A long while passed, and she survived thanks to a combination of the Teryl’s assistance and the natural regenerative capabilities of a Myrmeke. Her legs were still inoperable, as according to the System, almost every muscle in them had been ruined when her Ether had activated- or ‘sparked’, as the System referred to it once.

Speaking of… what had that been, exactly? It was a stupid question, as she already knew the answer, but she asked it to herself for the tenth time.

When the Ether in her brain had ‘sparked’, her mind had sped up to the point that time had seemed to stop; however, she shouldn’t have been able to move during it either. She was able to because the Ether in her legs had sparked at the same time, granting them the exact same absurd, very short-term reinforcement.

The answer to her question was clear as day, but she kept getting caught up on it. The experience was wondrous, of course, but that wasn’t the problem; it was that she couldn’t get over the countless inconsistencies in what had happened. Why had her legs been mangled due to the sparking of her Ether, but not her brain? How did it make sense that such a pitiful amount of Ether could create such an impossible result?

The System had told her to leave it be after her first few inquiries, as it was still investigating the supposedly suspicious serum the Teryls had given her. She wasn’t sure why it was so suspicious that they would give her a serum meant to help her regenerate, even if it was effectively pointless; a significant amount of the things they were doing had little to no effect on her enormous, alien body.

So many mysteries, and yet no answers; it was horrible, but what could she do?

A few minutes later, finally, the System spoke, I have found the problem. The serum was infused with millions of nanomachines intended to heal the body.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” She asked it.

It is not. They are helping for now, but there is no telling what they will do afterwards. The System said. It was impossible to tell what it was feeling, or if it was feeling at all, but she assumed it was worried. There is nothing I can do at the moment to eliminate them. If you were in possession of Biomass, I could, but you are not and likely won’t be for a while.

Nothing interesting happened, and as the adrenaline slowly winded down, she realized that she was exhausted beyond belief. Since there was nothing she could do to stop the Teryls while awake anyway, she gave in to the pull of slumber soon enough.

∑

She woke up an unknown amount of time later, and was pleased to see that the Teryl that had been tending to her wasn’t near her anymore; instead, it was standing at the other end of the tunnel, with the other Teryls. Maybe they would leave soon.

“How long was I asleep?” She asked the System.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Three hours. Do not bother me with further unimportant inquiries right now. The System answered.

“What’s going on?” She asked, concerned. That wasn’t an unimportant inquiry, was it?

As predicted, the nanomachines are doing something that I do not want them doing. The System explained vaguely.

Before she could even ask for further elaboration, the System seemed to predict her next question. They are… interacting… with parts of your brain that should not be touched.

That was… alarming. She flexed her legs to see if they’d healed yet, and was glad to see that they could at least move. It hurt, but they moved. The question now was whether they could support her weight.

If she remembered correctly, the System had said that it could fend off the nanomachines if she had Biomass, which meant that she needed to go hunting, no matter her state.

She rolled around and wriggled until she was positioned properly, as the Teryls had moved her around quite a bit in her sleep apparently, and then carefully pushed against the ground with her many legs.

They strained to hold her weight, and she almost regretted having put Biomass into the Mass Path. She used her four Articulated Arms to help her up, and once she was standing, her legs didn’t struggle too much. Moving still seemed beyond her, though.

She clacked her mandibles as she came up with a potential solution; Ether. She peered at the ethereal particles and was disappointed to see that they were faint and a pale gray. Ordinarily, the particles were perpetually shifting in color, a vibrant blue one moment, a deep, royal purple the next, and a bloody maroon the next.

They were no help, so what did she do? She wracked her brain but found nothing; she was simply too injured to hunt.

“Any ideas?” She asked the System.

You can only wait. There is nothing that can be done.

She refused to accept that answer. It didn’t matter how slowly she moved; unless she stumbled across a fourth Stage Myrmeke, she could kill it. So, she could just crawl. She dug her Articulated Arms into the ceiling of the tunnel and began slowly moving down the tunnel, away from the Teryls.

Don’t leave the Teryls; they’re protecting you until you’re fully healed. The System told her.

”Why’s it matter when the nanomachines are trying to destroy my brain?”

…The interaction with the brain is not necessarily a detrimental one. So, just sit down, wait, and heal. Do not needlessly endanger yourself.

She took a moment to process the System’s words, and slowly laid back down. She didn’t know what to think about what was happening.

Since it is inevitable, I will warn you of what will occur. Memories best left buried are being unearthed by the nanomachines. I do not know how to help you weather these memories, and so enduring them will be up to you alone. You have roughly ten minutes.

She was silent for a long minute, trying to process everything. She didn’t understand anything happening, and it was torturous to her. Everything thus far had been relatively simple, and now it was not. Was she not as intelligent as she had thought she was? Many of the questions she had seemed unanswerable.

Moreover, the System’s seeming panic over a bunch of memories was worrying beyond belief.

“You said you were warning me, but I still don’t really understand. Memories… I assume of the siege on Cavern 4? Why can’t you just tell me what happened beforehand so that I’m more prepared?” She asked.

I am not allowed. The System said simply.

Minutes passed as she silently tried to get a grasp on what was going on. The System’s prediction turned out to be incorrect, as it took only seven minutes before a flood of memories struck her like a sledgehammer.

Even having only barely glanced over the memories, she felt the urge to throw up- and not the black goop involved in evolution.

It was impossible to ignore the memories. It felt like she was living in two places at once as she rapidly relived her experiences in Cavern 4 and laid on the ground in a random tunnel somewhere.

Since the memories were not reality, the ‘reliving’ was over in seconds. Disgust... she couldn’t feel anything else. She’d done something horrible; something she could barely put into words. She felt bile raising in her throat and bent over as she threw up.