Chapter Sixty: The Standard Intelligence Core

Lando was tinkering with a metallic box, one meter square. The box was open, revealing a dense array of crystalline structures and tangled circuits within. One by one, runes gathered in his hands and were imprinted onto the box.

“Crystalline structure fully supplemented...”
“Information circuits mapped out...”
“Rune imprinting completed...”
“Energy circuit running smoothly...”
“Phew! Finally finished.”

He gazed at the somewhat messy metal box before him, a look of satisfaction spreading across his face. Although it was just the most basic standard intelligent core, it had taken him five days of painstaking effort. In his previous life, if Lando had possessed this technology, he could have established a technological empire in no time.

He took out a specially prepared wristband, placed the intelligent core inside its spatial compartment, and fastened it onto his wrist. Immediately, a portion of energy from his internal arcane furnace automatically linked to the wristband, supplying the intelligent core.

Lando took a deep breath, calming his excitement. Through the energy link, he activated the intelligent core within the wristband.

“Beep... Standard intelligent core initial activation...”
“Base logic verification... Creator... Lando... Owner... Lando...”
“Information collection... Collection complete... Bound...”
“Initial activation complete, commencing self-check...”
“Self-check in progress... 20%... 40%... 60%...”
“Self-check complete... Detected Silver Tower Academy public circuit, connect?”

“Connect!”

“Connection request in progress...”

Just then, Xiaobai’s voice sounded: “Intelligent core requests access to Silver Tower Academy public circuit. Owner: Lando. Proceed with authentication?”

“It’s me, authenticate!”

“Authentication successful, access permitted.”
“Connection established... Upload self-check report to intelligent core terminal?”

This was one of Silver Tower Academy’s benefits. After all, Silverlight was the highest-grade intelligent core, and as the academy’s terminal, its repository of knowledge was vast as the sea. It was said to be only a step away from true intelligent life. Once the self-check report was uploaded, it could easily identify flaws and oversights, saving the creator a great deal of time—though only the first time was free.

“Upload!”

Within seconds, the result returned. Lando was surprised; the completion rate was only 96.7%. He had thought that, aside from aesthetics, this standard intelligent core would be flawless.

He reread Silverlight’s documentation carefully, pondering as he began to modify the intelligent core. After a long time, he smiled in satisfaction—the efficiency was visibly improved upon activation.

At that moment, Xiaobai detached from his wrist and, upon landing, transformed into a palm-sized robot. It glanced at the intelligent core, then turned to Lando and said, “Lando, you are an outstanding student. I believe you will become an even more exceptional arcanist in the future. I have greatly enjoyed working with you during this time and look forward to future cooperation. For now, I must take my leave.”

Watching Xiaobai dissolve into silver dust, Lando felt a pang of sadness. Though he had been wary of Xiaobai at first, they had spent much time together.

“Well then, from now on, you’ll be called... Gray.”

Lando had considered keeping the name Xiaobai for the intelligent core, but ultimately chose a new one.

“Gray... Recording complete, Master.”

Compared to Xiaobai’s voice—with its array of options and customizable avatars, though Lando had never used them—Gray’s was straightforward and electronic. Truly, one only realizes the value of something after it’s gone.

Lando spoke meaningfully, “Gray, you have a long journey ahead.”

He let Gray take over the dormitory’s control system. After days of sleepless focus, now that the work was done, he felt aches all over. He decided to get a good sleep before thinking about anything else.

The next day at noon, Lando awoke naturally. After washing up, he ate breakfast prepared by 9527 and pondered what to study next.

“Master, Mr. Carter is here to see you.”
“Let him in directly.”
“Yes.”

Soon, Carter entered.

Lando greeted him with a tease, “Hey, Senior Carter, you’re looking younger and more handsome again!”

Carter replied, exasperated, “Will you ever let that go?”

Back when Carter was working at Baron Moria’s castle, he disguised himself as a middle-aged scholar. Lando had always thought he was over forty, only to discover it was a façade—Carter was barely in his twenties. Having always respected Carter as an elder, Lando was annoyed upon learning the truth and made it a habit to joke about Carter’s youthful looks every time they met.

Carter was about to complain when his eyes caught Lando’s wristband—the kind designed with energy circuits for intelligent cores lacking access to void energy networks.

“That wristband? Don’t tell me you’ve already made a standard intelligent core?!”

“Hehe, Gray, say hello!”

“Greetings, Mr. Carter. I am Gray, created by my master, Lando.”

“Impressive. You’ve only just enrolled and you’ve already made an intelligent core. So, did you upload the self-check report?”

“I did. Eh, so-so, I guess.” Lando was dissatisfied with the 96.7% completion rate.

Noticing Lando’s disappointment, Carter was secretly pleased and spoke in a senior’s tone to comfort him: “Don’t be too discouraged. For a first attempt, getting a self-check completion above 60% is already remarkable. Anything above 80% is genius-level. I myself studied for three years before achieving 90% on my first try. You’ve studied for less than a year and managed a successful activation—quite impressive. By the way, what completion rate did Silverlight give you?”

“96.7%.”

“Oh, 66.7%, that’s very good, haha... uh, heh...”

After a long silence, Carter asked, “I think I misheard you—what was the rate?”

“Ninety-six point seven percent! Just three point three percent short of perfect!” Just to make sure Carter heard, Lando explained again.

“...”

After a moment, sensing the awkwardness, Lando changed the subject: “So, what brings you here? I’ve been confined to my dorm by Professor Moritz recently, so I haven’t been able to go out.”

Carter, sounding weary, answered, “It’s Professor Moritz who sent me. The academy is ready; this afternoon you’ll undergo the highest-level aptitude assessment.”

“Couldn’t they just send me a notification? Why send you?”

“There’s more to it than that.” Carter became serious. “There might be many people attending this afternoon. Professor Moritz asked me to tell you—don’t be nervous, just do as you always do. He and Professor Otto will both be on your side.”