Beast Slayer Online: Initialization
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 82: Shadows Beneath Candlelight
Mentos’s bad news was fatal.
Fishing useful memories out of ten thousand years was a fool’s errand, no matter how one looked at it. Yet if the enhancement surgery was to reach completion, there was no other road. And according to Mentos’s estimate, if Lannor wanted to receive those memories, he had to account for personality stability and the limits of his brain. That meant recovery time, and plenty of it. By that reckoning, even if he spent the few centuries of a witcher’s natural life digging through those memories, the result would still be a drop in the sea.
After receiving the good news and then the bad, Lannor first nodded to Arya, steadying the frightened girl. He sat in silence for a moment, thoughts turning in his skull, before speaking to Mentos again.
“Let me ask something first, Mentos.”
“Please do, sir.”
“Does the Commonwealth of Man Education Act state what children must learn, and what they’re forbidden to learn?”
The Biological Intelligence Core paused, as though it had not expected such a question. But the Education Act had been etched into its lowest-level systems, so its answer came smoothly enough. “The Commonwealth of Man Education Act mandates several compulsory subjects, while also listing certain categories of prohibited knowledge. The specific catalogue includes...”
A long stream of entries poured across Lannor’s retina, like a waterfall made of data. No human eye could keep up.
Lannor pinched the bridge of his nose. “Simpler, Mentos. Are combat knowledge and Gene-lore permitted fields of study? If I achieve academic results in either, can those be used for academic assessment, and in turn raise the authority level of the Biological Intelligence Core?”
Lannor’s idea was simple. Recipients of human enhancement surgery were generally warriors, so memories of combat would hardly be scarce. And thanks to the nature of this Gene Seed, Gene-lore had clearly flourished among generations of Space Marines, which happened to be his goal as well. He could draw something useful from that ten-thousand-year sea of memory, use it as learning material, pass academic evaluations, gain higher Intelligence Core permissions, unlock more computational capacity, and continue until Mentos could turn the chaotic memories into a searchable engine.
Then he could learn more efficiently, test higher, upgrade again.
Was that not a virtuous cycle?
“Mm...”
Even with most of its computing power occupied, Mentos’s voice carried a trace of astonishment. This was the sort of loophole it likely could never have found on its own.
“Combat programs fall under Commonwealth of Man military academy classification and are not available unless the Intelligence Core is connected to a military academy. Gene-lore is categorized under the Medical Department and Scientific Development Department. Without registration, it is unavailable.”
That “registration,” in an environment linked to the Commonwealth of Man’s great network, might only require ticking a box and filing notice. But for Lannor ... the Commonwealth of Man’s great network? Give him a local network and he would be happy for life.
But a quick mind had its own ways to move.
“Combat is restricted. That makes sense. What about performative combat, or ritual combat?”
Given the Space Marine in that memory, Lannor refused to believe he had no knowledge of performative combat. That fellow had trained beauty into his bones.
And from what Lannor had only learned today, with the hereditary nature of Gene Seed, the Legion called the Emperor’s Children was very likely filled with masters of martial artistry.
Mentos paused. “Those two fields are more often classified as subcategories of performance or etiquette. They are indeed unrestricted.”
“Then my current Intelligence Core operating mode is alien survival. I am in a dangerous, unfamiliar extraterrestrial environment, relying on exceptional aptitude to self-study Gene-lore to ensure my survival and development. Would such a case be unacceptable under the Commonwealth of Man?”
Mentos fell silent for a moment, apparently searching through the logical clauses of the Education Act.
System Notification:
Alien Survival Mode