Mystic was just about to ask his uncle how he could see his bubbling friend when his uncle beat him to speaking, as he was still too shocked to speak his words clearly.
"What are you doing with one of those old, failed AI assistant bots? From what I heard, it never worked out for anyone who used it, there were constant complaints that not only could users not understand what the AI bot was saying, but the AI couldn't understand them either," Alfred said, shaking his head.
"It's something that happened a long time ago before you were born, the engineer who created the model eventually vanished, and all samples of the AI bot were overridden and wiped off the market. I didn't expect to ever see one again, let alone with you."
Mystic: "~"
Mystic stood there, completely baffled by everything his uncle had just said, he hadn't even realized that the AI assistant the system gave him resembled one that had already been created in this world and discarded all in the past before even he was born, but on deeper thought he felt this was just the system's mechanism to protect Mystic from questions he won't be able to answer.
The more he thought about it, the more curious he became about how much the system actually knew.
Then he remembered something his uncle mentioned and quickly pulled out his smartphone, opening the camera, he pointed it toward his floating assistant.
"Speak!" Alec commanded the glowing ball of cuteness, while his uncle gave him a strange look, but X spoke nonetheless.
[ X: You shouldn't worry too much about others hearing me, only you can. Oh, and your camera won't be able to capture my speech either, all you'll get is the same gibberish your uncle hears.
As for the engineer who created the original model, he was a genius, but he couldn't perfect the connection between the bot and its host, meaning no true understanding could happen between them. Sadly, he died still wishing he had succeeded.
Luckily, the system managed to perfect it, now, I'm the only surviving version, fully linked to you, packed with tons of information about the system, some open to you, others restricted for now, and even more you'll be able to download in the future] .
The AI bot said all of this quickly, but when Mystic played the video back on his smart phone, all he got was a series of bubbling gibberish.
Still, he had to admit, X looked adorable, waving its tentacle-like hands around while trying to explain in incomprehensible sounds on screen.
After seeing what the video portrayed and with the explanation he got from X himself, Mystic fully understood that this was exactly what his uncle had overheard from the AI assistant—gibberish.
"Well, I found him among some of my old things, seems I had one lying around but forgot about it, since I'm at a turning point in my life, I'm planning to keep it," Mystic said quickly, making up a story to avoid looking too weird after his earlier behaviour.
"No problem if that's what you want, you youngsters all have your quirks. If you want to keep an old piece of technology that nobody uses anymore for sentimental reasons, I understand," Alfred said, nodding.
Mystic raised a brow, he had only said he wanted to keep the AI bot, but it seemed his uncle had read deeper into it, assuming the bot was something his late father had bought, and that Mystic was keeping it to hold onto a memory of him.
Even though that wasn't the case, Mystic had no intention of correcting the misunderstanding, after all, it gave him a solid story and meant his uncle wouldn't question him about the bot anymore since it seems he would be having it around all the time.
"So sorry I asked you to come this early, can we move now?" Mystic asked.
"But your meeting with Viper is still scheduled for later, we still have at least an hour and thirty minutes before it's due," Alfred replied.
"Yes, I know, but I want to get there early and set things up, that's one reason, the second is that it wouldn't look right if we arrived at the same time we told him to come, we should give off an air of punctuality when he shows up," Mystic said, grabbing the club coat lying beside the chair and draping it over his shoulder.
Almost the same way Mafia bosses drape suits over their shoulders without actually wearing them, letting the fabric cover their bodies anyway, Mystic had just placed his club coat over his own shoulders just like that.
After a five-minute drive, Mystic and his uncle were already at the club's training ground, this was exactly why Alfred had been surprised Mystic wanted to leave so early, because the house was so close to the Dark Elites' stadium and training facilities.
But there was something Mystic hadn't mentioned to his uncle, he hadn't been able to sleep properly ever since he gave Viper the list of players to search for, he had been restless, anxious, filled with curiosity, and yearning so badly to meet them.
Sure, Mystic had been given a second chance at life, but this time, instead of chasing the path of a player, he had decided to become a coach, not just any coach, but the coach of his own club were he could dictate every decision that run it, a club that had once reached world rankings before collapsing into the ranks of street-based football.
And beyond that, he had a bigger dream, he wanted to rebuild the club based on the impression of players he had admired in his previous life, players he believed were talented enough to shine but never got the chance they deserved to display such talent.
Now that he had the opportunity, he was determined to give them the future he had always envisioned for them, that was why he couldn't walk the path of a player this time—he had to be a coach.
He, and only he, knew them better, he had watched them.
They had been his friends, and since this alternate universe was strikingly similar to his former world, Mystic was convinced that these players were all he needed.
With the help of the system, he hoped the journey would not be too complicated, he was determined to rejuvenate his father's fallen club with the insight he carried and finally live a better life than the painful one he had endured due to his left leg, as all he ever wanted was to play the game he loved.