I made my way through the ridge-riddled plains, a landscape far from fun to traverse.
/Also far from being able to see far./
….I assume that was not a pun… if it was I would feel sorry for a machine.
/It was an advisal, be cautious Host/
I know I know. I don't think this was my first tango.
/you have never danced Tango./
...A figure.
Of.
speech.
/Ok./
… After a while, I eventually managed to find my way to the source of the smoke. A mining village from the looks of it. Or, was at least.
Right now it is little else but burning and/or burnt down structures, if I look carefully I can see some commotion going on at a clearing at the center of the village.
For the time being I decided to move closer.
...Any chance you could, like Uplink to one of the fellas over there Leo? Walking is a pain.
/An Uplink can only be made when a successful routing pathway is available./
...That reminds me, What is all this “Routing” shit you keep saying? What is this… Illusive “Routing System?”
/Apologies, It seems those files might have been removed from your memory along with the other RE-Rc relevant data./
...Please tell me you still have a copy?
/Yes/
….Well upload it then!
/Sadly a data upload cannot be done while an Uplink is active. I will postpone the data upload until you &¤#¤&et #illed again/
….
“...Get killed again?”
/Until you are disconnected from an Uplink again./
….I have my eye on you. I swear to god…
…On the other hand, I am getting close.
The village is indeed quite a mess, there is blood and signs of struggle, as well as signs of bodies having been dragged off. Judging from all of this I have a vague Idea of what is going on in the village center…
Carefully making my way towards the area I am soon welcomed by Leo’s commentary again.
/Hostiles Detected./
/Hostiles Listing: 3./
After carefully peering around from behind cover, I slowly tracked down the source of all three Hostile markings.
...I swear to god… if this is the genetic future of humanity I will cry.
They were horrific creatures, Long, spike like ears, darkish skin with festering lacerations, mangled and twig like body proportions. Two of them seemed to be dragging away the remaining corpses, and the remaining guy was having a pee.
Yeah, I know. Taking a pee after slaughtering a village?
/Barbaric, truly./
Yeah, they should have some basic resp- OI! That was sarcasm wasn't it?
/No…/
You can't fool me… I can hear the tilted angle of your words!
“...”
/Hostiles detected: 1./
...Seems like the other two have moved further away… perfect.
Taking the bow I brought with me I knock on an arrow behind my cover. I draw the string ready, and then slowly begin moving towards the guy.
There is some 10 meters between us, so if he begins turning this way, I will immediately shoot… I don't know if I am using the bow right But It's better than nothing!
...
..
.
/Correct your hold on the arr-./
-Shut up. You are distracting me…
...After a grueling moment of moving closer I manage to get within a few meter distance of the guy, I take the arrow off the bow and take care of the guy with a quick chokehold and a throatcu-
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
...Or I tried at least but this body is woefully weak. As the guy elbowed me into the stomach I quickly accepted the rehost proposal that Leo had instantly informed me off.
Feeling the world warp about I found myself In the guy’s body, after which I quickly jammed a sword into the gut of the panicking girl in front of me.
...Huh, I didn't really think much about it but they are alive in there even when I take over?... I have just been reflexively cutting the old uplink down whenever possible.
/That is your subconscious habits kicking in Host. Even when your memories are missing You are still a well trained Gru#& -Operative./
...I heard that “grunt”, Yanno?
/What do you mean?/
…
...More importantly… is there any interesting info in this new guy’s head`?
/Data mining has extracted the last 15 minutes of his life. Would you like to replay the memories?/
...Definitely not… Based on how sore his… third leg feels I don't think I want anything to do with those memories… Just give me the bullet points.
/Understood./
...
/He banged. Then he peed./
…Gee Thanks. That was exactly the information I needed!.
/Host is very welcome, I live to serve./
...
..
.
Now.. where can I dump the corpse…?
Oh wait, I can just leave it in a random corner can't I? I mean, They are already collecting corpses anyways so one extra shouldn't matter right?
/Probably not./
Yup yup.
After leaving the corpse behind i moved further to the center of the village. This time far more openly. I do look like them after all.
Arriving to the village center I couldn't help but think “Ah, I knew it.” the surviving civilians of
the village are all rounded up and tied up in a large group near the side of the large clearing, with many hideous dudes guarding them.
...This reminds me, if the generic hero took 3 days to transfer Into, why did this ugly corpse not take 3 days`?
/The genetic similarity between the current body and the ‘Generic_Hero’ is much higher than than between the ‘Generic_Hero’ and the Host./
… Cool.
Focusing on the present I studied the tied up civilians, They were sobbing, crying, some had
some pretty bad wounds, it is quite clear that this is what I thought it was. A raid.
...Listening to the other ugly monsters talking to each other as well as the muffled whisperings between the ‘hostages’ I came to a simple conclusion. Obviously, English did not survive the… (Apocalypse?) Whatever happened, instead the people hear spoke in a strange, vowel heavy language… that sucks.
Nevertheless I have to quickly invent a solution before the black uglies figure out something is off…
Just as I was thinking so, I suddenly felt someone grab my shoulder from behind.
Ignoring the “/Uplink detected./” message for now I was roughly turned around and yelled loudly upon by a particularly large individual.
...Fuck I got spit in my eye…
For the time being I just nodded energetically to the ugly thing… based on his baffled face I realized quickly that it most likely wasn’t the answer expected…
...I can't let an alarm get sounded now! Thinking so I grabbed his shoulder.
/Uplink detected./
/Rehost Y/N?/
*Y*
Feeling the world warp I grabbed the confused guy in front of me, pulling him towards a bit shadier corner with my hand on his mouth.
“?!?”
Confused and now alarmed dude managed to wrestle my hand off his mouth and began screaming really loud. I quickly used my new body’s superior strength and snapped his neck… But the damage was already done.
Very quickly a large number of these same ugly people surrounded me, there were individuals from both sexes, all just as ugly and dressed in primitive rags, I assume they are a tribal species or something.
/Hostiles detected./
/Hostiles listing: 83./
Pointing their weapons at me they began spewing questions in that same confusing language at me. Unsure of what to do I just held my hands raised to show I was unarmed, one of them shouted louder at me, clearly angry, I did what I could, telling him.
“I cant talk your weirdo mumbo speak! English! Please! ”
...Ok, I get the feeling that was a bad Idea based on their alarmed behaviour..
Just as I opened my mouth to try and explain I feel a scorching pain in my back…
“…Eh?”...
Looking down I can see a spearhead, barely peeking out of my stomach… Jesus that went right through my back and came outside from the other end…
..Falling to my knees, I can hear shrieks around me.
/Uplink Connection Buffering../
/Uplink lost./
…
..
.
… I am back here again…
Hehe…
It was only a moment, but I had already forgot how it felt to be in this body...
...No mouth or eyes… No hearing… Just the dull pain, feeling of cold, and the feeling of fluids, food and other materials moving in pipes stitched to my flesh…
An abyss of nothing.
… Let me out…
...LEtmeout.
/Scheduled data upload, commencing./
Suddenly a feeling assaulted my brain, like getting slammed with a wall of data, and then being swallowed into it.
/.../
/Complete./
...Jesus fucking hell that was unpleasant.
/Host brain is not built for datafile uploads, as such file transferring can sometimes cause varying degrees of mental discomfort/
GEE YOU DON'T SAY.
/I just did./
…
..
.
Ignoring the deranged AI, I began browsing through my new knowledge, hoping for something useful.
...So essentially the Routing System is a large scale connection network built inside the planet’s subspace… Basically like a cell network built in a dimension very close to our own… And by using the said network It is possible to store, move, and modify essentially objects within our dimension by turning them to subspatial data and reconvert in the new location by this practice it is possible to use any accesspoint as…
…
WORDSALAD.
I should properly digest this later ..But for the moment there were some interesting snippets of data I caught.
/Uplink detected./
??
Hell yes! Anything to get out of this… corpse.
*Y* *Y* *Y* *Y* *Y*
/Rehosting./
Feeling my world shift again I am welcomed by…
...The big brutes stinking corpse on my shoulder…
...Oh, let me guess… you can reroute through dead Uplinks?
/...Only if someone comes in contact with the corpse within the first 4 minutes. After that the Uplink brain will have become too deteriorated./
...Well.. In this case someone did touch the corpse, so I am quite fucking glad.
...Anything to get out of that rotting shell that I have for a body…
From what I can see the guy I took over was carrying me over to what seems to be some kind of a crude graveyard… seems like they bury their own if they die.. I suppose it is better than learning that they are not only raiding towns but cannibals as well…
...Looking at the group already digging a grave I made a decision.
...I cannot afford to get caught this time.
/Hostiles detected./
/Hostiles Listing: 3./
As such, I took hold of the crude pickaxe on my new body’s waist, dropping the body I was carrying.
The first one of the group turned towards me, as to probably tell me to hurry up.. He was the first to taste my revenge.
With a pickaxe stuck on his temple. The first one fell into the grave, I decapitated the young looking shortie with a strong open hand slam to his right ear. just as the female let out an alarm cry… Actually I think that was a frightened shriek…
I knocked her out… What can I say?
I am a nice person after all.
Hearing the rest of the raid group on the move to my location I took the shovel that was before used for digging, now to be used for ….other things.
...And so I embarked on a spree of destruction.
Killing this guy, Rehosting and killing another, taking a sword to my stomach, rehosting to my killer. Soon there was only one common thing between my ever changing points of view.
…
Death.
...I am not sure how long it was since then… at one point they tried to escape so I had to run after a few…
...In the end, I am quite certain at least 2 dozen ran away…
Mentally tired from all the killing and...well.. Getting killed. I stumbled over to the now white as sheet villagers to release them.
...Just as I was releasing the second one Leo went.
/Seeing as a superior Uplink has is detected, would you like to consume current Uplink In an Invasive data mining? My systems have made a conjecture that mining the local language from the Uplink Mind would be highly useful./
...Sure, why as the hell now, the guy I am currently releasing seems strong and well off... Young too, should be a good new body.
/Ready to datamine, Datamine and Rehost?/
*Y*
I once again feel my point of view warp. And for the first time in ages…. This time into something more or less resembling human.
...As soon as I could feel my new body though, the mental stress finally caught up to me.
//Limit of user stamina reached, user Deactivati-.