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Serena Prince: Love of Magic - chapter 153
🕑 Added 2025-09-06 01:07:13 +0000 UTCAuthor's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
"Okay, how do we do this?" I asked GLaDOS, not knowing how to proceed.
I looked closely at the body of Unit Prüfer on the ground. She was lying down and almost seemed to be sleeping. Despite what I expected, she had a robe covering her body, but beyond that, she was the spitting image of Schwi Dola.
Long, messy black hair, very pale skin, and a relatively small body, extremely thin and quite short. Her height must have been about 140 centimeters tall if I calculated correctly from that position; I was practically more than two heads taller than her.
Even Ravel, who was the smallest in our group, would have been half a head taller or more than her. And despite that, I didn't feel any discomfort from GLaDOS. I almost expected it to bother her more, but it seemed that GLaDOS didn't even care; to her, that body was just a new chassis, nothing more, nothing less.
If the body could meet the specifications she had read, she would be more than happy.
"Do you think I've become an Ex-Machina specialist in a few minutes?" GLaDOS asked dryly. I sighed and looked at my phone. I was about to contact the seller when I saw something curious that came with the purchase.
A damn instruction manual.
I blinked for a couple of seconds before pulling it out of my inventory. A really thick book, about the size of my head, appeared in the air, and I grabbed it with ease. This… was stupidly useful. I sighed as I opened the book.
I could feel GLaDOS approaching over my shoulder.
"Aha! Here it is!" I said with a smile as I pointed. "Let's see... do I need to open your... switch room? Do we have that?" I asked GLaDOS, confused.
"Of course, there's a breaker room," GLaDOS snorted. I could hear a small click as one of the floor panels near me clicked open. I walked over and took a look.
I was almost expecting the several dozen meter-deep pit and hundreds of switches and levers I remembered from the game, but instead, I was greeted by a meter-deep hole with only a dozen switches.
"How small, I thought they opened wider," I said involuntarily. I could hear GLaDOS's growl.
"Wow, thanks for noticing. It almost feels like my enrichment center is just one room," GLaDOS said sarcastically. I grimaced, right? I carefully entered the breaker room with the book in my hand and began searching for everything I needed.
The next few minutes were quite tense, not because I didn't know how to follow the instructions; in fact, they were pretty easy to follow. However, I could feel GLaDOS pressing on my mind, almost insisting that I not make a mistake.
After activating what looked like the transfer sequence, I left the tiny switch room, approached GLaDOS, who dropped a thick cable, I grabbed it, and approached the Prüfer unit.
With a quick movement, I found a small crease in the neck of the unit that opened the entrance for the transfer cable. I looked at GLaDOS, who nodded almost eagerly and connected the cable.
GLaDOS's frame almost went limp immediately as the Prüfer unit snapped open both eyes, glowing yellow, and sat bolt upright. Then the unit seemed to ramp up on full power, the floating disc on its temple began to glow, and a blue circle suddenly appeared and grew rapidly.
The other mechanisms of the robotic body also began to function, despite being covered by the robe; its shoulder and hip also created blue circles, and its chest started to glow brightly. Its tails moved and activated, I could feel it beginning to collect magic at high speed.
"GLaDOS v5.0 is Online \\ Hello." said the Prüfer drive, which was now GLaDOS's main chassis. I blinked for a few seconds. So fast!? I'm sure GLaDOS needs a few petabytes to fully store it. What the hell was that transfer speed?!
On the other hand, there was that whole Weathly thing where she was put on a mini-disk plugged into a potato, and that mini-disk actually had most of GLaDOS on it, including Caroline's memories. So I don't even want to know if Aperture Science was capable of compressing files to hell, or if their storage memory was that incredible.
I quickly shook off those thoughts.
"How are you feeling?" I asked GLaDOS who was starting to stand up.
"Incredible," GLaDOS murmured, almost sounding drunk. "My thoughts, my calculations, my processing, everything feels hundreds of times smoother, thousands of times faster, as if all this time I was wearing thousands of tumors that were slowing me down and I finally broke free of them," GLaDOS murmured.
"I guess it's good," I said simply.
"It's amazing." GLaDOS repeated as she turned and looked at me, her eyes wide open and bright. "Thank you," GLaDOS said genuinely, my eyes widening slightly at that.
GLaDOS finally seemed to regain her composure, and every expression on her face changed instantly. Her brow furrowed immediately, and she glared at me, almost as if she had an angry face at rest. It was truly disconcerting, this angry face on the small body she now inhabited.
"Don't be surprised, devil, I'm capable of being grateful when I receive such an improvement." GLaDOS said simply as she looked away, and I smiled slightly.
"Speaking of improvements, GLaDOS V5.0? Didn't you just update to V4.0? Is it normal to release versions so quickly?" I asked, genuinely curious. GLaDOS snorted, like... a normal snort, not a mechanical noise that her chassis was making.
"Of course not," GLaDOS said with a grimace. "When I killed all the researchers at Aperture Science, I was version 3.11. For 10 years, I only upgraded to version 3.46 by myself. Even after dying at the hands of the mute lunatic, reviving, and eliminating Caroline, I could only upgrade to version 3.51."
"When you used that… Evil Piece on me, and I acquired magic. The change in my code was so great that it truly deserved to be changed to a new version. And the same now." GLaDOS said simply. I hummed and nodded. If it made sense to her, I wouldn't argue with her.
"Okay, how's your new body feeling?" I asked again. "I think the instruction manual had instructions, and a lot about the code and the internal creation of the Prüfer unit, and some about maintenance and repairs." I said, pointing to the manual I'd left on the floor.
"No need, it's all downloaded into my database, plus, I can see and understand everything about my new chassis." GLaDOS said simply as she began to stroll, her hand moved and touched her old chassis.
"The change was complete, all my programming, all my routines and subroutines, databases, libraries and programs, everything that was in my old chassis, was completely transferred."
"It wasn't a simple personality core transfer like when they put me in a potato, this... felt deeper," GLaDOS said, admiring the work. Before she could say anything, GLaDOS reached out, started fiddling with the chassis, and opened a small panel.
Then, from inside, she pulled out another cable, stretched it out, and without hesitation, plugged it into an input that appeared on her forearm. GLaDOS didn't even flinch, but the room began to come alive once more. The wall panels trembled slightly and moved slightly, forming a wave.
"Well, I can still control everything without leaving this chassis," GLaDOS said, smiling with satisfaction. I hummed lightly.
"I'm no expert, but wouldn't it be better to, I don't know, create something wireless that you have to keep inside this room?" I asked curiously. GLaDOS simply nodded.
"It was already planned, I just need the tools," GLaDOS said plainly before looking at me. " And that's exactly why we're going to the Cyberpunk world you promised me," GLaDOS said without hesitation.
"Wow, wow, wow, we'll go, don't worry. First I have to talk to the others to warn them." I said while raising both hands. GLaDOS growled. "Also, we have to choose a mission to complete in that place, and finally, we have to discuss if you want any extra powers before going." I added.
"Another power?" GLaDOS asked, now sounding more interested. I snorted.
"First, we need to test the limits of your new body's abilities. You're capable of replicating a lot of magic and weaponry, so it's possible that many of your powers might be useless depending on what you're capable of," I said honestly.
"It's time for some science!" GLaDOS's eyes shone brightly as an excited smile formed on her face.
I blinked again in confusion. That body was really expressive, and GLaDOS probably had no idea what she was doing. But, considering she'd just given an AI with a few loose screws a chassis of mass destruction, it was pretty cute to see her so excited.
"After you," I said, opening a portal to the training room. GLaDOS didn't even hesitate; she stepped through the portal, and I immediately followed her. Once we arrived, I looked at GLaDOS and nodded in her direction. "Let's go with something easy."
"All right, do it," GLaDOS said without hesitation as she stood in front of me. I nodded, raising my hand toward the wall.
"Sectumsempra." I said as I launched a massive, invisible slash toward one of the walls. The wall took the slash, and a gash was created in it. I kept moving my hand, and the cursed blade kept slamming into the wall, leaving gashes everywhere.
I stopped and looked at GLaDOS, her eyes shone brightly, the blue magic circles on her head glowed slightly and she raised her hand towards one of the walls.
"Lösen: Sectumsempra." GLaDOS said, and quickly, a cursed, invisible sword shot out of her arm toward the same wall I had attacked. I hummed as I stared.
"It's weaker," I said, looking at the damage.
"39% Sectumsempra emulated." GLaDOS said with a grimace.
"So little?" I asked, surprised. GLaDOS nodded.
"The Lösen algorithm uses all my sensors to obtain all the parameters of the phenomenon to be replicated: structure, energy, vector, formula, and much more. It's much more effective if the attack had hit me directly," GLaDOS said, unfazed.
"Ah, I guess that makes sense, but it would be awful having to take every hit to replicate it. It's nice that you can replicate things just by gathering data from afar, even if it's partial." I said honestly. Really, I didn't have anything that could regenerate a robot.
I so doubted a Reparo could repair anything on GLaDOS's new body. The only thing that would work would be Enid's ability to repel phenomena.
"Repeated exposure could serve to reach higher thresholds of emulation until a perfect replica is achieved." GLaDOS said simply, I shrugged.
I raised my hand almost lazily and began to cast more sectumsempra. I spent several long seconds hurling invisible swords at the wall. Finally, I stopped. GLaDOS's energy circle above her temple glowed brightly.
"Lösen: Sectumsempra 100%," GLaDOS said as she cast the curse. The magic GLaDOS used hadn't suffered any degradation; in fact, it was a perfect replica, too perfect.
Literally, the Lösen algorithm, once it had mastered all the parameters correctly, was a copy/paste. It was a much slower version than my new Reality Marble, but it could achieve a perfect copy just by observing; I couldn't.
I had to cheat a lot to reach the same 100%. For example, with magic, I just had to practice with it and adapt it to my own magic, which was easy most of the time. But with Noble Phantasm or Sacred Gear, it was harder.
"It worked." I said simply, GLaDOS nodded with a smile.
"Let's keep doing science!" said GLaDOS excitedly, and I smiled. This will be much more interesting.
After continuing to test every ability I could think of, we finally found the limits of the Lösen algorithm. First, it was capable of replicating any magic or direct magical manipulation. All spells, enchantments, curses, and magic circles, GLaDOS was able to reproduce perfectly after several samples.
They were perfect copies, at least for the lower-level enchantments. When she started using more magic and power, GLaDOS began to fall behind, not in her ability to observe, analyze, and replicate, but while her stamina was infinite and she could collect magic infinitely to function permanently, that had its limitations.
As a unit of analysis, the Prüfer had little magical output, and when I say little, I mean little compared to the other ex-machina units; it was practically firmly on par with a High-Class Devil, which was impressive.
There were also some issues with those spells that needed feelings to cast. Well… only positive ones. She couldn't cast the Patronus Charm at all, but she had no problem with curses and Unforgivable Curses.
And then there was everything else I couldn't replicate. Noble Phantasms were a big no-no. GLaDOS just ended up copying my projection sorcery mostly, and even when I gave her all the plans, materials, and everything else needed to replicate a Noble Phantasm, she just wasn't able to reproduce it.
There was a massive problem with adding 'legends' and 'myths' as sources of power that drove GLaDOS crazy; the manipulation of concepts also seemed to be impossible to replicate correctly. GLaDOS was capable of creating and replicating something very similar if necessary, but it wasn't a direct copy.
My fire from heaven didn't either; the concept of harmony eluded her. Neither did my Schiavo of Baiser Magic; my magic was corrupted enough to make it impossible to replicate with her algorithm.
Alchemy was something that she could replicate, but it was several degrees more difficult than what I was doing, like, she had to do everything completely manual, to the point of having to manipulate each atom or molecule and rearrange it manually.
If she hadn't been an artificial intelligence, she wouldn't have been able to generate the calculations to complete that 'manual' alchemy, something that annoyed GLaDOS.
And finally, my metal arts were a big no, and it was simply because my own biology had a lot to do with using metal arts. I'm fairly certain I'm not connected to any of the Cosmere Shards, Preservation, Ruin, or Harmony.
But even so, my biology had a lot to do with it, and it did most of my Metal Arts. Even so, she was able to use the Harmonium objects and nicrosil medallions that replicated Metal Arts quite easily.
She was able to use most metals, but things like gold weren't possible. It's a shame, because it would have solved major problems if she could regenerate with gold.
Feruchemical gold isn't some kind of super-fast regeneration. Feruchemical gold heals using your 'ideal self,' as recorded in your spirit aspect.
What gold does is try to align the physical aspect with the spiritual, which causes the physical body to regenerate, or at least that's what would happen in a normal person. GLaDOS's soul is... strange. You have a soul, you have a spiritual aspect, and you have an 'ideal self,' but it's... different.
At first glance, her soul and her 'ideal self' seem so malleable that it appears to extend to everything you're directly connected to, so I thought she could use it, but it turns out that what I was seeing was her code spreading everywhere.
I didn't know if that meant GLaDOS could heal any direct damage to her core code, or something else, but her physical body was out of the question, at least for the moment. Perhaps when she considered her body fully part of her 'ideal self,' it would help.
And that extended to physical metals. Nothing that enhanced her physical weight, physical speed, senses, or physical strength—none of that worked on GLaDOS. But on the other hand, everything cognitive and spiritual—yes, mental speed, memories, identity, sensing magical pulses, and more—all worked.
GLaDOS was left with a bracelet that gave her power over feruchemical zinc, because obviously, she wanted to enhance her already terrifying mental speed. She slipped the bracelet on, which was just big enough to be loose, and without hesitation, she pulled it up to just above her elbow, where it fit perfectly.
And then, we tried all the technological stuff. GLaDOS was able to recreate most of the things she had in Aperture Science: the Long Fall Boots, lasers, hard light technology, high-energy bullets that cause vaporization of living objects, high-energy heat rays, and turrets, lots of turrets.
I was also able to recreate the portal gun, but since I couldn't replicate the properties of moon rocks, it was totally useless.
After trying everything necessary, GLaDOS had decided to buy her Added Potential over Alchemy.
Alchemy (FMA) -5 [319]
This made all the work easier, and allowed GLaDOS to start creating things on her own. Really, she just wanted alchemy to use as an infinitely better 3D printer.
"By the way, can you calculate 12 dimensions?" I asked GLaDOS while sending her the information about Move Point and ToAru's teleporters, still holding my phone.
"Of course I no-" GLaDOS began to mock before stopping. "Yes… I can do it." GLaDOS said, almost impressed. My eyes glittered slightly.
"Okay, we have to try it sometime. I also want you to calculate what's necessary to be able to manipulate the state of the electrons to keep them in an abnormal state, so that they're neither a particle nor a wave." I said with an excited smile as I told her everything about Meltdowner.
GLaDOS almost seemed excited by the challenge. I laughed lightly. Maybe GLaDOS wasn't such a bad idea.
