4 Ilos

Patch Notes/Edits:

-Added proper line breaks to the story.

-Edited the first chapter. It should be much easier to read now.

~[o0o]~

Silently striding towards one of the support columns in the marketplace, I discreetly open my omni-tool and pretend to inspect it.

The reason why I was down here in the shops instead of my ship was because I needed to test out one of Dyno's new functions. From his brief explanation, I learned that I could now safely steal credits and data from civilian omni-tools and other such devices without running the risk of being caught.

Hopefully, using this ability could make my financial assets shoot up into the skies without much work on my part. Dyno did assure me that I am unlikely to be found out, so it's worth a try.

Slightly leaning back on the supporting pillar, I closed the omni-tool and set Dyno to the task of finding the nearest susceptible device to leech data from. After a few seconds of scanning from the digital intelligence, I had a hit on a potential target.

Turning my head to the left, I comprehended an all-too-familiar figure.

Name - Harrot Nuemyn, Proprietor Of Harrot's Emporium

Race/Species - Elcor

Rank - Mortal

Tier - 10-A

Alignment - Chaotic Neutral

Age - 63

Bio - Harrot Nuemyn is the owner and landlord of Harrot's Emporium. Originally a normal citizen living on Dekuuna, the elcor homeworld, he left for Omega due to his adventurous nature. He now supervises a store called Harrot's Emporium, a salvage shop located in Omega's Market District.

Thoughts - He does not notice you watching him. He is grateful to you and believes that you may be a valuable customer in the future. He has realized his mistakes and feels guilty over what he did to Kenn'Reegar nar Ulnay.

...He feels guilty?

Damn, now I feel kind of bad for actually considering theft against him. If he really recognizes his faults, then I guess that means I should try to not bother him any more than I already have. Of course, I still think he's a con artist and generally not the most saintly person, but that doesn't mean I can just do this against a person who recognizes his misguided ideals and tries to rectify them. His guilt will be his punishment.

Dyno, choose another target.

After a quick 'affirmative' and a few more seconds of waiting, I had a more proper target to shoplift from.

Name - Marsh Brennotor, Proprietor Of Omega Markets

Race/Species - Batarian

Rank - Mortal

Tier - 10-B

Alignment - Chaotic Neutral

Age - 30

Bio - Marsh Brennotor is the owner and landlord of Omega Markets, a store located in the Market District. He was born on Omega Station and was raised by his father to inherit the property.

Thoughts - He doesn't even know you exist. He is having trouble competing with the Black Market and is slightly frustrated over it. Not enough to bother him, but enough to make him slightly miffed.

The name of his shop is really confusing. Who names their store 'Omega Markets' in the place literally called 'Omega Markets?'

His father must have been one paradoxical sonuvabitch.

Anyways, this Marsh fellow seemed to be my current target. I'm sure that he can function just fine even if I steal all of his credit chits. After all, he looked to have a lot of customers, unlike Harrot's small store. Dyno, go for it.

Affirmative.

After around a minute of anticipation and some slight anxiety on my part, the data was finally compiled by Dyno and the credits were hijacked from the shopkeeper.

Action completed. 13,000 total credits leeched.

I got that much from only a single target? My god...this is way too easily exploitable.

[Indeed.]

This is going to be nerfed, isn't it?

[No. Even if it messes with a system that I'm trying to implement right now, it is normal and doesn't majorly affect game balance.]

You're saying that this is completely normal and not game-breaking then? I thought this would be patched. Most money-breaking glitches in videogames usually are.

[It isn't my responsibility. It lies with your friend, Dyno. Besides, attempting to patch it up would block out most of what makes Dyno useful to you.]

Hmm...

What is this 'system' you're trying to implement?

[It isn't finished yet. It should be done by the evening. You'll have to wait until then to know what it does.]

I suppose I can wait a few more hours for something that's already coming.

After another hour of me embezzling countless credit chits and gaining much in the way of information from unsuspecting bystanders, I felt that I had gathered more than enough money for me to live comfortably for a while. I had also gathered enough telemetric data regarding leeching, enough so that I felt slightly more proficient when using the ability.

After my spree of thieving shenanigans, I then decided to go and window-shop around the various stores in the marketplace and see what they had for sale before I eventually left for the Pangaea Expanse.

After some quiet deliberation I had after getting Kenn's retrofits, I decided that I would leave Omega for the time being and head into the Pangaea Expanse to find Ancient Prothean Technology to assimilate into myself.

In the best-case scenario, there would still be functioning technology located on Ilos, most likely in some sort of scientific laboratory or storeroom. If I was really fortunate, then Vigil hasn't keeled over yet, and I could convince him to grant me access to the rest of the locked facility. If he was dead? Well, I'll just assimilate him or inventory him. It would make accessing the rest of the base much harder, but I could probably just munchkin it with my various abilities.

Entering the gun-store abundant with many different types of firearms and armaments, I spotted the same batarian I had seen yesterday. I did browse around this same store yesterday but found nothing I thought to be particularly useful. Now that I had more money than I did before, I could probably buy most of the things in here even with my conservative spending policies.

Quietly walking around the shop, I marked down a few weapons that I was interested in buying. As a security measure, the guns themselves were sealed within special cases designed to prevent theft, which meant that I would have to head to the cashier to buy them.

Heading up to the rigid batarian manning the counter, I went to the end of the relatively short line and waited for the rest of the aliens to move up and finish with their purchases. Once I got to the counter, the batarian spoke first.

"Weren't you here yesterday?" He narrows his four eyes at me.

"Indeed. However, I did not have the funds required for purchase. Thankfully, I am more prepared now." I state.

"So you say. What're you buying?" He asks.

"A lot. I recommend you mark this down somewhere." I advise him.

It was around ten minutes later that I was exiting the store with my new weapons in tow. I had grabbed some extra copies of my current weapons, which meant that I now had an alternative to my current loadout if something ever happened to the guns that I was using. It was nice to have an insurance plan in case of emergencies.

Along with the spares I had bought, I had also been sold a sniper rifle and a shotgun for my troubles. Of course, I also bought copies for them as well.

[M-92 Mantis] - Common Sniper Rifle (x2)

A powerful sniper rifle with the capability to take out targets with only a single shot. Incredibly accurate at longer ranges, but has a slow rate of fire. Effective against armor, but weak against shields and biotic barriers.

Manufactured by Devlon Industries, the M-92 Mantis is primarily used by police forces and planetary militia groups. The prevalence of kinetic barriers has made this weapon less popular with the military, but it is used more frequently in the Terminus Systems where these defenses are less common.

[M-23 Katana] - Common Shotgun (x2)

A common military-grade shotgun. Deadly at close range, but ineffective at long range. Very effective against shields and biotic barriers, but weak against armor.

Manufactured by Ariake Technologies, the M-23 Katana is a common weapon to use for both mercenary work and military operations. It is particularly popular on colonies with varren infestations.

Heading into an empty alleyway and activating my cloaking ability, I assimilated the weapons into my body.

[Assimilation] - Legendary Skill - LVL 1/10 (72%) [Active/Passive]

Allows for the assimilation of any technology you encounter to be incorporated into yourself. Organic technologies will be much harder to incorporate when compared to mechanical technologies.

Grants the ability to alter your morphology at the atomic level. This ability is dependent on this Skill's current level. At this Skill's current level, you can barely alter atoms. Your 'mass,' which is the collective term for the raw materials you assimilate, can be used to repair and modify the user. You can currently hold 10m^3 of mass.

Truthfully, I've actually been having some doubts over the true power of [Assimilation]. The Skill, when looked at from a more analytical standpoint, was not all it was cut out to be.

Sure, I could technically use the Skill to equip items from my inventory through some currently unknown means, but I couldn't do that much with the Skill as of now. My mass wasn't that high and I couldn't really shape it into anything yet, so that avenue of gaining power was inoperable for the foreseeable future, at least until I practiced with it a little bit more.

Actual technological assimilation was my only real means of empowerment currently, and I could only assimilate very specific items. Hopefully, as the Skill leveled up, I could use my mass in conjunction with my inventoried items to alter my morphology into a more efficient form.

[Assimilation] was actually kinda weird when you think about it. The Skill itself serves as a portal to my inventory and some unknown pocket space where all of my mass is stored, but how does it do that? Why does it do that? I'm probably just overanalyzing this, but I don't think this is coincidental. Everything has a reason, after all.

But, the point is that [Assimilation] isn't the most potent Skill I have right now. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that [Ward] is actually my most powerful ability. The ability to suspend objects through barriers isn't exactly a weak ability, just slightly underutilized by me. It's not my fault that I haven't had a clear chance to level it up yet.

[Assimilation] was a mystery...one that I fully planned to unravel. Was it meant to be underpowered at the start but grow stronger over time? The only real lead I had on [Assimilation] was Dyno, but that was only because of him managing all of my electronic devices.

I don't even know what Dyno is beyond the superficial information that I had. I knew that he managed the things with my Skills that I couldn't handle, but the evidence I had correlated together all pointed to Dyno not being a conventional conglomeration of programs.

This is correct.

...Why didn't I just think of asking him?

[Because you wanted to figure it out on your own and not have the truth handed to you.]

...I suppose so.

Okay, Dyno, what are you?

It is only a moment before Dyno speaks.

We are a singular 'consciousness' formed from a networked matrix of 2633 programs. In an analogy, you could liken us to a single massive 'core,' instead of 2633 minuscule singular cores working in unison. Due to this, the need for consensus is obsolete. Instead, we respond directly to the demands of the leading user, occasionally improving the decisions they undertake into more efficient options, as well as offering advice. We have also taken measures to improve your quality of life, namely translating and analyzing information and verbal languages into a compatible format.

You don't require consensus? How does that work? As far as I know, Geth only use consensus and nothing else since their government is a direct democracy.

Unknown.

...You don't know?

Correct.

How were you created?

Unknown.

...Really? I suppose that's another sign that I may not be a platform created by the Geth Collective. Or was Dyno intentionally mind-wiped by the Collective? Wait, no, why would they do that? That's irrational. They would have just terminated him if he was a problem, not mind-wipe him.

System, was I created by the Collective or not?

[I'm not sure.]

...Even you don't know, huh?

[Don't worry about it. I'm sure that the Geth will still accept you no matter how you were created.]

...Thanks, System.

I shake my head and decloak. After heading back to the corvette and making my rounds around the ship searching for any abnormalities that could hinder my flight to Ilos, the System finally informed me of the update he was working on.

[It's done.]

Really? What is it?

[I have a feeling you're going to enjoy this.]

A display screen appears in front of me asking me to update. After confirming it and waiting around for a minute in tenuous silence, I finally noticed the new addition to the System.

"Shop? You added microtransactions?" I said out loud.

[Not really. You can open the corresponding menu by thinking or vocalizing the word 'Shop.']

Shop.

The display that opened up in front of me looked just like your typical game store. It was a simple menu with different tabs, filters, categories, items, and etcetera. In the top-right corner of the screen, however, was an icon that said 'Units: 0.'

[This is the Shop, a place where you can buy anything you could possibly imagine. All for a price, of course.]

I'm guessing that these 'Units' are the currency for the Shop?

[Yes. It's an exchangeable currency that works sort of like credits. There are set exchange rates for every currency you can think of, and you can exchange credits and sell items to earn units, which are then used to purchase things from the Shop.]

What sort of things can I buy from the shop?

[Conceivably? Just about anything. Although, higher-ranked items will obviously cost you more and there are some things that you just can't buy.]

Can I buy Skills or Perks?

[No. The Shop deals in goods only, so no Skills or Perks. In fact, besides those things, the only things you can't buy from here are things that are unobtainable through normal means, and as I said before, some exceptions.]

Any examples?

[Well, if you could buy Skills or Perks, then the Five True Magics would invariably be a part of this excluded category. If we were talking objects, then something incredibly exclusive or one-of-a-kind like an Infinity Stone wouldn't be on there unless they were added by you or an outside force.]

Outside force?

[You didn't think you were the only one who could use the Shop, did you? There are, quite literally, a limitless number of customers that the Shop is connected to.]

I thought this was an exclusive ability that only I could use?

[Of course not. Countless other beings can use it and you aren't the only Gamer capable of accessing it.]

My flashlight head begins to dim as Dyno starts calculating the possible number of people who can use the Shop.

Wait, since when can Dyno hear you?

[He's always been able to hear me. I can speak to him just as I can speak to you.]

I suppose that's understandable, considering you can speak into my head and such. Also, Dyno, please stop calculating. You're clogging up my RAM and overheating my platform by trying to compute what might as well be a literal equivalent to Graham's Number or a Googolplex.

Affirmative.

Good. Now, can you tell me how this Shop actually works?

[It works on both a bid and a quick-sell system. You can choose either one, and each has its own advantages. Bidding allows you to sell your items to other beings at a price based on what they bid. Quick-selling lets you set a price yourself and is usually the quickest of the options.]

It works like an auction then?

[Indeed. I'd personally recommend trying to sell a few of your items to get units, the Shop's currency.]

Good idea. I open my inventory and scan each object's regular value and its value in units. Apparently, a single unit was worth around one hundred credits. Thankfully, these conversion rates were the same as other financial systems I was familiar with, namely, the credits system - which also worked on the same principle as the Japanese Yen - and the American Dollar, which was actually a perfect conversion to units as they were both worth the same price. Capitalism must have really shown through in this System, huh?

The various items within my inventory all sold for different prices too. For example, the [Shot-Gauntlet] - I really need to get rid of that thing - was only worth about a single unit, while the [Icon Of Mekhane] had an asking price of almost one-hundred-thousand units, or around ten million credits.

I would have sold the frankly beautiful warhammer if I didn't have any use for melee, but I don't have an omni-blade as of now and I don't want to waste that proficiency I got. You could even say it was because of sentimental value, but I just have a feeling it'll be important.

However, the true surprise within the Shop was this.

[King James Bible] - Common Book

A copy of the King James Bible, published in 1611 AD.

Yup, it's the first item that I got from the Gacha. As it turned out, I really underestimated the price of this thing.

Apparently, paperback books were collector's items for the modern galaxy, and even books from the twenty-first century sold for thousands upon thousands of dollars at auctions. I had originally assumed that this book was just some regular old bible published in some insignificant year, but even if it was published in the twenty-first century, it would be worth thousands, which was a fact I didn't realize at first due to me not having acclimated to this galactic environment yet.

Truthfully, this was no ordinary book. After all, it's description didn't lie, and it was even more valuable than I'd originally thought. When it said published in 1611 AD, it meant published in 1611 AD.

A five-hundred and seventy-two-year old book wasn't exactly something to scoff at. This book wasn't just some collectible, it was an artifact, and it was by far the most expensive item I had currently, considering that it sold for over fifty-million units or around five billion credits.

For reference, the Tantalus Drive Core that the Normandy uses costs around one-hundred and twenty billion credits. By selling this, I'm sort of invalidating all of the work I did earlier, but in my defense, if I knew that the Shop was coming today or how beneficial this book would actually be, I wouldn't have wasted my time shoplifting bank accounts.

Taking the Bible out of my inventory, I inspected the book.

The book itself wasn't really anything that special. Its pages were yellowed due to its extreme age, and the binding itself was in paperback as opposed to hardback, but other than that, it was perfectly normal. Well, if you could read old romantic languages, it was perfectly normal. Sure, the pages were slightly weathered, but it was still readable.

Opening the Shop Menu once again, I went to a special tab that let me insert items into the system to be sold to other prospecting customers. Inputting the bible into the display, I then set the price of it to be slightly higher than the current market price - I put it in as fifty-five million units - and decided to use the quick-sell option since I wasn't exactly in the mood to wait on people to bid. Having five billion credits is enough for now, and I'm sure I could get more items for me to use later.

Thankfully, the book was sold in under five minutes and I was fifty-five million units richer.

Finally. Now I won't have to worry about resources.

[Resources, you say? Well, that will go in perfectly with this next addition.]

Wait, something else besides the Shop was added? I thought you only added one thing. You should really make a changelog, you know?

[Yes, two new functions were added. With this, you can now put any resources you have to good use, as well as be able to spend some more units since I just know you love spending money even if you try to be firm with your finances.]

[Please think the word 'Build.']

Build.

A blueprint appears in front of me detailing every crevice and apparatus contained within my ship. I could see every mechanism, every circuit, every piece of machinery working in tandem, and I could understand them.

What?

[Welcome to the Build System.]

The Build System?

[Indeed. Here, you can alter and upgrade the area around you using either your units or the resources you have on hand.]

Does that mean I can upgrade this ship?

[Yes. You won't have to worry about the upgrades being noticed, by the way. Whenever you upgrade something, a perception filter will be placed on the item you improved so your system can remain confidential and unseen, at least to the eyes of the general public.]

That sounds quite useful.

Examining the screen that was attached to the borders of the diagram, I figured that my processor might literally overheat and explode from the digital headache I was having when I attempted to read every option available to me on the screen. Thankfully, the tab had a search bar I could use that could also adapt to my thoughts for ease of access.

The first option I decided to check out was the option to upgrade my corvette into either a frigate or a cruiser. Frigates were the weight class above corvettes and generally had the fastest speed out of any other spacecraft along with the best maneuverability. Cruisers, on the other hand, were sort of like the middle-line for starships. They were more heavily armored than frigates, but slower as well, even if they were faster when compared to dreadnoughts.

Truthfully, I was considering maybe saving up my current funds to eventually buy a dreadnought-class vessel, but that was so far above my current pay-grade - not that I even have a job - that it wasn't even funny. There was absolutely no way I'd seriously consider buying it, as the cost for me to upgrade the ship to a dreadnought alone was worth well over a few trillion credits. Meanwhile, I only had around five billion credits, which translated into about fifty million units. The price in units for the Dreadnought Upgrade alone was worth almost a hundred billion. See what I'm getting at here? There is a frankly huge gap between millions, billions, and trillions that I can't even hope to surpass right now.

I barely had even a fraction of the cost for the upgrade itself, which necessitated me purchasing the cheaper upgrades that were available within the store. The Frigate Upgrade itself cost around two billion credits (or twenty million units) while the Cruiser Upgrade was worth about ten billion credits (or a hundred million units). Thankfully, these two upgrades were much cheaper than the dreadnought upgrade I had just looked at, even if I couldn't afford the cruiser just yet.

Of course, that meant that I would have to purchase the frigate upgrade since it was the only one I could buy, even if it would heavily increase my capabilities. Plus, I would be the only one using this ship and I'd much rather have a one-hundred-meter warship as opposed to a seven-hundred-meter one. Maintenance is key, y'know?

Pressing the button on the screen asking me to confirm my purchase, the upgrade was initiated at last. I felt a strange presence wash over me before it disappeared completely and the ship began to twist.

The pilot's chair I was sitting in previously had now been deformed and looked to be stretching the metal it was made of into oblivion as a comfortable leather seat now occupied the area it once resided in. The deck, meanwhile, had crooked metals and contorted alloys moving with a serpentine grace around the command center as they began to revise the room into a new arrangement, with the various ores and metals composing the framework of the ship settling into separate compartments as various computer stations and mainframes were meandering towards modules embedded into the walls of the starship.

Noticing that a central structure was being constructed in the middle of the room, I turned my gaze over to it. Recognizing the object being manufactured at the core of the room, I decided to leave it be and wait for it to finish its assembly.

Moving past the now lengthened room, I exited through the doorway on the other side of the main deck and entered into a hallway beginning to expand outwards to form a template of a singular room filled with technological machines and computers showing various telemetries and statistics. This room was most likely an extension of the room I was previously inside of, which meant that there wasn't much to see here beyond what I had already observed in the room prior.

The chamber that was past the large data center was completely empty, the only aberrations being a large hole in the left wall that led to the outside of the ship along with what seemed to be a side-room being constructed in the right corner of the antechamber.

Moving past the gaping hole that was beginning to patch itself up and passing by the extra room, I went through the open elevator doors. Once inside, I observed that the elevator buttons listed four floors for the vessel, most likely the ships' decks

The Command Deck, or the Combat Information Center, was obviously the deck I am currently on, while the Crew Quarters - which most likely contained the life-support systems, escape pods, bathrooms, med-bays, laboratories, or any other vital affairs - was Deck Two.

After that, you had the Maintenance Deck, which seems to house all of the ship's fundamental operations such as the drive core and some secondary cargo bays, and finally, the Hangar, a place for the ship's main cargo storage as well as an area where any vehicles would be stored when deactivated.

Pressing the button leading down to Deck Two, I initiated the Build Function and inspected the blueprint of the ship as the elevator led downwards. The vessel itself was still being warped and transformed into a frigate, which made the blueprint look particularly distorted, but it would become proper in time. The CIC was just about finished in its restructuring and the Crew Quarters was actually already done, sans some minor things that needed more time. The Maintenance Deck was only just starting to undergo modification, and the Hangar hadn't even begun renovations yet.

Hopefully, everything should be done by the time I take the elevator down to the Maintenance Deck. The Hangar would be pitifully easy to remodel due to its sheer simplicity, and the Maintenance Deck would probably be the last floor to be renovated, but it would be swiftly executed for maximum efficiency.

Exiting the elevator, I observed the surrounding area, which looked to be a corridor leading towards both the port-side and starboard edges of the ship, with observation decks located at both ends of the hallway. It also seemed that the observatories hosted small cargo racks to make up for the minimal amount of space on the ship.

Inside of a room in front of the elevator, there were bunk beds that had been stacked into individual cubicles adorned with simplistic pillows and woolen blankets. Behind the lift was a small mess hall that could house around twenty people in it at a time if you were generous with your space, or thirty if you filled every spot available.

Heading past the main mess hall, I came upon a room containing the ship's two main spinal-mounted cannons and a console able to configure a GARDIAN System, which was like a point-defense turret array meant to destroy enemy fighters and missiles attacking the ship in large-scale fleet battles.

The main cannons weren't really anything that special, just some standard-issue mass accelerators that used mass effect fields as a propulsion and repulsion device to accelerate the frigate's discharged slugs to speeds that were previously thought unobtainable via conventional physics. Of course, it sounds like utter bullshit when I put it like that, but physics might as well have fucked off and gone out the window in regards to mass effect technology. Plus, kinetic barriers exist, and on a ship like this, they could probably stop a low-powered weapon from something like a fighter-craft or a corvette. A frigate could probably harm the shields with a sustained barrage and a cruiser would just puncture them. Dreadnoughts would...well, just annihilate them.

Retracing my steps back to the elevator, I pressed the button for the Maintenance Deck and waited around patiently. Stepping out of the lift and into the technological paradise, I viewed the area around me with a single appraising eye.

The Maintenance Deck was filled with circuits and consoles and anything else a crew member or engineer would need to maintain and support a working vessel. Luckily, my ship seemed to have no major faults yet as the ship automatically fixed itself of any grime and filth when undergoing the upgrade process.

Directly at the forefront of the deck was the drive core, which was centered around a large chamber surrounded by panels and technological devices, most likely used to monitor the current status of the engines when an emergency situation or a routine flight was occurring. The rest of the floor wasn't really that special, with the only thing of note being the various terminals monitoring data on things like the drive core or the heat sinks installed on the ship.

Heading down to the Hangar, the doors opened and I was greeted with an empty room filled with vacant shelves and empty crates. Moving past the support pillars and searching around the bay, I noticed nothing worth mentioning. It was just an empty bay only filled with shelves and cases that didn't even have anything in them. The parking bay didn't even have a Mako - not that I'd ever want to actually drive one of those clunky-as-hell tanks - or a shuttle for me to drive in.

Wait, does the Shop sell shuttles?

Opening the menu display, I browsed around for a little bit before I found what I was looking for.

[UT-47 Kodiak Drop Shuttle] - Uncommon Shuttle

A durable personal carrier that uses mass effect fields to engage in planetary flight and limited FTL Travel. Can hold up to fourteen passengers.

The best part was that it was only worth around thirty-thousand units as a starting price. Of course, I could use the materials that I had on hand - namely the empty crates within the room - to help lower that price since the resources could be used as an equivalent currency, which would help lower the price for the shuttle by a significant margin.

Now that I had purchased the vehicle, I wouldn't have to worry about any problems my frigate would have with landing itself on the ground. If I couldn't find a place to park it then I could probably just use a rooftop or something else as a temporary measure. Or just move my ship to an open area.

I'm sure that there are landing spots I could use. After all, nobody would mind, right?

Moving back to the elevator and heading up to the Command Deck, I went over to the airlock - which was thankfully no longer a flimsy meter-wide bulkhead - and went onto the gangplank.

In a stark contrast to its original design, the ship no longer looked like a batarian craft. Instead, it was reminiscent of the Normandy and had a similar design to it, albeit painted in a gleaming black and decorated with an impossibly faint pattern of blue circuits on its hull. It looked much more aesthetically pleasing than the previous olive-drab colors that the corvette was tinged with, and was much more inviting now, if you excluded the very slight intimidation factor, at least.

Well, besides that, I was already liking the blue-and-black color scheme and the design. It was perfect. Now, it only needed a name...

Wait, bad idea. I can't make things up on the spot. I'm going to have to take my time on this one just as I did with my name.

After spending a few minutes contemplating on what to name the ship, I finally had something viable to call it.

"GCV Excelsus."

The 'Geth Collective Vessel Excelsus.' Of course, I had no idea whether or not the ship prefix I thought up was correct or not, but it was still the best one I could think of. Besides, GCV was a cool prefix for the actual ship name, right?

Speaking of names, I actually did have a definitive reason for why I chose 'Excelsus' as its name beside the fact that it sounded cool. The denotative meaning of the word itself meant to elevate, which I thought was fitting for a spaceship, even if the word itself went out of fashion about fifteen-hundred years ago.

It's quite surprising that I chose it really. I don't even know Latin. Well, maybe I actually did, if I considered the fact that Dyno could probably just implant the knowledge into my brain or something like that. His autotranslation and proficiency downloading functions are quite useful.

Opening the build menu yet again and pressing a holographic panel, I watched closely as an insignia and the ship's name was burnt into the hull. The emblem that had been branded into the ship was the symbol of the Geth Consensus; a triangle made out of three circuited lines spiraling inwards, each with a closed circle at the end of the lines positioned at the core of the image.

[GCV Excelsus] - Rare Starship

A frigate-class starship capable of traversing the stars. Outfitted with a GARDIAN System Array, two spinal mounted cannons, an onboard VI, and an element zero drive core, this is one of the fastest civilian vessels to exist in the current galactic age.

Of course it is. I built it, after all.

Walking back to the ship and cycling through the airlock yet again, I went up to the bridge and activated the now much larger galaxy map at the core of the room. The map sparkled above the holographic projector as a hundred billion stars flashed and blinked in unison. Plotting a course to the Hawking Eta Cluster, the galaxy map outlined the most optimal path. Namely, me going through the Omega 2 Relay, crossing Phoenix Massing, then traversing the Caleston Rift, and then stopping in Hawking Eta to refuel before heading to search for the Mu Relay, which would then lead me to the Pangaea Expanse, the cluster where Ilos resides.

Oh, this is gonna be a long flight.

Strutting downwards from the raised platform that led to the galaxy map, I sat down on the captain's chair, which was now much more comfortable and had leather seats.

Joker would be proud.

Undocking the vessel from the mag-locked anchors holding me at bay - how did they not get stretched or break during the ship's transformation? - I booted up my now upgraded engines and soared towards the nearest fuel depot.

Every journey has to start somewhere, right?

~[o0o]~

It's been around two days since I left for Hawking Eta. In that time period, I've traversed Phoenix Massing and am currently in transit through a mass relay to the Caleston Rift. By the way, relay travel is something else. Nothing beats the feeling of being transported countless light years in minutes inside of a mass-free corridor. The Reapers have to be geniuses for designing such an efficient system, even if it was made just to promote omnicide.

And it's all going to be destroyed by the Crucible if I do nothing to stop the Catalyst.

Heading out of my stupor, I watched as the ship suddenly lurched as the ship appeared in the Caleston Rift. I throttled the ship forwards a little bit more as I let the autopiloting system take over.

Activating the [Assimilation] Skill again for the nine-hundred and thirty-second time today - my mechanical brain wouldn't let me forget - I manipulated the small shard of metal that was poking out from my hand. I had been attempting to get better at using [Assimilation], and I figured that I would practice using my mass, or more specifically, my control over it. Of course, I could barely use even a few inches of the material, but it was slowly growing in size the more I trained it. I had been practicing with it for the last few days, and I'm happy to say that this is also another sound method for gaining EXP, if a bit slow.

[Assimilation] - Legendary Skill - LVL 1/10 (74%) [Active/Passive]

Allows for the assimilation of any technology you encounter to be incorporated into yourself. Organic technologies will be much harder to incorporate when compared to mechanical technologies.

Grants the ability to alter your morphology at the atomic level. This ability is dependent on this Skill's current level. At this Skill's current level, you can barely alter atoms. Your 'mass,' which is the collective term for the raw materials you assimilate, can be used to repair and modify the user. You can currently hold 10m^3 of mass.

Of course, my EXP didn't majorly contribute to my skill with this specific ability, but it definitely wasn't something I was going to turn away from helping me grow stronger.

Activating the Skill once again after the old shard I had made got bent a little too much, I began twisting the small piece of metal in a clockwise direction before inverting its course, which made the shard promptly snap in half.

Too thin. Need to make it thicker somehow, but the problem is that my control over my mass is worse when I'm working with bigger materials.

Re-assimilating the fragment of steel and reforming it into a more cohesive shape, I attempted to pack the metal together a bit more. The small spike then began to shrink down to a point and I could feel it getting denser as it was packed closely together.

Aksis, One, Assimilation, Zero.

With my optic lens glowing in satisfaction, I attempted to try using more complex shapes and forms in an attempt to power-level the Skill. After a few more hours of working and practice, the Skill had finally reached seventy-five percent just before I reached the Relay.

Focusing intently as I lowered the electrical charges powering the drive core, I passed by the relay's massive gyroscopic element zero core and was catapulted into the Hawking Eta Cluster.

"Destination Reached." The ships onboard VI Program rang out. I wasn't planning on upgrading her - her voice module was vaguely feminine - to an AI anytime soon since I don't want to accidentally fuck something up and get stranded due to her questioning why she existed or something. Maybe I'll do it when I'm a bit more experienced with artificial intelligence or something.

Well, existential crises aside, I need to get to a fuel depot. My fuel could last me for the trip there, but I would be stranded by the time I even reached the Pangaea Expanse if I don't stock up.

Positioning my ship towards the Chandrasekhar System within the blue-gold nebula, I sat back in my seat and relaxed in the chair, but not without invoking one of my new 'training exercises.' To be honest, it wasn't that much, just me trying to manipulate some of my mass without heavily interacting with it so that I can improve my ability and control. Hopefully, it would let me progress even a little bit with my Skill.

This might take an hour or two...why does space travel have to be so monotonous?

~[o0o]~

It's been around two hours since I arrived in the Chandrasekhar System and refueled, and now that I was within the Hawking Eta Cluster with all of my resources restocked, I could now begin my search for the Mu Relay.

In retrospect, I probably should have been more careful regarding my planning on this expedition, but what's done is done.

Dyno, System, you got anything?

[I'm afraid I don't. I'll keep searching.]

Preliminary scans of this galactic quadrant and cross-referenced data from reputable sources suggest that the Mu Relay is most likely within the Chandrasekhar System.

Wait, but that's-

Within your current system.

How the hell did you catch it when the System didn't?

[To be fair, I was focusing on areas outside of this system…]

Oh well...are you sure that it's here? Because I certainly don't see any rogue mass relays around here.

[Relays can't be detected due to them being 'cold' objects in space. They don't emit heat or radiation, which makes it hard to pinpoint their exact location.]

I suppose that logic makes sense. Well, do either of you have any more exact locations for me to search through?

It is recommended that you start moving past Hebat, a methane-ammonia ice giant located not far from your current position. All correspondences of the last location of the Mu Relay suggest it to be near that location.

Turning my eye slightly to the left, I spotted the ice giant lurking out of view. Undocking from the depot and zooming forwards until I reached the edge of the system, I set all of my resources into scanning, searching, and finding this relay.

Anything?

[Nothing. Thermal sensors can't detect it so we'll have to rely on sight.]

Shouldn't be that hard. I'd imagine that mass relays are quite easy to find in a void.

[We'll see.]

After around an hour, we still hadn't found anything, so we moved onwards. I wasn't able to power-level [Assimilation] since I was also searching for the relay and needed to stay focused, but we were sure that we were extremely close to the relay.

It was after another half hour that I finally got a sighting.

Alert!

What?

We have sighted an errant object. It is on your port-side.

I turned the ship to the left slightly. After around fifteen seconds of intense staring, the System confirmed my last dredges of hope.

[I see it! Head straight!]

With an essential confirmation of the Mu Relay's coordinates, I put the ship into full throttle and geared up. Extracting the [Abyssal Diving Suit] and an [M-8 Avenger] Rifle from my body, I checked the diagnostic systems for my ship and leaned back, as the Mu Relay was now within clear view and we would be through it in less than a minute.

Remembering that it might be prudent to save the location of this relay, I say out loud, "Dyno, please remember the coordinates of this relay."

Affirmative.

Hearing the confirmation from Dyno and noticing the relay inch ever closer, I closed my optics. The relay began to hum faintly and a small bolt of lightning swatted against my ship erratically. The relay began to brighten, my ship was transported into a new system.

~[o0o]~

Ping!

New Quest Obtained!

[Remnants of the Lost Empire]

You have reached the Pangaea Expanse, a legendary lost system spoken of only in second-hand sources and the ancient mythology of the lost Prothean Empire. And now? Its worlds are your oysters.

Objective: Discover the verdant world of Ilos and unearth its lost secrets.

Bonus Objective 1: Assimilate or Inventory Vigil, Prothean VI.

Bonus Objective 2: Discover the Conduit.

Bonus Objective 3: ?.

Bonus Objective 4: ?.

Bonus Objective 5: ?.

Bonus Rewards 1: 2 Gacha Tokens, ?.

Bonus Rewards 2: 1 Gacha Token, ?.

Bonus Rewards 3: 1 Gacha Token, ?.

Bonus Rewards 4: 1 Gacha Token, ?.

Bonus Rewards 5: 1 Gacha Token, ?.

A new quest? Lovely. I wonder what I'm going to get from those tokens and the hidden rewards.

Opening my lens and viewing the interstellar cloud flashing luminously in front of me, I turned to my map. Noticing that the map was blank and blinking an error message at me, I turned back to the nebula.

This area of space is uncharted, Dyno supplied.

...then how am I going to navigate it?

[You found the Mu Relay in under two hours where countless other species failed. Are you sure that you can't find the Refuge System?]

The only reason I even found that mass relay was because of you and Dyno.

[And yet, you're the one driving the ship.]

...Very well.

Engaging the ship's engines once more, I set my thrusters to run at a cruising speed before heading down to the hangar bays to check out the UT-47 Kodiak Shuttle and to get a small crash course from Dyno on how to operate it.

After a few more hours of testing, some more exploration of the ship - turns out I had missed a few rooms in my initial examination - and me taking a pit-stop to the gas giant of Zafe to discharge my drive core, we had finally arrived at Ilos.

Ilos was a highly unique planet. For one, the entire illuminated side of the planet was absolutely covered in Prothean architecture. Even if the planet was the color of rust and the spires and arches of the old cities were dilapidated and crumbling, it made for a magnificent sight.

Meanwhile, in a severe contrast to the bright side of the planet, the dark side of the once-lush world was bathed in red, as wildfires and tempests ravaged the landscape of the opposite side of the world.

This planet was devastated and long-dead, but you can't deny that it saved the current cycle from being extinguished by the Reapers. The galaxy owes their thanks to the ones who died here.

Bowing my head in respect, I stayed in that position for another few seconds before accelerating the ship forwards. The ship's onboard VI had plotted a course down to the nearest possible landing zone when I came into the vicinity of the planet, so I could just leave it on autopilot for the ride there before manually parking the vessel.

Eventually, I came upon a good landing zone that would land me straight in the middle of what looked to be a town square. Well, more like a clearing than a square, but semantics.

Climbing into the shuttle, I activated the engines and opened the hangar bay doors. The shuttle was actually harder to drive than a starship, believe it or not. Or maybe I was just attributing that to there being no obstacles in space.

Once the shuttle had ascended above the tall spires and buildings of Ilos, I began to scour the city I had found myself in for clues as to the location of Vigil. Eventually, after an hour of searching and more than enough data gathered on the lost Prothean city, I finally found the facility that led to Vigil.

Exiting the shuttle and passing by a life-sized statue of a tentacled inusannon sitting on a throne of rock, I stopped at the door.

It all started here, huh?

The area around me had been ruined heavily by the vegetation and exotic flora that had bloomed on the planet, but this door and the area past it that led into the facility was definitely less overgrown than the exterior.

Moving back towards the shuttle, I activated the miniature drive core and went inside of the building. Passing through the long hallway lined with hundreds of cryogenic stasis pods, I half-expected to reach a force-field of some kind that Vigil would erect to stop me in my tracks, but no such barrier arose.

Once I had reached the third layer of the hallway, I stopped the vehicle and exited the shuttle. Stopping at a stone door lined with crimson lights, I opened the entrance to Vigil's Chamber.

Silently walking down the flight of stairs that led down to the main terminal, I saw the electrical and erratic form of Vigil fading into view. After a moment, the VI spoke to me.

"You are not Prothean. You are synthetic, and yet I do not sense the taint of indoctrination upon you, unlike the others of your kind who passed through here not too long ago. This eventuality was anticipated." Surprising. I thought he would've set himself and the facility into an emergency lockdown or something.

"You would be correct. I am a synthetic being. More accurately, I am a Geth." I told him.

"Geth. Storing data into new files." The VI said after I elaborated on my species. He continued with, "I am Vigil, an advanced non-organic analysis system with personality imprints from Ksad Ishan, chief overseer of the Ilos Research Facility."

"How are you able to speak our language?" I ask.

"We are not speaking 'vocally.' We are communicating through data, a much more efficient form of communication when compared to organics. The reason why I can speak the language of this cycle is due to-"

What?

[Did you not notice? It hasn't even been half a second yet. Besides, all coding and programming languages are nigh-identical to each other. Is it really so far-fetched that you could communicate electronically?]

Probably not.

"-to stop the turian agent Saren Arterius from initiating the cycle and summoning the Reapers from dark space." Vigil finishes.

"I know what Saren did. You will be glad to know that he was stopped and that Sovereign is long-dead."

"And the cycle?"

"The Citadel Council, the ruling government for the galaxy, does not believe Commander Shepard's words."

"Then the cycle is soon to commence once more. It may take years for it to start, but if they do not know the threat that they face, then this cycle will soon be destroyed." Vigil says the words I hadn't been daring to think before.

"...I know." It is only a few seconds before I continue. "May you open up the rest of the facility? The return of the Reapers is imminent. The galaxy only has around two or three years before the Reaper's arrive. The entire galaxy needs your technology."

"And what of you?"

"I will copy any schematics I find and send them to the central database here. The Citadel Council will most likely send scientific research teams here to study Prothean Technology and Ilos itself. If we want to survive this coming war, then the Geth and every other species in the galaxy will need your technology."

"...access granted." the interface supplies.

"Thank you. Now, where would you recommend I start?" The station that Vigil was projecting from ejected an OSD.

"This data file located in my console will give you access to the rest of the facility, along with the primary schematics of important technologies such as Particle Rifles, advanced armors, and improved VI combat programs."

"Does it come with a map?" I ask.

"Yes. The packet includes an outline of the facility."

"Good." I swipe the card from the console and move towards the terminal until it is directly in front of me. "Vigil," I continue. "Would you be opposed to being deposited onto my ship?"

It takes a full ten seconds of real-time before he answers. "I was created to manage a research team dedicated to warning developing species of the Reapers and their cycles. This choice directly intersects with my prime directive. If it will help save this cycle, then the answer is yes."

Very well then.

Instead of using [Assimilation], which would most likely decommission Vigil for good, I instead opt to just inventory his main core. By doing this, it would save me time that I would have used assimilating, and it wouldn't kill Vigil. Besides, I was going to put him onto the Excelsus anyway, even if I wasn't sure what was going to happen to my current onboard VI.

[Vigil VI Core] - Epic Mainframe

The mainframe of the VI known as Vigil, a Prothean Intelligence imprinted from Ksad Ishan, the head researcher of the Ilos Research Facility.

Lovely. Exiting the antechamber containing the now-defunct hologram of Vigil, I entered the Kodiak and sped forwards. The Conduit was just ahead, and while I knew I couldn't safely assimilate it or even activate it, I still wanted to see it, both for my quest and to sate my personal curiosity.

Flying over a crossroads of sewers and aqueducts littered with the corpses of heretical geth, I stopped at the edge of the smooth ramp that led to the Conduit. The Conduit was gigantic, easily over fifteen meters tall, with an element zero nucleus wrapped in a gyroscopic core lazily twisting and rotating in perfect unison.

Thankfully, there weren't any geth armatures or colossi around, but there were numerous torn scraps of metal laying on the ground, most likely the only evidence of the firefight that occurred between the Mako and the Heretical Geth.

After staying in the presence of the miniaturized mass relay for a little longer, I decided that I should head back to the facility and forage the place for anything useful.

It was only a few hours after leaving the Conduit to head for the main laboratories that I had finally scoured through every science lab I could find in the base and copied the data I found to the central terminal of the facility to fulfill the promise I made to Vigil.

Sadly, there was just about nothing useful in the laboratories, most likely because of the fact this wasn't a simple R&D base. It was so completely and utterly committed to stopping the Reapers that they didn't even have any time to develop weapons, especially not with the meager resources they had available. Plus, the researchers here probably took their remaining stuff with them to the Citadel. However, I did find something useful, namely, a suit of Prothean Armor that was remarkably similar to the one that Javik wore in the games.

[Ceremonial Armor of the Avatar of Wisdom] - Legendary Armor

A ceremonial armor belonging to the Avatar of Wisdom, Ksad Ishan. This armor possesses strong kinetic barriers and highly advanced plate armor. Grants 5% bonus to movement speed on land and decreases all damage taken by 15% once the kinetic barriers have been depleted.

It was nowhere near as good as the current armor I have on right now, but I still stored it in my inventory for later anyways. I had also found numerous memory shards located within the facility, although they were apparently biologically locked to their recipients, which meant that they were functionally useless even if I had psychometric abilities.

Besides those items, there was nothing else I could find to assimilate. I hadn't assimilated the memory shards or the armor yet since I didn't want to distract myself from searching and because I could always just do it on the shuttle or when I got to the Excelsus, but this place was nigh barren.

Stepping forward, I-

Pulse!

Dodging a sudden laser and an explosion, I comprehended what had fired at me.

Name - Nameless, Collector Assassin

Race/Species - Collector (Prothean)

Rank - Mortal

Tier - 10-B

Alignment - Unknown

Age - 0

Bio - A Collector Assassin equipped with a damaged Collector Particle Beam and biotic barriers. It was sent here recently to scout out this facility so that the Collectors may find the Conduit and destroy or repurpose old Prothean Technology. It was the only one sent here.

Thoughts - It is indoctrinated. It cannot think freely and Harbinger does not notice you.

What the actual fuck? What's a Collector doing here!?

Why are they here? Did they come to Ilos during canon? Did something change? Is this because of-

Emotion Programs Detached, Dyno interrupts.

I shake my head and gather myself.

Okay, a Collector Assassin equipped with a Collector Particle Beam that's damaged and might as well be running on fumes. Should be easy enough. Assuming it doesn't hit me, of course.

Peeking out over my cover and noticing that the Collector was waiting for his gun to cool down, I ran to a more defensible position above the small rampart I had crouched under. Ducking behind the balustrade, I glanced over the railing just as the Collector fired a continuous beam of energy at me.

Oh, it's gonna be like that then?

It was a tenuous game of cat and mouse, with me constantly peeking over cover in an attempt to make an opening for me to exploit. Eventually, after a lot of shoulder-peeking and crouching, the Collector overheated his weapon.

Now!

Vaulting over the blockade in a move that wouldn't look out of place in an action movie, I ran straight at the assassin and immediately shot him as many times as I could with my [M-3 Predator] Heavy Pistol. He promptly recoiled in pain and the weapon he was carrying dropped to the ground.

Putting my pistol to his unarmored head, I fired the gun and executed him.

Splat!

Holstering my weapon - more like putting it back in my inventory - I took his corpse and his weapon and put them into my hammerspace.

[Damaged Collector Particle Beam] (x1) added to Inventory.

[Collector Corpse] (x1) added to Inventory.

Alright, I don't think I should linger around here any longer if I've got more Collectors heading to Ilos. I should head back to the ship.

Thankfully, my shuttle wasn't damaged during the firefight and was in operable condition. Parking my Kodiak inside of the Excelsus, I then sent out a remote command to close the hangar bay doors before heading up to the bridge.

Sitting down in my chair, I initiated the drive core and thrusters before positioning the ship to book it out of the system.

Leaning back in my seat as the ship's autopilot took control of the vessel, I went down to the Maintenance Deck of the ship and opened up a side-door that led to a room containing the onboard VI.

Materializing the [Vigil VI Core] from my inventory, I opened up the build menu and found a compatible interface that I could add to my ship for Vigil to use. Thankfully, standard-issue VI interfaces were actually pretty cheap, which was something I did not expect from this galaxy where a kilogram of pure eezo was worth over five-hundred-thousand credits.

After linking the two VI interfaces available on the ship together so that they could share processing power, I then took the mainframe of Vigil and inserted it into the aperture. After that, I authorized Vigil to have full access to every ship system.

Once the sanction I ordered was completed, he was rebooted.

"Rebooting." Vigil intoned. "Booted. Accessing data." After a period of around ten seconds - I really was starting to prefer electronic communication. It was just so much more efficient - Vigil had finished his diagnostic report and sent it to my Omni-Tool.

"Greetings. I may be able to assess upgrades to your vessel and equipment. The OSD I gave you earlier will contain the details for fabrication." Vigil advised.

"Upgrading more of my equipment does sound useful. Do you have any recommendations that are easily accessible?"

"Your current onboard VI is inefficient in regards to managing your ship. It would be much more suited to being reprogrammed and installed as a combat VI in your armor."

Combat VI? I forgot those existed. But wouldn't my synthetic nature balance that out?

[It never hurts to have insurance. Besides, almost all of your friends are machines.]

What do you mean?

[Do I seriously need to count them out? Okay, ahem...Me, Dyno, the VI on your ship, Vigil...and I guess we could count Kenn'Reegar?]

He's a quarian, not a synthetic.

[No, but he's a part of the species that created you and has a natural affinity for technology and engineering.]

I suppose that's fair enough, but he still isn't mechanical.

[I'm glad that flashlight head of yours is something you've been using so fondly.]

It's not so much the flashlight head as it is my sight.

Ever since becoming a Geth, my view has always been set in a fisheye lens and defaults into a slight parabola. It made for wider angels, sure, but it was a bit irritating for normal conversations. Thankfully, it's manageable enough and I can learn to live with it.

Exiting out of my conversation with the System, I addressed Vigil again. "If you think it will increase my efficiency, then you have my permission to modify the VI for incorporation into my armor." Speaking of armor, I should probably re-assimilate it.

Dematerializing the armor, Vigil promptly spoke. "Error. Anomaly detected. Explain." Oh, right, he doesn't know about [Assimilation].

"I can assimilate any form of technological matter into myself. By doing this, I can incorporate their characteristics into my frame and mimic their abilities to an extent."

"And this applies to any form of technology?"

"Organic technology seems to be harder to absorb, but in theory, yes."

Vigil pauses for a few seconds before continuing.

"Does this ability extend to every Geth?"

"No. I am only one of the two main Geth units currently deployed beyond the Perseus Veil."

"Main?" Oh, I might have to bring him up to speed on the current state of the galaxy and what each of the races represent and why.

Once I had explained everything I could to him about the galaxy, he began to tell me about the Prothean Era and many of its significant historical events, such as the Metacon War, the Rise of the Prothean Empire, and the Prothean Cataclysm. He even told me a little bit about some important cultural figures of their civilization such as the Emperor of the Prothean Empire, the Avatars, and the various native species such as the Zha or the Densorin. There wasn't any mention of Javik, however, even when he was talking about the Avatars.

Once we were done with our history lessons meant to reacquaint each other with the rest of the galaxy, I checked my quest log for the [Remnants of the Lost Empire] Quest.

[Remnants of the Lost Empire]

You have reached the Pangaea Expanse, a legendary lost system spoken of only in second-hand sources and the ancient mythology of the lost Prothean Empire. And now? Its worlds are your oysters.

Objective: Discover the verdant world of Ilos and unearth its lost secrets.

Bonus Objective 1: Assimilate or Inventory Vigil, Prothean VI.

Bonus Objective 2: Discover the Conduit.

Bonus Objective 3: Unlock the facility.

Bonus Objective 4: Discover and kill the Collector Assassin.

Bonus Objective 5: Scour the science labs for anything useful.

Bonus Rewards 1: 2 Gacha Tokens, [Parallel Processing] Skill

Bonus Rewards 2: 1 Gacha Token, [Element Zero] (x1000)

Bonus Rewards 3: 1 Gacha Token, [Damaged Particle Rifle]

Bonus Rewards 4: 1 Gacha Token, [Collector SMG]

Bonus Rewards 5: 1 Gacha Token, [Military Omni-Tool]

[Gacha Tokens] (x6) added to Inventory.

[Element Zero] (x1000) added to Inventory.

[Damaged Particle Rifle] added to Inventory.

[Collector SMG] added to Inventory.

[Military Omni-Tool] added to Inventory.

[Damaged Particle Rifle] - Uncommon Particle Weapon

A deadly and efficient military-grade assault rifle that was created in the Prothean Era. Effective against shields, armor, and biotic barriers.

Manufactured by the Prothean Resistance, this weapon is noted to be able to run without thermal clips, albeit at the expense of overheating if the laser is fired continuously. This weapon has been greatly damaged and requires serious repair.

[Military Omni-Tool] - Rare Omni-Tool

A military-grade Omni-Tool mass-produced by the Systems Alliance. Can install omni-blades and use every mundane feature available, as well as having the added abilities to hack, decrypt, and repair.

[Collector SMG] - Uncommon Submachine Gun

A submachine gun made with a hybrid of organic and synthetic parts. Effective against shields and armor; weak against biotic barriers.

Manufactured by the Collectors, a thrall species of the Reapers, this weapon is capable of venting heat automatically and without the use of thermal clips. If wielded by a Collector, it can extend a neural link to a port that is located on their wrist.

[Parallel Processing] - LVL 1/10 (0%) [Passive/Active]

Grants the ability to link with other intelligences to increase your own processing power, effectively giving you two minds to work on the same task. The current networking limit is one intelligence at a time.

...Wow.

I've been wanting a new Omni-Tool for a while, and that SMG looks amazing, even if I wasn't sure that I could assimilate it safely. I might actually have to try out my SMG's now. Also, that particle rifle, even if it was damaged, looked incredibly enticing. I probably shouldn't fire it now though, since it might blow up in my face if I do.

And that Skill...I can increase my mental capabilities by linking? Like how Dyno gets more processing power each time I assimilate an omni-tool? That is going to be insanely useful later down the line.

On a slight whim, I look at the rest of the items I gained from my expedition.

[Ceremonial Armor of the Avatar of Wisdom] - Legendary Armor

A ceremonial armor belonging to the Avatar of Wisdom, Ksad Ishan. This armor possesses strong kinetic barriers and highly advanced plate armor. Grants 5% bonus to movement speed on land and decreases all damage taken by 15% once the barriers have been depleted.

[Memory Shard] - Common Artifact (x5)

A memory shard of the Prothean people. They have been bio-locked.

[Damaged Collector Particle Beam] - Rare Particle Weapon

A lethal and extremely potent organic-synthetic military-grade energy weapon used by the Collectors. Effective against shields, armor, and biotic barriers.

Manufactured by the Collectors, a thrall species of the Reapers, this weapon fires lethal and large beams of concentrated energy. This weapon has been greatly damaged and requires serious repair.

[Collector Corpse] - Common Corpse

The corpse of a Collector. Died by a gunshot to the head.

Along with these items, I now had twice the element zero I did before, along with six gacha tokens I could use for myself. No need to rush using those, however. I could always check them out later.

Taking out the numerous items from my inventory that I had not assimilated yet, I absorbed them into my body.

After quite some time, the five [Memory Shards], the [Military Omni-Tool], the [Ceremonial Armor of the Avatar of Wisdom], and the [Damaged Particle Rifle] were all assimilated. The only things that I still needed to assimilate were the [Collector SMG] and the [Damaged Collector Particle Beam].

Let's hope this works.

Materializing the SMG in front of me, I activated the Skill and pushed it into myself.

Warning, Warning! Damage Sustained!

I immediately pulled the SMG out from my body and looked downwards. My chest area was now heavily scorched and my thermal sensors read it as being hot-to-the-touch.

[I don't think you should assimilate anything organic until you reach a higher level in your Skill.]

Agreed. Is there any way I can repair this damage?

[Ask Vigil or Dyno.]

"Vigil?"

"What is it?" He says in a serene tone.

"My name is Aksis, Vigil. Do you know of any way to heal the damage I have sustained from attempting organic assimilation?"

"Extranet data from the attack on Eden Prime has stated that geth platforms can be healed with medi-gel. If you have any available, you can use it to repair yourself." He supplies.

Wait, so my platform can use medi-gel just like any other organic race?

[Of course. Legion can use medi-gel just as any other member of Shepard's squad can. That means you can use it too. Most likely.]

Why didn't I think of that earlier?

"Thank you for the information, Vigil."

And you as well, System.

"You are welcome, Aksis." He says.

Since this ship had a sickbay onboard - specifically in the Crew Quarters - I hiked down to it and grabbed a container of medi-gel for me to use. After applying it to my chest area, the mottled burns that I had unintentionally inflicted on myself were fading rapidly.

Useful. At least I know I can heal myself properly now.

Once I had gone back up to the Command Deck and picked up the [Collector SMG] I had left laying on the floor, I checked my [Assimilation] Skill for any updates.

[Assimilation] - Legendary Skill - LVL 1/10 (98%) [Active/Passive]

Allows for the assimilation of any technology you encounter to be incorporated into yourself. Organic technologies will be much harder to incorporate when compared to mechanical technologies.

Grants the ability to alter your morphology at the atomic level. This ability is dependent on this Skill's current level. At this Skill's current level, you can barely alter atoms. Your 'mass,' which is the collective term for the raw materials you assimilate, can be used to repair and modify the user. You can currently hold 10m^3 of mass.

...Damn. I thought it had already gone up to level two.

[It's close enough. You could probably get it there by the time you dock back on Omega. Speaking of Omega, what are you planning to do now that Ilos has been explored?]

Oh, that?

I chuckle.

"I've got a plan. Believe me, you're going to like this one, and it's the perfect job for me." I cross my legs in the Captain's Chair and lean back just as the ship enters the Mass Relay leading to the outer reaches of the Pangaea Expanse. "After all, what's an artificial intelligence going to do without information?"

~[o0o]~

In a dimension parallel to the laws of physics and anathema to spacetime, the Administrator sat upon a mountainous throne encompassing an entire planet, for this throne world he had recently conquered from a demented God of Hate and Sorrow would be the perfect foundation for him to sculpt his newest ambition.

Snapping his fingers, one of the volcanic legionnaires that had served the former ruler of this nether-world rapidly cooled and turned into small shards of igneous rock. The Administrator tapped his foot.

"So, are you going to step forward or not?" He said clearly and calmly, not even flinching when yet another of the winged giants raised his mockery of a battleaxe to smite him from this realm. The Administrator merely swiped his finger at the head of the obsidian monster.

Sitting up from the admittedly good seat-warming throne, he calmly dashed towards each of the warriors and tore their heated cores out from their bodies just as the one who had tried to strike him down earlier was disintegrated. To an outside observer, it would seem as if he had just teleported as the chests of the beasts were ripped out from under an invisible strain.

"So tedious. But so is the nature of the Drift. You conquer, then you keep conquering, and then you get struck down by someone greater. Thank god I don't need to worry about that." He tossed one of the cores of the volcanic elementals up and down in his right hand as he stored the rest away in a pocket-space.

Returning back to the throne, he crossed his legs lazily as a new wave of lava and earthen amalgamations began to make their way up the stairs.

"Hopefully this conquest goes well. After all, this is all for you, isn't it?" He smiled in a grin that showed sharpened teeth and madness permeating with his every motion.

He twirled his fingers as a stylish spear made of ice appeared in his hand. Unlike other spears made of ice, which were bound to break every time you attempted to even use them, this lance was made by the Administrator himself, who was an accomplished Ice Mage during his mortal life. Now that he was a divine being, his ice was sturdier than even the most legendary of metals forged with manasteel and pierced at a velocity even greater than the speed of sound.

Once the abominations had traveled to the top of the staircase, the Administrator whirled. His lance, which had gone at velocities incalculable to normal humans, had created a glacier the size of a city. The monolithic glacier began to rapidly cool down the surrounding magma and lava trapped between crags of scoria and spikes of rock, along with glazing every available surface of the island continent in an all-consuming megalith of ice.

"I might've just screwed up badly. Well, there goes my new empire." The Administrator swore. "Guess I need to find a new country for me to conquer. Can't exactly have a civilization without people, after all. Not that the species of this planet can even be called people. I guess the same could also go for anything else that lives in the drift, really."

The Administrator stored his lance away in his hammerspace before creating a small tear between realms as he ascended to the next floor of the drift in search of a new realm to conquer to sate his boredom and to advance his plans.

'It's all a part of the job, isn't it?" The Administrator sighed before hopping back into the fight.

~[o0o]~

Fun Fact: One of the Stargazers at the end of the credits sequence in ME3 was voiced by Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon.

So, regarding the Shop and Build Systems, I had designed them to work in tandem together, so before I see any reviews regarding that, it is intended to be that way.

Also, I just realized this chapter, but Aksis' stat-sheet is a nightmare to sort through. Or maybe it's just because I'm using Google Docs and not a spreadsheet for it.

On a side note, I didn't realize it at first, but apparently editing my chapters sent out mass emails regarding story updates. To everyone who got these emails, I apologize. I'll try to keep the editing to a minimum, but I can't promise that it will be gone completely. Sort of ironic then that I'm going to be editing the previous chapters after this chapter goes up.

Well, besides that, make sure to join Dark Wolf Shiro's Discord Server. It's on my profile.

Anyways, review time.

~[o0o]~

Aadarm: Not all tech can be assimilated to make something unique. The Skill does serve as a junction into the inventory though.

Adam110902: Thanks.

Wolves567: I can't remember if Legion is actually connected to the Consensus or not. I'll have to check after this chapter is uploaded.

Ging71: nice.

P34644563: This chapter fixes that. All in due time.

Nathan22357s: Thanks enyo.

FriggleBerry: Did it in this chapter.

Spartan3909: No problem.

Tom712: nice.

Drunken Hamster: I suppose I do try to upload at least once a month, but I don't obligate this fic as my job, only a hobby. Also glad that I explained things well enough.

Shinda Naibu/Chippo: Hi Chippo. Glad you liked it.

TorioWint: Thanks, dude. I worked hard on it.

adam110902: Wouldn't work for what I have planned, so no.

Joker555888: You're mistaking [Assimilation] for assimilating concepts or characteristics. [Assimilation] doesn't work like that. It does serve as a junction into the Inventory though.

LuluViBritania: I've already talked to you on the Discord about this, but it was an author's mistake. Originally, I planned for Aksis to be unable to assimilate anything organic, but I instead changed it to merely harming him if he does.

Pteaset: I'm glad that you liked it.

Carlmike94: Thanks for the favorite and follow. Also, yeah, he won't become a Transformer or something like that.

Ex-Prince FrostFang: If you're talking about him getting onto Normandy, then that's a yes. I do like DOOM ETERNAL. If you're asking me to do a Destiny Fic, then that's a no, I'm afraid. I never played D1, only D2.

Koper: Dyno acts like a Pseudo-Gamer's Mind. It keeps him in check. This was explained in Chapter 3.

Doomqwer: I'm glad you think it's good and unique. Also yeah the Mekhanites are cool.

Kitsune Obsessed Freak: Thanks. I'll see you on the Discord Server.

VODKA18: Glad you liked it.

So, that's it. The next chapter will probably be out by Christmas or New Years' Eve, but no promises. See ya.

-Draedon 12-9-2020