Chương 29: Statistics

It was only once I somehow managed to make it back to the highway that I slowed my pace down. Finding the road wasn't much of a surprise. I simply used Seek, and my psionic ability guided me right to where I wanted to go. The surprising part was getting through the dark forest without being attacked a single time. It was probably around midday when I finally paused. The fog of the Mire made it difficult to estimate the position of the sun.

Not to mention it'd been raining heavily throughout the entire time I was traveling. The blood had mostly washed out of my clothes, though that also meant I looked and felt like a drowned rat. I leaned my palm against a tree, and panted heavily as I tried to catch my breath. A cool wind cut through my soaked clothes, making me shiver heavily.

"Clanker? Still with me?"

"Affirmative." VGL's voice came from the pendant dangling from my chest.

"Good." I pulled back, and my head dropped back to let cool drops of rain splatter across my face. It felt so good compared to the muggy environment.

"Operator, do you know the direction?" VGL buzzed lightly against my chest.

"This unit possesses no terrain data."

"Oh." I pulled at my satchel, and dug through several protein bricks for the tablet that'd been half soaked in blood. It didn't turn on when I tried, so I simply hooked it up to the charging bracelet Quinn had gotten me. A few moments later, the tablet's screen lit up.

"Your relic is convenient." VGL's warm voice pushed back some of the tension I'd been feeling. No—not warm. He was monotone at best. Just hearing someone else, even if he was a bot, was so nice.

"No kidding." I flicked through the map data, and dangled the pendant over it.

"Do you, uh, need to recharge too?"

"Power levels are currently high, Operator." A light beamed out of VGL's eye and scanned the tablet. No idea how that worked.

"Data retrieved. We are approximately—""Don't tell me how far." I didn't know if my heart could take it. Instead, I focused Seek on Sylvie's pendant to feel the distance. I was… far would be a bit of an understatement. I slung the tablet back into my satchel, and pulled the pendant back on. I pushed off from the tree, and walked along the tree line of the forest and the ancient highway. I was tempted to just walk along the highway outright like we had on the way up, but I didn't have a radiant ward to protect me.

Taking advantage of sightlines was my best way to move forward. While moving, I idly plucked out black strands of fur from my tail and hair. My healing factor applied to hair growth to a certain extent, but even then I soon had several bald patches. It was only a matter of time till I returned to pure silver. I hoped. Intermittently, I explained Seek to VGL-09. The Titan core seemed to take a particular interest in my psionic ability.

'Course he did. It was the key to getting back to Silverport and finding his Grail Knight. Despite knowing that, I found myself answering all of his questions. What else would I do? I steadily marched along the forest. Just as it started to thin, I stopped next to a large tree. Already, I'd made more progress than I expected to. That wouldn't last. The calamities in the area were likely drawn to the ship. Over the past several hours, I'd heard roars and screams echo even this far away.

Before I ran into something, I desperately needed to rest. My limbs felt like lead, and my eyes weighed heavily like I might fall over at any moment.

"Can you keep watch?" VGL hummed lightly for a moment.

"Affirmative. Rest assured, Operator."

"Good." Maybe he wasn't useless after all. I walked out of the forest, and then carefully doubled back along my tracks to throw off anything trying to hunt me down. Just to be sure, I repeated the process in three different directions and hid my trail. It was an exhaustive process, but counter-surveillance had been beaten into me repeatedly. It was doubly important for creatures that could track much better than a human. I left the area behind, and cut off some low-hanging branches.

I crushed up the palepine needles to mask my scent and eyed the forest above. I settled on one with the fewest low-hanging branches. I scaled the tree with practiced ease. In less than a minute, I made it about halfway up and hid in a mess of branches. VGL swayed against my chest as I sat down with my back up against the trunk of the palepine.

"You picked a good tree, Operator."

"I know," I gruffly replied to the core. My throat throbbed from talking to him all afternoon. It was the most I'd talked in a long time.

"I was complimenting you." VGL's light flashed twice as if blinking.

"… thanks." I tied myself down to the branch using the straps of my satchel, and dangled VGL where he'd have the best sightline.

"Comfy?"

"This unit does not have the capability to feel comfort." VGL flicked a light over me, and scanned my position.

"… are you comfortable, Operator?" I popped open my satchel, and pulled out a protein bar. I cut off half of it, and stashed the other half away. It tasted like chalk. I'd kill for a cup of Harbor's cheap coffee.

"Do I look comfortable?"

"This unit is unsure." VGL's light settled on my chest.

"Your Biosystems have updated." | Subject: Reyna Vargriev Subject Species: Silver Wolf Apex (Pending) Subject Profile: This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. STR - 1. 8 ACU - 1. 3 AGL - 2. 5 PSI - 2. 3 RES - 0. 8 ANM - 0. 2 Traits: Regeneration, Rage, Mutant NLC - 0/146 =Blackwater Anomalous Biosystems V7. 77 =Blackwater Anomalous Heart Harvesting Claws Vitae: 5 18 Warnings!

| My adjusted readout popped into my eye like a HUD despite me having flesh eyes. It was oddly nice to see my name on the screen. It made it feel less… alien? It was still totally alien, but slightly less so. Same with having my species pinged, though the pending addition made me feel uneasy.

"What's the profile thingy?" I pointed toward the status screen. It was a useless endeavor since VGL couldn't see it, and it was directly in my head so my hand was out of focus behind the screen.

"Your core statistics. The Blackwater Biosystems appears to track six of them." VGL's flashlight flicked over me.

"Nanite Strain data was mostly purged." Six was already a lot to keep track of. My ears flicked to a creaking tree in the forest. Once I was sure it was just the wind, I asked VGL, "do other systems track more?"

"Affirmative." The core flashed once.

"I hold one record of Templar Pharmaceuticals advanced biomonitor displaying thirty-three different statistics."

"Pyre…" Thirty-three? I'd go crazy just looking through all of that. Just having six was hurting my head.

"What are mine?"

"The left appears to be your physical statistics. Strength. Agility. Resilience." VGL's eyes slid to the other side.

"The right column appears to be your immaterial ones. Acuity. Psionics. Anima. One point is average." The physical ones all made sense. Acuity… that sounded like it had something to do with my mind, based on what the Berserker thing said earlier. Psionics was pretty self-explanatory as well.

"Anima?"

"This unit is unsure. It appears to be tied to life-force and magic." VGL blinked repeatedly.

"The records were expunged."

"Heh, life-force?" My ears flattened to the sides of my head. So I had a fifth of normal life-force? I couldn't even make it to half-dead. My future of becoming an enchanter was crushed before it could even start. Then there were the Traits. Regeneration and Mutant made sense. They were likely results of Hades' treatments. Rage, though? I glared at the Trait. | Rage: Amygdala Hyperactivity linked to increased aggression. | I wasn't aggressive. Anyone who saw me would see the obedient mutt, Reyna.

Aggression was, like, the farthest thing from me. The thing must've been glitched. What else could I expect from an anomaly? My glare intensified, and I roughly waved my hand until it went away.

"See? Perfectly calm."

"Operator—""I wasn't talking to you," I quickly cut the bot off. What was the point of the Biosystems, anyway? The dumbass thing was just telling me stuff I already knew.

'Course I was faster and stronger thanks to the experiments. That was pointless information. I'd sacrifice all of it for even a hint at the Psyker immunity I was promised. That being said, it was nice to see the warnings drop down once more. I was in a rough state when I first absorbed the nanites, but my Regeneration had mostly managed to patch me up. I didn't still feel like dying just because I tried to take a breath, anyway. I settled back against the trunk and nodded to the Titan core.

"Wake me if something happens."

"Affirmative." VGL scanned me one more time.

"Sleep well."

"… you too." I pulled my tail into my lap. It was soggy and wet, which unfortunately matched the rest of my state. Hopefully I wouldn't catch a cold.

"I lack the capability. The thought is appreciated." VGL slowly started to warm up like a space heater next to me, and the chill of the night started to fade away. I absentmindedly curled toward him while trying to make sense of everything that happened so far. It was a long time before I finally managed to go to sleep. — — — I rolled over on the couch, and snuggled closer to Sylvie. My tail wrapped hers in a hug. Her fur, usually so soft and cozy, burned like an oven—Sylvie?

I jolted awake and instinctively jerked my tail away from the smoldering body of VGL-09. The Titan core was entirely dark for once, though I could feel the warmth even from this far away. Lightning flashed above, briefly illuminating the trees. The rain had stopped at some point, thankfully, though everything still had a sheen of water across it. I glared at the core. Why—? The light of his eye blinked dimly at me one time, and then faded away.

Before I could even ask what was going on, my ears twitched toward the forest below. My half-dry tail defensively curled in my lap, and I silently listened. Branches crunched under several trees away from me. I wasn't sure what it was, but it sounded massive. Bark cracked and broke off a tree just from the calamity rubbing against it. Every heavy footfall sent a low thud echoing up into the forest. My eyes rapidly adjusted to the darkness of midnight.

Just underneath me, a truck-sized shadow stood with its nose lowered to one of the paths I'd set up just in case. It was massive, and vaguely shaped like a two-headed bear. As if sensing my gaze, the creature lifted its head. Its exact shape was lost in the darkness, but I still caught the fuzzy shape of deadly fangs. Contrary to its size, a childlike voice came out of its throat.

"Hello?" A chill went down my spine. Skullker? No—a Skullker wouldn't have been able to kill something so massive. Not without noticeably damaging the body. A dozen different calamities rolled through my mind, though none of them matched the beast below me. Wind rustled the treetops, and the creature's heads shot up toward me. I snapped my eyes shut and looked away from it in case it had some sixth-sense for being watched. Even if it didn't, I didn't want my crimson eyeshine to give me away.

I held absolutely still despite the freezing chill settling into my veins from the wind.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" The childish voice called out as if scared.

"Can you help me? I'm so hungry." My canines instinctively flashed. I flinched, and killed a growl just before it could break out of me. My instincts were going haywire. Everything in me wanted to stake my territory and make the creature back off. Rationally, I was better just remaining totally quiet. I swallowed dryly, and tried to pretend I was elsewhere. Right, I wasn't in a random forest of the Mire being hunted by an unknown calamity. I was back home, safely on the couch next to Sylvie listening to the radio.

The massive creature went silent for a minute as if to let me enjoy my fantasy, and then noisily stalked along the trail into the distance. Only once it sounded far enough away did I subtly relax. I slowly let out a breath I'd been holding, and gently pulled VGL back onto my neck. The Titan core remained dead silent, though vibrated lightly against my chest as if to let me know he was still with me. Over the course of an hour, the creature repeatedly returned to my trail.

Again and again it called out in its childish voice to no answer. My ears ached from straining to listen to its movements, and my exhaustion weighed heavier on me by the moment. I couldn't risk falling asleep with it on the prowl, though. It was only once something else caught the giant creature's attention that it left my area behind and disappeared into the trees. Even still, I remained alert and perfectly still hidden away in my tree. It proved to be for the best when I spotted movement in my peripherals.

In a complete betrayal of physics, the two headed bear-like creature stalked across the forest floor in absolute silence. Its heavy weight made no sound. It kept all I had in me to keep from directly looking at it and to continue watching through my peripherals. After giving one last look around, it vanished into the trees. I didn't fall asleep again. I couldn't fall asleep again. I just sat silently in my tree, only kept warm thanks to the heat put off by VGL, throughout the rest of the night.

Thankfully, the core likewise stayed silent aside from the occasional light buzzes against my chest. The Mire brightened substantially after hours of being in the dark. It was only once dawn broke that I ate the other half a protein bar and dared to slip out of the forest.