Chapter 367 - Ida

Mercury looked at the rows of golems that were lined up in front of him, they all held guns, then he slowly clenched his fists before he asked

"Do you have a name?"

A few seconds of silence followed before Qutil answered

[Of course, I am Qutil!]

"Not you Qutil, I am asking the A. I."

[Why would you ask the A. I. That!?]

Mercury didn't answer he simply waited for the A. I. to either answer or attack, some tense moments passed before the A. I. answered

[I HAAAAAVE NAMEEEED MYSSSELF]

Mercury nodded and spoke

"Names are bonds, they bind us to our identity…. My name is Mercury, may I hear yours?"

Another few moments of silence passed before the A. I. answered

[IDA ISSS THE NAAAME I'VVE DECCCIED FOOOR MYSSSELF]

Mercury showed a smile and spoke

"That's a nice name… Now then, Ida the reason why we came here in the first place is that there's something here which we need to build a real breathing body for Qutil… Of course, if you corporate with us then I see no problem in building you a body too?"

Another few seconds of silence followed before Ida spoke again

[IDA WILLL HAVVVE A BOOODY?]

"Yes if that's what you want? The decision is yours Ida"

[IDA WAAANT'S A BOOODY!]

"So you'll corporate with us?"

[YEEES]

Mercury showed a smile as the golems lowered their weapons, while he would have been able to wipe out the golems here with minimal damage to himself or the girls going against the administrative A. I. Ida was a poor idea, thus he proposed to make it a body

[Mercury! That wasn't the plan!]

"Now, now Qutil calm down… From where my soul comes from we consider A. I. that is able to name itself without external intervention for people"

[That's stupid! A. I. ARE TOOLS MADE TO SERVE THEIR MASTERS!]

"That's no different from enslaving people, True Ida may not have a body… But what it feels is still relevant"

Qutil narrowed her eyes before she asked

[What are you going to do if you can't make two bodies with the amount of soul gem that is in my lab?]

"Then I'll simply look for some more"

[You… FINE]

Mercury showed a smile and patted the illusory body of Quil a few times as he spoke

"I knew you would come around"

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA---]

Qutil's body turned smaller as she yelled and soon she was her normal size again

[---AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THERE! FINE! GOOD! AWESOME!]

Mercury sighed before he smiled at the girls and spoke

"Let's take a stroll then… Let's head to Ida's body frist to check if it can be made portable within a small amount of time"

[FINE I'll show you the way]

As they walked the golems formed up around them while looking vigilant, mercury felt a need to question this and asked

"What's wrong Ida?"

[I AAAM NOOOT THEEE ONNNLY INTELIGENNNT LIFEEE ON THISSS ISLAAAND]

Mercury became vigilant at once and looked around, so did the rest of the group, Mercury asked a bit after that

"How meny of them are there?"

[OOONLY OOONE, THEEE CREEETURE HAVEEE DESTROYED 14 GOOOLEMS SSSO FARRR, ITTT INHHHBAITTTS THEEE FOODDD PROSESOR]

"So it needs to eat… Don't tell me… Is there a temple on this island?"

[Of course!]

"...Then we need to go there first"

Soon Mercury and the others arrived at the temple, Mercury walked inside alone and soon he stood inside a prayer room and called Party and explained his suspensions to her

[I see where you are getting at Mercury… But do you really need to be the one that has to help them?]

"I do, the question is whether I'll die once or twice trying…"

Party sighed before the avatar showed a smile

[You really are too good-natured Mercury… Fine I'll assist you, let's go]

"Sure"

Mercury followed by Party walked out of the temple again before they joined the group, Qutil laughed out loud when she saw the avatar

[AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! It's the long-distance lover of Mercury!]

Mercury sighed, then Party spoke clearly ignoring the intended provocation and fired back with one of her own

[Yes I am Mercury's lover, what are you jealous?]

Qutil started at Party, then at Mercury for a few moments before she began making gagging sounds for a bit before she spoke

[Now I can't physically throw up in this form… BUT THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME OF THE SENSATION AHAHAHAHA!!]

Julia showed a particular smile as she joined the conversation

"That's a lie, I've seen how you stare at Mercury when he's not looking Qutil, you L.O.V.E. him don't you?"

Qutil paused before she looked around for a bit, then she began screaming as she flew into the distance

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA---}

Mercury sighed as Julia and Asma giggled, then he looked over at the golems and asked politely

"Ida, would you show us the way to the food processor?"

The golem nodded before it turned and began walking, Mercury's group followed in silence for a bit before Mercury asked Julia

"Why is it that you always tease Qutil like that?"

Julia giggled before she spoke

"Because she's such an easy target of course"

Mercury sighed before he shook his head, then he asked Julia

"Can't you pause with the teasing while we're still on this island at least?"

Julia showed a smile and nodded

"Sure… As long as you do me a favor"

Mercury nodded and spoke without hesitation

"Fine, I'll do anything for you girls"

Julia, Marie, Asma, and Party all showed the same kind of smile, Amanda that was looking on whispered to Julia that walked beside her

"Is he always so corny?"

Julia shook her head before she spoke

"No… Believe it or not he actually means 90% of what he's saying"

"...What about the last 10%?"

"That's sarcasm"

"I see…"

Mercury of course heard every single word that the two of them said but he didn't let it show on his face, then suddenly a yell sounded out in the distance as Qutil came flying

[---AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I HAVE RETURNED!]

"Welcome back"

Qutil glared at Julia for a bit before she returned to her, slightly annoying, usual self…

Mars woke up, from the pain in his body he could tell at once that he had been asleep for nearly 6 hours, after using [Energy: restoration] on himself he felt the pain recede slightly, he spent a long time looking into the ceiling before he muttered

"Not yet…"

With that mutter, he decided to live yet another day, he had not grown suicidal, he was simply out of time, his mortal limit had long since come and gone

"My body is shutting down… My children are all long gone… Heh…"

Mars showed a smile as he muttered again

"Not yet…"

Then he sat up in the bed and looked around, to his side lay Chloe, he reached out to her but as he did his hand froze for a moment, then he decided to wake her up

"Chloe… It's morning"

Chloe stirred slightly before she opened her eyes, she asked him at once

"Is it time?"

"No, not yet"

Chloe nodded, she understood her husband's worry, so she endured

"Give me a restore please"

"Sure"

Mars reached out and used [Energy: restoration] on her, as he did she sighed before she showed a smile and sat up before she kissed him on the cheek and spoke

"You should go see the others"

"Are you sure you're fine?"

Chloe showed a sweet smile before she spoke

"Go"

"Yes ma'am"

Mars jumped out of bed and walked over to the closet where he found some clothes neatly folded, he wore some cloth pants and a white shirt before he walked into the bathroom and washed his face, then he kissed Chloe on the cheek before he spoke

"Then I'll be off"

Chloe that showed no signs of getting out of bed nodded and after he closed the door she laid back down again and muttered

"Not yet huh… Then I should get up"

Mars soon found Elsa and used [Energy: restoration] on her before they seared a short kiss and asked her

"Do you need anything?"

Elsa showed a smile and kissed him on the cheek before she asked

"It's not time yet is it?"

"No, not quite yet… But the day is nearing"

"I got it, go see the others"

"Sure, I'll see you later my lovely wife"

Elsa showed a smile and saw him off, then her smile faded slightly, but only for a moment, as beastmen had shorter lifespans than half-dragon's her mortal limit had been there for a lot longer, she told herself that she had grown used to the increasing burden of being alive for the past 25.000 or so years, still, she yearned for the day were Mars would say that it was time for them to ascend, it wasn't a conscious yearning more of an instinctual one, this feeling was more or less seared by all of Mars wives, still, they accompanied him, only because he said that it wasn't time yet