Ability Wielders - Chapter 163 The Birth of Assistor

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Hayden returned to his house alone at 4:00 PM, leaving the five new recruits at Pangkat Anino. As they’ve said, Eun-ha and Sayuri stayed, binge-watching the Modern Sherlock Holmes series. While they were doing that, Hayden consumed three hours for recording and editing six gameplays of War of Honor.

Hayden added in a twist and played in both the off-lane, or jungle, and bottom lane this time. He also created a new account so as to do another climb series. Hayden was really milking the cash cow that is War of Honor.

By 7:00 PM, Hayden has cleaned himself up and cuddled up with Eun-ha and Sayuri, watching a mystery movie.

“Hey, uh, can you explain to me what Lunar Assembly is?” Hayden felt the movie was boring as he has already solved the mystery. “What are the power dynamics and all that.”

Hayden was explained of the dynamics of Lunar Assembly. Hayden was already aware of the Higher Council and the ten people that leads it. Kim Taehyung, the leader of the Crescent Moon, is unrivaled in South Korea.

The Crescent Moon that CHORUS was part of is extremely laidback and is the kindest faction to its members among the ten parties. Unlike some of the extremist factions, such as First Quarter’s Shadow, which requires its members to dedicate themselves fully to the organization, every 50% of its members’ income given to the organization.

The South Korean organizations of Lunar Assembly are: Crescent Moon, First Quarter’s Shadow, Waning Gibbous’ Light, Full Moon Movement, and Solar Eclipse.

The North Korean organizations of Lunar Assembly are: Red Moon, New Moon Collective, Last Quarter’s Light, Waxing Gibbous’ Shadow, and Celestial Satellite. Each party has at least 500 elite members, with the Crescent Moon possessing approximately 1,100 elite members. Elite members are defined as capable Level 3 wielders or above. Crescent Moon has the highest amount of elite members in both the North and the South. In addition, the leader, Kim Taehyung, possesses a combat-oriented Xirxian.

Bulgasari’s strength is as high as the Lunar Assembly in its entirety. Needless to say, Bulgasari isn’t precisely an enemy, but more of a rival that doesn’t care of the law and will not stop at anything to achieve their goals. They’re opportunistic and expedient. Their goal? Well, nobody really knew.

Nevertheless, their members are pretty much scum of society and much like Kamay ng Lagim, selling drugs and humans alike. Alike Pangkat Anino, Bulgasari is neutral, not at all attacking Lunar Assembly or the Fourth Sector.

Hayden has heard the Fourth Sector from Christopher as well. From what Christopher gathered, they were a cult. What they worshipped? Unfortunately, Christopher couldn’t find any information about that.

“They’re the biggest threat in South Korea, and they haven’t moved for about three years.” Eun-ha rested her head on Hayden’s shoulder, intertwining her right hand with his left hand. “Kim Taehyung-ssi’s prediction is that they’re gathering forces and would declare war on both Bulgasari and Lunar Assembly sooner or later. That’s why Lunar Assembly is bolstering their ranks with non-celebrities.”

“How about the Higher Council?” Hayden asked. “Are they all Level 4, Level 5?”

“Kim Taehyung-ssi is a Level 5. His Ability is Igong, the God of Flowers.” Eun-ha’s revelation was surprising for Hayden.

“Oy, oy, isn’t it forbidden to tell me what Ability Kim Taehyung have?” Hayden questioned. Internally, Hayden was mulling over. ‘Damn, another High God Ability, huh? I wonder where exactly do these High God Abilities originate…’

After all, Hayden has interacted with the Overseers. Those mythologies were all shit. Unless the Philippines was spared from the ancestral Forish’s antics, then those were a bunch of baloneys.

“If you were a regular outsider, we won’t inform you at all.” Sayuri answered Hayden’s questions. “You’re our boyfriend. It is fine. Besides, not like you can kill Kim Taehyung or something. He has an artifact that puts him a level above the rest. As for what that artifact is… Nobody knows.”

“I see.” Hayden nodded. “The others?”

Eun-ha kindly let Hayden in on the names of the nine members of the High Council. They were all Level 5 wielders with powerful Abilities. From this, Hayden could tell that the world of wielders in South Korea is a cut above the world of wielders in the Philippines.

So far, Hayden knew solely of one wielder that is Level 5. It was Rhys. Hayden hasn’t been apprised of the fact that Sitan was back. He didn’t even know who Sitan was.

“Don’t worry, with you being in a relationship with us, you won’t be touched by Koreans.” Eun-ha kissed Hayden on the cheek. “Lunar Assembly has that amount of power.”

“Wait, how about you, Sunshine?” Hayden turned to Sayuri. “Aren’t you Japanese? Why did you join Lunar Assembly?”

“Lunar Assembly has an alliance with the Kusanagi. I am part of this Kusanagi as well.” Sayuri replied. “The Kusanagi is a collective that aims to establish peace all throughout Japan. They have succeeded, believe it or not. Though there are a few outliers, such as the God of Death, Izanami, a singular Level 5 wielder that is a one-man army.

“Interesting.” Hayden bobbed his head, wrapping his arms around the two. He was getting drowsy. “I have interviews tomorrow. I will graduate this year, by the way.”

This garnered the surprise of Eun-ha and Sayuri. “Congratulations!”

For the rest of the night, Hayden, Eun-ha, and Sayuri cuddled up to watch movies. Eventually, Hayden slept, embracing Sayuri.

Hayden woke up at exactly 3:00 AM. His schedule for the day was packed, from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. In fact, his schedule for the week was brimming with interviews. From the Sports Planet, to local interviews and talk shows, to a guest appearance on a Filipino variety show. There was even an invitation from the Global Gaming Channel for the ‘A Talk Show For Gamers.’

For the next week, all Hayden did was test out his newfound powers in his 200,000 square-meter lot at Bicol and doing celebrity stuff. During the past week, with his win, and the trending video of him holding a dog at the airport, his supporters rapidly grew to 70,000,000, surpassing many Linkers.

His house in Quezon City has started its construction. The big three-story mansion was going to be epic and structurally sound, with foundations of Abyssal Gold and walls made of Turaka, or Multiplicative-Absorption Cement. Althea informed him that his house should be finished by Sunday, after seven days of construction. Yes, construction was that fast these days.

Lastly, the AI he developed, which he simply named Assistor, has matured to a point that it can hold basic conversation with Hayden and do menial tasks such as managing its own simulation and housework. Hayden implemented onto it an advanced antivirus, virus recognition system, and irregularity detection that will inform Hayden of any irregularity in his computer system and many more.

It was ready on being placed inside a robot to teach it controlling a body. Hayden undertook an online robotics during his free time in the past six months and accomplished it with flying colors. In fact, Hayden has a tinkering station for this purpose and has started creating a human-shaped robot long ago, which was stored away in a hidden compartment.

In no time, it was Friday. Hayden was going home from a variety show when he received an e-mail from Anthony. It was regarding the Wielder Standoffs in the Yearly Meet tomorrow.

Hayden was shocked to see that it was… The knowledge for creating the Conversion Nucleus, the center of every piece of Essence Technology, plus a free new version of Space Stone equipment.

“Holy shit.” Hayden was dumbfounded upon reading this. “Are they crazy? Or… No, I’ve heard they’ve been attacked during the Annual Youth Pride, and that they’re planning on invading Dark Haven Guild with wielders below Level 4 to gather information…”

Hayden wasn’t going to participate in the Yearly Meet even if it was demanded of him. And he hasn’t been requested to participate in the skirmish against Dark Haven to kill Maestro of Death, one of the sponsors of Kamay ng Lagim.

Hayden connected everything. “They’re luring me in with knowledge, and simultaneously testing my combat power to put me in the field unlike regular Blue Agents. Damn… To think they’d put such a rapt bait in front of me.”

Hayden was now thinking whether he should bite or not. If he bit the bait, he was sure that he’d have no choice but to join the expedition against Maestro of Death. ‘Well, I do want to weed out Maestro of Death… I can do that with my own hands.’

Hayden was aware that Maestro of Death was a puny Level 3 wielder. With Baroloix, Hayden can assassinate Maestro of Death with his overwhelming speed.

If Hayden knew the location of Maestro of Death, he can win the Wielder Standoffs and kill Maestro of Death subsequently to call off this incommodious skirmish.

‘I can probably cause enough trouble in Dark Haven Guilds to lure Maestro of Death to come out.’ Hayden started scheming against both Puting Araw and Maestro of Death. Hayden put on wireless earphones and contacted Harper.

“Hey, Harper.” Hayden got straight to the point. “How did you become a Resident? And is there a main branch of Dark Haven?”

“Becoming a Resident is easy. Contribute as much as you can to Dark Haven, that’s it.” Harper responded earnestly. “As for a main branch… There’s no main branch. Dark Haven Guild is a haven for the dark desires of people. That is Maestro of Death’s goal when he constructed the Dark Haven branches. If you’re looking for a main branch, you’re out of luck. Every Dark Haven is a main branch in of itself.”

“Thanks for the information.” Hayden changed the topic. “Hey, how’s your sister’s rehab? Is she well?”

“She has been well.” Harper answered. “I couldn’t be more grateful for your help.”

“Consider it as a benefit for being my employee.” Hayden answered without thought. “Monitor my mother well and I’ll pay you handsomely. I may also seek your help on other things in the future. Your beauty can be used.”

“I will gladly become a prostitute, boss.” Harper’s response made Hayden choke.

“It’s not that, you idiot!” Hayden coughed. “I’m not going to make you do any kind of sex work. It’s a different line of work. I’ll tell you in the future. Goodbye.”

Hayden hung up. Hayden wondered why Harper was so fixated on him making her do sex work. Did she view men as ravenous creatures? It’s a given that they are, but it was 2058 for goodness sake! Men has been taught restraint since the ’30s. It was rarer to find a man that cannot restrain their sexual appetite than a well-mannered person.

‘Jeez, that girl’s mind is in the ’20s.’ Hayden rolled his eyes. ‘Anyway…’

“Am I going to take the bait, or not…” Hayden voiced out his thoughts. “I mean, there’s no harm on me partaking on this hassle of a meet… Should I punish Puting Araw for wanting to test me?”

Hayden couldn’t possibly blame Puting Araw for wanting to test a holder of a mental-enhancement sensory-enhancement hybrid Ability. The thing is, this is Hayden. He was a ‘Level 2’ wielder that has an absurdly powerful physique that can match those of the same level if he exclusively uses essence energy augmentation.

“Well, I guess I’ll join.” Hayden decided to take the bait. “It’d be much more of a hassle if I don’t participate in that meet.”

Hayden suspected that, if he didn’t engage in the Yearly Meet’s Wielder Standoffs, Jasmine or Rose would probably find a way to test his strength one way or another. He beat Gerald, or Apolaki, in a Level 2 spar. This was in the first week of January. They’d certainly test him again. It was better if he didn’t fight with Apolaki anymore.

Why? Because Apolaki might notice the minor difference in strength between the him from the first week of January, till now, the first week of February. Gerald was a simpleton in personality, that didn’t mean he’s not clever. From Gerald’s actions previously, it was clear that he observing Hayden’s every action, akin to a teacher.

Hayden shivered at the thought of receiving combat training from the infamous Apolaki. Hayden hasn’t even used half of his true combat techniques on others as he hasn’t encountered somebody on equal standards yet.

Hayden hasn’t met a person that can bring out his full power. All he stumbled upon were either weaker than his own physical power, or overwhelmingly mightier than him. In this regard, Hayden can be considered extremely unlucky.

“I mean, it’s good that I don’t have to utilize every bit of my power… But…” Hayden longed for actual excitement in his life. “Having cliché combat scenes and plots from books are better than this one.”

This is what Hayden gets for being counted as an overpowered wielder. “Reality’s not as exciting, I guess.”

Hayden arrived at his house. Without delaying, Hayden showered. Finishing his shower, Hayden went to the basement, brought out his tools, and the human-shaped robot he was talking about. Over the past week, Hayden assembled the parts he manufactured back then. It was the same height as him, was made of stainless Shojin steel, and was designed in such a fashion that it has a black coloration for the futuristic feel. And because Hayden favored the minimalistic design of the color black.

Needless to say, solely the external appearance was minimalistic. The internal muscular system is made of artificial muscle fiber produced from Shojin steel, its skeletal system is made out of military-grade Shojin steel acquired from Puting Araw, and its joints belong to that of bionic arms and all that. It was a highly advanced piece of technology that Hayden was proud of.

It was accurate to the human anatomy, which has the brain as a functioning computer and the heart as its engine, pumping electricity all throughout its body. He was going to make adjustments with the materials of the robot’s brain with the Recording Crystal designed to function as a hard drive.

Basically, Hayden was going to replace the robot with wielder materials for increased durability and functionality. Of course, first, he had to make modifications at hand. Hayden got to work. He disassembled its head and delicately removed all the contents of the robot’s head. He then took out a motherboard, microchips, a crystal ball the size of a ping pong ball, and a black box.

At that moment, the recognition system of Assistor alerted Hayden through the speakers in the basement. An excited baby version of Hayden’s voice echoed. “My two mama has entered the house!”

Hayden dropped everything and ascended the stairs. He was met with Eun-ha and Sayuri, both were wearing shorts and plain t-shirts. Eun-ha tilted her head. “What you doing down there?”

“I’m tweaking a robotic body.” Hayden greeted the two with a kiss on the lips. “It’s for Assistor.”

“You have a great naming sense, and that’s all you can come up with?” Sayuri teased Hayden. “Assistor? Really?”

“It’s provisional, jeez.” Hayden shook his head. “You two have never been down here, right? You want to see?”

“Isn’t that a personal space? A man-cave?” Eun-ha pointed to the door. “So…”

“Don’t worry, it’s a space I use for doing my work, not a man-cave.” Hayden chuckled, stroking Eun-ha’s hair. “You can watch me work, or check out my collection of mini figurines that I manufactured myself. You’ll witness a new side of me. The geek side.”

“Oh, yeah, you were a geek prior to awakening.” Eun-ha was reminded of Hayden’s stories of being a geek. “You loved superheroes and all that.”

“Yes.” Hayden snorted with a smile. “There are various flavors of ice cream cakes in the fridge if you want to eat down there. Just make sure that you won’t litter the equipment.”

The two darted to the fridge. Hayden left them and descended the stairs, going back to working on Assistor’s body. Hayden meticulously and efficiently moved, his Divine Perception active.

Eun-ha and Sayuri, who came downstairs, was awed by the surroundings. The display case the moment you entered the room was eye-catching. The mini figurines were well-built and was detailed. They also noticed the countless comic books and manga that Hayden stored on the bookshelf.

When they oriented their heads to check Hayden, they beheld the laser-focused Hayden toiling on the robot. As this was Sayuri’s first time on watching Hayden’s focused mode, she was enraptured by it. She has always forgotten that Hayden was a 16-year-old teenager, this time was no exception.

“I know.” Eun-ha giggled adjacent to her, walking to the sofa. “Hayden is something else whenever he’s doing something seriously.”

“He is, isn’t he?” Sayuri muttered, sitting on the sofa. “Do you understand what he’s doing?”

“Not at all.” Eun-ha put a spoonful of the chocolate ice cream cake in her mouth. She was put in food haven from the astounding taste of the ice cream cake. “Isn’t it nice to be taken care of by someone who’s this capable?”

“It is, isn’t it?” Whilst Eun-ha and Sayuri were chattering, Hayden has finished assembling the brain of Assistor’s body.

“Are you using that for such a childlike AI?” Eun-ha asked by the side.

“Of course I’m going to change that up.” Hayden didn’t look at Eun-ha, taking out his laptop and connecting it into the brain wirelessly. “Oh yeah, do you want me to create ringtones for you with the voice?”

Eun-ha and Sayuri was speechless of Hayden’s question. He’ll create a ringtone with that cute childlike voice? That was… “Of course!”

The two’s answer tickled Hayden, laughing as he synthesized a new voice for Assistor, duplicating it and deleting some of the duplicate’s memory to create a true assistant and obedient AI, and uploading the AI to the hard drive of the robot.

Disconnecting the laptop to the robot, Hayden booted Assistor up with his voice. “Assistor, switch on.”

Assistor’s eyes lit up, its body erecting upwards. Hayden stepped back. Assistor sloppily moved its body and eyed it emotionlessly. It opened its mouth, a woman’s deep voice escaping from its mouth. “I… Is this my body?”

“Yes.” Hayden nodded. “Your name is Assistor. You are an artificial intelligence created for the sole purpose of serving my and their Identity Number.”

“I see, how shall I address you?” With the changes in its AI, this Assistor was more mature and butler-like than the original AI of Assistor.

“You can call me sir. As for these two lovely ladies, you can address them as madam. Or whatever they want.” Hayden gestured towards Eun-ha and Sayuri.

“I shall do so, sir.” Assistor nodded its robotic body. “This body is very flexible, sir.”

“I developed it myself.” Hayden told Assistor. “In the future, you will be helping me not only physically, but also technologically.”

“I will do my best to serve you, sir.” Assistor respectfully spoke. “What is my first assignment?”

“Nothing.” Hayden closed his eyes. “You are the first iteration. You will lead the other AI that will be developed in the future under my orders. For the intervening period of time, shut down.”

“Yes, sir.” Assistor shut itself down.

“Not to mention that this is illegal, isn’t this pretty dangerous, honey?” Eun-ha interjected. “Wouldn’t Assistor one day become a technological menace?”

“Don’t worry, I programmed an inhibitor on it and planted an unstoppable kill-switch.” Hayden prepared for that. “I put in hundreds of counterattacks on its programs in case it gets invaded, and its untrickable programming is designed by myself.”

Hayden glimpsed at Eun-ha and Sayuri, who was obviously mystified by Hayden’s words. “I’m sorry, I’m rambling. All I have to say is that, no matter what, I can completely halt its functionalities with my phone, a single word, and a failsafe that ensure it stays loyal to me even if it is hacked.”

“I can’t understand you, but you’re an amazing programmer, aren’t you?” Eun-ha wryly smiled. “As long as you think it’s safe.”