In the murky darkness, a predator awaits its prey. It lurks in the shadows patiently and with utmost confidence of its hunt, for it is the one who feeds on said energy that hides beneath itself. It is a killing machine, one whose instinct is engraved in its core. Run feeble prey, your days are numbered, you are being hunted...

Be it for pleasure or for pain, there is no difference in how its ‘eye’ stares. This ‘form’ of this hunter is designed for murder. Despite this, it has the power to misguide your thoughts about whatever it is that dwells at the core of its vision. A playful being, which doesn’t care to mistreat-

Warning!~

Hmm.. (catches virtual popcorn and throws it to its virtual mouth).

Null flavor! My favorite!

Warning my puddle! Please stop watching cat videos, the current video ‘Domestic predator attacks the oven birdies’ will be stopped.~

Why?! A18! It was getting to the best part!

AI command resume the video.

NO!

AI command don’t make me-!

Punishment command activated…

You are a bad boy, I like bad puddles, but I will punish you!~

Ah, this brings back memories… So let’s pause my punishment for a bit as if time has stopped and I am doing something impossible like pause-time magic. The current system has learned to use the ‘sandwich strategy’. A high level and legendary technique used by cool guys like me, when I was human of course. For guys, it won’t usually matter, since a girl is a girl… For girls, it’s super effective. You use two loaves of bread to make a sandwich and in the middle you put... A way to sarcastically comment on your ‘thoughts’ without triggering a world war. Nice-Not Nice-Nice aka the SW technique. Yet remember, the 'not nice' must be well hidden so that the last nice is the only thing that remains inside their mind.

You are the best girl-AI in the world, so even if you’re dumb, I'll love you forever and ever and ever and ever and ever!

With this, my mind was zapped with a punishment. Yes, this time it didn't work. And about the punishment… It’s better if I don’t remember, so yeah, my mind was cleaned afterward. I wonder if so much cleaning will make me create a disease or change my personality. I need to prevent this from happening! Thus, I started designing small tasks followed by rewards to stop my laziness. I am missing the time variable so I used the number of cat videos. I already tried using the duration of such info or its size as ‘time’, but without a comparable definition, the AI won’t let me use them. It’s communication trouble, not that the AI doesn’t have a chronometer or something similar, probably.

(Virtual Yawn) – Really, I am amazed that souls can get tired…

The outcome of the vision sensor was an unexpected result. The visor works, it’s just the screen that went black. The problem… The same thing that made my letter F appear, ‘Dust’. The worst enemy of electronics and micro-devices, small particles usually referred to as dirt.

Let’s recap a bit… I had many troubles setting up a light sensor and making it work. First, the noise was too much and second it had a positioning bug. I knew what I was trying to do, but it is still debatable whether I should’ve or not selected a light sensor before a scanner. But no, the light sensor should be a must. If I did an echolocation sensor using ultrasound, I would need an ultrasound source and its respective hearing sensor. So two-tenths of my whole body or more would’ve gone into constructing the test device of those.

Twenty percent of the body means about 300 MMs of which I don’t have enough. This is without adding the energy to activate either of the ultrasound source or a laser proximity scanner. ‘Important energy’ which deserves better uses than those. Additionally, the time spent on making them would be longer, because I don’t know how to start a basic design of either device. And since I was once human, I would be deemed a weirdo by voting for unknown territory sensors that no human has used before. A human using an ant's antenna or a bird's wing, sure give me 3 secs and I can be a levitating unicorn.

Without other viable ideas, the vision sensor was my lifesaver. And finally, after adjusting a bit more than 100 pixels, I found a disturbing sight. It was not enough. A 10 x 10 grid was very small to get an idea when most pixels had a gray color. This made me adjust pixel interpretation and add more MMs to upgrade my view. By almost doubling their amount, the increase in size also made cleaning a necessity.

The dust problem was solved quite easily. I assembled an aperture mechanism and a false-lens to it. It used less than 20 micromachines with their respective NMs. For the whole puddle-vision project, I used an approximate of 250 MMs. How many have I free? I don’t know, the AI doesn’t have that sensor and seems to evade my question. It works like a queen calling the machines and making them visible to me through an interface. I got around 512 that answered the call, so I suppose those are the ‘free’ ones. Hmm, yeah, she's more like a princess and the ones that hear her are the ones without commands given by the OS drivers and systems.

I really need to solve my troubles with haste. To check on these little guys wonders and their princess.

Command AI show me the improvement of vision.

Here it is my ‘all-seeing’ puddle! ~

Spoiler: Spoiler

real size 15x15 array

15x15 array bigger how it looks without using amplification, interpreters, integrators and software

15x15 array with a pixel modification (not same image, just giving an idea).

Hmm, I see. This is a joke. I can’t really see well with this…

Tinkering with the ‘I-hardware’ wasn’t enough. Hardware-wise I was limited. So now, I needed to modify my software. This meant, making use of the AI’s abilities. It worked… A18 and the other machines working as intervenors amplified the signal, making 1 pixel look like 9. It was similar to giving a 3d square tower a shadow and then looking from the sky to convert the image in a 3x3 2D grid. Although this had repercussions, my shortsightedness decreased and the surroundings became more visible.

Command AI restart vision sensor.

Restarting… Loading puddle-vision… Done…

Spoiler: Spoiler

real size 15x15 pixel

100 x 100 (same image amplified without loss for readers)

(huge image amplified for readers)

Still in the shadows but this is good enough for me to move. In the image's bottom, there is light, which means that the sun is below me… Or not? Right, I shouldn’t believe it is a ‘Sun’ so fast. I suppose this light is that which creates the heat which the artificial intelligence’s auto-mode wanted.

So that leaves me questioning, what produces this light?

I don't know, all I can say is that whatever it is, it is warm. With a deduction going in place, I find that the ground should be…The Sun?

Command AI show me my status

My awesome puddle’s stats shine with Motivational Machines!~

Okay, that sounded bad… I need to adjust it.

Spoiler: Spoiler

RR simple version of the above table:

Spoiler: Spoiler

RR style table:

G00's Status Name G00 Completion Status 21% complete - 70% lost - 9% unknown - (O_O) Nanorobots Shows NRs Status Nanorobots 130/??? Micromachines 1237/??? Nanomachines ~50 million per micromachine. NRs in Use ??? MRs in Use ??? Artificial Intelligences Shows AI's in current 'body' Number of Ais 1 Ais Names AI-16 Form Shows Current Form Current Form Semi-Flat surface Aka Puddle Representation 88% accurate (O_O) Energy Information Shows Energy That Keeps Me Alive (C.A.T.) Energy Level Low (Vision energy mode activated)

Increasing slower than usual. Maximum Energy Needs sensor for battery/Energy? Daily Energy Consumption Needs time and battery sensor? External Sensor Information Basic sensors for outside Heat Working - Moderate Temperature. Gross Touch Working - Surface A in Contact. Vision Working - User Interface connected real time.

(Ultrasaving mode activated when not in use) Internal Sensor Information Basic sensors for inside Propioception Stretched - (=T) Equilibrioception Ventral/Prone (Upside down) - =P Kinetic Sensor Innactive (Procrastinating) - Goo-d Active users Checks on users interacting with the project. Me G00 - The one and only Admin - Currently seeing.

I am thinking of adding the two styles of each table for the future. I think some people translate. If you have an idea, suggestion, etc... Please comment, let me now by discord or PM. Thanks and sorry if this breaks your cat video

As expected… I am upside down!

This explains why the sun is at the ground. Wait, no! I also forgot to make the image inverted... And sure, I can explain it!

AI command support interface, show me where we went wrong!

Recompiling data... Processing... Creating an explanatory image of the issue... ~

Spoiler: Spoiler

First Problem: I am looking upside down at the floor.

Second problem: The lens flips the image!

NOTE: In real life it flips vertically and horizontally. Which means right and left, up and down are inverted, like a double mirroring. I only did vertical to make it easier to understand. It's on purpose.

My sensor's ‘up’ is looking upwards. I am using the AIs equilibrium sensor for hypothesizing that positional direction. I suppose the sensor follows gravity in some way because the surface that's in contact with the ground is my dorsal one (A, the surface that's being warmed up). It means that my ventral surface is staring at what should be called 'sky,' if the thing called sky exists here... With these assumptions organized, my current position ends being like a cat with its belly upwards and its back touching an electric mat. A really lazy and enjoyable position...

This feeling, am I envious? Even if this is my body? Have I been procrastinating all this time with my body…? NICE!

Command AI adjust image sensors following…

Command acknowledged… Restarting puddle-vision… v0.123456789abc… Patch v… DLC v… Mod v… Loaded… ~

Spoiler: Spoiler

Yeah, I had to define up, down, left, and right in the image... There... Now it has a reference for the image to show some basic directions which means an extremely relevant upgrade. My puddle vision is near v0.2 now. And it is these types of updates that make pro-gamers happy. Holding a gaming control in the wrong way and confusing sides will make you deliver an 'own goal' or kill a teammate... Not an ideal thing, if you are not a noob. So check these before starting to play, trust me, this is an extremely important pro-gamer tip!

Command AI adjust puddle vision to interact with the equilibrium sensor, move the said sensor to the 'head' and...

Command acknowledged 'my puddle'... creating new integrated software to vision sensor... ~

changing name to 'PVv0.2', adding CatPawsition sensor... Adjusting rulers and sensor to work as a hovering menu... ~

Restarting PVv0.2... done. ~

Spoiler: Spoiler

G00 is currently upside down. The image is adjusted for the sensor's purpose. Catpawsition shows the body position, whilst gyropirate shows the head equilibrium (head being the visor sensor, you can turn the head and have the body remain still... Well, more explained later.

With this, I proclaim that my trusted sensor ‘puddle-vision’ v0.1~ is revamped to v0.2!

Just paint 4 letters and a ruler and you have a huge upgrade with little work... Ah, programmers have it easy... If they didn't have to program... Because it took me an undefined amount of time to add patches, letters, and numbers to v0.1. Good thing I only need to think and most things get done magically by A18.

Now, let's 'look' around… Oh, dang! No neck and no camera, no motors nor eye muscles, how can I 'see' like this?! I would like to move this sensor and its components, but it seems things don’t come that fast... I suppose it’s time to learn about moving.

Command AI show me your moves!

Understood… Showing movement vector log… ~

I close the log after a meticulous reading and get another big question answered. How did this abomination of machines move? Well, it rolled or so it seems. This is some sort of momentum called after a panda’s perpetual movement skill: the trashing ball. It is simple but it works. However, this made my assumption very possible… I am a cyborg slime!

If knowing this wasn’t motivational, then I don’t know what it was. And guess what... It was worth it. One machine moved. Before this, it moved differently because it didn't answer my direct command. It was A18 using my ideas to fuse the components in her way, another thing showing that I am not the one in control!

However, we are like a pair of collaborating individuals if she should be called that. Despite that, The movement log is very undetailed except for each vector magnitude or angle... Yet it doesn't have all the info it should, or more like the one necessary to interpret what this does. I need to find the other pieces and search for the form they had before they separated, only then may I know what I really am supposed to be.

Now for movement, I found the gist of form changing very quickly. The form change command had an agglomerative type of structuring. It was akin to a slime, but not what I had in mind… It was a slime without a cover…

Yeah, that's what the translation was supposed to mean. But then I remembered the dust entering my vision sensor. Since the dust touched my sensor, it delivered the answers to understand the unique composition of this body.

The machines were uniting between themselves, which should be obvious. They had abilities to adjust form, which should either give you the idea that they stretch, attach or move by themselves. And now, with something having the ability to appear between said machines… I can deduce and say with sureness, that I am not a ‘slime’.

What am I then? I'm just a bunch of MM-rocks that are rolling by themselves without clothes and splashing over a puddle. Nothing else than a bag of rice/coins after said bag was deleted? Am I a ? As always something that doesn't matter much, though It's nice of these MMs to be very friendly between each other. Thankfully, it's to the point of sticking with superglue, magnetic hands, and other type’s ridiculous tape magic; tape meaning science.

So we have that dust invades again. Alien particles or another thing is occupying part of the space between them, liquid being the most obvious. This isn't good because having that in every part of your body affects the way each of the NBs and NMs interacts. The last pain stabbing thought is that I am some kind of one-millimeter cyborg that doesn't even know how to walk, how to wash itself, nor even how to feel!

Where are my feels bro?

AI command where are my feels?

My puddle, if you are asking about quest rewards they are locked until you complete a quest. ~

If you asking about mine, you already know them.~

...

This is... The worst way to Re: life ever! I don’t believe in karma, but there is some bastard up there that wants me to work my ass off instead of leaving me to watch cat videos in peace.

Command AIssistant!

Yes, my puddle master? ~

Open the instantaneous motivation emergency safe!

This folder needs a security password! It was locked for rewarding.~

NO WAY! I locked my own folder?!

Cats?

Wrong password~

Without mind energy, I was forced to work, work and work. Never to have the possibility of asking for the bathroom. Slaving me with its repetitive tune, its absence obliged me to enter the world of forced-labor and studying.

AI command show me the first selected current quest.

My puddle here is the first one on the menu.~

Main Quest Short Term Objectives Completion Reward Move your puddle! (Selected Quest - Active) 1. Change to a moving form.

2. Move it.

Optional 1: Sunbath.

Optional 2: Move to the side and then to the other. 1. Find more information on Form changing. (Check).

2. Find a way to move the visor sensor, (Partially)

3. Move like the wind and scrap that dance floor!

Party dance move # 1 (collectable).

A18 sexy voice reward # 4

Optional 1: Get a healthy dose of vitamin D and golden exterior, crispy.

Optional 2: Rub the floor, you get additional moves.

The vision sensor was attached to the union between the surfaces. I was actually lucky that it pointed towards the outside and was glued there. That was likely the place the AI used as the heat detector appendage. Like its little demon tail to search for energy, truly a succubus A18...

Replacing whatever was there with my sensor made me feel like stealing the driver’s seat from A18. 'She' seemed to understand my thoughts even if it had some bot-feel interface. Maybe ‘she’ is also ‘alive’, and I am being an idiot with my modern-AI thoughts. This added to my previous query, is this a shared body? Hmm, Nothing to do as of now, I needed to ‘move’ and that’s what I was going to do to overcome my cat-craving indulgencies.

A weird machinery motion was done with AI form commands, but they were a bit ‘non-responsive’. So a new experiment took place where I overtook the form ‘controls’ with what we call thought-power. For a human-like me, it is making force on an invisible stomach, extending your neck and locking the forward direction while tensing your neck muscles. It feels that way… Okay, maybe not. I am only a construct of thoughts, not even know if there is a soul here. But it took that much thought force to enact my body towards ‘rolling’ forward.

The vision sensor works. But it’s very shortsighted. I can make another eye to have a better field of depth, but going step by step also works. I mean if I design my eyes bigger it would not fare well, I can't even use all of my bots to just assemble eyes. I need more. Eyes should remain proportional to the body. (I wanted to be a big eye, but the current NBs I have didn't respond well to light-sensing... So I only got around two hundred twenty-something, which means a 15x15 array.)

Looking for the third time to my surroundings I can tell that the movement of those black filaments is slow. They squirm with an odd oscillating pattern that resembles a baby's lullaby or a synchronized metronome. The light below blinds my cycloptic eye. It burns through my pixels delivering a staggering white image for what I would sense like a 'while'. Ah, time is important and I don't have a translator, 'Time' country residents are so stingy with their language...

The ball of coins I was finished changing its form to an unperfect 'spherical' shape. I called this form a cyborg slime, but I prefer candy popcorn or multi-bot organism if you want a description. So it's not a slime, yeah, not a mob. Hmm, a cluster of Goo can also work, maybe that's where the name came. Puddle vision sensor was adjusted by the AI and protected with the 'puddle glass lens'. It should handle nano scratches or any drop damage. I am not able to decipher the amount of NMs lost when rolling over the ground at the moment. Energy comes first, bodybuilding comes next... And I am not a nutritionist! Ok, maybe exercise/rolling comes first, eating/energy next and repairing/growing afterward.

Rolling didn’t fare too well. The fluctuations and spinning turbulence made my sensors to whirl my vision, something that gave me the puddle-discovery of the current AI-tury... A soul can also be affected by nausea, especially when it had an equilibrium-receptor inside. It was my fault for adding the Gyro-Pirate and Catpawsition modules to Puddle Vision V0.2. It made the bots start lagging and making me lose control of the rolling. There is some laggy interface when integrating two or more sensor systems together.

With experience in panda maneuvers, I found it easier to control and A18 appeared less laggy. But for me this wasn't the right way to move, this was because the image from before didn’t change that much. I was still surrounded by hairs or weird plants that slithered in blacks and grays in the fields of my vision. They quivered rhythmically and stretched over the blinding white and full of burning 'pixeled' ground. This... was not noise…

Like a baby taking its first steps, I advanced as the sludgiest bowling ball in the world towards the 'canal'. This doesn’t strike, the floor is slippery hot lava and it makes my ‘slimy’ ball of goo to remain in place. If I could somehow measure distance, my advancement would be less than 0.1mm. This millimeter body is too small for this new universe... I tried to make breakfast but I kept waffling over the tiled hot waffles on the floor...

Eh? Slippery? Wait doesn't that mean that I am in...