AutoTerra: Operating Systems

Chapter 11: Strange

“ASTAGA, OH MY GOD! YOUR SHOTS ARE ROTTEN, BABY!!” yells Astan sneered.

Arni whose ears are getting hot say, “Not be cheered, helped, even mocked?! Tega is so much a man!”

“Yeee…. Who told you to use a gun like that? I warned you a few times, right?”

Astan raised his legs above Gardin's thigh. Gardin was shocked by the presence of Astan's feet that were not in place.

“Pak.” Gardin pointed at Astan's feet. “His feet, Sir. Feet.”

Astan started snacking again. “Pijitin.”

“Lah? How am I the incandescent?” said Gardin did not accept. “I'm tired abis training, kok situ who asked to be foot massage?”

“Hey, I'm more senior than you. So, just a pijitin. If not, I'm actually’in perkedel you.”

Because he did not want to make a fuss, Gardin was forced to massage Astan's feet with a bete face.

While his legs were massaged, Astan again shouted at Arni, “Come! Go, Arni! Let it be a good hunter like Veena Maimunoh!”

“Veena Muskarov! Isssh!!!”

Astan only chuckles at Arni's annoyance which is considered funny.

In the middle of the field there, Wooden Doll still looks silent, not destroyed by fire at all. Arni pulled the trigger again, but there was only ‘cklak-cklek’ sound again.

“Lho?” Arni tried to shake his rifle. “It's really broken, anyway?”

“Not cocked again, times,” says Astan.

“Bye, forgot. Whoa…! Ribet very, anyway..”.

The girl in the green jacket started trying to cock her rifle back. Then aim again at the Wooden Doll.

Shoot.

Fail.

Shoot.

Fumble.

Shoot again.

It's almost about Astan and Gardin.

Tuh, right. It missed so far.

The two men were of course shocked when there was a Sniper Rifle bullet darting right between the two of them. Astan glared, while Gardin was already in deep shock with breath gasping as if thinking maybe his last moments were just a little while away.

“Buset, far away completely missed it.” Then Astan again shouted, “Hey, Arni! The shot missed completely…! We're almost dead, this!”

“Ya-ya sorry,” said Arni groggy. “I had trouble holding the rifle right again shot. Even the size is heavy again.”

Astan rolled his eyeballs. If Arni keeps this up, when is there progress? This exercise may not even be completed in a day.

“Try taking a down position to shoot him.”

Arni was somewhat confused by Astan's suggestion, but he decided to follow. Even though the man always taunted him, Astan still had the intention to help him move up the ranks.

Arni began to take a position down, then back cocked weapons. When he started aiming, Arni felt that his shot this time was right in the head of the puppet. When it was felt in the right shooting position, the trigger was pulled and the Sniper Rifle bullet shot violently hit right on the head of the wooden doll until it broke.

“Be-successful?” arni said in disbelief.

Astan and Gardin, who saw him from a distance, smiled and were delighted with the small success.

“One good progress, Neng Arni!” puji Gardin's.

“Good, Arn!” praise Astan anyway. “Now, the enemy will increase in two, and both will start moving slowly after you.”

Right said Astan. Shortly after the first doll was shot, two other dolls emerged from the hologram object to be more real. The two of them walked slowly towards Arni.

Arni who was still in a down position started to get nervous. “Se-now how?”

“Ya shoot again. When you date?!” exclaiming Instant hard.

Arni hastily filled his ammunition, cocked, then returned to aim in the same position. In two shootouts, two puppets were instantly defeated.

“Yey! I made it again!” shouted Arni gleefully.

“Be careful! Don't be happy first!” perspiration Astan. “Every time you manage to defeat Wooden Doll, then there will be more Wooden Dolls in more numbers and their movements will be faster.”

With the pedal, Arni only replied to Astan's warning with a thumbs up.

Astan just sighed. He was a little relieved, at least the girl had begun to understand how to play a hunter.

From what Astan observed these few minutes, Arni has started to be reliable using Sniper Rifle even though he had to shoot in a down position to be right on target. Bored, Astan also noticed Gardin who was still sitting next to him while continuing to drink isotonic.

“Hei, Man.”

“Hm?” Gardin turned to Astan while closing the bottle.

Astan decided to invite Gardin to talk because he was bored to see the Arni exercise so-so mulu.

“You've heard rumors about the origin of the AutoTerra System?”

Gardin frowned confused. “Hearn, just.. kind of forgot, anyway. Why?”

Stand up the sitting position. “Just want to find a chat topic, anyway. Suntuk see tadpole learning nebak.”

Gardin just stared flatly at Astan in response. There is no moral creature named Astan Pradipta Cornell if you ignore people.

Astan started telling me, “It used to be about 500 years ago, a lot of people say that the AutoTerra System is an adaptation of an alien artifact. Whether aliens of which type, certainly AutoTerra is not a man-made original.”

“For 500 years of existence, AutoTerra became the perfect system for various intermediaries, even until now AutoTerra became a system that is very helpful to further advance living things.”

“As time went on, it was not found who had actually adapted AutoTerra from an alien artifact and developed it until it could be used by us. Alien artifacts themselves have also until now never been found, only limited to rumors from mouth to mouth. But scientists believe that the rumor sounds reasonable.”

“How do you think, Gardin? Is the true origin of AutoTerra questionable?”

Hearing all the explanations and questions Astan made Gardin was confused. The gaze of the two heterochrome eyes that seemed to glow sharply really almost made Gardin stare tensely.

Regardless of what kind of aura Astan had, Gardin felt that every sentence Astan said seemed ambiguous.

Gardin also tried to smile to eliminate awkwardness in him.

“Entah, Dude…. Actually, little guys like us shouldn't question that.”

Astan's sharp gaze now widened slightly in shock, realizing that what Gardin said was correct.

Then, the gaze of Astan's eyes turned back to Arni who was still shooting the enemy in a down position. Sometimes the girl seemed to stretch her body, then back down to shoot some live wooden dolls.

“The right to find out are the most influential people in the entire galaxy, like the group of scientists you mean,” Gardin replied calmly, “For now, we just have to enjoy the facilities provided by the system. Can improve our ability, able to store a variety of goods without limits. Isn't that a very profitable advantage for a technology?”

Astan smiled faintly when he heard it, nodding in agreement.

“Ya, yes…. You're right.” Astan scratched his non-itchy nape. “ Shouldn't be little guys like us questioning that, right? Aish…! Because I remembered the trending topic on the internet that discusses AutoTerra conspiracy theories, so make me think no-no.”

Gardin laughs awkwardly, “Haha…. Yes, conspiracy theory groups on the internet do tend to lead public opinion to believe it. The topics they cover sometimes sound convincing and logical.”

Gardin checked his watch. It had been a long time since he had been here for training until he finally made it to the Wood Rankings. Rest here while watching Arni practice and sometimes chatting with Astan is enough. It's time to go home.

“I think it's time to go back to the cabin.” Gardin started to move off the bench.

“When did you start taking the first mission?” ask Astan.

“Tomorrow, maybe.”

Astan only replied with a nod, then refocused on watching Arni.

After saying goodbye, Gardin walked towards the gate of the field. During the trip, Gardin was still shadowed with Astan's tone of speech and sharp gaze when discussing the topic of the AutoTerra System. And when he argued, the look of the strange face was immediately replaced with a relaxed attitude like before.

The people in the Thornic Guild thought that Astan was a strange hunter in the Guild. Maybe true to their assumptions.

There is something hidden inside Astan that makes Gardin almost frightened when he sees the lightning in his eyes.

After Gardin left the training ground, Astan seemed to be getting bored. Noticing Arni practicing shooting with a so-so mouthful position makes Astan sleepy.

“Hoaam..

A moment he checked the clock on his cell phone, it showed at 13:05.

“If you think gini mulu, it will be this long. Sleep only once, yes.”

Astan also took a sleeping position by sitting leaning on the bench and his head slightly looked up.

….

Three more hours passed, Astan was still sound asleep on a bench on the sidelines with his head looking up and his mouth gaping, letting out a few drops of saliva so soundly he slept.

However, his sleep event was immediately stopped by a hard hit of a wooden doll that was thrown from the middle of the field to the edge of the Astan bench.

“Eh, monkey! Uh, monkey! The earthquake!!! Lah, wait a minute.” When he woke up, Astan immediately wiped his drool. “Where is there an earthquake inside the space ship? Unless it's hit by a meteor, anyway. But it seems impossible, deh. Eh?”

Astan only realized that there was one wooden doll crushed beside his stool.

“Woolah…. It's ‘toh that makes me wake up. Continue, which makes this object so kayak like this sia— Waduh.”

Astan was stunned for a moment when he saw something great happening in the middle of the field.

There Arni looks so fast shooting some Wooden Dolls who are now more and more in number and their movements are getting more agile. But, I don't know why Arni's expression now looks so angry about something.

Three Wooden Dolls were knocked down. Now Arni needed to fill up the ammunition, but one Wooden Doll suddenly attacked him from behind.

[Enabling Nerve Reflex Reader System]

[Invisible Type-1: Active]

Arni's body instantly disappeared. The doll is trying to find the whereabouts of Arni who is not seen everywhere. Without the doll noticing, Arni had already appeared crouched behind him with the muzzle of the rifle pinned between the butt of the Wooden Doll.

As the Wooden Doll turned her head, Arni grinned with anger.

“Taste this, horse butt!”

Arni shoots Wooden Doll's ass. Instead of being destroyed, the doll shot high up, crashing into the roof of the field until it was destroyed, then the crumbs fell into the middle of the field.

Astan watched the action with both eyes narrowed. Didn't think that a girl as weak as Arni could be reluctant to defeat her enemies.

“Selera Arni is unique also in defeating enemies,” comments Astan. “But... why? I don't think Arni could be this strong.”

After all the Wooden Dolls had been destroyed and no more Wooden Dolls appeared, Arni sat in the middle of the field due to exhaustion. Notification of the system belonging to Arni also appeared.

[Mission Successfully!]

[B]

[Score: 5,100]

[Congratulations! You go up level 5]

[Congratulations! You are riding Level 1 Wood Rankings]

[Now, you can run a mission. Starting from a Level D mission]

“AAAAAAAHHH!!! I MADE IT, SHUCKS!!”

Arni shouted loudly until her voice echoed across the ship's indoor field, relieved that the training this time was over.

Astan also ran a small approach to Arni in the middle of the field. He smiled, showing admiration for the success that the girl who loves the color green.

“Good, Arni. Congratulations, you made it to Wood Rank.”

Astan's right hand was extended to help Arni stand up. Without hesitation, Arni welcomed the helping hand and began to stand up.

“But, I'm surprised..” Astan's view was directed at the wooden dolls, which were quite a lot, seemed to be crushed flat. “In the beginning you looked bad at his training. At the end, how can— Wadaw?!”

Not having time to finish talking, Astan was surprised when he saw there were two young men already lying in the middle of the field, a little far from their current position. When Astan approached, the two young men were unconscious with blue-blue bonyok faces everywhere, some of their teeth were porous.

“Lho, you know? There are two seeds of a male here?” instant Instructions. “Kok can be battered like this? Was there really a ship earthquake due to meteor impact, yak?”

Arni thought for a moment, then smiled. However, his smile seemed strange in Astan's eyes.

“Can be....,” replied Arni soberly, still accompanied by a smile.

Even the girl's tone sounded suspicious.

Astan narrowed his eyes, staring fixedly at Arni.

Arni smiled back.

Still stared at with a narrowed gaze by Astan.

Arni kept smiling.

Hm…. Rouse suspiction. Smell something fishy, Astan smells fish here.

“Aaa…. Yeah, nevermind. Yes, stop..”.

Arni instantly pushed Astan's large body towards the field gate, and the man kept looking at her with narrowed eyes.

“Because I've finished training. So, how about we just go home?” hail Arni with a cheerful tone.

“I haven't finished ngomo—.”

“Ah! Gini aja's. We had dinner together in the cafeteria. Oho! Oho! Take Bang Suda as well. Aye! Pick up Bang Suda first at work, then we can eat together. But, just pay with your money, Bang..”.

Although Astan is still suspicious of Arni, he still follows Arni's advice to go to dinner together. But the exception to treat Arni and Suda. Can goodbye fill your wallet later.

After Astan and Arni exited the field gate, one of the youths came to a realization with a dizzy head and a hazy look. His body trembled while trying to wake up, and felt weak. He heard his murmur for a moment, though very slowly.

“Basic... chick ngeselin..”.

The young man fainted again.

...~*~*~*~...