Rising Star Of Darkness

*Phew*

"Finally done," said Daichi, stretching out his arms and cracking his fingers, exhausted after using his brain without rest, constantly thinking about the best choice and outcome as if his life depended on it.

'Only one left to go,' he brightened himself before resuming with eagerness.

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"SYSTEM CONFIGURATION"

1- [TYPE - BASE]

2- [STRUCTURE - FONDATION]

3- [OPERATIVE SYSTEM - CORE]

4- [FORM - MANIFESTATION]

5- [MODE - ACTIVATION]

6- [MAIN FUNCTION - FEATURES]

7- [SCALE - LIMITATIONS]

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For the third time, Daichi was faced with a series of 7 sections, each one with its own .

'Haah, here we go again,' he thought, annoyed, 'It's getting tiring.'

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"SYSTEM CONFIGURATION"

1- [TYPE - BASE]

<...>

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Same as for the selection, the first few options could be considered the basics of power system one would find anywhere, be it in novels, games, and shows, regardless of the genre.

Among the usual well-flourished list of , one in particular garnered his interest.

'Hum, this … is this the same thing that message was referring to?' Daichi questioned, unable to forget the disappointment from the previous experience.

Thus, a sudden thought arose in his little curious mind.

'If I were to select this , could I possibly gain something similar to this program's ?'

The idea was very tempting, fascinating even. 

After all, he had a first-hand experience on how advanced was as a program, be it the , the structure, or the details information and database…

One so accurate, it even had personal information about him.

'There are still a lot of things I don't know about this program, but let's give it a try,' he decided, fully confident in his choice.

*Tap*

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> Authority

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2- [STRUCTURE - FONDATION]

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With a clear goal in mind, Daichi's range of choice had significantly narrowed down to only a few per section.

To recreate a fitting at the level of or even more, whether in terms of complexity, operation, advancement, features, and the like.

Thus, for this section, the one word that perfectly described what he was looking for was indubitably .

*Tap*

He hit the button and moved on to the next section, while keeping the whole concept in mind.

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3- [OPERATIVE SYSTEM - CORE]

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Taking the as reference, he selected the most probable to fit the criteria.

*Tap*

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> Advanced

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4- [FORM - MANIFESTATION]

<...>

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'If we are talking about a , it should have a hologram-like manifestation,' elaborated Daichi while analyzing the list in front of his eyes.

In his mind, he could already picture the window panel floating in front of his eyes with the myriads of interfaces and fancy designs like those of novels, comics, and games he was used to seeing daily.

Filled with excitement and anticipation, he hit the .

*Tap*

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 > Virtual

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5- [MODE - ACTIVATION]

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After careful analysis of each on screen, Daichi deduced that seemed too restraining.

After all, he could pretty much choose anything he wanted in this program.

Whereas sounded too vague and arbitrary to describe due to the , , and potential .

As such, his final choice was between and .

And ultimately, he went with as it sounded similar to the terms usually employed in the panoply of AI technologies and programs featured in and all over the internet. 

Furthermore, it was likely to be the one that could offer trustworthy while giving ample freedom to the .

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6- [MAIN FUNCTION - FEATURES]

<...>

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'Wow! This is crazy!' shouted Daichi, astonished by the endless list of choices rolling before his eyes.

This was by far the longest list he has encountered ever since exploring this program.

A size so imposing his mind could not begin to phantom the astronomical amount of data it must have taken to fill it out.

'There is no way a simple scamming company could have done this,' he doubted.

With each step he took and each discovery he made while using , Daichi has grown to realize that this program was more than what meets the eye.

The alone had him in awe due to its complexity and intricate design, without mentioning the abundance of features and options he was offered during this short period of time.

All of those wouldn't be possible unless one has significant resources and manpower to collect, generate, and manage all this information to produce such precise and accurate data not only about him but also anything related to life and its .

'I wonder how and where did they get those? This '

A fleeting thought, he would never have an answer to.

Not until the time he would prove himself worthy. 

The only truth he could figure out about the of this program was the fact that were indeed not simple,

people that may be beyond his worldly senses and .

Not only were they able to access his smartphone regardless of the distance and restrictions to send those messages at a very accurate time and in the most auspicious circumstances,

But also managed to install and launch a program which seems too advanced to be from this or even this …

Without mentioning the fact that they already knew about his true and personal information…

'This is far from a coincidence!', he believed, deep in his mind and heart, not because of the clues and facts exposed to him.

Rather, it was the possibility of seeing the of this program with his own eyes.

Whatever their goals may have been to go that far didn't matter to him if they could keep their promise and make his come true.

For that, he had to complete the program as soon as possible, no matter what!

' and the , let's find out what you can really do.'

Daichi glared at the screen, eyes full of determination and enthusiasm, but then, one problem occurred.

'What should I choose then?'

A head-cracking question.

Indeed, there were just too many options to pick a single one.

Each of those had the potential to either turn his life around and make it a fun, pleasurable journey in a new or be the very reason for another failed life, one which could even be worse than the current one.

In that moment, Daichi remembered the last question he was asked in the anonymous message, 

[If you could process something unique to you that could help you throughout your life, would you use it?]

'Something unique to me…' Daichi thought and thought again.

And at last, the answer came by itself.

'THAT'S IT!' he yelled inside like a scientist coming across a world-altering discovery.

He scrolled again and again, going through each word to find the one word that embodied the concept of and .

Once his deep eyes perceived the at the far end of the endless , his thumb hit the screen with ardour.

*TAP! *

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> Custom

****** 

If there were one that could describe the freedom of choices and level of detail in this program, it would indeed be that.

A tailored to fit its , one who shows them enough to explore the possibilities while giving them suggestions that would cater to their needs…

The perfect match for the he selected.

In other words, Daichi desired an that would be designed for him and him alone.

A .

'Having my own unique … He-he, would be nice.' He smirked, moving onto the last section.

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7- [SCALE - LIMITATIONS]

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As Daichi gave a quick check on the short , he realized that he had already read about some of these before.

Which is why he didn't hesitate to take the that offered the highest possible freedom in terms of .

'I hoped it would work this time,' he thought, presenting the plausible case of a failure do to another . 

And as if the program were playing tricks on him, his worries came true.

*BEEP, BEEP! *

For the second time, he had encountered the same .

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"ALERT ! "

[ level insufficient!

You cannot select this option.]

> Cancel

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"Tch, not again.'

Daichi twisted his tongue, frowning over the panel that popped up.

However, he was not done yet.

'If doesn't work, how about this?' he thought, choosing the second largest.

*BEEP, BEEP! *

'Damn it!' Daichi cursed.

The same panel, the same message signalled his failure.

'One last time, ' he obstinately closed one before the last locked option.

 *Tap! * 

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> Inter-Stellar

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At last, it worked.

'Just how many are there?' he complained, frustrated.

The fact that he had to make a compromise not once, nor twice, but three times was a letdown.

Nonetheless, it was a drop in the water compared to the astronomical range of he was proposed to throughout the various settings he went through up till this moment.

*Sigh*

'At least I manage to choose one that fits the requirement,' he assessed, recalling one of the he read in the .

'… wonders what it actually refers to and how far it scales to…'

As if finding new pieces of the puzzle, Daichi was content with his choices thus far and hoped to see everything played out as intended.

"Finally done!" he sighed while stretching his body.

After sitting around for so long, his entire body was stiff, especially with all the mental ordeals he had to go through.

Taking a little pause, he refreshed his mind with a drink and quickly saved the data.

*TLING*

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"NOTIFICATIONS"

[ completed!

's data will be saved in the !]

> Cancel

> Continue

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*Tap*

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> Continue

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As he hit the button, Dachi went back to the starting