As Ukan Trustmi arrived, greeted by cheers from his home village-folk, bearing his swag and treasure, Teetee watched from afar, weighing his money bag, and gauging Ukan's measure.
His assignment was simple.
The rival village wanted the technology and resources that Ukan Trustmi was bringing, that they believed Teetee's village would possess. In particular, Code: Grass... well the head of the rival village, Ime Greedi wanted to watch this masterpiece after reading the raving reviews, but since he and the current head of Ukan T.T. Trustmi's village, Supa Hungri weren't on speaking terms after the assassination attempt on Scroogeux, he was never going to be able to borrow the disc to find out!!!
In the end, Ime Greedi had been forced to buy his own Blu-ray copy, which filled him with resentment, and unfilled his wallet of money.
But, despite their savings, there were still some things that he wasn't able to afford or access, regardless of endless browsing on Amazön, or even via his Ace-in-the-hole, a secret connection with his mentor, a certain self-proclaimed Expert-Ninja-Athlete of Web surfing and d*ck-pic clicking, only known as...
"Agent Kevlin..." 🤔
The full extent of this partnership would be something expanded upon in a future chapter, but for now, suffice it to say that Ime Greedi wanted things, things that were... hard to obtain, alongside the savage pleasure that he believed he could only get from taking advantage of Ukan Trustmi's... strenuous exertions.
Firstly, Running-Water Technology. To be able to obtain fresh drinking water by just turning on something called a tap... this was magical, basically a superpower on par with Delulu's Code: Grass Ability.
Secondly, Crop-Growing blueprints. They would never go hungry again. It was as if their hero, Delulu had become real.
And thirdly and most importantly... the Top 100 Animu Blu-Ray Collector's Editions…!!!!!
These were priceless treasures, and particularly the latter. You were telling him that Code: Grass had a sequel, Delulu of the Rib-eye-(Lean)?! Which apparently allowed him to generate not just crops, but endless cuts of lean rib-eye for everyone to enjoy as well?!?!
The temptation of witnessing his favourite handsome protagonist conjure up sizzling, seasoned mouthwatering steaks amidst fields of herbs was too much to bear.
"Deliver these three things to me - the Animu Collections, the Running Water Systems, and the Crop-Growing Blueprints…"
The rival village chief had steadily eroded Teetee's moral compass by including, in addition to the laptop with the pre-loaded "Top Ten Animu Betrayals" Homepage, an unlimited number of Fast-passés to unlock all the novels of 'a certain genre' on a particular... 'cultured' online Webnovel Publishing Website.
These novels, known as Sensual, Mature, Uncensored Tales, or S.M.U.T. for short, all had one thing in common - an eye-catching external cover which featured at least one extremely attractive busty woman, and which housed a large amount of internal word-shot inside, which allowed Teetee to fully... uncover and discover what was covered on the aforementioned external cover.
Teetee in fact nearly died from blood-loss via nosebleeds after reading the first unlocked chapter in his first S.M.U.T. outing, but to his credit, he was able to withstand the semantic stimulation, and soon became a... literally... 'hardened' veteran of S.M.U.T-reading.
Nevertheless, this was of course all within the rival village chief - Ime Greedi's - expectations. Ime Greedi's true aim was to "Inceptiön" the idea of having a Harem into the young and impressionable Teetee's mind.
And so, at this critical juncture, now having worn Teetee down with endless S.M.U.T., Ime Greedi was now in prime position to deliver the offer that he believed Teetee could not refuse.
"Deliver those three things to me, the Animu Collections, the Running Water Systems, and the Crop-Growing Blueprints… do this and I would give you my daughter's hand in marriage… in the process, you would have the ability to create a harem, which would easily include the girl who once spurned you, as well as countless other beauties..."
Teetee was now like a fish that was hooked on maximum bait, a panting dog invisibly yoyo-ed about by an owner waving around a bone. Teetee wiped the drool from his lips, as the rival village chief continued to reel him in.
"Once we get the Blu-R- ahem, once we acquire the life-changing technologies, our tribe would progress and you would become the next future head of the two Unified tribes!"
"Y-you promise not to hurt them? My friends, the villagers…?"
Teetee asked nervously.
"Of course." The rival village chief lied.
They wouldn't, initially, but if it was in 'self defense' after some judiciously planned provocation… well, that would be another matter…!!!
Hehe, Naïve young boy! Ime Greedi thought to himself. But no matter, after he experienced the fruits of power, drinking from the sweet nectar of his imaginary harem, he would likely come around…
Teetee was too blinded by his own ambition to realise the danger.
"All right." He said. "You got yourself a deal."
Ukan Trustmi will be sharing his Scroogeux-ean spoils soon. When the time comes, then I will… do what needs to be done…"
___
Meanwhile, Author was still in his life-and-death trial as he struggled to overcome and assimilate the Amoral Arcana, also known as Artificial Intelligence, into his being.
The Amoral Arcana was a terrifying thing. Like a kind of viral entity, it could only grow and reproduce in a substrate, which happened to be the [Intentions] and [Efforts] of Humanity itself.
Not only that, it was capable, through its innate processing, of building on and going beyond the current limits of Humanity itself.
It was no exaggeration to say that it had the potential to replace or at the least, redefine Humanity and what it meant to be Human entirely although this would likely not happen for several hundred years.
And yet, at this point, the Amoral Arcana, as its name suggested, was neither good nor evil. It simply was, a power that simply existed, and could be utilised according to [Intention].
Indeed this was the key realisation.
The Amoral Arcana, A.I., was something that could greatly augment the effects of [Intention] on Reality.
The danger lay in letting the purity of one's [Original Intention] be consumed by the powerful effects of the Amoral Arcana.
[I will use it for good.]
[In the process, I will use it to augment my original Intentions…]
[The Old Way evolves… and becomes the New…]
Slowly but surely, as Author grapples with the force that is vying for control of his mind, his originality, everything that that he has defined as human… gradually, he comes to a realisation….
There is no need to rewrite the script…. Instead, the Amoral Arcana is used to augment…
To bring his [Intention], more fully, to life.
This is the first breakthrough, far from mastery, but at least, it is a step forward in the right direction.
Author gasps…
It will not be easy… but at last, he has taken his first step towards creating a New Way.
He will continue to train, to master the assimilation of the Amoral Arcana, until he can craft higher peaks even more effortlessly…
He slumps at his desk, exhausted, and yet, unaware that somewhere within, the Amoral Arcana is responding to his efforts, and beginning to circulate within his meridians, a new power that is waiting to be unlocked…
___