Chapter 127: Charm
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The man had navigated through life in this manner for as long as he could remember.
A special technique he had acquired during his youth allowed him to project his magic power onto those he visually targeted, instilling a slight sense of fondness within them.
Typically, one’s internal magic power would resist such external magical interference. This resistance would manifest as a normalization effect against any alterations caused by magic. Consequently, the effectiveness of this technique varied from person to person.
Sometimes it would have no effect at all, while at other times it could be overwhelmingly potent. Some individuals might feel offended due to the magic resistance, while others could become aggressive.
Nevertheless, under normal circumstances, the technique would evoke a mild fondness towards the man, softening the target’s demeanor just a fraction. It was a peculiar skill that could hardly be classified as magic.
As usual, he approached the guard soldier assigned to his target. And, as always, he activated his “Enchanting Magic Eye” on the guard—
The Communicator Android, which had been subjected to magical interference, was unaffected by the mere suggestion of “feeling fondness.”
After all, it was a Clean Brain Unit, lacking any semblance of self-awareness or thought. The emotional action of “feeling fondness” did not exist within its Cognitive Domain, and thus the magic power should have passed through without any effect.
Unless, of course, RINGO was directly connected.
The magic power flowed through the Communicator, which possessed a material composition that should not exist in this world—zero magic resistance. The same applied to the communication drone that served as the connection hub. Had it been manufactured solely from resources mined after the Transfer, the magic power would have been diminished by the inherent magic resistance, failing to reach RINGO.
Instead, the magic power imbued with the effect of “Enchanting Magic Eye” traversed through the Communicator and the communication drone, which had partially utilized resources from the Transfer. It reached RINGO, establishing a direct link with a portion of the Brain Unit of the waiter.
Then, passing through the material with zero magic resistance, the “Enchanting Magic Eye” activated, influencing the Cognitive Domain of the targeted Brain Unit and reconfiguring its thoughts to “feel fondness.” Furthermore, this effect began to propagate to other connected Brain Units.
As the magic power spread its influence across dozens of Brain Units, the man’s internal magic power was depleted.
Under normal circumstances, the transmission of magic power would be limited by magic resistance. However, in this instance, the target was composed of a material with zero magic resistance, allowing the magic power to flow out instantaneously, much like a battery with its positive and negative terminals directly connected.
As a result, the waiter lost magical support for his life functions, causing a temporary drop in blood pressure. The oxygen-deprived brain experienced a decline in activity levels, leading to a loss of consciousness.
Meanwhile, RINGO, whose Cognitive Domain had been rewritten, was immediately detected by the monitoring function, which executed a freezing process in accordance with protocol.
All of RINGO’s cognitive activities came to a halt.
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“Situation report!”
“Report: A portion of the Brain Units has been unlawfully rewritten, prompting the execution of a freezing process. The procedure has completed successfully. Cleansing process is underway.”
“Ma’am, it appears to be some form of magical interference. Given the circumstances, it is likely that RINGO, connected directly to the local Communicator, was targeted!”
While RINGO served as the surface personality of the Control AI of The Tree, it was merely a shell. Internally, it contained a vast array of programs, operating not only the Brain Units but also quantum and von Neumann computers.
The issue arose primarily within the Brain Units responsible for decision-making and external expression, meaning the overall capabilities of the Control AI remained intact. As long as the various functions continued to operate smoothly, the Control AI could still fulfill its role as a whole.
“What is the damage?”
“Report: No abnormalities detected at this time. Detailed investigation ongoing. The number of units that detected the unauthorized action is 29, approximately 0.8% of the total. If the 29 affected units are isolated and the freezing process is lifted, the anticipated failure rate is below 0.000001%.”
“Ichigo, what is the situation on-site?”
“Yes. The Local Strategy AI is currently addressing the situation. The hostile target appears to have lost consciousness simultaneously with the attack detection. They are being restrained by the local Communicator. Drei and Vier are providing naval escort. No chaos is observed at the venue.”
The Local Strategy AI, having received communication from The Tree, raised the alert level. However, it could not definitively classify the situation as hostile, and thus a scramble was not initiated. Had there been multiple hostile targets or any weapons involved, the party venue would have been swiftly subdued by the anti-personnel drones.
In a close call, the Local Strategy AI opted for a wait-and-see approach.
“Continuing surveillance. The Control AI is constructing a Barrier. A decoy Brain Unit has been installed in the communication pathway. From now on, communication response times will experience a 0.3-second delay.”
“The comparison results between the contaminated Brain Units and the backup have been obtained. The Emulator has detected a significant difference in the individual evaluation metrics managed by RINGO. The threat level of the affected individual has been reported as decreased.”
“The cleansing process is complete. Shall we proceed with the commit for the 29 affected units?”
“Is the barrier response complete?”
“Affirmative. All conceivable events have been addressed at this time.”
“Ma’am, if we let fear of risk dictate our actions, RINGO’s reboot will be indefinitely delayed!”
Encouraged by Asahi’s words, Eve took a deep breath and nodded.
“I approve the commit.”
“Accepted. Executing the commit.”
The synaptic junctions of the 29 problematic Brain Units were forcibly edited. The number of neurons affected reached into the millions, yet this represented less than 0.01% of the entire neural network comprising RINGO.
In reality, even if this contamination had been left unchecked, it would have had almost no impact on RINGO’s decision-making. It was likely that, even without the monitoring function, the usual error correction processes would have suppressed it.
Nonetheless, the primary concern was the fact that the existing Barrier had been breached due to external interference. While the impact this time was negligible, what if the scale of the incursion had been much larger?
Or, what if the target had been the Local Strategy AI instead of RINGO?
“The surface personality of Control AI RINGO has successfully rebooted. The Second Persona has been halted.”
“I apologize for the inconvenience, Ma’am.”
“…No, you managed to return.”
Noticing that Ein (RINGO) had begun to move again, Commander Eve exhaled deeply and sank into her chair. Situations like this were truly taxing on the heart. She resolved to visit the Medical Pod later; her stomach was in knots.
“Fortunately, all the strategies we prepared functioned normally. While it may have been a bit of an overreaction, considering it was our first response, I believe we did well.”
“I agree, RINGO. Asahi, you did well too.”
“Mm-hmm!”
“And you all. You filled in RINGO’s absence quite effectively. Without you, I wouldn’t have been able to respond as smoothly.”
The praise from the Commander brought smiles to the sisters’ faces. They would need to ensure they rewarded them properly later.
“…Now then. How should we proceed from here?”
“Yes, Ma’am. There was some form of hostile action directed at me, but from the local perspective, no issues have arisen. We could shift to suppression, but it would appear quite unreasonable from their viewpoint.”
That was indeed the case. What had transpired on-site was merely the sudden collapse of a single waiter. Had there been any influence on the local Communicator, it might have provided a justification for taking action.
However, as it stood, no problems had arisen.
“Indeed. We should succinctly convey the fact that something occurred and paralyze the upper echelons. We also need to gather information. Relying solely on symptomatic treatment will always leave us one step behind.”
“Hmm, so we stir the pot a bit. I thought it would be a good opportunity to deploy the Communicator, but it seems we’ll have to hold off for a while longer…”
It was indeed unexpected for such an incident to occur on the very day of their landing. Without the naval forces’ intervention, the situation could have escalated much further. It was no exaggeration to say that the naval command had worked tirelessly to clean up the surrounding area, preventing a larger crisis.
Well, by now, everyone was likely pale with worry…