บท 20: Military Failures

Erik looked at his living room. There wasn't much there to begin with, so he simply stared at the wall, lost in thought and heart pounding because of anxiety.

[It was a Thaid,] the biological supercomputer said.

<No… I…>

Erik was not talking about the creature, but about the situation, about the attack, about him having to swallow a brain crystal and drink the blood of a dead monster.

Everything that happened to him that evening seemed like a surreal dream, and a horrible one at that.

That was the obvious good part of that nightmare.

Erik's head was spinning so much now. Not because he was unwell, but because he had too many things to think about.

It seemed unlikely for anyone else to have this amount of crazy happenings occurring on the same night, but for him... He was starting to think some kind of god was punishing him or rewarding him for some reason. Too much happened since his father came back, and most of them were not pleasant experiences.

"I'm going nuts," he said out loud. "It can't be possible."

His mind went on a loop.

"Dad is the only one who could explain this... System."

Yet his father said he would have come back, yet he didn't. Erik's first thought was that Lucius simply threw the hot potato at him and fled.

<No. It can't be. Dad devoted his life to finding out what caused the Sinister Cold. He would have never left what he said was the cause to me, just for him to disappear.>

Because his house got checked out by someone, he could confidently say someone was targeting him, either the government or someone else.

But to do so, someone stronger than him should have done the deed, and that kind of person was not easy to find.

Lucius Romano, Erik's father, was a powerful man. Only the blackguards would have been strong enough to take him prisoner, but Erik didn't believe they were involved in this matter.

Erik was almost sure the government, the military, betrayed him. <It is more appropriate to say he betrayed them. But why?>

His reasoning made sense. Considering that Uncle Benjamin brought him out to eat the same day in which his house got searched, it was clear the military were involved.

In the end, Erik decided it was time to use his DNA point to get the unknown Thaid's DNA. Based on what he understood, he needed fifty points to get the DNA and fifty to get the brain crystal power itself.

Erik currently had 60 DNA points, meaning that to get it, he would have to wait two days. <I waited for all my life; what are two days more? System,> Erik mentally said, <Use fifty DNA points to extract the DNA from the unknown thaid,> he added.

[DNA points used. Starting extraction. The host is advised to lie down.]

Erik didn't let the System repeat itself twice. He immediately jumped on his couch, because as soon as the system started, he understood the reason behind it.

Indeed, what Erik felt soon after was excruciating pain.

The feeling was gruesome, as if someone were simultaneously carving out his organs, piercing him with countless needles, and setting him ablaze.

Erik bit back his screams, which dwindled to hoarse whispers as tears streamed down his face. After ten agonizing seconds, his entire body convulsed. His vision flickered in and out for ten minutes, and he tumbled from the couch. Then the pain subsided.

With difficulty, Erik got on his knees.

"That was worse than I expected," Erik said.

[You just went through the DNA-adjusting process. Your DNA is now able to accommodate the unknown creature's brain crystal power.]

[Unknown creature brain crystal analyzed.]

[Insufficient DNA points to perform the extraction.]

[Extraction aborted.]

"Well, I knew that was going to happen."

He paused. "Status."

A blue window appeared.

—Status—

[Host Information]

NAME: Erik Romano

AGE: 16

POWER LEVEL: 13

SYSTEM LEVEL: 3

EXPERIENCE: 0/225

DNA POINTS: 10

HEALTH: 220/220

MANA: 130/130

{Attributes}

STRENGTH: 3

INTELLIGENCE: 6

DEXTERITY: 4

ENERGY: 6

Available attribute points: 5

{Powers}

[Biological Super Computer Powers]

-Brain Crystal Manipulation

Brain Crystal Power Extraction

(Allows the absorption of brain crystals, making the host able to gain the power contained within. Notice: the DNA must be changed in order to allow the body to use the power. See DNA extraction.)

Brain Crystal Power Strengthening

(Allows the gaining of the energy attribute points.)

-(LOCKED)

-DNA Manipulation

DNA Extraction

(Allows the absorption of foreign DNA, making the host able to replicate it inside his own body. Notice: Changing the DNA is a slow process, and it is required to use new brain crystal powers.)

DNA Strengthening

(Allows the gaining of the Strength, Intelligence, and Dexterity attribute points)

-(LOCKED)

-Analysis

(Gives the host information about his surroundings, plants, creatures, and ores.)

-Brain Information Injector

(It allows the injection of information directly to the brain. Based on touch)

-Device Manipulation

(Allows the host to manipulate electrical and mana-driven devices. Based on touch)

[Host's Powers]

Plant Growth: Eσ1E-RANKED

(This power allows to make plants grow faster. The speed, the quality, and the size of whatever the user targets depend on the amount of mana used.)

{Skills}

(…)

—END—

It made sense, since Erik just used 50 of them to get the Thaid's DNA.

Erik also gave a look at his experience points. Since he killed the Thaid and completed the quest, he got a new level, and the experience bar was not at 0. However, Erik got five attribute points.

<Well, it's a no-brainer.>

Erik had to invest them in energy. It was the most logical thing to do.

<Yes… But…>

Since Erik had no neural links yet, it meant he was weak, at least compared to Logan. <Maybe…>

Despite knowing the best thing to do was to pump his energy, since he still had a useless brain crystal power, the best thing would have been to pump something else, at least to get strong enough to defend himself against what he considered Logan's overwhelming strength.

<Yeah… Maybe just this once.>

<System, put the five attribute points to Strength.>

[5 attribute points allocated to strength. New strength stat has just reached 8.]

<That's better.>

He paused.

<Ah, right, I still need to complete today's training quest.>

After a quick check of his available quests, Erik started training. There was no way he would pass today's 10 DNA points, especially considering it would make him get the new power faster.

-***-

Raveena and Roma were still at the military outpost. The threat had been stopped, but multiple were the damages the creatures caused.

The situation could have ended differently if the army had allocated more personnel to the outpost and expedited the fortification process. Both women knew corruption was at the root of this failure, and Tiwana was in the middle of it.

Although Frant's leader, General Becker, had the nation's best interests at heart, many government officials were affiliated with criminal organizations, like the Crystal Cross Gang. This infiltration slowed the process.

"Are you done counting?" Roma asked. They were currently helping write the names of those who died and counting their numbers.

"Yes, there are at least 178 deaths."

"Well, it's not that bad," Roma said.

"Not that bad? Damn… they died because of a Densoph attack!"

"There were also other Thaids, much more powerful than a couple of Densoph."

"This changes nothing! For how long will we have to see our friends die because of these monsters? Isn't it about time they start working on something to make neural links faster?" Raveena was too upset.

"Well, we already have the brain-stimulating serums."

"Yes. And they have countless aftereffects... Anyway, who will give these people's family the news about their deaths?"

"The management will take care of that," Roma said.

The two women, along with several others, began searching the outpost for any surviving monsters. As they searched room by room, Roma noticed something unusual—a door left ajar. For trained soldiers to make such a basic error seemed odd.

She walked into the room. That was a storage area filled with boxes full of supplies. A thaid could be hiding there.

The woman examined the area, finding clear signs of a thaid's presence. Excrement was scattered about, and blood stains marred the floor. Something had been there for how long, though she didn't know.

Roma followed the stains. They led toward the ceiling, but they were weird, as if the creature tried to reach something. And then she saw that something, because there was an air vent missing its lid.

"SHIT."

A thaid got out of the outpost through the air vents.

"This is not good... Civilians are going to get involved."

Raveena had to tell Tiwana, and he had to tell the government. An alarm had to be raised.

Before Roma could leave the room, she heard approaching footsteps. The sound grew louder as voices echoed in the hallway outside. Raveena entered, her gaze falling on Roma's anxious face.

"What happened?"

"There's a thaid loose somewhere."

Raveena surveyed the room, confirming her colleagues' findings. She then turned to Roma and said reassuringly, "Don't worry. We'll track down whatever escaped."

"Go tell Tiwana. I will start a search."

The two separated, and Raveena reached the other side of the outpost.

She searched around until she found an opened air vent.

"The creature left from here."

She examined the ground, spotting fresh Densoph footprints.

"Shit…"

Raveena returned to the building and headed to Colonel Tiwana's office. Roma had already briefed him on the situation, but Raveena added her findings.

"Roma," Tiwana said. "You will lead a squad to search for the loose monster. Find and eliminate this thaid."

"Yes, sir."

She had been the one to find out about the escape, so she was going to see it to the end.

"Good. Begin immediately. Dismissed."