The Discarded, Half-Eaten Apple Core New Life

Instant Wonder: Add "quantum" as a Prefix.

The DCSC was a jumbled mess of enchantments. Most of them were there to replicate the functions of a Dungeon and to establish the communication network. But integrating the wooden quantum processors wasn't just a matter of slapping them together. I needed to rewrite some of the subroutines, translate some code, drivers, add a control processor that would handle the input and output from the quantum processors, and also train a neural network to use the enhanced abilities of the new DCSC.

I missed the time I used mentally-controlled chimpanzees to type for me. Nowadays, I had so much Intelligence that going through the monkeys would be a waste of time. I could control four thousand chimpanzees but the mental coordination needed to make them type different things was better used by doing it myself.

And my eugenics program that would create sapient monkeys was shot down by Larry. Damn conscience animal. I never had an eugenics program. Officially.

While I fed the logs of the several DCSC I used in the last four years to the neural networks and had them run a genetic algorithm to simulate the operation of several types of DCSC-enabled Dungeon bunkers, from the ground FOB to the several models of blimps against some enemies, I tried a few versions of the quantum-enhanced DCSC. Almost all of them showed minimal improvements if not outright failed.

But I felt validated in my decision to ditch Arcane Librarian. This is what I should be doing. Weaving magic into my machines.

Oh. Yeah. I didn't need to solve all problems with code! With my improved Mana senses, I could study the minute enchantments in the electronics I Replicated through my Class. I even sent some new information to the wizards and enchanters in Speranza tasked with cracking the secrets of my magical microprocessors and manufacture them without my intervention. That allowed them to leap a lot of hurdles they were stuck at.

Another month passed. I implemented these ideas, of using ancillary enchantments to solve computational bottlenecks. While that may sound like I was removing the wonder from enchantments, think about this. Every enchantment was a means to impart upon the world's Mana a series of instructions. How did a Bag of Holding knew to shrink stuff inside it but not outside or right next to it? How much to shrink the item? How to un-shrink it. How to maintain the dimensional boundary of the bag's magic?

> Your Knowledge and Training improved your Wondrous Magic Skill to rank III You can transcribe an enchantment or spell into liquid medium through alchemy. Doing so preserves only (10*Rank)% of the original effect, while costing (300-18*Rank)% of the original cost.

I could create potions of my spells. But before I went down another rabbit hole, I returned to my experiments.

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> For creating Quantum-Enhanced DCSC Mark I (Legendary, level 185) you gained 32,000 Experience Points.

> Your Knowledge and Training improved your Wondrous Magic Skill to rank IV You can upscale an enchantment up to Rank times. For every linear 50% increase in the size of the effect, increase its cost by linear 75%.

> You gained 21 levels of Trismegistus Artificer. +21 Intelligence, +21 Wisdom, +21 Willpower, +42 Clarity, and +63 Base MP.

> You learned the Trait, Item Master: The enchantments of magical items wielded by you have a 20% better performance.

The Quantum-Enhanced DCSC (qDCSC) had several improvements. It had no DM storage capacity. It could also contain four Automation rules on its own. Its upkeep was not an issue, even though it consumed and cost twice as much DM than the original ones. The connection distance was tripled. And, due to the traits of Superconductive Vegetation, they no longer had any significant communications delay. The DM generated by the split Domain could be used to pay for its upkeep, so a single tree beside the qDCSC allowed it to work indefinitely. I still couldn't collect the DM remotely but at least it wasn't wasted.

Costing double to create was not an issue. I didn't have to install dozens of DCSC for autonomy, which actually meant I was saving DM. Also, whether it had storage or not was a non-issue as the tree could store the DM in its trunk. According to its rules, it could also spend that DM by using Replication, though its Materialization speed was crap.

And now that I knew how to integrate the Quantum AI processors into my current technology, it was time to improve all my Mecha.

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The idea was simple. Set a thousand Quantum "brains" running the training data on the neural network model A.I., use a genetic algorithm to select and replicate the best performers of each generation, and keep improving it. Even the qDCSC had their own Quantum AI farms doing deep learning using the telemetry data of the current generation. The superposition ability of the quantum computers allowed them to solve linear equations (Deep Learning was basically applied linear algebra, to put it broadly) ridiculously fast.

If Larry wouldn't let me have super-smart monkeys, I would have super-smart blocks of wood. It was a matter of time until we had self-piloting Mechas, or better, Mechas that could help their pilots do better. Like a co-pilot or a helper to use the sub-systems and alleviate the mental and physical burden on the pilot.

I started with the smallest Mecha I had. Blackjack Six. I used the damn robot all the time and I had Petabytes of telemetry data on it. When a thousand computers were too slow, I increased the farm size to two thousand. Starting from the simple tasks and increasing complexity, at the end of each generation only the 200 better performers were kept. These were copied ten times and given random parameters to train the next chunk of the dataset. finish, discard 1,800 worse among them, replicate the rest.

I also used the same thing on my other AI projects, mostly the voice synthesizer and the gun controls for the Railguns and Lasers with an emphasis on the text-to-speech. I wanted to inject emotion, inflection, and personality into the synthesized voice. To that, I asked volunteers in Speranza to read some text messages, lending their voices to the dataset.

After the AI model for Blackjack Six finished training, which took me two months of constant cycles and one month of tests concomitant with the final stages of the qDCSC as training the AI took minimal attention from me, I upgraded the whole Mecha.

I added flight enhancements, Magical shield projectors, a dimensional storage, MP storage crystals, and the AI brain. The actuators and motors were more responsive too, with a modified Jump spell in the pistons that allowed them to react faster. I even added compressed solid rocket fuel (NASA's secret recipe!) in the legs for jump jets. Though I didn't need to use the jump jets to fly, my current speed was rather limited. With all the boosts, I could fly at only 28 miles per hour on my own. But the Mecha was vacuum-proof and could even fly in space. That is, if it didn't explode from Mana instability.

Now, a name! In my excitement, I forgot to think twice and named it, "Stellar Brawler Epsilon Tau!"

> For creating All-Purpose Android Eldritch Mecha "Steals Bras et Panties" (Epic, level 190) you gained 32,000 Experience Points.

> You gained...

Aww, COME ON! Fuck you, phonetically-challenged Gray Alien!

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Long story short, I upgraded all my Mecha. The Skill ability to upscale the size of enchantments allowed me to make giant weapons and shields for them. This time, I carefully named them. I upgraded Raindrops with a magical sword that could channel elemental energy from the pilot's MP pool, project Force shields, and a reversable gravity enchantment that could make it either lighter or heavier.

I named the upgraded Raindrops, "Omega Zeta Lord".

> Warning: This name will get the author sued.

What the hell! Hang in there, Fourth Wall-Chan! What about... let's not use Greek words for this one. "Plant Rotary Deft Fencer Darryl".

> For creating Giant Close-quarters Eldritch Mecha "Planetary Defender" (Epic, level 200) you gained 32,000 Experience Points.

Now the spider Mecha. They should be a heavy weapons platform, for long-range support and Kaiju assassination. I added a camouflage and a Mana signature suppression enchantment. Codename: "Tau Rap Dot Org Super Aid Robot!"

> For creating Giant Long-Range Spider Tank Eldritch Mecha "Trapdoor Spider " (Epic, level 200) you gained 32,000 Experience Points.

The "" wasn't intentional but I'll take it.

> Your Knowledge and Training improved your Wondrous Magic Skill to rank V Magic items you create or modify become (5*Rank)% stronger.

My defense blimps also got shields, gravity enchantments (which greatly reduced the size of the balloon), and an enhancement in the shape of a special Railgun shell that could cast Plant Growth and Tree Explosion. The shell had a Red Maple seed and enough MP to bring the tree to maturity and make it explode. It was inspired by the Perk from that Class I don't talk about.

Finally, I upgraded all ordinary DCSC into qDCSC, and started to send qDCSC blimps to form a massive network above Australia, right at the height of the worldwide smoke cloud. They would cast beacons around them every 10 minutes, absorbing the smoke and hopefully clearing the skies over Australia. I would need 2,300 blimps to cover the whole coastline with beacons, spacing each blimp seven miles from their brethren. That was not feasible right now but a good goal. I sent some in roaming patterns going above the country, sucking in all smoke they could.

But creating all the replica Mechs (which gave me only 20% of the initial Experience award) and all the qDCSC-enhanced blimps and also the missiles upgrade pushed my new Sub-Class all the way to level 180.

> You reached Trismegistus Artificer level 180. +119 Intelligence, +119 Wisdom, +119 Willpower, +238 Clarity, and +347 Base MP.

> You are no longer under Experience restrictions.

> You gained the Perk, Batch Production: When creating several copies of the same item, gain a linear 5% discount for each extra copy, up to 50%. In case of consumables, this bonus is lowered to 0.5% per use.

> You gained the Trait, Antimagic Shell: Hostile magical effects are weakened by 30% if they target or affect you.

> You gained the Trait, Mystical Forge: You can Replicate magical super-heavy istopes.

> You gained the Trait, Archmage: Increase the effect of all your spells by 100%. You can cast spells anywhere in your domain at no extra cost.

> You gained the Perk, Hatch the Stone: You learned how to create magical stones, like Mana stones or the fabled Phylosopher Stone. Replicating Mana stones cost 40% less DM.

> Your Knowledge and Training improved your Wondrous Magic Skill to rank VI When forging magical isotope alloys, reduce the odds of failure by (8*Rank)%.

Marshall was dead right. My hasty choices had hindered my synergies. This Class was orders of magnitude better than Arcane Librarian.

At last, I also made enchanted power armor for the Guardians. It was closer to a Spartan armor from Halo than the bulky and blocky StarCraft Marine Grilled Tex-Mex one the Rangers used.

But as I pondered whether to upgrade Grilled Tex-Mex or not, I figured another utility of the qDCSC. With Superconductive Vegetation reducing the communications lag to zero, there was no need to put people inside the Mecha anymore. Unless they had specific Perks that only worked when physically inside the Mecha, they

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The end of the year was getting close. Temperatures rose to unbearable levels in the outback because it was almost Summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Not only their toilets spin in the wrong direction, but they also had Christmas without snow. Preposterous.

I was eager for the new year. I would finish my quest and finally be able to level up again.

But of course, the Universe wouldn't let me finish this life-changing Quest without a final boss. One of the blimps, the ones closest to the southeastern Asian peninsula, came under attack. Jets of flame surrounded the blimp and forced it to deploy its shields.

I cast a Beacon and found the Blimp being harassed by dozens of dragons. I kid you not. A lizard-like body, long neck, crocodilian muzzle with forward eyes like those of carnivores, majestic horns, six limbs (four legs and two wings), and a tail that ended or not in spikes. They had great variation among them.

The Blimp replied with Railgun shells, and I used the Beacon to aim the weapons on the nearby blimps. While they weren't yet only seven miles apart, I had range for ballistic shots. Which most often missed because the damn dragons were flying erratically and somehow could sense the bullets. Some sort of magical precognition? Sweet. Not.

Lasers were basically useless because of the smog and the dragons were probably immune to heat.

I switched to the Autocannons. I cast Papercut Arrows on the bullets because the spell's description never mentioned arrows, and let it rip. With me taking direct control of the weapons, I swapped Perks.

Holy Zeal, for a 23% combat bonus, which included damage, evasion, and accuracy. Fire for Effect, attack speed. "Believe in the me who believes in you", to keep the blimp in the game by increasing its endurance. "The Chosen Child", for another 20% combat bonus (additive, unfortunately), Animate Weapon, to get a flying railgun.

After some thought, I removed the ribbon and added Lingering Wounds to make sure the dragons couldn't heal themselves or regenerate wounds. It would burn through my MP faster but high performance meant higher costs.

While the Blimp held the dragons back, I launched myself inside a Planetary Defender humanoid Mecha. It was time for a good fight of man vs monster. Mecha. Dungeon. Me vs them.