First Friend

For the next several weeks, Kilian used a special function of Ava’s to get him through the boring part of being a baby.

Would you like to enable autopilot?

‘Yes, Ava, enable autopilot.’

With such a simple exchange, Kilian’s body would move on its own and act without Kilian having to tell it to. This was useful for the time being because the body had a very limited range of movements, mostly limited to clenching its fingers and opening its mouth.

While his body was on autopilot, Kilian had the chance to familiarize himself with the A.I. that called herself Ava.

‘Ava, do you have a guide on how to use you?’ Kilian asked inside his mind. Ava was able to read his thoughts, and so he would not have to speak out loud to talk to her.

Yes. Would you like to open the file ‘Ava Operation Manual’?

‘Yes.’ Kilian answered, and all the information from the file was downloaded into Kilian’s brain as if he had taken years to memorize the entire contents of the book. Among the pages were many functions of Ava and her abilities to interact with the world around Kilian.

‘Ava, scan properties of that light source.’ Kilian pointed in his mind to the glowing orb above the bed that he was sleeping in. Though the body was still on autopilot, he could still use all of its senses.

Light source scanned. Displaying properties.

Name: Lightbulb
Power source: Latent Mana
Power level: Low
Description: A lightbulb currently set to ‘low’ power usage mode. Shines brightly enough to dimly light a room.
‘Wow, that is quite the detailed explanation… but what is mana?’ Kilian knew what mana was from his previous life, even if he did not know how he died. If this world had mana like the description said, then things were going to be very exciting for Kilian.

Mana, latent spiritual energy in the atmosphere.

‘Alright, that’s a good start, but will it let me shoot fireballs from my hands?!’ This was Kilian’s primary concern. In the current application of mana, it was nothing more than electricity.

Current data does not confirm or deny being able to shoot fireballs from your hands.

‘Darn, then I will just have to gather more data. Ava, where can I get more data?’ Kilian asked her, but the answer was quite obvious.

Through observation, personal communication, or by reading.

‘Well, I should have guessed. Ava, can I skip this whole infant thing?’

You can skip only 48 hours at a time.

‘Darn, well, Ava, skip 48 hours.’ Kilian did not feel like waiting, so he planned to continuously skip time until he was old enough to gain more information on the world around him.

Command confirmed, skipping ahead by 48 hours…

Everything went dark, and when Kilian woke up next, nothing had changed. The only thing that that Kilian could see was different was that autopilot had disengaged.

‘Ava, enable autopilot.’ With this command, Ava turned back on autopilot.

‘So, Ava, what happened in the last 48 hours. Significant details only.’ Kilian had read in the operation manual that Ava was able to summarize events and could freely recall memories. This was a test for how much information he could get from a two-day timespan.

Kilian was fed at the normal times. Sleep was ordinary. No other important details.

‘Hmm. That wasn’t much. Ava, can you make a macro?’ Kilian had also read in the manual that Ava can be programmed to repeat instructions or have the body perform an automated task.

I can make a macro.

‘Then, make the skip ahead 48 hours into a macro and then run it 200 times.’ With this, Kilian would be able to skip ahead to when he was over a year old.

Command confirmed, running Skip Ahead Macro 200 times…

Everything went black again, and Kilian woke up in his bed, looking at a slightly different ceiling. From his expert investigation abilities, Kilian deduced that the bed had been rotated 180 degrees in the last year and a half. Kilian laid in the bed for a few minutes while he got used to his new, somewhat larger body, and someone called him from another room.

“Oh, Kilian!” It was a cheerful voice, and it was getting closer to Kilian.

‘Ava, identify who that voice belongs to.’ Kilian had certainly missed a few things in the past year and a half, but Ava would be able to fill him in.

Voice identified as Hilda Gerstle.

‘That was… my mother.’ Kilian had to think of what to do; if he should speak or not, so he asked Ava another question.

‘Ava, what words have I used while on autopilot?’

Used vocabulary consists of ‘mama’ ‘papa’ ‘Dagmar’ ‘Kilian’ ‘Gundula’ and over ten more nouns.

“Guess who is here?” Kilian was going to investigate the two names and what nouns he had used, but Hilda walked into the room. With the sudden question, Kilian used his superior intellect to answer it.

“Mama!” Kilian made sure to only use a word that he had already used while on autopilot so that Hilda would not get suspicious.

“Yes, but Dagmar is also here, so wake up!” Hilda walked over to Kilian and picked him up from his bed and set him on the ground. Following that, Hilda started to select some clothes for Kilian to wear.

‘Dagmar… Ava, who is Dagmar?’ Because Kilian did not know, Ava was sure to know.

Dagmar, daughter of Isaak and Gundula Bleier, one year 2 months age. Designated bride in 15 years.

‘What?! Designated bride?!’ Kilian was a little shocked at that information. He should not even be two years old yet, but having a bride already picked out for him was preposterous.

“Put this on Kilian, you are going to look too cute.” Hilda put a shirt and pants on Kilian, and then she took him out of the room.

Upon exiting the room, Kilian and Hilda turned right and walked until they came to a staircase, and then they went down it. The floors and walls were all wooden, and a couple of paintings were on the walls. All the paintings were portraits of ancestors of the Gerstle family.

On the first floor of the house, Hilda led Kilian by the hand to a room on the right, and in that room was two people. The first person was a short woman about the same age as Hilda, and the other was just a child like Kilian was. Kilian did not know who the older woman was, but he could guess that the child was Dagmar.

“Say hi to your future wife, Kilian.” Hilda led Kilian next to Dagmar and let go of his hand, then proceeded to sit on the couch next to where the other woman was sitting. “You didn’t have to come over so early Gundula, I didn’t even get the chance to make breakfast.”

Kilian looked back and forth between the three people that were in the room besides him. His mother Hilda, his future wife Dagmar, and Dagmar’s mother Gundula.

‘Ava, how did the bride situation come to happen?’ Kilian questioned what could have happened, so once again he turned to his A.I.

Dagmar’s father, Isaak, used her marriage as collateral for a game of cards against your father, Brune. Isaak lost.

‘Well, I better not skip any more time.’ Kilian looked at Dagmar one more time before deciding on what to say.

“Dagmar.”

“Kilian.”