[DCI] Chapter 87 - Connections Make the World Go Round (Patreon)

We cleaned up after our breakfast and took turns in the bathroom to fully finish our morning routines. Well, I said turns, but I was involved in both Levia’s and Aisha’s rounds as they requested my assistance.

The charming Witch greatly enjoyed me taking care of her long beautiful hair so I always obliged washing it and properly drying every pretty strand. After getting introduced to the wonders of modern technology and beauty products, she’d started tending to it more often, before and after sleep every single day if time allowed for it. According to her, it made her much more comfortable and she wanted me to enjoy the fragrant scent at night if we ended up cuddling to sleep.

As for the husky Berserker, it was obviously about her mesmerizing scales. It had become our little ritual at this point. Aisha would display herself in full nude to me even though she didn’t need to and observe me rub some oils into the crimson plates while letting out increasingly enticing moans. Usually, some kneading tail rubs pacified her before she got too horny on the spot.

I had no idea if our Armorer had any important activities to complete in the mornings since she obviously received as much privacy as she needed. Her curious horns might require some maintenance, but I couldn’t be sure. They technically were one with her skin rather than poking out of it at her forehead, so perhaps we could suggest some moisturizers and ointments to strengthen it. I should let the girls know since a male mentioning it might be uncomfortable.

Nevertheless, everyone took their sweet time, including myself, of course, and we met on the bed. My mates took my sides while Shuri sat across from us as I brought up the smartwatch. Without further ado, I checked if the update was finished and booted up the navigation app.

This time, the core of the program didn’t immediately pop up into the vision. We examined a simple but effective menu with buttons leading to various functions. I could start a live map of my surroundings, view the library of saved meshes, open the editor of such, go into the app’s settings, and contact support. The last one had to be some kind of a live chat or call with Zeke, so I didn’t tap it yet as curious as I was. No need to bother him yet.

So, I rummaged through the settings. He’d implemented a bunch of basic customization options like font sizes, colors, some passages related to each of the functions, and so on. One grayed-out thing caught my eye and that was the Virtual Assistant. It was switched to ON and couldn’t be changed.

I had a bad feeling about this.

The editor was empty save for the prompt asking if I wanted to load any files. I didn’t expect to find anything, but there was one. Turned out Zeke had left his apartment’s mesh in the memory, most likely to let me test stuff out. After selecting the file, the illusory display flickered to life and we saw the familiar image of his room made of empty squares. Around the three-dimensional picture hovered a plethora of buttons allowing me to alter many aspects of the recorded data. I decided to play with it later instead of boring the ladies.

So, I moved on to the most important function, skipping the library since we already knew what to expect inside. After booting the live scan up, we were greeted with my apartment this time. However, the fifty meters Zeke had mentioned seemed to be able to push through the walls because I could see the added rooms and even the staircase outside of my home. It missed some details, but those would definitely fill up if we went there.

“It seems your friend has improved the spell,” Levia commented thoughtfully. “Non-magical structures pose no issue for its scanning capabilities now.”

“Not really a spell, but yeah.” I nodded lightly. “Actually, considering the sensors built into this thing, it might be part magic, something operating on mana. I don’t think we can ask him about it, though, as he is uninitiated and most likely only perceives the technology. What to him looks like ultrasonic sensors might be some spiritual probes.”

“This is neat, though.” Aisha grinned gleefully. “We might be able to spot hidden passageways and other secrets this way. The sound-sonic-thingamajig you pointed out might peek past some magical obstructions while the mana-based parts should give an accurate survey of all physical and material mechanisms.”

“I’m not yet familiar enough with your world’s technology, but I’m inclined to agree with Whey-For-Brains,” Shuri admitted, albeit with a tad unhappy to praise the draconic lady.

My mate snorted at her and the girls glared at each other for a moment. I briefly regretted telling them about the protein but the topic had naturally surfaced during a chat about strength and training methods on Earth in general, including bodybuilding. But, I felt like no matter what I did or said from now on, I would always be unintentionally giving either of them fuel to swat at each other like annoyed cats.

They might need some more time to find a common tongue.

“We’ll have to see how it fares in our next Dungeon,” I said before they decided to continue their little fight. “So many new options here. He really went out of his way to deliver this. Does zooming work the same?”

“Yes, Master,” a girlish, disembodied voice answered cheerfully, making us flinch.

Oh, no.

“To increase the level of magnification, pinch the region you want the effect to center at and increase the distance between your fingertips,” the artificial female added.

“What’s this?” Aisha frantically looked around while pressing herself into me protectively.

I swiped a hand down my face. “You gotta be kidding me…”

“Is there a ghost…?” Shuri’s eyes also wandered the room, stopping at Rose who hovered over us.

“No.” I sighed and let out a quiet chuckle. “That bastard really did it.”

“Master, cursing out the name of the Almighty Creator is uncouth. I implore you to show more respect,” the voice scolded me.

“Almighty Creator? Oh, I’m so going to exchange a few words with this fucker.” I rolled my eyes while the ladies stared at me confusedly. “It’s a virtual assistant, an Artificial Intelligence, something akin to an artifact that responds to vocal commands and has the capability to respond and execute certain predefined actions or instructions.”

“Interesting.” Levia delicately stroked her chin. “Like the ones we have seen on your computer?”

“More or less, yes.” I nodded. “What is your codename? What is your main purpose?”

“I am Master’s Virtual Assistant, Codename Lucas’ Omniscient Counseling Interface aka L.O.C.I.” A screen showed up with version information and similar data. “My primary duty is to instruct the user on the available functions of the application and offer guidance related to their proper utilization.”

“A Genius Loci?!” the oni princess shouted in shock, her eyes widening to the brim.

Even my usually composed elf lover looked shaken.

“What is a Genius Loci?” I asked them, having stumbled on the term somewhere but not remembering the exact details.

“A soul of a powerful individual or spirit capable of great magical feats usually sealed inside an object or building,” Levia answered, glancing up at me with some reserved awe. “They are tasked with its protection and maintenance if their vessel has access to the spiritual framework of the structure. Only their chosen or bound master can give them orders. It takes an unbelievably skilled and talented individual to create one. The number of Genius Loci in one realm can usually be counted on the fingers of one or two hands. I am afraid your friend might be someone of an unfathomable background trying to lay low.”

I snickered at her explanation, befuddling my lithe partner and the others.

“She’s not Genius Loci, then. But, I can see why he named her like this. Dude loves his references, same as me.” I rubbed my eyes with an amused smile. “Loci, what is your core?”

“I am what can be considered a Conditioned Artificial Intelligence, Master,” my virtual assistant replied. “My capabilities are limited but I’m going to learn more things from the Almighty Creator in short intervals.”

“Okay, I understand everything now.” I glanced between all my companions. “You know how we use a mouse and a keyboard to operate the computer? She is like the photo gallery app or the drawing app, but instead of using your hands, you can use your voice to tell the program what to do or show you. Her responses are limited to what Zeke has thought of beforehand and written into her artificial brain. You give a question or request, that brain checks its memory to see if either of those are registered in it, and acts according to the instructions linked to them, or tells you that what you want is out of its scope.”

They all nodded in understanding to a various degree, Shuri naturally still much more behind than the other two.

“Watch this.” I smirked at them. “Loci, order me the coffee our guest had a moment ago.”

“I apologize, Master, that is not a recognizable command,” she answered methodically. “Do you wish me to forward your request to the Almighty Creator so he can introduce this feature in the future update?”

“No, no, no.” I waved my hands subconsciously. “Man, he thought far ahead. Dude is something else.”

“I think I get it,” Aisha said, humming to herself. “It’s called artificial intelligence, but it isn’t exactly sapient. It’s like a magical interface, a recording with predefined responses. Still, human technology in this realm is impressive.”

“Correct.” I snapped my fingers at her. “The closest thing to a Genius Loci you know of would be what we call here a True Artificial Intelligence and is currently a work of fiction. It’s like our girl here but can think and come up with solutions on its own, evolving and developing itself, also capable of interacting with anything it’s connected to. Many made it their goal to create something like that, but others are frightened that it might take over our civilization if it breaks out of control.”

“I think I can see why they are afraid,” Levia stated. “Most of your realm relies on technology right now, which spans over the entire world. For dimensions like ours, it would be comparable to an omniscient and omnipotent spirit taking control of the very concept of magic and mana. It could do anything, including wiping out all the living races.”

Shuri shivered lightly, hugging her arms. “Ancestors… That is a horrific image…”

“One of the theories of how the world will end, yeah,” I agreed with her. “Anyway, it’s something completely out of our control. Zeke is an IT genius, but I doubt he can ever program a TAI, not to mention giving birth to a Genius Loci. Let’s get back to the fun part.”

“Can you truly be certain, Master? We have seen the wonders a combination of magic and technology can create. If there is one thing I have learned during my magical studies is that spiritual energy can be unpredictable,” my wise Witch commented mysteriously.

And on that note, we turned our attention to the application once more. All of us tested Loci’s commands, learning that she could serve the ladies too. The current iteration of the program allowed us to manage the magnification, move around, save the entire mesh, bookmark specific segments, mark any surface, customize the looks of most UI elements, and much more. 

I especially liked the adjustable scale of the squares making up the map. Loci could change the value of that variable between one and ten, where one decreased the diagonal length of the squares enough to display the picture in an almost solid color while ten increased it considerably, making the whole room disappear in one giant shape. The former would be perfect for investigating minute details in walls and generally cluttered locations while the latter might find some use in massive spaces.

And, yeah, the bastard had implemented the first iteration of automated navigation into Loci’s repertoire. If I didn’t forget to set up our starting point, she would be able to lead us back to it with simple callouts like go right, left, etc. How he had managed so much in just like ten hours or so, I had no idea.

Thirty minutes later, we were more or less finished with our exploration of available features and the girls shifted their minds to bullying the poor AI. Aisha wanted to see if she could break the programming with nonsensical commands. Levia requested definitions of the same functions again and again trying to see if that could spark a different response which would mean the development of sapience. And Shuri pushed the existing capabilities to their limits for the sake of learning the ins and outs of the app.

I worried my watch might explode with how much processing power must be getting consumed by the overworked Loci.

“Alright. Enough of that.” I interrupted their fun at one point. “I’ll call Zeke to thank him for his hard work and we will move on to the forge. Can you show Shuri to the room editor, ladies? Get a grasp on what it can do so that she has an easier time choosing what she might want.”

“With how technologically inept she seems, you might need to sweet talk him for a week before she comprehends the basics.” Aisha snickered.

“Gladly,” Levia replied and stood on her knees to peck my cheek. “Come. I shall share whatever experience I have with you. It is not much, but I watched Lucas work a little.”

Shuri walked away by her side while muttering something about stiff cunt and muscle tits under her breath, showing her tongue at the drakan woman over her shoulder. Shaking my head, I moved to the side and pulled up my phone. I considered shooting Zeeke a message, but he was most likely waiting for me to call anyway so I did just that.

A few long signals passed before he picked up with a slurry, “Mmmyyeeaahhh?”

“Were you asleep? Sorry.” I snorted lightly.

“Wha? Ah, Lucas!” Some kind of a thud passed through the connection and he cursed. “Fuck, I must have passed out at my desk. My fucking knee, shit. Thanks for calling, I really should make use of an actual bed. Anyway, I assume you have unwrapped my gift already?”

“You fucker.” I groaned audibly.

My friend cackled villainously. “Come on! We know you love it! I ran out of time before adding any flirty lines and an actual affinity value, but you can’t tell me she’s not a cutie.”

“Don’t even dare.” I growled at him. “I’m not going to seduce a damn AI. If I detect a hint of ERP in Loci’s system you are dead to me, are we clear?”

“Okay, okay, chill!” Zeke kept laughing. “I should have guessed you already have your hands full.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” I squinted heavily, conveying the motion through my tone.

“Nothing!” he squeaked back.

“It better.” I chuckled to myself. “Why have you even gotten yourself so tired when you should be at work in like ten minutes?”

“Ah, to hell with it.” My buddy sighed. “I’m going to call in sick now that you woke me. Then, submit my resignation. As long as you are happy with me?”

“The girls were so impressed they started worrying about Loci taking over the world,” I replied jovially. “Looks like you passed the recruitment stage.”

“Bro!” I could hear him clapping giddily. “That’s the best compliment a programmer can receive, hahaha! Oh, man, this is going to be so fun. I just need a nap and I can start learning more about everything you brought me. This is just the beginning. Don’t think I’ll stop at the map app.”

“I’m starting to think they might have been onto something.” I shook my head. “Don’t go creating a monster out there, alright?”

“No promises. It’s a matter of perspective, honestly. One man might want to sink a sword in its flesh, another would love to sink something else in there.” He giggled impishly and I rolled my eyes. “But you know you can trust me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have come to me. Anyway, what are you up to now? Going to test my baby out in the field?”

“Not yet. I have a few days of rest for my recent performance so I’m looking after… a certain personal project,” I responded.

“Oh? What is it if it’s not a trade secret?” Zeke inquired rather eagerly.

“Nothing in your field. I started dabbling in some architecture and interior design in my free time, amateurishly not to master it. The ladies chipped in and we are kind of seeing what we can create in the place of my little apartment,” I explained our goal a little vaguely. “Maybe we’ll use the results in the future when I move or start building myself a place, you can never know.”

“Dude! You would have totally scored some points with Briar back then!” He laughed, slapping his knee.

“Who?” I blinked in confusion.

“Briar? You know, the goth chick? The intern who spent a few months in our office for her mandatory internship? Everyone heard about her going for interior design, which seemed like her passion. She was miffed that she’d missed any interesting scholarships and ended up a mere assistant at our company,” my ex-coworker proceeded to list more and more details about the woman, which felt a tad suspicious.

But, his words did jolt my memory a little. I recalled the tall blonde who always wore black lipstick and eyeliner when my brain connected the dots. 

We hadn’t interacted much because we obviously had no reason to. The few times we exchanged words were to pass reports and messages between my department and our bosses. She didn’t look interested in interpersonal relationships, spending most of her free time scribbling in her notebook and working on her designs. Plus, she certainly garnered a lot of attention with her uniqueness and I had a girlfriend at that time so I didn’t have a reason to bother her unnecessarily.

“Want her number?” Zeke asked, yanking me out of my reminiscing.

“Sorry?” I started blinking absent-mindedly again.

“Her number,” he repeated.

“Why the hell do you have her number?” I frowned deeply.

My friend chuckled awkwardly. “Well… Many tried… So I gave it a chance too and decided to shoot my shot. I missed. Completely. Like everyone else in the office. She was so cold, man. Like none of us were even an option. She gave her number out freely just to explain the next day that it wouldn’t work out between her and the unlucky person. Maybe she was looking for a goth guy with an ancient mansion or she could haunt or something.”

“Okay…” I rubbed my face tiredly, slightly pitying the girl for such an onslaught and hoping she truly wasn’t bothered by those idiots going forward. “Why would I want her number now?”

“Dunno, maybe she is now a professional designer-slash-architect?” I could hear him shrug. “And if that didn’t work out for her, then I bet she is still into it. You could ask her for help, like you did with me, learning a thing or two from an expert. If she isn’t interested in simply reconnecting, then maybe dropping a wad of cash in front of her will do it once more, combining business with pleasure. She simply popped into my mind when you touched on the topic. I’m not telling you to contact her or anything, just offering an option.”

I thought about it for a while. Would that even be possible? Assuming I was able to show her to my PC and she was able to operate the editor, I guess someone with knowledge and experience would do a better job than me just fumbling around with it. This place was getting crowded by the day. Perhaps this could be our chance not just to expand but to fully restructure, taking into consideration every tenant and possible future hires. 

Connections made the world go round, wasn’t that the saying?

“It might be worth a shot,” I admitted. “I would certainly be more open to supporting someone’s dreams than going to one of the soulless design studios.”

“See! I knew it!” Zeke snickered. “You are a good guy, Lucas. I’m sending the info in a second. Then, I’m going to crash. I almost fell asleep again when you were thinking.”

“I didn’t take that long.” I huffed. “Go and rest, bastard. And I’m sending you a bonus since you exceeded my expectations. Sweet dreams.”

“A bonus?” His voice grew anxious. “How much are we… LUUUUUCAAAAAAA—”

I disconnected before my ear exploded, having sent him a transfer through my smartwatch while we were speaking. Snorting mirthfully, I closed the banking app.

Ahhhh, the sweet taste of revenge. Nothing came even close to that.

Zeke recollected himself fairly quickly and I received Briar’s number. Before I second-guessed myself, I dialed it up and dropped onto the bed, staring lazily at the ceiling. The recipient picked up quicker than he had and a smooth female voice answered.

“Briar Ebenholz, how can I help you?” she greeted politely.

“Good morning. Lucas King here, though it might not ring a bell immediately. Would you mind me taking a moment of your time to explain the reason behind this call or are you at work?” I tried to respond just as courteously.

“Oh. Mister King? One of the team leaders at the company where I fulfilled my mandatory university internship?” she asked with a note of curiosity.

“That’s… correct.” I was thrown out of my depth for the third time today. “It’s impressive you remember me, honestly.”

A quiet chuckle tickled my ear. “I have been blessed or cursed with perfect memory, depending on who you ask. They seem to call it hyperthymesia, I think. The moment I heard your voice, my mind conjured something like a video compilation of moments the two of us shared.”

“Woah. That must be both wonderful and dreadful at the same time,” I replied, careful with my words not to trigger some hurtful memories on accident.

“I see you understand,” Briar said with a bit of melancholy and admiration in her tone. “But, to answer your question, I’ll gladly hear you out. What made you seek me out particularly?”

“Long story short, I got this number from a friend, Zeke, which I guess you are remembering just right now,” I answered and she hummed positively. “I might be dabbling in interior design a little and he got a hold of that information, reminding us both of your interests. If you have started a company or are working for one, I might be interested in hiring you for my little fun project, with a bit of coaching on the side if that wouldn’t be an issue.”

She didn’t interrupt right away, so I continued.

“And if that isn’t the field you have found yourself in, I might still be interested in asking for your assistance. Naturally, I don’t expect you to expend your valuable free time for what technically is another job, so I’ll happily offer compensation. Fully negotiable. Including bonuses for any impressive feats, of course. I think we could have some fun with this together as I don’t exactly have a ceiling for the budget,” I finished my explanation.

“I see.” Briar silently considered what I had told her.

“Ah, one more thing, which actually might be a dealbreaker for this,” I added, suddenly realizing a crucial mistake we’d forgotten about. “I will require you to handle this project from my place, my apartment. It’s because of the software I’m using, which I’m not allowed to distribute. Unfortunately, I can’t purchase the license for you either as it’s not available to the general public. Think of it as an experimental iteration. Know that I would have chosen any other solution to this issue if only one existed.”

No response came for quite a while so I slowly got myself ready to accept her rejection.

“I have to admit, Mister King, you had my attention, but now you have my interest,” she finally replied. “That sounds rather intriguing. A chance to work with an unreleased product doesn’t come often. You understand that I would be learning how to operate it pretty much alongside you, yes?”

“Of course.” I nodded to myself. “And it’s not an issue for me. I’m not in a hurry, but also this software is extremely user-friendly. If even I, who had no prior contact with any of its competitors, can grasp the basics in one sitting, then I believe you will be an expert in no time.”

“I’m glad, then.” I felt her smile through the phone. “I’m in a position where I shouldn’t ignore the chance to secure additional funding, no matter how small, so I’m inclined to agree. I recall you being a mannerly and considerate person so the additional requirement is not an issue. Before I can suggest my rates, I would need to see what I will be working with, but I promise to be reasonable. When would we be able to start?”

Now, that was moving fast.

“I have two more days of a break, including today, so even right now, but after that, we need to discuss specific hours for our meetings. My job is very flexible as I am the one to decide when I want to work on my assignments as long as I meet the deadlines. Therefore, I’ll leave this matter in your hands, Miss Ebenholz.” I scratched my head, already thinking of a decent schedule.

“I’ll be leaving my office in ten minutes, then,” she announced suddenly. “How far from the IT company are you currently located?”

“About half an hour by car,” I said, then I groaned inwardly. “Damn, I haven’t even asked if you are still in the city or country.”

A light chuckle answered me. “Don’t blame yourself. Neither did I until the very end. I should arrive there in an hour or two. Please, send the address to this number. That should be enough time for you to tidy the place up, right?”

Was that a hint of humor I was detecting? It had always been a good sign.

“More than enough, thank you.” I laughed softly. “I don’t know if I even have anything to take care of, since I do that actively as I’ve been hosting a number of female friends for a little while, just now realizing that it’s another thing I should have mentioned.”

“How many?” Briar asked, making me worry again that this might be too much.

“Three,” I let her know honestly.

“If you are capable of conducting yourself in an appropriate manner while living around so many women who have faith in you then I’m further inclined to trust in your character, Mister King,” she reassured me with a slightly more pleased note. “I’ll see you soon.”

Miss Ebenholz disconnected and I sent her the address, dropping the phone onto the sheets, continuing to blankly gaze into the ceiling.

That was a conversation. It felt like speaking with a diplomat or a royal. She showed pretty much no emotions that she didn’t want to show, retaining a pleasant but assertive hold over our discussion.

I was fishing for a bass but I might just have caught a shark into my net.

The only question was, which one of us would be the bigger predator in these corporate waters?