131. Android Mitoka

"Hey, Mitoka, how's it going?" Shiro asked, voice jittery with nerves.

"Can't seem to get it right. I'm still not sure what the optimal parameter values are," Mitoka replied.

Then—

"Shiro, let's give up," she said.

"Right. You don't need a body at all—Mitoka can manifest just fine," Shestia said.

"Senpai. Isn't it enough already? A mechanical body sounds heavy, doesn't it?" Kotone said something vague.

Unusually, the three of them pressed Shiro to quit all at once.

In response—

"Connecting a mind to a machine body? That's just a sci-fi boy's fantasy!" Shiro shot back.

"Shiro, I'm not a doll to be dressed up—no, I mean, 'body-changed' doll," Mitoka started to say—

"This is something only Mitoka can do! It's my dream! My AI, made by me, living with me in a machine body! Only Mitoka can do this! Because I love you, right? Mitoka, please! I'll do anything you say!"

Shiro shouted, gripping Mitoka's shoulders and shaking her, leaning in close, dead serious—completely unaware he’d just said something entirely inappropriate.

Kotone sighed. "Senpai gets completely lost when it comes to computers..."

Shestia said nothing. Just smiled.

Blushing, Mitoka said, "Well then, I suppose I'm stuck. You got your promise. Let me re-scan the body."

Shiro didn’t notice the three of them sharing a quiet, knowing smirk, nodding at each other.

"...Understood. Response speed is exactly 1/136 of normal."

“Wait—already done? … Like, reaction speed’s that slow?” Shiro blinked, surprised.

“No, it’s not the body that’s slow. It’s that pure mental processing speed is that fast. Even so, this body reacts over a hundred times faster than a human biological one.”

“Huh… right,” Shiro recalled Firumia’s earlier explanation, nodding in understanding.

“But this body—looks nothing like a machine. How exactly is it built?”

“The skeletal structure mimics the human form. Material appears to be orichalcum. Muscles are a substance that contracts via magic. Skin is a material that softens when magic passes through it—same texture as biological skin, too. So it moves like a human, reacts about a hundred times faster, yet retains the flexibility and smooth appearance of human flesh. That’s why facial expressions are possible.”

Mitoka smiled, explaining.

The greatest achievement of this new body was, undoubtedly, the ability to make expressions. This body could form facial expressions.

“Huh. That’s impressive. If we can analyze that material, there might be all kinds of applications,” Shiro mused, already brainstorming possibilities.

With Mitoka’s android body successfully powered up, the group gathered to see it in action.

Mitoka wore a magical garment that replicated the costume of the original android version of Mitoka Shiro had once designed—so she looked exactly like an SF robot beauty.

“From an AI perspective, this is probably the most natural fit. Same initial modeling as the first one I got from Shiro. Incidentally, this body’s packed with sensors. Internal crystal magic capacity is also quite substantial,” Mitoka said.

“This is incredible. I didn’t expect a body this close to human,” Gilbert said, amazed.

“Yeah. Old technicians really put in the work. …Still, kinda feels out of place, like something straight out of an SF novel,” Shiro said.

“Whoa, Mitoka, you’re awesome. Feels like a beauty robot warrior,” Makoto said.

“Huh, yeah. From the perspective of a certain kind of otaku high school boy, it’s definitely hard to ignore,” Masaki said.

“Huh? So Shiro-senpai’s into this kind of thing? I thought maids were your thing. So this is your type instead?” Kotone stared at Shiro, eyes narrowed.

“…No, no, this was originally meant for a game. My personal taste… well, I mean, sure, but that’s not the point… I mean, it’s not like that…” Shiro stammered.

“It’s fine, Kotone. I’m Shiro’s extension. Think of it as Shiro cosplaying himself,” Mitoka said.

“…No, Mitoka, that’s not quite right…” Mizuki interjected.

“Shiro likes that sort of thing,” Shestia said, as ever unconcerned, casually assessing Shiro’s preferences.

◇

That night.

“Shiro, good news,” Mitoka said. Still in the android body. She’d decided to stick with it for now, until she got used to it.

“Good news? What is it?” Shiro asked, curious.

“Some data from the past was preserved in this body.”

“Wait, how far back?”

“Yes, records up to the time of the MagiCentral incident. The auxiliary neural database contained more detailed historical records. The memory storage method was simple, but parsing the format and character encoding took time. Still, we managed. The conceptual language unknown language parser module came in handy,” Mitoka said.

"...There's a module like that?" Shiro says, stunned. "Is that a skill?" he mutters. "No, it's a hidden API in Shiro's conceptual language module," Mitoka replies.

“…Heh,” Shiro said, short and clipped. Still a lot of features I don’t know yet, he thought.

"Likely, the data was being updated regularly up until right before this incident," Mitoka said.

"Seriously? That's not a huge discovery?" Shiro couldn't help but exclaim.

Yes. Anyway, according to that…

The demonfolk were refining the urban barrier apparatus—essentially a system that converted energy from the dragon veins and projected the protective field. They were supplying it to various nations, and it was working well.

The new experiment aimed directly at drawing energy from the Abyssal seal, with added objectives of improving mana-to-magic conversion efficiency and reinforcing the barrier.

The mana-to-magic conversion magic array in use right now isn’t very efficient—

If the original self-awareness field—consciousness level 4 or higher—has a conversion efficiency of 100, the rune matrix's conversion efficiency is 30.

Thus, the alternative route—conversion via Miasma—was devised. The core mechanism of the monster's existence: mana to Miasma, Miasma to magic stones, a two-stage power accumulation process. Total conversion efficiency: 60.

But creating monsters through artificial means isn't possible. So the chosen approach was researching miasma viruses and petrification viruses for stone generation, and the extraction of magical energy.

The origin of the technique and magic circle that form the foundation of this new method remains unrecorded—where the Virus came from, no one knows.

Converting mana miasma into virus-level form is efficient—plus, with so many instances, it's a distributed process.

The experiment worked at the lab level.

But during the proof-of-concept test, the device went rogue—abnormal mana reactions occurred, only miasma was produced, no petrification took place, and ultimately it triggered a massive explosion.

This record was brought back by a golem that had participated in the experiment at the time. It survived because it was unaffected by miasma and sturdy enough to make it back to the golem settlement somehow.

"...I see. So the virus that should have been paired with it is missing. Indeed, if the petrification virus had been present simultaneously, efficient gemstone generation would’ve been possible… Still, this virus must have spread after the accident, quietly triggering massive miasma outbreaks without anyone noticing."

"Seems so. The virus itself probably started confined within the old MagiCentral, don’t you remember Adra’s story?" Mitoka asked.

"Adra’s story? Ah, the mushrooms growing in the crater’s remains?...Ah, right—infected Adra’s group, then spread along with their movements?"

"Likely. The anomalies of the past ten years probably stem from that. I didn’t get the exact year they migrated, but my guess seems solid."

"Right. So before that, the naturally spreading miasma was the cause… Still, no leads on the past cyclical problems or the strange magical aberrations from the monsters."

Shiro muttered to himself.

"Indeed…"

Mitoka fell into thought as well.

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