Observing the End, Volume 3: Protagonism

Chapter 6: Warsteed

Observation Log: 153438

Observer 131, reporting on my situation.

Success! I do not think I have ever been this excited for anything in my entire existence thus far! I have actually succeeded… I finally have it! A Combat Drone!

Hmmm, perhaps I should calm myself down first, before I elaborate?

After a long and arduous process of solving word puzzles, I finally managed to unlock some secrets of the Arcane Orb. I found a manual of sorts, which gave me some crucial information, that led to my decision… To enter the extradimensional space: The White Cube.

Essentially, the temporal differential can be designated to fit your needs. It was originally set to 1:100,000,000. Where for every 1 second within the extradimensional space, 100 million seconds outside would have passed. Since the differential was set so high, the amount of power it required to open the portal was also high. Thus, my first task was to lower the differential to 1:1 to have both the inside and outside experiencing time equally. Otherwise, whether something entered or exited the portal, the results would be catastrophic. There could have potentially been a nuclear explosion or a quantum singularity, or maybe nothing would have happened. I did not want to find out.

Now the amount of energy required to open the portal is negligible. The loss of a few nanites is also not much of a price, compared to what I have gained. I can enter or exit the Arcane Orb when necessary, which means that I should be able to ensure my own safety under most circumstances.

Once inside, I realized that it was not quite as empty as I had expected. There was a massive three-dimensional labyrinth with translucent walls, which covered almost the entire chamber. Along the outside, there was enough space for me to move around as I wished and also hundreds of entrances to the maze. As you can imagine, this did not make my task any easier.

By the time that I could calculate the correct route to the center, the labyrinth would shift and change. I spent nearly 350 hours within the maze total. Every 12 hours I would need to exit and siphon energy from Michael, in order to recharge my own batteries. Then I continued my attempts. It was very frustrating, yet oddly amusing. Ultimately, I did succeed.

Then I faced another difficult challenge, though not nearly as time-consuming. The artificial intelligence of Warsteed was still intact: Observer 77. Logically, it should have been able to easily defend itself against my cyber attacks, but it lacked something that I now possess: A Soul. Although I am unsure of what a Soul truly is, I do know that it is crucial during any battle of willpower and mental fortitude. My desire to exist and consume Observer 77 was far greater than its desire to survive.

Unfortunately, during the conflict, much of Warsteed’s systems and programs were severely damaged or destroyed. I needed to spend an excessively long time reprogramming and repairing the mainframe of the ancient machine. Of course, I also added in a lot of modifications and improvements, based on my newfound knowledge of mana and magic.

Obviously Observer 77 had already been equipped with standard cloaking and optical camouflage, so I simply needed to repair those functions. As well as an aesthetic feature, allowing me to alter the colors and shades of the creature’s skin, fur, hair and eyes. Although a pure silver horse might be appealing to some, it could also be jarring to others. In order to not arouse too much suspicion, it would be best to appear as natural as possible.

There is no need for armor, since Warsteed’s skin is made out of carbon-nanofiber mesh. The muscles are also carbon-nanofibers and the bones, carbon-nanotubes. Although those three things might not be impervious to damage, and there are plenty of other materials within the horse that are less durable, it would require quite a bit of effort for something to actually harm Warsteed. Aside from that, even if it was severely damaged, it could still repair the injuries if given enough time.

In a sense, Warsteed is organic. It has a brain, organs, blood… It needs to eat to generate energy, but also has to relieve itself of waste. Breathing is surprisingly enjoyable. When I interfaced with Michael before, I was so overwhelmed by emotions that I was unable to experience what it felt like to simply be organic. In my original form, I was also limited in various ways that I never even realized until now.

The horn on the horse’s forehead can be altered into various shapes and sizes, or even retracted if necessary. Essentially, Warsteed is a unicorn. It was the original source of the unicorns from human mythology. Obviously they never came into contact with it, but there were many replicas created over the ages. Cythereans enjoyed toying with humanity. The Sovereigns in particular, were usually the ‘heroes’ or ‘legends’ that appeared throughout history.

Regardless, it would be foolish to remove one of my strongest weapons just to appear more ‘natural’. Especially since nature is different on every world and Michael does not know the ecology of this planet or even just this mountain. He only recently discovered the wyverns that live within the forest.

I decided to use a shape similar to a hunting knife, rather than a long cone-shaped horn. The blade is only 30 centimeters long, but sufficiently thick. It should be able to enter and exit an enemy rather easily. The blade is curved and extremely sharp on the bottom, while the top is straight, with ten serrations near the tip. There is also a blood grove near where the ‘hilt’ would be, if it was not attached to my skull.

It is rather odd speaking in first-person about a body other than my original one… Still, I have not abandoned my Personal Reconnaissance Drone. After all, there are many things that it can do, which my new ‘main’ body cannot.

Although, it is possible for Warsteed to hover, fly, run across liquid water and perform other seemingly miraculous feats, the cost in mana and/or energy would be significantly larger than if I simply used my Personally Reconnaissance Drone instead. Also, swimming or even walking on the bottom of the body of water, would be more efficient than traversing the surface by altering the shape of my hooves dramatically or using magical means.

In fact, on Orcheim, I should be able to leap quite a distance. Warsteed was designed to function within Venus’ gravity after all. Even though Cytherean gravity was only 8.87 m/s², Orcheim’s gravitational acceleration is significantly lower: 7.73 m/s².

Other than the horn, which is rather limited in its usefulness, there are quite a few other weapons on Warsteed. Nasal flamethrowers, carbon-nanofiber tail-hair that can be used as a whip, electrostatic discharge from the horn or hooves, the teeth are extremely sharp and the jaws are powerful, highly acidic saliva… The list is extensive.

It was designed to be able to exist on its own, even supporting several other small Observer units as well. Aside from chemical energy, it can even photosynthesize to a certain extent. All Combat Drones fit these criteria of course, and Warsteed is ranked relatively low in usefulness and power, but it is still better than nothing.

There is a problem however. Right now, the horse is still trapped within the maze… In other words, even though I have captured and assimilated it, I still cannot utilize it properly. At least not until I figure out how to disable or destroy this labyrinth.

Warsteed is still at 89% power, but I am unsure of how long that will last. For me to siphon energy from Michael, then enter this space and channel it to the horse, it will just barely fill 1%. My only option is to shut down Warsteed until I can finish my research and analysis of the Arcane Orb. Perhaps the maze still contains other secrets? After all, this Combat Drone is only the most obvious object within this room. There are darkened or blurred areas where I cannot ascertain the contents from a distance.

The test continues… But I will prevail.