In my head I heard a chuckle. Then I finally understood everything.

"Smarty!" I said, throwing my pole onto the ground. "WHAT WAS THAT!?"

"Don't get so angry, handsome!" erotically whispered Smarty.

"Smarty," with great effort I restored control over my emotions. "Tell me, why, did you, scare me, and why in the world did you take on this female voice!?" I scoffed.

"Do you not like it?" Now I clearly heard the emotions in his voice. It seems that Smarty didn't spend the last few hours with the subnote in vain.

I already calmed down and even started to see the humor in the situation.

"Smarty," I began, "I like everything. You have a beautiful voice," I shuddered remembering my first reaction. "But, you see, I have been alone here for several months, I only see women in my dreams and here you start putting pressure on my libido! Besides, I've really turned wild here - did you see my first reaction? In the beginning I even perceived your angelic voice as danger."

Smarty was silent. Meanwhile, I tried to purge the memories of this womanly voice, it's really too exciting for me!

After a while, Smarty replied in a normal male voice:

"Sorry, somehow I didn't consider that." Strangely, the intonations were completely different. Where necessary he raises or lowers his voice, it seems he has really learned something. I asked him about it. "Did you forgive me?" He asked.

"Of course, it's all water under the bridge," I said, waving my hand. "So, what have you done?"

"Well, I analyzed the characters, voices, and behavior of different characters. Since I did not have any psychophysiological models, I tried to emulate them, so that when one is use, my behavioral model will correspond to what I saw on the screen. It seems to be working fine. Then, based on a dozen or so of these models, I created a few universal models for the man, woman, girl and boy characters. I really liked the model of an experienced cowboy from the Wild West - you should see how much dignity, contempt for death, and courage they exhibit!

"Intresting," I thought, listening to how Smarty, talked with active enthusiasm. "It seems that this time he pulled on a passionate model."

"Listen," I interrupted, "what about all these emotions that you're throwing around here?"

"Well, as I explained, I created these models, which include both an emotional component and a behavioral one. In general, when I apply this model, both my behavior and emotions change."

"Okay," I said, getting up. "Let's just change the topic for now. I'm going to do my morning routine now. I'll wash my face and get myself in order. Meanwhile, can you tell me what you thought up overnight, or have you been just watching movies all night?" I asked sarcastically.

"Oh, come on, don't offend me boss." It clearly felt as if he was gravely insulted in his voice. Now look how he plays around with his voice! With such amazing talent, he could work as a professional voice actor...

Based on his earlier studies of the environment and the data collected today, Smarty gave me an approximate description of the current state of the world. It's only approximate because, as it turned out, the info network doesn't work just like the Internet, as I already began to perceive it. It is responsible for the formation and support of all the information structures that affect the development of the entire world, plus the accumulation and transfer of energy. On this layer of the network, only global information flows are reflected, which can then be interpreted.

I immediately clung to Smarty's phrase, "on this layer of the network" - are there really multiple layers? As it turned out, that is true, after all. There is also a purely informational layer. The locals called it the astral, but for some reason Smarty never managed to connect to it. Even though in his world he could do so with ease. Almost all information about what is happening is reflected in this astral. By the way, some of the local mages, on the contrary, can consciously connect to astral, although only the archmages and it is unknown how experienced they are there. Though they can only guess about the existence of main info-network. There are several other layers, but Smarty could not say anything intelligible about them.

Thus, there are people on Lungria who can use different types of magic due to their relative genetic purity. Due to the bad software in their genes, as I poorly joked, there is a strong bias to a certain kind of magic. First come the dwarves with their earth magic. Then the elves, drow and light, with their forest magic, who are constantly at war with each other. There are alse demons, who are not very different from elves or people, but control fire magic and have a cheerful and somewhat loose character. The orcs, who can use air and water magic, live in the steppes and are uncouth and rude. The only non-human race is the dragons. Presumably, they appeared because the people who were controlled by one of the local networks died out and the network clung to the first reptilian creatures that had some rudimentary intelligence and began to change them. Unlike humans, dragons developed very quickly, literally over several generations, but they live tens of thousands of years and very rarely reproduce. They are practically the only ones who have the maximum communication channel with the network (for their level, of course), so they can use pure magic, or, as the locals call it, dragon magic. So, they can manage the information network to some extent. Also, there are a bunch of secondary magical creatures that appeared either as a result of the impact of the dislocated local networks, or as a result of the experiments of the magicians, or maybe the gods did something - Smarty could not find out. There is practically nothing in the network about them, most likely due to their small numbers.

I asked Smarty to go into more details about the local magic and how it differs from pure magic. As it turned out, it's an interesting thing. The development of the info structures responsible for the management of the network and the structures responsible for the development of the communication channel occurred unevenly under local conditions. Needless to say, the former were more developed. That's how the locals' organisms have adapted to draw and accumulate the energy from the environment in their information structures. Accordingly, fire mages - from fire, elves - from plants, dwarves - from the earth, orcs - from air and water and, well, humans - little by little from everywhere.

Here I clarified with Smarty, isn't the info structure of a living organism its aura? As it turns out, no, there are two layers, the first is the aura that is directly connected to the organism and closely interacts with it. They have a mutual connection. The aura reflects everything that happens to the body, and vice versa: by influencing the aura, one can influence the organism. The aura itself is supported by the previously mentioned info structures and obeys them. But not the other way around. In addition, bypassing the aura, info structures still use some of the energy storage capacity in the body to accumulate even more energy. But this mechanism is not used by the locals. They only accumulate energy in their aura.

"Well, that's pretty much everything," said Smarty. "Mages draw energy from the surrounding world, keep it in their aura. Then, using spells (a matrix of unique information frames stored in memory) and the accumulated energy, they can perform magic. The more energy the magician is able to accumulate in their aura and the faster they can replenish it, the stronger they are. The strongest are the archmages, but there are very few of them.

"Where do they get these spells?" - I was really interested. Judging by Smarty's description, their creation is a rather laborious task requiring, among other things, abstract thinking and a creative approach.

"Well, they have magic academies, there magical scientists work and develop new spells."

"All right," I summed up, "everything is clear about this. What about improving my information structure?" I must say, this question interested me the most at the moment.

"To modify your physical body, changes need to be made in your information structure. This can be done without any problems and if I put you in a special mental-physiological solution, you will feel real changes in your body within a couple of days without any side effects. But, as I said before, there's a problem with your connection to the info network. There's only one way out: we need to set up a control structure on you that will carefully train your body to receive a lot of energy and your brain so that it can process the information flow and expand the communication channel. Although here I can actually help you some more. As I have noticed, your brain itself is pretty well developed and already offers good flexibility and stability, therefore I can add some existing programs for controlling the network, which will gradually adapt to your brain and start working as needed. Your abilities will open up gradually, so it can take a few years.

"Okay, I understand." One again, that damn Smarty filled my head with new information. "When will it be possible to start the operation?"

"Any time, but it's better to get some rest first. Well, that's all for now. Go do your business, and let me know when you are ready. Meanwhile I'll get back to reading this book on nuclear physics. You know, your race is very smart. There are so many things my masters could only dream of getting close to, but you have all this already available and even utilize it in day-to-day life. I am impressed! In fact, my masters couldn't even dream of many of these things. Anyway, goodbye for now!" said Smarty and instantly disconnected.

I walked around a bit thinking about what Smarty said, and remembered that I forgot to ask about that dead guy in the control room and about the name of Dront's race. Eventually, I gave up and went to exercise. After talking with Smarty, the list of questions I have just keeps getting longer.

***

After running and waving my pole around a bit, I hunted a little and roasted and ate a trapped "rabbit". With a full stomach I lay on the grass in the shade as I tried to reflect on this new information. However, the night time conversations took their toll and I fell asleep.

The next few days passed while we developed the technical requirements for Smarty, along with clarification of the issues related to the changes in my information structure. In order to complete the planned tasks, Smarty examined me several times, conducting tests on the reaction of my information structure to external influences. It took a lot out of me, but in the end, after a few days, Smarty had everything ready. Then I found out what the "living" water actually was.

As it turned out, it actually is the mental-physiological solution that Smarty was talking about. In other words, it is water saturated with special mineral salts and a bunch of other components. In addition, it contains a special information structure, which gives it unique properties. When interacting with a living organism (mainly humanoid) it activates its info structure, forcing it to actively influence the aura, which, in turn, produces changes in the body. For the changes, many different substances are required, all of which are taken directly from the water. Without these additives, the process would take much longer.

Smarty could not explain to me how my stream turned into such a solution. The only possibility is that the destruction of the ship's hull caused the solution from the laboratories to leak into the local ecosystem, and since after the explosion, the magic-background here is so intense, it allowed the necessary information structures to survive and self-reproduce, instead of simply disintegrating with time, as usually happens with the mental-physiological solution.

In my next dialogue with Smarty, I finally asked him about the mummy lying in the control room. This new fairy tale that Smarty told, plunged me into deep thought.

Memories of events related to the cataclysms survived through the generations in the memories of the locals. Based on them, many legends sprung up among all of the different races. The general ideas were somewhat similar, although each race introduced their own interpretations. Some told that a deity came to their planet who wanted to benefit the people and raise people to the level of the gods, which naturally was not appreciated by other gods and they overthrew this deity. This version was closest to reality. The others (local people who only heard stories of the demons who live here) told of a demon who wanted to enslave the world, and how the gods drove him back to the underworld. As well as many other variations on this topic. The only option that could explain the realistic versions is leakage of information from the info-net. The location where this event took place was not known for sure. In different epochs they were considered different territories of the planet. However all the legends had one thing in common: the one who finds this place will get unprecedented strength and can speak with the gods on equal footing. ("Actually, in principle, that's true," I thought. "Although it's unlikely that they would have managed to communicate properly with Smarty.") And, well, from time to time someone found this place, fell into the control room and somehow thought to put on the key-diadem. ("How stupid I am!" I thought about myself. "Here, all sorts of different people easily figured it out, while I only accidentally came to the same conclusion only after such a long period of time." My self-esteem really took a hit below the belt...) But the key had a surprise of sorts. Fact is that only creatures with a certain type of information structure can wear it. The calibration process causes irreversible damage to those without this special structure. Just like that, once in a while people from outside would come to Smarty and die during the calibration, while Smarty copied all the memories out of their brains, getting new information about the outside world.

"So, you mean to say that you have complete copies of the memories of all the creatures that came to you?" I asked in surprise.

"Yup," proudly answered Smarty. "From all kinds of different races, except perhaps dragons - they do want more power at all. I got to say, I'm really fond of them," said Smarty, pausing. "If you really ask me, then I will share this information with you. There is knowledge of quite a few languages, and whole lot of day-to-day common knowledge."

"Sure, sure," I muttered. As they say, there's no escape from a submarine. "What about the corpses? Where did they go?" I asked. "After all, there should be a mountain of them by now."

"I don't know." Smarty said, pausing for a moment. "Some of them probably were cleaned up by the later visitors. Some may have simply turned to dust over time, or maybe the cleaning mechanisms are still working. I still can't feel anything now," he sighed.

"Okay. One more question. Why is it that in all this time nobody thought to take the key with them? It's unlikely that everyone immediately rushed to put it on their head, and certainly not everybody who came here were loners.

"I have no idea," replied Smarty, making a yawning sound. What a jerk. "In the end it only matters that nobody took it away. Who knows, maybe they got rid of their competitors beforehand."

***

As it turned out, this area belongs to the elves. They discovered the healing properties of the nearby water and the surrounding nature and created a nature preserve here. Its existence was made one of the most protected of their secrets. It is unlikely that anyone would want to share strategic information on how to quickly cure the wounded in the event of a war. I realized that if the owners found me, they definitely would not be happy about my presence. I also realized that I need to get out of here as soon as I can and preferably without getting noticed.

After completing the preparatory work, I deepened the hole in which I bathed, dragged sand into it from one of the artificial meadows created by the elves and spread it on the side so it would be more comfortable to lay in it. Smarty said that, according to his calculations, the process of changing my information structure and activation of the installed programs will take only a few hours. However he could not calculate how long it will take to complete the minimum necessary preparations so that the changes in the organism don't lead to fatal consequences. All this time I need to be in the water. Unfortunately, I will not immediately wake up as superman. I'm just given the opportunity to become him. When I was finally ready for the "operation", this bastard suddenly announced that he could not manage the process from the control room! Something about it being too far away for direct interaction and control. My gut told me that Smarty wasn't telling me the whole truth, but I decided to ignore it for now. I was already too excited about all these new changes to my body. In such cases, I try to just quickly get everything over with since as they say, the earlier you start, the quicker it'll be over. Without any complaints, I went to the control room and followed Smarty's directions. After completing all the required actions, a groove appeared in the dashboard where I finally saw Smarty himself. He looked very unimpressive - a transparent round pebble about the size of a fingernail. I was more impressed with the fact that such a huge computing power and intelligence could fit in such a tiny item. As Smarty suggested, I touched the diadem to him and he partially submerged into it. Shrugging my shoulders, I returned to the top, took a final bite of the remaining meat, undressed and got into the bath.

"Well, shall we begin?" asked Smarty. "Are you ready, O unworthy one, to comprehend the truth?" he asked in a solemn voice.

"Less talking more doing," I really was not in the mood to listen to Smarty's jokes. I was afraid, after all. "Come on, focus on the work and don't get distracted. I really wouldn't be happy to wake as freak all because somebody missed something important.

"I never miss anything," said Smarty, offended.

"All right, all right, I'm sorry. I just feel a bit uneasy," I confessed.

"Don't worry, boss," Smarty's voice softened, "I understand. I promise that I will not make any mistakes. As you put it: I too wouldn't want to lose such a master like you. It's interesting with you around," admitted Smarty.

Whoa! His character really developed well, after all!

We agreed with Smarty that before the operation he would put me to sleep - I did not want to experience all of the unpleasant sensations and besides, all this will take a long time.

"Do not forget to set up a security net," I reminded Smarty. A few days ago I showed him how to use those magical "eyes" that he was able to create as a security system. Unfortunately, they could only "see" in the light, unlike my body-comp. Unfortunately Smarty still couldn't interact with it like he could with the subnote. Its interface only works directly with the brain.

After a few moments, I felt the world start spinning around me, and I was sucked into the black whirlpool of unconsciousness.

***

"Nick, wake up! Come on, wake up already!" came someone's troubled voice through my dream. "Wake up, dammit!" I clearly heard panic in the voice.

"Leave me alone, Mom! Let me sleep a little more!" I muttered through a dream.

"Mom?" said the voice, puzzled. "Nick! You're awake!" he suddenly shouted joyfully.

I frowned and opened one eye. Strange, the sky... clouds are floating by... A couple of moments later I realized the absurdity of the situation - there can be no clouds across a ceiling! Opening both eyes, I tried to look around, but for some reason my head could not turn and I hardly felt my body.

"Hey! Who's there?" I croaked.

"Nick! How wonderful it is that you woke up!" someone's joyful voice deafened me. "I already started thinking the worst may have happened! I've been trying to wake you up for a day now and you stay as still as a corpse. I kept calling you but you did not answer!" In addition to relief, whiny girlish notes began to appear in the voice.

"Who are you?" I again, unsuccessfully, tried to move.

"Nick, it's me, Smarty!" said the voice, frightened. "Do not you remember me at all?"

"Smarty?" I repeated. Then I finally remembered everything and gasped in surprise.

"Nick?"

"It's all right, Smarty. I finally got back to reality."

"Thank God!" There was so much relief in Smarty's voice that I even envied him.

"Which of the fifteen gods known to me are you thanking?" I couldn't resist the joke.

"All of them, Nick. All of them." Smarty said, calming down.

"Was everything really so bad?"

"I already started to think so, Nick. Pretty much everything went fine," hurried to report Smarty. "I had only to intervene a few times to make some minor adjustments. The process of physical change went pretty much just as planned. However, when the initial connection to the info network was initiated, problems began to arise. To begin, I opened a very narrow channel for you, but you immediately began to pump a huge amount of energy into yourself and I couldn't see where it was going. I was frightened. Then I realized that your magical reserves are simply bottomless. I don't really know if that's good or bad. In comparison to you, Dront's magical capacity was very limited. However, you will be able to accumulate a lot of energy simply by connecting to the information network for a short while, rather than constantly keeping a connection to it. In other words, we'll have to deal with this as we go."

We were silent for some time as I tried to digest the information, while Smarty just kept me company.

"Why can't I move?" I finally asked.

"Oh, don't worry about that," said Smarty. "It's just that you haven't moved at all for five days straight. In addition to that, there have been some changes in your nervous system and throughout your body. Your brain needs to get used to them. You should just try to move little by little. I don't think the adaptation will take much time."

Approximately after an hour of continuous attempts, when despair was already right around the corner, the fingers on my right hand moved. Then things went easier. After another couple of hours I, groaning like a hundred-year old man, got out of my natural bath. My body clearly lacks the required building material - I was extremely hungry. Even the "living" water couldn't save me. I did not foresee such a result and left nothing for me to eat. I had to stagger to the field of berries, the breeze pleasantly touching my naked body - I decided to hold off on putting on my clothes. For a long time I crawled around in the bushes, eating a bush of something similar to raspberries, only without the thorns on its branches.

A couple of days passed before I finally got back to normal. My training sessions with the pole ended up really helping me. I did not feel any special changes in my body. It's a shame, really. But Smarty reassured me: the physics of my body are already such that constant training will allow to easily increase its capabilities.

Life steadily went on in a daily routine. I trained, hunted, and worked on listening in to my body, to understand what had changed in it. Then, one day Smarty told me the disturbing news.