# Ch.5: Inhuman by design
Zack and Guy were currently regenerating their forms for the umpteenth time.
As it turns out, getting shot was painful,
but not as much as one would imagine;
it felt more like getting hit with foam darts.
It seemed like Jack had finally calmed down.
Or ran out of ammo. He got bored of shooting his friends either ways.
G: Ow dude! Can't you take a joke? You're lucky that the lore books said-
J: Pffft. Of course I already knew that.
We aren't stupid enough to kill each other after all...
J: Right?
*Uncomfortable silence ensues*
Z: Um, I think that we should get to planning our next move.
J: Right! So we know that we can use mind control on an unwitting subject,
but we are yet to find one.
G: I don't like the idea of using some poor guy as a meat puppet.
J: Alright, fine.
What if we make to handle them carefully until we find a very evil fool?
G: Well, I guess it's OK if they don't get hurt.
Z: This all sounds well,
but we should figure out how to find and possess a subject first.
J: Pffft. I'll let you know I'm a master magician.
G: What?
Z: If that is true,
couldn't you have summoned a meteorite into all
of the world's servers and saved us the trouble?
G: Wait, can you pull rabbits out of hats? Can you pull yourself out of a hat?
J: No! That's not what true magic is about!
Z&G: What is it then?
J: Magic is all about mind games.
Making people believe in fake things and all that.
J: When you lie, a spell is cast. And the greatest lie cast upon mankind,
eating at its soul since the dawn of time is...
G: Ok ok, I get it. Yer a wizard, Harry.
I have heard the last part a million times already.
Z: I like it, it is like a group motto.
G: Put that on a flag and they'll burn the entire city.
G: Anyways, why didn't you tell us this great fact of yours before?
J: Well, I don't need to lie to you,
and back then I didn't have the paraphernalia,
but in this world it should equal amazing powers.
Z: How are you so sure of that? Oh wait.
Zack remembered reading a passage similar
to Jack's monologue on the list of specifications.
G: So the magic issue is solved then...
I think that we should get a better look at our surroundings.
J: Oh, do that yourself, would you?
Jack took a few steps backwards, summoned an RPG, and blew him to bits.
There were more subtle methods of kicking a person from the mind realm,
but he was that kind of guy.
Z: Uh, is he fine?
J: Yes, he should be scanning the place if he knows what's good for him.
J: By the way, I will need you to start extracting
resources and making gear for our future puppet. Maybe puppets?
Z: Hmm, first I should figure out how to use this slime,
and then acquire some plans...
Z: I think that I can get some results within an eight hour-
Jack fired another thermobaric missile at Zack.
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J: That's great to hear! Anyways...
J: *Thinking* Getting our thoughts mixed up in the is really annoying.
J: *Big hmm* I think the documents said something about mental spells.
J: *Still thinking* I guess that will be my first spell then.
Jack summoned a couch and got to thinking.
In this case, the only thing required was a statement,
but poorly defined efforts would have poorly defined results.
A while later...
Zack was currently trying to figure out how to make gear.
He had set roots deep below the earth,
and used bile to dissolve the minerals.
Slime digestive juices were a scary thing indeed.
By looking at the files he had gotten from Anti-Terra,
plus some creativity, he had already created decent equipment.
He had amassed a large amount of simple gear from assorted times:
Halberds, swords, plate armor, compasses and the like.
He had even made some wackier stuff: A blimp, a buggy, an entire castle,
a diesel boat and and a helicopter carrier.
Jack didn't really specify what he meant by gear,
and considering how paranoid he was, he would probably thank him.
With such overpowered biology,
making so many artifacts turned out to be an easy task,
but there were some problems at hand.
While things like ICEs were not functioning at their fullest,
anything past analog electronics would just refuse to run.
Just to check for something funny in the circuits,
Zack made a huge eye alongside some microscope and took a peek.
What he saw was pure noise,
like his precious circuits had been replaced with quantum foam.
Being more attracted to gate logic that women, it deeply offended him.
It felt even worse than reading Jack's treatises for the first time.
It was unnatural. A lie. Without underlying layers,
there was no reason for anything to work at all.
Such a statement was something reality didn't want to hear.
Something cracked, and Zack could start seeing his circuits.
Now the machine couldn't stop him from making machines.
Meanwhile, Guy was checking the place on which they had appeared.
They had set their first roots haphazardly,
and had left the nearest five-hundred metres
so drained of life they had turned into sand.
Their body turned out to be some lake around the size of a country:
About Luxembourg, that is.
And it's not like they were exactly puddle deep,
more like 12 kilometres, discounting Zack's roots.
With such a body, it was a miracle that the island had not been consumed.
If they fed on geological heat, that would better explain their caloric intake.
He should probably ask J&Z on that.
Guy could also feel a sphere around 10 kilometres in diameter.
He had no idea why he could estimate distances so well.
The sphere was deep in their body, and remembering what he read on slimes,
that was probably their core, which made him feel BIG BRAINED,
even though he definitely wasn't that much smarter.
After properly inspecting his body, Guy further examined his surroundings.
The island was around four times the lake's diameter, and wildlife was bizarre.
Many trees were the size of giant sequoias, the bushes were the size of trees,
and fungi the size of bushes.
Some canids the size of bears could be seen running around the plains,
and let's not get started on bears.
Texas, and even Alaska paled in comparison.
But there were no mosquitoes. Phew.
There were a few large rivers, most of which flowed into the lake,
and a white shoreline was visible across
matching mountains taller than the Everest.
Guy was no scientist,
but he was pretty sure that several elements of the island were biologically,
and geologically impossible.
It didn't matter either ways.
Jack, Zack and Guy had become the most powerful organism in the new world,
and their adversaries would be in for one made of pain.