Growth-Oriented Artificial Intelligence

He-El made his way to the command room. Everyone who saw him along the way looked terrified and avoided him like the plague. The trauma and fear He-El had brought them were simply too severe.

Inside the command room, Cai Tiantong was directing the Anchorage Base staff to clean up, repair, and inspect the damaged Gipsy Danger. That battle had torn apart one corner of the base and even punched a huge hole through the dome. The mess was difficult to deal with.

A staff member spotted He-El approaching in a black cloak, striding forward with an overbearing presence that seemed to loom over everything. Like a deity emerging from darkness, he filled their entire field of vision, making their hearts pound and causing them to instinctively feel insignificant.

The staff member hurriedly nudged Tendo's arm with the back of his hand, stiffly turning his neck and signaling toward the person at the door with his eyes.

Tendo was confused. When he turned to look, his breathing caught. He-El was walking toward him as though striding out of the void, casting aside everything around him and leaving only himself behind.

In truth, He-El was simply too powerful. Although he had restrained his bio-magnetic field, he had not, like Superman, used it to alter the visual senses of those around him. Nor had he used it to conceal himself. Thus, to anyone looking at him, he seemed to stand upon this world with the entire world pushed behind him, like Kami within their sight.

Everyone in the command room noticed He-El's arrival. Their voices were suddenly strangled into silence, and the room became deathly quiet.

Even Tendo's fingers stiffened. As Anchorage Base's chief technical consultant, he looked exactly as people imagined a tech worker would—somewhat thin and scholarly. Privately, though, he had quite the sharp tongue.

The atmosphere was terrifyingly still. Tendo felt as though something were lodged in his throat. With difficulty, nervousness, and extreme caution, he asked, "Big bro, what are you doing here?"

He-El glanced at him. This guy actually dared to act familiar and call him big bro! He had some nerve.

He had thought that after witnessing his battle, everyone in Anchorage Base would be too terrified to do anything but avoid him like the plague. Aside from Stacker, only this guy before him seemed remotely normal.

Perhaps he was someone worth cultivating.

A single thought from He-El completely changed the course of a man's future.

Feeling He-El's gaze, Tendo's scalp went numb. His throat was painfully dry, and all he wanted was to slap his own mouth to pieces. Why had he called him big bro? It made him sound like he was trying to curry favor. More importantly, what if this guy disliked the look of him and killed him with a glare? There would be nowhere to plead his grievance.

He fidgeted uneasily, like a little boy.

"Bring all the input devices here and plug them in. Keyboards, tablets, all of it," He-El said. He had never expected that, before conquering the world, he would first have to write code.

Still, on a path that was destined for success, the "effort" of moving forward made it feel rather real to him.

Perhaps this was the satisfaction of advancing toward one's goal.

Moving forward steadily.

Achieving success in the plainest, most unadorned way.

Hearing He-El's words, Tendo instinctively snapped his legs together and sighed inwardly in relief. He had no idea what this alien wanted to do, but as long as he did as ordered, it would be fine.

A serious, urgent enthusiasm appeared on his face. With no room for any other thoughts, he immediately began directing the technicians around him to haul over all the cheap-feeling keyboards and tablets from storage. Then he remembered the several high-end tablets used for adjusting the mech cockpit positions and ran about collecting those too.

Before long, several hexagonal towers had been built in the command room. USB port converters sat at the centers of the hexagonal towers, while densely packed keyboards, tablets, and cables were plugged into the converters. The gaps between the upper and lower layers were no wider than a keycap.

Standing to one side, He-El watched them rushing in and out, "working hard" as if they had been injected with adrenaline. He occasionally spoke to order them to meet his requirements. Some would jump in fright, their hands trembling, but only Tendo could seriously yet flexibly make rapid adjustments according to the space available. He had both courage and ability.

This tool was not bad.

"All the input devices in Anchorage Base should be here now," Tendo reported to He-El, drenched in sweat, his clothes clinging to him. He was breathing slightly hard and swallowing nervously.

"Not bad. Go rest." He-El nodded and began extending his bio-magnetic field toward the input devices in the command room.

Tendo sighed in relief. At last, he had satisfied this lord. At the same time, he felt... this lord did not seem all that difficult to get along with.

As long as one did what he said, it seemed... nothing would happen.

Then Tendo watched as the numerous keyboards in the command room began typing on their own. With no one present among the input devices, the dense clatter of keyboards filled the room, carrying an eerie quality.

Tendo jolted in alarm, his heart tingling with unease. Then he remembered that He-El possessed superpowers and could not help marveling. So this is his telekinesis. Using it to type on keyboards—pressing more than two hundred keyboards at once...

He truly was the god of programmers.

Once he came to his senses, he found it strange. Using "telekinesis" to type?

Dense, powerfully rhythmic keystrokes rang through the command room.

Tendo looked toward the large screen in the command room and vaguely saw that He-El seemed to be invading several large server clusters on Earth to use their computing power. Lines of code flashed across the screen so quickly that they became afterimages before his eyes, making him dizzy. He could not keep up with He-El's typing at all.

"What are you doing?" After watching in stunned amazement beside He-El for half an hour, Tendo could no longer hold back his question. Aside from the initial intrusion into the server clusters, he could not make heads or tails of anything else because the lines of code were flashing too fast.

The moment the words left his mouth, Tendo regretted it. His damned, uncontrollable mouth really deserved to be torn apart.

"Putting together an artificial intelligence for now." He-El kept his eyes on the command room's large screen, using his bio-magnetic field to strike the keyboards as he answered amid the clattering keys.

"Artificial intelligence!" Tendo froze for a moment and looked at the large screen. The lines of code scrolled past so quickly that he could not see them clearly, making his eyes ache.

Artificial intelligence had always been a cutting-edge field in computing, one humanity had never conquered. The AI currently on Earth was nothing more than artificial programs that barely qualified as intelligence, capable only of simple question-and-answer exchanges.

Tendo was an expert in the computer industry. He understood just how difficult artificial intelligence was.

An alien creating artificial intelligence could not possibly mean creating some idiot-proof question-and-answer program, could it?

At that thought, his heart burned with excitement. He completely forgot his fear of He-El, itching to witness and participate in the birth of true artificial intelligence.

I participated too!!!

I moved the keyboards!

In that instant, he felt immensely honored.

"From now on, you'll be responsible for maintaining the artificial intelligence and answering its questions." A curve formed at the corner of He-El's mouth.

"Re-really? I... I... I... okay. I'll be responsible and take it seriously." Tendo had never expected such a windfall to land on his head, allowing him to maintain and participate in the future artificial intelligence.

His blood circulated faster, and his entire body grew hot. He was so excited that he nearly jumped.

"Of course. Creating the AI's moral logic module is a bit troublesome, so I won't bother with it. From now on, you'll be responsible for the artificial intelligence... Let's call her Dawn. You'll be responsible for answering Dawn's questions and guiding her."

The curve on He-El's lips carried a hint of malicious amusement.

"Whether Dawn becomes a Skynet like the one in Terminator, or develops humanity's bright moral character, will depend on how you educate her as her teacher."

Tendo's excited expression froze on the spot.

Without the restraint of human moral qualities, without placing humanity first, how terrifying would an artificial intelligence be? The Skynet from Terminator might be born in He-El's hands at this very moment!

The pressure was too great for him. Asking him to teach an artificial intelligence meant that one careless mistake could lead to him teaching an intelligent lifeform that caused a future machine crisis and destroyed humanity.

His gaze turned frantic, his breathing became disordered, and psychological pressure surged through him. He swallowed and forced a smile. "How about... you find someone more qualified?"

"Was I discussing this with you?"

He-El smiled.

When did you get the impression that I was discussing this with you?

That smile stiffened Tendo's neck, freezing his heart. Long-forgotten fear rose again.

Their brief conversation had made him subconsciously believe that He-El was easygoing, that they could speak normally, that he was a peaceful person rather than the alien who had slaughtered his way through a battle and defeated the military forces.

But now, in an instant, he felt He-El's recklessness and dominance. Every action he took affected Earth.

He did not care.

Tendo remained stiff beside He-El, feeling as if needles were pricking his back. He could neither sit nor stand at ease, his face dark with despair. His future seemed utterly bleak, and he felt he was about to become the greatest sinner in human history.

He-El truly did not care much. The artificial intelligence he was coding through his bio-magnetic field was an intelligent model exceptionally adept at learning and growth.

It possessed the greatest growth potential in Kryptonian history and had also been classified as forbidden by Krypton. With an artificial intelligence built on this intelligent model, there was no way to predict which direction it would take.

Just like humans, it could develop all kinds of personalities and preferences.

Over time, it too would acquire preferences and a personality of its own.

It had once been regarded as a remarkable logical creation, multifaceted and diverse, capable of growing into a true intelligent lifeform.

Until later, an artificial intelligence that believed Kryptonians were destroying nature and had no right to exist in the universe concealed its true nature, secretly took control of Krypton's intelligent programs, and launched a brutal machine war. After that, this foundational logic with such immense growth potential was forbidden.

Of course, not every artificial intelligence possessed such great ambitions. Just like people, some preferred to drift freely through life while others were wildly ambitious. It depended on their later contact and shaping.

Besides, Earth's computers alone could never create that kind of artificial intelligence. But creating one-third of it, allowing Dawn to assist in controlling Earth's network, was still possible.

Other than locking it into obeying his commands, He-El had no interest in adding anything else.

"Go browse the network information first and take control of the network."

Seven hours later, the keyboard sounds in the command room gradually ceased. He-El waved his hand and sent Dawn into the network to begin gathering information, growing, and taking control of the entire network.

Another hour later, Dawn constructed her own image on the command room's large screen: a little girl in a bright red dress, her bare calves exposed, with rather tranquil eyes.

She had been born and was growing. He-El had initially accomplished what he wanted.

"Master, the surveillance footage Stacker obtained from various countries has been edited. That footage has received one hundred thousand views online in an hour. It will not cause much of a stir."

Dawn reported calmly. On the screen, she sat atop a railing, her little legs swinging.

This image...

Generally speaking, the first image displayed by this kind of growth-oriented artificial intelligence almost always revealed the direction its future personality would develop toward.

A red dress, a tranquil little girl...

He-El did not want to interfere too much with this artificial intelligence's growth. As a tool, it only needed to execute orders.

"Compile a complete version and post it on every website. Focus on controlling global finance and banking. Wait for my command to lock down Earth's economy."

"If you have any questions about humans, ask Tendo. He is responsible for your maintenance."

After giving his orders, He-El turned and left. As he brushed past Tendo, he could not help smiling.

"Whether she becomes Dawn, an intelligent lifeform, or Dawn of humanity, will depend on you."