The outer edge of a deep crater, in the center of the forest of Vannimei
I didn’t sleep that night.
Not because nanomachines can’t sleep; they have functions such as low-power mode and deactivation switches.
No, I was thinking about the world before I existed, back when I and my friends could happily go to school, and later our workplace, even if it was boring.
Peace became a luxury following the second corporate war, because the automatons that mankind created revolted, becoming an unstoppable force called The Collective.
I sat on the edges of the crater, remembering the wandering days that me and my friends had to go through, as city after city fell. If we hadn’t collected so many valuables, we would have starved on the streets, without a home, as the treads of Autotanks crush us to smithereens.
That nanite cleaning solution…
If I didn’t pour that on myself, would something else have happened? I was sure that it was worth the gamble, but I still died in the end. Maybe it wouldn’t have made any difference whether I dissolved in silver dust, or passed away from internal bleeding.
Calm down, calm down.
Those vials of nanite solutions do seem to be the contributor to my survival, or at least my “soul”. Given the common nature of that cleaning stuff as a household utility, there might be more survivors reincarnated here through the wills of those supernatural beings that call themselves “Gods of the world”.
That’s right. Earth may be dead, but humanity, when facing any other disasters, always lives on. Hope lives on.
I laughed in relief and looked upwards. There are definitely going to be humans who have also reincarnated into this world. The clearing was void of any trees blocking the view of the night sky, allowing me to see the shining stars, and intriguingly, two blue moons.
It awes me that when half of Earth’s population was running for their lives from the unstoppable forces of The Collective, people still bothered to perfect a weapon of mass destruction. No offense to you, Citadel.
Speaking of Citadel, well, I asked her to find signs of civilization as my first favor, and as a test of just what she can do. She said she would search the nearby areas with her monoliths.
Citadel had raised her hands in a dramatic gesture, and then both she and the monoliths lifted into the sky, defying gravity. The monoliths pointed towards three different directions as opposite from each other as possible, before disappearing in a series of sonic booms. She too, disappeared in an instant.
I hope whoever lives near here doesn’t mind seeing a huge rectangular object flying in the sky at supersonic speed. Do they even have the concept of Unidentified Flying Objects?
I climbed down from the edges of the crater, and on the steep slope, I touched the burnt dirt with my right hand, and thought: “[Assimilation]”.
Carrying out my will, silvery nanites poured out from my hand, and ate through the dirt, carving a me-sized hole on the side of the crater. Not like there is any better choice for shelter out in the open here, so a hole like this should be enough for a temporary place to sleep.
I climbed into the large hole and looked down at the floor. Silver dust had spread out everywhere on the ground from the effects of [Assimilation]. The dust slowly conjoined together into small gray blobs and trailed toward my left foot at a snail’s pace. I stepped on it, and it melded into my boot, solidifying, and becoming part of my body again.
I sighed, what is it like to be a human again?
I asked Citadel to print me a human body, but would that make me any more “human” than I am right now? I sighed.
I know that I must go towards civilization once morning comes, for there ought to be survivors out in this world. Maybe they can tell if I am human, or if I am an automaton with the personality of one. Either way, having at least some companions might stave off the loneliness that is slowly accumulating inside of me.
Citadel seems to be pretty nice for an experimental weapon of mass destruction. But I hope that I can meet more people than just a product of humanity’s eternal strife with itself.
[Assimilation] Lvl. (1) > Lvl. (2)
New effect: You can now control the process of [Assimilation] in real time instead of sending out one-time orders.
New skill: Obtained skill, [Nanite Control].
…
“C-1 and C-2 found a total of 76 villages, towns, and cities nearby. C-3 crossed the sea, but the continent on the other was a barren desert, with no signs of civilization.” Said Citadel.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear about the part when you crossed an entire sea, because I don’t even know what to start on that. Uh, anyways, how far is the closest place where people live together in a community, and which direction is it?”
“It is located quite close: Walk Northeast from here for 10.7 kilometers and you will reach a wide dirt path. Stick to the left side of the path then walk for 2 kilometers and you will reach a small city.”
“Hm, it will definitely take some time to walk there, but it’s not too far I guess,” I remarked.
Citadel laughed, leaving me confused. “Did you forget the second favor you asked of me?” She said, as she walked to the back of a monolith, and pulled something out from the back.
That “something” dragged by her was a metallic human endoskeleton roughly around my size, with some artificial-looking muscle fibers attached to its “bones”. It looks creepy, but given that it can be compared to a human without skin, it is supposed to, I guess?
Citadel planted the metallic endoskeleton vertically on the ground beside me with ease, as if it weighed nothing.
She pointed to the automaton and explained, “Sorry about not being able to completely fulfill your favor. You see, this is the only blueprint with a humanoid shape that I could find in my database. While exoskeletons were very popular, endoskeletons resembling humans are quite rare past the first corporate war.”
“The device in front of you is the endoskeleton of a VAL Type-2 Autonomous support unit, used in the second (“and the last”, she whispered) corporate war as an agile but durable frontliner. If you connect to its system, you should be able to integrate your nanites to its body, and become superhuman.”
“Ahem, what do you mean by superhuman?” I pretended to cough, then looked at Citadel in her eyes.
“To summarize: Hyper-resilient skeletal structure, powerful artificial muscle fibers, and nanite skin covered with nanite-clothings. Wouldn’t that be great?” She clapped.
“Suuuure. But, is there really nothing else that is more human?” I asked, slightly disappointed.
Citadel drooped her head, “...I apologize, but I really don’t have any other suitable blueprints that are similar to a human. My database does not contain every single autonomous unit blueprint in the world.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Well, let me ask a few questions then. Does it have permanent eyesight? My current vision turns black whenever I stop thinking about looking, and it's really freaking annoying.”
“Yes, it has permanent dual oculus vision at the head that works as long as you have a small constant supply of power.”
“How about senses of smell? Touch? Taste? How does it hear?”
“That doesn’t matter because your nanites will be fused on top of the endoskeleton, which means the current sensors of your nanites will be integrated as part of your five senses, although I’ll admit that this unit does have a better variety of sensors. This includes a taste and poison sensor in the mouth, thermal imaging, and three concealed lenses behind your head in case you get ambushed.
“It's not like I have a choice,” I grumbled, and touched the endoskeleton. Firstly, I want to try to identify it.
I haven’t used this skill yet, so maybe it will be useful. “[Properties Scan]” I said.
Identified: VAL Type-2 Autonomous support unit
Properties:
A factory new autonomous support unit. It is a Type-2 variant, having a humanoid shape. It is small-medium sized and made of hyper-resilient ASMO alloy as its main structure. It features a CORE Archer-875 Central supercomputing node, allowing artificial intelligence to run the model. It also features the option to integrate with an existing nanite network, taking on a completely human appearance, and allowing infiltration operations into human organizations. There are four extension ports on the head and one extension port at the back.
[Properties Scan] Lvl. 1 > [Properties Scan] Lvl. 2
New effect: You can now conduct this skill with your visual sight instead of only physical interaction. Physical interaction with the skill still provides more information, however.
It did surprise me that the scan could gather so much information, but given that the abilities were produced by those so-called “gods”, anything is possible.
“What did you do?” asked Citadel, tilting her head in confusion.
Oh yeah, Citadel doesn’t know the weird game system that this world runs in. We definitely aren’t on Earth, as the flora and fauna are off-looking, and the two blue moons were a big giveaway, but I don’t think Citadel has ever seen a game panel before.
“Some nanite scanning stuff that I can’t explain,” I said.
“Oh well, try and integrate with it.” She shrugged, not caring about my strange behavior.
If this is the only closest body to a human that I could get, then I am all up for it. But how do I integrate with it?
I touched the endoskeleton again, this time thinking about integrating with it.
System Message
You are requesting a fusion with the object: VAL Type-2 Autonomous support unit.
Your class and traits will be merged together and your skills may change for the better or worse, depending on what you are fusing with.
Continue with the fusion request?
Y/N
“Of course yes.” I said before the blue screen glowed and its contents changed.
“Of course what?!” Exclaimed Citadel, as her eyes darted around, possibly not being able to see the blue screen.
System Message
Fusion request accepted. You will now fuse with VAL Type-2 Autonomous support unit.
Suddenly, I lurched towards the endoskeleton, and with a splatter sound, my vision turned dark.
After a few seconds of nauseousness, I was able to open my eyes again. Instantly, I was the bombarded with the screen that showed my profile, although with a few changes.
Nina
Class: [Sentient machine]
(NEW) Class trait: Nanomachine swarm > Nanite embedded infiltration unit
Skills:
(NEW) [Properties scan] – Lvl. (2) > Lvl.5
[Assimilation] – Lvl. (2)
[Nanite control] – Lvl. (1)
Passives:
[Adaptive language understanding]
[Adaptive Pain Immunity]
[Adaptive Heat resistance]
(NEW) Node amount: (1) > (2)
Oh great, the screen of text is calling me an “infiltration unit”, like I’m sort of creepy robot who blends into human society.
“Are you alright?” Citadel asked, kneeling beside me, as I stared at the sky.
“Yeah… I’m alright. It was really disorienting though.” I replied in a dry tone, and I got up with ease.
“What the hell? I feel much lighter now.” I mumbled as I flexed my arm, and then my legs.
“You are not lighter: you have a stronger endoskeleton than when you are a human, so you can carry more weight easily. Easy science.” Citadel replied to my inquiries non-chantedly.
She pulled out a mirror from behind her back. “Want to have a look at yourself in the mirror?” She asked.
I stared at the mirror.
[https://i.ibb.co/dMSY32B/ch3-mirror.png]
I covered my mouth in shock. “Ummm, Citadel? Why do I have horns??”
Citadel tucked the mirror behind her, then replied, “It seems like you have an excessive amount of nanites due to the volume displacement of the endoskeleton, so they overflowed through the extension ports of your endoskeleton, causing you to have some quirky attachments.” She smirked, “You also have a tail too.”
I immediately put my hand on my behinds, and sure enough, there was a tail that felt like it had always been there.
I can feel my face heat up a little out of embarrassment but slowly dispersed by the effects of [Adaptive Heat resistance]. “How do I get rid of them?” I begged Citadel.
“You can remove them by shedding that extra mass.” She said, “Just detach them from your extension port and they will drop onto the ground, turning back into nanite puddles.”
A text description of [Nanite Control] materialized in my mind.
Skill – [Nanite Control] – Lvl. (1)
Separate nanites from your main body and turn them into various objects for use. You can also control them with unrestricted movements in their natural state. Requires concentration and decent amounts of processing power to maintain this skill.
I think I know what to do now. “Alright, goodbye forever, horns, weird white pods on both sides of my head, and tails,” I declared and then activated [Nanite Control].
Plop. Plop. Plop.
They all fell down onto the ground, and with my last command, dissolved into silver puddles, deactivated forever.
“They will be absorbed into the ground once deactivated, it's good for the environment and doesn’t leave a trace,” Citadel stated. “If you happen to one day need them again, just produce more nanites and they will appear again. It is formed by your unconscious mind after all.”
I’m not into demons or anything. I shook my head, it is time to walk towards civilization.
“Since we are done here, do you want to go to the city with me, Citadel?”
I started to climb the slopes of the crater.
“Sorry, I need to find some exotic raw materials to print out my fuel. I’m extremely low on reserve.” She commented unenthusiastically. “That includes going to that stupid desert continent and drilling down a few kilometers to find oil, then converting it into ASMO-compatible fuel.”
“You said to walk northeast from here for 10.7 kilometers, then 2 kilometers to the left direction of the road, right? Then I’m leaving.”
“What! Without even a goodbye?” Cried out Citadel.
I looked back, staring straight into her eyes.
“I have a goal in mind, you know. There are bound to be people out there reincarnated from Earth or born on this planet who need help. Why should I relax when I know that I am indebted to so many people who protected me from death until the end?”
I thought back to my friends, who continued to support me, even when all of us had lost our families. The soldiers, the builders, the drivers, who had carried us all the way until the last few cities that remained as safe zones.
“Citadel, if I didn’t have that will in my mind, I wouldn’t be here today. I still have things to do.”
“Well, good luck on your busy-sounding journey, I guess.” Replied Citadel, ruining the emotional atmosphere that I had set up. “Here, take this chip and swallow it.” She said.
“What does it do?”
“When you require help, activate the chip’s beacon and one of my weapon platforms will fly to you in less than a minute, to assist you in whatever trouble you caused.” She yawned and handed over to me a small, violet chip.
“Thank you, Citadel.”
“Ha! You now owe me a favor!” Yelled Citadel, before she jumped and hovered in midair. The three monoliths launched from the crater into the sky and Citadel too floated upwards.
“See you next time!” She waved, as she and the monoliths disappeared in three sonic booms.
“She is so quirky,” I remarked, then swallowed the chip.
An uninteresting text appeared in my mind.
New chip detected: Encrypted SOS Beacon device (Inactive)
I walked down the crater’s edge, looked back once more, and started jogging.
“Woah, I am so much faster now,” I commented, feeling the wind blowing past me as I avoided obstacles such as rocks, bushes, and tree barks with great agility. What if I started sprinting?
I picked up my pace, and still, I didn’t feel exhausted at all.
“Civilization, here I come!” I laughed, as trails of dust erupted behind me from each of my steps.