Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

The Legend of Ultraman: The Light Chaser (Author: I had to write it myself because I was out of books to read)

The boy fled down the cliff, his companions accompanying him in another form. The young man stepped into the icy sea, and his enemies finally noticed the brilliance of an ant. There is never a simple transformation; he was thrown from the high cliff by fate, and countless times, inch by inch, he climbed back up, covered in blood.

—If fate guides him to meet the light, he is willing to spend his life pursuing it.

Volume 1: Side Story - Super Galaxy - A Reunion Across Time

Chapter One: A Distant Reunion

"Panlong Spacecraft, signal good, guidance received."

The woman sitting at the control panel looked young, but judging from her skillful operation and lightning-fast efficiency, she was already a veteran pilot of the spaceship.

She typed in the next coordinates given by base camp and set it as the priority level before opening the communication with her team: "How long are you going to stay on this planet? The next target has been sent!"

“Received, received,” a lively male voice replied. “I still want to observe the native monsters of this planet for a while longer… They have a very gentle nature, making them perfect for wildlife observation…”

"The next target is Planet Dent."

"I don't really want to go if there are no monsters."

"But the scenery is beautiful and the vegetation is lush, and detailed information will be delivered to us by someone," the woman said. "If you want to get more information about the monsters from Estend..."

"Go away!" The response took an instant 180-degree turn. She could even hear the footsteps running across from her, the soles of their shoes crunching against the hard pebbles.

The team members were amused by his ability to change his expression, and the man with the slicked-back hair patted his not-so-broad shoulders with a loud "thump": "You disagreed with voting for Eistand at first, but now you're more eager to curry favor with him than anyone else."

“I used to think he was scarier than any professor I’ve ever met,” the young man said, brushing away the hand that had slapped him so hard it hurt. “But now I don’t think he’s scary anymore, as long as you find the right approach.”

The team members, dressed in ZAP uniforms, returned to their posts one after another. After a short break and replenishing their food and water, they will embark on their next mission: to the planet Dunt.

With its blue and white tail flames ignited, the Panlong, which had once been active on Earth as a combat ship but had now been converted into a transport ship, emitted a deep roar.

[Energy saving mode deactivated, proceeding to flight preparation.]

A pale blue light illuminated the cockpit, with a beam of light extending from a circular base on the floor to the very top, displaying flowing characters that cast faint shadows.

It was a figure indistinct, his clothes were rather long and didn't seem suitable for movement in space, and he had one hand in his pocket, showing a relaxed posture.

[Particle concentration normal, all systems operating normally, takeoff permitted.]

The sky in the universe is always dark, like solidified ice, without even a lonely wind. Only when you are near active celestial bodies can you feel the vitality of the universe.

The crew of the Panlong were used to this. Although the journey to their destination was tedious, it was only in this way that they felt particularly happy when they arrived at their goal.

Besides, they are not alone.

"Cosmic Space Dragon, please respond."

It was a call from headquarters.

The spaceship, already in autopilot mode, required no further action, and everyone turned their attention to the screen.

It was Haruno Musashi. It turns out he was the one responsible for transmitting the data from Planet Dent to the Panlong.

"Musashi, long time no see!" Captain Hyuga Hiroshi was the first to step forward. He nodded to Haruno Musashi, then shifted his gaze to the other man.

He shifted his position to the side, making sure the figure in the beam of light was included in the image.

Behind Haruno Musashi stood a similar pillar of light, except that the person inside was shorter and clearly a woman.

"Zou, it's been a long time!" said the woman in the pillar of light.

“You’re the only one who would call me to play, Mu Zhi Mei,” Estend took his hand out of his pocket and carefully smoothed the wrinkles on his white coat. “Have you finished updating the main system?”

“Yes,” Amakuya Konomi stretched out her hand, but her fingertips vanished as soon as they touched the pillar of light. She didn’t mind and just said happily, “I can help again!”

Haruno Musashi said, "After the update, her behavior is more human-like, and communication is much easier than before the update. Now she is our capable assistant."

"Ah..." Oki Kouichi, the young man who had been agonizing over going to Planet Dent, wailed, "If I had known that Kinoko would update so quickly, I wouldn't have downloaded the Eistend database! I also want a gentle and cute AI companion!"

Behind him, the person in the pillar of light sneered, "I haven't even said I look down on you, kid who studies monsters. You're far inferior to the students I've ever taught!"

Koichi Oki's eyebrows furrowed. He stopped arguing with Estend and whispered to the person on the other side of the screen, "See? See? Even though it's the most personalized 'initial model' of all artificial intelligence, it's still so untrustworthy... Can you believe an AI that refuses to provide data?! Based on my own painful experience, I'm warning you, never use its database. No matter how powerful its functions are, don't be tempted!"

Whether it was amused by his comical expression or not, Haruno Musashi laughed for a while both on and off screen before getting back to the main topic.

"Data on Planet Dent received." Estend moved aside a small screen that appeared out of thin air. On the other side, the shadow of Amakuya Kinomi gave him a thumbs-up.

He looked up at the virtual projector mounted on the ceiling and gave the order to his superior, and all the relevant components in the cockpit started operating.

The lights dimmed, and the projection gradually solidified, revealing an image of a planet suspended before the pillar of light, surrounded by its mountains and rivers, as well as key data such as atmospheric composition, pressure, and temperature. 69.493.6135

Eistend reached out and tapped the void a few more times, and the planet began to slowly rotate, with day and night alternating on it, and vegetation and biological data beginning to cover it—the projection of this planet became more and more realistic under his calculations, as if there really was such a planet right in front of everyone.

“The environment is very similar to Earth’s, and we plan to develop it into a new foothold for humanity,” said Haruno Musashi. “Your mission involves planetary development, as well as star mapping… Please collect data on celestial bodies along the way, and we are considering finding a suitable location to set up jump coordinates.”

“It’s a transport ship and a scout ship as well,” Hinata Hiroshi said, pressing down on Oki Kouichi, who was about to say “it’s a bit boring without monsters,” and swallowing back all his words: “Leave it to us!”

The routine duties of the Panlong were rather boring to Oki Koichi, but for Reionus, it was a rare period of peace and tranquility.

Humans have been exploring the universe for nearly 10,000 years, and their long-held dream of "flying alongside the giants of the Land of Light" is no longer an unattainable dream.

Technological advancements and cultural flourishing are common, but when it comes to a transformative turning point, many history buffs would unanimously say "GUYS"!

Inside the beam of light in the cockpit, the artificial intelligence still active on the "front line" is a "relic" of that glorious era—the AI ​​codenamed "Estend," the earliest experimental system, which has a more complete personality than the later imitation systems, and can be said to be extremely close to a real person.

The consensus among academics is that "this was Aiba Kanade's last work before his death. He digitized his personality and memories and achieved a delicate balance. Subsequent AIs were all based on data extracted from volunteers by his students, and thus differed from the true inventor."

However, precisely because it behaves more like a human than AI, it is not as popular in the artificial intelligence market.

Even if Estender himself is unwilling to admit it, the more students he teaches, the more he finds himself similar to Teacher Fant, especially in his strict demands on students, which he does exactly the same way—a trait that has been carried into AI, causing great harm to customers who have paid a lot of money to download his database.

Oki Kouichi treated him like a walking encyclopedia of questions. Artificial intelligence usually doesn't refuse to answer questions within its authority, but Eistend refused, and several times at that.

Oki Koichi initially thought his program had malfunctioned, so he restarted it. He asked again, still not believing it, and received the same answer.

He still remembers the AI ​​standing in the beam of light, one hand in its white coat pocket, its eyes filled with disappointment: "The monster Magra was first discovered to inhabit the underground of Tatara Island, where it died from napalm. But that's a subspecies from Earth. The cosmic Magra has a more robust defensive shell, especially excelling in resisting stellar winds... You're confusing the Earth subspecies with the cosmic one, and you actually dare to ask me about its habits?"

"What are its habits in the cosmological spectrum?" At that time, Oki Kouichi was still unaware that he was being rejected by the AI.

Eistend remained silent. He scanned the laptop the other person was holding and snorted, "The discovery site of the cosmic genealogy is on Radland. Habits... guess."

"Eh?"

That was the first time Oki Kouichi was within the scope of his authority.

AI refused.

And his fellow crew members laughed at him for days.

Ray said, "He's like a teacher."

Oki Koichi felt his description should be more accurate: "Like a strict and short-tempered professor."

Estend's reply was: "I think you should be more serious about your studies."

"I'm not your student." Koichi Oki still doesn't know what kind of torment Aiba Kanade's students went through during the era when GUYS existed, but he feels that their lives must not have been easy.

Just like assembly line workers exploited in sweatshops, this famous scientist, who lived nearly 10,000 years ago, was the factory owner wielding a whip.

No matter how much Ren Yinqi Hengyi initially disliked it, it was useless. The Panlong had already left the base with the artificial intelligence codenamed "Estend". The next large-scale data update would have to wait for the next long rest period.

Moreover, when asked about matters outside of academics, Eistend performs far better than other AI professionals. His near-personalized thinking allows him to consider a wider range of things. As long as you don't treat him as your student and subject him to mental pressure, he will be an excellent mentor.

So others only used Oki Kouichi's setbacks as a form of entertainment.

This is a rare bright spot in the otherwise monotonous mission.

But soon they were greeted with an even more dazzling "bright spot".

Before reaching the star system where Planet Dent is located, First Vice-Captain Jun Haruna needs to determine the coordinates of its parent star and a safe path to avoid potential asteroids and meteorites.

She stared at the monitor screen, blinking repeatedly, her eyes filled with confusion: "Why are there two parent stars? Am I seeing things because I haven't rested enough?"

[High-concentration energy reaction detected, locked on, target approaching, estimated rendezvous time: 13 seconds.]

An alarm sounded on the spaceship.

"13 seconds?!" Oki Kouichi, who was engrossed in the monster encyclopedia, almost jumped up.

Captain Hiroshi Hyuga and crew member Masahiko Kumano were both on edge, while Lei reached into his pocket and gripped the combat device.

They held their breath, waiting for a chance encounter that would turn out alright, or a fierce battle.

No one noticed that the figure in the beam of light was laughing.

As technology matures, artificial intelligence is exhibiting increasingly human-like behavior, but Estend is different; each system update simply incorporates more newly generated research findings from humans.

He is very close to a human, but he is not a human—like an artificial intelligence whose evolution is restricted. Although he started very high, he has not yet reached the real ceiling. His "younger generations" are catching up quickly.

The high-concentration energy reaction is getting closer and closer.

【10, 9, 8...】

The moment the unknown light enveloped the Panlong, the crew heard Estend's laughter.

It's like it has truly achieved the most complete personification, as if it has come to life.

That was a human laugh, and when he spoke, there was even a hint of complaint in his voice:

"Nine thousand three hundred and seventy-two years, three million four hundred and twenty thousand seven hundred and eighty days."

I knew you would come back.