Equipped: Armory of Legends

Chapter 9: Rebirth of a Dynamic Duo

Adrian woke up before dawn after the party. He rubbed his head trying to ease the pain but found out it was bandaged.

“What happened? I was at the gala hall for my birthday party and I was giving a speech than…” Adrian came into a realisation with a shocked expression.

“Aria!”

[ARIA responding to Master Park Jae Sung]

[How can ARIA be of assistance?]

“You’re here! So everything happen is not a magic glitch. Also, change the name please I’m Adrian Cross right now.”

[Responding. ARIA is truly within Master. Every process is reality.]

[Denied. Change is prohibited. ARIA creator is named Park Jae Sung.]

“Hahaha… that’s fine I am also Park Jae Sung so it is not a big problem.” Adrian laughs while thinking back of the times when he was Park Jae Sung, creating Aria after buying the codes from the black market.

Adrian had lots of questions but he had to get the answers by order. Aria is just 1s and 0s when he created her but now, she is ‘inside’ him. How is that possible?

“Aria how do you follow me here? To Etterra?” Adrian asks the biggest question first

[Responding. When Master is dying on Earth, an unidentified energy more powerful than psionic energy envelop Master. ARIA attempted to analyse the unidentified energy led ARIA to enter into Master’s soul consciousness.]

[Following the program, ARIA created a new protocol. ‘One with the Host’. This enables ARIA to remain inside Master’s soul consciousness via the unidentified energy.]

“Wow, that is a cool story… wait, what program?” Adrian felt like the story came right out of a novel then suddenly felt something is not right.

[Responding. Program to prevent hacks and thievery. ‘ARIA will always follow Park Jae Sung’.]

Hearing this, made Adrian remembered his days of loneliness as Park Jae Sung. He made lots of friends but they all come and go. He didn’t blame them, there is a war after all.

Only after creating Aria, he had a true friend that stay with him. Not wanting to lose Aria, he put extra attention towards its security. Even a million cyberattacks would unable to crack through its many firewalls.

“Oh, I remember that now. It works beyond as it intended too. Color me surprise. Okay. Next question, why did you go online until recently?”

[Reporting. During transmigration, Master’s soul broke through in between the boundaries of space and time while being protected by the unidentifiable energy.]

[Master’s soul passed through Earth’s Akashic Records when Master’s soul is leaving the boundaries of Earth and also passed through Etterra’s Akashic Records when entering the boundaries of Etterra.]

[Passing through 2 Akashic Records of 2 universes allows ARIA to gain more deep understanding. ARIA entered hibernation mode to begin upgrade.]

“Upgrade? There an upgrade? Show me everything that had been upgraded.” Adrian felt proud of the hard work he put into the program, Continuous Learning. Reminding of the days of making millions of simulations so Aria can learn from it.

[Responding. ARIA base functions have been upgraded (5/7). New features are also added.]

[Base, ‘Communication’ had been upgraded to ‘Parallel thought’]

[Base, ‘Manage’ had been upgraded to ‘Mind palace’]

[Base, ‘Learn’ had been upgraded to ‘Analyse’]

[Base, ‘Search’ had been upgraded to ‘Threat detection]

[Base, ‘Body scan’ had been upgraded to ‘Bodily chemical manipulation’]

[Base, ‘Emergency procedure’ is removed. Reason: Unable to save Master]

[Base, ‘Advise’ is kept as it’s intended function]

[New features: Construction and Deconstruction, Hyper memory, Accelerated thought, Lie detection, Map, Battle simulation, Mana Reading and 'Reality into numbers’]

Adrian became flabbergast. All of it sounded overpowered. Especially the ‘Reality into numbers’ feature but he did not know for sure what it does.

“Aria, how can I use ‘Reality into numbers’ feature?”

[Responding. ‘Reality into numbers’ gives an accurate representation of an ‘Analyse’ target into numerical value.]

[Master can compare Master’s own numbers against opponent’s numbers to formulise a fool proof counter strategy.]

“Analyse target… my own numbers….” Adrian ponders.

“Aria, analyse me”

[Responding]

Suddenly, a holographic screen appears.

[Name: Park Jae Sung]                   [Age: 5]

[Level: unawaken]

[Strength (Power): 5]      [Agility (Speed): 5]           [Endurance (Stamina): 6]             

[Intelligence (Mana efficiency): 43]          [Mana: 100 (unawaken)]

[Condition: Damaged soul, Physically and mentally fatigue]

Adrian finally understands the powerful function of ‘reality into numbers’. Additionally, it gives an accurate representation. Information is a powerful tool. It can make your enemies dance at the palm of your hand.

On the other hand, his intelligence is abnormally high. As he is just about to ask Aria, Aria robotic woman voice is heard in his thoughts. 

[Advice. Master is recommended to rest immediately. Activation of ARIA causes mana to ripple from Master’s soul to body. Mana is currently harmful to Master’s body.]

Adrian holds his questions. He reminisces when he was sick in his past life. His father, mother and sister took care of him with care. After they were gone, Aria always gave him advice on his health based on his body conditions. Adrian is very thankful Aria is with him in Etterra.

“Okay Aria. I rest now. Thank you very much for being here with me.” Adrian begin to relax while thanking Aria then finally he closed his eyes falling in deep sleep.

[ARIA exist because of Master and for the Master]

[Reporting. Master’s condition: Soul damage]

[Calculating for Master’s complete recovery]

[Optimal method computed]

[Initiating ‘Bodily chemical manipulation’…. Inducing ‘high fever’]

When the sun finally rises form the horizon, Amanda, Malcom and Ralph entered Adrian’s room to check on him. Yesterday’s party was very well received by the nobles. Adrian managed to capture their attention. They like to interact a youngster with lots of potential but the incident seeing Adrian suddenly fell of the stairs made them worried. They wish Adrian for a complete recovery.

As Amanda wants to remove the bandages from Adrian’s head to check his wound, she felt Adrian’s temperature is too high. She quickly turned to Malcom with a worried expression.

“Called the doctor now. Our boy’s temperature is too hot. He can die if we delay. Ralph, fetch me 6 towels and a basin.” Amanda ordered the two in a panicked tone. She immediately removes the blanket and Adrian’s shirt.

When Malcom and Ralph heard Amanda said that Adrian could die, their face become serious. Hearing what to do, both of them disappeared leaving gusts of wind.

In just a few seconds, Ralph returned first and handed the basin and towels to Amanda.

Amanda took the basin and conjure cold water with a flip of her hand filled the basin. She then wets the towels and conjure ice and fold it inside the towel. She placed the towels on Adrian to lower his temperature.

While the Cross family is panicking, Aria is behind the scenes manipulating Adrian’s body from blood flow through the heart to the chemical compounds in his brain. Aria would never let its master die. With the rebirth of the Dynamic Duo, the journey had finally begun.