Arselan System: AI Controller
Chapter 013: Expressive

"Arselan," call Ats that night. He was standing alone on the roof of a flat dorm building. His eyes looked far out, enjoying the beautiful panorama of the bright city.

"System activated!" the distinctive Arselan voice again rang out in Ats' mind, "Good night, Mister."

Ting!

A smiley emoticon suddenly appeared before Ats to his surprise. If observed well, the emoticon appears on top of the disc which is the container of Arselan. Ats laughed a little at it.

"Well, Professor Han is really creative, but—," Ats thought for a moment, "This face is too ordinary and simple. Arselan, can you change your face mode?"

"Sure, sir," Arselan responded with a nodding emoticon, then turned into a question-marked face on the forehead. "What does Mister want?"

"Try showing me your other emoticons" Ats said with a subtle smile on his face. He feels happy. It feels like a kid when he gets a new toy on a special day.

Arselan showed a variety of faces installed on his container. There are the faces of small children from both Aklali and Elemental, the faces of sophisticated droids today, even the faces of cute animals of various types and species.

"Wait, show me the furry cat again!" said Ats so find an interesting emoticon. Arselan showed it.

"It's good" Ats muttered as he looked at the cat's expressions, "Just use this face."

"Well, sir," Arselan accepted. He also showed the face of his cat's emoticon who smiled innocently with a slightly tilted face. His face was so cute that Ats wanted to caress him subconsciously. Unfortunately, the emoticon is just a visual image that cannot be touched. Ats' hand pierced through the empty air where the emoticon was lit.

"Arselan, can anyone else see your face?" ask Ats curious.

"Only you can see me, Sir," replied Arselan with a bespectacled cat face that looked intelligent and thinker, "However, if you so desire, I can show visuals to others like a hologram in general."

"Hm, I get it," Ats a mangosteen, "For a while, I've seen you enough."

"Ready, Master!" Arselan changed his face again. This time with a cat emoticon giving a military-style salute complete with a red beret on his head. It made Ats almost laugh to see it.

"Haha, you became more expressive after Professor Han updated you," Ats said as he stared at the empty sky. Well, the sky is completely empty because of the veil that protects the flying island. New artificial stars will be shown soon. It usually starts at seven in the evening.

"What exactly did Professor Han do to you?" ask Ats later. A star began to be seen on that artificial ceiling. It was the most beautiful star in the dark of the night.

"Professor Han did update version 2.1.4.," replied Arselan who again showed the face of the cat thinker with glasses, "There are various additions to the following features."

Arselan also shows various bug fixes and system updates. There are also recorded applications of nano technology. There is also a second level AI assistance system where the system will help Ats when the particle nauron is exposed to problems.

"Hm, I see," Ats muttered again, then faced the sky which was now beginning to shine. It is time for the stars to appear.

Thousands of points of light form unique formations in constellations in space. The artificial stars are arranged according to their original position in the universe. The Star Research Center is working hard to scan it. In the past, the stars were studied to indicate directions and determine time. Ah, even now it is still used so for certain parties.

The street lights were extinguished instantly. The windows of the building darkened automatically. The artificial stars in the sky became even more beautiful and bright. This is one of the most enchanting panoramas in the Capital of Altair, the Star Map of the Universe.

"Look at the stars" murmured Ats in his solitude. Arselan's disc flew over his head and raised a curious cat figure as if he was a child just learning. Ats was unaware of that and just kept on babbling alone, "I remember that people used to use it for divination."

Ck, it was a trick of the fortune-tellers who were trying to find a cuan. After all, the truth percentage was only one to one hundred. They mix a fact with a hundred lies.

"You mean the Zodiac?" ask Arselan to make sure. His AI system grins at thousands of related information from what Ats muttered, then asks for confirmation.

"Zodiac? Ah, the myth about those constellations," Ats' brain instantly processed them many times faster than Arselan's AI, "Like, anyway. The zodiac is one of the branches of necromancy that is nothing more than a joke. Science is not to be trusted. On the surface of the earth long ago, newspapers from hundreds of years ago used it for entertaining media for customers."

Arselan recorded the explanation carefully. The disc shows a kitten that seems to be busy writing. Maybe it won't be useful now, but I don't know in the future. Who knows?

***

"Shais ...!" Ayya let out a sigh, "Sister is already in the dorm right now. Why can't I stop by to see him?"

"Prophey, Ayya" persuaded Elnara who that day was very concerned with the behavior of this careless little princess, similar to one of her other nephews. "Your brother lives in the men's area. We can't just go in there with the identity of an imperial family."

"Why? I just want to visit my sister for a while," lamented Ayya who then puffed her cheeks. Hafiza spoke up, supported her. He was curious about the area of men in the academy. When viewed from the video, cool. "True, we can come there as a looker."

"Haha," Elnara was almost out of words, "Well, it can, but it should have been a few weeks ago. The family of disciples in the academy could only visit once every three months. Since his first quarter schedule is up, we can only see him in about two months."

"Huh? Really long?" Ayya looked in disbelief, "When?"

"Just wait! When the time comes, you guys will meet, "Elnara smiled wryly. Actually, he had intended to invite Ayya to visit her brother on the first quarter day of this year. Unfortunately, Ats was not in the academy at the time. According to the Care Board, she was going to Althalimain with a senior.

"You also have to take good care of your health, Ay," Hafiza reminded. During this time, Ayya spent more time in the treatment room. He was a premature and sensitive child. Since childhood, he was very susceptible to disease. Therefore, the imperial family, especially the family of Empress Feza who took care of him became very worried.

"Hm, I'm a strong princess," Ayya nodded vigorously. It made Hafiza so happy, while Elnara smiled hopefully. From the bottom of his heart, he prayed that Ayya's disease would be cured so that he would grow up healthy.