Chapter Twent Four - Part Two: Upgrading Stats

First thing Leta did after dinner, taking care of her nightly routines and excusing herself to her room was fall on her bed with the grace of a breaching whale.

"Oh my goooood…. I never want to leave." She moaned into the sheets, nearly euphoric with just laying down on a mattress.

It was a short lived luxury as Gada shattered the peace of the moment.

[WOULD THE HOST LIKE TO REVIEW POSSIBLE UPGRADES?]

She groaned as the nanite's words floated in her vision like pesky flys. 'Gada… why do you have to ruin a moment…'

~'MASTER, IN DEFENSE OF YOUR HIVE MIND, IT DOES NOT HAVE A PERSONALITY INTERFACE LOADED, SO IT CAN ONLY ACT IN WHAT IT PECIEVES AS THE MOST EFFICIENT LEVEL FOR IT'S HOST.'~

Leta squinted one eye open. 'You guys can have personalities?'

~'AS MUCH AS SENTIENT METAL CAN HAVE A PERSONALITY. I WAS NOT CREATED WITH A PERSONALITY, BUT DUE TO BEING IMPRINTED OVER THOUSANDS OF YEARS, PIECES OF MY PREVIOUS MASTERS' MEMORIES HAVE STRUCTURED THEMSELVES INTO THE MAKING OF A PERSONALITY. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT PROLONGED EXPOSURE TO YOUR WANTS AND NEEDS MAY ASSIMILATE A PERSONALITY INTO YOUR HIVEMIND. HOWEVER, THAT WILL MOST LIKELY TAKE SEVERAL YEARS, PERHAPSE DECADES, TO ACHIEVE.'~

'Well, that's a cool little bit of useless information.' Leta sighed and rolled over on her back. 'Fine. Okay, Gada. I didn't like how the fight with the Loupgaru went down. While I'm happy to now have more storage capabilities, it left me without enough nanites to patch me up. If I want to create a reserve for emergency healings, how much would you put that as?'

[QUANITIES FOR HEALING ARE DEPENDENT ON THE SEVERITY OF THE INJURY. HEALING A HANDFUL OF BROKEN BONES MAY REQUIRE A MINIMUM OF 2,000,000 UNASSIGNED NANITES. IN CONTRAST, REPLACING A MISSING ARM CAN REQUIRE 500,000,000 UNASSIGNED NANITES.]

Leta nearly choked.

Her first reaction was horror that she would have to come up with half a billion nanites to replace an arm. By that estimation, she'd have to absorb nanites from almost 200 monsters!

Her second thought was morbid curiosity at the knowledge that her nanites could regrow an arm.

'Out of shere curiosity, if I wanted to have enough nanites on hand to replace my arms and legs if they somehow got blown off, how much would that be?'

[ESTIMATED UNASSIGNED NANITE COST WOULD BE 6,800,000,000. IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THIS, THE HOST WOULD NEED TO REPLACE 73% OF ALL BONES IN THEIR BODY WITH ATLANITE STRUCTURES SIMILAR TO THOSE IN THE HOSTS FOREARMS.]

'Holy sh**… well, I don't have the ability to go that extreme, nor do I want to. Okay, let's leave 3,000,000 nanites in reserve for an emergency. How much does that leave us with?'

[2,886,967]

'Up my stats by two across the board.'

[ALL STATS INCREASED BY +2]

[CURRENT HOST STATS:

POWER: 15

SPEED: 14

STAMINA: 14

REFLEXES: 16

CONSTITUTION: 14

MENTAL FORTITUDE: 23

AVAILABLE UNPROGRAMMED NANITES: 2,872,967]

Leta gave an involuntary grunt as she felt a migrane come and go, her muscles hardening as tendons strengthened and became more flexible.

Her hand feathered over her stomach and, for the first time in her memory, what she felt wasn't soft or squishy.

Frowning, she got out of bed and headed towards the mirror. From a distance should could already see she her body had slimmed to the point that she was beginning to see muscle definition in her arms.

Leta lifted her shirt and found that her stomach pouch had been replaced by the formation of muscle clearly defined under her skin. It was by no means a six pack, but it was a start.

"Damn." She whispered in objective appreciation before her face fell in disappointment. She'd been changing too fast and knew that people would have questions of how she could loose over five kilograms of of fat in less than 24 hours.

Resigning herself to wearing baggy clothes for the foreseeable future, she headed back to bed.

'Gada, give me my options.'

[CONTINUOUS USE OF A SKILL HAS PROVEN A MASTERY OF UTILIZATION. THIS SKILL HAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO INCREASE IN LEVEL.

ELECTRIC MISCONDUCT - LEVEL TWO: Host is able to sense mechanical objects which utilize electricity and is able to temporarily alter the flow of electricity by increase or decreasing the current. At Level Two, the Host can only manipulate up to 120 volts of electricity. Nanites needed for this upgrade: 2,800,143.]

[ADDITIONAL UPGRADE OPTIONS:

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTIC RECONSTRUCTION : Host is able to make changes to their physical appearance. This upgrade is affected by unprogrammed nanites available.

INTERNAL CHARACTERISTIC RECONSTRUCTION: Host is able to make changes to their internal structure, including the creation of artificial enhancements and structures. This upgrade is affected by unprogrammed nanites available.

WARRIORS EYE - LEVEL ONE: By utilizing the connection between Master and Weapon, the Host is able to perceive the Weapons condition and surroundings. At Level One, the Host can perceive the Weapon's surroundings at a maximum of 1.5 kilometers away. Nanites needed for this upgrade: 2,093,593.

VOCAL SOFTWARE DISRUPTION - LEVEL ONE: The host is able to create a frequency through their vocal cords which will disrupt actions of surrounding organic beings. Results of Vocal Software Disruption depend on the target's skills, statistics, and buffs and may cause stun, blindness, confusion, or paralysis to varying degrees of success. At Level One, Vocal Software Disruption will affect all beings in a ten foot radius of the Host. Nanites needed for this upgrade: 2,492,107.]

Leta chewed her lip at her options. They seemed subpar compared to the Shield Of The Gods skill she knew would have been available if she had put all of her available nanites on the table, but she wasn't willing dip into her reserves.

Warriors Eye was interesting, but didn't see very practical.

Electric Misconduct was something she used all the time now a days and she liked the idea of upgrading that further, but the last option had caught her eye.

Vocal Software Disruption was a skill she recognized from when Ismene had purged Dr. Galloise's mind control last night. She remembered being stupefied by the skill in action and, although this one would not be as showstopping as Ismene's purging power, it would never the less be effective in a fight.

She imagined going up against the Loupgaru from this evening and being able to stun it long enough to kill it.

It was a skill that she'd be stupid to pass up.

[HOST HAS SELECTED VOCAL SOFTWARE DISRUPTION.]

[AVAILABLE UNPROGRAMMED NANITES: 390,860]

Leta's body curled into a ball as new knowledge seared her brain and throat raw. A moment later she was blinking away green dots in her eyesight and rubbing her neck that felt like she'd just lost her voice after a concert.

"Awesome." She croaked, coughing as she grabbed her water bottle on her night stand and took a sip.

'How much storage can you replace with 380,000 nanites?'

[STORAGE CAPACITY WOULD INCREASE BY 126,666 IF 380,000 NANITES ARE UTILIZED. IN ORDER TO CREATE THE ADDITIONAL STORAGE, IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT THE HOST REPLACE LUNATE AND TRIQUETRUM BONES IN BOTH WRISTS.]

~'MASTER, PLEASE REST ASSURED THAT WITH SKIN CONTACT TO MY FORM, I WILL BE ABLE TO ALERT AND PROTECT YOU IF YOU ARE ATTACKED IN YOUR SLEEP. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SLEEP WELL IF YOU CHOSE TO CREATE MORE STORAGE WITH THIS OPTION.'~

Leta had to smile. Though Inimus said that his fledgling personality was result of the memories of guards long gone, it was sort of sweet to think that all those layers equaled a sentient weapon that seemed concerned for it's master's mental health.

'Thanks, Inimus. I appreciate that. Okay, Gada. Replace the bones you listed and put me under.'

[SEDATION IN PROCESS.

GOOD NIGHT, HOST.]

As Leta's brain drifted into unconsciousness, her hands clenched into fists as if holding onto Inimus like a child to it's teddy bear, scared of the dark and what hid beneath but braving the unknown all the same.