New Experiences 3

I aimed at the mechanical spiders.

–Bang!

I hit it crystal clear, I did the same with the other mechanical spiders.

–Bang! Bang!

From 15 to 9 spiders

I reloaded at an incredible speed. I locked and loaded the bullets inside my gun.

–Bang! Bang!

For a moment the room was quiet, as unstable breathing was heard in the room so as the smell of gunpowder.

I fell on my knees, there's a lot of gashes on me and steam seems to come out of me. I'm still conscious despite the blood I lost.

As I was catching my breath I stood up.

"I… "

I aimed at the Security bot. This time I had enough time to think and execute my action.

I shot at the wires exactly behind it through the gaps of its armors. After a few hits the camera's of the bot which was the eyes stopped glowing.

But I still heard beeping. I went behind the bot even though I can hardly keep my balance and shot the nearest thing remotely close to a storage for a CPU.

I made sure that everything that looks big enough to be a compartment for something has a hole in it.

Then fully I didn't hit the battery.

After emptying my last mag I staggered backwards and fell on my butt.

My stress was all gone after I heard the shutdown noise that the security bot made.

My heartbeat was uncontrollably racing and my breathing was starting to get hoarse.

A-9 walked towards me as he was incapable of running anymore and went past me to the facilities.

I was about to curse like it's the 1950's but A-9 went back with a flask filled with water.

I accepted it and drank it all.

"Rest for now Damian."

I nodded, I can't do anything anymore at this state. I was so tired. I have these cuts in my body. The mechanical spider is just a circular body with 8 legs. Every leg was sharp.

I let loose after knowing my battle was over. My body is surely built different.

"Hah…."

"Looks like I don't have to pay you after all"

My eyes widened as I heard that statement, after all that I've been through and you won't be giving me anything?

You damn AI! After all I've been through?!

"After all I helped you acquire a perk for a skill"

My expressions changed again, the only one who could describe it right now is A-9 since he's in front of me.

"I'm kidding. I'm letting you take all of it as you said. I am just joking"

My eyes twitched, how could you joke like that! Simply, I was angry!

"What was that a joke?!"

"of course ^-^"

"How can you even joke like that!"

"I was made to mimic humans after all"

I don't know how to respond to that. But after my breath stabilized I finally asked the time.

"What time is it?"

"About 5:56pm"

"Day?"

"Monday"

"Wait what…"

"Your encounter with the mechanical Tiger was exactly at 3pm. You slept for 21 hrs. Waking up to fight the security bot for 2 hours straight and now has rested for 3. Now it is 5:56pm"

"I slept for almost a day? Wow. "

This is my 3rd day on the week-long hike. What a wild ride. I have to defeat some robots just to use some facilities.

"looks like you have obtained a perk with an passive effect"

"What do you mean?"

I looked at A-9 in the last proper looking eye it had.

"wait here"

He went to the Hall and went back with a mirror. As I looked at it my eyes were changed.

"a transformation?!"

A transformation due to a skill is very rare. It has to be registered so it is counted that you are not contracted with a Zenite.

But here I am, with one.

My eyes turned to a scope you see in snipers, it's not noticeable when far but when you look closely it's obviously there.

It's not because of what I said that it formed that way right?

"congratulations."

A-9 congratulated me but in my opinion it's going to be a problem. If I kept this the way it is I have no choice but to register this to the government, making me stand out to other guilds.

After all having a transformation due to a skill is already rare, but I also might get scouted reason being 'talent'

I don't want that. They're basically exposing me to Nexus and getting myself a bounty in the head.

They enjoy challenges to the point of crossing too many lines, for them I'm just prey. There's this other way too which is I could also get scouted by Nexus.

I sighed, thank god I still have enough strength to stand up, I wanted to take a rest today.

But first.

"You could pay me later… Where's the kid?"

"That's an impressive recovery rate…"

A-9 handed me a towel. I started cleaning up the blood off me but I could only wipe off the blood surrounding my face and my arms. I need to shower and get a new set of clothes because my clothes right now are drenched in blood.

I was never this hurt, physically hurt. Even in my past life all I ever received was mental damage. Over and over, I need to prepare myself for the future.

"Come with me."

A-9 walked through a hall full of cross sections, it was a short walk and at the end was another circular hall. Although it was smaller than the previous one.

And there are multiple doors leading to different directions. But a good thing was there's a label above these doors.

'Medical Lab', 'Research Center' and etc.

A-9 and I went to the Medical Lab and walked down a set of stairs.

There are doors that are open, some are locked and others blocked by debris from the other side.

Considering A-9, it's possible he can't open such doors since the body he had is practically overused for decades.

"Here."

A door on the edge of the hall to the right was opened and a large room was opened. Multiple test tubes were shown.

Surprisingly it's very clean here. I can guess why as I saw one of the test tubes running. There's an infant in there.

"I made its eyes Green. The same with my creator. But now I guess this coincidence will help you in the future."

"Yeah… What was the full name of your creator?"

"Ah… if I remember correctly, his name was Ezekiel Cassanova"

I twitched, the word Cassanova is well too familiar. It was my real last name and of course, my bloodline.

"When was this place created?"

"About 90 years ago."

That was too long. No wonder this place is already merging with nature.

"Wait. How come this place is still running?"

"Thermo nuclear energy, I only had to replace fuse once every decade"

This place was impressive, I was done being shocked how this place is that active.

Honestly, this place is a relic, while this place is advanced I'm pretty sure the outside world is much more. But even so I can't help but be amazed.

This is not something you'll get once in a lifetime.

"alright, Let's get this over with"

I pointed at the baby residing inside the tube with an unknown liquid and looked at A-9 with confirmation.

A-9 nodded and went to work with the multiple monitors on the corner of the room, clicking noises can be heard.

–fwoosh

The Tube's liquids were being flushed out and the one that was left is the baby inside. After it opened I gently lifted the baby out.

"So uhm… "

"The child would be a month old as I left it there"

"Ah okay."

"Rest in the same room I prepared, and also place the baby on the same crib as the baby girl. I prepared it big for this occasion."

A-9 has this expression, if not for me then nobody would be able to see it. He has a subtle smile, one of happiness.

…

Rest, I deserve and need it. Just after I wiped the baby boy clean I went to the bed and fell like a ragdoll.

The gashes and cuts are healed. I got treated in the medbay at least. It didn't leave any scars which is good. I'm also worried about tetanus but I'm sure A-9 took that to account.

I checked the time. It was evening 8:26pm to be exact.

I told A-9 that I will get all my rewards tomorrow since I'm so tired.

The bed was so soft I slept so comfortably for the whole day, especially because it was also cold, my pillow was cold, the bed was a bit cold. I couldn't help but sleep like a log.

The morning came and I woke up feeling refreshed. First and foremost I checked my breathing technique. I'm still not falling behind.

I went ahead and looked at the two babies resting in the crib. I hope I'm not neglecting them

"Ah, you're awake."

"huh?"

I looked at A-9 at the doorstep.

"they were crying a lot and I had to grab some formula and feed them, I was tired you know"

"o-oh, I'm sorry for tha- wait a minute"

"Haha, I was joking."

This bot, It's getting creative with those jokes I swear. I sighed as I stretched my muscles.

And took a quick look at both Infants, are they lucky enough to have an inborn skill? I guess I'm excited as a brother, I do wish to grow alongside these two.

"A-9, is there a way to Identify other's status?"

"yes, the status is only limited to ranking and will not be available for martial guide and skills"

"Wait really?"

I got curious, I mean it was a stupid question yes there is a way to identify status accurately as the government uses them.

Now that I think about it, I still haven't got my rewards, since it would be left rotting here might as well get them all.

"Well, you got my rewards?"

"Oh, of course."

As A-9 and I talked I remembered about the bloodline awakening. Since I'm Dimitri's cousin I have the same bloodline, well I mean, mother is the Witch of Calamity I might be a wizard of Calamity

who knows.

10:00am

A-9 and I tried to awaken my bloodline, but to no avail we were left with no results. A-9 explained to me that I'm either too young or simply lacking in requirements.

10:56am

A-9 showed me the armory, it was filled with weapons that looked too futuristic.

"What the…"

I was excited, these types of weapons are only seen in video games. Since I wanted a custom gun might as well tamper with the guns here.

And while I was lost in my thoughts, one thing came into my mind, A-9 told me about a few skills.

"A-9 show me the skills that you kept hidden here"

11:27am

A-9 led me in a room, I couldn't quite catch the name above the hall we went through as it was riddled with vegetation.

As we entered I encountered rows of shelves with tiny orbs in them enough to fill my hand.

"I thought it was only quite a few?"

"This is though? There are only 27 of them here, to make them a lot we would've needed it to be 40 and above."

"This is a few!? Getting one out there is already a luxury! Now that I think about it, what rank are they?"

"I arranged them from <D> to <E> there is 2 Unique skills there"

"wha-"

"I also arranged them, being the Speed type, Attack type, Defense type, and Auxiliary type"

"Okay, okay that's wonderful"

I checked the names they all have, I'll prioritize my siblings first. After checking them all none of them were interesting.

All of those are E and above, that was enough to entice someone to join a guild. Having a skill is having more cards in your hands, they aren't easy to access either, you have to risk your life or be rich enough to obtain one.

But none of the E rank skill orbs made me jump in joy, as I can't use them. In battle nor even help me in everyday life. They weren't just compatible with me.

There were a couple of D rank skill orbs, I looked at them as I was curious.

===

[{-D} Dual Wield][Passive]

–The User can wield weapons of identical types easier than any other weapons. The User will not be able to wield one weapon perfectly as they used to.

[{D} Jester's humour][Active]

–The user would be able to find fault in anything, mocking it's appearance or usually the User's opinion on the subject.

[{-D} Survivor's token][Passive]

–Everytime the user was able to survive a deadly situation a token of luck would be given

► Luck tokens [0]

===

I wanted all of this for myself as they look very useful, but I shouldn't get greedy. I can't just hoard this to myself as I also have siblings to take care of.

I placed the two in my bag. Those are for the two babies.

Grabbing survivors' token as I would venture in more dangerous situations in the future, having a lot of luck is welcome. Who wouldn't want such luck?

Placing the orb in my forehead it merged with it, then I felt a surge of mana in me. This is how skill orbs are absorbed.

1:20 Pm

Deciding to look at the research papers I was a bit baffled, the names of herbs used for pharmaceutical information are all extinct, yet they have predicted what to use if they run out. These are known in the modern times already.

The more I read, the more absurd it got. There are some herbs mentioned that don't exist. There are even studies that didn't exist as public knowledge, the corporations out there might be hiding their techniques. But this one, this one is truly different.

I asked A-9 what these herbs are and to my surprise there is a botanical garden in here that grows these herbs. Turns out these herbs are the only ones in existence since they were collected here.

I'm getting rewards that are so valuable it could make a billionaire if I do sell this.

With that in mind, I got curious. What happened to this place? I asked but… I was left unanswered

2:10pm

In my novel, I placed a few points. One that would help the protagonist more. There is a way to add a blank skill.

And completely turn it into a useful one. It is quite risky as it may lead to mana overcharge leading to massive pain and of course even death.

Even so, I need a skill. One that is only for me. A unique skill if you will. So I asked A-9 for it.

"What do you mean?"

"I want to use the remaining Skill orbs to make a new skill"

Of course A-9 wouldn't know this as it appeared in the latter half of the novel when the protagonist managed to get a hold of three E rank skill orbs.

So here I explained the notion to A-9, of course he was worried, my body of a 6 year old who wouldn't be?

I was pushing my luck here truly.

But of course I convinced A-9 and went through a discussion about my new skill.

"Since It's a forced skill, is it possible for a restriction?"

"Maybe?"

"to be safe we will do that, as it needs intent then we'll through it, I'll prepare medical equipment just in case of emergency"

"sure"

I nodded, yeah I may get hurt but I don't want to die hurting.

What am I saying, I'm here to live! Just like my mother willed it, like it's not my will I also wanted to live with her though…

Well anyways. I discussed with A-9 the possibilities. As I didn't want to stand out more than my eye.

"Well, looks like you need another transformation"

"w-why?!"

"Listen, Damian transformations are always the effect of perks, you want a storage room for weapons and auxiliary tools then you might need a transformation for a better storage for that."

"Fine, fine but what's a good transformation though… "

"Well… there's one good transformation"

"Which is…?"

A-9 smiled. I couldn't help but visibly flinch.

"a tattoo"

"I said something that wouldn't make me stand out!"

"Well, a tattoo is a widespread thing that people do for fashion or any other reason yes?"

"Yes and your point?"

"You don't need the tattoo somewhere exposed isn't it?"

"But a student?!"

"are you going to go and show your body?"

"No… but still I can't help but not want a tattoo.. "

"Fine, then make a condition for it"

"Okay, okay which is?"

"it only appears when your body is considerable hot"

With my finger under my chin I couldn't help but think that was a good idea. What I need right now is a skill with a perk. And to achieve a good perk I needed a good transformation.

"Okay, okay I agree with you. "

"So should we start?"

"Yeah, I need it no matter what!"

"Then, as you explained. Let's start"

He held some of Thebes rank orbs in his hands. I need it to succeed, so… this is going to be the longest week I'll have.