The villainess shall be mine

Chapter 26 C.R.I.S.T.A.L

:::[Third person POV]:::

The events that happened successively in these 48 hours were eye-opening for Adam. The dark clouds inside of his head dissipated but revealed new challenges and more mystery that he needed to overcome.

However, he was not yet at the end of his surprise.

The black metallic cube that he was holding began to speak and floated in front of him.

When faced with such a situation, people tend to have different reactions, depending on their personalities and background.

As for Adam, he was one of these people who looked calm on the outside, but his mind overflowed with questions.

'What is this? A robot with AI integrated into the system? It looks extremely sophisticated, and it can even, float?' Adam thought, trying to come up with a reasonable theory.

He looked at the floating cube in a very inquisitive manner, trying to figure out what course of action he should take next.

However, before Adam could speculate any further, an emotionless female voice reached his ears, sounding like it couldn't stand the silence and the dumbfounded look on Adam's face.

[You can refer to me as C.R.I.S.T.A.L, short for 'Creation. Reinforcement. Support. Transmission. Autonomous. Lecturer.']

"What? That sounded so random… But wait, more importantly, what are you exactly?" Adam asked.

[These refer to my basic functions. I am your guide and assistant.]

"I see," Adam said, but he couldn't help but find this robot extremely cool in many ways.

Of course, Adam would be very excited about this, because he liked to watch sci-fi movies like the S*ar w*rs saga, and he was also a fan of Jarv*s the AI created by Sta*k, and most of the time, he would go to the cinema alone to watch these movies.

"Can you understand my words?" Adam asked and approached his face to Cristal's lens.

[Yes. I understand what you are saying. I can also see your silly face, Master.]

"How can you do that? You can even read my expressions?" Adam said, becoming more and more excited.

[…]

"What else can you do? Can you transform into a weapon? Or turn into something like armor?" Adam asked excitedly.

He tried to keep his composure and was wary of potential danger, but it was obvious that he was somewhat happy with Cristal's appearance.

[Master. Please listen to this recording first.]

"A recording?"

Ignoring Adam's questions Cristal played a voice recording stored inside of her memory.

[Recording number 3. Adam, if you listen to this, it would mean that the time had finally come, and I am not around anymore. I left Cristal to help you from here. You got this Adam, and don't forget that you are not alone anymore. Also, there is not much time left. If I am gone, then these dark entities should be aware of your existence by now. Cristal will explain the details, but your first goal is to find all fragments of the Tree of life that exists in this universe before them. This will help you to advance to the next level of existence and maybe will bring hope to all conscious beings. I don't know if we will meet again someday, but I know that you can do this no matter how many times you have to go down. Finally, be extremely cautious of the Holy Church. Something is lurking there, in the shadow of the Empire.' End of the recording.]

"Firstly, who is that?" Adam asked because he heard a somehow familiar voice. "I don't know where, but I have already heard that voice before... Was it in this world though?"

[You can consider that person as a sort of fatherly figure.]

"Father? As far as I know, I am not adopted." Adam said, trying to understand what was going on. After all, he witnessed the moment of his birth in this world so there was no chance for him to be adopted.

[ It was the simplest way to explain to you the nature of that person, but his identity doesn't matter because he never intended to meet you.]

"What?" Adam muttered. "That didn't even answer the question. I already have a lot of things to process, so it's a bit annoying when the mysteries keep increasing."

[You need to be patient. That person said that when you are ready to know the truth you will come, and you will need me. So it's finally time for me to execute my first mission and become your assistant and your guide.]

"Are you saying that all of this time, this person was there observing me?" Adam said.

[Yes, you would have been in danger if you got into contact with him or acted recklessly, so he asked for your memory to be altered.]

"This doesn't make any sense at all. What kind of danger are you talking about? Is it related to the destruction of the world? " Adam said as if he realized something after listening to Cristal.

[The circumstances were a bit more complicated than what you think. However, he also said that you don't need to worry because he left me here.]

"Complicated? To the point that he had to use such an extreme and confusing method? Isn't it even more complicated now? I have gaps in my memories, and I was told that the world would be destroyed by a faceless person in some kind of dream or a vision, I don't even k ow anymore, and now, I find out that someone was observing me all of this time. How the hell is that not complicated? " Adam said, obviously discontent with what he just discovered.

[Master, this is not just about you. If everything didn't go as planned then you would have died a long ago. Also, some dark forces were watching, and if they found out about your power they would have come here before you could even understand anything. That was a race against time. There was no time to carefully explain all of the preparation needed for this nor gather information.]

Cristal explained, but Adam didn't look convinced at all. He couldn't swallow the fact that during all of these fifteen years his mind was tampered with by someone.

"How can it be not about me? I spent 15 freaking years without knowing all of that, and now I begin to wonder if I ain't just completely stupid at this point " Adam said, trying to think about what he should do next.

[That was why he focused on gathering information. His initial plan was to focus on your growth as a person first, and only after that did he plan on developing your power. However, there were too many unexpected factors, and his power and the information that he knew were too limited, so he used you to gather information in his stead, all for the sake of this day. He realized that It was inevitable that some dark forces will take notice of you, sooner or later, so you might be attacked before you can even become strong enough to protect yourself. That is why he changed his plan and decided to make use of me.]

Inconsiderate of Adam's feelings, Cristal continued her explanation.

"Wait..." Adam said.

"It's not about that… The scale of the things that I need to do is just too big. I decided to do this, and I steeled my resolve, but still, it is hard to digest all that in two days." Adam said with an exasperated expression.

[That is understandable, but there were too many things that needed to be taken into consideration, and also many unstable factors, such as yourself. He didn't have the choice with his limited power. He didn't know how to deal with you either, because normally you are the one who is supposed to control your power and not the other way around.]

"Even so, I still think that he should have talked to me and we could have dealt with it in a better way," Adam said, feeling like Cristal didn't understand what he was saying. Well, she was just an AI, he thought.

[…]

Cristal stayed quiet for a while as if observing Adam, before continuing.

[You still don't look completely convinced at all.]

"What? What are you trying to say?" Adam said, knowing that there were things that felt too unreal even after spending fifteen years in this world. "This is something that needs to be taken seriously… I need to think about a lot of things and need time to accept them as real."

[I see. Pick up your sword and let's start from the beginning. This is where you start.]