"First of all, judging from the current situation, this is the core of the Sky Tower. The mainframe of this entire base has gone out of control. It's highly likely that the mainframe has modified itself into an independent artificial soul. "
This didn't require much analysis. In fact, it wouldn't even be possible to personally investigate. All one needed to know was the Haletdam generation's basic rules for managing artificial souls.
In my previous world, although artificial intelligence hadn't reached the level of complete independence, imagination and creativity could sometimes surpass the limits of time. A sci-fi author had created the Three Laws of Robots. The basic rule was that robots couldn't harm humans, robots had to obey humans' orders, and robots could protect themselves as long as the first two Laws were fulfilled.
The Haletdam generation was also a human civilization. Intelligent creatures would always be on guard against their own creations, especially when these creations were even more powerful than pure humans in certain aspects. The restrictions that humans placed on artificial souls were far more complicated than the Three Laws of Humans.
"This is my personal identification number and identification number: 3423423423, AK, F3322! I'm a top-level soul master with first-level authority! I have the authority to receive intelligence support and personal protection from any base! "
While everyone was surrounding him, Timlad suddenly stood up and said that everything was under control. He then proudly gave a series of numbers and made his requests.
"… Verify that the password is correct. Carry out the order and kill."
However, what he received in response was a period of silence before cannon fire!
"Tsk, it's completely out of control as expected …"
Timlad didn't say anything else as he clenched his hands, causing the entire area to be filled with electricity. And then … he turned around and ran.
"What?"
Everyone had been pleasantly surprised to see Timlad acting cool, but the next instant, Timlad started running.
Several seconds later, the machines returned to normal, and the cannons started firing again. Everyone could only helplessly follow Timlad as he ran. They all remembered that not long ago, Timlad had patted his chest and guaranteed that he would be fine. The most impatient mercenary among them immediately ran up to him and questioned him.
"… This, this was your plan?"
"No, it was just a test. I have a plan now …"
"Plan? That's what you said just now. Can't you civilized people just say what you want? If there's a problem, just do it. Don't always plan, plan, plan. I've earned enough this time, and I'm going back home to get married … Ah! "
A cannon shot hit the unlucky mercenary's buttocks. Before he could finish his sentence, he covered his buttocks and fell to the ground.
Timlad wiped away his cold sweat. It would seem that the little superstitions in the Northlands were correct. Things like going home and getting married or being undefeatable were things that absolutely shouldn't be said on the battlefield. However, Timlad still felt that the mercenary's death wasn't due to pure luck.
"Stay away from me. Looks like I've become the main target …"
Alright then, before I even finished speaking, I discovered that there was no point in continuing. None of my temporary teammates were idiots. When they saw that Timlad was being bombarded with cannons and that the pursuers were targeting him, they unhesitatingly distanced themselves from him.
"Youngsters nowadays are really heartless …"
Therefore, he shook his head while activating two small floating devices. The next cannon was directly ignited midway before it could even touch him.
"… Actually, I wanted to tell you to wait for me to activate my shield and interceptor before hiding behind me."
For some reason, everyone felt that the unlucky mercenary had died an undeserved death. Perhaps if he hadn't said a few words about going home and getting married, Timlad would have already activated his shield.
As Timlad ran, he organized his thoughts. Perhaps he was indeed a scammer, but he wasn't lying. He was only using his own identity to test the current ruler of the ruins, and after receiving a response, he would be able to take the next step of his plan.
"… Brother Roland's judgment was correct. The Sky Tower Spirit has already transformed into an artificial soul with its own will. Everything has gone out of control."
Judging from the signal lights, Timlad's information exchange with the Sky Tower Spirit had probably succeeded. The fact that the Sky Tower Spirit still attacked proved that the Sky Tower Spirit had already broken free from the basic rule of not attacking ordinary citizens.
Timlad knew that the only person capable of changing the basic rule of the Sky Tower was the current master of the tower — the Sky Tower Spirit.
Since the Sky Tower Spirit was the ultimate creation of artificial souls, it was unlikely that the Sky Tower Spirit would have its own will and emotions. Even if one didn't care about the tremendous amount of natural souls required for an artificial soul of this level to only obtain its own will and soul, the Sky Tower Spirit that possessed its own will also controlled the souls of countless elders and technicians. How could Timlad not worry?
The Sky Tower Spirit's limitations were far greater than those of ordinary mechanical puppets. And now, the truth was right in front of him. The Sky Tower Spirit had still gone out of control!
Language was the medium of thought. Machines wouldn't chat idly. And since the Sky Tower Spirit was capable of using machine code to communicate, it was evident that it had its own will as well. In that case, not only had it evolved, it had also helped other mechanical puppets evolve. And Timlad had previously said that in order for an artificial intelligence to have its own will, an equivalent price had to be paid …
* Boom! *
There was no longer any need to hide his tracks. Timlad unhesitatingly tossed out an explosive that suddenly appeared in front of him. He also tossed an explosive at the nearby storage room.
"As expected …"
As expected, what exploded was an empty room. The bottle that was supposed to be storing brain organs had been opened to reveal that it was completely empty.
A new artificial soul would require a natural soul to nourish it. Nobody knew just how many natural souls the Sky Tower Spirit had used up in order to release its own soul. But now, the tenth floor was still completely empty. There had to be at least several tens of thousands of storage rooms on the way here. The Sky Tower Spirit had definitely used up a lot of souls.
"… Seriously, what is this? An artificial intelligence rebellion? That's the worst possibility. He really is a super jinxer. He's right again. I can only hope that our way of dealing with it is also correct and that 'she' can really be of use. Otherwise, we'll really be in big trouble this time. "
Even though the new Sky Tower Spirit was capable of changing the programming of low-level artificial intelligence, there were still some external restrictions and core commands that were written into the Sky Tower Spirit's artificial core hardware. It would be impossible to change. And, these basic rules were Timlad's trump card.
Timlad unhesitatingly took off his leather jacket and took out several test tubes. He then tossed them onto the ground in front of him. The test tubes actually corroded a large hole in the ground to the point where he could see the entire floor below.
"Directly jump down!"
Before Timlad even finished speaking, he jumped down first. However, he didn't know that everyone behind him was looking at him with a face full of resentment. It was the type of resentment that said, "Why didn't you use your method earlier if you had the ability to directly jump down? You were trying to scam us after all."
"Our target is the twenty-fifth floor. There should be a mechanical elevator that leads directly to the core area. We're going to the engine room in the core area …"
"No, the core control room is on the 333rd floor!"
Although Catalina was still in midair, Timlad was quite surprised to hear her suddenly speak. This also made him feel more confident about this mission.
As far as the eye could see, Katerina's eyes had now become pitch-black. However, there were some abnormal white numbers flowing within her eyes. Everyone else was somewhat shocked and afraid at this abnormal change. However, Timlad was overjoyed.
"Alright, the mechanical elevator on the 25th floor should be able to reach the 300th floor. Let's hurry up. Since the Sky Tower Spirit here has its own will, it's likely that the main battle won't be optimistic. She needs us to win."
…
Actually, the main battle was even more difficult than Timlad had expected. Nobody expected that Conservation's power level had already far surpassed the mortal plane's limits. Not only that, she was even able to descend to this plane due to her special abilities.
"This isn't like a level 90 boss appearing when the level cap is 60. There's no way to defeat it at all."
I complained as I carefully dealt with Conservation. I was now regretting using my remaining ice mana and ice spirits to construct the Sky Tower. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to act so arrogantly in front of me.
Conservation once again left her personal undead guards in her Soul World. Compared to her clone's undead army, this undead army far surpassed Conservation's expectations in both quality and quantity. They were all elite soldiers that had been carefully selected for their own use.
Only the undead were easy to deal with. Now that we had let down our guard, Conservation was able to cast spells without restraint. A casual spell from her caused both Harloys and me to be greatly fatigued. Her mana level kept falling, and she was now at a critical level.
It was obvious that she was using up all of the mage tower's magic reserves. However, we could only allow her to do so.
Harloys shook her head in confusion when she heard my complaints.
"… The enemy's level is too high? I can barely understand what you're saying now. But, is there any way to deal with it? It's impossible to deal with such a powerful enemy. "
I immediately chuckled when I heard this.
"That's easy! Complain to the GM that there's a bug in the game! Astrya, she's using a cheat right in front of you, and you're not going to do anything about it? Hurry up and ban her account. "
[She's long since ceased to be a resident of Aichy. Not only that, I no longer have the authority to banish her.]
"Tsk, a fallen phoenix is truly no better than a chicken. How useless. In that case, I can only use my backup plan."
"You have another plan?"
"Hmph. What else can a noob do against a high-level enemy? Just run away. Have everyone enter Yongye City, and we'll run away. I refuse to believe that she'll abandon everything she has to do and chase after us by herself. "
That's right, run away. Since we couldn't defeat Astrya, wouldn't we just run away and wait to die? Floating Sky City's advantage was that it was capable of bringing everyone away with it. Although it would be rather unseemly to retreat for the first time in seven years, it was still better than being surrounded by enemies and having our entire army annihilated.
[Actually, there's another method. Have you forgotten? It's always been there … but I'm so useless that I can't remember!]
"Sister Astrya! Who said that! Who dares to say that our kind Goddess is useless? I'll fight him to the death! "
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