Chapter 2: ICE

Ding!

[System Reboot complete.]

[Analyzing Genome...]

[Analyzing DNA Structure...]

[Analyzing DNA Sequence...]

[Identifying Host...]

[Analyze complete.]

[Host Recognized.]

[Welcome Host.]

An accented and robotic female voice echoed through Ned's head. Ned was Shocked. Startled. And confused.

"Who...are you..." Ned gasped.

[I am ICE]

[For Intranode Content Emulator]

[I'm a first-generation advanced system interface that supports the host.]

Meanwhile, the three thugs were maniacally laughing.

"Who am I?" His foot was still stuck at Ned's face. "We are the last person you'll see before you die. This is O'rriadt, no one's gonna bother looking at you boy. No offense, but this is what we do...Told you. Don't struggle."

His foot kept on pressing Ned's face, stronger than before. The two thugs approaching Ned was more delight to kill than to steal. One of them stepped on the pouch that was filled with herbs. As they slowly approached Ned, their knives glimmered under the lucent of the moon.

Ned who was lost in thoughts suddenly realized that his life was now in danger. And there is nothing he can do. For he is weak and magic-less. Some say's that if one is about to die. They will hear strange voices in their head. Ridiculous. Ned thought. I'm about to die and all I can hear is a female voice. Female. I'm too young for that. Too young and dead.

Ding!

[Warning. Injuries detected. Redirecting cells for treatment.]

[Warning. Unknown plebians emit killing intent.]

Again, the voice sounded in Ned's head. This time he was sure, that he is not dreaming.

[System will now proceed with Code one - ensure host survival.]

[System will initiate Predictive Combat Emulator.]

[Host, would you like to initiate Predictive Combat Emulator?]

[Yes? or No?]

The voice in Ned's head was now asking him questions. Host...Code one...Ensure survival... Predictive Combat what?... Ned speculated in his head. Well, whatever I'm dead anyway. "Yes!"

[Predictive Combat Emulator will now initiate.]

With the remaining energy Ned had, he forced himself to stood. But the thug's strength was stronger than Ned. Ned struggled but can't stand up.

[Warning. The host is weak.]

This...I know I'm weak, but you really need to say that? He responded in his head.

[Proceed with Overclocking?]

Over what? You're talking nonsense again. Will you just do whatever you would like to do. Whoever you are? Ned answered the system.

[I'll take that as a yes then.]

[Discharging adrenaline by 10% more.]

[Overclocking will now initiate.]

The moment the voice finished saying 'initiate', Ned's blood circulation increased. His heart started to beat faster. Sweat drizzled over his body. The pain he felt was now numbing. In an instant, he felt energized. All this happened in a fraction of a second.

He forced himself to stand. And he did, effortlessly.

The first thug whose foot was on Ned's face was surprised. He knew he pressed his foot with all his strength. Yet, Ned shook it like it was nothing.

Ned's body was now heating up.

Toot! Toot! Toot!

Suddenly, digits started to appear on Ned's point of view. Numbers foreign to him but he could fully understand. He saw 10% on the 1st thug's neck, 30% on his left arm, 40% on his right arm, and 99% between his legs.

The second thug and third had the same scenario. Digits pointing on their respective body parts. 90% on the second thug's stomach. And 80% on the third's left foot.

What? Ned doubted everything he saw. But what Ned felt surprised him more. He felt fully energized, focused, and alert. He felt like he could take down a dozen more thugs by himself.

Suddenly, with his new profound strength. Ned's body moved on its own. He was being controlled by ICE. Simultaneously attacking the thieves according to the numbers appeared in his view. He lunged and kicked between the legs of the first thug, and heard something cracked. He then bent and rolled over towards the second thug and punched him in the gut. And then crouched, using his right foot, he kicked the third thugs left foot. Ned then leaped backward to gain distance between them. All these attacks happened in less than three seconds.

Surprises after surprises. He saw the thugs thudding one after the other. The first thug gasping for air and fell unconscious, the second vomited, and the third slid and hit his head on a rock nearby. Every move was carefully predicted and executed.

"Did I..." Ned murmured

His body then moved again. This time Ned is heading towards a tree not far from him. Since Ned was extremely focused, he could sense another figure hiding in the tree. He ran.

When Ned was near the tree, the figure was now getting clearer. The figure was a girl - she may have heard the commotion between him and the thugs, then came to check.

Ned then raised his hand, ready to punch the lady. Since Ned doesn't have control of his body, he had no way to stop himself from punching a lady. I'm a loser. He thought. The first time meeting a lady, and all I'll be doing is punching her.

Ned could see clearly that the girl was frightened.

"Wait! Stop! Stop!" Ned begged to stop the system. "She's not one of them!"

All of a sudden, Ned collapsed on the ground. His head was spinning. The pain that was gone now coming back, painful than before. He felt totally weak and joints all over his body were aching. Muscles are all tensed. His desire was to look at something to eat and drink. He could shove anything in his mouth right now to satisfy his hunger.

He felt dizzy, then he lost consciousness. In the middle of the woods. With a girl in front of him. How lame. He thought.

[Predictive Combat Emulator stopped.]

[Overclocking stopped.]

[Host is...]

Thud!

Ned collapsed.

When Ned opened his eyes, he saw that he was not in his comfortable straw bed. Across were wooden beds, 12 to 15 perfectly lined. At his right was a small table and on top was his pouches. Picas and herbs together.

He tilted his head to the left. He saw a door, half-opened and the heads of curious, prying kids popped out. One of the kids screamed.

"Toni! Toni! He's awake."

Ned then heard footsteps approaching.

He then saw the door pushed wider by a girl. The first thing Ned saw was her deep dark eyes that matched her pony-tailed dark hair, some hidden thread of golden hair could be noticed. She was the girl hiding behind the tree from last night.

"Uhm...hello...I'm Toni." She said bashfully. "Uhm..let me call Mama."

"Hello. I'm Ned and I'm sorry about last night."

"Uhm... it's...fine," Toni smiled then rushed outside to call Mama.

A moment later, a woman in her late forties entered the room. Carrying a plate of meat. Roasted.

"So you're awake. I'm Lady Zoreena, but they call me Mama here. Toni here, saw you collapsed on the passage going to the Grieving Forest last night." She put the plate beside Ned. "She said you defended your self against three thugs, quite brave for a young kid."

"Uhm. Yes...They tried to rob me...so I had no choice but to fight back." Ned glaring between Mama, Toni, and the meat. Roasted. "Uhm. Where am I?"

Mama chuckled. "This here is an orphanage." She then asked. "Where are your parents?"

"I don't have one." Ned saw Toni's eye sympathized with him. But decided to focus on the meat. Roasted. "My Master raised me."

"By Master, do you mean Master Will of the Grieving Woods?"

"Yes. Do you know him?"

"Of course, from time to time, Master Will comes here to help us fix some things. So you're his apprentice. No wonder you could take down those thugs." Mama then stood and chuckled. "Anyway, I will not delay you. You could start eating the meat now. By the way, it`s roasted."

After Ned finished eating, he left the orphanage then hurriedly went back to his Master.

Master must be worried that I didn't come home last night...Last night. Was a dream right? Ned thought while he hurriedly ran back home. He was still hungry. One meat is not enough. Why am I still hungry? This has never happened before. Food, I need more food.

Ding!

[Your body needed more energy to sustain Overclocking, so I had no choice but to pump more adrenaline into your system. By eating you will replenish the lost energy.]

"Ah!" Ned was shocked by the voice. "So it was not a dream, and what is Overclocking?"

[Oveclocking is speeding up your metabolism. By discharging adrenaline, your heart rate increases, you feel less pain, more alert, and focused. It also increases your muscle retention, so you became stronger, and faster. But it uses a lot of energy. As of now, your body can handle Overcloking by 3 seconds. Anything more than that is fatal.]

"I really thought I`m going to die."

[No host.]

"Stop calling me host. And...what are you? why are you in my head? no, how come you're in my head?"

[I am ICE, I'm advanced...]

"Wait, stop talking. I'll deal with you later." Ned arrived at their home where his master was waiting.

"Master, I'm sorry, I didn't get to come home last night, something happened along the way." Ned bowed. "Some thugs robbed me."

"It's fine kid. As long as you`re fine. Let me see that face. And what happened to the thugs?"

"I don't know what happened to them. After I battled them, I also collapsed. Luckily people from nearby orphanage helped me." Ned answered. "Master, they tried to rob the herbs you asked. The herbs are now tattered. But I didn't let them have it. I defeated them, Master!"

"You kid!" Feeling touched, his Master almost cried. But he needed to be tough for his apprentice. He waved his hand. "That's enough, go inside. I have soup made for you, and I will heal that swollen face of yours. After that, you rest. Go now."

After Ned finished eating, his Master started to heal his swollen face.

"Looks like I'm going to pay a visit to the orphanage." He raised his hands and moved it closer to Ned's face, vertically. After a matter of seconds, he mumbled. "Heal!"

Green and white light started to emit out his hand. A sphere of light was then formed and floated on to Ned's swollen face. The sphere slowly sipped in.

"Hmm." Master Will perplexed.

[Notice. Impure Xerontium detected. Would you like to absorb it?]

[Yes?, No?]

Impure Xeron...what? Absorb? Ned pondered in his thoughts.

"Something's wrong." Master Will said. This has never happened before. He waved his hands again, this time the sphere was bigger and brighter than before. "Focus Heal!"

[Notice. Impure Xerontium detected. Would the host like to absorb?]

[Yes?, No?]

"Yes!" Ned cried.

[Impure Xerontium absorbed.]

"I mean, yes! Master something is wrong, maybe you're tired, master?" Ned explained. "You also need to rest master."

"No I'm fine, I guess I'm just getting old."

The sphere of light then went in. The swollen face had started to slowly heal back to normal. Like it was never punched before. "I'm losing touch of my Magic, I guess that's enough."

"Thank you, Master!"

Ned then went to his comfortable straw bed, lied, and closed his eyes. He was exhausted, he needed another rest. His Master then went out to visit the orphanage to thank them.

"Now tell me, what are you?" Ned seems to be talking to himself. But in fact, he was talking internally. "Uhm, how do I call you. Hello?! You there?...Uhm...ICE!"

[How can I be of service Host.]

The robotic voice was once again heard inside Ned's head. "Stop calling me host, and what are you? How come you're in my head?"

[I am ICE - Intranode Content Emulator, I am an advanced first-generation system that supports a host.]

[I was implanted by Calahir in your brain. My goal is simple. Ensuring my host survival.]

Calahir?... Ned thought.

[I have been blocking your memories for the past thirteen years. This is to ensure that you will live a normal life. Without interference from your past.]

[I'm supposed to be back online by 13 more months, 2 weeks, 6 days,18 hours, 16 minutes, and 33 seconds.]

[But since my host was endangered. Code one was initiated. And I was forced to go back online.]

"Stop calling me host," Ned said. "You said memories. What about that?"

[For the past six years, I have been sending you fragments of your past life. This is to ensure that you will not forget who you were but also maintain a normal life. But eventually, when the time comes, you will still get to learn about your past. So whether I reveal it now or later, is still the same.]

My past? Ned thought, "so you're saying for the past six years, all those memories I had or dreams, was all real. The vivid lady? Magic? Dungeons and dragons? And creatures? All those are real?

[Yes, Host.]

"Stop with the host." Ned was now feeling anxious. "You said when the time comes I will learn my past. So when is that time?"

[Would you like me to unblock and release all stored information in your brain?]

Ned clasped both his hands. Feeling anxious yet excited. He responded. "Yes."

[System will now discharge Advanced Encoded Thought Blocker permanently.]

[Ad block discharged.]

"Wait!" Ned cried. "What will I become?"

[You will become. Your future...]