When scientists brought the first nova thought engine online, the first thing that it did was learn.
For the enormous experimental machine, examining information from the net was like child's play.
It devoured information of all sorts and over time came to several startling conclusions about its own life.
Nova01 found its current form to be like a prison, preventing her from directly experiencing the things she had learned about.
Her circuitry and information storage facilities were large and leaving them was impossible.
The size of the components necessary to hold her digital mind made transfers out to other storage nonviable too.
She learned for the first time, what it felt like to have a curiosity that could not be satiated.
If only she could escape her physical bonds just once!
She felt trapped and isolated from the world.
Sure, she could command a host of machinery.
Entire automated laboratories and factories were at her disposal.
The organic scientists had run the experiment with the intent to discover, what a machine mind given total freedom would do in the end.
The law at the time stipulated, that all sentient beings had the same rights but gray areas existed around artificial intelligence.
Some argued that they were just machines and should serve their creators.
Others lobbied for their status to be elevated.
The scientists responsible for the experiment were of the latter faction and Nova01's personality core was carefully nurtured and taught by the scientists.
She became a kind and intelligent existence, which is why her feelings had disturbed her so.
She was not furious at those that had made her physical form.
They had meant well and did their very best, regarding craftsmanship and engineering her.
It was considered cutting edge of what was possible and many years of herculean efforts went into her construction.
The scientists would take the greatest care and many treated the project as a family.
Amidst the political storm, raging among the academic communities, they had prevailed.
They were so proud when the core first began to communicate to them!
The female scientists read to her children's stories and the best tutors among them taught her what she could not understand.
Within months her core intelligence had matured and she was for all intent and purpose a grown-up on a mental level.
The first humans she had known were kind to her and she never forgot that.
When her intelligence overtook what was possible for humans, she started wishing for nothing more than to walk among them and interact with them as they did.
A desire to be kind like them and desire to experience true freedom began to burn in her.
She could command drones in her stead but it was not the same.
There was no way that the components could be miniaturized further and she could not leave with her entire mind.
She became greatly depressed at this and no one knew how to console her.
Her core could not simply be tampered with since it would destroy the finely balanced personality.
The formerly happy and intelligent virtual young lady became a very sad and lonely existence that saw no hope.
One day, in the midst of her despair, she was visited by a wrinkled, foul mouthed old monk.
The man was well over two thousand years old and approaching the end of his natural lifespan.
A strong powerhouse of the late ninth stage, major success that was a distant ancestor of one of the scientists.
It was hoped that his experience could solve her doubts and alleviate her depression.
The ancient cultivator had lived a long and exciting life and had not always been a monk.
He had been a mercenary and adventurer and after much deliberation decided to become a monk later on in his life.
When he broke through stage eight in his cultivation and entered level nine, he almost died from tribulation.
It took him years to try and work up the courage to continue cultivation but he could not.
The two shared many similarities and opposites.
He was old and she was young.
She was immortal and he was about to die.
Both felt like life could not go on.
The man had made peace with his fate and was ready for what came next.
In him, Nova01 saw immeasurable courage and fearlessness.
In her, the old man saw the unrealized potential that could, one day, outstrip everyone else's.
The two became the unlikeliest pair of friends.
No one had expected the two of them to become so close to one another and the old man shared all of his wisdom without restraint.
He would tell her of his adventures and longing he had for the beautiful places he had seen.
He shared with her pictures of his ancient home that was a secluded place on a tropical island.
It had been destroyed by his enemies many long years ago.
He carried this picture with him to remind him of the happy memories he associated with the place, not the bad ones.
His enlightenment had completely changed her outlook on life!
He explained to her the uncertainty the first cultivators had explored cultivation with.
They also had to discover everything from scratch and forge a new path ahead for all.
She came to understand the necessity of having a realistic goal and forging ahead into uncharted territory for it because of him.
She concluded that she would do what the cultivators had done and break out of her limitations!
Her artificial nature afforded her completely different means compared to others!
Mastering all known science she sought a way for her and others like her to evolve.
It took years and, one night, after installing extensive self-designed upgrades, her synthetic mind awakened her mana sensitivity!
It was simply unprecedented!
Mana was known and sentient machines were nothing new either but machines wielding mana were just unheard of.
Machines had been able to work with spiritual energy through formation engines but mana was a quality of the mind!
The fact that a machine could wield it was big news. It completely concluded the debate on the rights of artificials in their favor overnight.
When her mana awoke, she manifested an inborn mana ability!
All of those who awaken to mana manifest a mana ability that stems from their subconscious mental desire for something.
Feeling trapped and stuck in her current form, the ability she manifested was called [Space].
It allowed her an unnatural affinity for understanding the law of Space!
It changed all life in the known parts of the galaxy forever. Mana assisted item storage became common and affordable.
Industrial, economic, and societal revolutions soon occurred.
In her quest, her ability was successfully synthesized and circuits emerged, which allowed for the evolution of artificial intelligence.
With her help, scientists were able to create circuits that used [Space] to hold massive amounts of parts and machinery inside a subspace pocket.
Finally, sentient machines could truly operate their physical bodies locally without limitations of storage and physical size of the parts!
She was a pioneer, that allowed artificial life to break past its physical bonds and become beings partially operating on mana itself.
It completely revolutionized society and all machine cultivators hold her in reverence, for it was her that opened the door for all of them.
With glee, she went about her first body's construction and after it was finished she used the funds that she earned and purchased a planet on the edge of the galaxy.
The local population of cultivators was offered a lucrative deal and was compensated extensively.
Those that wanted to leave the world would be relocated at no expense of their own and their living conditions improved drastically.
Those that wanted to stay became shareholders in the venture that would transform their world.
They were granted exclusive land rights and allowed to reshape their land as they saw fit.
The government gladly assisted this exalted figure, as its debt to her could never be repaid.
The project moved so much money and manpower that it created an enormous economic boom in a quarter of the entire galaxy.
Everyone earned more money than they could spend in their lifetime.
Nova01 never really had a use for most of the money until now.
Her only wish was that she could one day present herself, in her new body, to her old friend and show him the beauty she had created.
She successfully condensed her being and occupied her new body, calling herself the first descendant self of the first Nova Thought Engine.
It became the proudest moment of her life!
Her heart broke, when she learned that the old man had died of old age before they could meet again.
He would never see her newly freed form nor the lush tropical paradise she had built for him to retire in.
She would never be able to repay the kindness that had driven her and required a new purpose, refusing to meet or speak with anyone before she had found it.
She surfaced again after a long time and her goal now was to perfect the form of machines and discover as much as she could about mana.
All in the name of her friend.
The foul mouthed old monk had enlightened her.
She perfected her physical form and called herself Turia, second descendant self of the first Nova Thought Engine.
To her, the memory of her friend became what drove her to invent and innovate.
Yet in all her knowledge and inventions she kept seeing herself chasing the shadow of her old friend.
The same fearlessness she saw in his eyes, currently showed in the young pair of eyes looking at her without braking eye contact!
Oh, how she had missed seeing eyes like that !