by Ivan Shaman
He hadn’t seen anyone above the eightieth level, except the Emperor. On the other hand, the ‘Absorber’ required the skill ‘Cannibal’, which he had. Alex remembered the hangar with a shudder. Did he really want to get all his experience this way? But, was absorbing nanomachines from their enemies’ bodies really any better, no matter what the others said?
Having read the list again, he pumped his ‘Intelligence’ up to two hundred. His head became instantly clearer. Taking a fresh look at the list, Demon realized that he didn’t have to rise all his skills. He’d travel in a large company and be a leader, though he was still at the thirtieth level. Therefore, he could postpone some skills for later, when he better understood what he really needed. Now he just had to pump the most necessary ones.
Having achieved a hundred on ‘Strength’, ‘Dexterity’ and ‘Stamina’, he again looked at the character panel, thought a little more, and then added the remaining points to ‘Perception’ and ‘Intelligence’.
Demon, Cannibal, level 30
Strength:
100
Dexterity:
100
Intelligence:
222
Perception:
200
Stamina:
100
Available talent points:
25
Available skill points:
28
Available skills: Experienced (recommended skill), Training, Melee, Shooter, Master, Hard skull, Quiet step, Strongman, Control
Leaving eighteen skill points in reserve, he took the first levels of ‘Shooter’, ‘Melee’, ‘Strongman’, ‘Quiet step’, ‘Experienced’, ‘Hard skull’, ‘Control’, ‘Marksman’ and ‘Second heart’. Now, if necessary, he could pump any skill up to the twentieth level.
Then he accepted all the changes. The whole of his body twisted in a violent spasm, and a wild, all-consuming agony flared everywhere, from the tips of the claws to his pupils. All his organs, joints and tendons burned like fire. Demon tried to scream, but he couldn’t because his lungs didn’t get any air. In his head, there were no thoughts, only pain. He stopped seeing and hearing anything. For a moment, he assumed that he was dead. Then the feelings started to come back to him.
“Wake up, Alex! Wake up!” Jane shook him by the shoulders. “What’s it?”
“I’m all right,” he gasped, looking at Jane with dull eyes, barely fending off messages, telling him the composition of her shirt, the size of the buttons, the brand of her bra and the release of the pheromones. “I’ve just pumped.”
“What?” The Immortal drew back slightly, and then punched him gently on the head, “Dummy! Who pumps so much at once? This isn’t a game, and you aren’t a character. Nanomachines need time to transform your body. You’ve ordered them to change your entire body all at once. You’ve pumped as much in five minutes as others do over two months.”
“Yes, you’re right,” Demon muttered, turning onto his back and getting used to the new world he saw around him.
He heard, saw and felt everything – what was going on on the first floor in the back room, for example. He saw Jane’s heart beating, and the nanomachines floating in her pupils. The cacophony of sounds and smells beat at his brain, filling each of his senses to the point of overflowing. Slowly, very slowly, he was able to control them.
Opening one eye, Demon looked at Jane. He had to do something with the messages that had popped up. There was no point in asking for advice from Jane, whose ‘Perception’ was two times lower than his own. He mentally moved them to the corner of his vision. They blinked there and merged into one with constantly changing text. It wasn’t ideal, but now, at least, they didn’t distract him.
There were no thoughts in his head – appearing, they instantly became a theory or rejected. Demon clearly understood how he had to distribute his skills, but didn’t want to repeat the painful experience.
Opening his skills spreadsheet, Demon saw ten possible directions he could take: melee, built-in plasma cannon, built-in rail gun, shoulder gun, conventional weapons, stealth, tank, terminator, transformer, or defensive fire.
The ‘Stealth’ and ‘Tank’ options would only be available after the opening of the ‘Immortal’ and ‘Chameleon’ skills. The ‘Terminator’ and ‘Transformer’ options also required the same skills. Only the ‘Defensive fire’, ‘Conventional weapons’ and ‘Melee’ were left available to him. Each talent point increased the overall efficiency by 5%, and each level required one more talent point.
Built-in weapons and a shoulder gun weren’t available. Unlocking them demanded the tenth level of each talent. By his simple calculations, it turned out that fifty-five skill points were required to unlock any built-in weapon – which meant that even if he pumped everything into one of them right now, it wouldn’t do any good. On the other hand, having a personal plasma gun was extremely tempting.
After weighing the pros and cons, Demon decided not to scatter his skills at all. He didn’t know when he would need them. He also needed to get used to the new skills he had obtained. He slowly stood up, took a few steps, and took a metal spoon from the table. He bent it, and then he effortlessly straightened it back into shape. Demon had never felt so strong and dexterous. Though he understood that this was only a small part of the opportunities possessed by the ‘Goliath’ and ‘Ghost’ routes.
“How do you feel?” Jane asked with undisguised interest.
“Stunning.” Demon looked at her, smiling. “I can’t say that I was reborn, but the feeling is amazing.”
He read the message above Jane carefully, waiting for a new status or panel with the number of lives. Instead of them, he saw a small dialog box.
To inspire activate ‘Connection’
To control activate ‘Control’
The corresponding icons appeared at the bottom, next to the ‘Punch’ and ‘Jerk’ skills.
“Listen, Jane,” he began, embarrassed, “I’ve got two new skills. Can I test them on you?”
“I don’t understand. Are you offering me anything indecent?” She enquired with her eyes wide and full of wonder.
“No, of course, not!” Demon protested. “It’s just that I’ve developed the skill ‘Inspiration’, and I want to test it on you. Is there anything wrong with that?”
“Well, depending on how you’re going to inspire me…” Jane grinned. “Test it. Your control won’t work on me anyway. As well as the ‘Inspiration’. Read the description.”
‘Connection’ transmits information about each other’s basic skills, allowing applying skills without physiological changes.
‘Control’ transmits information flows from auditory, visual and other channels, allowing better coordination.
“Yeah,” Demon muttered disappointedly. “I thought that I’d be able to take you under my control.”
“To do this, the ‘Luminary’ is needed. And I can’t be taken under control,” Jane laughed. “I have ‘Intelligence’ of 100 and have reached the twenty-eighth level. You can influence the first-levelers. It’s good for them as they don’t have any skills or ‘Intelligence’.”
“So if I have a basic skill that you don’t have, which I can pass to you?”
“Do you really have anything to give me?” Jane smirked, throwing him a challenge.
“Connection!” Demon said without arguing.
“Oh,” she exhaled. Alex watched with pleasure as she looked at her hands in surprise, took a knife and threw it across the room into an apple that lay on a bedside table. The tip slammed into the apple’s side and, leaving a deep scratch, it fell to the floor. The apple followed it. “Damn. I wish I could do it. Still, basic skills are almost useless. However, I have no skills for long-range combat, so thank you. Do you have many of them?”
“Almost all.” Demon nodded. “But I didn’t expect the ‘Strongman’ option to be an active skill.”
“It’s not active, it’s more active-passive,” she explained. “When you activate it, you’ll
be able to throw concrete plates for some time. Though not long. It briefly activates the body’s reserves. Then it needs a long time to recharge.”
“Well, I have enough skill points to take any skill up to the twentieth level,” the Cannibal said. “I just want to try myself in different ways. Before I make a final decision.”
“You were going to take the ‘Luminary’, weren’t you?” Jane went to the corridor and brought out a gun. She took aim, but the buff ended. “I didn’t get,” she sighed unhappily. “How long is the cooldown?”
“Fifteen minutes,” Demon replied, looking at the skill’s description. “Not good.”
“It suits for a fleeting battlefield,” Jane said, putting away the gun in the holster. “Perhaps, it’s even useful to have such a multifaceted skill. Who knows when it might come in handy? However, keep in mind that while you use it, your brain is loaded with information, so you become ‘sillier’. The more brothers and sisters you control or inspire, the stupider you become at these moments.”
“So that’s why Caesar has seven hundred points in ‘Intelligence’,” Demon muttered thoughtfully. “How many people can he control at one time?”
“Everyone who gets into the broadcast radius, I think.”
Chapter 10. New Task
Having tested his new skills, they went down to the first floor, where there was a large canteen. A large number of technocrats circulated there – as soon as one of them left, another took his place. The food wasn’t anything exciting, and there were fewer options than he’d hoped for: cans and a lot of vegetables. Alex took small portions of a few different dishes with caution.
“I want to know what they taste like,” he said, noticing Jane’s surprised look. “My ‘Perception’ has increased three times.”
“Then no salt and pepper. At least, for the first time,” Jane advised, pouring white sauce in a big bowl of vegetable stew. “What if you can’t eat them?”
“You’re right,” Demon agreed, adding a small spoonful of the same sauce to the edge of the plate. There was no free table, and so they joined two Masters, who enthusiastically argued about the process of restoring the electric generators. Their new neighbors didn’t bother them at all.
Demon began with the safest, in his view, option: smashed potatoes. The taste was strange – familiar and unusual in equal measure. He couldn’t be sure what exactly was wrong. Perhaps the problem was caused by memory loss or maybe by his increased ‘Perception’. He successively tasted haricot, zucchini, and stewed and chopped cabbage. The situation was repeated every time. The food was equally familiar and unusual. He seemed to guess the taste before he put the fork in his mouth, but each time he was surprised. Jane, all this time sitting quietly opposite, watched the expression of his face with pleasure.
“What do you think?” She asked when Alex put the last piece into his mouth and chewed it thoroughly.
“It’s okay. At least I’m not hungry or thirsty anymore,” he replied.
“What do you want?” Jane smiled.
Demon opened his needs panel.
Needs
Food:
1%
Water:
1%
Sleep:
98%
Sex:
50%
“I want to sleep,” he claimed confidently. “There’s almost a hundred percent need.”
“Ah,” she sighed, disappointedly. “Okay, let’s go upstairs.”
Demon fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. He slept without dreaming, as if falling into oblivion, and as if he hadn’t slept for the past few months. Although, perhaps, that was actually true.
At midnight, he was woken up by careful, but insistent touches of the woman’s hands. She stroked his back and chest, slowly moving her hands lower. Opening his eyes, Demon saw Jane smiling. Next to her name and level, there was her need which had reached its limit. Unable to resist the growing desire, he took her by the hair, and she obediently fell, hiding under the blanket.
She was very skillful and gentle. Demon suddenly realized that it was his first time. At least, since waking up in this new world. Quickly reaching a peak, he pressed her head to him. She didn’t resist, but when he relaxed, she continued to move, and after a few seconds, he felt that this wasn’t the end.
Having returned his strength, she sat astride and groaned with undisguised excitement. He helped her to reach orgasm as he could and knew how, but, despite the tips obtained with his high ‘Perception’, it didn’t happen immediately. Jane arched her back, and her fingers with their deadly sharp claws splayed. Then she shuddered and lay on top of him, pressing into him with her whole body.
“Hold me,” Jane entreated, “in your arms, please. For five minutes.”
Without words, Demon tightly held her, stroking her back. After a while, they both fell into a sound, healthy sleep. They woke up only due to a delicate knock at the door.
“You know,” Jane said when he opened his eyes, “I’m not going to lie to you that you’re the first person I’ve ever had a good time with. But you make me feel incredibly calm.”
“You too,” Demon replied, releasing her from his embrace. “Although it was my first time.”
“Wow, I’m sorry I took your virginity all of a sudden like that.” Jane smiled. “But if you want, I can wake you up like this every morning. We have the same temperaments.”
Alex compared their parameters. For the night, they increased by twenty percent. So, maybe, she was right. And yet he had the feeling that they had already done something like this. Although, perhaps it was just wishful thinking.
“Good morning,” Lex grumbled, grinning as they opened the door. “So you’re warming up here while I’m running around town?”
“Good morning,” Demon greeted him. “It’s your advice.”
“Well, I hoped that it would be me.”
“But it turned out differently.” Demon chuckled, looking at the Luminary.
Lex, Luminary, level 61, friendly, needs food, sex, sleep
Strength:
195
Dexterity:
150
Intelligence:
450
Perception:
300
Stamina:
200
Basic skills: Luminary, Second heart, Integrity, Primal Self
Battle skills: Control 7, Connection 7, Punch
“Oh, your ‘Intelligence’ is at four hundred and fifty,” the Cannibal was surprised. “You told me that it was three hundred.”
“I don’t remember saying that,” Lex answered, looking at him. “Why do you need so many first-level skills? And why haven’t you taken a main one?”
“I’ve left enough to get any when I choose which to pump. For now, I’m just undecided.” Demon shrugged.
“It’s your business, of course.” The Luminary frowned. “Actually, it was planned that I’d be your mentor till the fifteenth or the twentieth level. But you’re at the thirtieth already.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d still like to go with you to the northern TPS. I want to understand what I am now.”
“Agreed.” Lex chuckled. “I’ll eat, warm up and we’ll set off.”
“What about sleep?”
“I’ll sleep on the way. Jack’s going with us. I’m light as a feather for him.” He headed to the entrance but turned at the last moment. “Jane, are you busy now?”
“Yep. Go to Nicol,” Jane answered, hugging Demon from behind.
“Okay, I’ll go,” Lex replied, clearly surprised and annoyed. “In a couple of hours.”
“He’s upset,” Jane whispered in Alex’s ear when Lex went out. “I guess he hoped to hurt you.”
“Do you think it’s wise?” Demon said, surprised, “to play on the ego of the Luminary?”
“No, of course, not,” she sighed while getting dressed, “but it was pleasant. Although I agree, if he wished, he’d have controlled both of us.”
“And yet you’ve pretend
ed we are together,” the Cannibal continued. “Or are we really together?”
“I don’t know yet.” Jane smiled. “Let’s wait. Do you want to be together? Do you want me to be your first girlfriend in this life?”
“In fact, I was only born yesterday. I don’t know,” Demon said, looking straight into her eyes. “But I’d like to try and understand what ‘together’ means.”
“You didn’t kiss me last night.” She came close to him, then stood on tiptoe and put her arms around his neck. “Kiss me, Demon!”
He put his arm around her waist and bent down. Their lips merged in a long awkward kiss. He learned quickly, and after a while, it even seemed to him that he did it rather well.
“Not bad,” she praised him, pulling away. “But I hope it’ll be even better next time. We’ll practice more later.”
“Okay.” Demon chuckled. “We have a couple hours. What do you want to do?”
“Not now.” Jane laughed loudly. “We have to prepare for the trip. We need food and weapons. After all, you have the skill ‘Shooter’.”
“I also have the ‘Marksman’ skill, so the accuracy should be above average.”
“That’s great,” Jane said, putting on her winter jacket. “We need to find normal weapons.”
“Will it be a problem?” Demon wondered. “Do many cyborgs use rifles?”
“No one uses them,” Jane explained. “So they aren’t picked up and brought to the warehouse. Well, only if someone makes a pre-order.”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to use the gun you’ve brought. Is it good?”
“I don’t know. I took it from your bag.” She shrugged her shoulders. “There are even magazines for it.”