The Urban Dao Child

Yang Dao ate a hearty meal and returned to his room. After taking a hot shower, he dried his hair with a towel and was standing in front of a mirror. During the meal, he was filled in by Feng Yun regarding his company's process. He found out that Frieda was developing a new humanoid robot. The purpose of this new product was caregiving.

The idea was basic, a robot inside the house, capable of looking after the kids and elderly in the house and alert the emergency services if need be. However, the implementations were easier said than done. The coding needed to make this sort of robot work was much complicated.

Yang Dao looked forward to completing the task. The main reason was that the boy had RALF to assist him in this task. RALF was the AI he designed before leaving for the sacred realm and left it on self-learning mode. Kylie Dew, the professor of computer operations in the university was asked by him to look after it in his absence.

After he wiped off the water and dressed in a fresh set of nightwear, he came out of the cloakroom. His gaze fell on his phone on the bed, given the late hour, he hesitated but still called Kylie Dew.

The call rang for a few seconds before it was connected. A lazy voice came from the speaker, "Hello."

Yang Dao scratched the back of his head. The voice belonged to Kylie Der and just as he guessed the lady was asleep. Now that he had already called, he decided to bite the bullet and initiate a conversation.

"Hello, Professor Dew? I apologize for disturbing your sleep, but it was sort of urgent," he said.

On the other side, Kylie Dew was shocked to hear the same melodic voice she was craving for. She sat up straight as if possessed. She asked, "Dao, is it you? What happened, everything alright?"

She thought something wrong must have happened since this cultured shy boy decided to call her at this hour. Yang Dao replied, "Yes, yes, everything is fine. I just wanted to talk to you about the AI progress."

Well, Kylie Dew was a fangirl and when she heard the magical words, 'I just wanted to talk to you' her brain almost short-circuited, thankfully the other half came along to wake her up. She replied, "Yes, RALF is growing every day. By now, it has already soaked up in half the world's knowledge and still the absorption is not slow. We encountered a storage problem every fifteen days at first, and since I had no other means, I called your Sister. She helped us with setting up the storage disks. The whole floor below your house is now a server room for RALF.

She had used the biggest and the best storage disks for it and the cooling system is also very impressive. However, I think this storage will be filled within another month. So, you will have to solve this on your own."

She was very excited about talking to Yang Dao, and the excitement amplified because they were talking about computers and technology. The boy pondered over what she said and replied quickly, "I will see what I can do. Ummm, I don't know if it is convenient for you to bring my notebook to The Dao Technologies' office in the morning?"

Kylie Dew replied, "What is so difficult in this? I mostly stay in the house here for convenience if I get late. The algorithms of the system are very fascinating and I get to learn a lot. Only the permissions set do not allow me to set any tasks. I am just a monitoring unit."

Yang Dao was embarrassed and did not know how to reply to the second half of Kylie. He did not give her any rights because he did not trust her too much with the AI program. In Yang Dao's view, an AI was an extension of his own intellect an alternate persona of himself. While the persona is in the initial stages it can be influenced very easily. Thus, he did not allow Kylie to tweak the system.

The lady on the other end understood the implementations of her complaint and said, "Dao, do not worry, I am just ranting. Actually, I have also designed an assistant software following the code of your assistant program and it is exclusive to me only. It is useful in basic operations but I cannot afford the storage needed for an AI, like you. But do not worry, I was just ranting. Hopefully, I can get to see your AI at work tomorrow."

Yang Dao replied, "You might get a chance, Professor. So, see you in the morning?"

Kylie replied, "See you in the morning, Dao. Good night."

The boy sighed and put his phone on the side table. Then he laid on the bed as sleep slowly crept over him. He has been cultivating and travelling constantly inside the sacred realm so he had no time to rest. He slept with peace.

Sushi the sylph was sleeping in his hair and the whole room was filled with freshness.

...

Early morning, Yang Dao woke up because of his biological clock. He rubbed his eyes and stretched his body as he sat in the bed. After a few moments, he got out of the bed and mumbled, "Dropped my guard again." and sighed.

He had developed a habit of being vigilant all the time but last night he dropped his guard as he experienced the comfort of his home. He freshened up and came outside of his room after a bath and dressed in a casual shirt and jeans. A watch rested on his hand, matching his casual look. His hair was slightly longer but it looked good on him.

Feng Yun was reading the newspaper as she sat on the couch. Laohu Bai was back laying on the couch like a lazy cat she was. Yang Dao looked around and asked, "Where is Mr. Ryu?"

Atsuji Kurogame had left the mansion last night itself. Ryu Jinshi was staying in but he was missing in the morning. Feng Yun replied with a smile as the boy sat down opposite to her, "Second Brother had to go and complete a task he had been delaying for a few days due to the problem with his temperament."

Yang Dao nodded and said, "Baibai, how come you are becoming lazy again?"

The girl replied, "I am home, Dao." her voice was calm and she had no intention to get up from the couch. She was stating that I am lazy because I am home.

Yang Dao shook his head and said, "Give me that bundle of papers, I gave you back in the sacred realm."

Laohu Bai waved her hand and a stack of papers appeared on the table. The stack was two inches thick. The sheets were all as big as an A4 size sheet. Yang Dao nodded and picked up the stack. He said, "Sister Yun, I am leaving for office and will eat there. Then I will go back to Sapphire Residency at night. The college is resuming after the vacations tomorrow."

Feng Yun nodded and stood up behind him, she escorted him to the garage and said, "You sure, you won't be staying here for a few more days?" as they walked.

The boy shook his head and said, "I have a lot of things to do." and came to stand next to his car, The Quinn.

His gaze caressed the vehicle and he took out the key. However before he got inside the car, his gaze fell on a motorbike and he asked, "It is Mr. Ryu's?"

Feng Yun nodded and looking at him she said, "You can take it if you want to."

Yang Dao shook his head and said, "No, I will ask Mr. Ryu, the next time. Bye-bye." and gave her a tight hug before he got inside the car and zoomed out of the garage.

Feng Yun shook her head with a smile and came back to the living room. Laohu Bai was drinking coffee and said, " Did you notice?"

Her voice was calm. Feng Yun nodded and said, "Yup, he is fine and stronger than before. His actions though, carry Dao resonance. Why?"

Laohu Bai shook her head and said, "I do not know, but he sure is stronger. Let us see. However, he needs to start training with the earth element."

Feng Yun nodded and said, "I will tell him at lunch."

The two ladies nodded to death and had breakfast. Afterward, Laohu Bai went back to the Military Zone, while Feng Yun went to her office.

...

Yang Dao reached the office earlier than anyone and he was busy decorating the wall behind the reception counter with his stack of paper while he was humming a tune with joy. He wanted to share the magnificence of White Tiger art with everyone.