Chapter 110: Learned Helplessness
CH110 Learned Helplessness
***
Alex leaned back in his chair, tapping the edge of the parchnt with his pen.
He had to decide just how much coverage each surveillance device would have.
In the end, he chose the cheaper, more flexible option—
Multiple low-grade caras, each covering a small area.
It was far easier and cheaper to acquire nurous low-grade mana glass lenses with narrow fields of view than to purchase even one high-grade lens with a wide coverage area.
Sure, it added extra work.
But not by much.
All he had to do was write a simple post-processing program for the OmniRune Core—
Sothing that would automatically stitch together all the small-angle footage into a seamless wide-area feed for the Sub-AI module’s training databank.
He then considered the device’s power source.
Ambient mana. It was the obvious choice.
But that ca with a trade-off—
He’d have to limit the cara’s functions. No fancy active detection or continuous recording.
Instead, he made a note:
→ Passive mode: only record when motion or sound is detected.
That way, power consumption stayed low, and the device wouldn’t need any obvious maintenance or recharging.
Plus, he wouldn’t need to explain to anyone why he kept fiddling with artefacts near the training ground.
It wasn’t like he planned to tell anyone what the devices were for.
Then a new idea occurred to him.
’Wait... If no one knows what the caras actually are...’
A glimr flickered in his eyes.
’Doesn’t that an I can plant them all over the castle? With the right program, I’d know everything that happens in Ashen Castle!’
The idea was incredible. Terrifyingly useful.
But Alex reined himself in.
’Focus. If I’m going to do this, I need to be extrely careful.’
He’d have to cloak the mana emissions perfectly.
’No one—not even Father—can be allowed to detect them.’
He hesitated.
’But... can I really achieve that?’
He wasn’t sure. Not yet.
His mind ran through possible solutions.
’If I apply on-site data compression, the transmission size reduces, which ans less mana emissions. And if I stabilise the rate of data transfer... then the mana flow becos uniform with the surrounding ambient mana.’
That was the key.
’Father’s a warrior, not a mage. He can only sense disturbances in the mana flow. So, if I eliminate fluctuations... he shouldn’t realise what’s going on.’
His eyes lit up again.
This could work.
Then ca another consideration.
Security.
’What if... on the off chance soone detects the data stream, and even worse—intercepts it? I’ll need to make sure they can’t read the footage.’
A smile crept across his face—almost childish in its delight.
"Runic Encryption!"
It was the little trick he’d picked up during that absurd, accidental experint that gave birth to the Nest Queen Project.
And now? Now it would be his video cara project.
’What better key than my True Na?’ Alex grinned.
He had no intention of ever revealing that to anyone, which made it the perfect encryption key.
He scribbled on the parchnt:
→ Encrypt with True Na as primary seed. Irreplicable without knowing the full True Na string.
Even if soone detected the Runes, they’d need an extensive understanding of Runes just to interpret the structure. And that narrowed the potential list of suspects to high-tier RuneSmiths or Array Masters—
Two of the most scholarly, niche professions in the world.
’And even then,’ he mused, ’with my encryption formula, I doubt 99.99% of them would be able to crack it.’
He paused, then added with a cautious frown.
He didn’t discount the possibility of their being a prodigious genius who could crack the code. After all, the world had soone like himself. Who was to say there wasn’t another.
’If the world can produce soone like ... it can produce others, too.’
Speaking of the creature that had inadvertently helped Alex discover the concept of Runic Encryption—
Alex heard the humming of insect wings nearby.
The Nest Queen was still undergoing her ongoing control and conditioning regin.
The Pavlovian training was going perfectly.
Alex didn’t even need to personally oversee the process.
Everything was handled by the OmniRune AI, following the protocols he’d designed.
Alex’s system was built around coded reinforcent protocols.
On the surface, they were nothing but gibberish code—utterly aningless. But thanks to a bit of Rune-induced neural manipulation, the Nest Queen’s biology had been conditioned to interpret them differently.
He’d rigged it so the transmission of a positive reinforcent protocol would trigger the release of a dopamine-like reaction, flooding her with a pleasant high.
anwhile, the negative reinforcent protocol was wired to stimulate her pain receptors—
Inflicting sharp, body-wide agony through her neural pathways.
So now, the Nest Queen believed those otherwise useless code packets were literal commands of life and death.
If she obeyed, she got bliss.
If she disobeyed, she got suffering.
Through Pavlovian conditioning—and let’s be honest, a fair dose of learned helplessness—Alex was well on his way to creating a loyal, obedient, and utterly submissive Brood Queen.
With the last of his cara design notes scrawled down, Alex finally had a full project outline to follow.
Now, he could move ahead with execution—no distractions, no design delays.
Thanks to the projector screen built into his OmniBracer, he summoned the OmniRune Core’s Simulation Mode outside of Mindspace. The holographic interface flared to life.
He couldn’t help but smirk.
For a brief mont, he felt like a sci-fi scientist working on cutting-edge tech—The kind that would’ve made his co-workers in his previous life turn green with envy.
Of course, the novelty wore off quickly.
As always, Alex shoved aside the excitent and locked in.
Just because he knew what he wanted to build didn’t an it was going to be fast.
Rune design, or Runic programming, was a ti-consuming, detail-heavy nightmare.
He worked on it for a full week.
He might’ve completed it sooner if he were still at the Enclave, where he could bury himself in his work without interruption.
But no.
Not here.
Here, at Ashen Castle, his days were consud with endless training.
By the third day, Alex had fully grasped the foundation of each of the four Abyssal Conqueror’s Steps. At that point, there was nothing left for Earl Drake to teach.
The rest of the path was Alex’s to walk alone.
Naturally, being the pragmatic warlord he was, the Earl imdiately called in Jared to imdiately begin Alex’s multi-weapon combat training.
Alex had expected the training to begin with swordsmanship.
Instead, the stoic Dark Knight handed him a plain training rod and said,
"All weapons can be traced back to a humble wooden stick. Swords, spears, clubs, axes... Learn to wield a stick, and you’ll learn the basics of them all."
There was sothing in Jared’s voice—so quiet, iron-bound authority—that made it hard to argue.
Alex simply nodded, accepting the rod.
Unfortunately, Jared was a drill sergeant from hell.
It was like the man had a sixth sense for Alex’s physical and ntal limits—And made it his mission to smash through them, again and again.
No matter how much Alex complained, protested, or tried to excuse himself by claiming,
"I’m a mage, not a warrior!"
The Dark Knight never listened.
"You can hate
all you want, Young Master Alex. But the sweat and tears you shed today will spare you blood and death tomorrow. That’s all I care about."
It was such a Dark Knight thing to say that Alex couldn’t even muster a coback.
He just gritted his teeth... and kept going.
There were days when Fen had to literally carry him ho on his back.
Yet even then, Alex—the workaholic that he was—still dragged himself into the Sanctuary at night, just to chip away at the Video Cara RuneTech project.
And that...
Was the only reason he managed to finish it within a week—
Despite the hellish, Spartan schedule.
**
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