The older woman chuckled her laughter almost bell-like as she covered her mouth with the back of her hand. “Beating around the bush is for the guilty and those that work in sales. It is a lot to take in, and unfortunately, you’re not going to get a lot of time to think it over. I can tell that you’re smart enough to know when you’re in a serious situation, and, well, this would be such an instance. How about this? I have some other patients to check in on. Give it a little thought, get your questions in order, and when I return, I’ll answer them as best I can. Does that sound good?”
Leta chewed on her lip and then nodded, realizing she had no choice.
Dr. Kudela smiled sweetly and patted her hand. “No need to look so concerned. I’ll have one of the nurses bring you some lunch - I’m sure you’re famished.”
At the mention of food, Leta’s stomach made an ungodly noise that sounded like a dying whale. She’d been so wrapped up in everything since waking up that she hadn’t even noticed the cramping of her empty stomach.
Dr. Kudela chuckled, daintily saying, “Well, that settles that. The nurse will unhook you so you can use the bathroom and bring you something to get your strength back. Don’t hesitate to press the call nurse button if you need anything.”
When Leta was left alone, the emptiness of the room was like a haunted canyon, her thoughts like pestering specters as the accumulation of what was to her at least three days of consistent life-or-death situations nearly drove her mad.
“Oh my god.” She breathed, running, shaking hands over her face as she relived everything in her mind.
The werewolf- Loupgarou - and his transformation into the monstrous jackal creature.
The Siren and her ability to control people.
Koa and the red-haired giant with his black wolf.
Leta held her arms up as she remembered her bones breaking and being put back together.
Despite the ordeal, there wasn’t a scratch or scar on her.
She flipped her left arm back and forth, trying to see any physical signs that the fingers had been bent in the wrong direction, but everything looked fine.
Fine… but not normal.
At least, not to her.
Her fingers looked slimmer and longer, her forearms taught like a bow.
She pulled the hospital gown sleeve back to look at one of her arms and was shocked that it was so emaciated. She’d had fatty arms since she hit puberty - the product of a fairly sedentary life without a lot of major heavy lifting.
She twisted her arm back and forth and couldn’t see a single jiggle or bounce of fat on them.
Bewildered, she ran a hand over her stomach, and through the blanket and hospital gown, she could feel the outline of her hipbones and a deep concave where her stomach was.
“Holy… I’m skin and bones.” She blinked in shock. “Gada, what happened?”
[The Host’s physique uses fat stores as long-term power banks for energy. Nanites are capable of cannibalizing the fat particles within the host in an emergency where high percentages of the Host’s body are damaged and require immediate attention to avoid death. This practice is used only as a matter of last resort, as the Host’s fat is necessary to protect vital organs and manage necessary hormones within the body. The substantial damage sustained by being ejected from the vehicle and landing on a rocky surface required more energy than was readily available to the Nanites, and so most of the Host’s emergency fat reserves were used in order to power the healing process.]
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“How much fat?” Leta was almost scared of the answer.
[18 kilograms of fat were used during the healing process.]
“Jezzus…”
She’d lost the weight of a small boat engine overnight.
[The Host currently has 1,783,882 inert Nanites available. The Host may utilize Nanites temporarily to convert ingested food into fat to replenish emergency energy supplies.]
“Uh… skip that thought for now. How many inert Nanites?” She blinked, thinking she heard the hive mind incorrectly.
[The Host currently has 1,783,882 inert Nanites which can be utilized for upgrades.]
Stunned, Leta stared absently out the window.
She’d only gotten about 400 Nanites out of the super fancy meal they’d eaten just before everything went sideways, and that was better than the 50 Nanite she got from her coffee date with Vigo and Pilar.
To have gotten this many Nanites in one go, she would have had to consume over 35,000 lattes and croissants.
“Wow. Just… wow. Okay. One thing at a time. So… Let’s start from the beginning. Can you provide another diagnostic report from the fight?”
[Based on calculations, the Host received the most damage during the confrontation from being ejected from the vehicle while it was moving at high speeds. It is recommended that the host increase their constitution as well replacing major joints and bones with Atlanite.]
Leta pursed her lips. This was something she’d need to make a priority if she was going to continue getting into scraps with the supernatural.
[Congratulations. The Host has wielded voltage twenty times higher than was previously possible at their level without being destroyed by the same power. In addition, the Host maintained a voltage over 1,000,000 times greater than their level without being destroyed. Electric Misconduct has reached Level 5. The Host is now able to generate 500 million volts of electricity in a single interaction. The Host can maintain up to 30,00,000 volts of electricity while concentrating.
Congratulations. The Host has discovered the passive Skill Software, Herald of the Storm. By channeling the entire kinetic energy of a storm through the body and surviving, the Host’s Nanites have attuned themselves to anticipate the positive and negative charges and air insulation capacity of storm clouds. Sensing oncoming storms comes easily to the Host. In addition, the Host is able to draw in positive and negative charges when immersed in a storm, resulting in a more powerful Electric Misconduct attack.
Congratulations. The Host wields a two-handed ranged weapon and understands basic mastery. The Host has unlocked their first combat skill, Mechanized Ranged Weapons: Level One. Combat software is now available.]
“Holy shit…” She hissed as Gada listed off all the improvements she received from last night.
She hadn’t expected channeling the lightning would bump up her mastery by four levels in one go.
As amazed as she was at how quickly she’d leveled, Leta wasn’t keen to try and pull such a stunt a second time, so close were the memories of the electricity broiling her organs.
By all rights, she should have died. The heat of the lightning was equivalent to the surface of the sun, and she’d held it for close to twenty seconds.
If she hadn’t been pulling Nanites out of the Minotaur as she was doing it, her Nanites wouldn’t have had the energy needed to heal what the lightning was destroying inside her.
At the same time, she came to terms with the fact that she’d most likely have to put herself in the same risky situation in order to survive, considering she’d now been fully absorbed into a world of legendary figures.
“Thanks, Gada. Now, let’s have a look at Upgrades.”
[Upgrade Options Available:
Physical Characteristic Reconstruction: The Host can make changes to their physical appearance. This upgrade is affected by the inert Nanites available.
Internal Characteristic Reconstruction: The Host is able to make changes to their internal structure, including the creation of artificial enhancements and structures. This upgrade is affected by the inert Nanites available.
Combat Skills: The Host masters basic proficiency in the following combat areas - unarmed hand-to-hand, dagger, short sword, hand-and-a-half sword, long sword, claymore, archery, spear, battleaxe, kopesh, and mace. This skill software requires 1,002,431 inert Nanites.
Arc Chain: When the Host unleashes a bolt of lightning and hits a target, there is a possibility of hitting other targets within a five-meter radius depending on the number of targets and their proximity to each other. This skill software requires 600,045 inert Nanites.
Gremlin’s Trick: Utilizing Electric Misconduct and Magician’s Hand allows the Host to manipulate electrical currents and wires from a distance of 10 meters. This skill software requires 539,474 inert Nanites.
Storm Witch - Level One: Like calls to like. The Host can command the heating and cooling of storm clouds for two minutes, causing massive lightning storms to weaken or giving a driving cloud the fuel it would need to later become a hurricane. This skill software requires 800,626 inert Nanites.]
Leta ran a finger over her lower lip, thinking about the upgrades that had become available.