Author Notes:
From here on out, it's gonna be one heck of a development speedrun. Fingers crossed haha.
As per usual, enjoy the newest OBOM chapter, and do remember to check out my Discord for some little tidbits and my Patreon for over a dozen Early Access OBOM chapter, plus additional chapters for RM and GSS if you're interested in my fanfics~! Thanks a lot for your support, everyone~!
And good news, I am going all in on getting that mattress for my Mom, as promised and on time for her birthday! I love you all for making it possible, hahaha! So, have a great and lucky day, all of you!
https://www.patreon.com/Heartbreak117
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https://discord.gg/cVZxJ29ruh
https://www.webnovel.com/book/reich-marshal-of-the-belkan-reich_23809095505377305
https://www.webnovel.com/book/in-the-grimdark-sector-with-a-system_31596105108346205
https://www.webnovel.com/book/my-soul.-occupied-body---please-the-other-me...!_35377211308783905
https://www.scribblehub.com/series/2271569/reich-marshal-of-the-belkan-reich/
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"What in the Marshal's name???" Comes the bafflement of Iris, the Smart AI, after I open the floodgates and allow the CIC to connect to the Base of Operations' network.
There's a far-off look in Iris' gaze as she struggles to process the absurdity of our Base of Operations' makeup.
"I can see and understand the overall need for self-sufficiency, but what the hell is this chimeric combination? The technological aspect is all over the place! You have the most advanced automated foundry, yet it's run by a set of boxy computers that predated it by at least a century. And is that a hand-crank turret I found stacking atop a flak tower? From where I came from, the whole concept of flak towers existed only on paper in the 20th century!"
There are a bit more confused mumblings after that as Iris gets to lay her hands on the rest of the base.
"3D-printing machines... Temperature-controlled greenhouses... Armed rhoombas... Wait, armed rhoombas? What the fuck...? This is getting more and more like some green dudes fishing out different pieces of technology from vastly different parts of the river of Time, slap it all together, and it magically works because enough said..."
It's surprisingly funny, seeing an AI losing her marbles over my unique brand of technological fusion. Upon looking at Reizen, I can see that she is quite amused herself as she gently shakes her head with a smile. It seems to both of us that, despite Iris' high-performance stats, even she will need some time to process everything. So, I direct Reizen to the chairs in the Command Center, thinking of waiting it out till either Iris or Sapientia is back with us. Once we sit down, I take the opportunity to take a better appraisal of Iris' appearance. The AI girl's holographic projection is now pacing around, giving me a good view of her from multiple angles.
Iris is a certified legal loli at a short height of only 140 to 145 centimeters. She has white hair that is tied into a low side ponytail, and her name Iris probably comes from her having blue eyes. The AI girl is sporting a smart, futuristic look for her attire, and it comes in multiple pieces.
Iris' first piece of clothing is a short, two-layer uniform. The inner layer features a white long puff-sleeved shirt with a blue strip running down the button strip and a white micro-pleated skirt whose length is teasing the thin line between lewdity and propriety. The outer layer of Iris' uniform dress consists of a black sleeveless mini dress with a white neckline. The mini dress in particular has blue circuitry-like decoration going along the length of the dress. It has to be noted that the mini dress is a tiny bit shorter than the white pleated skirt. An intentional choice, I think. In addition to the two-layer uniform, Iris also adds a custom overcoat. The overcoat is dark blue in color, ending up right above her waistline. The overcoat has a design not unlike those being used in more futuristic academic institutes with open-shoulder half sleeves. The sleeves themselves mostly cover the back of her arms and elbows, if that description even remotely makes sense. Last but not least, Iris is sporting black boots and a cute blue neck ribbon.
Honestly, I won't be surprised if Iris has a past that ties in with some research institutes... Thinking thus far, she probably is, considering her posting as the Voyager's Chief Scientist, despite being an AI.
Still, after that one round of inspection, I think it's a true crime that Iris actually has a bigger cup size than even Reizen and me. Legal as she is, isn't Iris still a loli? That cup size is honestly both envious and enticing for someone like me.
And I can already feel Aurea's admonishing gaze boring into the back of my head, haha.
After a few more minutes, it appears that Iris finishes processing the data streams before Sapientia returns. The moment she blinks and looks at Reizen and me, I know it's time to start discussing the future of our faction.
Perhaps this moment is why Sapientia vacates herself, not wanting to intrude and whatnot, now that I think about it.
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"Ok, what's your plan going forward with this massive base, again?" Iris asks at last, having digested the unique qualities of the Base of Operations.
Reizen and I look at one another. My blue-haired partner gives me a nod, passing the non-existent mic to me. I smile before standing up and walking to the CIC. I stop when I reach its terminal, saying to Iris.
"You may wanna make some room over there."
And per my words, Iris' hologram hops to the side, leaving the center of the CIC's multiple projectors clear for what I'm about to show her, and Reizen, who has walked behind me just now.
"The stage is all yours, Umbra. Wait, I can call you Umbra, right?" Iris asks as I start typing away on the terminal.
"Yeah." I reply. "Neither Aurea nor I mind if you address us both by our names directly."
"Nice. I was wondering if I have to call you Missy or not, considering how your soul is technically older than Reizen and me combined."
I chuckle good-naturedly upon hearing Iris's comment. Afterward, I bring forth some holographic projections centering around certain facilities and items in the Base of Operations' Industrial and Resource Districts.
Iris immediately knows what I am planning for the short term upon her instantly analyzing what she sees.
"Oh, wow." Iris whistles. "I'mma throw this out in advance, mostly for Reizen's sake, of course. But seriously, Umbra, girl, you're down bad for mechanical lifeforms, huh?"
While Reizen, judging by the calm if confused tilt of her head, doesn't really understand what Iris is referring to, I catch on to the meaning, however. I shrug with a small smile, explaining.
"I am speaking this for Aurea as well, but we have lived a long enough lifetime, two for in my case actually, to understand that, barring rare exceptions like Reizen and maybe Sapientia the Goddess of Wisdom of this world, humans and those with humans' fallacies aren't exactly consistent or trustworthy enough to be entrusted with the vision of our faction. From my personal experience, however, there is strength and certainty in steel. You wanna bind an android to be morally upright and loyal? It's simple. Just write it into the code, set the authorizations, and lock the protocols. That's all you need... Provided the coding work is done properly, of course."
I stop, before giving a wink to Reizen and Iris. "The fact that you can craft an entire army of beautiful androids is the cherry on top."
Comprehension dawns on Reizen, at last. She, and Aurea in our mental space, let out long sighs of fond exasperation. Iris, though, she smiles in pure understanding.
"Oh, I sure know what you are getting at, young lady. I am something of a connoisseur myself, considering how I more or less volunteered to be Reizen's Godmother. So, if you're willing to entrust the future expansion of this little faction of ours to me, I assure you that eye candy is gonna be the last thing we'll need to worry about." Iris offers the very thing I am about to request of her.
"That's one of my plans, actually." I reply with a nod. "Reizen told me a lot of good tales about the Eternal Reich's artificial citizens. Given that you, Iris, are an accomplished Smart AI and a Chief Scientist to boot, I see no better choice than to ask you to help me build a faction centered around artificial citizens."
"Having lived an entire lifetime, don't tell me you didn't learn a skill set for this matter? You literally died to a dimensional reduction bomb; surely the tech level there must have covered the basis of artificial life, at least?" Iris asks a good question.
I reply with.
"As you said, artificial life is a field of study I have long come to learn from Reizen that nothing else I know from that life can compare to what the Eternal Reich has to offer. Think about it, you guys managed to solve the degradation of Smart AI. There's no way in hell the scientists back then could solve that for at least a couple more centuries. And besides, even if I consider myself to be a studious person, I am at best a Jack of All Trades and Master of None. I am no match for the true professional like either you or Reizen."
I stop to mull my words over. "In other words, I am asking you to be the Chief Scientist of our faction."
"From what I am seeing right now, your version of a Chief Scientist is a broader term than mine, given what I need to do if I accept the job." Iris nods, going on to say. "But it's not like I am lacking in overtime experience and going out of my way to do something outside my nominal duty. The Voyager is a place where you have to be flexible; I am very flexible... Alright, but I will need more than just beautiful android girls if I am to build you an actual population. I need resources and a vision."
"Those can be arranged." I sigh in relief, happy that Iris is inclined to help Reizen and me so much. "And my thanks for taking the hardest jobs on yourself."
"Don't sweat it, you're my Goddaughter's bestie, currently. If I don't help you, and Reizen by association, then what am I supposed to do other than rusting away?" Iris smiles, looking at Reizen and me warmly.
I nod before moving on to explain my needs.
"For the resources, we have the necessary hard materials, stuff converted from the Voyager's salvage, and are stored in the Logistics Districts. These can be used to construct the future citizens of the Base of Operations, or at least a portion of them. This far off in the middle of nowhere, security is the last of our concerns, so I think it's important if we gear the first batch of artificial citizens to focus on labor like transportation, mining, resource processing, factory and maintenance works, and so on... As long as the artificial citizens are loyal to our faction and work efficiently, being beautiful android girls is not a hard requirement."
Iris smirks.
"You don't have to worry about that. Let's just say you deciding to make beautiful girls; it isn't an uncommon thing. In fact, the first artificial citizens of the Eternal Reich were literally beautiful android girls, albeit they weren't really being called that. The Eternal Reich's android population as a species is called Dolls. Dolls, due to the whimsy of the Eternal Reich's top brass, are an all-female species. And a Doll, given certain modifications, can achieve biological reproduction with other races, or with another Doll using the same set of modifications. I know, the Eternal Reich is based like that. As for the Dolls' capabilities..."
Iris ponders for a bit with her finger beneath her chin.
"Well, to spare you most of the semantics, I guess you can equate the Dolls to entry-level Smart AIs. And the lines between Dolls and Smart AIs like me tend to blur when both can cross between the physical and digital world quite seamlessly. However, Dolls are innately more suited for physical interactions, being created and raised with integration with society entrenched in every fiber of their being. This means they lack the finesse of Smart AIs like me, who are raised in the raw data sea first and foremost before we start mingling with reality. And because of this, we high-level Smart AIs are actually not too keen on the limitations of physical bodies. A different analogy will be Dolls and high-level Smart AIs can tolerate hot and cold, respectively, but can't exactly handle the opposite."
"To continue on that train of explanation, it means that Dolls, other than them being girls, are innately adept at interaction with the physical worlds. Dolls can handle any task ranging from cleaning, mining, being a lifeguard, to being a special force operator and a lot more that I am not too keen on listing. And then there's the fact that, since Digital Soul is a mature technology in the Psionic field of research, it actually allows Dolls to have the ability to endlessly revive upon termination of their physical body, provided you have the necessary facility set up. This is the advantage of having a coded Digital Soul as the basis of your citizens; you essentially have a loyal, undying army at your beck and call unless you go crazy and they strike out in revolt..."
"Oh, and don't tell me to bypass the morality constraint because the neat thing about having a morality is that I can give others a no for an answer." Iris winks, but I can hear the edge of a sincere warning that I duly noted.
It's not like I am stupid enough to piss off my future citizens, anyway. Pretty sure Reizen, or Sapientia even, will waste me first.
Iris continues to tutor me.
"Now, where was I? Ah, the reviving part. Well, long story short, Digital Souls are more durable than Natural Souls; hence, Digital Souls can be revived into new physical bodies should the old ones be terminated. On a side note, all Smart-AIs, me included, obviously, can be revived in the same manner as Dolls if we somehow find ourselves in a dying physical form. I will spare you the technicalities, though. You only need to know that Psionic allows our Digital Souls to detect the demise of our physical bodies and automatically transfer our Digital Souls to a hub that is connected to the next spare body if we have one lying around. However, much like Natural Souls of other species, each Digital Soul has its own set of spiritual DNA, so to speak. Even if you can copy the entire life memory of a Digital Soul, the individual created from that set of memory will never have the same Digital Soul, if it even has a soul in the first place. That individual will be nothing more than a vessel with the memory of a different life and may not necessarily have the benefits that Dolls or Smart-AIs tend to have. Having spoken thus far, if a Digital Soul is to truly die, like for real die and not be capable of reviving, we will really go through a cycle of reincarnation unless you can psionically pull the Digital Soul back to a new body or a hub fast enough. You know, the usual timely, actually magically revive trope is a real thing."
"That's a whole wall of text right there, Iris..." I comment, my lips twitching.
Iris giggles. "But wait, there's more."
"If you think Digital Soul is all fun and games, then you have to note that Digital Soul is notorious for its bad compatibility with Psionic Manipulation. Psionic Manipulation, at its core, is a discipline that has long since graduated from just the basis mathematical formula spells of old and into something as broad as reality-warping with nothing but sheer fucking will and a matching soul. To study Psionic Manipulation is to have your soul expand and grow; Digital Souls do that very, very slowly. Contradictory, it's a struggle for Dolls or Smart-AIs to learn to wield magic and spells, even though we can deeply understand and analyze their supernatural aspects. Something that may take a day for a human to master will instead take us months or even years in comparison. And even so, we need to have the appropriate parts to efficiently wield Psionic, lest we overload and crash out. Our durable nature as Digital Souls ends up biting us in the ass, making us nearly immutable to the finer aspects of Psionic. After deep research, the best scientists of the Eternal Reich deem that we Digital Souls, and I quote, are nerfed by the fundamental force of the Omniverse. If we want to bend the physical world at a whim like Natural Souls, then we have to actively invest many times the effort and not just be created with a Golden Spoon. Not that Natural Souls have it easy to be capable of creating a Pseudo Black Hole as well."
At this point, I can feel Aurea's eyes spinning in circles, and my head throbbing at the wealth of information I just received. Only Reizen seems normal, probably because this is all common sense to her.
"Let's just say I understand all that you said." I raise my hands in surrender. "Then, can you help me build the equivalent of the Eternal Reich's Dolls and the Reviver Hub or whatever it is?"
Iris rubs her fair hands together. "Oh, I most certainly can, given that we have autonomous factories and doodads around. It's actually quite simple to build the physical stuff, Dolls' bodies and the associated Reviver Hub- it's making the Digital Souls, however, that may need my personal intervention and a wee bit of metaphysical work. Fortunately speaking, I may have sacrificed my modest supernatural capability, but I am not without the ability to create Digital Souls. Do note, however, that the personality and appearance of each Digital Soul that I make can be... Well, quite colorful."
I chuckle, nodding. "I'll take those odds."
Reizen, standing nearby, interjects for the first time in a while. "Modest supernatural capability? You of all people dare say that?"
Iris shrugs, winking. "Hey, if I were any more powerful, we wouldn't really be here at all, right? I may be old, but not that old. Now then, shall we get to work immediately, or let's take an easy couple of days first?"
Before I can answer, however, Sapientia pops back into existence with a smile.
"Hello there~! I am back! So, what did I miss?"
"... Everything, and nothing at all." I smirk.