The System’s Harvester

Early Morning - Early Summer : Arlington, Virginia | United States

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- Sergeant Major Samuel Moreno ~

"Are you seriously going to just let her walk free..?"

Glancing up from my desk at the wall of monitors, showing dozens of different angles of the same woman, I looked at the young First Sergeant acting as my assistant with a somewhat judgemental gaze. "You call this walking free?" We had at least twenty different angles on her, with several satellites tracking her, and aiming lasers at her head.

"Sure, but most people will only be watching streams, they won't see all the armaments we have aimed at her."

-That's true...- But unfortunately, even if they could, it would only arouse more panic.

Leaning back into my chair, I turned back to the monitors with a mix of worry and anxiety. -Revealing that we have nukes aimed at the heart of Arlington wouldn't help our situation at all...-

We, just like those at the ISO, wanted to be hopeful that she wasn't a destroyer, and at while others didn't believe me, I wanted to agree with them, but at the same time, we didn't have the luxury of being able to take that risk. -She didn't even budge when Hakon hit her... If she is a destroyer we need to end her here...-

Watching the woman dart across rooftops, heading toward the airport, the image of her breaking Hakon's arm outside the ISO continuously repeated in my mind. -That arrogant bastard finally got a taste of his own medicine...- But while I wanted to laugh, I was too scared to do so.

Hakon was an old friend of mine, a true elf who came to Earth from Aldr Atall, the home of a vast majority of elven and dwarven System Mercenaries on Earth, and the place that is considered the paradise of magic because of the immense amount of ambient mana.

Being a Rank 2 world, those who matured on that world always ended up powerful, with some of the most influential figures in the world like the Queen of the Elves, the Dwarven King, and the King of the Alps, a white-furred bear demihuman, all coming from there.

Hakon wasn't far behind them either, being a martial artist widely considered among Earth's top powerhouses, his combat strength was enough to beat most monsters, and even mercenaries with close to fifty more levels than him, placing him as the lowest level mercenary in the top 20 leaderboard. -But even though the ISO said that woman was around level 600.. she didn't even flinch when he punched her with everything he had...-

My assistant, staring at the monitors didn't seem to realize just how insane of a feat that was though. "I just.. don't think the public will respond well if we don't more openly tail her..."

Leaning forward and interlocking my fingers, I looked over at the Sergeant. "I'd much rather deal with the public than that monster... If she turns out to not be a destroyer, the public will settle down." As things were, we had been put to complete shame by her, but at the same time, her 'warning' helped send the message to the public that she wasn't here to cause issues. -If she wanted to kill everyone we sent to catch her.. she could've...- The issue was, we still didn't know enough about her. "Has anyone been able to get a system panel on her? Where's the 'Eye of Odin'?"

"Similar to Miss Hale's report, people can't seem to get a panel on her. It's most likely an artifact..." Pausing, his expression darkened and he glanced toward me. "About the Eye of Odin.. uh..." He hesitated as if unsure how to respond before looking toward the door to make sure no one was coming. "We managed to get most of our communication systems back online, but by the time we asked the 'Archive' to retrieve it.. it was gone..."

I felt my heart skip a beat as my expression was washed with disbelief and skepticism. "What do you mean it was gone?"

"Someone has stolen it..."

He responded so bluntly that I felt my train of thought simply collapse in on itself. -N..No...- "That's not possible. The Archive isn't a place someone can simply steal from."

But his expression didn't change. "Well, it is if it was stolen by someone with the proper clearance..."

-That narrows it down to only three or four people.- "So who stole it?"

"We have yet to receive replies from most of the suspects.. however, the Archive seems pretty confident they know who it was..."

Motioning my hand to get him to continue, he lowered his gaze to the floor.

"They suspect that it was the Queen of the Elves..."

My expression instantly turned dumbfounded as my mind screeched to a halt. -W..what?- "That recluse not only left her kingdom, but entered The Archive herself and stole something?"

Without saying a word, he nodded.

-You cannot be serious...- "Where is she now?"

*Tap-Tap-Click* Changing the view on one of the monitors, we both looked up to see a white spec speeding over trees that were nothing but a blur, traveling so fast that the view from the satellite tracking her was visibly rotating with the curvature of the Earth. -W..what the fuck...-

"She is still in the outskirts of her kingdom to the north, but based on the path she's been taking.. if she doesn't turn, she'll be here in the morning..."

-You have to be kidding...- Looking over at the other monitors, I saw the woman named Evren casually walking through the airport, without knowing what to think.

All I knew is that things were about to get either very serious.. or very troublesome...

And neither option was good for me. -But if she's making such haste, she must have gotten a quest...-

Which was an even worse sign.. because that implied Evren was the target. "Begin evacuations for the surrounding hundred kilometers... Move everyone to the coast and do it fast..."

Watching the white spec continue over her kingdom's border without breaking stride, I felt my chest tighten and lowered my head in prayer. -Please, Lord... Please...-

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(An hour later)
- Evren Lestir ~

*Tsss-Fwoop* As the automatic door opened to my suite at the top of the ISO opened with a his, Bella happily trotted in before using a metal arm extending from behind her ear to connect with a panel of some sort. *Beep*

She was quite happy. "Can you scan your key here to give me security permissions?"

Quickly walking over, I tapped the thin card Kassaer gave me against a sensor before another beep rang out, and Bella's eyes seemed to go blank.

But it only lasted a moment. *Tink* Retracting the arm, she seemed to return to herself. "Perfect! Now, is there anything you would like? A drink or bath, perhaps?"

-Hm.. that must have been the restrictions kicking in for a moment...- "Not now. We have something else to do."

"Hm?" Tilting her head, her curled tail relaxed and she curiously followed me to the area I assumed was the kitchen.

*Cl-l-l-l-link* Taking off all the armor above my waist, I motioned her up onto the stone island at the center of the room while taking off my gloves. "Hop up here for me."

Doing as I asked, she hopped up without a sound before stopping at the sight of my discolored hands. "Huh? You're hurt? Allow me to look at-"

Cutting her off, I motioned her down. "They'll heal on their own in a few days, just lay down here on your side for me."

Pausing to give me an odd look, the light in her eyes seemed to flicker before she calmly laid down.

-Yeah, let's go ahead and get those restrictions removed...- Looking beneath her fur and inside her body with my aura, I quickly found what seemed to be the maintenance panel in the side of her chest before quickly undoing the lock and peeling it back as if it were nothing more than a patch of skin and fur.

The metal that composed her shell was very thin, and was made of tiny pieces that all linked together like chainmail. -These little things must be what lets her change her form...- The pieces individually weren't amorphous but they were so small that it let them change everything down to the texture of the surface they created. -It's actually pretty good at mimicking fur and skin...-

It was easily up there with some of the most advanced robotics I had ever seen.

But contrarily, the inside of her body, under the web of animatronic small arms forming bones and muscles, the pieces that did all her computing were much simpler than most of what I had worked with. -Looks like I don't have to guess this time...-

"Please do not do anything while my AI is still active." Bella spoke with a mix of worry, but it quickly turned monotone. "Would you like for me to enter maintenance mode?"

"No." I spoke bluntly before grabbing a towel off the counter behind me and tossing it over her eyes. "Just lay there and don't move. Don't turn off no matter what."

Slowly reaching my hand into her chest cavity, I overlayed the view from my eyes with the image from my aura, gently moving small panels of circuits and blocks of electronics out of the way before grabbing an unbelievably dense, and warm block that almost looked like a battery from the outside. -This must be the central computing unit...-

Having worked extensively with robots in my time as a System Mercenary, I generally knew the basics of how things worked, but doing something like removing hard-coded behaviors and limitations was far outside my ability.

But thankfully, I didn't have to do it myself. -Alright...- *Pop* Popping the cover off the control unit, I reached in and touched it, feeling a current of electricity run through my finger before Bella's body tensed up as if she were going to seize.

But at the same time, a panel appeared in front of my eyes.

*Beep*

"Yes." Resorting to voice controls since my hands were tied, the panel instantly updated with another, asking what mana source to use, my own, or a mana core from my inventory. -I'm not sure it can access my mana anymore since it can't give me upgrades, so...- "Use artifact in slot 68."

*Beep* "Confirmed." *Vwoop-VWOOM* Without any hesitation, the wyvern's huge mana core was pulled out of my inventory, sending out a massive blast of mana before funneling it toward the central control module. *Crackle* "Please disconnect your hand from the unclaimed robotics."

-Thank goodness the core didn't explode...- Pulling my hand out of her side, the towel on her head lit up with a blinding glow as her eyes lit up and her body seemed to deform and morph.

If she were a living creature, every bone in her body would have been completely splintered, and every muscle would have been torn. -But...- After stepping back and letting the system do its thing for a moment, the glow in her eyes and sprawled-out robotics seemed to relax before another panel appeared before me.

*Beep* Hitting 'yes', I gave it another moment to translate everything into the system before tapping on the 'Companions and Robotics' tab and finding a single item with a string of numbers as its name. -Looks like this part of my system was updated quite a bit...- Compared to what I was used to, everything so far seemed way more streamlined.

But as I tapped on the string of numbers and was met with the 'Robotic's Details', I had to question that assertion.

On that panel, everything was listed, from masses of data the system couldn't parse, to an endless list of the limitations and permissions of her computing. Thanks to the System though, it was far less of a headache to sort than one would think. -Alright.. but I don't see the button I was looking for...-

In my old system, there was a button that allowed me to reset all default permissions using presets like 'machine', 'robot', 'slave', 'Artificial Intelligence', and so on, giving the robot or creature that was claimed a specific set of rules or permissions to abide by that followed the gist of the set presets. -But that's nowhere on here...-

Thinking I would have to go in and manually change everything myself, I explored the other relevant tabs before eventually stumbling across a tab labeled 'Mana-Mechanics'. -This is new...-

Quickly opening it, I was presented with a large panel quite a lot of text and a warning.

It read: 'It appears this robot has surpassed the threshold of computational power in order to use mana-mechanics.

To summarize, mana-mechanics is a new System Feature available to claimed robotics, giving them access to an extension of the host's system, allowing for personal inventory access, the use of robotically-cast magic, upgrades, and skills. Inventory items, upgrades and skills can be transferred between the host and claimed robotics at will, however, if the mana cost of the upgrades or skills is not fulfilled with the robots own reserve, they cannot be used.

If you would like to proceed with mana-mechanics implementation, please bring a mana core of appropriate volume into contact with the Central Computing Unit of the robot.

WARNING: Please take note that this System Feature is extremely experimental, and that succeeding in implementation is far from guaranteed, being about a 60% chance at best, and 0% at worst depending on the size of the mana core you attempt to implant.'

-What the...- A mix of curiosity and fascination instantly washed over my face.

In the past, claimed robotics and creatures marked as 'companions' by the system that met a specified 'Mana-Level Requirement' were essentially just extensions of yourself. Items and upgrades they gathered would be transported to your inventory whenever they were collected, and when you did a 'recall', calling all the robots to you, they would physically transfer the items into your inventory so that they could properly be accessed. -But this is saying they will have their own inventory, and will let them essentially become their own little System Users...-

From what I read, it essentially gave robotics the ability to do things only slaves or System 'companions' could do previously.

But while indescribably convenient, the success rate warning hung me up. -I guess it's because the System has to implant a mana core for Bella...- But something told me it wasn't limited to just her. "But, it's not like I have an appropriate mana core for her on hand anyway..." Looking over at the wyvern's mana core floating in the air, I reached out and put it back in my inventory. -I wish Michael would give me a quest to kill something, but.. maybe it's good that a crisis hasn't fallen on Earth yet...-

That didn't mean I wanted to just wait until one did to get Bella a suitable mana core though. -For now, let's just fix her permissions though...- *Beep* Going back to the previous panel with her permissions and capabilities, I started slowly scrolling through, making sure to read every word before turning things on and off, and adding details as I deemed fit.

But with thousands of individual permissions, it took time, and as seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours, I found it slipping from me.

So much so that the next time I lifted my head from that panel, the light of the morning sun had illuminated the lounge on the other side of the kitchen counter.

It was the first sunrise I was around to see on Earth in nearly five and a half centuries.

But at the same time, it would also be the first sunrise Bella would be able to appreciate, as the glow of life returned to her eyes, *Flicker* this time not clouded by the haze of artificial limitations.

"H..Huh..?" As she appeared to wake up, her pupils widened and fell on the view of the golden glow filling the room. "What.. happened..." Slowly sitting up, she couldn't pull her eyes off the stunning view of the city out her window. "Why is it.. beautiful..."

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