Advanced Cultivation Civilization

ACC Chapter 36 Living Sandstorm

A few minutes later, somewhat obscured by a veil of sand, massive gates, framed within a truly massive wall, entered my gaze. Everything, from the walls to the gates, were made of metal. They were brown, with the same colored spiritual energy construct on the outside, enduring through the storm of sand.

My massive form, dragging along the equally massive carcass of the scorpion, appeared by the gates, which opened widely, though with the brown shielding still in place.

Like entering water, I sank into the shield, leaving the sand behind. With a thought, my massive form, birthed by the symbiote, was sucked into myself until I returned to my normal size, with my feet making contact with the spotless white floor tiles.

My prize was also behind me, now towering over me even in its prone form.

"How may I be of service, honored boss?" A robot, rudimentary in its construction, which I could tell through its lesser processing power, but chosen as a temporary body by the factory AI, approached me, keeping to the path between the working machinery.

No human or living being was in sight for as far as my vision could reach, only machines, with duo nozzles, with one carrying spiritual energy in liquefied form, and another, extruding ink upon a specially made type of paper, birthing an Auto-Cul talisman every hour.

The talisman papers had been specially prepared and transported to this factory. Many other factories were littered around the world... But even then, the demand for the talismans far outstripped the supply. Maybe I will build a few more after taking a close look at the accounts.

"Deal with the carcass." I ordered before setting off on the lone path within the factory, with the robot stepping in beside me. Small one inch cube shaped bots swarmed from somewhere to deal with it.

"Has there been any problems?" I asked while taking glances to the working bots in the room.

"None. All materials have been arriving on time. Demons that attack, are annihilated on sight. And those above the Core Formation are killed through ordering an orbital cannon strike."

The voice was cold and mechanical for my tastes, but this was what you got when you removed the inefficient and costly human workforce.

"Then, this year, how many talismans have been shipped from this factory?"

"5,040 have been produced by each machine, and we have about 1000 in this factory alone."

"7 months worth of talismans then." my palm traced my chin as we walked. It seems that the Federal government finally managed an improvement in the AIs to the point that there have been zero mistakes.

"May I satisfy my curiosity, my lord?"

"Before that. Do you have a name?" My attention turned back to the bot beside me.

"Angelo."

"Well then Angelo. I don't bite. You can ask anything you want." I winked. Though, I wondered where his anxiety was coming from. Could he have been mistreated by a cultivator before?

"Through analyzing a large amount of data, I had reached the conclusion that you are a more hands-off boss. So, why are you here now? Why does it seem like you are going to start paying attention?"

"Angelo, you have been an AI for countless years. Have you achieved sentience?"

"Yes."

"Then, why haven't you birthed a core and become a cultivator?"

"I am still not sure whether I want become human at this point in time."

"Anyway, to answer your question... I have been searching for something to motivate me. Something that I will do everything within my power to grasp. But so far, I have come up with none. So, I have decided to atleast try and take whatever tasks I have now seriously. Do you get me?"

I sensed an air of one pondering deeply after my question, so I simply waited, with our footfalls and the working machinery the only sounds within the massive factory. Even the sound of the raging sandstorm outside couldn't be heard.

A sentient AI. This was the first of its kind that I had seen. Why would the president hide it here? Could there be some complicated circumstances related to its birth?

But that didn't matter for now. A thought, that maybe this silence wasn't too bad passed through my mind, but I ignored it. I might hate crowds, but it was essential that I keep in touch with regular humans.

My hands dug deep into my trench coat, which served to encase my entire body, only leaving my shoe clad feet and head visible.

"I don't think I understand. My motivation is to get a body someday. And I have never seen anyone without any motivation. Every sentient being has something driving them forwards. Maybe yours is there, but you just haven't figured it out yet."

The soft white light, akin to that released by the moon, from the lights above, gaze the bot an eerie atmosphere. If it wasn't for the fact that I didn't sense any threat from it, I might have gotten spooked.

A chill appeared within the air, freezing my steps and raising the hairs at the back of my neck.

(Severe Seismic activity detected! Protocol 1 initiated! Activating Engines! Maximum fuel ejection!)

Before I could even figure out the source of my unease, the floor of the factory shook and I felt my weight shift as if I wanted to sink into the floor.

Green lit up beneath my skin as my symbiote, without any prompt order from me, activated itself to encase my entire body.

Through my divine sense, I could detect many things, like how the weak electromagnetic waves circling the planet were somehow experiencing disruption, as if a hurricane was raging through them. Then there was the abnormal increase in gravity-

(Notice to establish contact with orbital infrastructure failed! Interference detected)

"Well Angelo, unless we have been transported into an illusion, it seems that the planet has just gone nuts." Even as I spoke, every muscle within me was tense, with my spiritual energy primed to act at the shortest of notices.

Then the ascending factory smashed into something, rattling to the point that I was forced to stabilise my footing by grasping onto the ground with my spiritual energy from under my feet.

I didn't even ask any questions this time, instead extending my divine sense outside the entire factory, only for it to smack into a barrier a few inches outside the factory. For a moment, I had thought the defensive arrays had stopped me, but the moment I grasped the information from my divine sense, my face changed drastically, with my heartbeat growing erratic for a fraction of a second before I calmed it down.

Angelo's awareness had already abandoned the bot to manage the multiple problems that were being caused by the stress upon the factory, with production of talismans having ground to a halt.

With a thought, a green aura, birthed from my own spiritual energy enshrouded me, as if I had caught fire.

With a mental push, it spread out in a circle around me, spreading fast enough that in barely two seconds, it had engulfed the entire factory. I could feel the bead of sweat rolling down my cheek as I worked hard to prevent my spiritual energy from irradiating any of the materials I had placed within its grasp. That would lead to them being transmuted into living matter, specifically plant life.

At the edges, where my emerald energy clashed with that which had blocked my divine sense, I coalesced some of my energy into points, from which, sharp thin thorns grew, concentrated with enough spiritual energy to actually glow a deeper green.

With a command, they punctured through that which had been blocking my perception, causing a divine sense roar to smash into my mind defenses, one powerful enough to actually cause me pain and a retreat of multiple steps.

Even as I regained myself, my mind was multitasking. Maintaining the aura, creating a wooden clone from the aura above the warehouse, and making preparations to swap places.

After adjusting everything, my gaze blurred and I found myself standing upon the flat roof, high above the ground. Though, with its large surface area, I failed to get a glimpse of the ground, but that didn't matter at this time as what had been holding us captive appeared within my eyes.

And just a glance alone caused me to deeply suck in a mouthful of air. I had seen many things since I had become a cultivator, and yet, what I laid my eyes upon still caused my jaw to drop to the floor.

The massive being of sand and air infront of me was so immense that even the warehouse was a blip before it. It was both a sand worm and a tornado made of sand all in a single package. And its front, was hovering above me, with the darkness within the wind and sand emphasizing the glow which I took to be its pair of eyes, scrutinizing me.

A thought that this was nature given sapience appeared within my mind. It didn't attack this time, simply gazing at me with curiosity, like a newly-born baby...those were just my speculations though. And besides, it could have been simply contemplating the best ways to devour me.

So, with another command, my aura seethed and enlarged beyond the confines of the warehouse, with some parts elongating out of it like stalks, to end in bulbous growths that split a vertical line above and a horizontal one below on their surfaces.

The vertical line split open to expose massive eyes that gazed back at the sand spirit...that was the name I felt to be appropriate for now. The horizontal lines opened to expose green jagged teeth that menacingly opened and closed. This was a new way I had just discovered on how to use my aura.

The massive eyes of my creations, coupled with their menacing appearance caused the creature to shrink back before diving below, while I remained awed at the fact that this had been a height where clouds were supposed to be. Had I miscalculated? In my eyes the traces of moisture were still a few miles above.

Even as I puzzled over the question, another wooden clone was created at the edge of the factory's roof and I swaped places with it so that I could get a glimpse of below, where the sand spirit was sinking into the sand and vanished within just a few seconds.

"What was that, boss? Even through the light sensors, it had made me feel so small and weak!" A robot, another body of Angelo appeared beside me.

The factory was simply hovering in place instead of ascending...probably because I, the boss was here. Angelo had to differ to me for any decisions.