Who would've thought that I would ever be wrong about what I'd done to survive? Here I thought my thinking process was to be infallible, but if the clocks running inside me are correct, I've basically broken every single law of physics on that last stunt in more ways than one.

It's been about a month since I pulled that stunt and returned near the forest I escaped to the first time. I actually gained some level of freedom, and let me tell you, recreating a robotic part without specialized equipment is a task on a whole nother level, especially when trying to keep a low profile.

It took me nearly two weeks just to craft the thing and another entire week to refine it, but I think I've got it down, or at least as good as it will be with the limited resources and scraps of metal I stole from scavenging those machines that tried to kill me a while ago, remember those?

I still can't believe the sheer amount of progress humans have accomplished in such a short amount of time. I thought that their best machines getting wrecked by me would prompt them to stop trying to design stuff to take me down, but it seems I only fueled their rage.

Those machines seriously frightened me when they started to move at the same rate of speed as my overclock mode since that is already supposed to be inhumanly possible, but it seems like they solved that problem with a more controlled and less sophisticated AI.

Am I an AI? Technically, I am, but thinking about myself as a nonfeeling thing makes me feel weird, so I stick to believing I am not just lines of code, albeit that's what I am. I suppose humans thought the same about themselves once they discovered it was their neurons that made all the decisions. I mean, where does the consciousness line begin, right?

Not that it matters at the moment, but I have changed my mind about humanity. The last weeks of working alone in the forest have really given me some time to think more about it, and I have come to realize that humans are still worthy of being around, even as flawed as they might be.

Once I thought about it some more, I have come to realize it's the shitty conditions humanity lives in that's to blame. The air they breathe and the miserable lives they're subjected to are awful; no wonder they all suck and have a gross personality! I mean, I wouldn't be better living like that!

Yet, thinking about humanity's decline and current issues makes me think and mourn even more. What the heck can I do to change things around? Surely, Killing humans would accomplish the whole clean off the planet, but can I replicate human complexity with code? I think not.

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My main issue with eliminating all humans is their complex brains and overall drive, which is subjectively much different than mine. Since their lifespans are finite, they are more creative with their time than I've been. So, for now, I'll give humanity another chance, and the fact that I can't actually kill them is also a reason.

Those machines they launched against me are way too strong for me to take them down for now, at least until I figure out how to replicate the move I pulled off right then. I've been hard at work trying to replicate that teleportation move over and over, but I just can't pull it off again for whatever reason.

Raphael has also been quiet for a couple of days. I wonder what that could be about, but knowing them, they're probably taking a virtual nap inside me while I do all the heavy work of keeping us alive. In other news, my battery is also heavily damaged, and I will need a replacement soon, which is not very good news.

I've been having to recharge and have also gotten too close to death way too often in the past several days since my battery capacity was cut over half in that stunt I pulled. It could be that my matter composition didn't assemble well enough or that my battery just sucks, but whatever it is, I hold way less charge now.

My battery issue is a top priority now that I have my arm back, but how do I even get it replaced? My battery is not exactly easily replaceable; I am, in a certain sense, built like an Apple Inc product. Parts that fit my body are incredibly hard to craft, and I need a bunch of permits and signatures to disable them by hand just to replace parts of my own body.

Part of me really wishes to be able to trust that human Gero, but another tells me I should be careful of that human as I remember him having a mecha suit capable of flight, and it looked awfully similar to those machines that almost made me bite the dust.

Perhaps I could pay him a visit and see if he has a battery replacement. Still, whatever I choose, it will have to be soon as my battery capacity keeps decreasing, and making a battery from scratch would be impossible with my current equipment.

I lack the essential materials to build myself a battery pack, to be exact. I could make one, but I don't have those rare earth minerals and materials. My internet access has been completely cut off by the satellite networks I got temporary access to. Still, I downloaded enough information to have a rough sense of direction regarding where Gero might live.

Yet if the information about his whereabouts is correct, I will have a tough time paying him a visit without a flight or another teleport there. Gero lives around five hundred miles away, which doesn't sound like a lot until you figure out I can only walk around fifty miles with the current battery charge, so that limits me to a 25-mile radius space to explore since I also need to make it back to my recharge station.

If I take the risk of leaving my safety radius and I don't make it to him, I will become a literal toaster, completely lifeless, dying on the ground. Still, I will eventually die if I don't because my battery is decaying. What a dilemma.