[I hope you slept well, your biological systems seem to have stabilized more with that activity, so it appears required for your mental state to be maintained. I have recorded the activity so that your species can be quantified further. Although, given both our states, I wouldn’t recommend connecting to a master system without some preparation.]
Without opening my eyes, I could feel that my body felt more controlled than before. Like I had worked out some kinks during the night I didn’t even know I had.
As I opened them, I was surprised to see a form crouched down beside me, facing outside. Black fur covered the form, a her given the clothing covering both her hips and top.
She wasn’t even moving yet.
“Hello, who are you?” I asked. I moved back just in case she was just waiting to attack me. As she didn’t move or respond I walked in front of her. Looking closely into her eyes.
“What is wrong with you?” I reached out and touched her shoulder, hoping she wouldn’t get angry. The fur was soft and even though I could tell she was some mixture of a cat with a humanoid shape, I could see the beauty there. Her body was heavily muscled as well, and that was a full-sized tail. Some form of feline, remembering the list of beastkin forms I had discarded before when choosing my own shape.
[This is Rye, a fully controlled being. I used the admin override to access the control collar around her neck when her signal approached. You are currently using 10 units of pure nanites to maintain control of the being. In addition, her wild nanites had been disabled by the collar, but in determining that this being could be used as protection, I activated them.]
“What do you mean by controlled? I don’t see anything,” I asked as I reached out to her neck. There was something there, almost clothlike, looking the same color as her fur, but lacking that softness. It was thin enough that I didn’t notice until I moved the fur out of the way to find the band below. It had been around her neck long enough the fur underneath was no longer there, and the band appeared to be directly on the skin. I couldn’t even get it off as I pulled the band the skin underneath appeared fused with it.
“Is she some form of machine?”
[No, she is a beastkin, specifically based on a merge between a panther and a human in the past. Her wild nanites were left inactive, which made her incomplete. I will show her statistics as she is now an enslaved node to your CAD unit.]
Name
Rye
Status
Enslaved
Age
18
Race
Beastkin (Panther)
Total Nanite Units
100
Used Nanite Units
100
Remaining Nanite Units
0
Statistics
30
Strength
15/10 (25)
Agility
15/15 (30)
Endurance
15/5 (20)
Mental
10/0
Special
40/10*
Control Collar *Pure available*
5*
*Guardian Package – Bodyguard
5*
Claws – increased damage
10/10 (20)
Enhanced Senses – advanced
10/10 (20)
Enhanced Balance – advanced
10/10 (20)
Enhanced Jumping – advanced
10/10 (20)
Skills
30
Survival
10/5
Tracking Specialization
5
Hand to hand/Natural weapons
10/5
Stealth
10/5
Small Blades
10/0
Pole weapons
10/5
Staff Specialization
5
Spear Specialization
5
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Ranged Weapons
10/5
Bow Specialization
5
Sewing
5/0
Cooking
10/0
Cleaning
10/0
Herbalism
10/5
Bodyguard
0/ (5*)
“Skills, can you explain those to me and how wild nanites work with them?”
[Each skill is rated as Apprentice, up to 5, Journeyman, up to 10, Master, up to 15 and Grandmaster for anything exceeding 15 in value. Those values are showing both the ability to use the skill and the knowledge needed to do so. Wild nanites assigned to skills can assist with tasks making the skill function as a tier higher when performing the activities as the nanites compensate for actions that are performed inadequately. Assisting with control, action or in some cases giving boost to the physical or mental requirements of the skill.]
[No more than 5 units can be used per skill to improve the overall usage of that skill. This will provide the skill with boosts or specialized abilities. For instance, her Survival skill boost will bring up a heads-up-display like you have already. And her weapon boosts should give some form of benefit when using that weapon type. Specializations are specific knowledge in an area under a generic skill. Her spear specialization will allow her to use a spear better than a normal journeyman weapons user for example. She has the knowledge to use a spear in a more specific and defined way.]
[She does have other typical life skills but as they haven’t reached apprenticeship levels, they aren’t skills I can convert into valid packages to train you with.]
“And her statistics have improved similarly?”
[The nanites that are affecting her statistics are just improving those areas by increasing the available musculature or stamina. Given no need to increase her natural mental abilities, I focused on her natural agility, strength and endurance.]
[Nanites working on her physical aspects like her claws and natural enhanced abilities work to better those, making the claws stronger and able to cause more damage without breaking. With her overall form based on agility and balance, she should be a capable defender.]
“Is she dangerous?”
[She is a younger being, so I would assume that she would be dangerous to most but overwhelmed by a true adult member of her race. If all her race is restricted by the lack of control or use of their wild nanites, her current form is much more powerful than it was before I activated her.]
“Is she dangerous to me?”
[No, she has been programmed with a complete guardian package which uses up around 5 units of her pure nanites stored in the collar. This has included you as her master and she will have an overwhelming desire to protect you. Her mental state has been modified to focus on protection and the pure nanites will continue to modify her natural responses to avoid conflicts when situations occur, and you are in danger.]
“That seems a bit much. Do we really have any right to do this?”
[The individual that put that collar on her only allowed a few functions to be available to the units when they were activated, and I have no ability to change that programing. I could activate Guardian, Hunter, Concubine, Farmer, Crafter, and Servant modes. There are several sub-modes like the Bodyguard package in each category. I could activate another mode as well if you would like. Would you like one of the other modes to be activated using the remaining 5 units?]
“No, thank you. How do I let her speak?”
[You can activate her in autonomous mode with your CAD, please press the button highlighted. That will release your active pure nanites from controlling her directly and allow her to move on her own. She will still have the overriding mental changes of the current mode, but not be controlled directly.]
I really didn’t want to have something tied to me, but it seemed I had full control over her. Pressing the button, she immediately started to shrug, looking like she was feeling her muscles and hands for the first time. Recalling my own reaction to awakening after being improved, I reached out and patted her shoulder.
“It’s ok, the nanites do feel odd when they do that. It takes some time to fully get used to the changes they make, or at least it did for me.”
“Who are you?” Rye asked. Head whipping around but still acting like she was defending me from the outside. Her body shifted so she could see both the entrance and me at the same time.
“Don’t really know. I woke up in that main building over that way, a while ago now it seems. I see your name listed as Rye, is that correct?” I responded as I bent down so we were closer to the same height, looking directly at each other. I took a quick look at the clock on the CAD, but since I forgot to check it when I went to sleep, and I had no idea what the numbers really meant, I had no real idea how long I was asleep.
[You were asleep for 18 hours. Rye arrived 2.5 hours ago, just after the sun rose.]
She nodded, eyes still looking unsure. “What happened to me?”
“My CAD unit seems to have taken control over your collar and activated it in a guardian bodyguard mode. I also seem to be the target of that mode so I’m told you will feel the need to protect me. Would you like that shut off? I’m sure we can return you to normal if you would like.”
She looked shocked, her face looking nothing like it would on mine, but so cute on hers. “Master, you made me a guardian. Truly? I will not be restricted to being a servant or concubine in my tribe? I thank you overseer! You are great to allow me to do so. I trained my whole life to be a guardian or hunter, but no overseer would normally allow a female to act as one and that training would have been lost or useless once I came of age like it is for most of the youth.”
I could see her body attempting to bow and grovel, but there appeared to be a conflict with her requirement to defend me as well.
“It’s fine, really. I almost had nothing to do with it.” She kept looking at me like I had done something amazing. “Are you sure? I am uncomfortable with the lack of control you seem to have.”
“No master, nothing could be greater than what you have provided me today. The overseers are expected to arrive soon to activate those between the ages of 15 and 19 as productive members of my tribe. Until today, only male members were able to become Guardians and Hunters of the tribe to provide protection and food, and they are only allowed to activate in service to our tribe. We have been restricted to this region for five generations since our tribe was first saved by the overseers and their guards.” Her eyes were wide and alive with what looked like real gratitude, not the dead eyed stare she had before I released her.
We were interrupted by a growling in my stomach, as the lack of food since my rebirth decided to intrude on our conversation.
“CAD, damn it, what should I call you?” I looked down to the pad on my wrist, causing Rye to look oddly at me.
[My previous designation of X5-ZY78 seems no longer viable as I am both less and more than that currently. I have the desire for an actual individual name, not tied to the system or its naming requirements. I have decided on the name Sylph if that would suffice for you. You should also be careful with direct verbal conversations with this unit as it appears to be confusing to those around you. One moment.]
Damn her, Sylph, or whatever her name was. The pain I felt in my eyes and ears was nothing compared to the sharp pain in my brain this time. I didn’t even know your brain could feel pain like that. Luckily, for both of us, she seemed to remember that she was supposed to be numbing pain caused by changes and it only lasted a second or two this time, but even that was rough. I could still feel things moving around there, until they finally stopped.
[You should be able to just mentally connect to me now and no longer have the need to verbalize your requests. Please attempt that now.]
[Damn it, that hurt]
[Excellent, the test was a success. Now to what I would assume is your original query, you are hungry. Your internal biological systems are notifying you that they will soon begin to consume themselves if you don’t provide them another source of energy.]
“Great, now I’m hungry too, do you have any food?” I asked Rye.
She looked confused for a moment, reaching down to the leather wrap around her waist. A small hidden pouch was at the side of her waist, and as she opened it, I saw several pieces of meat that looked dried out. My survival icons hovered over it for a moment until it returned a positive symbol for food. She pulled one of the pieces out and handed it over to me, holding it like a sacrifice in her palm. Looking at those fingers, they were much larger than mine, having large pads on the tips of the fingers where I could see her claws had retracted inside them. The rest of her palm was tougher than mine as well.
Lightly taking the piece, I ate it, chewing slowly. Which was a great plan as the meat was as stiff as it could possibly be, making it quite the chore to chew. Over time I was able to soften it enough for it to break apart small enough to swallow without issue.
[3 sustenance units consumed; all consumed units applied to maintenance activities. Needed sustenance units 46]
[What? I thought I could only get units from dead creatures.]
[The units in that food item were not of great enough numbers to determine what would occur with excess units at this time. In addition, the wild nanites consumed with that item were not designated as humanoid and may be incompatible with your own units. Further testing will be required once you have consumed 46 additional units to satisfy your needs or by finding a direct source of the units. It is recommended that you satisfy these requirements within the next 16 hours to avoid using internal units as sustenance. Sustenance in liquid and food form is also not specifically related to the amount of nanites available but the energy units or biological components found which can be exchanged for energy to maintain your biological systems.]
“Ok, I’m going to need a lot more food than that. What do you recommend, Rye?”
“We could return to my tribe, as an overseer, you have rights over all of the tribe and all we produce, it’s been almost a full month since the last container arrived to take the goods and supplies. The tribe would be obligated to provide you anything you desire.” She seemed to be much more docile now than before.
“I don’t think that’s all necessary, and I’m not an overseer, whatever those are.”
“But you must be, master, you can control the collars and wear one of the controlling objects on your arm there. And only an overseer could activate my collar and grant me the ability to be a guardian.” She seemed adamant about this and made a little stomp with a foot to make the point.
Gesturing to the entrance, I decided to just follow her lead. “Fine, lead me to the tribe, we’ll see if we can work this out.”