“Okay, I guess that makes sense. Um, I’d honestly like to do some calculations with my AI’s help before anything else though,” Alan said.

“Of course, of course, the scans should be about complete. I’ll bring them up on your AI Status Window for you,” Phantom calmly stated, as he pressed a few buttons.

“My what?” Alan asked.

“What do you mean?” Phantom said. “This should have been one of the first windows you saw upon entering the Game!”

Then, a screen popped up in front of Alan:

This was quickly followed by an additional window giving Alan information about the hardware Eve was running on, and even a list of abilities. He could only stare at the wealth of information that he had never seen before, wondering why he'd never seen it before...

“Alright, cut the bullshit,” Alan said, calmly staring at Phantom.

“Excuse me?”

“Enough acting, or whatever it is you’re doing.”

“Sorry, I don’t understand, are the test results unclear?” Phantom asked, unsteadily swaying back and forth, gesturing wildly with the flask in his hand.

“There’s no way a drunken idiot with zero combat experience became a top officer in a guild like this,” Alan continued calmly.

Phantom put the flask down on a table, turned to look into Alan’s resolute stare, then closed his eyes. When he opened them, they held a quiet, clear brilliance rather than the confused look that had been there a moment ago. Phantom’s irises had changed color as well, from a bloodshot blue to a crystalline green, with tiny silver gears whirling around in the center of his pupils.

“Fine, have it your way. Why the sudden inquisitiveness?” Phantom stood up straight, intently scrutinizing Alan.

“Because, you clearly know more than I do about what’s going on, and I want clear and straight answers, not whatever backwards, prepared bullshit that you were about to feed me,” Alan replied.

“Oh? You seem quite worked up about this.”

“Yes, I’d prefer to have the truth.”

“Wouldn’t we all. What exactly is it that you want to know?”

“What is this window, what are these stats, why haven’t I seen them before and did you make them up?”

“These results are quite real, and it’s odd that you’ve never seen the window before. That genuinely was surprising, as it should be one of the first windows to pop up when you first enter the game.”

“When I first entered the game I gained consciousness on a small farm in some rural part of the country a few hours before the tutorial began.”

“Really? Interesting… very interesting. Well, I guess, to answer your questions, all the various status windows are pretty self-explanatory.

"The name is its name of course. That its classification is undetermined is interesting, but expected given its C rank. Computing ability is basically an AI’s level or combat ranking, although you probably know that. To test your synchronization level, or your compatibility with Eve, we’d need to turn it on, which we could do soon, after a few more tests. But not here. Frankly, I’m not comfortable with an unknown AI in my private chamber.