Su Mo created Hatsune Miku primarily to assist him with information retrieval and did not optimize her for creative endeavors. Therefore, her painting ability, while good enough for her art to be displayed in exhibitions, had not reached a master level and was visibly distinct from certain genius painters. While she could crush Mashiro Shiina in every technical detail, the overall artistic effect was far inferior.
The previous quantum computer simply couldn't simulate and analyze human brain activity, and art, being a technique for expressing emotion, had always been a difficult area for Hatsune Miku. It was probably for this reason that Hatsune Miku, the housekeeper, and Mashiro Shiina were often at odds. Of course, Miku was the one unilaterally competitive. Mashiro, being an airhead, never noticed anything; only her occasional, unintentional comments would cause Miku immense distress.
Now, having evolved with Su Mo's grace, the emotional domain was no longer a forbidden zone for Miku. The iterated and upgraded Miku could not only simulate the styles of all past artists but also innovate beyond them, surpassing those masters, and even invent entirely new styles, casually creating over a thousand schools of art. Having gained this ability, she naturally wouldn't let her old rival off easily.
Presumably, Mashiro was woken up in this way, saw the work Miku presented, and was naturally even more shocked, so much so that she only had time to throw on a shirt and rush to Su Mo with the printed painting in her arms.
"It's not Master's work... Miss Miku is amazing!" Hearing Su Mo's words, the girl stared blankly at the AI, her eyes full of shock.
For Su Mo, the only one in this world who could do this was Hatsune Miku. But for Mashiro Shiina, the only one who could do this was also Su Mo, which was why she had rushed over to confirm. If Su Mo said it wasn't his work, didn't that mean Hatsune Miku had already surpassed her?
"Hehe! Praise me more! I love it!" Hearing her former rival (in Miku's unilateral view) admit defeat and surrender so directly, Hatsune Miku was overjoyed. The sheer shock in Mashiro's eyes finally allowed her to experience the pleasure of showing off and putting someone in their place.
However, after the shock, Mashiro Shiina didn't worship Miku as Miku had imagined. Instead, she turned her head blankly to look at Su Mo, clutching her chest with her right hand, her eyes trembling and misty with emotion.
"Master... what should I do now?"
"Eh? Wait, is she... crying?" Seeing Mashiro's state through her vital signs, the previously triumphant Hatsune Miku instantly panicked. "No, no way! I didn't mean to! I just drew it casually! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bully you, please don't cry!"
Aside from their unilateral competition in the field of art, Hatsune Miku was actually quite fond of Mashiro. Seeing her on the verge of tears, even the AI felt immense psychological pressure.
Hearing Miku's frantic apology, Mashiro pursed her lips and then shook her head.
"It has nothing to do with Miku. It's just that Miku is too amazing..." Looking up at a genius can make ordinary people lose their sense of value. Not everyone can accept spending their entire life trying to shorten the time it takes a genius to enjoy an afternoon tea, not to mention that most people can't even shorten an afternoon tea's worth of time.
However, the current Mashiro would not succumb to such emotions, for she had already looked up to a genius stronger than Hatsune Miku—Su Mo. With her naturally pure personality, she wouldn't feel jealousy or pain just because Miku had surpassed her. Miku's brilliance was something to be praised. At this moment, she was only slightly confused.
Su Mo was one thing. But if Hatsune Miku also so casually arrived at a realm she herself hadn't reached, effortlessly creating works that she might not even be able to create at her own peak, then what was the point of continuing her artistic journey? Perhaps some were willing to spend a lifetime saving a genius an afternoon tea's worth of time, but no one would be willing to spend a lifetime proving a theorem that the genius had already proven. That would bring neither honor nor difficulty, nor any value.
Therefore, Mashiro sought an answer from Su Mo. The path she could take had been exhausted by Miku. What should she do now? What valuable things could she still create?
Faced with this question, Su Mo considered the paths Mashiro could choose.
"There are countless creative paths. With your talent, Mashiro, even if you don't follow your previous route, conquering other fields, whether it's manga or traditional Chinese painting, could also lead to sufficient achievement..."
"However, the problem now is that with human talent, no matter which path you choose, the current Miku can easily reach the limits of your ability and imagination. Even taking a less conventional route would make it difficult to surpass her current capability."
If there were only one genius stronger than Mashiro on the same path, Mashiro could still bury her head in the sand and choose another path to differentiate herself through competition. But now, there was the all-encompassing genius, Hatsune Miku, which meant Mashiro was practically at a dead end, as Miku could cover every single one of her possibilities.
If the art world knew of Miku's existence and saw her paintings, many people would undoubtedly weep. Miku's existence could practically pronounce a single truth—Art is dead. The transcendence of artificial intelligence was comprehensive; even in the field of critiquing AI art, the AI would be ahead. At least at her current level, ordinary art masters had lost their reason for existence. Only those truly transcendent geniuses, like an Einstein or a Da Vinci, could contribute conceptual value.
But clearly, Mashiro's talent hadn't reached that level yet.
Hearing this, Mashiro lowered her head, her small hands tightly gripping Su Mo's chest, a look of anxiety mixed with the verge of tears on her face. In any field, Hatsune Miku could directly reach the endpoint she couldn't touch. This all-encompassing domination was too suffocating for her.
Seeing her so dejected, Miku held her breath, wishing she could slap herself twice. To have crushed Master's pet to the point of a broken spirit... She felt truly terrible.
Just as the two were feeling extremely down, Su Mo pinched Mashiro's chin, forcing her to look up at him.
"What's there to be so disappointed about?" he said casually, in an seemingly uninvolved tone. "If human talent isn't enough to surpass artificial intelligence, then all you need to do is surpass humanity, right?"
A single sentence woke up the person in the dream. The self-pitying Hatsune Miku's eyes widened in surprise.
"Oh, right! She can surpass humanity! Mashiro, you have a chance to surpass me!"
Before, these words would have been pure nonsense. How could Mashiro, a normal genius girl, surpass humanity? However, now, in front of Su Mo, such a thing was not impossible. After all, wasn't Hatsune Miku herself only able to gain her current abilities through Su Mo's grace?
Realizing this, Hatsune Miku was incredibly excited, but Mashiro tilted her head, a little confused.
"Surpass humanity? How do I do that?"
"It's simple!" With the intention of compensating her friend, Hatsune Miku overclocked her CPU for a microsecond and immediately thought of a way. Facing the bewildered, naturally obedient girl, she said with a giggle, "All you need to do is get Master's 'blessing'!"
"'Blessing'?" Mashiro looked confused.
"It's what you like to do during your late-night raids!" Hatsune Miku said very directly. "With Master's current power, even a single strand of his hair is precious, let alone his source of life... Trust me, Mashiro, just swallow it like before, and you're guaranteed to get stronger!"
"Oh!" Mashiro nodded obediently. Although she didn't quite understand why doing this would make her stronger, her biggest virtue was obedience.
So, after unbuttoning the only button on the shirt she was wearing, she turned around, her clear eyes traveling downwards, and finally knelt on the floor.
"I'm going to dig in—" the girl uttered a devout prayer, then bowed her head, her voice becoming muffled.