[Emergency treatment completed]

As Aea’s voice sounded out in Matthew’s mind he opened his eyes, the view reflected in his eyes was dark completely without light, he didn’t need to juggle his mind to remember what had transpired, it had been imprinted into his mind, the minutes passed as Matthew remained in silence, he didn’t want to see at the moment the lack of light suited his current state of mind well… But he knew he couldn’t laze around in darkness forever

‘Provide emergency power to the Mk. 22’

[Code Arrow 09 have suffered damage to power storage, current storage limites range of operations]

‘Is there enough capacity to restore the optical sensors?’

[Yes, though keep in mind current capacity only allows for limited operations]

Light returned to Matthew’s world in the form of a blue sky, it looked around midday, but Matthew noticed something even though the armored plating of the Mk. 22 helmet he felt the warm light of the sun beam down on him with a heat he hadn’t felt since he arrived in this strange world

‘How long was I unconscious?’

[Last loss of consciousness is recorded to be 4 hours and 36 minutes, but due to the Mistress’ abilities it is possible that a localized time distortion have taken place]

‘Release the left emergency scuttle control’

[Confirmed]

Matthew checked his mobility and after a bit of fumbling around he found the scuttle control and managed to flip the switch, before he stretched his arms out at once, a moment later the outer armor plantings were blown off the Mk. 22, from there Matthew fumbled around a bit more before he found the next release

‘I am guessing there’s no power for the hydraulics?’

[No, but the manual release appears to be intact]

Matthew let out a shallow sigh as he fumbled around a bit more before he released the lever that he then had to pull down a few times before the internal pressure reached a tipping point and a crack sounded out before the Mk. 22 split apart, releasing him to the outside, after pushing the plating off himself he turned his head and let out a curse as he saw his surroundings

“Fuck”

A few moments passed before he cursed again as he hit the ground, beneath him a few times as he cursed again

“Shit, might as well boil my jewels and grind them up with salt…”

Finished cursing and literally pounding sand, Matthew faced reality and the surrounding desert, and the scorching hot sand below him, as the perfect assistance A. I. that Aea was it answered his unanswered question

[Current position and height of the sun suggest our master’s current position to be approximately 42 degrees South from the Basecamp]

“Speak in normal terms please”

[Estimated distance from current location to Basecamp is in excess of 5000 kilometers]

Matthew let out a quiet chuckle before he made light of his current predicament

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“That’s quite the distance to cover with no legs”

[Indeed, however, I am convinced we will find our way back]

It was just like Matthew had stated, the whole reason he had to use the emergency release for the Mk. 22 was because less than half of it had traveled with him, everything was gone from just above his hips, this included more than a few artificial vertebrae

“...Well it’s not like they are missing, I am sure they are right where I left them back at Basecamp… Can you fashion me some prosthetics with the Forge nanites, Aea?”

[Current store of Forge nanites depleted]

“That’s great… Just great… Did I lose anything else other than my family jewels and only means of advanced weapons manufacturing in the recent divorce with my lower half?”

[Stores of Improvement bio-nanites are also depleted, furthermore store of Blood, Bone and Maintenance have been halved]

“That sounds bad…”

[Current store of Maintenance bio-nanites needs to be restored within the next 62 days to avoid a critical failure cascade, please make haste in securing applicable metals]

“...Do you have any good news about my current predicament?”

[Observed temperature appears to prevent hypothermia despite your tendencies to not wear clothes, master]

“Great… Well nothing for it, slag the Mk. 22 and make a record of current location for retrieval of the armored plating when I’ve grown back my family jewels”

[Internal location record started, all memory and firmware of Mk. 22 armor expunged]

Without its firmware, the Mk. 22 was reduced to a big chunk of metal or simply a piece of ugly abstract art, Matthew cleared his mind of useless distractions and focused on the task ahead

“Any recommendations?”

[Ahead seems to as good as any other direction]

Thus Matthew rolled over onto his stomach and pressed his right arm against the scorning sand, he pulled himself forwards before he extended his left arm and mirrored his previous motion while clearing his mind to focus on the task at hand.

Left without legs, his only option was to crawl.

So crawl he did.

Even as the hours passed, he continued crawling.

As the air cooled and night fell, he took a short break to look at the stars before he continued to crawl.

As the sun rose, he continued to crawl.

As night fell, he continued to crawl.

As the sun rose again, he was still crawling.

One day as he continued to crawl, he began chuckling to himself, having lost over a third of his weight over the time he had been crawling there naturally hadn’t been much laughter from Matthew, but knowing all too well Matthew’s state, both of mind and of body Aea humored him and asked

[What is it you find so funny, master?]

Matthew showed a slim smile, he was covered in dirt, his back was sunburned and his body, and worst of all his body was so low on water and nutrients that Aea had cut off supply to most non vital organs to let them wither away

“Well… It’s just… I’ve been doing… A lot of… Crawling… So much… That I am sure… My form has… Improved… It’s properly… The best… In the core… Don’t you think… So Aea?”

[Certainly your form have improved considerably, according to my count your weekly upper-body cardio have been fulfilled at a 687%]

Matthew continued chuckling silently to himself as continued to crawl.

As night fell Matthew’s ears finally picked up a sound other than the howling of the desert wind, he wasn’t sure about what he heard but Aea quickly confirmed his suspicions

[Audio detection places the source of the sound about 600 meters to the East]

Matthew showed a thin smile as his eyes went cold, as he began crawling towards the sounds of desperate combat

By the time he arrived the fight was over, the culprit had yet to notice Matthew that was sneaking up on it as it was busy swallowing a large ox-like beast of burden head first, the single cart caravan, or what was left of it by now had been attacked by a large toothless lizard

[Ready to execute]

As soon as Aea’s report passed through Matthew’s mind he launched himself off the ground and a moment later he slammed his fists down into the skull of the toothless lizard with tremendous force, the beast recoiled for a moment before it trashed around in rage and confusion striking Matthew heavily and sending him flying for a moment before he hit the ground

[Heavy laceration detected, tasking Trauma nanites]

Matthew rolled to the side and narrowly dodged the rampaging lizard as it trashed around, after a few moments it went stiff before it fell to the ground as blood started to leak out of its eyes, Matthew crawled over to it and was about to bite into it when Aea sent a report

[Harvest of bio-matter have already begun]

Matthew let out a sigh and reined in his hunger as he turned his body around and leaned his back against the large toothless lizard which head was rapidly dissolving

“I should starve myself more often, this is the first time in like 200 years I’ve actually wanted to eat”

[Prolonged intentional starvation is not recommended due to negative impact on your body and mental health master]

Matthew let out a neutral hum while the rest of the toothless lizard was rapidly being broken down from the nanites Matthew had stabbed into its head from his initial surprise attack, as Matthew fell silent Aea spoke again to cheer him up

[I reckon your steller display of will would have earned you commendation along with a promotion, master]

Matthew nodded as he tried to remember the accommodations of the Trerubic Empire, after a few moments he remembered one that would fit his current situation

“...Right, I would definitely be up for the Stalwart display of will, or maybe even a Light of the empire… Hmm, no not a Light of the empire on second thought…”

[Why not?]

Matthew showed a sly smile and spoke

“That comes with a double promotion… I can’t be a 1st lieutenant without legs, can I now?”