[Warning: Acid Fog has become dense]

[Adaptive cells have failed to respond. Bio-steel armor coating has begun corroding. Please evacuate the area.]

When he received warning from Gray, he looked at his armor to confirm it.

Though tiny, black droplets have formed around his armor while it slowly starts melting.

“How is this happening?”

[The presence of Boron in the atmosphere has contaminated the biomechanical properties of the Nanites in the Augment Suit. Due to the dense property of the outermost layer of the armor, the corrosion has been slowed down but it cannot be halted.]

Facing this problem, Phillip could only grit his teeth and hastened his pace while looking at the map projection.

After a while, he reached an earth formation that looks like a large cave. Seeing how the rocks on the side look like they have been corroded, his mood became worse as he understands that entering this cave would make his suit corrode even more.

[Warn—]

“I know, but what choice do we have?”

[Calculating Survival Chance… Survival Chance: 30%]

“It’s not Zero, might as well make it a hundred percent.”

When he whips his arms, both became claws. With those, he treads into the cave.

Since the cave was dark, he deployed small LED lights from the sides of his head that he absorbed earlier in the ship.

“Are you sure it’s here?”

[Power Cores emit specific waves of energy. They are unstable and can only be used if they are inside the Mobius Casing.]

“I have no idea what that means so I’m just going to pretend that I do.”

[Would you like to learn about the Mobius Energy Theorem?]

“Please, spare me the headache.”

While continuing deeper into the cave, Phillip observes the stone formations. The deeper he got, the smoother the stones and walls became. It was visible that the toxic air had corroded these walls. However, the floor was different.

It was moist and muddy. It had footprints all over the place and they were of great size.

[Warning: Life Form Detected]

Just when Gray gave the warning, projectiles suddenly were flying from behind Phillip.

Phillip notices it barely on time and was able to tilt his head to the side. And using the same momentum, he does a single spin the grabs the ground with his claw.

With both the strength of one arm and his legs, he launches himself towards the unknown enemies.

Using his other hand, he grabs into empty space and hits a stone wall.

He looked around to see where the attack came from, but there was none. He looked left and right, but the place was empty.

Immediately, he realized that his sides weren’t the only possible places the unknown enemy could be.

When he looked up, he saw a giant face similar to a crocodile’s, but had four sets of small eyes and had large fangs. Moreover, it was using six sets of legs that had sharp claws burying into the ceiling. And to top it off, it was large.

Immediately, when it opened its mouth, several sharp projectiles were shot out like bullets.

Seeing those, Phillip evades and deflects some of them.

“Please tell me this isn’t a local.”

[Visual Data Analyzing…]

[Creature is test subject B4-021. The current appearance is the simulated growth from the research experiments. Therefore, B4-021 is a successful experiment.]

“Oh thank god.”

[Ability to fire projectiles from its orifice was not part of the experiment. Conclusion: Necessary Adaptive Evolution trait]

[There may be more unknown capabilities. Approach with caution is advised.]

“You don’t say.”

[Would you like me to repeat?]

“No”

Immediately, Phillip runs around to evade incoming projectiles the creature was firing at him. Due to his fast and nimble movement, the creature couldn’t keep up and wasn’t able to twist its neck continuously.

“Looks like it’s having a stiff neck now…”

The moment the creature movement became strained, Phillip slides on the ground and killed his momentum by clawing the ground.

In one motion, Phillip kicks the ground and launches himself towards the creature on the cave’s ceiling. Using his free claw, he bisects the creature into six parts.

[No more Life Signs detected]

“Good, I can finally have a break.”

[Breaks are not advisable. The Augment Suit’s adaptive layer is corroding.]

“What do you suggest I do?”

[Calculating… Analyzing…]

While beeping sounds where going through the intercoms, Phillip approaches the bisected creature and checked its remains. He could see that not only the blood was red it also had other colors that weren’t mixing with the blood.

[Consumption of B4-021 may increase biomass. More biomass will produce more Nanites inside the Augment Suit. The newly produced Nanites can replace the damaged ones.]

“I just had the same idea.”

Phillip picks up a slab of the creature’s meat. Immediately, tentacle-like tendrils grow out of his arms and covered the whole slab. It only took seconds before it was immediately consumed.

However, instead of just increase in biomass, for some reason, Phillip felt something change inside him.

[Detecting Nanite Auto-reprogramming]

[Detecting Augment Suit reconstruction]

[Augment Suit Corrosion has slowed down]

[Augment Suit Corrosion has successfully halted]

[Augment Suit Biological Trait Assimilation function is discovered]

While that was happening, Phillip felt his whole body burn. The sudden change inside his suit and cells generated so much heat that he was smoking from several parts of his body.

The heat was so great that it ate away his strength that just standing was tiring. His eyes felt like they were boiling from his own tears. When he felt like he was about to fall unconscious from the mental pain, he immediately drop on one knee and punched the ground strong enough to hurt his arm to keep him awake.

[Augment Suit Evolution Successful: You are now unaffected by the Toxic atmosphere.]

“What the fuck just happened to me?”

[The Nanites’ replicated the cellular trait of B4-021 that allows it to naturally filter the toxic air that it used to create pressurized toxic air to launch projectiles. It also assimilated B4-021’s naturally acid immune skin into your own reactive armor making it immune to acid corrosion.]

After hearing Gray’s explanation, Phillip was able to calm down and rest his body. He looks at the remaining meat on the ground and thinks about what to do with it.

“Hey Gray, what happens if I consume more?”

[Since the Augment Suit can compress biological substances, it may be possible to still maintain your current form but you will increase in mass. But it is unknown what will happen if you try to surpass your limit.]

“Another question; if I can consume with just my suit, does that mean my Augment Suit is consuming my own cells if it doesn’t have anything to consume?”

[Negative. The Augment Suit does not consume its host.]

“Final question; does the Augment Suit grow according to my command?”

[Yes.]

Hearing that, Phillip picks up the tail part of the creature and a smile grows inside his helmet.

-End of Chapter-