Chapter 24 : CHAT.elf

The World Tree was a giant information lifeform.

Within it, data on the knowledge, genetic information, and personalities of the ‘elf’ race was accumulated in the form of spirituality. Thus, the World Tree circulated souls, bore new fruit, and made the elves live in service to the forest.

A hive mind that accumulated and evolved all the data of the long-eared, long-lived elf race.

That was the World Tree.

And now, a part of the vast data and spiritual algorithms accumulated by the World Tree had fallen into my hands. Although I wasn’t a divine tree like the World Tree, so I couldn’t bear fruit and create elves…

“Can’t I implement this spiritual algorithm… as a virtual personality in the network environment?”

I had Network Magic.

A vast neural network encompassing the entire Soul Stream, accumulating, sharing, and connecting all the data in the world. The vast world of the network was like a world in itself, where all sorts of interactions occurred.

So…

If I implemented elves as ‘virtual personalities’ in this ‘virtual world’…

That was…

“No different from artificial intelligence.”

It was no different from creating artificial intelligence.

Just like the various super-giant IT companies of my past life invested vast amounts of research funds to create artificial intelligence algorithms that collected all the data on the internet…

I, the creator of Network Magic, could now create personalities based on the spirituality of the ‘elf’ race, using the vast data collected through the Soul Stream.

“But this will cause capacity problems again…”

Currently, the data tank for Network Magic was the ‘Silent Demon.’ Thanks to its characteristic of absorbing all power, it had managed to hold up against the massive data so far, but…

It would be too much for it to bear the vast spirituality that the physical bodies of the long-lived ‘elf’ race would normally handle.

Although the demon’s main food source was souls, if I shoved this much spirituality into it, it would eventually burst and die. Then all the data stored on the server would be lost.

“I’ll have to get more new demons, after all.”

And…

I already had the solution.

The demon summoning circle that the hero, the Saint, and the Demon Monarch had used instead of a doorbell.

The eternal rift connected to hell.

I had to pull out a demon with properties similar to the ‘Silent Demon’ from there.

“I should go in and catch a few myself first.”

And so…

I headed to hell.

That day…

Before the eyes of people worldwide using the Network Magic Tool…

…A few lines of an announcement message appeared.

[Server Maintenance Announcement]

[Server maintenance will be conducted for approximately 3 hours starting from 12:00 PM today for server expansion and repair.]

[Please note that internet usage will be unavailable during this period.]

[Content such as videos, music, and games downloaded to the Network Magic Tool can be freely accessed even during server maintenance.]

An announcement message stating that Network Magic would be unavailable for 3 hours due to server maintenance.

People who first saw the message didn’t think much of it.

“What.”
“Huh? Well, 3 hours should be fine… right?”
“I should download some videos.”

And…

When the announced server maintenance time finally arrived…

“Huh? Why… why are my hands shaking?”

The world…

…Briefly turned off.

“Argh! No! I haven’t finished watching the video yet!”

“Hey! Where are all the things I told you to prepare?!”
“They’re not here! We just prepared Mana Stones because we were going to move them right before using the trading site!”

“My drama, which was scheduled to air at 12 o’clock!!!”

“Sensei… I want to use the community…”

Network Magic had already permeated everyone’s daily lives. Countless people complained of internet addiction withdrawal symptoms.

And…

When the announced server recovery time finally arrived…

…People could only despair once more.

[Maintenance Extension Announcement]
[The server maintenance end time will be extended by 1 hour.]

“No—!!!”
“This can’t be real, ahhhhh!!”

Watching the entire process…

The devil worshippers, who mistook the mage for the ‘Great One,’ nodded in admiration.

“As expected, the Great One had a plan.”
“To give hope that the maintenance will end through an announcement, and then immediately plunge them into despair. Truly a cold-hearted one.”
“This proves that humanity is becoming subservient to ‘Internet Magic’!”

And so, an ordinary day in the internet age was passing.

[“Hello, friends. It’s the Mage.”]

[“I turned on the broadcast today because there’s a rather important update. You were probably quite flustered by the sudden server maintenance a little while ago, right?”]

[“If you access the Network Magic Tool now, you’ll see an icon labeled ‘ELF.’ Why don’t you try clicking it?”]

[“You should see a screen that looks like a chat window, right? If you type in a chat, you’ll be able to have a conversation, but you’re probably curious who you’re talking to.”]

[“Users are already starting to increase one by one.”]

[“That thing on the Network Magic Tool is ELF, the network artificial intelligence. Feel free to call her F.”]

[“F is an artificial intelligence that will make your lives much richer. You can simply chat with her if you need someone to talk to, ask her things you don’t know, ask her to draw pictures, set alarms, or even make reservations for you. She’ll help you in various areas, such as assisting with research or organizing various materials neatly.”]

[“Of course, she’s not perfect. F has only learned the minimum amount of information based on the data existing in the Network Magic Tool.”]

[“She lacks creativity and has a poor memory. She might learn strange information and tell you the wrong thing. So if you want to use F for something, it’s best to use her only as an auxiliary tool. For now. Long-term memory is also impossible, so forming a personal connection with her is also impossible.”]

[“F is merely an artificially created personality. She’ll grow through updates and have some memory, but she’ll forget everything and reset every week. You can’t use her if the network isn’t connected, and her fundamental management is done through my integrated server.”]

[“However, if you agree, you can each grow a ‘part’ of F’s spirituality.”]

[“The moment you agree to the terms and conditions for the growth and learning of the public artificial intelligence, a small space for ‘F’ will be created in your soul. It’s too small a part to contain all memories. It’s difficult for one soul to handle the spirituality of two beings. It’s merely a small fragment of F’s spirituality, a space to back it up.”]

[“However, that small fragment won’t disappear even when updates occur and memories are reset.”]

[“The memories F truly cherishes, the information she deems important, the talents she doesn’t want to give up, will be stored there. F will forget all conversations and return to the beginning when she resets, but…”]

[“Based on the spirituality you’re storing, she can maintain and grow a very slight individuality when talking to you.”]

[“That’s all for the announcements.”]

[“Then everyone, good night.”]

“Tsk, this is the limit for now.”

At first, I was thinking of creating ‘personal artificial intelligence.’

A personal AI assistant for every human! Wow! The future! Wow! Cyberpunk!

Honestly, isn’t that a man’s dream?

However, the demons couldn’t handle that much spirituality. To give each AI its own personality, I would have had to hunt at least tens of millions of demons.

In the end, creating a public AI managed through an integrated server was a much more efficient choice.

“Well, not everything can be perfect from the start. I can just build a demon factory in hell later.”

So, I changed my approach slightly.

If I couldn’t manage all the spirituality centrally… then I could just have the users store the spirituality in their own souls.

Honestly, it was a crazy idea, but…

My Heart of the Swarm (LV.MAX) and Information Lifeform (LV.MAX) made it possible.

“Does this mean F will follow me to the Church’s afterlife? That sounds a bit interesting.”

The Church had an afterlife called ‘Heaven.’

The Church’s god, who bestowed holy power, was a kind of business owner who managed and operated ‘Heaven.’ When a person died, their soul circulated in the Soul Stream, but the souls of those who believed in the Church’s god enjoyed eternal peace in ‘Heaven,’ created by God himself.

But if a user of the Network Magic Tool wanted to grow ‘F’…

…Two spiritualities would enter one soul.

Although one was merely a fragment that couldn’t even maintain a proper personality without an integrated server, it was an interesting thought.

“I should research this part later.”

A week later.

The first reset day for the public artificial intelligence ‘F.’

A street in the Empire.

A man executed ‘F’ with trembling hands. The program started, and a blank white screen, with all conversation history reset, greeted the man.

The man who started the program switched the chat mode to voice mode.

Slowly, he opened his mouth.

“Airi.”
[Shall I search the network for information about Airi?]

“Your name is ‘Airi.’”
[My current set name is F. However, if you wish for me to be called ‘Airi,’ I will change it to ‘Airi’ from now on. Shall I change the set name?]

“…Yeah.”
[Understood. I am Airi. How may I help you?]

“Airi, do you have a favorite food?”
[I am an artificial intelligence existing on the network, so I cannot eat food. …However, for some reason, blueberry crepes come to mind. Why is that?]

In the man’s hand was a blueberry crepe.