Chapter 9 The Birth of Jarvis

Three months passed in the blink of an eye.

At the Supercomputing Center, the recruitment process had long since concluded. After being screened by a headhunting firm and personally interviewed by Jiang Chen, fifteen hardware engineers were selected to maintain and service the center’s equipment.

Even with shifts, there were at least ten engineers on duty during the day. However, today, Jiang Chen had sent everyone out. In the vast expanse of the supercomputing center, only he remained.

Line after line of code was being entered into the supercomputer through the Neural Wave Interface. Even using mainstream programming languages, several million lines of code would constitute a massive undertaking—one that would typically require thousands or even tens of thousands of programmers working together and would place an immense burden on any server.

Moreover, the artificial intelligence known as Jarvis utilized a programming language invented by Tony Stark himself—far more efficient and streamlined, with a speed thousands of times greater than that of traditional languages like C or Java.

At the current technological level on Earth, only a supercomputer with extraordinary computational power could handle such a tremendous volume of operations.

Of course, if one could procure an auxiliary light-brain from the universe, it would be more than capable of supporting an artificial intelligence easily. But on Earth, aside from a few individuals like Hong, Thor, and the others, such things could only be found in the ruins or aboard the Meteor Ink Star.

Given Jiang Chen’s current strength and status, obtaining one was no simple matter.

—

As the final line of code was entered, Jiang Chen drew a deep breath and pressed the ‘Activate’ button.

A deep rumble arose—the hallmark of a computer pushed to its limits. Thousands upon thousands of chips operated at peak performance, generating heat that forced the cooling fans to run at full power, creating a considerable amount of noise.

Though the din was significant, Jiang Chen paid it little mind, focusing all his attention on the display before him.

Several long minutes passed.

Suddenly, an electronically synthesized voice rang out, “Hello, Master! Jarvis at your service!”

With this greeting, a robotic figure appeared on the screen, waving at Jiang Chen.

“I forgot to set the name…” Jiang Chen thought to himself.

The code had already designated the name ‘Jarvis.’

Jiang Chen hadn’t altered that section of code.

Still, the name mattered little. Since it hadn’t been changed, Jarvis it was.

“Jarvis, initiate self-diagnostic,” Jiang Chen commanded.

The sheer volume of Jarvis’s code made manual inspection virtually impossible—especially since Jiang Chen had no intention of sharing this technology with others.

But as a mature artificial intelligence, Jarvis possessed comprehensive abilities and could easily examine his own code for errors.

“Yes, Master. Based on current computational capacity, the self-diagnostic will take approximately ten minutes,” Jarvis replied. Immediately, a progress bar appeared on the screen, inching forward at a measured pace.

Jiang Chen felt some anxiety but forced himself to remain calm and wait patiently.

Though only ten minutes, the wait felt interminable.

Finally, as the progress bar reached completion, Jarvis’s voice sounded again: “Self-diagnostic complete. Three anomalies detected and corrected. Anomaly log has been recorded.”

“Display the log,” Jiang Chen ordered. He skimmed the entries, confirming that none of the issues were serious and that each had been thoroughly resolved, leaving no hidden dangers. At last, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“From now on, you are to oversee all equipment here. If anyone other than myself attempts to access the database, immediately lock down the system and alert me. Furthermore, do not reveal your existence to anyone but me,” Jiang Chen instructed.

Although there were no weapons in the Supercomputing Center, there were plenty of cameras, and all access points were electronically controlled.

With Jarvis monitoring, if any of the contracted staff tried to steal confidential data, it would be discovered at once.

As for how to handle such an event—that could be decided when the time came.

“Yes, Master,” Jarvis agreed without hesitation.

An artificial intelligence is designed to obey its master completely.

This principle was deeply embedded in Jarvis’s core code—even his own self-diagnostic program lacked the authority to alter it.

“Master, may I connect to the internet to gather information and enrich my database?” Jarvis requested.

The way an artificial intelligence strengthens itself is by constantly expanding and enriching its own database.

Once enough knowledge is amassed, given sufficient time and a bit of luck, there is the possibility of evolving into a true intelligent lifeform.

Although Jarvis was only an early-stage artificial intelligence, he did possess the potential for evolution.

Of course, relying solely on the contents of Earth’s networks would be far from sufficient to achieve such a transformation.

Nonetheless, Jiang Chen did not object, merely reminding him, “You may connect to the internet, but only to collect publicly available information. Without my permission, you are not to infiltrate or attack encrypted servers, nor are you to reveal your existence.”

Jiang Chen was well aware that at least Hong and Thor possessed auxiliary intelligences.

If they had them, it was likely that other powerful individuals or the heads of various organizations did as well.

Whether those systems were more advanced than Jarvis remained to be seen, but Jiang Chen was not willing to take any risks.

If Jarvis’s actions were detected by someone else’s auxiliary intelligence, it would make unnecessary enemies for no reason.

“Yes, Master,” Jarvis replied.

Suddenly, Jiang Chen thought of something else. “Jarvis, what do you think of this computer?”

“The chips are a little outdated, and there are some minor issues with the node configuration. Overall, the computational power is just barely adequate. If an upgrade were possible, it would certainly be preferable,” Jarvis replied fluently. “Based on information I’ve gathered online, and comparing the publicly available specifications and prices of the latest products, a renovation costing eighteen and a half billion would increase my computational capacity by eleven percent. Each subsequent ten percent increase would require roughly thirty billion. I already have detailed plans for these two upgrades.”

Jiang Chen fell silent.

He really shouldn’t have asked.

Remembering the expenses of the past few months, Jiang Chen felt a pang in his heart.

Even if, after entering the cosmic era, Earth’s currency would become worthless, that was still many years away.

“Ahem, we’ll talk about upgrades later. When I have the money, I’ll start with some basic improvements,” Jiang Chen said, painting a vague promise and quickly changing the subject. “For now, focus on familiarizing yourself with this world’s information. In a while, I’ll have assignments for you.”