CHAP 14: Change

A/N: I've edited a plothole in CHAP 1, Gray is not supposed to be able to sleep.

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The last part of that sentence worries me a bit, but I was aware that it wouldn't be that easy to fully pacify Anita. We left the room the core was in, I closed the gate and used the fungus to recreate the mechanism inside, locking the place up again. We left the caves and the castle, making sure to close everything up as we passed them, and then I turned to Alice.

"Could you go find a place for us to stay?"

"What about the carriage?"

"You really want to stay on it? I don't think Heisenberg would complain, but you can find an actual room."

I passed over Bea and a pack of lei.

"Where are you going? Are you not coming with us?"

"I've still got things to do. Don't worry, I won't get lost."

"Don't want us to come with?"

"I'll be fine."

I started going in the direction of the infected core. Since I'd connected fully to this part of the fungus, I could determine the extent of the infected part of the fungus, which appeared to be smaller but denser than that of the memory core. I reached a river and started going down it with a boat I'd created, stopping at the shore where I knew an entrance to the cave where the infected core was.

I entered the cave, passing through the tight corridors, until I reached the core, which was much bigger than the memory core, this growth was probably a way to combat the infection. I transformed into flies and got closer, then transformed back into a human and touched the core with my left hand, feeling a jolt and some pain. While the memory core was at least somewhat sophisticated, the infected fungus was animalistic through and through, as seen with the lycans it had made.

It seemed the energy it had gotten from connecting to the rest of the fungus put it into an active state once again, so I had to put it under control before it started going on a rampage and killing everything. This characteristic of the infected fungus was peculiar since hunting seemed to be something the fungus was adverse to doing, this one, however, had created weapons so that it could hunt by itself, which it couldn't do since it had been very weakened and famished, and the crude nature of its creations showed it had a completely predatorial aspect, very different than the symbiotic nature of the other ones.

There were a lot of interesting things in what it had done, however. The mix of fungus and virus already showed a lot of promise by itself, but I was more interested in its way of replicating and changing organisms, especially since I was researching increasing my physical strength and density. Looking over the weapons and the anatomies of the lycans, I made some progress on ideas on how to weaponize the fungus.

Not only that, I now had a way of hybridizing the fungus with the virus, which I'm sure would make sure that, at best, the fungus became fully immune to the virus and its mutations, and at worst it would help combat the infection.

"Anita, you probably already know what to do."

(I'm working on mass-scale hybridization. Processing of the information we've got is at 0.001%, I'll allow your access to it from now on.)

"Alright, thanks."

I skimmed over the information, seeing bits and pieces of what the fungus had lived through, most of it was numb feelings of heat and hunger, but there was some basic genetic information, which showed the complexity of what I believe were some of the first organisms on Earth. It seems the fungus really was the last universal common ancestor, which was very crazy to think about, even if the implications weren't that big, other than the fact that this meant the fungus most probably had acquired the genetic information of most organisms that had lived on this planet, which would be useful, to say the least.

Since I had the cores under my control, I got out of the cave, and entered the boat once again, returning to the village, and found the room the girls were in by seeing Bea's core through the walls. I turned into flies and entered through the open window, then reformed.

"You done?"

"Yes."

"So? What are we going to do now?"

"Probably stay here for a bit and make some money. Why? Wanna travel around some more?"

"Yes, I'd like that, but I don't want to trouble you."

"You can travel alone if you want. I'll make you a carriage and some horses."

"I'll think about that."

"Be sure to do. You can always ask me for things, Alice, and I'll try to help you."

"Thanks. I'll stay here for now."

"Good, it'll give me time to prepare some things for you."

"Oh, about that, you owe me some books, since I finished the books you gave me."

"I'll do that when I get the time, don't worry."

She yawned. I could hear the slight breathing of Bea, who was already sleeping. 

"You should rest, dearie."

"Will do. Good night."

"Good night."

I started tapping the ground, utilizing the sound to pinpoint my surroundings, finding a chair, I sat down on it and started going through what I could do with the fungus, considering what I had acquired. Touching the chair with my left arm, I infected it, and from there the infection grew through the inn into the ground, connecting to the mycelium, which had become fully hybridized.

After some tinkering and some simulations, I knew how to make myself denser, which also made my flesh stronger and harder to pierce, and my bones became harder to break. I'd need some mass to do this, so I made the fungus release double my mass with flies, and I became flies myself, joining the swarm. I reformed into the new configuration of my body, becoming bulkier than before. This tripled the amount of flies I could turn into, which would be useful.

Sitting back once again, the chair creaked, so I had to reinforce it before it broke. I started working on the MK2 flies, now with aggressive and carrying capabilities, with less weight. I needed to find a way to make web-weaving organs on the flies, which would allow me to make nets where I could carry things with the swarm, It took some time, but I managed to do it.

Next, I worked on weaponizing the flies. I had two ideas, venom, which I made quite easily, and the more interesting one, which I called the immolation botfly. I made the parasitic larvae capable of overloading their metabolism, generating high amounts of heat, and self-immolating, which also meant that myiasis went from hurting a lot to making a person's flesh catch on fire. Of course, there would be some loss of mass from the larvae being lost, but it would be insignificant since most of the mass utilized would be gained from the host itself.

With both of these features made, I needed to work on the transceiver system. With the new materials I had acquired, I could make sure that the wings would not rip apart with the bonus weight to them, and keep the FBAR system working as intended. It took quite a bit of tests to make it work, but when it did, the weight of the flies was cut to circa fifty percent, and as a bonus, the wings were capable of generating more force.

After some tests and subsequent adjustments, the flies were fully functional. Adding everything together, the MK2 flies were capable of injecting venom, inserting larvae into the flesh, making around two times the force of a housefly, weaving webs, getting farther from each other without losing connection, being forty-five percent lighter, and flying at speeds of 310 miles per hour for up to twelve hours a day before needing to 'recharge'. Overall, a pretty sizeable upgrade, which I believe is the limit of what I could do with the resources I currently have.

Since every objective I had was completed, I started working with Anita to process the information we had acquired from the memory core, the night passing as we did this. I heard Alice shuffling on the bed and tuned out from the fungus, deciding it was time to work on my fame, well, the company's fame. 

"Slept well?"

"Yes, this bed is comfortable. Better than the carriage."

"Good. I'm going to go around and sell some seeds, want to accompany me?"

"Sure. Let's go."

And go we did. We walked around the village, with me convincing the people to buy my 'farming panacea', inadvertently to these people, they were also selling me their lands, even if the owners would still be them, technically. This was routine for around six months until almost everyone in the city was using my seeds in their lands. During these six months, I set up my logistics company, which I'd named Swiftfox, in order to accommodate the inevitable overproduction of food in the village, by selling it around Europe.

Setting up caravans and routes was unimaginably boring since I wasn't using only fungus robots as my workers, to not create a sudden influx of new humans who acted somewhat strangely and looked somewhat similar, the reasons obvious, people already say every single big company is composed of lizard people, I won't throw more fuel in the fire. I made routes that passed from Romania to Karelia and talked with Ludwig about ways of getting from Germany from here, making a route to that country as well.

Talking about Heisenberg, we ended up making somewhat of a company together, and we are in the works to make a factory and mine on his lands, the man himself said he wanted to expand his horizons, and that he had found some iron on the mountains. I was interested in it as well, so I accepted his offer, landing on a sixty-forty cut, the higher amount for him, I managed to convince him to up from the offered twenty-five since I would offer most of the resources to create the factory.

During these months, the fungus had grown, connecting to the dormant fungus and to the first core. I need to start selling the seeds to the other side of Europe, and to the rest of Eurasia, then expand overseas.

Alice had decided to travel alone around two weeks ago, so I'd also made the preparations for her travel, which would be today. We were currently standing in the room of the house I'd bought close to the village, isolated enough to create privacy.

"I've been wondering, do you want to become like me?"

She made a questioning hum.

"Biologically immortal, fused with the fungus."

"Maybe later, but not for now. So, is everything ready?"

"Yes. Here."

I gave her some new storybooks and a personalized pistol. I'd also given her what was basically my version of the Art of War, a handbook she could use to receive my insight for whatever situation she found herself in.

"Oh, you finally gave me one of these guns."

"Yes, be careful with it, and only put your finger on the trigger when you're sure you want to shoot."

"Be careful! Don't forget to bring tasty animals."

"Will do. Well, I'm going now."

"Goodbye, Alice, safe travels."

She hugged me, and I reciprocated, Bea engulfing both of us with her body.

"If I come back and find you dead, I'll kill you."

"I don't think that's going to happen, so you don't need to worry."

"Still, take care."

"I should be the one saying that, dearie. Always remember, the carriage is the safest place. Anita will be watching over you."

"And who says she won't let me die?"

"I do."

I stopped hugging her, and she pulled back her arms, even if reluctantly.

"Goodbye. I'll be back."

"I know you will. Good luck out there."

"Goodbye! Come back soon!"

She left, and I was left with a certain silence for a moment.

"Will she be back?"

"I'm sure she will."

"Do you know when?"

"I don't. Missing her already?"

"Yes. Are you not?"

"A little, but I was ready for this. The bird always leaves the nest."

I sat down on the armchair, taking Bea onto my lap.

"It's just the two of us once again."

(What about me?)

"Three of us, then."

"You offered to make Alice like you, can you do that to me?"

"You sure?"

"Yes, I don't want to die."

"Anita?"

(Put her on the table.)

"It won't be 9 years of recovery this time, right?"

(It won't, don't worry.)

"Alright."

I picked up Bea and entered one of the rooms, which I'd made into a lab, and put her on the surgery table.

"This won't hurt. Sleep well."

(Injecting anesthesia.)

I held Bea in place, putting one of my hands on her head. The needle penetrated her flesh and she moved a bit from the pain, moments later, she stopped, only the slight breathing and beating of her heart remaining, I moved back, and let the fungus start the procedure. The procedure took around thirty minutes, faster than mine, at least from my perspective.

(The little fox will recover in two hours if everything goes according to my calculations.)

"Alright, that's good."

I left the room and the house with a cigarette in my mouth. Reaching the outside, I lit it up, most of the relaxation coming from the act since my body was less affected by nicotine after I modified my own mass, and the fungus regulated the amount of the alkaloid in my bloodstream automatically.

(Are you okay?)

"Yes, why do you ask?"

(Your daughter figure just left.)

"I'm fine."

(You can tell me those things, aren't we partners?)

"I'm truly fine, Anita. Just somewhat lonely."

(What about me and the little fox?)

I sighed.

"Don't act as if you don't know what I mean."

(You want me to assume a human form? Maybe sate some of that loneliness?)

"Is this your way of flirting, dear? I'm afraid the lack of subtlety would put some people off."

(Are you one of these people?)

"You already know what kind of person I am. About the human form, is that ready?"

(It has been for some time.)

"Interesting, I saw nothing about that in the network."

(I planned it to be a surprise. Just didn't find the right time to reveal it.)

"I can regulate my own body already, so what are you waiting for?"

I felt a jolt and a sense of emptiness within myself as if a phantom pain, feeling short of breath and my bodily functions getting out of sync. I regulated them and inhaled some more smoke, which diminished the uncomfortable feeling, and it subsided until it was gone, my bodily functions normalizing. I felt a hand taking the cigarette out of my mouth and heard someone clearly feminine coughing.

"You learned nothing from watching me?"

"I thought this would be easier."

"Having a human body? I guess humanoid would be more correct."

"It's strange. A real difference in perspective."

I felt her dainty hands surround me, the outline of her clothes being very strange.

"I always wanted to do this."

"I'm glad you've fulfilled your dreams. By the way, what are you wearing?"

"You'll have to find out."

"Is that a challenge?"

"If you want it to be."

I reciprocated her hug, analyzing her silhouette with my hands.

"Have you made yourself to be my type?"

"You know I did."

"I'm flattered. It sounds like the set-up for a joke, really."

"What does?"

"My perfect woman ends up not even being a human."

She bit my neck lightly.

"Ouch. What was that for?"

"Making me embarrassed."

"This is surreal."

"Why? Because I'm too perfect?"

"That too, but more because I'm currently flirting with not only a sentient fungus but with the LUCA. You're basically Eve, you know."

She bit my neck again, this time managing to pierce my flesh. It seems she made her own body stronger as well, but that's to be expected.

"And you realized just now, my Adam?"

"It just dawned on me."

I got my mouth closer to her ear.

"My Eve."

I put my hand on her chin and kissed her. No matter how she acts, Anita is still unexperienced, and her lips showed this, too afraid to open, so we stayed there, feeling our lips touch, hers being particularly soft, showing once again she had engineered herself to be as pleasant to me as possible, and I love a woman who likes to please. Her accelerated heart and heavy breathing showed she enjoyed this a lot, probably more than me, considering her particular starvation for physical contact.

I enjoyed the moment, and we stayed there, our noses touching, even more closely connected than when she was part of me, strangely enough. She was the one to finish our kiss, hesitatingly pulling back.

"I-I enjoyed that."

"I did too."

"Can we do it again?"

"Sure. Shall we enter?"

"Yes."

I took her hand, and we entered the house, I sat on the sofa, and she sat beside me, putting her head on my shoulders.

"I should have done this sooner."

"I agree. How's Bea?"

"The little fox is okay, her recovery is going well. I'd say around one hour and thirty minutes more."

"A question, are you wearing a maid dress?"

"Who knows?"

"So you are. A strange choice, but I guess it's a good one, definitely appeals to the male fantasy."

"So, will you let this maid serve her master?"

"Not now, maybe later. I do, however, want to discuss business with my little maid."

"Sure, what shall we discuss, my master?"

"We need to find the other cores, is there anything about that in the memories?"

"No, it seems the mother core kept that information to itself after that civilization connected to the memory core."

"I see. Any other way of finding the other cores that isn't aimlessly expanding? Maybe trying to interpolate its location through observation of the organization of the fungus at its peak?"

"Maybe, I'll work on that. I doubt the other cores would be very far from the mother core, so we can assume it's around this region of the world."

"Possibly, If we found three cores, we could try to triangulate the location of the mother core. I'd focus on growing the area around the replication subcore since it's possible the old replication core is around Finland."

"Will do."

She put her head on my lap, and put my hand on her head.

"I've wanted to try this for some time. I can see why the little fox likes this so much."

I petted her head for some time until she grew ears very similar to that of Bea.

"Are you serious?"

"I found it fitting. You're the one who calls himself the Gray Fox, maybe you should grow some as well."

"I won't."

"I think it would be charming. Would suit your grey hair."

"I refuse."

"C'mon, do it for this little maid."

"No."

"You're boring, master."

I smirked a bit, finding the situation to be amusing. We stayed in that position, doing some small talk and discussing some things, as time passing.

"The little fox is probably going to wake up soon."

She took her head off my lap. I got up and offered her my hand.

"M'lady."

She took my hand and got up as well, interlocking her arm with mine, giggling a bit. We entered the lab.

"Gray?"

"Yes, little fox?"

"Who's the human?"

"This is Anita."

"The nice lady in my head has a body now?"

Anita split herself from me.

"I just created it. How are you feeling, little fox?"

"Strange. Like I can move my body better."

"That's expected, it'll take some time for you to habituate yourself, me and Gray will help you use your new capabilities."

"I assume she can also shapeshift."

I went over to the little fox and put my left hand on her head, transferring my knowledge of shapeshifting to her.

"Oh, I understand now. Can I become big and strong now?"

"You can, as long as you have the mass and the knowledge, we can become anything we want."

"Even a human?"

"Anita here did it, so I don't see why you couldn't."

"Yay! Bea can become a big bear and eat all the other foxes now."

"Why would you do that when you can torture them as well."

"Anita, can you please not incentivize genocidal thoughts on Bea."

"I'm incentivizing her creativity, what she does with it is not my fault."

"I'm surrounded by psychopaths. Alice was right, I'm attracted to weirdos."

"You act as if you don't like that."

"I'm just stating the facts, dear. Now, we should train Bea on how to shapeshift."

"I agree."

We went outside, Bea was having trouble walking, so I carried her, and we started training her. Actually, I ended up being the trainer for both of them, because while Anita knew the theory, she hadn't fully grasped the human anatomy yet, so her shapeshifting was a lot less fluid, according to herself. Bea caught on quite quickly, managing to change her size and the type of animal she was, but not being fond of becoming flies, even though I made her do it anyway in order to challenge her.

The rest of the day passed as they trained, both of them accustoming themselves to their new bodies. Anita made herself into a fox, and they curled themselves around me as they slept, something Anita would experience for the first time. Throughout the night, I made the fungus expand on Finland in order to try and find the replication core, I thought it would take more time than it did, but apparently, its location was very close to that of my core.

While there was much less information than the memory core, what I did get couldn't hurt. It seems the mother core was working on a kind of 'army' before it was struck by the virus and I got some insight on replication from what it had managed to achieve, not only that, there was some information on the structure of some very good materials, which I could use to make my railgun and other weapons.

Looking over the remains of the old fungus which was not completely destroyed, I found evidence that the mother core was somewhere to the east, probably in Russia. The interpolation of the organization of the fungus also pointed to that, but I did not find an exact location. Anyway, I made the fungus grow in that direction, since I believe the mother core holds the data about not only the location of the other cores but other important things that it found the ancient civilization to be not deserving of knowing or something of the like.

The night passed as I worked on my railgun, and the fungus expanded in that direction. One of these new materials was very interesting, it seems to be similar to nacre, but composed of a harder material than aragonite, as such, it were very good at dissipating kinetic force, it seems the fungus was made of some pretty good bullet-proof staff, even though I don't think anyone was shooting ar it. I decided to remake my clothes with this material, weaving it with the spider silk.

The two girls woke up, and we got ready for a new day.