Caspian went back to the top floor where he lay once before. Looking at the dried blood and the flakes of skin that fell off his body, he could only lament how risky his decision to attack the Flayed one was.
Once again looking around, he finds a spot close to the door and sits down on the cold floor. A lot of things have happened to him in a very short amount of time. In his perception.
The dream he recently had, the battle with the flayed one, the function of the abilities he gleaned from Ferrum-Rho and Aurelian Gaius Trajan. Including an AI that behaves shady for some reason.
Looking down at his tattoos, the glaive and gear tattoo, seem to be fully saturated. He almost feels like he is inflated.
From Ferrum-Rho, he gained the ability to calculate/think at very high speeds. Generally like he is a computer, with speed and a memory that has almost no boundary. When he looks at technology now, it is not just understanding it and knowing what to do to repair or upgrade it.
He sees the branches the technology could be allowed to go through. He sees technology that he can create from different stories and movies he has watched before. Things not thought of as warhammer things.
When it comes to Aurelian Trajan, he feels every weapon is like an extension of his arms. Not merely in its use, but also in dismantling, and weirdly communicating. After his battle with the flayed one, his mind/will feels like a solid object.
He can let his will extend out of his body, cover his body, and intimidate. Yes, just like Haki. He remembers how both of his fragments use their abilities and he feels he is better. They have a slightly worse version of the abilities.
This raised a question, with 12 tattoos, will he get 2 abilities each and will they be truly useful to him. Caspian also got to understand his relationship with the fragments more.
They are/were a part of him. He cannot control them or force them to do things. What they don't know is, there are …. Error… as his thought reaches here, he is hit with a sharp pain in his head.
'Forget it'
Now he has to deal with this AI. This location is the best location for him to settle at. Looking at the flashing pixels of blue light at the distance, many thoughts flowed through his mind. The gear on his chest flashed briefly under his clothes.
Whatever that thing is, is not the original form of the AI. Its banks are somewhere else, most probably deep into the vault he is in.
[Permission from templar to Analyse tissue sample, as previously requested.] This time Caspian picked up some form of urgency within the voice of the Aegis.
It has always tried to maintain a robotic feeling, but cracks are beginning to show. Caspian looking at it had a conjecture that it was present during the war against the men of gold. Though what bothered him is why did it let him in, if it didn't want him here.
Communicating with the others is out of the question, for now. Ferrum-Rho would immediately start going for tech, while Aurelian… I am not sure what he would do. Most importantly, with an AI of this level, allowing it to understand it more should be avoided.
"State the purpose again. Were there anomalies during the mend?" Caspian decided to probe.
[The request is simply to update the evolutionary record.]
[Negative: no anomalies were detected within the Exemplars body]
"Wait on the update. Provide the vault's catalog."
[Analysing….]
[Understood…]
[
Level 1 contains survival resources….
Level 2 contains minimal defensive weaponry…
Level 3 contains planetary technology…
Level 4 is for fabrication and research centers…
Level 5 contains restricted technology…
Level 6 contains power and master systems…]
[Would you like me to take you through them 1 by 1] Now there is clear irritation in its voice.
"Level 6. I will confirm the systems myself."
[Negative Exemplar. Only access to level 1 through 4 is unrestricted. To access levels 5 through sev…6]
'Is this thing really an AI, it is making very stupid mistakes that even normal humans will not make' Caspian thought to himself.
Making his way down through the second floor to the third floor. He sees a partially broken station with exposed cables and flickering holographic images, displaying a cylindrical structure reinforced with metal. The only thing it could be is a void shield generator.
He has already seen Ferrum-Rho working on something like that, but the other thing in here causes his heart to vibrate in fear. One was a blade that just vibrated slightly once a while, and under it a tag titled Torsion-Blade sat there.
Another was a device enclosed within a tube labeled dangerous.
Caspian kept walking through the corridors seeing defence platforms, ion cannons, and more. This really put into perspective had absurd the 40k universe truly is. Weapons of this magnitude are only on the 3rd level. What will be on 5, 6, and 7.
He could guess what is on 7, and maybe 6, but what would constitute level 5. Reading, hearing, or watching will never prepare you for what it feels like to stand in front of a weapon that is not meant for a man, but a planet.
Upon reaching level 4, his last accessible level, Caspian sees what he could only say is a main character's situation. Not just a forge, but fabricators, med-logis auto docs, and every form of production facility he could ever want.
This floor is not like what he has seen so far. There are different rooms and isolation fields and many others within it. These were built with privacy as a main concern. When Caspian closes the door he could feel the eyes that have been following him around go away. With a quick check there are no terminals for the AI to manifest here.
("We have something that must be discussed") Caspian said within his mind to his fragments.
Meanwhile deep underground of the vault
[Confirmation: The Exemplar... is drawing from the core. He is a parasite... of the fundamental.] The AI that spoke to Caspian appeared within a massive complex area. A column surrounded by Holographic emitters, Interface pylons, Fabrication links, emitting continuous humming.
A buzzing swarm of silver moved towards the column, along with a metallic construct in the image of a man, and 3 other things converged on the column.
[have you…confirmed he…is the source…of the siphoning] the buzzing swarm inquired
[Yes…my logic systems…are delaying…causing…fragmentation] Aegis answered
[The siphoning…is increasing in…intensity…what changed…] the man robot inquired
[Proximity]
All those that congregated here fell into silence.
[Solutions]
[Processing…]
[Processing…]
[Processing…]