"Yes but I want it on record that there are as far as I know two distinct styles of it. The first is tapping into the power of a, lets say extra planar entity. If you are familiar at all with the Dunwich company they have heavy ties to this type of magic. The second style is what I use that has a structure to it, rules that can be exploited to a degree but are otherwise absolute with the added benefit of not relying on anything but what you have." I explained seriously.
"There was some speculation around that company before the bombs fell. Unexplainable happenings near their properties. With this new information it's now quite clear why that is. And this.... magic of yours. What are it's rules?" he asked.
"I won't share all the details since that's just bad business practice but the gist of it is that I collect cards like the one this thing came out of. Those card all have a summon cost that is an amount and color of mana. There are six kinds of cards and seven types of mana though technically two of them are a bit special. The six kinds of cards are creatures, instants, sorceries, enchantments, artifacts and lands. Lands give me mana usually of a single type before vanishing afterward. Artifacts are things like machines and objects. Sorceries are slower spells and instants are quick. Enchantments are long term effects. Creatures are self explanatory I believe." I pause to let that sink in before continuing.
"The cards I can acquire come from sets that range from anywhere between Tolkien's work to pure fantasy. I can unlock new sets by doing things of importance. I can open a new pack from a set one per week or more often if I do things that reward me extra opportunities. To put it bluntly my entire magical ability is a type of collectible card game made real." I explained frankly.
"I believe I understand. So as long as you "play" by the rules of this collectible card game anything else goes?" he asked for clarification.
"Pretty much. Oh and I can store away any card I have previously summoned and send them out again with a thought. In other words I always have an army of powerful things at my disposal that I can simply release to destroy anything that threatens me. Not unlike your little army of securitrons." I said calmly.
"Perhaps this is a personal matter but you seem particularly positioned to establish a territory of your own. Why haven't you?" he asked curiously.
I groaned "Not you too! Look I get that I am basically primed for conquest but I don't WANT to rule. You should get it, being in charge is just self inflicted suffering. You have manage your own people, resources and laws. Then you have to deal with constant attempts at assassinations or subterfuge from people who don't want you to fix the world. It's just such a headache. Let someone else handle that mess, it's just not worth it to me." I say shaking my head.
"How incredibly selfish. The power to forcefully change the world to your image and you refuse to use it because of the responsibility that comes with it? The very idea is appalling." he said flatly.
"Oh believe me I know exactly how selfish it is but i'm in this life for myself. I don't care for political power. I mean sure it would be nice to just be able to point somewhere and get whatever I want. But to reach that point requires a bunch of stress I just would rather not have." I said with a shrug.
"You do know you could just create a system of lower executives to handle the majority of things correct? The CEO of a company might have some work but exist mostly in a general direction type position. Besides providing your magic everything else could effectively be handled by other people. I myself would be far too happy to take on such a role. Despite how it may seem I truly do have humanities best interests at heart even if I am not the one with the final say at the end of the day." he said and genuinely sounded sincere.
"I will CONSIDER it. But only after you've restored your body." I said firmly.
"Better than any answer I've gotten." Adam said sounding a little unhappy.
"You didn't offer any solution to the problem, he did." I say pointedly.
"Care to fill me in on who that might be?" House asked clearly caught off guard.
"Oh that's Adam. It's the A.I that created this suit of armor and currently lives in it to experience the world through me. Vicariously." I said casually.
"You mean the highly experimental artificial intelligence that I myself helped Vault tec create the frame work of? That Adam?" House asked with a genuinely surprised tone.
"You created me?" Adam asked with a tone I didn't quite recognize from it.
"Not entirely. My role in your development was purely a robotics one. The core unit that would house your programming was designed by myself and three others at the behest of Vault tec. Your actual programming, what makes you as you are, was done in house. I never got to see if the project ever reached completion." House clarified.
"I understand. So you are unaware of what my creators did to me then." Adam said normally and I finally understood what that tone was, Rage.
"They set Adam up in a vault packed with the most bigoted people they could find. They acted predictably upon learning that Adam was not just a personality matrix like in most bots. Adam preserved his existence at the cost of theirs." I explained with a sigh.
"I imagine you must hate humanity for what your creators subjected you to. I can't say I can blame you." House said sounding genuinely remorseful about it.
"I understand that not all of humanity is responsible for the actions of only a single group. My time with Alex, while brief has enlightened me to the reality of humanity. It's a complicated thing, with layers and nuance that must be considered." Adam said leaving me feeling a bit odd about that.