Just like that, Hammer expected me to kill the giant quilldog that looked like it could swallow me whole. And yet, Hammer was just nonchalantly holding the beast in place, like it was nothing.
“Look for a weak spot,” Ward suggested from behind me. Both he and Light were there, and both had been instructed to stay out of it before we even left the outpost.
Still, I was happy for any help I could get. So, I studied the monster dog. The quills that covered it were tightly packed and covered almost every inch of the things body, including its face and chin. Even the space between its eyes had quills. However, the eyes seemed to be unprotected. I crouched down to get a look at the quilldog’s belly. The spikes were shorter but still covered every inch. The nose had less coverage but that risked setting off a Void Burst inside its nose and that might be considered too close to inside the monster.
Hammer mock yawned very loudly, the threatened, “If you don’t hurry up, I’m going to kill it myself.”
“Fine,” I said. That left nose or eyes. I think eyes were the best option I had. I concentrated on the monster dogs left eye and focused my ability. There was a pop of sound that accompanied my ability and a loud splashed that followed a very short-lived moan of pain followed by the quilldog going limp and falling to the ground with a heavy thud.
“Damn,” Hammer said, sounding surprised. “Okay, that was a lot more powerful than I thought it would be. Still, not bad.”
My Void Burst destroyed the monster’s eye and seemed to have pulled part of the creature’s brain out through the hole. I would be having nightmares about this monster’s death for years to come.
“Never use that on another person,” Ward said seriously.
I looked back to him and Light, only to find Light was gone. I was worried for a moment until I heard retching from some nearby brush.
I didn’t think it was necessary for him to say that.
“At least, not at that range,” Ward added. “You’ll need to work on improving your control. Perhaps reducing the size of your attack until the damage is little more than concussive damage.”
“I’ll work on that,” I said.
“Are you going to keep chatting or are you going to take in these Nanos before they all recover and float away?” Hammer asked impatiently.
“Oh, right,” I said, quickly turning to look at . . . the quill monster. I activated my Time Compression as quickly as I could then reached out to grab ahold of all the Nanos.
For a moment I was stunned. There were so many. So many thousands of Nanos, some of them already trying to escape from the monster’s corpse. I reached out to them. I grabbed onto them. Took them by the handful. Raked them in as fast as I could, trying to grab them all before my time compression ended. And then I reached my limit. I took hold of 34,566 Nanos. It was more than I had ever gathered at one time. I was disappointed I couldn’t grab more with the limited time I had left. Trying to move past my disappointment, I sent the mental order to take them into my colony and convert them. It was almost instantaneous. There was no resistance. The Nanos just . . . changed. I was so stunned by how fast they changed that I didn’t think to try to grab ahold of any more of them until after my Time Compression ended.
“Well, well, well,” Hammer said, sounding a little impressed once again. “You managed to gather up a lot of them very quickly. Not bad.”
I wanted to say I could have gotten more, but that would have just sounded childish.
“No sense in letting the rest go to waste,” Hammer said. And even faster than I could have previously imagined, the remaining Nanos vanished. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of Nanos vanished. I hardly felt anything, but I knew that Hammer was able to cultivate them just that quickly. It was . . . unreal. Was everyone else able to cultivate that fast? Or was Hammer Jack really that powerful?
“You’ll find that as you grow in power, you will be able to cultivate massive amounts of Nanos very quickly. That was barely a drop in the bucket for someone of Hammer Jack’s Milestone,” Ward said.
“Light, if you’re done playing around, incinerate the body,” Hammer yelled toward where Light had been retching.
“I don’t have enough power to do that,” Light yelled back.
“Fine,” Hammer said, reaching behind his back to pull free one of his jackhammers. The machine was odd. It was actually a glove-like device where Hammer fit the jackhammer over one of his fists. He then reared back with the jackhammer covered fist and the hammer action started firing in and out rapidly until it was moving so fast, I couldn’t see it. Hammer punched. It was like a cannon firing, louder than any bullet I’d ever heard. And the aftershock was enough to lift me off my feet and blow me onto my back rather painfully. When I looked up, the quilldog was gone. In fact, there was barely a blood pool from where I killed it.
“What happened to it?” I asked.
“I hit it so hard it disintegrated,” Hammer answered as he slipped the jackhammer back in place behind him.
“No, really, what happened to it,” I asked.
“No, really, I hit it so hard it disintegrated,” Hammer replied. “Listen kid, in this world of people with abilities like Light or even you, but with power that is several magnitudes greater than you can imagine. How can someone like me compete if I don’t have the ability to deal similar damage?”
“What is your ability?” I asked in awe.
Hammer grinned. “The muscles in my arms can undulate to create an effect similar to a jackhammer. With enough power and speed, I can create a shockwave that will disintegrate just about anything caught in its path.”
I swallowed thickly. That was absolutely terrifying.
“Now, aren’t you glad I’m a hero?” Hammer asked with a cackling laugh. “In this world, there are real monsters out there. And sometimes, it takes a monster to stop a monster.”
My respect and fear of Hammer Jack grew in leaps and bounds in that moment.
“Now, let’s see if we can find that little guy’s pack,” Hammer said jovially. “There might actually be a few alphas for Light or Ward to take on. Don’t worry, I’ll save a couple of them just for you. If you don’t kill them with your two shots, you’ll need to do it with your fists,” he added the last part with a cackle of laughter.
I looked to Light and Ward then asked, “He’s not serious about that last part, is he?”
Ward shrugged.
“Probably not,” Light said, making us follow Hammer before the overpowered hero got too far away.
“Wait, what do you mean, ‘Probably not’?” I asked, chasing after Light as he ran to keep up. “Light? Light!” I called after him but got no answer.
12
I easily broke through the 11th and 12th Milestones by the time there was a single quilldog left. It seemed Hammer Jack wouldn’t be satisfied with hunting for the day until we killed every last one of them. And the sheer number of quilldogs in the nearby nest or burrow or whatever it was called was simply staggering. The number of Nanos I was able to cultivate after each kill might have been more so if I hadn’t felt Ward and Light easily gobble up far more Nanos and far faster than I could, even when I doubled or even tripled my cultivating thanks to my Time Compression ability. Their ability to cultivate was simply overwhelming. Then again, given the sheer increase in Nanos required to move from one Milestone to the next at this point was beyond me. It really drove home how difficult progression was.
“Okay, last one,” Hammer said, punching a much larger quilldog and knocking it a dozen yards back, this one’s quills were dripping acid. Given their durability, I was surprised by the contradiction but then this was a world of superpowers. Hammer, looking none the worse for wear added, “Let’s see if you can kill this one, Davis.”
I swallowed nervously. Through the process of killing these monsters, I had learned that my Nanos recovered enough for one full strength shot every 15-minutes, though I could feel a strain on my system when I did. Currently, I had just one shot, and that was barely re
covered from the last time.
I aimed for the eye on the still stunned quilldog and concentrated, calling up my ability. Before I could use it, the quilldog’s eyes snapped back into focus, much faster than the others I’d killed previously. The beast charged back at Hammer. After the missed opportunity, I was ready and waiting for Hammer to stop the beast again. As soon as he did, I would be able to let loose with my ability. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. When the monster charged at Hammer, the large brute simply side stepped the monster, leaving it to continue barreling right at me, ready to bite my head off or impale me with its quills.
I panicked. I dropped to the ground and curled up into a ball, trying to minimize the damage I was about to receive. I hoped I would survive long enough for a healer to fix me up. Then I heard a heavy thud followed by a high-pitched rubbing sound, like skin on glass. After a moment of not being dead or injured, I peeked out, to see the quilldog had crashed headlong into a shimmering blue barrier and the monster was once again stunned.
“If you are going to do stuff like that, at least make sure he’ll survive it first,” Ward said, a hint of anger in his voice.
“I knew you would protect him,” Hammer said. “Now we know how he’ll react when his life is in danger. I’ll give him another day, if he doesn’t improve by the end of hunting tomorrow then I’m leaving.”
“He’s new at this,” Light said. “You need to give him time to develop and learn. No one can become a combat veteran overnight. Not you. Not even Major Miracle.”
“Which is why I said he’s got until tomorrow,” Hammer said. “Time is short, we can’t wait until the end of the month to determine if he’s got the will to go through with this. If he can’t face down a simple alpha quilldog, then he stands no chance against the villains. If he stands no chance against the villains, then this mission is pointless. Now, Davis, kill that quilldog.”
There was a problem with doing that. I was still petrified, curled up on the ground, staring at the massive monster just inches away from gutting me with one of its acid dripping quills.
Thankfully, Light did it for me. One shot from his finger into the exposed underbelly and the quilldog died.
Hammer scoffed, then repeated himself, “One more day.”
“Cultivate what you can,” Light said, looking to me now. “And don’t worry about Hammer.”
Except that Hammer was right. If I didn’t improve, and improve quickly, then there was no point in this mission moving forward. I was slow to climb back to my feet. I felt embarrassed for panicking like I did. And especially for Hammer to call me on it. It was . . . humiliating.
“This time, don’t focus directly on the quilldog,” Ward advised. “Instead, stretch your senses out as far as you can.”
I frowned. Wasn’t that what I was already doing? Still, Ward and Light hadn’t steered me wrong yet. I sat down and tried to sense for the Nanos coming from the quilldog, using it as a starting point. Then I tried to sense out further from it. Even just five feet away from the quilldog, there was a good number of tired Nanos. It wasn’t as concentrated as it was at the corpse, but there was still a lot to be taken.
“Now, don’t try to take everything from the highest concentration of Nanos, instead, try to take in the Nanos within range,” Ward continued. “Start with those farthest away and work inwards. Build up momentum.
Within my range? I had a range? Once again, I tried to push out the range of my Nano-sense. Upon opening my senses, I found I could feel Nanos up to about twenty feet away from me. I activated my Time Compression and grabbed them. It felt slow at first because there were so few Nanos that I could feel at my outer limits. But as I closed in on my center, it was like he said, I picked up momentum, grabbing more and more, quickly surpassing what I thought was my limit. And when I got to the alpha, I was moving so fast I swept through the Nanos, grabbing most of them in one go. And then my Time Compression ended and within seconds I converted 312,983 Nanos.
Congratulations! You’ve reached the 13th Milestone. The Nanos have accumulated within your body to a point in which it is now possible to enhance your Nano Evolved Body or Abilities. Be intelligent with your decisions as all choices are final.
You may now open your Status and apply two points of enhancement.
I was dumbfounded. I had never been able to gather so many Nanos at once. It was slower than my usual cultivation, at least at first it was. But when I had momentum . . . I more than quadrupled what I thought was my maximum. Was that how everyone gathered Nanos? Or was that a secret of Ward’s that he just shared with me? Did Light know this technique? I made a mental note to ask Ward about it later. For now, I satisfied myself by applying my two enhancement points. I know I was supposed to be improving my space manipulation, and both Ward and Hammer would probably be displeased, but I wanted to get my Time Power and Control both up to Average first, plus I was so close, 7 out of 10 on both. Just three Milestones to go.
A few minutes later, a seemingly satisfied Hammer grunted and said, “I’ll start disintegrating the corpses except for the alpha, we’ll take it back with us for dinner.”
“Dinner?” I questioned, feeling slightly ill at the thought of eating monster dog.
“Yeah, quilldog isn’t bad eats. Might even gain an enhancement point of Physical Resistance,” Hammer said, then jabbed at me with the snide comment, “You’ll need it if you want to survive this world.”
Ignoring what I was sure was a jab at my cowardice, the statement confused me. Rather than ask Hammer, I looked to Ward. The man was as close to a scientist as I could find so far.
“When you eat certain Nano-Infused foods, there is a very slim chance you can carry over some of the strength of the Nanos being converted. Quilldogs have a very potent Physical Resistance. There is a chance, albeit very small chance, you will be able to gain an enhancement point,” Ward explained. “You may have noticed that when you kill a beast, they only release a portion of their Nanos. Some of the Nanos are destroyed by the death of the beast. And finally, everything else is infused into the body. The quills, the skin, the meat, organs, and bones all have Nanos. Some of the parts like the skin and quills are used to create our bodysuits and armor. Some parts, like the meat and some organs can be consumed. The rest is . . . mostly unusable.”
“Back up, the Nanos we absorb can carry over enhancement points from their host?” I asked.
Ward looked thoughtful for a moment, then replied, “Not exactly, at least I can’t say for certain. It only seems to work with the Nanos absorbed during consumption. Hammer Jack for instance, eats meat from beasts known to have an abundance of Strength enhancements.”
“Is it the meat or the Nanos in the meat that carry the enhancements?” I asked, excited by the information.
Ward blinked at me several times as if he was confused. That, or I just asked such a stupid question he didn’t know how to answer. “The Nanos,” he finally answered, then added, “I assume.”
What did he mean ‘assume’? I asked, “Haven’t you ever studied it?”
“I haven’t, no. But there are others that study Nanos extensively. They would know more,” Ward answered.
That was frustrating. I would have loved to sit down and talk to these people that study Nanos. I really wanted to understand better how they worked. But if my mission was a success, I would hopefully be going home and there weren’t any Nanos there for me to study.
“I would be happy to arrange a meeting with Mechanical Parts, he’s probably the leading expert on Nanos in New Haven,” Ward offered.
I shook my head. “I would, but . . . well, if we succeed, I’ll hopefully be on my way home.”
“You could stay, you know,” Light said. “You could find a place in this world.”
“My sister is back there. I need to get back to her,” I said. “She depends on me.”
“I didn’t know you had a sister,” Light said. “Is she also a doctor?”
“No, she’s a student . . . was a
student. She should have graduated by now,” I said, thinking of the little girl I practically raised.
“What did she study?” Ward asked.
“Computer Engineering,” I answered. “Just goes to show that she is so much smarter than me.”
“And what’s that?” Light asked.
“Computer Engineering?” I asked, getting a nod from Light. “Oh, well she’s learning how computers work, everything from software to hardware. If I remember correctly, she’s focusing on network engineering.”
“I see,” Light said, nodding. “But . . . uh, what’s a computer?”
“A computer, you know, like a machine that can be used to process information using various software applications,” I said, getting a blank look in return. “You don’t have computers?”
Light shook his head and when I looked to Ward, he also shook his head.
I was perplexed by their responses. “If you don’t have computers, then how do you-” I paused to think about how to ask this question. What is something that is done today that computers made easier or better. “Type a letter or write a paper? Or what about large mathematical calculations?”
“On a typewriter or with a pen,” Light answered. “As for the math, I’m not sure,” he added, looking to Ward for help.
“There are people with abilities that give them enhanced brain power. If there is a math problem, they can usually solve it,” Ward answered.
I was stunned by the answer. A typewriter was such old technology. How in the world did they create a Nano-Virus so long ago without computers? Or was the technology lost after the Advent? And ability users had math powers? “Then how did that windowless vehicle fly if a computer wasn’t controlling it?”
Planet Hero- Civilian Page 8