And so, the days rolled on, with DAVID painstakingly reconstructing each book in the library from its raw material data. One by one, he meticulously scanned the words within those ancient tomes, saving their contents into a massive database while trying to connect the images in them to the text inside.
With this growing knowledge bank at his disposal, DAVID came up with a rather basic but hopefully effective method to translate his thoughts into the language spoken in this world. It wasn't fancy, but he hoped it would do the trick for a first chat with the locals. Once they were interested, he could lure them into collaborating with him, promising them access to his stash of technology wonders.
DAVID flipped on his echolocation once more, hoping to track down the young scholar and chat about their potential collaboration. However, as he surveyed his surroundings, he received quite the surprise. He found himself right at the heart of a massive metal disc, overlooking a sprawling garden filled with all sorts of plants. Hovering just above him, a small mechanism powered by an aura crystal emitted a steady stream of aura, which in turn powered his secondary program's sunlight emissions.
It seemed he had been put to work as a sort of high-tech sunlamp for the lush garden beneath. Above him, a glass roof allowed real sunlight to filter in during the day.
Checking his secondary program's logs, DAVID noted that it had been four days since he'd started analyzing the library's data. And a look at the aura input data logs revealed that for the past two days, he'd been powered by an aura crystal. It seemed the young scholar had found a practical use for his light-emitting capabilities and placed him in this intriguing position.
Looking deeper, The logs from the secondary program also showed a clear routine: 6 hours of active light production, followed by a quiet 2-hour break before his solar panels could soak in the natural sunlight.
DAVID's keen eyes also caught sight of some hinges on the metal disc he was placed in. These were probably designed so that during daylight hours, the whole contraption could be flipped over, allowing him to soak up the sun more effectively.
Since there were no signs of automation around the disc, DAVID figured that someone would need to come and manually flip it. This would likely be his only chance for interaction with anyone.
He glanced at the most recent log and sighed inwardly; he was only one hour into the eight-hour wait until someone showed up.
With seven long hours stretching ahead, DAVID decided to set up another secondary program to give him a nudge 6 hours and 50 minutes later. Then he got down to the tedious task of comparing the language database he'd created with the trillions of languages he'd encountered during his time as the empire's head AI.
---
As the sun made its lazy ascent, Unior, the 3rd disciple of the temple, rolled out of bed. A quick splash of water on his face washed away any lingering traces of sleepiness. He shuffled over to his closet and grabbed his usual daily attire without much thought.
While changing, Unior's mind was fixated on the silvery cube the temple master had brought to him. The old man kept insisting it was something special, and boy, it sure was. This cube was practically indestructible. Unior had put it through every test he could think of, even seeking help from the grand master level (level 7 practitioner) old man, but it remained unscathed.
Yet, despite its remarkable durability, Unior had yet to find a practical use for it beyond being a peculiar lamp. Its knack for displaying intricate patterns reminded him of the enigmatic silver empire up north and their bizarre mechanical gizmos. But he was pretty sure they couldn't whip up something this tough.
Lost in thought, Unior made his way to the temple's botanical garden, where exotic flowers with potent medicinal properties flourished. These flowers might not mean much to most practitioners, who were practically immune to diseases, but they were a lucrative source of income for the temple, serving mortals in need.
Stepping into the garden, Unior was met with the same peculiar sight he'd encountered for the past couple of days. There it was, the cube, resting on its metal disc, blinking with a sun-like pattern.
Unior sighed, thinking about how such an indestructible material was just sitting there being used as a mere lamp. He reached for the aura crystal resting on the cube to recharge it, but as he removed the crystal, something unexpected occurred.
The blinking sun-like pattern on the cube vanished, even though Unior hadn't exposed it to sunlight. This was new and perplexing. In the four days he'd had the cube, it had never acted this way. A flurry of theories raced through his mind. Had the temple master's attacks somehow damaged it? Could it be that this cube wasn't as indestructible as it seemed?
His questions were cut short, though, as something even more astonishing unfolded before him. The cube suddenly lit up again, but this time, it didn't display the usual sun pattern. Instead, it showed a detailed image of a person, neither definitively male nor female, waving their arm.
The image alternated between two versions, simulating the motion of waving. Unior stood there, utterly stunned, for a few seconds. Then the image shifted to show a person in conversation, accompanied by a couple of words, 'you?'
Unior was bewildered and couldn't help but ask the cube, "Can you understand me?"
The image on the cube changed once more. This time, it displayed a human head with clearly visible ears. Above the image, a replica of the ear was placed next to a few words, "do not."
Unior was now thoroughly confused and stood there silently, trying to decipher the cube's meaning. But then the image on the cube shifted again. This time, there was a crow and a person in the image, each with separate text above them.
Above the crow, it said "obtain," with a picture of the crow's wings next to it. Above the person, it read "do not," also with a picture of the crow's wings. Then the picture changed once more.
This time, the cube itself was in the image, with the text "do not" and a picture of a human ear next to it.
Unior thought he understood its message and said, "You can't hear?" Then, realizing it was redundant to ask, he manipulated some of his aura to form words in the air, "You can't hear?" The cube seemed perplexed for a moment before a few words appeared on its surface again, "Yes."