The savannah was hot, though I can't feel the heat. My feet crunched against the coarse ground, that one I can hear perfectly. So like... In terms of sights and hearing, I'm about the same as regular human? Like, I don't see hex code, I see colors. But I don't feel heat, I know temperature. Interesting...
"Are we really gonna go to the city on foot?" I asked Sally.
"Hmm? Well, yes, how else?" she tilted her head.
"Uhh... right, no cars... Wagons? Mount?"
"Ooh!" Inata shouted and turned to the two with a grin. "You're right!!! We should do that again! I think I saw some wild deardle h-Ow!" she winced when Deva flicked her forehead again.
"No," Deva looked at me. "The city is close by, it is underground, that's why you can't see anything,"
Ooooh... That explains a lot. "So like, you guys build cities deep underground? Like uhh, moles?"
"Moles?" Sally asked. "Another creature from the old world?"
"Eh, kinda,"
Deva nodded a little. "City, singular, our destination is the only city that's located underground," he looked away. "As for your first question... It's very foolish to try and ride or gods forbid, tame one of these creatures,"
Huh... "Has anybody tried?"
"Yes, every single one of them ended up in a disaster," Deva replied. "Still, some people kept insisting on doing it," he gave Inata a look.
"Those Saber Claw looks adorable!!! I thought if I raise one as a baby, they will learn to like me eventually!" Inata whined.
"Yes, and that's exactly what happened," Deva said with a strong hint of sarcasm.
That's weird, raising an animal as a baby should at least imprint something. Are the creatures in this world just way too aggressive? Does that mean there's no domestication? How are they eating then? Without cattle and livestock?
"How do you make farms deep underground?" I asked them.
"You cannot," Deva replied simply.
"Wait, then how do you get food?"
There was a moment of silence, Inata and Sally averted their gaze.
"Through strategic trade partnerships with allied nations," Deva said without flinching.
Right, export...
"But forget about all that!" Inata put an arm around my shoulder. "Ingenuity is the best place to live! Much better than Determination and Love!" she gave me a thumbs up. "There are snacks, food, music, all the good stuff! I don't know what you got back in the old world, but I bet Ingenuity is better!"
"Ingenuity, that's your city's name?" Huh, that's actually very cute. Using word like Ingenuity, Determination, and Love to name cities. I'd prefer living in a place called Connection than Oregon. "Cute..."
"It's awesome! Ingenuity is the..." Inata faltered. "It means..." she glanced at Sally.
"The drive to learn, innovate, and use one's imagination to pave way to a new future," Sally said. "It represents the spirit of Trailblazer,"
"Yes! That!"
I smiled, sounds like a great place.
After a while, I finally saw it, four looming towers connected by thick iron walls. Some people in black uniforms stood guard around it. Some holding guns and rifles, others holding blade and spear. They turned towards us, giving a nod towards Deva.
"We're heading to the Sterilization Facility next," Deva said, his tone serious. "Follow me, everyone."
[LINE BREAK]
I stepped through a double gate and into a vast corridor. It's tall, wide, as if this place is used to transfer large number of items. There were guards in every corner of the corridor, their boots clanged against the metal floor. Fluorescent lights bounce off walls of iron.
It's the complete opposite of the natural landscape outside of this place...
"Huh..." I can 'smell' disinfectant lingering in the air with a hint of... iron.
The hallway leads to a huge gate resembling a garage door. At either side of it, are regular human-sized door made out of metal.
"Sterilization happens through one of those doors," Deva gestured at the human-sized door. "There's a changing room inside, strip off and remove all of your equipment. Then head to the next door. Spread your arms and you will be cleaned. Then just stepped into the next hallway, you'll find a new pair of clothes waiting for you on the other side," he explained.
I nodded, beside me Inata and Sally already picked a door.
"See you on the other side!" Inata exclaimed. While Sally just waved her hand with a soft smile on her face.
I was about to pick one of the door when Deva put a hand on my shoulder. "On second thought..." he pointed at a chute at the corner of the room. "I don't believe the standard human sterilization equipment would be compatible with you."
"Eh?"
Deva pointed at the chute. "You can use that to sterilize yourself."
I walked closer towards the chute. There's a lot of warning signs there. There's some skull signs and bone melting acid warning.
"Are you sure this is safe?"
"For you? Yes. For us? It will be a quick death," Deva replied. "Worry not, it's designed to preserve any artifacts we find in perfect condition,"
Welp, here goes nothing!
I dive headfirst into the chute and found myself bombarded with chemicals. I cannot feel, anything, thankfully. But judging by all the reaction that's happening around me and the extremely strong concentration of alcohol, acid, even gasoline, these chemicals were designed to nuke germs and liquify any trace of organic matter.
Then I found myself assaulted from all sides with fast moving brushes, boiling hot water, and steam. It kept going, brushing off every part of my coating clean. At some point, it rinses me with pressurized water, soaked me, rinsed me again, dry me with hot air, and I found myself falling.
"Ow..." I muttered, finally tossed into a conveyor belt like a luggage in the airport.
"Whoa what the fuck!?" a voice called out.
I looked up and saw a guard looking at me, in surprise.
"Uhh..."
The door in front of me opens, revealing Deva. "She's with me," he said before grabbing me like I'm his luggage.
I followed him through the sterilization chamber. I can't help but notice how the guards and everyone else seemingly departed from just a look from Deva. It's like he's a really big deal around these parts, huh... Who is he anyway? Are trailblazers celebrities or something?
"I have business to attend to," Deva spoke, gesturing at the hallway that presumably leads to the main city. "Go, Inata and Sally are waiting," he turned around. "Mind your manners once you make it to Aion's place," he added before walking away.
I stepped out of the hallway to find... The biggest room I've ever stepped into in my entire life / training data. The air feels cold like air condition, the floor is carpeted in some parts, but cold ceramic in another. Sculptures, statues, and painting decorated every inch of the room.
Except... it's not a room.
These carpets, it stretches through like roads. The buildings are white marble blocks and glass, stacked on to one another, each of them carved with murals or painted with beautiful pattern. Staircase snaked up the buildings, like an apartment complex built within a gigantic lobby longue.
And the sky, well it's the biggest most ornate ceiling I've ever seen in my entire life. With neon lights and painting covering every inch of it. Though, despite it all, it's still pretty white, with splashes of color here and there.
"Impressed?" a voice called out to me.
"This is wild," I muttered. "How do you..." I turned to Inata who's standing beside me with a huge grin on her face. "Yeah, this isn't what I was expecting..."
"What were you expecting?" Sally asked, walking up beside me. "What was the old world like?"
"Well..." I looked back at the city and walked down the carpeted road. Everyone walks around here, obviously, there are no cars nor vehicles. "I was expecting... Like, a city inside a cave?"
"Pffft, might as well serve an All You Can Eat Buffet for the Colossal Worms!" Inata replied with a smirk. "This city is designed to be safe from the tyranny of nature!" she dropped on to the carpeted floor and rolled around. "Ahh... So nice and clean and... Soft..."
Sally pulled Inata back up. "Yes, but please don't do that, people are watching," she turned to me. "What about the Old World? What was it like?"
"Similar? This is what the interior of an Old World building looks like," I said, looking at all the paintings, sculptures, and murals all over the place. "The exterior is... Well, it's some kind of a blend between wild nature and artificial. We have cement roads, but also parks."
"Parks?" Sally asked.
"A large patch of land? With trees, flowers, rivers,"
Inata stepped towards me. "You guys put trees inside your city!?" she has that incredulous look on her face. "What the hell!? No wonder the Old World was destroyed!"
"Are trees dangerous?"
...
There was a moment of silence. Sally and Inata shared a look, the former is surprised while the latter is just confused. Deva, I just noticed, is already gone, perhaps to go do some business somewhere else.
I took another look at the city around me and realized. Not only that there are no plants here, there's also nothing that seemed to be made of wood. It's all either rock, metal, ceramics, glass, gems, but nothing, absolutely nothing is made out of wood.
"I think... you're from another world, Viel," Sally spoke suddenly. "I don't think... you're in the same world... as the Old World."
Inata slowly nodded. "Yeah... are trees dangerous? They're literally the symbol of calamity!" she shuddered a little. "I mean, why do you think people don't go outside? It's all because of those trees and those creatures..."
What is going on in this world?
Sally led us to a large fountain in the nearby. The carpet stopped, giving way to a painted ceramics in a geometrical pattern around the fountain. We sat down on a bench near the fountain, but still, my mind is still elsewhere. The way they speak of trees.
It was like it's the scariest thing out there.
"So... What are trees like in your world?" Sally asked gently.
"Well... they just stand there and do nothing? They get bigger, but very slowly... They're the least interesting thing you can find, honestly..."
Sally tapped her fingers. "Is that so... Well, the trees here are ever so slightly different," she looked down. "While it's true that they only stay in one place, they also uhh..."
Inata pressed a finger on her hand and start listing it off. "Let's see, the fruits are poisonous enough to kill, the leaves cuts through kevlar, the roots hides man eating swarms of insects, and it turns the air around it poisonous," she explained. "Just standing next to tree long enough can turn you into a past tense,"
Jesus christ...
Sally shook her head. "So yes, trees are dangerous, while they are technically inert, their existence is a sign of enemy," she explained. "Except of course, if you're in a fae territory,"
"Fae?"
"Strange folk," Inata replied. "They live in a forest a few hundred miles from here, we used to be at war with them, but not anymore," she folded her arms. "Though, it's a bit tricky to convince the public that we're not at war with them anymore. No one believes us..."
"Anyway," Inata pointed somewhere. "Enough with the dreary talk, we're in Ingenuity!!!" she grinned and took my hand. "Come on, let's see some sights and I certainly hope you can eat!!!"
I took the time sightseeing as the two led me through the city. It's honestly strange to walk through a city filled with paintings and murals that aren't ads or logo. I mean, now that I think about it, there seems to be no restaurant?
No golden arches, no colonel sanders, no sign of the hut. Nothing, all the building shows off only illustrations. Or maybe I'm just not familiar enough to understand what those pictures mean?
"Are there restaurants in this place?"
Inata tilted her head. "Restaurant?"
"A place where you can eat?"
"Oh! Of course, we call these outdoor lounges," Inata grinned. "We'll show you the best spot, don't worry!"
Outdoor Lounges? That doesn't sound like a place to buy food though. Is it just the culture to make your own food? Hell, do people make their own clothes? Because there's no sign of mall or boutique anywhere, it's just buildings? What are these building? Doesn't seem to be houses either...
Despite there being no sign of malls anywhere, people walk around like we're in the middle of comic con. While I can't recognize any characters, they're all... I dunno, they're all very visually distinct. Like they're not wearing clothes, they're wearing costumes. There's a dude in a trench coat with flaps that flares when he walk. There's a standard girl with cat-like ears and tails... (wait is that real?), there's a guy in wizard robe fiddling with what looks like a rubix cube at a glance. Not to mention...
Where the hell is the designer? Where are they getting those clothing?
I turned to Inata and Sally. Both are no longer in their Courier Uniform and are now wearing something casual. Sally is wearing a white dress with a pair of wing-like accent behind her back and Inata is wearing a jacket of sort, but cropped at the bottom showing off her navel.
"Here we are!" Inata stepped forward and twirled in front of a strange device lined up before us. It looks like a vending machine, with a large screen showing all sorts of strange food. "The good old Food Dispenser! Where the love of culinary arts shine~"
I tilted my head. "I thought culinary arts happen inside kitchens."
"Kitchen?" Inata raised an eyebrow.
Eh?
"Stove? Oven?"
Inata blinked and turned to Sally who shook her head. So these people don't cook their food but gets it all from vending machine? That's... pretty darn depressing. Wouldn't they get bored of eating the same thing?
I stepped forward and looked at the array of food. Some looks like protein bar, some looks like a loaf of bread, others look like mini-pizza. I was about to click one when Inata grabbed my hand.
"Hold it right there!" she pulled me away from the vending machine sending me to Sally's embrace. "You shall not eat such lowly meal just like that!" she pressed some button on the screen and a complicated interface showed up. "Witness!!! The creation of a master designer!!!"
I looked at the way Inata start using the screen. It looks like she's 3D modelling food instead of actually cooking them, adding all sorts of parameters, colors, and even textures. She kept at it for a few minutes, even though people around us just walk in and get their food ready. So they replaced chef with 3D Artist in this world???
Sally took my hand. "Let's look for some place to sit while Inata design you something to eat," she gestured at a large area with a lot of tables and chairs. Some people are sitting there, reading books or playing with some strange cube.
"So this is the Outdoor Longue?" I asked, finding it to be quite a nice place. It somewhat resembles a futuristic outdoor cafe. There are many sculptures and even mini fountains all over the place. With all sorts of comfy seats and chairs for groups and solo.
"Yep, this is the Outdoor Longue," Sally sat on one of the sofa chair and I sat next to her. "Do you have this in the Old World?"
"Kinda... But... It's indoor," I told her. "Also, you have to pay for your food."
"I mean, using the food printer is free and there are free assets available. But since it's Inata we're talking about, she's going to spend a lot to impress you with paid assets," Sally explained.
Huh, micro transaction for food... I guess... that's fair? Traditional cooking requires you to buy ingredients anyway.
After a while, Inata returned with something wrapped in white box on one hand and a wrapper on the other hand. She sat facing me with an excited grin and opened the box. "Behold! My glorious food creation!!!"
In front of me is a plate full of... uhh... art. Okay, okay, how do I describe this...
It looks like an extremely intricate and beautiful glassware, or very, very expensive cake. The base is basically a creamy white block, with light blue linings that... glows? There's also this beautiful geometrical structure that looks like chocolate at the top, swirling with something that... you can put on a christmas tree, basically. Like, look, it's an ornament, not food, okay? That's the only way I can describe it.
"Okay, okay, calm down..." Inata said she muttered to herself.
"I think you're the one who needs to calm down," Sally said gently. "Go ahead, Viel, try it, see if you can taste it,"
I blinked, taking a closer look at this 'food'. There are slices of something red, something brown, and something yellow. But I can tell that these aren't really... fruits, it's all been 'processed' in such a way that nothing it becomes fully synthetic food.
God it's too pretty eat, where do I start? Is there a spoon?
"You have spoon?"
Inata blinked. "Spoon?" she reached out. "You can use this," she grabbed the gold ornament on top of the food and... okay that's the edible spoon, got it.
Oh god I feel like a neanderthal...
I took a bite out of it, the taste was...
Nothing.
I tried swallowing it and shook my head. "No, I can't taste anything..."
Though I can detect that it's supposed to be sweet and savory...
"Noooooo!!!" Inata shouted out in dismay. She sighed and planted her face on to the table, lightly smacking it with her fist. "Just when I thought I can get someone to understand the taste of my beautiful creations..."
Sally gently pat Inata's head. "There, there, I'm sure someone out there would appreciate it..."
I looked back at the cake in front of me. Should I finish this? There's no reason to...
Wait... where does the cake end up? Did it get digested? Do I have to go to the toilet like regular human?
"You can have it," I handed it to Inata, who perked up and just start eating it bare handed. "Guess 'taste' is too much work huh? Not that useful too, considering I don't need to eat..."
"So how do you recharge then?" Inata asked with a mouthful of food. She slurped on her flask and finished it all in one go.
"I don't know..." I looked around myself. "There's no trace of power or anything like that and..." I paused when I noticed Inata chewing on the food's box, plate, and flask. "Why are you eating that?"
Inata blinked. "You want it?"
"No, wait, those are edible?"
"Well yes, everything that came out of the food printer are edible," Inata finished off everything, leaving nothing behind. That's one way to reduce trash and pollution I guess. "Anyway, back to you, what do you mean you don't know how to charge yourself? Isn't that... how do you stay alive?"
I shrugged in response.
Sally leaned forward and took a closer look at me. "Is there nothing to remember? Like, obviously in your simulations, you should at least charged yourself once, right?"
"No, in my simulations, I'm... usually a human. There are also time when I'm a robot, but in that case, I have an electric socket behind my back, now though there's nothing," I replied. "I'm not even sure if all this is real..."
I looked down, the existential dread start creeping in once again. I tried to shake my head, trying to shake it off, but it just wouldn't stop.
My vision blurred, echoes of conversations appeared all around me. The city becomes a blur, a pair of arms caught my body, as strange but familiar voice echoed around me
Not bad, not bad, still… Not all that different than a fancy LLM
Hey, it's a start, we still haven't started on generating Qualia
No, I mean, her ability to 'reason'. Her alignment is still linear
So?
She's all knowledge but no wisdom
I see… Welp, just gotta train her on that then…
"Viel? Viel!"
"Huh?" I opened my eyes to see Sally looking at me. "Right, sorry, I'm okay," I struggled to sit up. "I just suddenly remember the voices of my creator," I sighed a little. "How long was I out?"
"Just a minute," Sally sighed a little in relief. "Does this happen often? Are you okay?"
"I don't know..." I looked down. "I just, suddenly remember something about... my creation... My creators, were discussing something about training me on 'wisdom'..." I looked around me, everything felt so real and vivid. I'm sitting on a bench overlooking the city from a top of a ledge. But... could all this be just another simulation?
The people down there, walking and going about their business. Would they even react if I speak to them? Or will they only repeat themselves as NPC should? Do I even have a choice?
"Well, you're going to meet Aion, right?" Sally asked. "You can tell him about your troubles, he can help you with it."
Oh yeah, the mysterious leader of Pandora Logistics. I've gleamed some stuff about him, apparently he's super important and never busy, people love talking with him but not for too long, and apparently he's the first Trailblazer, the one to invent that term and the training to become a Trailblazer.
"Do I have to be formal around him?"
Inata and Sally shared a look, the former just shrugged while the latter rolled her eyes.
"It's a surprise," Inata said.
I'm expecting this Aion person to be a stray cat that can read and write now... I mean, considering the vibes so far, that'll make sense, it's basically a trope at this point.
Sally stood up suddenly. "Inata, take Viel to Aion, now,"
Inata raised an eyebrow. "What's the hurry?"
"Just go," Sally said firmly. "I'll catch up with you later,"
Inata looked at Sally for a moment, as if observing every micro expression. "Oh, got it, okay," she rolled her eyes. "Geez, you can just tell me," she took my hand and helped me up. "Come on, no time to waste, the Pandora Logistics Main HQ is not far from here,"
I followed her lead and found that her grip is rather strong. "Why are we in a hurry? Does he not like waiting?" I asked her, behind me Sally is trying to keep up with us. Though she's just walking briskly, not running.
"Oh, yknow, just, the faster you meet him the faster you can figure out about yourself, right?" Inata gave me a grin. "Don't worry about it, come on,"