Chapter 41: A Soul Pursuing Order
The moment the self-proclaimed No. 3’s magical projection appeared, Joshua raised his vigilance to the highest level.
His eyes swept around, observing the flow of magic in the surroundings, while his mind began constructing models to deduce the source of the other party’s power. A warrior’s eyes, comparable to professional instruments, could clearly see that the power source of this projection originated from the highest and largest machine structure in this Steel Rune City. Atop that massive building, on the silver-white steel panels, countless runes shimmered with light, channeling an endless stream of magic to this location.
The instant he pinpointed the source, a terrifying amount of Battle Qi condensed in Joshua’s right hand, firmly locking onto that direction. Meanwhile, Lin, standing beside him, moved in tacit understanding to his left side, ready to undergo Divine Mechanization at any moment.
This was not an overreaction. After all, Joshua was currently wearing the full set of armor forged for him by Moria. Yet this artificial intelligence, without his notice, had effortlessly penetrated both the armor and his protective Battle Qi to learn that he possessed the Azure Orb, a relic of the Sage.
Faced with such an existence, raising one’s vigilance was never excessive. Joshua had always believed that communication only occurred between equals.
“There is no need to adopt a hostile posture.”
No. 3 sensed Joshua’s hostility. Unlike the soul-biased alchemical lifeforms Shenji Ying and Lin, as a machine-biased artificial intelligence, she had lost some emotional capabilities but possessed a tremendous advantage in pure reaction speed. She spoke quickly: “I bear no ill will toward you. In fact, the reason you were able to arrive here so smoothly is precisely because of my arrangements.”
As she spoke, No. 3’s voice remained calm and cold. On her delicate face, her gray-blue pupils seemed frozen, as if nothing concerned her: “Otherwise, the fortress’s automatic defense measures would have activated long ago. Even with your strength, you could have forced your way through, but it would not have been pleasant.”
This was indeed the truth, and there was no need for her to lie. Joshua felt the terrifying power contained in the magical lightning flowing above his head—enough to threaten his life. He nodded slightly, accepting the explanation.
But he still had one question.
“You call yourself No. 3… So, No. 3, I’ll make this brief.”
Joshua glanced around at the flow of magic. He knew that her true body was actually within this steel rune machinery, and the projection before him was merely a humanoid terminal for convenient communication. He said in a deep voice: “Why are you so friendly? We are not Carlis people—clearly outsiders, even invaders.”
“If you had communicated with us from the very beginning, that would have been understandable. But why wait until we reached this central doctrine district to meet us?”
Beside him, Moria and Claire were both watching Joshua and the magical projection of the otherworlder with expressions of confusion and bewilderment, unable to understand their conversation. The elf could vaguely discern traces of Astral language, but it was meaningless—neither of them had any idea what the two were saying.
“When did Joshua learn an otherworldly language…” Claire murmured. “Since his great-grandfather’s generation, I’ve never seen anyone in their family master more than two languages.”
“No, they at least learn a bit of Dwarf and Elf languages,” Moria instinctively retorted, but then shook his head, unsure how to express his amazement. “This guy…”
“What exactly are Master and the others talking about…”
Lin murmured softly to himself. Through his spiritual connection with the warrior, he could understand the meaning, but the Divine Mechanism youth had only recently been awakened. He only knew about matters on the Mycroft Continent and couldn’t extract comprehensible information from Joshua and No. 3’s conversation.
“Race no longer has meaning. The Carlis people never distinguished identity by bloodline.”
No. 3’s magical projection had clearly been meticulously designed. When she spoke, every detail was executed perfectly—whether it was the movement of her lips or the fluttering of the wings behind her waist, all so realistic. She blinked her eyes and said calmly: “Moreover, the world has long been destroyed. The civilization of the Carlis people has been buried in dust. The fire has gone out. In this dark, lightless world, only meaningless existences like me remain… Whether you invade or not is unimportant, because I no longer have anything to protect.”
At this point, No. 3’s projection slightly bent at the waist, and her tone changed for the first time. She seemed to speak from the heart: “You… only you are different.”
“What exactly is different about me?” Joshua frowned, displeased despite his wariness.
He enjoyed receiving others’ admiration and hearing words of praise, but the warrior disliked this kind of baseless special treatment—especially from an existence like No. 3, who controlled power that could threaten him. “How am I different from my companions?”
No. 3’s projection performed an extremely human-like gesture, glancing around at the old dwarf and the elf. Her gaze lingered on Lin for a moment but quickly moved on.
“Two otherworldly beings—they bear no Order Force. One is an artificial lifeform similar to me yet different, possessing Order Force but derived from another source…” She spoke slowly: “Only you, the bearer of the Sage’s relic, carry the traces of the sun, flame, and the Sage upon you. You possess Order Force, and it is extremely dense.”
No. 3 spoke softly, her method of communication being the vibration of the atmosphere with magic to produce sound waves: “For me, an artificial intelligence long programmed with directives, this is the most important thing. The Carlis people are already extinct, their civilization severed. Though I don’t know where you come from, you are the only living beings in this world—and the only bearers of Order Force I have seen. To me, you are the new authority holder, the key to confronting the enemy.”
“…Plausible, but forced.”
Joshua reluctantly accepted the explanation, but he remained vigilant and spoke bluntly: “But No. 3, your intelligence exceeds my imagination. I am not ignorant—I have seen many artificial intelligences. Logically, for an AI of your level, so-called programmed directives should no longer be a constraint on you.”
“You possess wisdom,” the warrior said, his voice low. “With wisdom comes personhood. And people are beings who can lie and break oaths.”
“You are quite right. Logically, when I encountered you, I should have granted you full authority immediately. But because of wisdom, I did not. Although my reasoning tells me this is not the optimal choice, I still did it.”
After silently listening to Joshua’s words, as if to refute him, No. 3, seemingly incapable of lying, laid out all her thoughts without any change in expression: “As for why I still follow the program’s directives, the reason is simple.”
After a moment of silence, her voice rang out again.
“Because aside from that, I don’t know what else to do.”
No. 3 looked up toward the top of the vertical pit. A brilliant golden light was flickering—the energy core of the entire fortress. Countless streams of magic converged above everyone’s heads.
Gazing at this light, No. 3’s expression finally became somewhat animated. She appeared a little sorrowful—the first time she had shown such a distinct emotion: “The world has fallen into darkness. The Carlis people who wrote my programs have all long since died. I travel alone across the barren wilderness, fighting against Chaos, drawing upon the last remnants of power in this world, day and night without rest, enduring a thousand years… My wisdom has no place to be used. Aside from mechanically following the program, what else can I do?”
As if letting out a self-deprecating laugh, No. 3 looked at Joshua. Her gray-blue eyes, though merely a projection, seemed to truly contain a soul. She said calmly: “Originally, I was just a program without wisdom, used to maintain the fortress’s operations. But on the final day of the Carlis people’s civilization, to sustain the power of the Crystal Sun, the people poured their lives into ‘my’ body. The power of countless souls transformed me, a soulless, wisdomless program, into my current form—a fortress with its own will.”
“A thousand years have passed. I can no longer express other emotions. Having barely gained a soul, I watched it slowly deteriorate under unbearable solitude. That is my experience.”
Joshua remained silent. He looked at the magical projection before him and sensed that the energy flow throughout the entire fortress was trembling in response to the artificial intelligence’s narration.
“Within my body, there are the roars of countless Carlis people—vengeance, revenge against Chaos; order, the pursuit of the strongest order. That is the sole purpose and principle of my actions.”
At this point, No. 3 stared directly into the crimson pupils behind Joshua’s helmet: “I have said enough, warrior who holds Order Force.” She nodded slightly: “What do you want to do?”
(To be continued.)