Chapter 18

Alex awoke to see his two wolves lying on the ground. Their bodies were already looking relatively healthy. The one that was missing an eye had it regrown. The one whose leg was nothing but charred bone was now standing on all four legs.

Man these nanites and Alice are a god sent. I mean the injuries I have gotten so far in this world should have killed me numerous times over but because of their healing abilities my body just keeps on ticking and getting stronger.

Alex tried to sit up but the pain he felt forced him to remain lying down. His body hurt all over. Turning his head from left to right to see his surroundings was all he could do. From the looks of things, he was on the examination table in the middle of the room and the wolves were lying on either side of the door.

Aww … are they trying to protect me?

“Alice how am I doing?”

“Spartan you probably don’t want to know.”

“That bad huh?”

“Absolutely! What you did was totally against the objective you gave me when we started this journey. You told me you wanted to get stronger and survive. You deliberately went against your own survival by trying to save that wolf. Why did you do it?”, asked Alice.

“I was in the military and one of the things that they teach you is to never leave a man behind. That goes for anyone in your squad. We bring ours home and I guess that training took over. I did not mean to jeopardize my life. I just wanted to save a companion.”

“I see. I will update my understanding of your ideals. In reference to your status you have 2 screens waiting both of which will make you happy but I must warn you that you must remain in the triage center for the remainder of the day. Your body was badly damaged by using you ki energy to multiply your physical abilities to their absolute maximum”

“Ok. I got it. Show me the screens.”

Congratulations you have reached level 11. You have 1 point to allocate to your mental or physical stats.

“Add that to my mental ability.”

You have completed the achievement: Heart of the Beast!

By taming an animal companion without the use of an ability you will be rewarded with the taming ability. It will be raised to a level equal to the number of animals you tamed.

That’s great! So since i tamed two animals I should start at tier II. Now I can actually train those two wolves like Bella does with Capone. I wonder what it can do.

I looked at the skill in my status menu.

Ability: Beast Taming Tier II

Allows user to form a link with the animals he/she tames allowing user to speak with the beast. Beasts collect experience and can level through combat like their tamer. Tamer is able to communicate over distance equal to 1 km x the tier of the taming skill. Able to increase pet stats with level grow just like the combatant. Able to see through pet’s eyes.

Current Pets: 2

“Master are you awake?”, I heard a soft gentle voice say.

“Who… what.. is that you wolves?”, I said.

“Yes, we wanted to know if you were alright”, the gentle voice said.

“Of course he is alright. I would not submit to a weakling”, a stronger more gruff voice said.

I see the female must be the soft voice and the male must be the other one.

“Yes, I am awake. However, I must rest here for some time. I don’t really know how to tell the two of you apart, can you tell me your names?”

“Yes, I am Boris”

“Yes, Accalia”

“I see. Now the two of you can you tell me what happened after I passed out?”

“Yes master”, said Accalia.

“Oh and my name is Spartan. I am your companion not your master.”

“We wolves submit to our pack leader and follow them without question. So if you wish us to call you by the name Spartan will do so, mas.. I mean Spartan”, said Boris. You got us here and your body turned a darker color while your body got bigger.”

That must have been my ki energy increasing my muscle size.

“Once we got into the house you ran towards this room we are in now but suddenly you fell and Accalia was thrown into the door to this room. She yelped in pain. I tried to help you but my body would not work. I thought we were going to die but you somehow opened the door to this place and pushed both of us in. When we got into this room we started feeling better immediately. Our wounds began to heal and I could feel my strength returning. Accalia woke up soon after but she was unable to move. When I was strong enough, I bit your arm and pulled you inside of here too.”

“Ah so that’s how I got in here.”

“Yes, once you got in here Boris and I talked and we decided to follow you for saving our lives. You could have left us. We were both badly injured from the big fire but you dragged us all the way back here and pushed us into this healing place. You didn’t even make it in yourself. With that selfless act, we have accepted you as our pack leader. We will fight with you until the end.”

Both wolves walked up and rubbed their noses against Alex's head as he continue to lay on the table.

“Thank you, for bringing me in here but how did I get up on the table?”

“Oh the female with the black slithering one put you up on the metal thing”, said Boris.

Black slithering one, oh he must have meant Capone. So Bella put me up here.

“Ok thanks you two. Can you do me a favor and guard the outside of the house. If anything comes near let me know and then I will tell you whether to kill it or not. Let nothing come into this house.”

“Yes mas… I mean Spartan”, said Accalia

Alex closed his eyes and began his meditation. He quickly found my ki reservoir. It was a serene, crystal, clear blue. Alex walked up near it and sat down.

“Alice, what is ki?”

“Ki is energy derived from the immeasurable amount of cells within living organisms. The more cells you have access to the more ki you can generate.”

“Ah so this lake represents the amount energy my cells can create.”

“Yes, the ones that actually can create ki. Currently your only about 20% of your body’s cells can create ki.”

“Since I am at tier II for ki manipulation that means that I get 10% more of my cells to produce ki at each tier.”

“That is a reasonable assumption. My data analysis has no specific answers to this query, Spartan”

“Well since I have nothing more to do right now but sit and recover, I might as well work on this part of my skills.”

He raised his hand to the lake and took in energy into the palm of his hand. The energy coalesced into a ball. Alex tried to make the ball more solid as he took in more of the energy. As Alex continued the ball solidified and it began to pulsate. The energy felt warm and gentle. he shut off the energy from coming from the lake. Alex grabbed the ball with both hands and began pulling it into his chest. At first it resisted trying to escape from his hands but once again Alex's will stopped its movements. His arm muscles tightened driving it straight into his chest. As it went in Alex felt every muscle fiber in his body increase in strength. He began running around, jumping, flipping, rolling, and dashing back and forth. The feeling was incredible.

“Spartan you are currently at 1.9 times your body’s normal strength and you are still in control. I sense no injury to your body. I believe your experience with the times 3 multiplier of your strength has increased your body’s ability to harness you ki without injury and your increase in mental ability has helped you control you ki.”

“Yes, I can feel the increase in control. I don’t have to use as much force of will to make my ki do what I want anymore. Now I need a way to do this faster so that I can instantly call it forth. I guess that just requires more and more practice.”

“I am afraid so. There are no shortcuts in truly acquiring power.”

“Well I have nothing else I can do at this time so might as well keep it up. I do want to see how far I can push this though.”

“Go ahead. Your body is already in the medical triage center and the number of nanites within your body now exceeds 100,000 so there are virtually no injuries you can’t heal from except something destroying your brain or heart.”

“Damn, I’m like some kind of near-immortal now.”

“In essence you are. Even your aging has slowed down due to the nanites.”

“Ok well let’s give it a go!”

I opened my feet and sat down in a horse stance with my knees bent at 90 degrees and my fisted facing palms up against my oblique abdominals. I began calling forth my ki and it immediately answered flowing from the lake to my body. Alex thought of a character in the past that he saw gather his ki energy to increase his power and tried to emulate his actions

“HHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”, Alex screamed.

The air began being pushed away by the energy exploding around his body. His muscles hadn’t begun to grow as he kept circulating the ki around my body rather than letting it rest in one place.

“HHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

Then energy kept pouring into him. Wave after wave of ki rushed into his body. Alex felt like a sponge soaking up the energy.

“Spartan you are now a 3.5 times your normal strength be careful but I do not see any side effects yet.”

“Good, I’m going further.”

Alex clenched my fists and pulled in even more energy. He began to feel the muscles in his arms and legs swelling.

“Status?”, Alex asked.

“You are now at 4.2 times your normal physical ability.”

“Alright I will stop here because I can feel the muscles beginning to swell. I don’t want to damage my body any further.”

Alex focused his mind and released the energy that was swirling around his body and it flowed back into the lake. As it flowed back he noticed that it was slightly bigger than before. If he had to guess he would say it was about 22 meters in diameter now.

Hmmm… that increase must be from my training. I need to keep doing this over and over exploring my limit on what I can do so that I can be ready for anything in combat.

Alex went back to training his ki to respond to his commands by bringing it up and releasing it bringing it up and releasing it over and over again. After a while, he tried something different.

I wasn’t able to sense the ki around me as the book said before. Maybe I’ll have better luck now that I increased my mental ability.

Alex pulled in the tiniest amount of ki he could possibly grasp. Then he sat down on the ground and closed his eyes. He began to focus his mind on finding that small bit of ki. At first, he was only able to sense his reservoir. With his eyes closed, he could feel the direction that it was in however he couldn’t see it without it looking.

How the hell am I supposed to do this?! How am I supposed to see it without my eyes?! Wait… that’s it is shouldn’t start with seeing it. Maybe feeling it would be better.

Alex closed his eyes and tried again. This time he didn’t try to find where the energy was by feeling the warmth of the energy.

It worked!

Alex could feel the energy from my reservoir. Then the warmth of it was easy to track. The warmth was actually coming from an area. That allowed him to pinpoint the direction it was coming from. Alex tried the same thing with feeling the small amount of ki residing in his hand. It took some time but Alex managed to find it.

I did it! I managed to sense the energy, now I just need to practice it some more. This should help me in finding enemies when my vision and other senses can’t find them.

Alex woke himself from his meditation training then he felt the pain in his body return. It was much less than it was before he went into his meditation training but he was still in no shape to move around. Alex decided to try sensing the energy around him as a means of practicing his new found skill. He closed his eyes and began feeling the energy around him. There were two energies in the hallway right outside of the door. One was much larger than the other.

Is that Bella and Eve? Eve is a mage so am I able to sense her mana? Is mana just another energy like ki? I knew she had a lot of mana but how does she have so much more compared to Bella? I need to ask her about how she increased it and why are they outside of the door to the medical triage center? Is there something wrong? What are they doing? Something seems off.

Alex kept searching and found 2 smaller globules of energy outside.

Those must be the wolves. One is larger than the other. Which of the two has more energy Boris or Accalia? Do they just have energy within them? This ability to sense energy has so many applications.

His head began to hurt. This was the last straw for him. His body was still in bad shape and now in addition his head was throbbing with pain. He needed to rest for a while so he closed my eyes and let sleep come.

The next morning, Alex awoke to Alice’s voice.

“Spartan, your body is healed. I made a discovery while your body was healing. Your body has a remarkable ability to gain strength through destruction.”

“What?!”

“To put it simply your body grows faster through its destruction. When it is rebuilt the muscle fibers, tendons, and ligaments grow back with greater density and elasticity. Each time you harm yourself you make tremendous gains.”

“So when I destroyed my body with the use of my ki, my body actually repaired itself and became stronger?”

“Yes, you should have noticed how you could increase your ki to be able to safely use it at 4.2 times your max ability whereas before you were only able to do it at 1.5 times your normal capability. That should be reason enough. Your stats have also increased because of this.”

Name: Spartan

Level: 11

Class: Nanotechnician

Physique: 7

Mental Ability: 6

Physical coordination: 4

Reaction Speed: 6

Speed: 5

AP:

Abilities

A.I. Companion Tier III

Ki Manipulation Tier II

Beast Taming Tier II

SP: 0

Skills

Nanite manipulation Tier IV

I really am getting stronger by putting the maximum strain on my body.

“Alice, I like this method but it puts me in a position of weakness when I am recovering. Could you do some calculations and find a happy median between destroying my body to get stronger and increasing my strength through simple bodyweight exercises.”

“Affirmative, I will work on developing a plan.”

“Oh and I also want you use the free upgrade and put it towards the medical triage”

“I thought you would say that.”

Medical triage center Tier II

All injuries will heal 30% faster. Any healing skills will operate 50% better inside the room.

New items added to room

Hyperdermic Needles

Gas for anesthesia

Bodily analysis tools

MRI

X-ray

CATscan

Bandages, antiseptic cream, and antibiotic ointments

[Fully stocked, once supply is used consumables must be purchased from store or created by users]

Construction completion time: 3 days 16 hours 59 minutes

That is a great improvement, especially the analysis tools. I don’t really like the time but I guess I have no choice. I don’t know if I will have to use them on myself or others as I could have Alice scan them but if something were to happen and I wasn’t here then that would definitely help the others solve the problem.

Alex stood up from the table and found that he was in his clothes that Eve had purchased for him. He stumbled a bit. Alex's legs were numb from lying on my back for so long. He tapped both my feet on the floor to get the blood flowing. A few moments later the feeling returned and he walked out into the hallway. Alex quickly showered and got dressed. He looked around but didn’t see anyone so he walked into the main room to find both women in the kitchen eating. As soon as he walked in the conversation stopped.

“Hey ladies”, Alex said.

“Good morning. Glad to see you up and about”, said Eve.

“Yeah you were in pretty bad shape when we picked you up on the table”, added Bella.

“You two picked me up and put me on the table?”

“Yeah, we managed to get you up on the table. You weigh a ton though”, said Eve.

“Thank you two for taking care of me when I was injured. Hey what were you two talking about when I came in?”, I asked.

“Umm…Nothing…nothing really just discussing what plans we have to better our equipment”, said Eve.

“Yeah I was saying that I bought some iron and coal to try and smelt it into steel”, said Bella.

“Spartan, both of those two have facial markings that they are hiding something”, said Eve through our neural link. “Be careful something seems off.”

“I understand and this is the second instance of something shady going on today. Considering that this has happened before today I think I need to keep a closer eye on things”, Alex replied to Alice with the neural link.

“Here is some food, Spartan. You must be hungry after resting for so long.”

“Yes, I am. Thank you very much.”

Alex grabbed the plate with a large piece of meat along with some sliced cucumbers on the side. The two of them weren’t eating anything and they seemed to be watching me eat. Something seemed off.

Why are they staring at me? Is there something in my food?

“Well if they are trying to poison me that won’t work with my nanite enhanced kidneys and stomach so I think I’ll be safe for now. I do think I need to keep a closer eye on them from now on though. Alice, do you think I can inject my nanites into them the same way I did with the wolves to control them if anything happened?”

“Yes that was what I was going to suggest. Your increased mental ability is really starting to pay dividends. In order to do that you will need to inject some of your nanites within their bodies like you did with the wolves. I would suggest doing so when they eat or if other activities occur…..”

“You mean during sex?”

“Yes, Spartan, it seems that both of these women are interested in the opportunity to have sex with you”

“That seems just wrong but if that will work to keep me alive then I’ll do it.”

Alex happily ate the food and acted oblivious to the suspicions in his heart about what these two women may or may not be contemplating. Then in his field of vision something moved. His eyes quickly moved in the direction of the motion and he saw Capone. He had grown from being about a meter in length to being 2 meters in length. He also increased his body’s girth. Before, he had a diameter of about .1 meters now he was about .25 meters in diameter and his black scales looked a little harder and more durable than before.

“What the hell? Why is he so big?”, I asked.

“Oh yeah he increases in levels along with me. He needs a lot less experience to reach his next level than I do so he reached level 10 when I only reached level 8. At level 10 he grew to be a tier II monster. His size, speed, strength, and even his venom all improved making him much more dangerous than he was previously.”

“That’s really good. Now he can be a more capable fighter during our upcoming combat with the goblins.”

Hmm… that means that my wolves may grow to be a greater tier monster when they reach level 10 as well.

“No your wolves are already a tier II monster. They will need to reach at least level 20. However they will gain levels faster than you”, said Alice.

“That’s good to know but that snake is going to be a bit of a problem in case they try to come against me.”

“No, with your nanite enhanced organs, its poison will no longer be effective against you. It would need to be at least a tier III monster for the venom to even harm you. Since you gained your class as a nanotechnician your nanite enhancements have improved as well. I would not worry about the snake now. I will also use the nanites placed in your wolves to make the same improvements you have within their bodies so they will be able to help you if it comes to combat with the ladies.”

“Good then we have all of our bases covered except one. I have been susceptible to mind-based attacks can we do something about that?”

“The attacks on your mind deal with primal parts of your brain that deal with your emotions. I cannot take those away. What I can do is use the nanites to enhance the tissues of your brain this will enhance your mental ability and allow more of the burden of calculations and analysis to be placed on you.”

“Why would I want to do all of the calculations that you perform for me?”

“Your mind being more powerful will allow you to complete more complex tasks that you currently are having difficulty with such as using your ki.”

“Well I guess that would be a good benefit. I still want you to help me with analysis of situations and providing information to help me in combat.”

“I will still do those things but with the enhancement you will be able to make better decisions with the data I present to you. You will also be able to understand your body more giving you enhanced physical coordination and kinesthic sense. This will definitely help you in combat.”

“Then do it, Alice. I also would like to know what I could do with the nanites as far as armor is concerned.”

“When you get a full suit of armor, I can place the nanites in it to enhance the armor as I did with your sword and shield.”

“Isn’t there more now that my nanite manipulation is so high?”

“No not yet. So far your nanite upgrades have been solely about efficiency and control. I suspect that your nanites may begin to change after your next increase in nanite manipulation tier.”

“Alright then for now let’s go with increasing my mental ability and getting the nanites into the women. We will work on the suit of armor later.”

Alex finished his food quickly. Once the food was finished he thank the girls and then headed out to the wolves to check on them. They didn’t seem to be worrying about him anymore after he ate the food so Alex didn’t bother investigating their weird actions anymore. As he walked out to check on the wolves I noticed that he could tell them apart. Boris was about 10 centimeters taller than Accalia and Accalia had blue eyes where Boris had brown eyes. It was strange that he never noticed this before. As the wolves saw him they both came up to Alex and nuzzled him as he hugged both of them.

I knew they were large but I was about 190cm tall and they are easily as tall as I am. I guess I understand why they are tier-II monsters already. Wolves couldn’t possibly start this large. I wonder what they will be like a tier III or even tier IV.

“Boris and Accalia, has anyone come near hear since you’ve come outside?”

“Yes, I smelled some of the little men we fought at the cave. They were coming from that direction”, Accalia said as she point her front paw towards the forest in front of her.

Hmmm… I guess they are trying to find out where we live.

“If they come close do not fight them. Let me know so that we can fight together.”

“We got it, Spartan”, said Boris gruffly.

The sun was starting go down and he sat down against the wall to think for a moment.

Those caves that the goblins lived in had torches lit. Does that mean they don’t see well at night? Should I try and fight them at night instead of during the day? Would that give me an advantage? Yes it would but the rest of my group including the wolves would be at a disadvantage because they don’t have night vision. Well, the wolves don’t have it yet. I’m sure Alice will be giving them the same upgrades as me and it won’t take them very long now that my nanite manipulation is at tier IV. Anyway I think I’ll rest for the night as Alice upgrades my brain then I’ll figure out my next move tomorrow.

“Good night Boris and Accalia.”

“Good night Spartan”, they both replied.

Alex walked back into the house and showered again before returning to room. He really enjoyed taking showers. He opened the door to his room and walked towards his bed before disrobing and lying down under his covers. Alex closed his eyes and saw that the energy signatures of the two women were in their rooms so he was sure they weren’t conspiring anymore. Alex let out a sigh of relief before dozing off to sleep.

The next morning Alex woke up and opened his status to see the overall increases he received when Alice upgraded his brain.

Name: Spartan

Level: 11

Class: Nanotechnician

Physique: 7

Mental Ability: 7

Physical coordination: 6

Reaction Speed: 6

Speed: 5

AP: 0

Abilities

A.I. Companion Tier III

Ki Manipulation Tier II

Beast Taming Tier II

SP: 0

Skills

Nanite manipulation Tier IV

My stats increased a bit in mental ability, coordination, and physique. I guess those came from the healing of my body and the upgrading of my mind. This is great! Now, I want to know exactly what I gained from having the upgrade to my brain.

“Alice show me the messages from the system related to the upgrade of my brain.”

“Yes, Spartan.

Nanite Enhanced Brain

The brain has been enhanced using nanotechnology. The mind now has greater processing speed and the connection from the brain to the body has been reinforced giving the user more control over his body.

Mental ability increased by 1, physical coordination increased by 1

With the enhancement of your brain you may choose 1 new skill from the following brain abilities

Adoptive muscle memory

Allows user to completely and perfectly copy anything that they are able to see happen just once from acrobatic stunts, martial arts, and weapon usage. Only applies to physical abilites not energy based such as ki, mana, etc.

Increases physical coordination by 3

Divided Mind

The user is able to focus to split his mind into pieces without sacrificing thinking power. This can be improved with practice. Beginners start with being able to split their mind into two pieces.

Increases mental ability by 2

Perfect memory

This gives the user the ability to perfectly recall any memory he has from birth to the present including taste, sound, smell, feelings, etc. Any information the user’s brain has taken in can be recalled perfectly. Increase mental ability by 1 and also protects user’s mind from mental attacks.