Okay, the meat factory is doing really well. The first batch of cargo is shipped and we'll know what we get in terms of profits later. Right now, just need to keep the raw meat coming. Have to admit, I do have another reason for my daily runs… My Ol' Reliable with a Core Stone… is so, so much stronger now!
"Sweet mother, this is awesome." I purred happily, having enjoyed what I can only assume is but a fraction of what Ol' Reliable can really do.
Once I put the Core Stone on Ol' Reliable I immediately began having it absorbing materials. Elemental Crystals, metals, herbs, pieces of demons, whatever, the Core Stone absorbs it and infuses it into the weapon and allows it to change shape and form if wanted, and when a new core it made from the materials and such were maxed out in potential, I could use those abilities with Ol' Reliable in it's base form.
Having Ol' Reliable turn into a giant greatsword chainsaw was… awesome!
"This is fantastic." I said warmly, side stepping an Imp strike and cleaving it right down the middle with said giant greatsword chainsaw…so satisfying.
Granted… the blood splatter was… less fun…
I spat out some of the blood that hit my face and mouth. Ugh… as a Shark, normally the taste of blood isn't bad, but Demon Blood just has a… taste like… sour milk… Meat's fine but the blood… no.
"Ech, Demon blood still tastes like crap." I complained, spitting out what blood got in my mouth.
I shifted the blade back into it's base form, grabbing all the demon corpses and looking around. Hm… An Orphanage building in a demon hellscape… that doesn't scream nightmare fuel…
I sighed, hefting Ol'Reliable onto my shoulder. "Well, might as well check it out…" I muttered, heading off to the Orphanage and ready for whatever nonsense is going to happen.
I looked around, seeing broken walls, cracked floors and old blood stains all around. There were a few Imps, nothing bad. I came across the bedrooms, seeing most had bunk beds. Yeesh, these places look so cramped. Glad the Caretakers Guild doesn't look anything like this. How could any society make a place for kids so… archaic…
"Well…I'm not going to let my kids suffer something like this…" I muttered.
As I reached the end of the hall with all the bedrooms, I spotted… A Prize Pod? Heh, haven't seen one of these in a long time. Let's see here… Ally… and Lover… child? It's a kid… and an Ally Class?
… I've… never seen that before… actually… I don't think I've ever even heard of this combination before…
"Might have to ask Sophia about this later…" I frowned, given that she was my go to when learning thing's that wasn't entirely common knowledge, I walked over to the pod and tried to see if I could open it up, considering this was an Ally class, even if it was a child, they would have to be strong enough to handle fighting at least in some capacity.
Normally for pods that are children, two people are needed, but the pod opened once I touched it. The lid sliding open and…
They were a lamb, anthro with hooves for feet. Their hair was brown, a light brown, a curly white fur coat, four sheep-like ears on their head, two small horns poking out of their hair, a pair of brown feathered wings on his back.
They were also asleep still it seems. Huh…
[Registration Complete! Ally Class Ma-29#(*$(#
Registration Complete! Ally Class Mantis Added to Party. Child Mantis, Age 7, Adopted. Biological Mother, Heather, Registered.]
Was… that an Error? I know that has never happened before…
"Okay…that's…concerning…" I muttered worriedly. "Hello?" I asked the little lamb.
They were breathing, just… seemed to be asleep… Wait… Oh…
I felt my hand cover my mouth… I just… his right arm is… gone?!
"B-but how?"
I don't know much, but I know this is definitely not normal. There's not even a stump for an arm, just…
How can this kid be an Ally Class?
"Yeah, there's some massive problems here…" I thought to myself as I gently picked up the child and carried him. "I really hope he's okay…too many questions just from one Prize Pod…"
I carried the kid… Mantis… Hmm… odd name. Once I was outside… Crap!
I dodged the energy blade of a Marauder. Shit! I don't fight these often. When I do it's a pain in the ass…
"Oh come on…" I growled, waving a hand as I used some Demon magic that I've been going through with my little necromancer, using the Demon blood still on my clothes to create a summoning circle. "Give me something halfway decent please…" I thought to myself worriedly, seeing the blood get pulled off me and formed a summoning circle on the ground.
I dodged again. This thing was not giving me many-
"Enemy threat detected." I looked down at my arms, seeing Mantis was awake, they had bright green eyes.
"Uh…hi there." I said carefully to Mantis. "And yes, it's the Marauder right there." I said quickly.
"Integrated technology and bio-organic magics detected." Mantis said, looking over at the Marauder. What kind of seven year old talks like that? "Engaging."
Wait what?!
Before I could react, Mantis managed to flip out of my arms and bolted.
"Oi wait!" I panicked, pulling out Ol'Reliable and blocking the thing's swing at Mantis quickly.
Mantis took the opportunity to jump…
He uppercut the Marauder, from my angle I saw its jaw snap in half as it went flying…
What the?!
"Enemy vital signs still active." Mantis said as I just kinda stood there in a stupor as the Marauder crashed some feet away. I looked back down, noticing Mantis's one arm looked more muscular and was reverting back to being thin and slender.
"Uh…alright…what the hell…" I frowned, stabbing Ol'Reliable into the ground and having a Stalagmite stab itself through the Marauder's chest as it was still dazed from losing it's entire jaw.
With that thing down, I walked back over to Mantis, who seemed to just be looking around at everything. "Location unknown…" He said.
This kid… talks really weird…
"Um…Mantis?" I inquired. "Do you understand me?"
"Affirmative." He said with a nod.
"Alright…so who are you if I may ask?" I inquired. "Cause a normal seven year old shouldn't be talking like he's…a robot."
He seemed to ponder the question for a while. "I am… unique. While you are correct in my age, originally speaking I was a bio-mechanical construct crafted from the fusion of corpses and advanced technologies."
…what?
"Who the hell would do this to a seven year old?" I asked incredulously.
"If it helps I am not originally a being born from organic parents. My creation came from the installation of the OS after the fusion that created my original body. Designation Stalker Mantis Unite 0240. Redesignated Mantis after the new OS gained administrative privileges."
"O…kay~..." I said slowly. "So uh…can you tell me why your a Lamb when you declare yourself as Mantis…and two, what happened to your arm?"
He looked at his body, then his missing arm. "Data unavailable. Hmm… that is an anomaly. Data unavailability…"
"Well…that kind of fits with how he had two Registrations but one was glitched…" I thought to myself. "So…you are a bioengineered soldier…what were you created to do? And…well, might as well ask, what are you?" I asked.
"I was created for field analysis, reconnaissance and data collection and target identification. As for what I am… I am a Stalker. Or rather, I was. For some reason there is a data file indicating that I was recreated as a Nokori, the species I was created to target, identify and recapture. How though is… absent. My files appear to have been… corrupted… or perhaps, redacted…"
Nokori? Hmm, I think I heard of that race before, but never really seen them or heard anything really about them. "Hmm…interesting…well, won't be able to figure out those questions here at the moment, let's head back home." I said, cause I'm pretty sure I explored every inch of the place before finding Mantis here.
"Affirmative. For some reason my data has you registered at my… parental unit. I assume this means you are also my operator."
…Operator?
"Uh…what do you mean?" I inquired.
"My operator. Meaning my objectives all come from you, as well as mission orders and collected data is submitted to you." Mantis said.
"Right…"
"I've never heard of that combination." Nanny said. She and I were in the kitchen, Mantis standing there between us. "Not in any records or from personal experience."
"Crap…" I groaned. "So…my best guess is that, whoever is the glitched person in Mantis, that was supposed to be the Child lover class…while Mantis is the Ally class…" I said, offering at least some minor explanation to this weirdness. "Just…something new to think about…great."
"Glitched?" Nanny asked. "Let me see." I nodded, showing her the notification feed. "This has… never happened before…"
"Ugh~." I groaned, hitting my head into the table. "Fantastic…"
"Uh, Mantis, may I examine you?" Nanny asked him.
Mantis looked over at me.
"Let Nanny examine you, it'll be safe." I said to Mantis.
He nodded, walking over to Nanny.
Nanny placed a had to his head, seeming to use magic to scan them for anything. It only lasted a few moments before she removed her hand from him and covered her mouth. "This… This is illegal…" She said. "What he is… that process is outlawed… how did he end up in a prize pod…"
"I need some context here…" I said worriedly. "What happened?"
"You mentioned he said he was a Stalker… Well, they exist in a few places as spawnable enemies but they can be made through synthetic cell growth. His process though… How much do you know about the history of the Nokori species?"
"Um…I know they are being's that are fusions, at least with Nokori the base tends to be Human's with any Magical creature…created by some insane people thinking they can play God cause that tends to just…be the main thing with horrid experiments like that…but besides that I only know surface level stuff that probably wouldn't be the proper knowledge for what's happening here."
"Well, there are heavy traces of the fusion that in the pre-war reality created some variants of the Nokori. In some old realities they were an organically made species. But in his case, the fusion process… killed them. They took the corpse and use some kind of Necromancy mixed with Technomancy and rebuilt them into the old pre-war existence Stalkers. There's clear… other magics here, some old… trace of a divine artifact but… other than that it's only Mantis in there. There's no one else in there. Just him."
"That…seems impossible." I said carefully. "Maybe…it has something to do with his lack of an arm?" I inquired, cause that is one of the thing's that is really unnerving…it's not amputated or anything that can be seen to show it was a wound…it was like his arm just didn't exist somehow.
"No. From what I can tell his missing arm was part of his design as a Stalker. When he was one anyway. Why though, I'm not sure… I do know this though, he did used to be human, or rather, there used to be a human inside him. That missing piece inside him relates to whoever this human must have been… they were young too…"
Right… Mantis mentioned a new OS gaining administrative privileges… that must have been…
"R-right…" I said carefully. "So…uh…we have an impossible and illegal situation here…and I have no idea how to handle this…"
"Well… he wasn't created in this reality. So while the way he was made was illegal, he came from a Prize Pod, so there's not much I or any Mother run Guilds can do. As for how he is here, how he's in a pod and all that… This is clearly the work of someone from The Family…"
"That sounds about right…" I sighed. "The Family works in mysterious ways I suppose."
To that, Nanny laughed. "That's just another way to say no one has any idea why anyone in The Family does anything ever. In all my years working in The Mother's Daughters I learned this much about them. You have better odds in a level five Void Dungeon than you do understanding them."
"Considering how stupidly rare it is to even meet someone from the Family…yeah." I nodded.
"Well, now that that is out of the way, Mantis, do you remember anything before waking up?" Nanny asked.
"... Data unavailable…" He said.
"... Mantis, are there any anomalies in your… programming?"
"Multiple critical system failures logged. Multiple system corruptions detected. Multiple system augmentations logged. System augmentations accepted. Systems upgraded… Primary objective… Unknown. Secondary Objective… experience life." He said, sounding like he read off a list… his mind must be like a computer…
"Right…" I said carefully. "Mantis…what are you capable of doing?"
"Prior system functionality allowed for scanning of environments, analyzing magical and biological signatures and identifying targets. Scanning and hacking into various wavelengths and frequencies for optimal communication and surveillance. Connection to Stalker Hive Mind… inaccessible. Updated systems… complete cellular control."
"What do you mean by 'complete cellular control'?" I inquired, cause that term can be seen as several different things from regeneration to shapeshifting.
"All Stalker units have the ability to write and read data off our cells protein strands. This method of data storage was designed to hide the information regarding our creators, Y Labs, and the documentation on the Nokori subjects in our internal archives. As an added measure, the internal storage drives implanted along side our brains are encrypted upon a total system failure, meaning the destruction of a unit and their capture. This draws attention away from the real data storage, our bodies, and leads third parties on a false lead. My upgrade seems to allow me complete control over my cells and how they function within my body. I can control muscle strength, bone density, rate of recovery, months turning to minutes, the absorption of biomass, temporary biological mutations, and temporary changes to my body as I see fit or needed for completion of an objective." Mantis said.
"Oh, so that's why your arm bulked out as you punched that Marauders jaw off." I said in realization.
"Affirmative." He nodded.
"That's an impressive power." Nanny said. "And this control is conscious?"
"Affirmative."
"Impressive indeed." I nodded.
"Heather." Mantis said, looking at me. Man it feels weird to have a seven year old call me by my name in that tone of voice. "What is my primary objective?"
…What?
"Well…" I started. "Your primary objective…" I thought for a bit. "Your primary objective…is to live, to live a good life as my child."
"... Primary Objective registered. What are my orders?"
"Heh, this is gonna be interesting." Nanny chuckled.
I sighed, scratching my head carefully as I tried to think of how to explain this to someone that thinks like a computer. "Living life isn't about 'taking orders' Mantis…it's…hmm, it's really hard to describe…"
"Think of it like this Mantis. You were built to analyze an environment and gather data… childhood is similar. You go to school, learn things, and sometimes you learn things that are of interest to you." Nanny said. "Does anything interest you that you can recall Mantis?"
"I recall… There are many data files in my archives of various musics, movies, digital books and even games. They appear to have been downloaded by request of the missing administrative OS."
Hmm… Makes sense. A child learns they're basically a living computer they would download all kinds of crap they like… which begs the question on where the kid he was made from is… if not in him then… something happened.
"Well, all that makes sense…whatever person you were before as a child tried downloading all sorts of kid's stuff."
"What kind of music did they like?" Nanny asked.
"Is there a speaker system I can connect to?" Mantis asked.
"Sure." I said, pulling out a speaker that he can plug into. "Here you go."
He took it, turning it on. It was bluetooth so after a second it was connected, the speaker announcing as much and the song began playing. Well, he was an anime fan at least.
"Fan of anime I see. Good choice, still a fan of the dub version of the song." I said honestly.
"Hmm, Mantis, is there any name you can identify from your files?" Nanny asked.
"... Negative. No names other than My own, Heather and yours are registered." Mantis said.
"... Hmm… Strange… Mantis, would you describe yourself as… self aware?"
"... Affirmative. System corruptions and errors as well as external magics have resulted in this unit gaining what one would call Self Awareness."
"I see… Can you remember what you… did, when the other… OS was with you?"
"Administrative OS system support."
"Huh…this might be dumb as Nanny just answered the question, but was your arm missing by design or did something happen to it?" I inquired, knowing Nanny wouldn't miss a single detail in her scan, but as I've come to learn, sometimes a good Scan can't tell you everything.
"Unknown." Mantis said.
"As far as I can tell it was left out by design." Nanny said. "There's not even a joint or anything there for an arm bone to attach to."
"That's…really weird." I frowned. "Though there's already a lot of weirdness happening here…"
"Hmm… Mantis, you said you can absorb Biomass to create temporary mutations and augmentations, does that include your missing arm?"
"Affirmative." Mantis nodded.
"Now how temporary are these mutations?" I inquired.
"It varies depending. If it's something more in line with my biology, the augmentations and mutations can last several hours. More abnormal and complex mutations require more biomass and last up to minutes at a time."
"Alright." I nodded. "What do you think about me and Nanny here?"
"You are my Operator. She is… an unknown variable." Mantis said.
Nanny chuckled. "I like this kid. He kinda reminds me of Dexter when he was little, but more dense."
"Well…y-yeah…" I said, though that made me a bit sad cause of Dexter's departure…but if we can just manage to buy a teleporter, we can maybe get to him.
"Well, this is gonna be interesting. Hey, can you fly with these wings?" Nanny asked, motioning to Mantis's wings.
"Lift is not a possibility, however gliding is. I can however achieve lift by alternating my bone and muscle structure." Mantis said.
"Hm. Cool. Well Mantis, welcome to our family. Heather, Jenny and I would be considered your mothers, and Casey will be your father."
"I do not have a registered 'Father' parental unit in my files. Just Heather as my 'Mother'."
"Well it looks like it's time for you to meet your father." I nodded.
"Orders confirmed." He nodded.
I face palmed, Nanny just laughed again.
"Oh boy…" I muttered. "This is gonna be…really tough…"
I took Mantis's hand and walked him over to Casey, who was currently in the bedroom.
"Hey Heath- … Uh, Heather… who is that?" He asked as I walked in with Mantis.
"This is Mantis…it's a kind of long story, but he is another child prize pod I found while out gathering Demon meat…and currently he believes his mind is still that of a computer due to…him being a Stalker.'
"...Stalker… Stalker… that name rings a bell…" Casey said, thinking to themselves as they stood up. "Why does that name ring a bell…"
"Nokori." I answered. "Cause…somehow, the Stalker who is supposed to be a Mantis…is weirdly in this Nokori body and there's a glitched name added to them…"
"Nok- That's why that name rings a bell! That was my grandpa's species!" He said. "The one on mom's side. Been years since I heard those names. He doesn't look like a Stalker though, I remember grandpa showed me photos and… he's a bit… small… and fluffy."
"Yeah, it's…weird." I said carefully. "Mantis, this is your father, Casey." I said softly.
"Scans show they are biologically male and female as well as pregnant with four embryos." Mantis said.
"... Well no need to wonder that then." Casey said.
"Spoilers…" I huffed. "So, as you can clearly see…they think they are a Robot, and Nanny believes he's just like Dexter but more dense."
"I mean… from what I remember Stalkers were basically just Robots but with mostly organic bodies… well, I guess cyborgs count." Casey hummed. "And… Yeah, I can see that. So, you can scan well. Must be part of your design then…"
"Yeah…it's quite a conversation about what he knows and doesn't know."
"That is impressive though. Is it just part of what he is or part of his Abilities?"
Huh… that is a good question…
"Uh…Mantis? What is your answer to this question?"
"My scanning abilities are a mix of mechanical and magical augmentations to my eyes as part of my creation. They are typically used to identify Target subjects and identify them based on the readings of their magic and bio signatures. However, they appear to be far more… refined. An unknown alteration."
"Probably has to do with our reality. His… he has a natural version of scan so, the reality might be treating it just like Scan up to a certain level…" Casey hummed.
"And considering he was made to target specific things, mostly magical creatures that range from your basic sprite to…I believe god level beings…I wouldn't be surprised he has some really good Scan powers."
"Why would you think Nokori are god level?" Casey asked.
"Because from what surface level stuff I know, you take a human or some non-magical being…and then you fuze them with whatever magical being you have on hand which could be practically anything, and either it fits perfectly or you get something random."
"I'm not much of a spell caster… and I know you are not one at all… but I am pretty sure that is not how that works…" Casey said.
"Actually it's somewhat correct." I jumped at hearing Nanny walk in. "Though, Heather is speaking in the… most blunt terms one can simplify them to."
I huffed. Magic…
"See, this is why I like greatswords, they are simple, inexpensive, personal and deadly." I said honestly.
"We get it Red Death." Casey teased me about making a silly reference.
"But at least I'm kind of correct." I said honestly.
"I'm being a bit generous love." Nanny said, patting my head. "But point is, there are rules one must follow or work like hell to bend or work around."
"And…sure I'm trying to understand magic again cause of our adorable Dark Lord in the making…seriously, my sisters would just adore her…" I shook my head. "Magic is very confusing."
"Not everyone is suited for magic Heather. While some spells and such are simple or even passive, others require great effort to cast, let alone learn. The process that makes Nokori, while not illegal these days, a special altered one exists that allows far more… control over the process, and much less pain. Plus it's a heavily regulated process. The people who can perform the fusion ceremony go through multiple background checks, screenings, mental evaluations. Even more if they are Synthetic Lifeform Makers."
"Oh…" I said slowly. "Well…that's good to know." I nodded.
"Of course, on this planet none of those laws apply…" Casey sighed. "No laws really apply here…"
"Regrettably…" Nanny sighed. "Mother knows what they'd do to me if any unsavory Chaos Guild members discovered I'm a former Mothers Daughter…"
"And we're going to make sure people don't know." I said readily.
"I take it they mainly would want to get to you because you're from one of the Mother run guilds…" Casey sighed.
"Yes. Sons, Daughters and even Time Walkers. Nexus and Violence especially." Nanny sighed. "We lucked out landing in a Slayer Guild Territory."
"I am unfamiliar with Chaos Guilds, Slayer Guild, or Nexus or Violence. Based on tone and context, they are enemies of Operator Heather?"
"Operator?" Casey asked.
"Due to him still thinking he's a cyborg…he thinks that I'm his 'Operator', not his mother."
"Well, in all honesty he still is." Nanny said. "When I analyzed him he did have a number of mechanical parts in him. Mostly in his brain, spine and one very unique organ that seems to convert mana into glucose for cell consumption."
"Right…" I sighed. "It's just a whole thing at the moment."
"Well, if he was a Stalker before, it's no wonder he doesn't think like a normal kid… he isn't. Technically speaking he's not even a child but if the pod had him labeled at one… maybe he can learn." Casey hummed.
"And I'm happy to help him learn how to be a child."
"I would still like the data on these threats you mentioned." Mantis said, looking up at me.
"That is not your concern at the moment." I said honestly. "Cause you are a child, and you need to learn what it's like to be a child…"
"I am not a child, I am a Stalker. Childhood is irrelevant to me." Mantis said.
… That… honestly hurt me to hear more than I think it should…
"I…don't like that…" I said sadly.
"He doesn't really know better." Nanny sighed. "Whatever he was, point is he's a child now. It's gonna be a slow process for that to really click in that mind of his."
"Can he even understand that?" Casey asked.
"He wouldn't have been labeled that from the pod if he wasn't."
"Yeah…that's the biggest question mark out of all of this…" I scratched my head. "So we're going to teach him until it clicks."
It had been a week since Mantis joined our family. He has been… interesting. He eats his meals, does as told but doesn't express much emotion.
That being said he can at least express emotions. Namely, irritation, annoyance, and confusion.
Because of how he talks, whenever any of the kids, his new siblings don't know the meaning of a word he said, he gives them a flat deadpan look before saying a dumbed down or simpler version of the word.
Annoyance mostly comes in the form of me not letting him go out and perform missions outside the safety of our settlement. He's apparently also very good at leaping and climbing.
Lastly, his confusion comes from… well, everything really. His… internal data, only has info on identifying Humans and Nokori. So when he scans others who are neither he is… confused as to what they are. This has led him to follow them to gather more data… and to a few earfulls for me from mad residents my new kid has been following them all over the settlement.
"Mantis…do you like going against my orders?" I asked him bluntly, seeing Mantis flinch for the first time.
"My orders are… unclear." He said. We were outside and he was looking out at the walls again. The two of us sitting on a bench.
"And what is unclear about the orders?" I inquired.
"My orders and primary objective are to live… and to be a child. Neither of which are… explained. My data banks are… lacking this information. Requesting clarification from others has led to equally unclear, vague answers. I do not understand what it means to be a child. I do not understand what it means to live."
"That is because…life is complicated." I sighed. "But let me ask, given your time with your brand new siblings, what do you think 'childhood' is?" I inquired.
"A trial phase." He said simply. "Natural born organic lifeforms lack instructions and intelligence from birth, and must be taught and guided to become something. Someone. Even still, sometimes there is a chance they come out… incorrect or… malfunctioning."
"What do you think it means to live?" I asked, going to get back to that nonsense as I wanted to know what was confusing him the most.
"... The lack of reason. The lack of purpose."
"So you think living means you don't have a purpose?" I inquired. "That there is no reason to be alive?"
"Incorrect." He stated. "To live without reason is illogical. To not live because there is no reason is also illogical. I was created with a reason and purpose, yet my records, despite being mostly intact are… it is clear at some point my reason was changed. Many of my files are glitched or redacted. Several of my internal files on the Nokori subjects are missing. Then there is the missing administrative OS."
I sighed, trying to figure out how to help him…"Life is…complicated." I answered. "And no amount of logic or tech can help you understand it. Everyone's given you vague statements about childhood and life because there's no one answer…but childhood…too live…it's not something that can be done with this," I lightly poked his head. "It's more done with this." I said, gently poking his chest above his heart. "Does that make sense?"
"... How does one live with a heart but no brain?" I facepalmed… ugh… this kid… "That was a joke." I looked at Mantis, who looked down. "This scenario… a similar one, is logged in my files. Data is missing, but this very scenario is in my files… logically, this means I was trying to discover what it means to live prior."
"Does it tell you who tried to help you understand?" I inquired, having a feeling it's missing but wanting to hold out hope anyways.
"Names and physical descriptions are… missing. Based on log data context, this person was the missing administrative OS's… mother. As well as my prior Operator, however no logs indicate this was ever made official within my registrations."
"Sounds like one of those 'child helps the robot feel emotions' kind of situations." I said honestly. "Which…at least helps me understand a bit more about you, and knowing you can indeed make a joke is also a step forward."
"... Operator?"
"Yes?" I asked, still wanting him to call me 'mom' or something but not wanting to order him to do it.
"What is your purpose? Your reason for your existence?"
"My purpose…" I hummed, thinking about everything that's been goin on, everything that's happened…just everything really. "Hmm…I'd say…my purpose, my reason to exist…is because of Casey, and our growing family." I admitted. "Why did I point out Casey specifically? Because…he's my True Love…he's my everything, he's been with me since we were kids, and have been together as super vanilla love birds for hundreds of years…but with our new family, with you as well…I see how much more we can be, how much better life is with this wonderful family of ours."
"My scans indicate you…also want a reverse harem?"
"W-well ...maybe, but you don't need to worry about that." I said quickly, not liking him pointing out my secret at this important time. "Point is, I'm here for my family, cause I love them all from the bottom of my heart."
"... Define love."
I sighed. "Love is complicated, just as so many other things are." I shook my head. "There's many different kinds of Love, there's love for your family, love for passion, love for your friends, and love for your significant other…and it all comes from the Heart." I said softly. "Which would you like to focus on first?"
"Love… for family." He said. "I have incomplete data files on the subject."
"Love for family." I nodded. "So, love for family…is the bond of affection, loyalty, respect and healthy attachment. Where a family can depend on one another when all else fails…" I answered.
"... Data logged."
"I know it's not that detailed." I said sheepishly. "But…to give an example…family love is when the child asks to sleep in the same bed as their parents because they had a nightmare, it shows that the child trusts their parents to protect them and be with them through their fears, and it shows the parents trust the child to be able to speak about what scares them and be supportive." I explained.
"... How does one gain trust?"
"Depends on the person, but Trust is a two way street, where both sides can be vulnerable, honest, respectful, and just…being a good person to each other." I explained.
"... Define 'Good Person'."
"Well…what do you define as a 'good person'?" I inquired.
"... Unknown. I know the basic definitions of what a Good Person is… but not what they are really. My data logs confirm I'm not one though, by the basic definitions."
"Well, am I a good person?" I inquired.
"... Unknown. Data lacking."
I pouted, I should have expected that. "Well…the definition is a good baseline to follow, be kind, respect others, do genuinely good things…but as I've come to learn over the years, sometimes good people do bad thing's because they have to."
"... I did bad things because I was told to."
"You were ordered to, but how do you feel about doing those bad things?" I inquired.
"Nothing. I didn't feel anything."
"Well, what do you feel right now knowing you did those things?"
"... Nothing."
"Do you…feel anything? Not like the physical, but emotionally." I said softly.
"... I don't know."
I sighed. "Well…I'm here to help you understand things, so that you do know."
"How? I was never designed to feel emotions. Never intended."
"The first step, is to help you get past your 'programming', because right now, you are more than just what you were made to be."
"... What am I now?"
"You are my son, with limitless potential." I said softly, gently putting a hand on his shoulder…I really wish I knew how to do this better but…this is so far the best I can do.
"... What does it mean to be a son?"
"Why does this have to be so difficult?" I mentally groaned. "It's something you'll learn over time…Time is something we all have."
It was a quiet morning. Peaceful even. I wasn't on a raw meat run for today. Kids were mostly all already out and playing.
Then the door was blasted open. I was immediately up, Ol' Reliable in hand as Carver walked through the blasted out doorway. "Where is it?" He asked, his voice sounding tense and raged.
"Better question is, why the hell did you blow up our front door!?"
"Where. Is. The. Stalker." He asked again.
"Present." I winced as Mantis spoke up from where he was on the couch.
Carver looked over at him… and tilted his head. "... Well that's unexpected."
"There's already some impossible nonsense happening with Mantis here, but you better fix our door." I frowned. "So what's the problem here Carver?"
He huffed. "Vega, deploy repair droids to my location."
"Affirmative." Vega replied.
"Now, as for my reasons for the arrival. Stalkers are on the list of non-demonic enemies the Slayers take out." He said, looking back over at Mantis. "This, thing, however, clearly isn't a Stalker."
"I mean…technically he is but technically he isn't?" I said sheepishly. "Cause I found him in a Prize Pod, an Ally and Child class lover…which from what Nanny said has never happened before…and his profile has a glitch in it somehow…oh boy it's a whole thing that's still really confusing."
"I see… then that means he's not one of Violence's." Carver said with a nod.
"He is not." I shook my head quickly. "You can give him an inspection if you want to make sure, but Nanny was rather thorough."
Nodding, Carver walked over to Mantis, kneeling in front of him as his suit seemed to scan over him with a blue light. "Hm. Interesting."
"Yes…there is a lot of things that are curious about Mantis here."
"Hmm…the most interesting part here is his lack of a soul."
"Excuse me?" I asked in surprise. "B-but how?"
"It's not unheard of for Prize Pod people, depending on their species to lack a soul. Especially since… Mantis here, is by definition a synthetic lifeform of sorts. Normally these are installed in the incubation period before they awaken but given he came from a pod and is already physically seven years of age, it will have to be installed externally."
"Well…what's weird is that it tried to register someone, or something, was a part of Mantis and…well this happened." I said, showing off the glitched registration on Mantis to Carver.
"I could care less." Carver said, making me… blank. "I can make him a blank soul. Plenty of Argent Energy to pull it off…" He muttered to himself.
"Uh…you can just…make him a soul?" I asked in surprise, cause while I've heard of Soul creation before, it tended to be some high end magic and crafting to do such a thing.
"Yes." Carver said bluntly. "From time to time the Slayers need to… expand. So, we use Synthetic Made Lifeforms. The Slayers Guild has it's own Soul Forges for transforming the abundance of Argent Energy we collect or in the zones we guard and returns it into the form of a soul."
"Huh…that's pretty cool." I nodded. "Well, I'm sure a Soul will help Mantis…feel stuff, cause not having a soul is probably making his 'robotic' part be more prominent."
"That and, well, should he die he'll respawn and not just… die die." Carver added.
"Yeah, him not dying permanently would be a great thing." I said quickly.
"It will take me a few days, but I'll be back." Carver said, heading out the hole of my doorway as two robots appeared and began making repairs.
I sighed and sat down next to Mantis.
"Is having a soul necessary to live?" Mantis asked.
"Well…having a Soul is important to Life, as it gives us plenty of important things." I said. "First is respawning, so you don't die forever cause that would suck." I said honestly. "But in some cases it is also able to help with emotions and the like."
"Having a soul makes one immortal?"
"Technically, see we can still 'die', but we can respawn…sucks that specifically here we'd respawn in a random location…but if you die without a soul then you would be dead forever."
"Is that not the natural way of life? Things are born, then they die?"
"It's just one of the things that happens in this reality." I shrugged. "Only way you can is either from the Time Walkers, Level Five Dungeons, or Void Admins."
"These entities are… capable of permanent death?"
"Yes." I nodded. "I don't know the specifics on how that all works, but they all have the ability to permanently kill people, and Level Five Dungeons are a special place that is really dangerous."
"Level Five dungeons, Void Admins and Time Walker's. Critical Threat entities logged." Mantis said.
I sighed. "Hopefully when you get a soul you'll be able to get past some of this 'I'm a robot' talk…"
"Statistically speaking I am more biologically akin to a cyborg, but I do have an AI consciousness."
"Either way." I shook my head.
"... What is having a soul like?"
"It's…just a part of you." I said carefully, not entirely sure how to explain this to him. "I was born with a Soul so it's a little…hard to explain."
"Have you ever met another soulless being other than me?"
"Uh…" I put a hand to my chin in thought…hmm…well there was that one boss…maybe? No he had a soul now that I think about it. "I have not actually."
"... Would you be sad if I died?" The question threw me for a loop and I stared at the little winged lamb.
"Of course I would." I said bluntly. "Why would you think your death wouldn't make me sad?"
"... Why?"
"Because you're my son, and even though I've only had you for a little while, you're still important to me."
"...Illogical. You've known me for a week. I express no emotional ties to you or anyone. You've been reprimanded by your fellow residents for my actions. And, I am not a good person. I feel no sadness or regret for my past actions. I do not remember them, but my logs tell me everything. Because of me, forty seven Nokori test subjects were recaptured. Other files indicate nine of them were recycled into Stalkers like myself or other models. Why would you be sad if something like me were to expire?"
"Not everything needs to be 'logical'." I answered carefully. "But just because you were a bad person back in whatever world you were in, it doesn't stop the fact that you are a brand new being right now, and let me ask you something, are you still a Stalker? Or are you a Nokori?"
"I don't know." He said.
"And as your new mother for your new life, I'm going to help you figure that out." I said readily.
"...Why do you care so much about me?"
"Because you are my son, ever since I opened you up from that Prize Pod you are my biological son, and I care about you cause you are not what you used to be, you are a brand new person with a brand new chance at life." I said readily.
"What could something like me accomplish with a life I was never meant to possess?"
"Anything." I said readily. "You have a brand new life my son, you can be whoever you want to be, but know that I'm here to help you through this, to help you be a better person and learn to live…and obtain whatever goal the person that turned you into this fluffy lamb body wanted."
"...They didn't turn me into this… they turned them into this…" He said, looking at his hand. "The missing OS… The… person, the child this body belonged to… This was for them… not me."
"Then we can figure out why he wanted to share his body with you." I said honestly.
"... I doubt our shared body was intentional…" He said, sighing. "All the data I've recovered and been able to calculate probabilities say the same thing… I shouldn't be here. In this body, thinking these things… I shouldn't exist."
"Well, you do exist, and I'm happy you exist." I said, gently putting a hand on their head. "Cause you're my son, and you existing instead of some 'calculable' occurrence…life is mysterious and can't be quantified."
"... If I get a soul, will it… decelerate my thoughts?"
"Either it will, or it will give you the 'human element' you need to understand things." I said honestly.
"..."