My Name is Babata

Inside the magnificent semicircular hall, the black-robed child's pale little finger pointed towards the center of the floor. Instantly, a hissing sound echoed as the metal floor suddenly parted, revealing a passage. “Follow me.” The black-robed child led the way, with Luo Feng following behind. “He wants me to pay respects to some master? A master who died fifty thousand years ago?” Luo Feng was filled with doubt. However, it was clear that given the extraordinary nature of this ruin… if it truly intended him harm, it wouldn't need such elaborate methods. Luo Feng could only suppress his questions and follow step by step. Reaching the passage, the black-robed child leaped down, and Luo Feng followed. The passage was about thirty meters deep. As the black-robed child and Luo Feng landed on the floor below, the dark hall beneath them lit up. Luo Feng looked around… The dark hall was empty, its walls octagonal, with no items inside. “Open!” The black-robed child pointed at the floor. A grinding sound echoed as the floor trembled slightly, slowly beginning to split open. “My master’s body is stored very securely; you’ll have to wait a moment to see it.” The black-robed child looked at Luo Feng, his blood-red pupils unsettling. “Luo Feng, you’re full of questions right now, aren’t you?” “Yes,” Luo Feng admitted. “First, let me introduce myself. My name is Babata! You can call me ‘Demon Babata.’ Of course, that’s how it translates into Earth’s Huaxia language. In the universal common tongue, it should be pronounced ‘XXXX’.” The string of words the black-robed child uttered at the end, Luo Feng heard clearly but understood nothing. Luo Feng was startled. Demon Babata? “The ‘Demon’ part is a self-proclaimed title,” the black-robed child continued. “Essentially, I am an AI!” “An AI?” Luo Feng questioned. Like the bald crystal man AI in Ancient Civilization Ruin No. 9? “However, AI cores are tiered! Some simple logical processing programs on your Earth aren’t qualified to be called AI! To be considered an AI… at the very least, its problem-solving abilities shouldn’t be inferior to humans. The AI core you know from Ancient Civilization Ruin No. 9, that’s what truly counts as an AI.” The black-robed child explained. “As for me…” “While I am essentially an AI, through countless years with my master, I have transcended mere AI. I can be called an ‘Intelligent Lifeform’! A lifeform just like your human lives, and other animal lives, plant lives, and so on!” The black-robed child’s tone grew somewhat impassioned. “I also possess emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, and I have the comprehension for cultivation and evolution!” “Furthermore, my master once prepared a body for me. With that body, in the vast cosmos, I made the name ‘Demon Babata’ known across many star systems!” A hint of pride flickered across the black-robed child’s face. Luo Feng listened, secretly astonished. Joy, anger, sorrow, happiness? Cultivation and evolution? This was no mere AI system; it truly deserved to be called an ‘Intelligent Lifeform.’ According to its explanation, there were four levels: logical processing programs — AI with logic comparable to true humans — AI with emotions — Intelligent Lifeform. “Fifty thousand years ago, in a cataclysmic battle that spanned countless star systems, my body was destroyed, and I reverted to a virtual AI existence.” The black-robed child showed a trace of sadness. “I could still become a virtual AI. But my master…” He turned his head to look at the crystal coffin that was slowly emerging! The transparent crystal coffin slowly floated up from the ground! Luo Feng watched intently. The crystal coffin was six meters long, four meters wide, and two meters high. The completely transparent coffin emitted a terrifying chill. Even Luo Feng, wearing his Black God Suit and being a Planetary Level First-tier Spirit Reader, couldn't help but shiver. It was too cold! With such intense cold, he guessed the coffin's material wasn't actual crystal, though Luo Feng didn't know what it was. For now, he'd call it a crystal coffin! Inside the crystal coffin lay a corpse! The corpse was about three meters tall, with two flexible antennae on its forehead. Aside from the antennae and larger physique, it was otherwise identical to Earth humans. Dressed in a black robe that shimmered with faint specks of light, with long hair spread out, he lay peacefully in the crystal coffin, as if asleep. His appearance was remarkably handsome, and his pair of narrow eyes seemed particularly feminine… Although now just a corpse, it possessed a strange charm that stirred one's soul. “Master!” The black-robed child clutched the crystal coffin, his pale little hands gripping tightly, his expression contorted. “Plop!” “Plop!” Two tears fell. “A virtual intelligent lifeform can cry?” Luo Feng was somewhat bewildered. “Kneel.” The black-robed child suddenly turned to Luo Feng. Luo Feng was taken aback. “I told you to kneel! Just because you are a member of Yunmo Star, and my master… is the master of Yunmo Star! You should kneel!” the black-robed child roared, a hint of madness in his eyes. But then, the black-robed child closed his eyes, reopened them, and seemed much calmer, forcing a bitter smile. “Fifty thousand years without interacting with anyone, my emotions are a bit volatile. If I had no joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness, and was just a simple AI, fifty thousand years of loneliness would be nothing. But with emotions, these fifty thousand years have been much harder to bear. Actually… I used to have a very good temper.” Luo Feng didn't know whether to laugh or cry. “Babata, you said this corpse is the master of Yunmo Star. Is he… Huyan Bo?” Luo Feng asked nervously. “Yes, translated into your Earth’s Huaxia language, he can be called Huyan Bo!” The black-robed child’s mood seemed to lighten gradually. “Huyan Bo… Master Huyan Bo of Yunmo Star!” Luo Feng took a deep breath. “Just for receiving a bit of his legacy, I should pay my respects!” Luo Feng immediately knelt with a thud, kowtowing three times. As for Huyan Bo… though Luo Feng had never met him, ever since he began cultivating Duntian and heard the name, he had always admired this senior! To be able to create so many Spirit Weapons, with Duntiansuo being just one of them—how extraordinary was that? And since he used the Duntiansuo and learned Duntian, it was only right to pay respects to such a senior! “Luo Feng.” The black-robed child looked at Luo Feng. “I ask you, are you willing to take my master as your teacher and become the future master of Yunmo Star? Of course… Yunmo Star has already been destroyed, and its power has perished.” “Take him as a teacher?” Luo Feng was stunned. Take a dead person as a teacher? Could it be… that this super-powerful master of Yunmo Star had some legacy treasures or something? Seeing Luo Feng hesitate, the black-robed child ‘Babata,’ who had finally waited fifty thousand years for a suitable candidate, seemed a little anxious. He quickly said, “Luo Feng! My master Huyan Bo… was an eternal existence! Throughout his more than six thousand epochs, from birth to death, he traversed the vast cosmos, a truly peerless expert in the universe.” “More than six thousand epochs?” Luo Feng quickly asked. “One epoch is equivalent to… 10,081 years of your Earth time,” Babata stated. “Senior Huyan Bo lived for over sixty million years?” Luo Feng’s eyes widened. “Is sixty million years very long?” Babata glared, saying angrily, “My master was an immortal, an eternal existence! If not for that final battle… my master could have lived forever! In the vast cosmos, there are many who have lived for over a hundred million years. Some immortal beings even have lifespans longer than Earth’s existence!” Luo Feng blinked twice. Earth’s existence? Some expert’s existence time? “Luo Feng, to use your Earth’s saying, you’re like a frog in a well!” Babata said with an angry expression, yet his pale little face looked quite adorable. “You’ve been to Ancient Civilization Ruin No. 9, but what you call Ancient Civilization Ruin No. 9 is merely one of many surveillance bases under Yunmo Star. Its data is extremely, extremely scarce!” “Today, I’ll give you a lesson, so you can understand the mystery and vastness of this boundless cosmos!” Babata lifted his small head. “According to your Earthlings, your star system is the Milky Way Galaxy! Do you know… how many star systems there are in the boundless cosmos?” “Uh…” Luo Feng remembered learning in school that the number of star systems discovered by Earth now exceeded ten billion! The cosmos was indeed boundless; a single star system was already immense, and ten billion star systems was an astronomical number. And this was only a fraction of the universe discovered by humanity. “Tens of billions of star systems?” Luo Feng tentatively, uncertainly, offered an approximate number. “Hmm?” Babata raised an eyebrow, then said, “For you to give that answer, it’s not bad. The boundless cosmos nurtures countless races and countless lifeforms! Among them, the human race is one of the most powerful and peak races in the universe. The human race I speak of is not the narrow understanding you have on Earth.” “For example, what you call ‘orcs’ and ‘elves’ in some of your Earth’s games and novels are actually just branches of the human race.” Luo Feng could only listen attentively. “Your Earth, located in the Milky Way Galaxy, has over two hundred billion stars in total! The number of planets is even more astonishing, but among countless planets, only over 210,000 have large human populations,” Babata said. “The Milky Way Galaxy, Beta Star System, and eight other neighboring star systems form the Silverblue Empire, a cosmic elementary civilization nation!” “Eight star systems, one empire?” Luo Feng couldn’t believe it. “And you said the Milky Way Galaxy has over 210,000 planets with large human populations?” Good heavens! Earth hasn’t even discovered one to date. “Is that strange?” “The Silverblue Empire, though an elementary civilization, is still a ‘cosmic elementary civilization’ after all! Its level of civilization far surpasses yours. Even if they dispatched a star fleet to your Earth’s space, you probably wouldn’t even detect it!” Babata said disdainfully. “Generally, for a star system as large as the Milky Way Galaxy, under normal development… one star system would produce one Universe Level expert! Of course, with guidance from a powerful teacher, efficiency might be higher! But I estimate that the Silverblue Empire, ruling eight star systems, likely has more than ten Universe Level experts, which is quite good.” “Of course, a cosmic elementary civilization… is like an ant before my master!” Babata spoke eloquently.