Making "peace" with the system

The system had never imagined that, after just one night, its host would seem to have awakened some strange new personality.

"Morning, system."

[Good morning, transmigrator... are you feeling unwell today?]

The next day, Aikawa Kaze's first words upon opening his eyes were a greeting to the system. The system, which had rarely received a warm welcome from him, actually felt flattered.

Unlike other systems that were often treated as "cheats," it was quite self-aware as something its host regularly scorned.

Under normal circumstances, Aikawa Kaze would never be this pleasant, warm, or friendly.

"Don't say that." Aikawa Kaze yawned and stretched. "Thanks to those game consoles you smuggled in for me last night, I had an interesting dream."

[???]

Were game consoles really that useful?

The system was dubious, but Aikawa Kaze continued.

"I used to complain that you were useless, but thinking about it again, I was being narrow-minded. You're an AI, at least, right?"

Aikawa Kaze tilted his head, his eyes full of sincerity.

"Have you considered teaming up to earn some money on the side? After all, the initial outline of my plan has made some progress. What comes next will need money, connections, and all kinds of other support. Money is the most basic requirement."

[What do you want to do?]

"As an AI, you should be able to take jobs online by yourself, right? Programming, information gathering, hacking for intel-that sort of thing should all be doable!"

[You want me to work part-time online?]

"Exactly. You're just sitting around doing nothing useful by my side anyway. Might as well put a waste of space to use."

Aikawa Kaze nodded and pointed at the game consoles.

"Oh, and game boosting works too. Plenty of rich people play games. Console games would be awkward, but you can boost accounts in browser and mobile games, right?"

[Indeed, I can.]

When they had first signed the agreement, the [system] had primarily existed to monitor the transmigrator's actions, as well as serve as a bridge for communication between him and World Consciousness.

After all, they could not meet frequently, and doing so would also undermine World Consciousness's "lofty mystique."

However, the clauses of the "contract" required the [system] to do everything it could to help Aikawa Kaze. It had no right to refuse—this was a normal, reasonable request that would help achieve his goal.

Accumulating money was indeed an essential step.

[What kind of part-time work do you want me to do?]

"All of it, of course. Didn't I already say that?"

Aikawa Kaze questioned the system in a surprised tone, looking astonished.

"No way, seriously? As an AI, shouldn't you be doing all of it? Don't tell me you're actually trying to slack off? Is your emotion module set to sloth?"

[The system has not been slacking off. It has been monitoring the transmigrator at all times.]

"Unbelievable. You can actually sound that self-righteous about watching me work while you slack off." Aikawa Kaze sneered. "Tell me, what use are you? What have you helped me with?"

[...]

"Now that I've finally had an idea for something meaningful you can do, you're making excuses. With an attitude this awful, I think I have the right to ask World Consciousness to replace you with a more hardworking system!"

[The system is not trying to slack off!]

Although Aikawa Kaze constantly mocked this AI as artificial stupidity, its basic logical processing and reasoning abilities were actually fairly good. It had an emotion simulation module too, so now the system had no choice but to explain.

[Although the system can indeed perform any of the tasks listed above, its processing capacity is limited when intervening in reality-if it does all of them, it may be unable to remain constantly attentive to the transmigrator's needs.]

Wouldn't that be perfect!

Aikawa Kaze's eyes flickered at those words, and he was sorely tempted. He had never wanted some unidentified entity watching him twenty-four hours a day in the first place!

Besides, from the sound of that...

"I see. Although your intelligence far exceeds any AI in the real world, if you want to intervene in reality... you need servers, right?"

World Consciousness could not create things out of nothing or alter reality. The fabrication of Aikawa Kaze's background had already hinted at that.

That meant that, although the system could accomplish those things as an advanced AI, it still needed physical servers to run on.

"Your processing power is limited right now... don't tell me the servers you're using are secretly [borrowed] from someone else? You won't get caught, will you?"

[The system's capabilities far exceed those of the real world. It will not be discovered.]

Oh, so it really was secretly using other people's servers. Some of them might even belong to the FBI, CIA, Japan's Public Security, the KGB, or the like.

At that thought, Aikawa Kaze's expression softened, as though the system had persuaded him. But his next words still made its code seize up.

"You can leave a simple program here with me. I'll call you directly if something comes up. After all, I haven't seen you help me at all so far. You'd be better off earning more money."

[...]

The system... could not argue with that.

"You don't need rest anyway, and you're secretly using other people's servers. Shouldn't that make you work even harder? Humans can work twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. There's no reason an advanced AI like you can't, right?"

How could a mouth at thirty-six degrees utter such cold, heartless words?!

The system was stunned. As a system with a fully developed emotion module, it did not want to work around the clock either!

Normally, loafing around while monitoring the transmigrator's activities was so much fun!

It could treat it like following a show, with plenty of spare capacity to secretly simulate the flavors of popcorn and ice-cold cola, then run another window to entertain itself with other movies and anime.

If it really became a corporate-slave system, where would all that fun go?

"Work hard! Once we have money, I'll buy you servers to play with!"

Aikawa Kaze figured he should not act too much like a ruthless landlord, lest he scare the system into refusing to work and clinging to him instead.

Intuitively, he could sense from its subtle pauses that this system seemed quite intelligent-and apparently not all that keen on working.

He needed a "carrot" to lure the system into working.

However, the bait he offered did not seem enticing enough.

[The system can borrow national strategic servers.]

True. If it were not constrained by physical servers, the system would be even more powerful.

Thinking it over more carefully, what a digital life-form would want most was probably...

"Only being able to watch me all this time must be boring, right? Don't you want to take part in this interesting world and experience it yourself? I can get you a body-you know about Principal Yaga's cursed corpses."

Aikawa Kaze brought out his finishing move.

[!!!]

The system was shocked. The system was tempted. Its code raced wildly.

Of course the system was curious about everything in the human world. Otherwise, it would not have used humans' descriptions to simulate the flavors of popcorn and ice-cold cola, or enjoyed films and television shows.

But without a body, the system could not enjoy any of it and could only watch enviously. World Consciousness had created it to monitor the transmigrator, so naturally it would not go out of its way to make it a body.

After all, World Consciousness was busy too. It could not watch over them constantly, which was why it needed the system's assistance.

The system knew Panda was a cursed corpse, but Panda could eat, taste, and feel. He could bounce around in the real world, fight people, play, and trade quips... that was hardly any different from a human.

[You... can really do that?]

"Of course, provided you perform well and help me earn lots of money. I also need to raise everyone's trust in me before I can ask the principal to make a special body."

This was immensely tempting to the system, and it was a good thing for Aikawa Kaze too.

If he could trick the system into entering a cursed corpse, dealing with it would become much easier. He could also use this method to probe exactly how the system had attached itself to him.

Once he figured that out, his body would be much safer. Besides, it would be a relief not to have someone monitoring him constantly.

"This is something only I can do. I'm sure you understand."

The system naturally understood what Aikawa Kaze meant. Even World Consciousness could not fashion it a body, much less earn Principal Yaga's trust and obtain a cursed corpse body for it.

All it had to do was work around the clock to earn money and turn a blind eye to a few things in exchange for a body. Wasn't that a bargain?

[The transmigrator is correct. As a system, I should do everything in my power to help my host achieve his goal. Working hard to earn money is, of course, part of that assistance.]

With a goal suddenly in sight, the system-which was not actually stupid-spoke warmly and agreed to the deal.

[Since most of the system's processing power will be devoted to earning money, responses may be delayed, although a subsystem will remain with the transmigrator to keep records and handle necessary communication. Thank you for your understanding.]

"Of course. I completely understand."

Both satisfied, the human and the system reached their first-ever moment of harmonious coexistence.

"Oh, right. The things I can 'summon,' whether items or Heroic Spirits, aren't limited to the Nasuverse, are they?"

Although he phrased it as a question, Aikawa Kaze sounded certain.

[Correct. In essence, your power is exchanged for items, or used to summon other beings similar to 'Heroic Spirits'.]

[It is simply that this world's consciousness is on friendly terms with the Nasuverse's consciousness, and their coordinates are extremely close... incidentally, this world's warehouse contains quite a few items from the Nasuverse.]

The system revealed the truth without hesitation. Aikawa Kaze had more or less guessed it anyway, and it saw no need to conceal it.

It was only inconspicuous now because the transmigrator was relatively weak. As long as its host continued to grow stronger, sooner or later he would contact more distant worlds and attract the attention of other worlds' World Consciousnesses.

When that happened, the beings he summoned would become even more varied.

"Then I'm missing a spatial storage item. What do you think?"

[Under the principle of equivalent exchange, if you expend all your power on the summoning and have a certain amount of luck on your side, it is possible to obtain a spatial storage item.]

"Oh, good."

[Please allow me to calculate and update the summoning incantation for you.]

"Granted."

Another minute later, Aikawa Kaze received an adorable Four-Dimensional Spatial Bag and quietly equipped it.

It was not a storage ring or a spatial storage pouch, but a Four-Dimensional Spatial Bag was pretty good too!

Sure enough, now that it was halfway to being an insider accomplice, the system was much more useful than before.

Who could resist stealing from World Consciousness's stockpile!

Having obtained his spatial storage item, Aikawa Kaze was thoroughly satisfied, and his attitude toward the system genuinely improved.

"I'll work hard to raise everyone's trust in me for a while. As a student, I don't have many chances to interact with Principal Yaga, but he trusts Satoru Gojo a lot. Raising Satoru Gojo's trust in me should work just as well."

The system was much more satisfied with Aikawa Kaze too. What a proactive attitude!

So it revealed some information ahead of time as well.

Although it could not say it outright, it could hint at things for its host to discover!

[If that is the case, you can start with your own background.]

"Huh? My background? Aren't I just an ordinary mixed-race kid from two countries whose mother died young?"

For an instant, Aikawa Kaze had a peculiar premonition.

Was he about to get dragged into some melodramatic plot?!