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

"This is hard, hmm."

While my three confidantes were enacting something unknown to my watch and senses, I had been isolating myself in my newly-built 'Thinking Room' that was complete with a soundproof spell cast by my reliable secretary.

In this room, there was only five things: Me, a chair, a table, a thick stack of papers, and Kuzunoha's pen with infinite ink and remarkable ergonomic that I had been wanting to claim for my own since my first time sighting it only to be rebuffed by its owner because it was one-of-a-kind object.

I really want this pen. It was so magical, that I felt like I would have no trouble rewriting a draft for an entire new body of constitution I needed to make.

"Yet all I have written are merely theoretical concepts that have low success in practical application." I sighed.

My earlier plan was to craft some new shiny equipment and items to empower my bastion, but the key players to that plan needed to have another conference that was unknown to me because of the potential informational advantage for our future encounter with Daffodil.

There will be a lot of those secret meetings happening from now and onward. Kuzunoha and I did a proper modification to our contract for those meeting to happen properly, of course.

Regardless, I guess I had some chances to be completely alone from them from time to time.

As such, I was currently using that time to come up with something diabolical, something that could only be done with the intellectual faculty of Narcissus and the modern knowledge of Lothair, sponsored by Sir Aethernet's reliable 5G network!

And that very diabolical something was none other than a 'computer'.

"No… this relies too much on Kuzunoha's arcane sorcery to be called a proper technology…"

Not just any computer, or even the one we had in the real world, and the preceding model that it went through before its current technological form.

I'm thinking of reinventing the computing unit by following a completely different technological trajectory.

The computers we use today in the modern days are based on specific choices in material science, electronics, and logical design that were developed over time, but there is a possibility that different principles could lead to a radically different kind of computing technology.

The first one is Biological Computing.

Biological computing envisions using living cells, DNA, or even entire biological systems to perform computations. This would diverge significantly from silicon-based hardware, taking advantage of biochemical reactions for processing power.

However, I'm not the most savvy person who dive deep into the field of extreme biology. This kind of project was something along the line of creating a secret virus that could eradicate humanity.

This was the same case with Chemical and Molecular computing, something that I had close to actualizing but not grasp quite yet.

Of course, I could easily just tell those concepts to Kuzunoha and have her invent these new computing technologies for me, but I don't want to over rely on her in the case that she and I will no longer be on the same side in the future.

And if possible, I also don't want to give too much of my favor to her. After all, she had already known and deducted too much in just our three day time frame of being together.

This computing technology will also be used for the betterment of the bastion under my rule, so I need to know the entirety of the mechanism, and giving Kuzunoha the leverage to be the one inventing it will definitely give her the chance to add or hide crucial system that I might be heavily against.

"Better be safe than being sorry."

So I tried a different but more advanced concept, but still tackling the same field that I had no experience with.

Yes, I thought that merely focusing on the terms 'biological' and 'chemical' computing was too broad of a goal if I want to make a proper technological mode.

Thus, I began mapping out my thoughts to prepare the schematic to create something similar to a 'Neuromorphic' computing unit.

Neuromorphic computing seeks to mimic the architecture and processing methods of the human brain, using "neurons" and "synapses" instead of traditional transistors.

It has also already existed in the real world and is only available to experts, and can only be found at multi-billion dollar companies and government-funded research labs.

The information about them is vastly available on the internet, but the schematic know-how of the hardware and mechanism were far from easily acquirable, or reliable, most of the time.

But knowing the concept alone was enough for me to churn my brain to seek an alternative model.

"Yes… Yes! You can do it, Narcissu! Move that pen like you're running out of time!"

I had a lot of materials from the daily session of kicking the Ordeal's ass, so I'm basing that this computing technology would develop overtime with my new encounters with new Calamity Objects and their precious organs and lootable substances.

And to make it even better, this computing unit would grow and create new functions and software through 'training' instead of 'coding', making it a perfect growth-over-time technological model that suits a hard-working person who soon wants to laze and enjoy life like me.

Of course, that would be the end goal of this project, but I had already written and drawn enough material for it to form a proper schematic for two things called Organic Calculator and Cognitive Engine.

"... It is done." I said with a victorious smile over my sweat-drenched face. "Not the finish line, but this will definitely work with the assistance of both Kuzunoha and Verina in this project."

The Organic Calculator would be a neuromorphic device that uses organic materials and simple neuron-like circuits to perform basic adaptive tasks like pattern recognition, signal processing, or associative memory.

To put it simply, they are Analog and Neuromorphic Processors for Basic Pattern Recognition Analog, a complete set of computing elements or basic neuromorphic processors designed for pattern recognition and simple associative tasks.

It's limited in scope but can handle tasks based on "learning" from repeated patterns, unlike traditional, rigidly programmed computers. It is also the core concept of the very computing model that I'm trying to aim for.

As such, the Cognitive Engine would be the modern world equivalent of a machine that includes advanced neuromorphic chips, spiking neural networks, reinforcement learning, and event-driven processors to construct the future computing model to a greater height.

And if you want the simplification of those scientific terms: I'm basically making a computer with a much more robotic approach.

It will involve a lot of moving things and things performing something, unlike the digital-based computation of binary where you input commands to the machine and get a response.

But in my case, it would be much more like interacting with another person or living being that doesn't need to do human activity but are quite dumb in certain things, but are also exceptional at certain assigned tasks or fields that they are trained for.

Wait, now that I think about it, I'm basically making a proper Artificial Intelligence with a physical body, unlike those Large Language Models that they claim to be an 'AI' on many parts of the internet.

Hmmmm.

"Welp, what could go wrong?"

After two hours inside my Thinking Room, I finally emerged, still basking in that lovely afterglow of an overworked brain.

The first thing that struck me as I stepped outside was that the world around the bastion had finally stopped its chaotic shifting. No longer were the lands rearranging like pieces of a cosmic Rubik's Cube; everything was calm and settled.

A sigh of relief escaped me. With Carcosa's terrain finally stable, there was potential here for real expansion. Maybe I could send the bastioneers out for scavenging, or, even better, scope out another location and move the bastion to more fertile ground.

Ah, the possibilities.

But first, it was time to share my latest—and perhaps greatest—idea with my confidantes.

After all, this project could serve as a technological milestone for the bastion, one with enormous potential.

Of course, I completely had no idea if this kind of thing had or hadn't been developed in this world yet. While the overall technological progress that the people I met exuded have been showcasing the lack of refinement and any modern object, I still felt like it would be totally possible that a high-tech society exist somewhere in Carcosa, who makes computing units out of mushrooms or the movement of photons.

I found Verina, Kuzunoha, and Lupina conveniently gathered in the workshop with Naosi and many other non-combat specialized bastioneers, each absorbed in whatever tasks their current mental state allowed.

"Ah, you finally escaped that self-imposed prison." Verina looked up first, her expression deadpan as usual, though I caught a flicker of curiosity. "The meeting was done an hour ago."

Noticing my presence from afar, Kuzunoha wore that signature half-smile, eyes gleaming with anticipation.

Lupina, meanwhile, blinked at the papers in my hand with an adorable tilt of her head.

I signaled my hand for the rest of the bastioneers to move out of the workshop, and waited until all of them were no longer in the vicinity.

"Alright, ladies," I began, laying out the documents on the work-table in front of them. "I have a proposal. A long-term project that could redefine our bastion's strength." I shot them a look, knowing well enough that this was the kind of stuff that made their hearts—or whatever they had—race.

Their hearts always race when it comes to things related to what I set on doing.

Though, not all of the cause was excitement, some of them could be caused by panic or fear, or anxiety.