Chapter 66
Up close and Personal
Alexander North
By the time I make it to the monster, it resumes its pain-filled roars. But no matter how much it tries to move, it can't get the poles out of it. So all it manages to do is dig its own wounds even wider as I rush up to it, slowly making ribbons out of its flesh with my claws.
My grin grows wider at how well things are going, and I continue ripping up the monster. All the way till it lets out one last weak roar and falls limp onto the poles.
Even after that, I continue tearing my way deeper and deeper into its body until I reach the center of its chest, where the energy source is located. Which I think I'll just start calling an energy core to make it simpler.
The instinctive impulse rampaging through my body, driving me to absorb the energy within the corpse makes me look past the fact that the creature's energy isn't automatically entering my body despite its death as I reach for the now exposed core. But moments before I touch it, I feel an impact in my side that snaps me out of my fog and makes me turn to look at it. Just to find a blade sticking out of my waist.
I stare at it for a second.
Then I cough out a mouthful of blood and collapse onto the core, which dissolves and enters my body a moment later.
A strange feeling fills me up, one both euphoric, and painful at the same time as the pain of the wound and the energy of the monster fill my entire being. But it slowly begins to fade away, with my vision fading to black along with it.
That is, until I feel a strange pulsating sensation flow through my body, and the fading of my vision halts. It then begins to revert back to normal, with my body regaining all of its sensation as I gasp for breath and shoot straight up.
I immediately look down at the blade in my-
Wait a second, where'd it go?
I blink in surprise, only to turn my gaze on the corpse I am currently leaning against to find that it's now missing an arm.
Uh... what?
What?
/ Notice \
Exterior energy source has been absorbed.
\End of Notice/
I stare at the notice for a few seconds before asking out loud to my terminal, "What happened to the frozen one's arm? And why am I healed? And what was that notice about?"
The terminal doesn't respond for over an entire minute. Only when I'm about to get up from the floor after moving away from the corpse does it finally respond.
/ Notice \
Answer to User's Query – The frozen one's arm was absorbed by the user. This, along with absorbing the frozen one's core, has increased your
healing speed and recharged your energy.
\End of Notice/
The arm... was absorbed by me?
I'm not sure how I feel about that.
"Why did I absorb the arm?" I ask the terminal as I climb up to my
feet, still with my eyes directed towards the corpse.
/ Notice \
Answer to User's Query – The arm in question was partially made up of energy and was absorbed into you the moment it touched you without
being attached to any other being's signature.
\End of Notice/
I frown at that, but right now might not be the time to continue asking questions. Not when Snow and the girl might be in trouble.
So I immediately turn around to head back to the building where my little game of chase with that monster originally began. But after just a couple of steps, I notice something. Something incredibly annoying, and rather shocking.
Why are my gloves frosting over?
I repeat the question out loud for my terminal, and the answer is both a good thing, and a bad thing.
/ Notice \
Answer to User's Query – User has reached 3 total points in energy and has therefore had their energy related abilities enhanced.
\End of Notice/
Which means I'm going to start freezing everything I touch now. Although thankfully it only seems to be lightly frosting it over, and not completely freezing it or something like that. So it's not ruining my clothing. And it's not even reaching my armor through it, except for the few areas where I don't have any under armor between my skin and the armor.
Deciding that I don't need them anymore, I take my gloves off and toss them.
Normally I'd keep them in case someone else needed them, but they wouldn't be of much use anyways considering how damage they are. Particularly the holes made by my claws.
After that, I place my hand on the rubble next to me – which had a lot of the frost that had been covering it shattered in its landing on this floor – to find a light layering of frost beginning to cover it the moment my hand makes contact. But despite that, the frost doesn't extend past about a radius of about a foot around my hand. And it doesn't move to any of the other rocks touching it.
Interesting.
I just wish I had a way to turn it off.
My eyebrows suddenly lift at that thought, and I ask the terminal if I
can do that. Only to get a negative in response.
Well that's not helpful.
Maybe there'll be a way to turn off the power in the future? After my
powers have advanced more?
Either way, the faster regeneration is always a plus.
I look at the elite wraith's corpse for a few more seconds before
looking up at the snowy sky as a thought comes to mind.
Is it just me, or are there fewer and fewer shards as time goes on?
Because I don't think I saw a single shard in my entire chase with that frozen one. In fact, the last time I saw one was the one going for the girl.
Oh, right. The girl.
I quickly begin making my way back to the building that I found her in.
Chapter 67
Free Buffet
Outside of the Planet Hall
The atmosphere outside of the hall grows ever tenser as the intelligent frozen one alternates its gaze between the large gate of the hall and the direction that it had sent the elite wraith. But after nearly an hour passes with no sign of the creature's return, the frozen one's eyes flare with a light blue flame that glows eerily in the darkness of the storm.
"Disappointing," it states, its voice echoing throughout the entire center of the capital, even going so far as to enter the Planet Hall itself to frighten the thousands of people hiding inside. It then focuses solely on the building before raising its right arm, which soon begins to glow even brighter than it was when Alex had last seen it, pointing it directly at the gate.
"Utterly," it continues right as a powerful blast of cold flames explode out of its hand straight in the direction of the gate, freezing every last frozen one in between it and the gate solid in an instant before freezing the gate as well. "Disappointing."
The creature then yanks its right arm back, making the frozen gate shatter outwards, in the direction facing away from the Planet Hall and towards the monster itself.
"There's no reason to wait anymore," it states, ignoring the looks being sent towards it by the two other nearby intelligent and yet much weaker frozen ones – one being a large feline, and the other a large hawk – who had been trying and failing to smash open the gate themselves. "We march."
Almost every single frozen one within the capital city immediately begins rushing towards the Planet Hall with abandon, some of them even charging over each other in the process, and others completely ignoring humans they pass by. Thanks to this, the entire city is filled with the sounds of their march, whether it be their roars, screeches, thundering steps, or
even the explosions coming from those frozen ones with no desire to find alternative routes when faced with a blocked path.
Meanwhile, the leading frozen one turns to look at the other two intelligent ones and states, "Find the core first, and then we will deal with the irregular."
The two frozen ones nod their monstrous heads in confirmation before rushing in alongside the other monsters.
Amidst the charging creatures, the leader stands in place, unmoving as it watches. But after ten seconds pass by with no signs of movement, it eventually states in a tone much more sinister than its previous words, "The will of his lordship, Cocytus. God of Winter and of this new reality."
Alexander North
"What the fucking hell is going on!" I can't help but shout as I slaughter giant infected rat after giant infected rat after giant infected cockroach, only to eventually realize that they're all ignoring me. Which leaves me slowing down in my slaughter to eventually stop and stand in place, in the middle of a large flood of frozen ones that seem to be leaving the building.
Okay. Seriously. What's happening?
I stare at the parade of frozen ones for several seconds before shaking my head, bending down to absorb the energy of the ones I'd already killed only to realize that the passing frozen ones have already done that, and then rushing off with a sour look on my face. But not even a few steps later, I pause.
This... is actually a pretty good opportunity for me, isn't it?
I look down at the creatures again before shrugging and going back to ripping them all to shreds. But this time I make sure to target their energy cores to absorb their energy as I kill them.
None of them are very powerful. Not even in the slightest. In fact, they're all far weaker than a regular human being, which makes sense considering that they were rats and bugs before now. All pests.
But nonetheless, they all still have energy, and they're a lot of them. Which helps bridge the gap quite a bit.
I continue slaughtering them for nearly half a minute before they eventually run out of numbers. And by then, I don't think there's a single part of my body not feeling the relieving feeling of energy filling me up. One that makes me not want to feel anything else.
Unfortunately – or fortunately, considering how my thoughts are turning – the feeling begins to fade away after several more seconds, leaving me collapsed on the ground with a wide grin on my face.
It doesn't take long for that grin to turn into a frown though, as I quickly realize just how addicting that feeling can be.
Which is not a good thing.
I shake my head at the thought before climbing to my feet and asking my terminal to show me my body's analysis.
/ Current Analysis of user Alexander North \
Strength: 2.38 Agility: 2.81
Reflexes: 2.65 Constitution: 2.47 Immunity: ? Senses: 2.69 Energy: 3.31/3.60
Body Malfunctions: N/A
Error: Cannot determine Immunity of user's current species without the
user getting sick to collect data.
The average of a human being without a symbiont is a 1 across all stats except for Energy.
The Energy statistic is determined with a 1 being set as the user's original starting statistic for Energy.
\End of Analysis/
My eyes widen in shock at the massive boost from the critters.
Wow. I knew all that would give me a nice boost, but that much is just... insane.
In fact, it's so big that I wouldn't be surprised if people around the world might start trying to mimic my circumstances before trying to create more frost infused like myself. If for no other reason than this massive boost in strength.
At the same time though, until they can figure out how to cancel the effects of the storm, that won't be possible. Not considering that all technology outside of a human body doesn't actually work. And that includes the currently stocked artificial hearts.
Meaning they don't have any to use, and they can't perform surgery without technology even if they did.
I can't help but narrow my eyes at the sight of my strength stat though.
It's still falling behind the others... but then again, I guess it would be weird to expect a bunch of bugs and rats to give a lot of strength.
I close out of my analysis with a mental command before rushing off again towards the stairs of the first floor in order to search for the girl and Snow.
Let's just hope whatever did this didn't affect either of them.
Chapter 68
Questions
Alexander North
It doesn't take very long to find the two. After all, they're the only ones in the building – the only ones I've ever seen – whose heat signatures are vanishing and reappearing for some reason. So the moment I step onto the twenty-fourth floor, I notice them one floor above me, through the ceiling.
And by the time I reach the door to the storage room they're once again hiding in, I find not a single frozen one anywhere near me. Which is an odd feeling, since I've started getting used to the strange, nagging feeling at the back of my mind that – according to my terminal – is my body sensing energy nearby.
The two of them quickly notice me through the small window of the storage room door and immediately jump to their feet and begin rushing over to the door as I open it. But I can't help but notice that her eyes are still flickering between colors.
"You're back!" she practically squeals before barreling into me and hugging me rather tightly.
My eyebrows rise in surprise, only to lower again when Snow reaches us after a couple of seconds and begins rubbing her nose against my hand.
"I'm glad you're okay," I says while awkwardly patting the girl twice on the back. "Both of you."
I wait for several seconds for the girl to let go of me, but she just keeps holding on tightly. And right when I begin wondering what to do to get her to let go, she mutters into my chest, "I thought you were leaving me too..."
Oh. This girl has a trauma towards abandonment now?
I guess that makes sense, considering what she's been through.
The girl continues holding onto me for nearly an entire minute before
letting go again with a sniffle. But then Snow rubs her nose against her side, making her giggle at what I'm guessing is her being tickled.
Anyways, there's one thing I never figured out about the girl.
"Would you mind telling me your name?" I ask while kneeling down slightly, meeting her eyes with my own pitch black ones.
She looks surprised for a moment before meeting my eyes and answering in a slightly meek tone of voice, "It's Alexia Torren."
My eyes widen in shock.
Are you kidding me? Torren? Why the hell is the daughter of the man who owns CyberTech Industries alone on a tourist planet?!
That would certainly explain why she is able to go around as she pleases through locked doors in this building. Even if some of the previously non-magnetically locked doors are no longer locked, courtesy of either myself or the frozen ones around here.
"Alright, Alexia, do you know what happened to your parents?" I ask, lowering myself further to the ground while keeping up eye contact with her. But the moment I mention the word 'parents' a frightened look appears on her face and she begins shaking.
Wait a second... could it be...?
"Jackson sent me here to get me out of his way while he worked on a new project," she says in an even quieter tone of voice than before. One with a hint of fear in it.
She calls her own father by his first name? What's up with that? And why's she so afraid all of a sudden?
Her next words wipe those thoughts from my mind though, as she says, "I tried to call him, but my terminal just said that there wasn't anyone connected to the port." Alexia looks down after that and mutters, "I really don't want to talk to him, but..."
Oh. Shit.
If there wasn't anyone connected to the port, then that means her father is dead.
The girl suddenly raises her head with a smile wiping away the sadness that was just there before saying, "But with you here, I don't have to contact him! I can just go with you!"
I stare at her in confusion for a few seconds, just simply blinking as I process her words.
What?
Uh, well...
Then again, it's not like I can just leave her here. That just wouldn't do.
I purse my lips in thought before glancing at Snow, who is for some reason trying to get in between us while panting with a happy look on her face. Like a dog wanting attention.
Which is really weird to see considering her slightly monstrous appearance now.
Alexia just giggles at Snow and begins petting her like she would a normal dog.
I really don't plan on looking out for her all the time. But at the same time, I can't leave her here. So maybe I can just bring her with me and then leave her at whatever place I decide to make my temporary base of operations? With Snow there to protect her, of course.
A shard breaking through the wall catches my attention for a moment, but before it can even fully pierce through, it goes back the way it came, vanishing from sight again.
Strange. Very strange.
I take a deep breath before stating, "Alexia," making her turn her attention back towards me with a mixture of innocence, sadness, and a brief spark of happiness in her eyes, "do you know when you started to change?"
Alexia stiffens up at my words before relaxing again slightly as Snow rubs her head against her. She then lowers her forehead to Snow's side as she answers, "It started right when the cold came."
The girl doesn't say anything else, leaving the room in complete silence.
"What about the shards? Did one get to you?" I ask, hoping to get a little bit more information. But all she does is shake her head.
I frown at that.
If she wasn't infected by a shard... then what's happening to her? After a few seconds of silence, I awkwardly reach out to pat her head,
making her look up in surprise. Only for her to lightly smile a second later. But right when I'm about to take my hand away, I feel a slight sting in my hand, making me yank it away to find a faint trail of energy traveling between my hand and her head that promptly disappears. Following which
Alexia's eyes flutter closed and she suddenly collapses.
I quickly catch her before she hits the ground, only to mutter, "What
the fuck?" a second later, after noticing that she's fallen unconscious. And
that the flickering of her body heat has stopped, leaving her at about the same body heat as myself.
Then her hair starts turning white.
Chapter 69
Changes
Alexander North
I gape at her for a few seconds, just watching her hair slowly turn stark white starting from the roots and all the way down to the tips, making her hair match mine in color to a t. Then a flashing red message appears in front of my eyes from my terminal.
/ Emergency Notice \
Unexpected energy transfer has occurred. Mutations have been made from both sides of the exchange.
Recommended-ed-ed-ed-ed-ed-eeeeedddddddd \End of Emergency Notice/
Uh. That doesn't sound good.
The red text begins to flash in and out of my vision before eventually vanishing. Only to reappear again a few seconds later with different words.
/ Emergency Notice \
Unexpected changes to the terminal are in progressessessessess. Changes inclu-u-ude an incr-cr-crease in Terminal intellect-ect-ect, -
-
\End of Emergency Notice/
Okay, can you at least finish the notice? Not that the part about an increase in intellect isn't already a little disturbing. Because I really don't want to have a sapient entity living in my head.
I just hope the increase in intellect stops at intelligence without giving any actual sapience.
My eyes narrow on the unconscious form of Alexia before I mutter, "Now what do I do?"
Snow continuously tries to rub her nose against Alexia in what I'm assuming is an attempt to wake her up, but there isn't any reaction. So I
begin to rise to my feet with the girl in my arms, only for a sharp pain to suddenly resonate throughout my head.
I fall back down to my knees while losing my strength to hold the girl up, making her fall down to my knees and then almost off of me onto the floor, but Snow stops her, leaving her halfway lying on my legs as I groan in pain.
The pain continues to grow worse and worse until I begin to hear some strange sounds echoing in my head. Kind of like whispers, but in an incredibly high pitch, almost screechy tone.
I vaguely hear Snow whimpering, but the screechy tone continues to get louder and louder until suddenly, a pop rings out in my head and it fades away entirely.
Snow continues whimpering for several more seconds while rubbing her head alternatively between me and Alexia, only to pause when she realizes that I'm not groaning in pain anymore. And right when I'm about to reach down to lay the girl on the ground, a voice echoes in my head that startles me into almost dropping her again.
|I sense a shard approaching, master|
"Holy fucking shit!" I can't help but shout. Then, just a moment later, a shard breaks into the room before flying straight through it and then into the floor, where it enters the next floor below us.
I look around in the room for a few seconds, frantically looking for the source of the voice. Which I'm really hoping is just some sort of frozen one that can somehow speak into my mind. But my hopes are dashed when the voice continues.
|Please master, do not be worried. I am the mutated terminal in your-|
Yeah, I'm probably just hearing things.
I nod my head with a smile before reaching down to pick the girl up again, only to glance at Snow and find her standing next to me seemingly offering her back. So I place the girl on Snow's back, following which we both begin to leave the room.
|Please don't ignore me|
The voice resonates in my head with a voice that somehow sounds sad while also being completely void of emotions at the same time. Which is rather disorienting, but I stop walking with a sigh.
"How did this happen?" I ask aloud, gathering Snow's attention for a moment as she stops to see why I stopped. "Don't mind me." I tell her in a quieter tone.
|A unique energy slightly different but also similar to the radiation in the shards and frozen ones was found in the girl and somehow attracted into your body while the energy in your body was also attracted into hers, master|
The heck? That's not what I expected. But it would explain what that energy transference was.
|Correct, master. The energy transfer seems to have had effects on both you and the girl. But while the effects on you purely congregated around my physical container that you call a terminal, the effects on her seem to have turned her into a being quite similar to yourself|
"Okay, before we get into that," I say with a frown, "could you stop calling me master? It's just weird. Call me by my name or something."
I hear some weird static sounds in the back of my head that only serve to make my frown grow deeper before they come to a stop and the... terminal? The terminal responds.
|Confirmed. Master's designation has now been set as Alexander|
My eyebrow twitches at his use of master in that statement, but I manage to ignore it to instead mention, "You seem to know more about the energy than you did before?"
After all, I'm pretty sure my regular terminal shouldn't be able to know the effects the energy had on the girl. It just isn't built with that function.
|Confirmed. This unit was given subject data from the energy transferred through contact with the girl and has learned more about the origins of this storm|
Holy shit. Just what sort of energy was in that girl, and how did it get there?
|Unknown. It is suspected, however, that the girl had the energy surgically placed into her body|
That's just... brutal.
Wait a second. Could the reason she's afraid of her father have anything to do with that?
If that's true... then maybe it's not a bad thing he's dead. I blink in surprise as I realize something.
The terminal responded to my thoughts just now, didn't it?
|Yes, I did, Alexander|
Huh.
Could you, I don't know, not read my mind?
|If that is what you wish, Alexander|
Hmm.
Cool.
No matter how unpleasant the thought of having a sapient creature in
my body is, I can't deny how helpful it is. And how obedient it is either, considering our talks so far.
Chapter 70
Questions and Answers
Alexander North
I begin to leave the room with Snow while asking out loud, "You said something about getting more information on the storm? Would you mind clarifying that?"
The terminal answers right away.
|If you wish to speak with me then you may direct your thoughts towards me so as to not be seen as someone who is losing their mind talking to themselves|
My eye twitches at the terminal's reasoning, but his words help nonetheless, as it only takes me nearly half a minute of walking to figure out what he means and respond in my head.
'Please answer my question.'
|According to the information transferred with the energy, a being known as 'Cocytus' was awoken, bringing SA;SDLKNPAOCK throughout the universe|
I can't help but stop walking as my mind tries to register whatever the terminal just said.
What the hell?
'Are you telling me that the super ice planet is a living being?'
Snow stops walking a few steps down the hall from me with the girl on
her back before turning to glance at me with her head tilted in confusion.
I raise a hand and say, "One sec."
|Incorrect. The being is not the planet, but a creature living on the
planet. The source of ASDFLKNASDKF|
The frown that's been growing on my face for a while now grows even deeper as I ask, 'What is that word you keep saying?'
Whatever it is, it honestly sounds like half a dozen languages smashed together. To the point that I can't understand it, or even recognize it from one mention of it to another.
|ASDF;LKNAVPPIO is the name of the storm spread throughout the universe|
That's... hmm.
'Designate that as the 'True Name' of the storm and designate the name you regularly use for the storm as 'The Eternal Winter',' I order the terminal before feeling that same static noise as earlier vibrating at the back of my head.
After a few seconds of waiting, I begin to walk down the hall again with Snow and the girl.
Nearly an entire minute passes in silence before the terminal's voice returns.
|Change has been confirmed. The storm will now be called The Eternal Winter|
I nod my head, slightly curious as to why it took so long to change that but not really caring enough to ask.
'What all do you know about this 'Cocytus' being?' I ask next while opening the door to the stairs.
|Cocytus is the source of The Eternal Winter, and is lord over all beings designated as 'Frozen Ones'|
'Is it safe to assume that Cocytus is located on the planet Cocytus?' I ask with a frown.
|Correct|
So I guess the researchers at the military headquarters were right. The Arctic Empire likely caused all of this by somehow waking up this 'Cocytus' being.
I continue asking questions while walking down the stairs of the building all the way down to the bottom floor. But no matter how many questions I ask, the terminal doesn't seem to know much about Cocytus itself. Just that it's the source of The Eternal Winter, and that all of the frozen ones are subordinate to it.
So not much that I can go off of.
Also, from what the terminal mentioned, it looks like the 'energy' or 'radiation' in the air is considered by Cocytus and the 'intelligent frozen ones' as a sort of magic and not some natural energy? Not sure how that would fly with the researchers and scientists, but I guess it does make sense in some strange way. After all, it's changing physics itself.
I put aside any more questions I might have once we reach the damaged entrance to the building before I look in both directions of the street.
The intelligent frozen one is too powerful for me to deal with right now. And I have the girl to take care of.
So the best thing I can do is find somewhere safe to keep her with Snow while I go hunting.
I can't help but frown as a thought comes to me.
One of the best ways to get stronger right now would honestly be to go back to the military base for those symbionts stored there, assuming no one has taken them yet. Especially considering the fact that most of the frozen ones seem to have headed towards the center of the city.
In fact, it might be my only option right now. Because I don't know where the others are, and won't know until the captain contacts me through his captain's direct port. And I can't get stronger without finding and hunting more frozen ones.
I glance at the girl – Alexia – before letting out a sigh.
Just how am I going to deal with this girl and go to the base?
I stand at the edge of the silent street for nearly an entire minute before
eventually letting out another sigh and turning around to walk in the opposite direction of the Planet Hall. Only to stop in place a moment later when the terminal starts speaking.
|You have an incoming call through the 1018th Captain's Direct Port from the user 'Captain Andrew Hart'. Please confirm whether you would like to accept or not|
Huh. That's good timing.
'Accept the call,' I tell the terminal, following which a small amount of static buzzes in the back of my head before I see the blacked out call feed showing in the corner of my interface, along with the sound of the captain's voice echoing in my ear in a rather frantic tone.
"Alex! Do you hear me?!"
I frown at the tone of voice he's using.
"Yes, sir!" I answer. "What's the situation?"
"I am issuing you a direct order, second lieutenant!" he shouts through
the link despite not needing to, only for the sound of an explosion to echo through the link, making my frown grow deeper. "Do not enter Planet Hall! I repeat! Do NOT enter Planet Hall!'
Then the call cuts out. Well, shit.