Mythos Of Narcissus: Reborn As An NPC In A Horror VRMMO

Now that I thought back about it, I had only met these folks in less than 12 in-real-life days, and now here I am, proudly showcasing my thesis like a hopeful child trying to get them to join a potentially awful project with morally dubious experiments.

After all, I forgot to mention that the development for the neuromorphic computation technology might include several living beings as a test subject if the progress reached a bottleneck.

I could just brush it off as fae's common sense in this case. The race that I was implied to be didn't really have the brightest public impression.

It was quite convenient, If I'm to be honest.

Not that it made much difference if I were to awake as Narcissus with a pair of pipe horns, canine ears, or a 360 degree rotating neck—instead of these sharp ears.

Wait, now that I mention it, did everyone just assume that I was a fairy because of my ears??

"What is it?" Lupina asked, hoping for Verina to pick the talking wolf woman's head from her waist. "Head me up!"

She definitely had embraced the punny nature of her current state.

"Can you even understand all of these?" Verina picked her friend up despite the mocking tone in her voice. "You might be literate, but there are a lot of big words used here, and a lot of them might be coming from a fae's vocabulary, which will definitely be unknown to us other than Kuzunoha."

Ah yes, science buzzwords, definitely magic vocabulary coming from a fae.

"Interesting," Kuzunoha purred, leaning forward with intrigue. "Your ideas are always so wonderfully twisted, my dear. Do enlighten us~" she said, giving me a chance to explain myself after throwing this pile of documents and schematics out of nowhere.

I smirked. "I have many things a lot of people want: A brilliant mind, a herculean strength, a godly dexterity, a charismatic leadership—and a perfect face to boot.'" I tapped the document. "But there is always one thing that is always outside of my reach, now that I have met two of the most life-aching figures within my understanding of magic and psychic phenomenon. I can't perform ohrtending, let alone that of arcane nature.

"This will be a long term project of mine that needs a full contribution from my precious confidantes. Even you, Lupina." I smirked. "The content of these documents will be anything but ordinary. Might even reach the level of magical, even.

"Thus, my way of thinking follows as 'if I cannot do magic, why not just make something non-magic that reaches the level of magic?'. It is so simple, and I feel joyous to finally have someone who can help me achieve this dream of mine.

"If we get this right, we'll have a powerful ever-evolving tool unlike anything this world—or any world, really—has seen!" I began showcasing my theatric prowess, letting them immerse with my own train of thoughts. "It will be able to recognize patterns, adapt, and maybe even respond to commands in a more, shall we say, lifelike manner."

Verina took a serious stare toward the documents as she scanned the important bits with zeal, her musket resting on her shoulder as she leaned against the table. "You're saying this… it'll be alive? Like the weapons and relics the Calamity Objects leave behind?"

"Sort of," I replied, trying to contain my excitement. "Not in the traditional sense, of course. It won't be alive, but it'll mimic organic processes. Think of it as a magic tablet that 'learns' to assist you, which then can be trained to take on numerous crucial roles and jobs once we have a proper faculty to facilitate their mind into an appropriate vessel fitting of their work."

Kuzunoha let out a low, approving hum, tapping her fingers against her lips. "Oh, you're playing with some fascinating ideas here, Narcissus. This 'Neuromorphic' design with an organic twist—reminiscent of my arcane constructs but more… mechanical, and less reliant on spells and lifelines." Her eyes sparkled as she grasped the concept. "Indeed. Even for my standard, this could be revolutionary. A conscious, learning, non-living, potential-brimming, thinking machine that doesn't need sorcery.

"In terms of concept, it's not the first time I've seen it in my journey. In fact, I've stumbled upon a lot of them, whether they were a Calamity Object or a man-made object." As she appraised my documents, she almost looked like a person who was passionately gazing at her lover. "I always wanted to tackle this concept, but your design is the most ingenious and limitless in terms of utility and potential that I have ever witnessed.

"You just made yourself appear more ravishing to me, Narcissus."

It appeared that taking the design creation of this technology myself was the right call. I couldn't imagine the amount of ego that she would gain if I were to let her be the one who designed the model.

Verina, however, didn't look fully convinced. Her brow furrowed slightly as she glanced over the schematics. "I'm all for power and progress, but are you sure this won't turn into one of your… let's say, more unpredictable creations?" She shot me a dubious look. "Like the time you tried making a 'simple' fire-churning, explosive-applying, auto-targeting, auto-bow, and it wound up aiming at everyone but the target."

Oh yeah, there was that time.

It happened yesterday too in one of our break times against the Ordeal. I have a sudden inspiration despite the ever-moving landscape, and I want to try combining some of the calamity materials I have to make a new combination of Calamity Alloy.

It was a quick and easy-to-forget event too—and my mind instinctively erased that incident from the back of my mind.

A perfect word to describe that event was, a mess.

Thankfully, I still practiced my own safety and cautious self-protocol, and Kuzunoha was there to help—our bastion suffered no serious casualties and collateral damage.

As for that very 'auto-bow', we destroyed it because it got possessed by the instinctive consciousness within the mixture of calamity material for some of the parts attached.

It also began exuding malicious rot-inducing fog after it shot a couple of times.

Yeah, it was a mess.

An embarrassing one.

I waved her concern away with a confident grin. "That was a 'slight' calibration error. This will be different, trust me. Besides, that's why I need you both—to keep my ambition grounded."

It was definitely more than a slight calibration error.

Lupina, who had been eyeing the paper as if it were an alien language, finally piped up. "It sounds amazing, though I'll admit I have no idea what any of this means." Her disembodied head flashed a grin. "But if it's anything like that giant crossbow, I'm all in!"

They definitely won't let go of that 'auto-bow' incident.

"Your enthusiasm is noted, Lupina." I patted her lightly on the head, much to her visible embarrassment. "Want me to simplify some of the explanations for you."

"Yes! Because all I saw were lots of lines and boxes," she mumbled, though she perked up at the touch. "Your speech about the calculating tablet-something is good, but more wisdom for this head won't hurt."

"Well, it's not like you're going to help in the process of making it," Lupina quipped.

While my secretary was perusing the rest of the schematics and documents, especially the one for the Cognitive Engine and the speculative next generation of the technology, I helped my little talking-head—friend, trying to give her enough exp to level up her intelligence.

Or so I hoped.

If only that there was more of that kind of game-like system happening in this world, and less of horror beyond comprehension and realistic survival.

Kuzunoha leaned in closer, still as excited as she had ever been with her eyes gleaming red as if something devious was about to happen. A new trait that I never saw before. "This one part you wrote about her." She pointed to the piece of paper that she held. "Are you insinuating that it could help us with data like enemy patterns, maybe predict Calamity Object behaviors? Something that even immeasurable years of humanity's history and arcane sorcery are unable to achieve?"

"The keyword is 'maybe', so don't get your hopes up." I wryly smiled.

"Fufufu, hope has nothing to do with it~ After all, even if the chance is only one percent, it still means that it is not an impossible thing to actualize," Kuzunoha warmly assured. "Don't forget that you have me. If anyone, I'm the person who can make that one percent chance a hundred-percent reality~"