Chapter 3: Warrior Camp
The warriors had picked up the AI and carried into the camp and into a tent, Martin watched the projection. Although the AI had passed out, his eyes were opened from time to time by the warriors to check on his status and the audio was still coming through.
Martin was shocked at what he was hearing. There were straps and harnesses with what looked like blood covering them hanging from the tent poles. The Tent's interior was not inviting, in fact, it left Martin with a sense of foreboding.
The AI was unconscious and unable to comment.
The warriors had come on a hunt for creatures in the area, not for meat or materials but for war slaves. The AI had been caught be a band of slavers.
As they opened the AI's eyes the second time, Martin saw one of the warriors grabbing a lash from the wall and coming toward the AI's body.
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. ..FUCK!" Martin chanted again and again.
[System has been notified, preparing simulations.]
"Preparing simulations? Exactly what can you do? These guys obviously killed the creature and now they've taken you prisoner!" Martin wasn't sure if he had been muted but the timing felt right, he gave his account of what had happened.
[Analyzing]
"What could you possibly analyze at this time?" Martin was miffed, he crossed his arms and shook his head in disbelief.
[Item Identified. Strap of the Lower Plains Fire Beast.]
"Great, you know what they tied you up with. Exactly how does that help?" Martin felt he could be sarcastic but the system was being obstinate. "Huh?" in just a moment after his comment, Martin watched the scene unfold.
The strap caught fire briefly, it set the tent on fire.
The Warriors in the tent hadn't expected such an outcome, one scrambled for water and the other tried to escape from the tent and alert the others.
The fire cut out on the strap but the tent was burning all around.
"Great, you've managed to set the tent on fire. Good Job, do you know how you're getting out of here?" Martin just about swallowed his words and his expression changed again.
Applying some energy to the straps momentarily didn't cause the AI to experience a burning effect on his hands but the repeated use of energy on the strap was allowing it to stretch.
"HOW THE... How did you know that would work?" Martin was shocked but he stopped talking quickly, there was still a lot going on and one warrior was still in the tent.
When the Warrior saw his hands coming unbound, he grabbed a sword and came at the AI with a sharp edge.
The Strap came loose and the AI jumped up onto the post that he was tied to and kicked.
It came loose from the substructure and the tent started to collapse, it was still on fire. The Warrior, who had been dressed in furs, caught fire and scrambled to safety.
"RUN!" Martin yelled out from the Mindspace and pulled the thread for popcorn. He had added a string that led down to the couch and even labeled it with a post-it note and tape. Whatever was going to happen, was going happen then and there.
The AI fled out of the tent, he was still hungry. The fire had alerted the camp and because of the wind and leaves scattered on the ground, the camp had turned to kindling, then to flames.
There was a panic happening around him, the AI did it's best to sense the area. It's orange eyes panned the camp.
[Data Gathered, Analyzing.]
'Oh great, here we go again.' Martin felt like he had been supercritical of the AI's movements but he couldn't be certain that he could have escaped if he was in the same position.
In an instant, the AI had sprinted across the camp and slid under a barricade into the opening at it's base. He crawled for about seven feet and came out on the other side, there were people bound in cages. There was no time to set them free nor was there any reason for the AI to risk the attempt.
"Aww, don't be like that. One of these people might be useful to you. I haven't even proved useless, have I? You should totally save those people, not because you were programmed or whatever but because it's the right thing to do." Martin said this matter-of-fact like and the AI seemed to agree.
[Enacting plan 54,392]
"BULLSHIT! Fifty four thousand, who do you think I am? You .. well, fuck, you're a computer. Okay then.." Before Martin could finish his sentence, the doors were already coming undone but if any of them tried to leave, they would attract attention and that attention would eventually find everyone else.
[Plan 1 – Create Distraction]
[Plan 2 – keep running
[Plan 3 – Resupply]
[Plan 4 – Use human resources or take hostages]
[Plan 5 – hide briefly]
[Plan 6 – kill everything on the way out.]
[Plan 7 – Roll the dice, submit and gamble with your future.]
[Plan 8 – Lie, Cheat, Deceive, Entrap.]
[Plan 9 – escape]
"OKAY OKAY! I get it!" 'Wait? Do I understand?' Martin rubbed his chin, "54,392 or 5.4.3.9.2." Martin played with his fingers as he tried to understand better.
[Action Code 54392. Hide, take hostages, grab useful items, escape, keep running.]
"Jeezus, you really are going to be a Villain." Martin cried out and tried to dissuade the AI from taking hostages but the AI was already in motion. The moment the final cage was opened, people had already started to flee. The Warriors in the camp noticed the escaping prisoners and prioritized them over the camp.
The captured slaves were for an upcoming battle and the Warriors were mercenaries that doubled as trappers. All of them had quotas to meet, these people that were escaping, no matter the race, were all to become property of the cause.
The AI saw a Warrior pushing down one of the slaves and wrapping more of the straps around their hands and feet. When he finished, he grabbed the next, closest slave and lashed them together like he was making a daisy chain.
"What do you want? Huh? You stupid slave, you barely had any energy when we found you. Do you really think you have any now?" The Warrior spoke like like his tongue had been split a few times while he mouthed off.
[Initiating Self-Defense protocols.]
"What?"
The AI grabbed onto the nearest burning log and threw it in the man's face then rushed at his mid section and pushed him into a spike along the barricade. The man was dead.
Looking to the right, four more of the warriors saw what had just happened, they raised their weapons and ran toward him. The AI dodged to the left and rolled over a table, he moved like a late 1990s action film star and his moves were elegant.
Flipping under the table and scissor grabbing one of the warriors, the AI also managed to disarm him and grabbed at his weapon while it fell.
The weapon was sharp and heavy, as it traveled in an arcing circle that came down from above, the AI swung harder with all of it's might and the long sword cleaved through the bone and armor of the Warrior, severing his hand. The weapon stuck in the table and the AI released it the others were still wondering how exactly the dismemberment had happened and rapidly lost their patience.
They kicked over the table and the AI crashed through a tent that was burning. There were sacks of goods, no doubt the rations for the group that were all on fire.
"He's in the supply tent, burn it down!" One of them called out.
Their leader in the group had more sense than the other, "It's the supply tent you fucking moron, go get some water!" He gave the order and called more of his men over. "Don't let that bastard escape, he's a crafty little shit. I bet we get extra for him at the end, if nothing else, I want to skin him a little for this trouble he's caused."
The tent was burning around him and the AI was still mindlessly doing calculations instead of reacting.
"MOVE!" The tent was on fire and Martin was showing a lot of enthusiasm.
The calculations could have been endless, Martin's interjection had cause the AI to make a decision. He ran out of the tent and jumped onto the first Warrior he saw.
There was a bit of a commotion, the AI had jabbed a stake into the man's neck and grabbed his weapon, a six pound short sword.
"Oh? So you are a fighter.. We can use a fighter..You're only human, why fight us?" The leader licked his blade and had the fire around him reflecting in his eyes.
"Actually, I'm not a human." The AI stood up and just then, everyone realized he had his hands wrapped.
There was a layer of protection across his hands and the fire beast strap bound around each of his fists, they roared into flames and the AI pounced onto the nearest enemy. The man was two steps short of escaping when the flames transferred to his body.
The AI turned off the flames and turned around, the fire was hot but the barrier between his hands and the straps was working to stave off the heat.
"Thinuss!" One of the man's brother's called out and ran toward him but the AI didn't let him pass without setting him on fire.
As both of them rolled on the ground embroiled by flames, their legs stopped kicking and their corpses remained on fire.
"Vicious. I can definitely use a person like you in my crew. Too bad for you, you'll never know how close you got to tasting freedom." The leader flashed out of sight.
[Tracking, postulating, engaging]
The words came out in the space in rapid succession.
"Holy Shitballs!" Martin was chowing down on snacks and watching everything as it happened. He felt like he was watching a live stream RPG game where the character was just too OP even at the early stages. The AI had actually set two people on fire and killed a few others through various means, he was not someone to be messed with and like a computer AI that had been set to extreme difficulty, the AI's body moved like a blur before the Leader came crashing down from above.
The AI spun on it's right foot and planted it's other heel into the leader's jaw. The centrifugal force applied to his jaw sent him into a stumbling spiral but the knife was still coming toward the AI's ribs.
[Recalculation complete. Enabling Auto-Defense Mode.]
[Enabling Energy Organ power transfer. Manipulating.]
His fists burned with fire and the strap looked like it would burn the wraps away any second. The AI was trying new things out on the fly and while the risk was great, so was the successful outcome.
When the leader had the blade within a hairs grasp of splitting open the AI's shirt. Like a contortionist, the AI had moved it's body away and the leader went spiraling further out of control. He lost his footing, he was sure that he would have struck his opponent. Daze at why his blade had missed, the Leader of the Warriors did his best to return another stroke of his blade but the AI had already pierced his throat and nailed him to the post.
"Quick, Loot the corpse and get out of there or claim leadership and then run the fuck away after that!" Martin just wanted to know that he wouldn't be wiped out of existence that night, he gave some strange objectives or suggestions but the AI didn't respond verbally.
[Item Identified, Storage Ring – Medium Grade]
"See! Take it and go, fuck all this other shit! You can't spend it if you're dead.." Martin chided the AI, he felt like an angry woman at a movie yelling at the actor. Only, this actor could actually hear him.
[Creating Loot Protocol 3.1. Enabling]
"Do I even need to ask?" Martin spoke aloud but again the AI ignored his inquiry.
The battle wasn't over but the AI had taken a moment in the confusion and during his victory to pat down the corpse. From the prospective of the Warriors, he had just beaten their Leader. They were hesitant, if he could kill the best of them, he could kill each and every one of them.
The AI noticed their hesitations and turned to leave, he took the corpse and all the loose weapons as he ran back into the supply tent and looted it whole.
"Now that's what I'm talking about. They might be roasted rations but at least it's food!" Martin kept shaking his head but he was happy the AI had succeeded.
[Executing Escape pattern J62]
Martin wished he could throw Emoji's up in the AI's visual to show his disapproval but the AI didn't need discouragement, it needed guidance. Otherwise, they both would only live for a short while.
Martin watched the AI sprinting through the woods, there was nothing he could do but sit in anticipation. For him, over the past few months, there was nothing else to watch and his boredom had gotten out of hand. Watching the scenes unfold in front of him, Martin did his best to speak his mind about what needed to be done but with the AI's reluctant replies, he wasn't sure that anything was getting through.
[Energy Consumption nearing critical]
"Why are you telling me!" Martin threw his can of energy drink at the projection.
The Can vanished and reappeared in the AI's hands. He was still running.
"HOW THE FUH.." Martin rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The can he had just thrown was gone, it was in the real world. Instantly, he stood up and rushed to the projection trying to hurl himself through it.
It was a failure.
[Host containment at 100%, Increasing Security parameters]
"Seriously? AM I A PRISONER?!" Martin felt slighted, he had been denied an exit. 'Wait. Does this mean that the Projection was always the Exit? Does this mean that this space is an actual space?'
Many ideas popped into Martin's head, he pulled the string for another energy drink but the string broke.
Martin's face went gloomy, that can had been the only drink he had found for his whole time of being in the Mindspace. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DRINK!"
"Shut up, I'm trying to listen." the AI gave a stern warning to Martin through the projection. It wasn't the first time that the AI had been snippy with Martin and it was wearing his patience and good will down.
"Quit telling me to shut up." Martin tried to speak but he was quickly cut off.
[Muted]
'Fuck' "This AI is ruthless." Martin scratched his head and ran up the book-bricked staircase to pull at more threads. He wasn't about to have nothing to drink while he watched.
The AI ran for what seemed like half the day until the trees cleared once again. Beyond the trees, there was a river.
The water was cool and there was a fresh breeze that blew in from the south that brought the smell of sea water.
[Scanning, Mapping.]
"Mapping? That's a cool feature." Martin kept pulling threads, eventually, he grabbed a large bundle, yanked and a water bottle fell from the sky along with a massive amount of pornography magazines.
"AWW COME ON! I NEVER OWNED THIS MUCH PORN!" Martin picked up one of them, it was from several decades before he was born. 'I don't remember this..' Opening the page, it was a bit stuck together. He threw it away.
'Eww.' When he thought it over, there was only one conclusion. They were boxes that were stored in his attic, leftovers from his parent's and stored above. The pages inside were blank but when rummaging through some of the old boxes up there many years before, he had seen some of them and set the box aside. From that moment onward, they were officially his.
The revelation was enough to eat at Martin's mind for the few hours during the AI's escape from the treeline but the scenery on the projection had changed once again. The forest faded away and in the distance a road could be seen.
"HEY! Those people were preparing War Slaves! Do you really think that If they are preparing slaves to march into battle that they would be far away? Think about it! You're probably walking into a trap!" Martin yelled at the screen but he was partly happy because he had found some water.
'So that thing is the portal out?' Martin started scheming. "You should eat before you pass out."
The AI stopped moving and stared down at the spacial ring on his finger.
[Accessing spacial ring]
Another screen popped up to the side of the projection and it displayed a complete inventory of the ring, some details had been filled in but there were a lot of items that had three question marks annotated afterward.
Most of the items were sorted into categories and anything that was unidentified was left unsorted.
"You should try this.." Martin pointed at some bread on the item list.
[Spirit Grass Bread Ration, Grade 1 – A ration made by the Caltiesea Empire for their soldiers, eating it will help replenish your spiritual body.]
He touched the display and one fell into his lap. Martin had not tried any of the foods from the world. In fact, he had been without anything to eat since his arrival.
The spirit grass bread ration melted in his mouth like a soft roll from a fancy restaurant. It was flaky and sweet. Martin couldn't help himself, he got emotional. The bread tasted so much better than the cookies he kept stashed aside.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone