Star Rank Hunter

Chapter 385: To Be Human

Cillin knew that Moon, Xi Mu and the others had been working on a project as of late, and it was related to whatever was inside the box Sigma hugged all day and night like it was his most precious treasure. However, he also thought they would return to the base first before executing what Moon called the “Awakening Project” officially. So why was the Origin robot panicking right now? Did something bad happen?

Cillin changed his mind when he looked at Moon again. No, it’s probably the opposite.

They went into Xi Mu’s workshop where Xi Mu, Xi Kai, Sigma and Wheeze were already waiting for them. The box was placed on top of a silvery-gray metallic work desk, and it was open. Two balls of light were floating inside the box, and the machines beside it were displaying some sort of data.

Wheeze jumped onto the desk and circled the box twice. It could pick up bursts of machine language from the balls of light, but they were incredibly weak and incomplete. It was why the machines beside it could only display random and disjointed characters, numbers and symbols.

“What’s going on?” Cillin asked.

“They woke up!” Sigma replied excitedly, “But for some reason, neither Moon or I could communicate with them. It’s like the connection is unstable or something. We’re not sure what’s the problem either.”

Recently, they had been working on preserving Reefia and Suyi’s brain core. Since the Xi Family had only used their bodies to conduct their researches, and they had only made a token effort to look into the brain core and attempt to make a copy of it, the most important part of their existence wasn’t heavily damaged. After all, even they knew just how important a brain core was to any robot. Therefore, the Origin robots could be awaken again as long as the conditions were fulfilled.

Moon and Sigma had been attempting to communicate with the brain cores inside the box since they acquired it, but they had not received any response until a while ago. Moon, Sigma and Xi Mu were engaging each other in a discussion after finishing a game of Link of Gypsophila when suddenly, the metallic box on the desk had opened on its own. The two balls of light that was Reefia and Suyi’s brain core then floated into the air, and the surrounding instruments began reacting erratically.

Cillin listened intently as Moon told him everything that had happened. It was clear from his tone just how anxious he felt.

Since the brain cores are reacting, does that mean that there’s a chance they might awaken?

“Wha-wha-wha-wha-what should I do?” Moon seemed unable to calm him down or even think properly. Things had happened too suddenly and without warning. He had been going to deal with this after they returned to the Eleventh Squad’s base, not here! Thank goodness he always carried the necessary materials with him just in case, or he would be imploding internally right now.

“Have you ever encountered something like this when you were creating Czedow, Cillin?” Xi Mu asked.

Xi Mu was the one who told Moon to bring Cillin. It was because he felt certain that Cillin could contribute some useful suggestions.

Back then, Cillin had performed countless simulations on the first generation liquid nucleus chip until he was satisfied with the outcome. Combined with the miraculous crystal he had discovered back then, he was able to realize what was a design that should only exist in theory into reality. One might even say that Czedow was born only thanks to a culmination of many coincidences.

Moreover, Czedow was almost a blank paper at the time. Like a newborn, he possessed unlimited potential but possessed next to no knowledge or experience. Later on, Czedow underwent a lot of upgrades to perfect his existence, and most of them were done of his own accord. As a result, not even Cillin, his creator could fully understand the complex structure that was Czedow’s brain today.

Cillin shot a glance at the two floating balls of light. The brain he used to create Czedow was definitely nothing like this, now or before Czedow had upgraded himself. Even so, he could spot some similarities here and there.

Cillin quietly sensed the data being transmitted from the two light balls for a moment before saying, “I believe this is a normal phenomenon. Think of an animal that is waking up from hibernation. It needs time to fully awaken after its brain has been slumbering for so long, and they,” Cillin pointed a finger at the light balls, “are in such a period right now. They are technically unconscious, but their brains are starting to become active.”

Xi Mu nodded in agreement. He had thought more or less the same thing, but he let Cillin give the explanation because he had never created a truly sapient robot before, meaning that his knowledge in this department was mostly theoretical. The same words sounded much more convincing from Cillin’s mouth than his.

Xi Mu and Cillin quickly entered a discussion. Half an hour later, they returned to the others with a set of plans.

Cillin walked to the side and pointed at a certain direction, saying, “Please put the box inside, Moon.”

At the direction Cillin was pointing at, Xi Mu was already starting to calibrate the machines.

Moon carefully lifted the box and moved it into a transparent compartment that was shaped like a round pillar. It was a synthesis machine Xi Mu and Xi Kai used to create their robots, but unlike the mass-production one, this synthesis machine was more complex and equipped with all kinds of mods.

Xi Mu had calibrated some of the values and parameters of the machine after his discussion with Cillin. When Moon put the box inside, Xi Mu pressed the close button and secured the box inside the synthesis machine. Everyone could see the two floating balls of light through the transparent walls.

It was at this moment Czedow and White Ghost came in. Cillin was the one who told them to come just in case their help was needed. There was no harm in being prepared, not to mention that this would be an excellent learning experience for Czedow, a fellow sapient robot.

Cillin and Moon would continue to operate several different machines until everything was ready. After shooting Xi Mu a glance and getting an affirmative nod, they both pressed a button on their machines at the same time.

The environment within the synthesis machine changed immediately. The magnetic fields were being adjusted regularly, and the ions, the gasses, the pressure, the temperature and more were all changing rapidly. Both Cillin and Xi Mu were monitoring their machines closely as they needed to make adjustments based on the data and images being displayed at any moment.

The graphs and data shown on the machines fluctuated pretty erratically for a time before it gradually entered a period of stability. However, the balls of light within the synthesis machine didn’t look like they changed much at all. This was reflected by the overall line rising very, very slowly on the line chart, meaning that the two brains were waking up at a snail’s pace.

This isn’t working.

Cillin fell into thought for a moment before looking at Moon, “Try communicating with them.”

While there was a literal wall between Moon and the brain cores, Cillin was sure it wouldn’t be a problem for the Origin robot.

Moon did as he said and tried to converse with the two balls of light, and it did bump up the overall line on the line chart a little. However, the effects were minimal at best and definitely not up to Cillin’s expectations.

Cillin frowned as he tried to think of a solution. It was at this moment he caught Wheeze reading the data on the machine out of the corner of his eyes, data flashing inside its feline eyes. It was only doing this because it was bored and had nothing to do. It was also because the data being transmitted from the two light balls were disjointed and seemingly incomplete.

This gave Cillin the inspiration he needed though. He immediately said to Moon, “Try communicating with them using optical data transmission instead.”

Xi Mu’s eyes glinted when he heard this. He stared back and forth between Wheeze and Cillin before turning back toward the monitor. Not only was Cillin far more impressive than he had imagined, his understanding of machine language had also exceeded his expectations. As someone who knew machine language to an extent, he knew better than most just how rare and special a human who could understand machine language was. To give an example, such a person appeared only once in a couple of generations even in the Xi Family. Species wise Cillin was just a generic human being, and yet he understood the language even better than Xi Kai, a genuine member of the Xi Family.

Moon paid no attention to Xi Mu’s reactions. All of his attention was on the two balls of light inside the synthesis machine right now. They were his brothers, and it had been centuries since they last met. In fact, it had been a thousand years since the five of them were together.

The arrogant Reefia and the indifferent Suyi. Are they finally going to come back?

Moon stared at the balls of light inside the synthesis machine as a pair of light beams shot out of his face. They contained all kinds of data such as their time together with the golden generation of the Xi Family and so on. He was hoping that the memories would trigger some sort of reaction in the two brain cores.

This time, there was a visible flash from both of the light balls. The data on the monitoring machines connected to the synthesis machine started fluctuating rapidly as well.

“That’s it! Keep it up!” Cillin said while his hands flew all over the controls of his machine. He was making minute adjustments based on the new data, and so was Xi Mu.

In this case, robots might not necessarily do better than humans just like how the creator was in the driver’s seat in the robot creation process. Their development began only after after they were born.

Xi Kai was only watching from the sidelines not because he didn’t want to help, but because he was incapable even if he wanted to. For starters, Cillin and Xi Mu alone were enough to handle the machines. Their control was impeccable either. This was one area he fully admitted he was lacking compared to the duo, and he was definitely going to learn from this experience as much as he could.

There was a slight problem though. Cillin’s hands were moving so quickly that his naked eyes were incapable of catching up at all. He had to use an optical tool to actually see what the young man was doing, and even then he wasn’t able to capture all of it.

Cillin was doing nearly sixty percent of the work, and Xi Mu thirty percent. The remaining ten percent was left to Moon, the two balls of light, and the synthesis machine’s automated functions.

When the data on the monitor finally reached one of the main criterias in Cillin’s plan, he knew it was time to begin the next step.

“It’s time, Moon! Put in the materials!” Cillin called out to Moon, his hands still not pausing for even a second.

Moon could sense a growing clarity and familiar presence he hadn’t felt for a very, very long time from the two balls of light as well. That was why he did not hesitate to place the materials he had been hiding all this time into the synthesis machine’s inlet.

Cillin noticed that one of the materials looked very similar to the one he had used to create Czedow back then. Besides that, he also saw a few types of super rare metals. Moon had hidden them so well that not even the Xi Family knew he had them. He would’ve continued to hide them if it wasn’t finally time to awaken Reefia and Suyi.

The balls of light grew brighter and brighter. Moreover, they seemingly absorbed the materials into themselves before shaping them via their own will.

First, the outline of their body took form. Then, the details began filling up bit by bit. Two Origin robots that looked very similar to Moon and Sigma were slowly but surely taking form inside the synthesis machine.

“Reefia! Suyi!” Sigma was so excited that he began spinning like a fan, arms waving up and down as he did so. He only wished he had something, anything he could do.

Czedow was watching the scene in silence, but he was also recording absolutely everything—the operations, the data, the parameters, the calculation methods, dominant routes, optimal screening and more—that was happening. The main reason he was able to come this far was thanks to his powerful ability to learn and apply himself.

On the day Cillin had created Czedow, he said, “I just gave you a starting point. How far you can go is all up to you.”

Czedow was not the same as the five Origin robots. When Cillin and Wheeze had vanished to the Mist Bodhisattva Empire, he had embarked on a long journey. He had walked among crowds and trod on the same streets they did. He had sat in cafes around street corners and read ancient paperbacks to experience the life of an ordinary person.

He had done hard labor with the civilians living at the bottom of the society, slept in boxes like the homeless bums in the slums, worked together with well-dressed elites, fought alongside ordinary Hunters that wasn’t up to the Great Four’s standards, skateboarded alongside screeching youngsters through the neon-illuminated streets of the city, and more.

Those were the moments Czedow thought to himself: Ah. So this is the life of a human. I can not be a cold, icy machine.

Cillin once said that he could build another robot like him. However, there would always be one Czedow only.

Sigma had five family members, but Czedow did not envy him. After all, he already had a family of his own. Their names were Wheeze, Cillin, Cary, Tang Qiu Qiu and more. They were a mix of humans, cyborgs, aliens and even artificial lifeforms, but so what? They were all family members who would go through fire and water for him; people he could entrust his back to one hundred percent.

Moon and Sigma were often praised by members of the Eleventh Squadron and those who met them. In contrast, Czedow kept a very low profile. However, the members of the Eleventh Squad also treated Czedow like he was just another fellow human most of the time.

Wheeze watched the ongoing scene for a moment and flicked its ears. It then leaped onto Czedow’s shoulder after letting out a yawn. It didn’t dare to disturb Cillin right now since the young man was obviously busy. Wheeze wasn’t interested in the final fates of the two robots, and the creation process didn’t really catch its fancy either. So, it started dozing as soon as it found a nice spot on Czedow’s shoulder.