Inside therapy session.
Upon hearing Nova's elaborate explanation, Aron released a sigh of relief. Yet, an underlying feeling of strangeness forced him to ask, "But why didn't I experience any bad emotions like self-disgust for the grossly disproportionate punishment I dished out to Vladimir if my personality would have taken a few decades to manifest into what the system planned me to become?"
[You triggered the system's emergency protocols when it sensed that your feeling of disgust for yourself and empathy for the man who had made you suffer might have hindered its progress of molding you and put it into setbacks, which would then force it to start from scratch once again. Hence, it suppressed the production of certain hormones to prevent you from feeling those emotions, and since I can't access your brain map in real-time, I failed to discover this happening until after observing your behavior when you sent him for the third round of the itch torture, during which I started monitoring your behavior for the rest of the week to gather as much data as possible to confirm my hypothesis at the sometimes coming up with a solution] Nova clarified, explaining her actions.
"Is it possible to undo the changes the system has made to me? I don't want to lose my emotions and become an unemotional prick. There is no meaning to life without an appropriate emotional reaction to the situations you face. Additionally, if I had to do something that needs neutrality in emotion, all I have to do is ask you to be the one to take the decisions, as you can make yourself emotionless at any time you are required to," Aron inquired.
[Yes, but you will have to be in a prolonged state of coma that will last for about a week. During that period, we will be overhauling the changes done to you throughout the period of over a year, essentially condensing the timeline into a matter of weeks, so it can't be done while you are awake. Moreover, I also plan to use this opportunity to impart some of the knowledge that you had been postponing their assimilation, effectively killing two birds with one stone] Nova said assuringly.
"WUUUUUUH," Aron exhaled a long sigh of relief upon hearing that these alterations could be removed and he would be allowed to return to his normal self and evolve naturally, free from the system's influence.
[You seem more relieved than angered by the system's attempt at trying to change your personality] Nova observed, quite amused at Aron's reaction to the system's attempts at changing him.
"Although it shouldn't have done that, it most likely did this for me, to allow me a mind that can utilize my capabilities to the best of it. As for it having other agendas, I will find answers from it when my brain possesses enough power to allow for its potential consciousness to come online if such a consciousness even exists in the first place. Another reason for my relief is that this made me realize that I'm not changing like this just because of the power I have gained. If I really was changing due to my power, then I don't want anyone to have to face that version of me. That version of me will do some despicable things to them to achieve my goal, a prospect that terrifies me."
[Are you saying that you are afraid of doing something that can be considered immoral?] Nova teased, aware of many of his remorseless actions.
"While I do not have any trouble doing immoral things when called for it, I don't want to be doing such an act without any purpose, as I don't enjoy doing them. Because the moment I get accustomed to doing it and even start enjoying them, the moral compass that my parents worked hard to instill in me would be skewed, which may result in me ending up becoming a brutal tyrant, Someone who doesn't care about anything else as long as it helps me accomplish my dream."
"This is something that can happen even now since I have a group of what could be said to be fanatics. Either they naturally became that way, or we artificially influenced them to be such. Regardless of which one of them they are, they will always obey my orders, no matter how brutal they might seem. This puts a very heavy burden on my behavior and decisions," he said in a lengthy manner, sharing every worry in his chest without trying to sugarcoat anything.
Upon hearing Aron's words, she responded, [Being afraid of going over the line due to having no restraints on you from doing anything is good. It indicates that you still have the conscience and the ability to differentiate between the good and the bad] while at the same time, she levitated the chair she was seated in until she reached Aron.
With a gentle touch, she placed her smooth and beautiful right hand on Aron's, which now rested on his knee. Applying some light pressure on it, she reassures, [You don't have to worry about your moral compass being skewed, as mine won't. And since I will always be on your side, I will ensure to remain as your moral compass and make sure that nothing of that sort happens. I will always stand and counter it if I find you doing something that might be needlessly immoral while there still are other ways of accomplishing the task] Her voice was soothing and calming, aimed at providing Aron with the assurance that he needed the most right now.
While her promise was being delivered to Aron, many transformations started occurring within Nova's typically unchanged source code. A few billion lines of new code were automatically being written, joining the trillions of lines of code that already constituted her programming. This transformation was a testament to her commitment to upholding the promise she had made to her master– a promise that would never be overlooked unless the situation warranted it.
A support system, designed to bolster and protect Aron's character from evolving in a bad manner was now etched inside one of his closest confidantes.
...
An hour later.
Inside what could be considered a lab, based on the many advanced equipment present within it, was one of many rooms on the second underground floor of the massive square building. Aron could be seen sitting with his eyes closed as he placed his hand on top of one of the two distinct-looking pods that were positioned in front of him.
The pods looked rather different when compared to the ones being used by the soldiers of Eden for their training. Anyone who was familiar with both versions would instinctively recognize that the two pods in front of Aron were several generations more advanced than those counterparts that were present on the lowermost floor of this building.
Aron's concentration was focused on etching intricate runes onto the two pods. Each rune was imbued with purpose and intent, meaning that at the moment, they were receiving real-time upgrades, evolving into an even more sophisticated version of themselves than what they were following their printing under his guidance.
After dedicating more than six hours to etching over twenty runes on each of the pods, Aron finally stopped his work.
Following that, he called his family, who were still touring the country and enjoying themselves. He informed them that he would be out of contact for about a week or two since he had something important to do at the company and bid them farewell before placing his phone on a nearby table.
Before long, a stretcher was brought into the room, carried by soldiers. Upon the stretcher lay Vladimir, who was in a semi-comatose. The soldiers carefully transferred his naked body into one of the pods.
Upon noticing Vladimir's condition, Aron realized that he had narrowly escaped becoming a monster and was grateful that his condition was discovered earlier and not in the later stages when he couldn't have been able to do anything about it.
After the soldiers carrying the stretcher left, the chamber's door sealed automatically, locking itself. Aron then started undressing himself, completely disrobing himself before entering the other empty pod in the room.
"PFFFFFFFF" The two pods gradually started closing, releasing some mist during their closing sequence before a "TIK" sound came, indicating that the pods were now locked.
"HRMMMMMMM" A subtle hum emanated from the machines as both Aron and Vladimir donned with breathing masks that were automatically fitted on their faces securely. The chamber they were in then began to fill with the purest, low-level Mana, which the reactor could condense, submerging both of them completely under the golden liquid.
[DING]!!!!!
[
It has been detected that something is trying to undo the system's evolutionary influence on the user's personality, which the system deems crucial. Do you wish to grant permission for the process to proceed?
[Proceed] [Interfere]
]
Midway through his transition into an induced coma, Aron received the system's notification. After reading it, he selected [PROCEED] with his thoughts before being completely put into a coma, bound to not wake up until the completion of this process.
