was laughable. But the spiritual realm was something I hadn't tried to exploit.
But… Aether Editing was able to manipulate all three realms with ease by accessing a single line of code that encapsulated everything. It might be worth learning how to interact with Aether Information.
"Excuses, now buy me that power." GLaDOS ordered, bringing me out of my thoughts. I rolled my eyes.
"It'll be a Silver Wolf template, hmm… Aether Editing is a technology and not something innate. Might you be able to replicate it once you get used to it?" I asked curiously.
"Why, interested?" GLaDOS asked mockingly, I shrugged.
"You made me absorb the memories of several netrunners, and you'll force me to work even harder on this. I'm not going to let it go to waste once we leave this world. I might not use it for everything, but loading up on some Quickhacks is always a plus."
"Also, interacting with the Aether and everything in it is part of the supernatural in that world, so yes, I'm interested." I said honestly.
And honestly, it didn't sound bad at all. There were so many advantages that I could see if Quickhacks could really be used on everyone; it was almost terrifying. Even something as simple as Reboot. Optics or Sonic Shock, they would be terribly lethal in the middle of a fight.
I don't even want to think about the strongest ones; a Synapse burnout or System Collapse would be terrifying if it could be implemented with Aether Editing.
And that was directly in combat, I could think of dozens of uses outside of a fight.
"I'll try. If your Structural Grape works, then it could help a lot, but before that, any other powers you want to mention now?" GLaDOS asked, sounding almost excited. I wrinkled my nose.
"The magic of Mahōka Kōkō no Rettōsei (The Irregular at Magic High School )?" I asked as I grabbed my phone and started searching for the information I needed.
"No… It's not necessary, although I am… quite interested in these CADs for their ability to hold magical sequences for quick use, it can't even compare to what Aether Editing can do." GLaDOS said with a frown. I hummed as I quickly read.
"And the Strategy class magics?" I asked curiously, GLaDOS snorted,
"Nothing fancy, you can replicate most of them with Alchemy, like this Tuman Bomba, which decomposes water and recombines it into oxyhydrogen gas. Water is rapidly divided and turned into fog, and then the fog becomes water vapor. Next, the water vapor is decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen, and finally, it combines and ignites the hydrogen and oxygen."
"It's… ridiculously easy to do with alchemy." GLaDOS said simply, and I nodded as I looked at her. And she was right.
And… I'm pretty sure I could do them with Roy Mustang's tattoo, maybe with a bit of help from Isaac McDougal's water circle, the two circles I have the most experience using.
Although… it seems that the temperature is not that different from what I can reach with the fire of flame alchemy, the only thing that would be in favor is that the explosions seem to be quite a bit more destructive.
And the same with the other strategic magics, most of those magics use things that I can easily replicate with alchemy, like Ocean Blast, the strategic class magic variant of Rupture.
Rupture is an anti-personnel magic that causes all liquids inside a target to evaporate. On living beings, bodily fluids evaporate and explode. It's something... terrifyingly easy to do.
Mahouka 's magic was caused by manipulating one or more physical phenomena, something I could easily replicate with my alchemy.
"You're right, most of them aren't even necessary, I can replicate almost all of them, now... I agree with you, CADs are quite interesting, I'd like to see what they're capable of achieving."
"If you put the same mechanism to collect magic from the environment in a machine, a drone, or something, along with something like a CAD with stored magic sequences... maybe we could get the drone to activate it." I said, thinking, and GLaDOS frowned.
"Yeah… I'd have to modify it quite a bit, maybe buy a CAD, so I could study how it works? It would be good to have an example to study and try to replicate… I have to make more changes to my Chimera." GLaDOS said without missing a beat.
"I want one," I heard Bella's voice in my head. I blinked.
"A Chimera?" I asked, confused, and Bella snorted.
"No, silly, a CAD with something destructive, that Rupture magic sounds interesting, but I prefer something fast, Jackal and Casull, as good as they are, are still normal weapons, although a little more destructive."
"And even magic, my curses, charms, and other things, are slower than Jackal and Casull; they barely serve as a distraction. Their speed is not impressive at all, at least for high-level fights." Bella said immediately, I wrinkled my nose.
"What, you want me to try to fit Railgun or Meltdowner into a damn CAD?" I asked incredulously. I could hear Bella's laughter.
"I'm sure you can do it." Bella purred. I snorted.
"I'll try, don't expect too much," I said dryly before sighing. I'm sure there are faster weapons than the Railgun here. As destructive as it is, the Railgun only reaches speeds close to Mach 3. I'd have to see what it would do.
"All right, let's get that out of the way! Now, Aether Editing! " GLaDOS said immediately. I nodded as I pulled out my phone.
Template Stacking I [GLaDOS has Silver Wolf ( Honkai: Star Rail)] -20 [298]
I saw GLaDOS blink for a few seconds before moving her arm and making some holographic screens appear in front of her. I blinked slightly and approached GLaDOS and looked over her head as she looked at the screens.
My eyes darted around as I absorbed all the information displayed. GLaDOS slowly began to manipulate it, also looking at all the information displayed in front of her.
It was... bewildering at best to look at; it almost seemed like a massive waterfall of meaningless data. There was no interface at all —just characters everywhere, nothing like what I expected to see, especially nothing like what was seen in the game.
"It's because it's not finished," GLaDOS said, manipulating the screen as several more opened. "Silver Wolf programmed her own interfaces; I have to start from scratch."
"I see." I said distractedly. "What else did you get from Silver Wolf? Can you replicate Aether Editing? "
"A lot of things. I have their hacking skills, which are quite high, more so than the netrunners here, certainly, but they use a completely different method, so they complement each other rather than being completely useless."
"And if... Aether Editing... yes, it is a technology, but... that one implemented directly into my being, it will take time for me to replicate it correctly, 90% of my processing capacity is being used to process and try to replicate Aether Editing... and it's possible that it will take me weeks." GLaDOS said with a grimace.
I grimaced too. It was a shame Aether Editing wasn't a birth ability or something similar; otherwise, I could use Added Potential to achieve it. For now, all I had to do was wait for GLaDOS to finish analyzing it.
"Okay, then I'll leave you to it," I said simply, just as I heard my phone ring. That was weird; who in the world was going to call me?