The Over-Break System

[[How fucking long has this been happening? Why haven’t I noticed it until now? What the fuck? How many such key phrases have I missed!]] With total lack of regard, and unnecessary anger, Cynrik lashed out, more so at himself for not noticing he was getting translation errors sooner.

”The practical use of the $&#@^@ Element outweighs its shortcomings in manifestation. There are actually two schools of knowledge for this Element, agriculture and the medical field.”

”From the ability to aid in growing rare plants or farming resources to its diverse usage in healing at a higher level and pharmaceuticals, $&#@^@ Affinity users, while the minority, are so heavily sought after that they are by far the highest-paid Affinity users in the civilian sector.” Professor Morningdale continued her demonstration, but it fell on deaf ears for Selene and Brance, who were trying to calm down the neurotically cursing Cynrik.

[[NOW I CAN’T FUCKING UNDERSTAND THE WORD AT ALL ANYMORE! OI TOBS, YOU GONNA CHIME IN ANYTIME THIS CENTURY?]] At his wit’s end, Cynrik finally toned down his swear-filled fest and gave the AI some time to reply.

-Host Cynrik, we really need to work on your temper. Perhaps this anger management class the Headmaster has set up will do you some good after all.-

[[Fuck off and tell me what is happening. Why is our Skill suddenly bugging out?]] Feeling the urge to backhand Tobs in her avatar form, Cynrik hurried her to speak.

-Sigh, alright, well, let me start by saying it isn’t as bad as you are making it out to be. Although the [Language Proficiency] skill is powerful, it isn’t perfect. From time to time, there will be words that are mistranslated. This has to do with the infinite differences in terminology and sentence structure involving the many diverse languages on Vinestra. As you may have noticed, the default setting, your translated language of choice, was set to English; thus, sometimes, things don’t cross over correctly.-

-At its core, the Skill acts as an omnipotent glossary and dictionary for all languages. When it makes the appropriate changes, like a computer program, it will run the new word and its definition against any and all possible options in the English language.-

-However, from time to time, certain words will appear indecipherable. Since no artificial intelligence dictates its choices, the Skill will attempt to find the closest possible matching word. This is what happened with the fifth basic Element.

 Listening to Tobs, Cynrik massaged his temples and mulled over what to do with this information.

[[How many times has this happened in recent years?]] Eventually, Cynrik was able to calm himself enough to reply.

-Adding in the Fifth Element four times, one of which is with the Earth Element, which is actually named Terra, as you learned just a short while ago. The other two weren’t significant, so I felt there was no reason to bring them up. The first time was when you were introduced to the Watcet; since this word didn’t have an appropriate matching English one, it was introduced in the native tongue.-

-The last time occurred when you were fighting against the Reptilian Kobolds; their word for God doesn’t equate to such and instead is closer to All Mighty and Powerful Creator.-

[[ Is there a way to override the Skill so that I can determine how something is translated, like by changing the coding or something? For example, we clearly can’t continue calling the fifth element Wood; down the line, I am sure we will run into some kind of issues.]] After hearing the Skill had only bugged out a handful of times, Cynrik felt more at ease, but it still didn’t solve the issue at hand.

-I can make those changes for you. I assume you would also like me to alert you whenever this issue transpires again?-

[[Un, for now, let me hear the unfiltered version for the fifth Element.]]

-Temporarily Deactivating passive Legacy Tier Skill [Language Proficiency].

-Now commencing playback for the Brittoas word for the fifth Element.-

Cynrik and Brance ignored Tobs saying the official name of the Common Tongue, and closed their eyes in unison. Seconds later, they heard a prerecorded playback of Selene speaking at Cynrik’s request.

”Neuetroaś.”

[[Again.]] Not content with hearing the word once, Cynrik had Tobs play it back a few more times before opening his eyes and giving Selene a focused glance.

Seeing him so seriously looking at her, Selene turned bright red and looked down at her clasped hands resting in her lap, not wanting to meet his eyes.

[[Neuetroaś, Tobs give me a breakdown of the word’s actual meaning, I want to know the stress points and compound syllables. Could you provide it to me in a spelling bee format?]]

-Neuetroaś, Neuet (New-Et) is derived from the Brittoas word for nature, used in a sentence, ”Brancie, we should go on a hike; we can experience the beauty of Neuet outside of these big cities.” Neuet is used as the main Noun and descriptor of the Element’s primary focus.-

-Roaś (Row-Ahsis) is an abbreviated fragment derived from the Brittoas word for Green, Roasent. It is used to accentuate the fact that the Element controls plant life and as an adjective representing the color of the particle itself.

Brance’s eye twitched slightly after hearing how Cynrik wanted a full breakdown of the word and its meaning. Unlike his brother, Brance was okay with learning the proper form of the word, but he sat back and allowed Cynrik to have his way.

Feeling the conversation no longer had anything to do with him, Brance focused on Professor Morningdale, who explained how to make plants bloom before delving into the evolved form of the Fifth Element.

”Now, I will go into the secondary school of thought for this Element, the medical field. Some of you may not know, but once you have leveled up this Affinity to a certain extent that is different for everyone, it will naturally evolve into one of the most important of all the Elements, Life.” Then, Morningdale dropped a bombshell on the class, causing everyone, excluding Cynrik, to gasp in shock.

”The Life Affinity can accomplish many of the same healing tasks as the Light Affinity with a different approach. Unlike the Light Element, which, in essence, restores when healing, the Life Element uses your body’s natural healing response by speeding up the recovery rate of the beings cells and multiplying cellular reproduction several times.”

Brance’s ears perked up at the mention of Light Affinity. But unfortunately, he was quickly left uninterested as the Professor glossed over its uses, equating it to being a primarily healing Element, which was the opposite of what Brance knew. In fact, he had been using it as more of a utility tool than healing.

”Unfortunately, I have yet to find my path in the healing school of thought and can only control plant life, so I won’t be able to give you a demonstration. However, if you are ever injured while enrolled in this Academy, you are more than welcome to head over to our fully stocked infirmary, where we have dozens of trained healers of both the Light and Life Affinity.” Holding up her hands in defeat as she spoke, Professor Morningdale waved her wand a few more times and returned the potted plant to its base form before stowing it in her inventory.

”I have completed the lesson plan for today. However, since we still have about 30 minutes left, I will accept any questions you may have regarding the five basic Elemental Affinities or something you observed today.”

Instantly several hands flew up as students had dozens of questions rattling in their heads. Then, one by one, the Professor would call on them and give them their answers until each student was satisfied, until a particular member of MyrkLys raised their hand.

”Um, Professor Morningdale, I am interested in acquiring the Chloro Affinity. Do you have any particular tips on how to utilize it in battle? You went over its specific uses in agriculture and the medical field, but you didn’t really go into how to use it for fighting.” Sitting beside Brance, Gabby spoke up nervously, but the appearance of a new name drowned out her words.

The new terminology made Brance shoot a curious glance over to Cynrik. But seeing the smug smile on his older brother’s face made him want to break his nose.

[Chloro? Is it safe to assume you came up with that or was it Tobs recommendation?] Brance asked while looking back at Gabby, who was getting a brief introduction on how to use the newly named Chloro Element in fights.

[Chloro is an abbreviated form of the word Chlorophyll, which is the name of the green pigment that plants use to make food. It took me a bit, but that was the best I could come up with. It checks the same descriptive boxes as its original name and breaks the word down into two syllables instead of four.] Cynrik shrugged his shoulders and placed his hands behind his head while reclining in contentment.

[Like, I get that you always had a thing for science growing up, especially Biology, but isn’t your naming sense a little…I don’t know…strange?] Brance rolled his eyes at his brother’s gesture and asked.

[I mean, not really. Sure I went with a scientific name, but I needed a good word to get the point across at the end of the day. I am just confused about why our Skill didn’t do the same thing as I did. It’s not like the word didn’t exist; it only took a process of elimination. If the fragmented meanings of the initial word are Nature and Green, then it isn’t a stretch to name it after a green pigment found in plants.]

-Chlorophyll was the 3rd choice on the list of translations. So it was considered, however, the Skill, as you said, ”bugged out” and chose Wood as the name.-

[Tobs, why is it you make me sound like a Beta tester working on a broken chunk of source code. If [Language Proficiency] is as omnipotent as you say, it would have chosen my option as first instead of third. So naming it as Wood was inconsistent with the particle’s abilities and just plain wrong.]

-Stop your criticism; there is no point in blaming me for issues with a skill created by the Central System Hub; take it up with them if you are unhappy.-

[Yeah, no thanks, I’d rather not converse with beings that can erase gods with the snap of a finger; for now, let’s just stick with you alerting me whenever you find an inconsistency in the translation, and I will take over from there, oh, also change Earth to Terra for me.]

-The change has been made already, and I have made a note to double-check the translations as they occur.-

[Kay, thanks, I appreciate it.]

DONG DO DONG DO…DONG DO DONG DO

Just as Cynrik was thanking Tobs, a multitoned bell echoed throughout the campus, signaling the end of the day’s first period. In response, Professor Morningdale quickly wrapped up explaining how the Chloro Affinity can be used in battle to Gabby and told everyone she would see them again on Wednesday before dismissing the class by stating there were 30 minutes until the bell for 2nd period rang.