章 110: 110. Respawn Feature

'This was a strange nightmare… Silver-eyed guy popping from nowhere and a bullet to my neck after having obeyed him…', Max thought his mind slowly awakening while a groan escaped his lips as he shyly opened his eyes before immediately closing them with the bright white light.

'Arg stupid sunlight! I forgot to close the curtain again and why is it so cold!? Did I fall off of my bed!? And where did my pajamas go!', he internally rambled insulting random naturally occurring phenomena and what he presumed but didn't assume was his fault.

In any case, he needed to wake up, there were several checkups to do on the Avatars and their pilots today, it was easy and routine but it took a lot of time. More time than he would have liked but that was life and there was this new pilot while amiable and pleasant to be around was… A bit of a pain around the edge for this kind of thing that required any level of stillness which was darkly ironic considering Jake was paraplegic and movement wasn't his forte.

Anyway, he yawned, feeling bones popping here and there as he stretched himself fully surprised not his anything but also at other more unusual things… His body felt strangely energized, he felt lighter, his senses sharp noticeably, his sight was perfect, and his breathing clear.

And he felt somewhat significantly stronger than he remembered, the same was true for his thoughts, they felt smooth and concise but he was still sluggish.

As he scratched his chest he froze, something was wrong, something that shouldn't be here was here. It was small and metallic and it was protruding from his chest, above the general location of his heart, it looked fused to his skin.

Curious but not quite there on all levels, he opened his eyes with great effort and as his eyesight adapted quickly to the light he stared dumbly at the smooth angular piece of metal growing off a chest he never remembered having.

Then all sleepiness washed away from him, his pupils dilated to their maximum and he began hyperventilating, his eyes locked onto the piece of metal as he tried to scratch and took it out in vain. At the same time, he began to notice equally alarming details about his current situation that didn't help him calm down in the least.

It was normal he felt cold and attacked by light, there was no bed, no comforter, or curtain because he wasn't in his room, he wasn't wearing his pajamas but only a pair of white boxers, and he was held levitating meters above the ground stopping any tentative of movement but most important of all, it wasn't his body. Well, it was but it wasn't too not helping him calm down.

So he screamed, and screamed loudly he did, a scream that was high pitched and filled with unfiltered dread as he didn't, couldn't understand what was happening, why was here, how was here, what had happened to him? What was the thing growing from his chest!? Why did it feel like a part of his body!?

So many hows, whats, whys, and whens, and none with answers. All very valid questions appeared one after the other in this ever-rising vicious circle of panic brewing in his mind, flailing and screaming as much as he could but fuel for the fire. But all stopped in an instant, his body froze as an alien yet familiar deep voice echoed in his mind.

'Calm down there is no reason to panic, you are not in danger and neither will be probed… Further.', at those words with a hint of humor the mirage of a metallic lozenge flashed, and then millions of minuscule silver flakes exploded outward like a torrent that shifted and formed a humanoid body.

Max stared unblinking at the formless silvery mass that shifted, squirmed, and writhed in the air, he was beyond terrified, his body exuding perspiration, heart hammering in his chest and primal, animalistic instincts screaming at him the being taking form was above, superior to a point he would never comprehend.

Then the silver flakes stopped moving in their place and the wavering figure of living metal stabilized into one finite shape, it was a man of inhuman height wearing a strange, alien-looking futuristic armor glowing blue that didn't hide the bulk of muscles behind.

Though the helmet was absent revealing a face Max was all too familiar with, one that implied that the pain of a bullet touring through his neck had been very real and it wasn't a nightmare making everything far more horrifying. It was Liam Cram, the 'human' Grace had luckily noticed, it was unmistakable, and it was horrifying.

A skin of a perfect golden tan, a long breaded dark brown beard, and hair and eyes, they were far more brilliant than he remembered, two silver iris glowing with power that didn't, hide the uncanny valley effect borough by the end of the alien intelligence residing behind a vaguely human facade that seemed to be done this way on purpose as if too constantly remind this being was in no point human.

"Welcome back to the world of the living Max. How does it feel, any pain or discomfort?", Liam asked, his lips moving while his voice seemed to come from all directions creating a very off-putting feeling in the already unwell freshly reborn man.

Max screamed again and Liam frowned slightly leading to the scream gaining in intensity, it was expected that the respawned subject was going to not be in his best shape mentally speaking and that was normal but it still wasn't particularly pleasant.

Snapping his fake fingers made of the Argent Sea the Homo Deus let gravity take its course on Max and so the man fell toward the ground giving a true reason to scream this time around but at a microsecond before the impact he halted the fall.

'A bit of a rough treatment but it worked like a charm in snapping him back without meddling with his mind or waiting for a quarter of an hour before he tore his throat by screaming.', Liam thought descending toward Max, in addition to him fifteen minutes was far, far longer than for a human.

His perception of time in the flesh for fourteen years has been far slower than everyone else but the gap had never been this large as it was presently, everyone but Eywa was just… So very and extensively slow in everything. Quite ironic considering the laziest being here was very likely her.

"This was all real… Oh shit… I-I died… This can't be… It doesn't make sense… How… Why… Am I even Max?", Max mumbled most of his brain not dragged down by many of its parts that in normal humans would support what gave them personality and the like but for him were refurbished into literally more brain power since these parts that make him a distinct individual were located elsewhere.

He slowly shifted his body until he was standing back against one of the pillars of the Tek Cloning Chamber staring at the lozenge poking from his chest and then at his hands, their skin blemishless the many scars he remembered having due to various reasons now all but gone.

This added another layer to the intense mental distress he was going through, all of it, not something surprising or uncalculated for by Liam. The type of things he wouldn't see coming would be orders of magnitude in the level of ridiculous that would equal Max suddenly turning into a yellow rubber ducky, and he had stats for that.

And why not? After all, it was only a 'few' equations done for fun and it was silly, he wasn't a dumb machine, and he amused himself when he could always be first on his to-do list. It was just Liam had never had any true opportunities to do so until now and when he did it was with several layers of failsafe.

Still, the Homo Deus crouched down while hovering and moved it in a Max was forced to look into his silver eyes. Eyes that were as real and living as they looked were all but fake sculptures and pretty light just like the rest of his current body for the human wouldn't be able to understand what he would be seeing otherwise, and a translucent man of light was a far too intimidating of sight for an already catatonic individual.

Though what was real and fake was just a matter of perception, strictly speaking, there was no real Liam as a single entity anymore, he had the gift of ubiquity and could exist in more than one place at once and work each with a different and complex line of thought and all would be considered him. He didn't work linearly anymore.

In addition, everything with Element was his body, this puppet of Argent Sea shaped like his Pre-Ascension self was more like a finger or a hand for him to use and interact with the world. It was a fraction of what he truly was, however making something similar to Eywa's Avatar was an ongoing project.

"Max, you are neither someone else nor a copy, it is the same you who spoke to me with Grace through one of the drones I had snatched, it is the same man that let me enter the systems of Hell's Gate and stop a potential thousand of needless death. You are you and not a clone with the memory of a dead man like the Soul Drive.", Liam gazing straight at Max's soul through his eyes.

"But… My body…", he tried to argue with what could be compared to an all-seeing god, and what he got was a chuckle and a light pat on the shoulder, filament of Argent Sea dripping down from it and weaving into reality a regular set of clothes that could be found for someone of the 21st century.

A pair of blue jeans, black sneakers, and white shirt the only thing standing out was the bizarre belt with the same aesthetic as Liam's armor and pretty much everything around and he could feel a connection to it. Of course, Max panicked and was shocked by what happened but compared to him being ALIVE it was far down on the worry list.

"Now this is better, it will change nothing for me but you must have felt uncomfortable. But back to the topic, in this case, yes… This body is not the one that you were initially born with, this one had died thirteen years ago and has been buried at the root of a Tree of Souls. This body you see yourself in is a clone with no birth defect and in perfect health, a meat puppet for you to control, you see this metal piece in your chest?", Liam said pointing at the object in question and source of great distress to Max whose had began calming down as rationality took the reign.

"Yes… And meat puppet?", Max asked back, visibly disturbed by the implication but still not fully quite there since there was A LOT to process and it was only the beginning. The denial was still strong in him but slowly crumbling, it was something that couldn't be put into words but that Liam sympathized with since it reminded him of his first few days after transmigration.

"This will come later, you see this metal structure is what I call a specimen implant. It's a complex piece of technology that was grown like an organ and functions like one, its purpose can be multiple but this variant is only the basic version that has for function the storage and protection of your Engramic Matrix, a term that encompasses what might be called the Soul, Consciousness or any other synonym for what you are beyond your body.", Liam said, letting his words be digested by Max as he wasn't finished.

"Your body is just an extension of the specimen implant to control, this is why I used the term meat puppet. You could die, fatally damage this body again, and transferring your Engramic Matix to a new one would result in you, forgive me the term, would lead you to 'respawn', as long as I will it and you deserve it.", Liam let out rather casually and for him it was but that didn't mean the process was perfect or particularly simple.

Quite the contrary, he lacked experience and the human Engramic Matrix needed heavy 'editing' to be put in an implant for it to work for a lot of reasons that could be comparable to organ transplants and prosthetics. And as inhuman as it was Max was just an unknowing test subject and source of much data, but not the main one.

Many SecOps had come before him during those few days Liam and Eywa worked on the first model of specimen implant. So it wasn't perfect, for once repeated death aside from the evident negative mental implication could cause the Engramic Matrix to lose all cohesion and burst like a balloon, even if it's something that wasn't going to stay unfixable in the long run.

Thought the mental scar would be kept or at least be of use since death shouldn't be free of consequences for anyone no matter the circumstances. Making it a light matter based on something as flimsy as morals was… A very bad idea and something to focus on with his plan to make every human be the wearer of a specimen implant and rid the species of many of its inherent weaknesses for a functional society.

Every detail could unpredictably shape the future in how he sees fit, self-centered as it may be Liam cared little. This change won't be done without breaking a few eggs, though here it is more crimes against humanity of magnitude never seen before.

"This is a lot to take in at once Liam… It feels like I'm going through an acid trip… Can we change subjects, please? You spoke about thirteen years ago, what happened during that gap of time?", Max almost pleaded as looked down to the ground searching for something that wasn't there.

"Well… Quite a lot but explaining in a summary without context won't help you understand. Though one thing that must be said before everything else is that the RDA is not a threat anymore, their fleet that was sent has been hacked by yours truly and their leaders are in the phase of preparing their surrender.", Liam said with a smirk that showed pearl white teeth, one that was unsettling like everything he did.

It was just something that was, the uncanny feeling nerve disappeared and only seemed to increase.

Before Max could respond however the Homo Deus snapped his fingers and both in a flash of blue disappeared teleporting several dozen meters above into a spacious living room with wide windows giving the view to a majestic garden cut into by a crystal clear stream and where it ended a beautiful Tree of Souls grew.

The sight aside the room while of gargantuan proportion was not empty, several people both humans and not that Max for the most part recognised were present chatting with one another and all stopped at his appearance.

The closest to them a boy he didn't recognize taller than him and with a similar e hairstyle to Liam stopped folding with a complex 3D hologram and looked up at him and waved with a pleasant smile but before the teenager could speak a voice, he had known for more than decades that was full of shock reached his ears.

"Max!?"

I have begun to post a new Fanfic, Archdjinni of the Rings: Hoopa (Warhammer 40k). As the name suggests, it's about someone getting taken and turned into a weapon akin in shape and power to Hoopa (Pokemon) but in Warhammer within the War in Heaven.

My P@treon if you want to give me money and have chapters I have finished in advance, around 23.

p@treon.com/user?u=60424165