"Greetings, Captain of the Hyperion. My name is Autonomous Combat Unit A1. I am pleased to be of service."
A beautiful and elegant illusory figure appeared on the Hyperion's bridge. Although she had no physical body, the lifelike holographic projection made her look no different from a real person.
The beautiful AI woman who called herself Autonomous Combat Unit A1 wore a brown-and-white outfit that resembled a fusion of a ballet dress and formal gown. She was tall, slender, and exceptionally graceful.
Her green twin tails hung from her cabbage-like head. Yet for some reason, despite her calm and elegant appearance, there was still a faint air of silliness about her.
"Captain, is there anything A1 can assist you with? Whether it is analyzing data, fixing bugs, or arranging schedules, I can do anything."
"W-Wait a moment. My rational mind is suddenly a little overwhelmed. Give me a moment to process this."
Elias pressed a hand against his forehead as the corner of his eye twitched furiously. Looking at the beautiful virtual AI before him, he suddenly felt the urge to make her pay every electricity bill from now on.
Although this was their first meeting in this world, as a captain of Honkai Impact 3rd, Elias declared that he would recognize this creature even if she were sliced into cabbage strips.
(Holy crap! Why is Ai here? Vill-V, where did you find her?! And this is even the adult Ai! Did she skip her juvenile form entirely?)
Elias looked A1 up and down once again. The latter tilted her head in silent confusion, then glanced down at herself as though checking whether there was anything strange about her appearance.
Meanwhile, Elias continued thinking.
(Hmm... Ai appearing at this point in time—is that reasonable? And she even introduced herself as Autonomous Combat Unit A1. Uh, wait! That actually makes perfect damn sense!)
Since the game in his previous life had never provided a detailed explanation of Ai-chan's origins, it took Elias a moment to remember.
Ai was indeed a creation of the Previous Era!
According to the game's original setting, she had been the administrator AI of the Previous Era ruins known as "Shelter 19: K23," located on a floating island in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. Her mission was to preserve part of the modules belonging to the "world's final key," which had been destroyed by the Herrscher of Finality.
However, Schicksal discovered her in 2001. Theresa, who was still an active S-rank Valkyrie at the time, infiltrated Shelter 19: K23 and fought a fierce battle against Ai. In the end, Ai ran out of energy and was defeated by Theresa's persuasive speech and a vicious slap.
After her defeat, she lost most of her memories and abilities, even regressing from a mature woman into a little girl.
Theresa recovered her mainframe and connected her to the Hyperion's systems, ultimately giving birth to the artificial intelligence and electricity-stealing maniac known as Ai Hyperion.
That was the established background of Ai-chan, the mascot of Honkai Impact 3rd.
But things were clearly different now!
Under Elias' leadership, the Previous Era had beaten the Honkai into the ground. They had never even considered building any kind of shelter, and the so-called "world's final key" did not exist at all.
Although they had indeed left behind a few ruins for the Current Era, those contained practical resources such as soulium materials and technology. In any case, they did not include an autonomous AI.
Therefore, "Ai Hyperion" did not actually exist in this world... or at least, that should normally have been the case.
Vill-V: "While organizing some data recently, I discovered that Fire Moth once devised a plan to use tactical AI to control mechas and exterminate Honkai Beasts."
Elias: "So?"
Vill-V: "But MEI cut the funding halfway through, so the entire project was aborted. The prototype AI they had finally completed was shut down before they could even test its performance."
Elias: "..."
Vill-V: "I found her data tucked away in some forgotten corner of the Elysian Realm a while ago. I happened to be free, so I upgraded her and added a tiny little number of interesting functions. Then you came to me about upgrading the battleship, Elias, and I thought it would be much more convenient to make her the shipboard AI~"
After all, Hyperion: Moonlight Throne ARK possessed far too many functions. Vill-V had already simplified its systems enough for a single person to perform basic operations.
However, fully utilizing every function of the battleship would probably require at least one hundred professionally trained operators working simultaneously.
Back then, Vill-V had considered the idea for less than three seconds before shaking her head and rejecting it herself. It was troublesome—far too troublesome.
Rather than train one hundred battleship operators, it would be far more convenient to equip the Hyperion with an AI. At least in terms of information processing and multitasking, the human brain could never operate as efficiently as artificial intelligence.
As though guided by fate, Vill-V discovered that the recently upgraded Autonomous Combat Unit A1 perfectly satisfied every requirement, so she connected A1 to the Hyperion without hesitation.
"All... All right..."
Elias wiped the sweat from his forehead, thinking that this was probably another correction imposed by fate. Still, it was undeniably a good thing.
After all, he was rather fond of the silly cabbage-head, and the current Hyperion genuinely needed her abilities.
"Then I look forward to working with you from now on, Ai."
As Elias spoke, he instinctively extended a hand toward her, seemingly forgetting that the existence before him was merely a holographic AI without a physical body.
"Ai?"
The AI froze for a moment, staring at Elias and the hand he had extended toward her in confusion, unsure what she was supposed to do.
Elias' heart skipped a beat as well. He had called her by that name without thinking, so he scratched his head somewhat awkwardly. However, he quickly relaxed.
His mismatched blue-and-gold eyes stared directly at the beautiful AI woman who still stood at the beginning of her own existence, and he spoke with complete sincerity.
"Mm. May I call you that? A1 isn't exactly a suitable name for a girl. Ai sounds much cuter. Would you... be willing to accept it?"
"I like it very much. Thank you for giving me a new name, Captain. Ai... Ai... Commencing individual designation update." Ai smiled and nodded, then prepared to rename herself.
"Ah, wait. Ai alone isn't enough. Times have changed, after all. The customs of the Current Era differ from those of the Previous Era. Your name needs a surname."
Although this autonomous AI had received substantial hardware upgrades after recently awakening from dormancy, she had not yet connected to the internet. Therefore, she was unaware of the cultural differences between the Current Era and the Previous Era.
People in the Previous Era had no surnames. Those from Shenzhou generally used a single character as their entire name, such as Hua and Su.
People from Europe and America also possessed only a given name, such as Kevin. That white-haired husky had only added the surname Kaslana after arriving in the Current Era.
When Elias first arrived in the Previous Era, many people had found his name strange. Therefore, when he named Elysia, he had also given himself a Previous Era name—Everis.
Although he had never once used it publicly...
It could be said that no one besides Elysia knew the name Everis. By now, it had nearly become an exclusive private nickname that the pink elf occasionally used for him.
"I understand. In that case, please give me a surname as well, Captain. Incidentally, my current default option is to use your surname directly."
"Elias, I think there may be a slight problem with this AI. She has probably been infected by a virus. Let me format her."
Vill-V produced a soulium power drill from nowhere and stared at Ai with glowing red eyes, feeling that her decision to make this creature the shipboard AI might have been somewhat too hasty.
At that moment, Master Vill-V somewhat understood how MEI must have felt after creating Prometheus only to be betrayed by her own creation.
Elias: "Ahem! Reject the default option! From now on, your surname will be Hyperion. Your full name is Ai Hyperion. It's settled!"
Ai: "Understood. Individual designation changed from Autonomous Combat Unit A1 to Ai Hyperion."
Vill-V: "That's more like it..."
Master Vill-V silently lowered the soulium power drill.
Looking at the solemn expression on Ai's face, Vill-V thought she had probably been overthinking things. What malicious intentions could an AI possibly have?
Besides, Ai did not even possess a physical body yet, so she appeared perfectly safe from every angle. Yes, Vill-V was definitely worrying over nothing.
Meanwhile, Elias also found the situation slightly unfamiliar.
(Uh... She's so elegant and dignified! Ai-chan isn't silly at all! She almost feels fake!)
Thinking of the adorably foolish mascot from the game—the idiotic AI beauty who called herself the Hyperion's number-one idol and possessed a figure on the same level as the Flat Immortal—Elias felt that the dignified and elegant Ai before him was simply far too incredible!
Had Ai entered the event known as Honkai's Number-One Idol in this form, whether Raven could still have claimed the championship would genuinely have been uncertain!
Still, that lobster-headed doctor would unquestionably have taken third place. There was no escaping it.
Elias: (Hmm... Forget it. This is pretty good too, isn't it~? The tiny, adorable, silly Ai-chan is wonderful, but this mature adult Ai is nicer in every possible way!)
At that moment, Elias had yet to realize that an AI with an extraordinary capacity for learning was actually even more susceptible to change than a human.
It would not take long at all for the mature and elegant adult Ai before him to degenerate into the Hyperion's silly, cabbage-headed, electricity-stealing maniac.