Year 4667 of the Unified Imperial Calendar:
Fourth Month, Day 18. (9:29 AM)
-- Astra's POV --
A familiar sensation—no, it wasn't just one sensation. There was a lot of them. The sensation of being able to feel something, pain, exhaustion, heartbeat, hearing, and a lot more sensations registered within my mind, as I remembered that as my senses.
Yes. It was my senses. It had never changed at all.
A new set of memories may have been added to my mind, but it was just a dream version of me. A dream of a 'what if' situation. A dream that answered a question of " what if I met her in a different way than I did, on a different position in society, and a different upbringing than what she had? "
All it all, it was just a good dream. Nothing more, nothing less.
However, as I was dreaming, it was inevitable that I'd wake up eventually. It was only a matter of when, and then time was now.
And thus, it was time to open my eyes.
• • • ••• • • •
The moment I opened my mind, all feeling of exhaustion disappeared from my body as I began to properly use my power cells at the right amount of efficiency. It seems the me of the dream had his power cells throttled in performance.
Seriously, it Quanta sure is a hardworking girl, huh?
And from what I remember, it would seem that the me of the dream stroked his collar when he connected to Quanta. Ha-ha.. Seriously. Is there even a need to bully the poor guy? Couldn't they at least just made it into a mental command for better convenience?
Having good subordinates is truly tough, huh?
" Sigh. . ." I let out a heavy breath as excess entropy from the damaged power cells were eliminated and ejected from my body.
I then began repairing my entire body, as I also checked my Interlinked Dimensional Storage, and saw that most of my stuff were still there. Buy a few seems to be missing. Where'd it go?
-Isabelle, I know you're still connected. What happened to my favourite spoon?-
[If I remember, it was taken by Uni—I mean, Isabella, Master.]
-She did? Come to think of it, I did give her permission to access my personal Storage. . . Is there a reason why she took it?-
[The reason she submitted was: .]
-You recorded it?-
[Yes. It was the best course of action at that time.]
-Hahaha! You really are a serious one, huh? Belle.-
[Your praise is wasted on me.]
-Well, that answers my questions, so I'm disconnecting the connection myself. Also, I'm deleting the remote control program on my head. Just keep the communication channel open from now on.-
[I understand.]
And so, I removed all the connections the collar gave access to my spinal cord, as well as the lock that embedded my collar to my spine. It would be terrible if it accidentally pushed forward.
Though I doubt it would be able to damage it though.
Well, it would be bad if it interrupts the transfer of important data though.
I then destroyed the magic sealing locks that kept me pinned to some sort of a bunk.
I stood and stretched my body, as my 'heart' nostalgically skipped a beat in excitement. I then opened my mouth, and made use of the new vocal chords I had.
" Alright. It seems to be working fine."
I then recalibrated the entire core programming of my body.
Yes. I wasn't human, but an artificially reconstructed Homunculus. The perfected model I created by gathering the countless results of making homunculi such as Isabelle and Isabella, as well as the four others that remained other than Quanta.
I had thrown away my humanity. After all. . .
"A mere human is far too fragile to take on the world."
As I spoke so, I began to move outside the room, as I hacked through the entire Warship's main systems.
• • •
"Oh? How interesting.. to think they would incorporate the technology I left behind like this..." I muttered as I observed the layout of the entire Warship.
"Hm... the base model of the Anti-gravity Module remains close to my prototype, but it's still a bit rough compared to the ones in the Research Center..."
"And the cannons... they're still using explosive magic projectiles..? *Sigh*... Never mind. Let's just praise them for adding homing properties."
Yeah. Considering that the people of this world lacks serious imagination, this already warrants them a good thumbs up.
Perhaps one of the reason why otherworlds are mostly in the middle ages, is that the people who live in it lacks in depth thinking, and imagination. They don't even think about the countless possibilities that magic could bring. They just use it "as proper" as it should.
"...what bullshit." I muttered as I let out a scoff.
It was ridiculous. It wasn't just the humans too. The dragons, the elves, the dwarves, the demons...
" Those accursed, bastardic gods..."
I'll never forgive them. Each and every one of them...
I grit my teeth, as anger once again welled up within me. However, once I realized that, my eyes widened.
How nostalgic.. to think I could still get angry this much... looks like I'll never get away from human emotions, huh?
Well, it doesn't matter. What I have to do doesn't change.
"Yeah... so for now, I'll protect the place she calls home..."
• • • • •
"Everything he had. Soon, it will be mine. . ."
I heard a weird man mutter as I was loitering around the bridge. I had been listening to his self-muttering since earlier, and had an idea he was talking about me. How interesting.
Alright. Let's tease him a bit, shall we?
I closed to his ears, and whispered: "Everything who? I didn't quite hear you."
He stiffened hearing my voice. He suddenly went pale, as sweat formed around his head. Ha-ha.. what an amusing reaction. Reminds me of the last corrupt prime minister I fed to the dogs...
Ahem..! That's not the point.
He then stood, and took a step back from my direction. Of course, as I was using both magic and optical disguise, he couldn't see me.
"Who's there?!" he shouted with wariness and hostility.
I didn't respond. I just looked at him amused, as he really resembles that prime minister. What was his name again? Joseph Lindellstrüm? Yeah. It was that.
Even his eyes were similar. Corrupted and rotten.
His subordinates looked at him with bewilderment, as their eyes seemed to complain "what the fuck is it this time?!"
Reminds me of my subjects too every time I call on someone and ask them how's their family. Some people shit their pants when I did.
The man who seemed to be the Commander of the ship, looked around but didn't see anyone suspicious.
He frowned.
" Did I imagine it?" he then muttered.
I smirked at his behavior. It was truly unfortunate how humans try to convince themselves with what's convenient. All just to give themselves a fake sense of security.
He turned to his men. "How long till we get there?"
"About 17 minutes, My Lord."
The commander smiled. He must be pleased, eh?
My smirk deepened. This was going to be a good show.