[Kardian’s point of view]

A whole week had passed since I started cleaning the apartment building of Nano-Z. Once I went through another upgrade, it became easier for me to just keep on collecting those cores, so I moved from floor to floor. Eventually, I reached the ground floor, where a lot of them could be found. By then, the bat that I had been used broke down completely. Thankfully, before that happened, I gathered enough cores to complete the Retractable Blade, and it was so easy to use!

Now, instead of going through the brains of the Nano-Z to harvest their cores, I used the extraction tool Xerya made for me and then placed the cores on my right arm, turning them into a scale armguard. Once I reached my absorption limit, the cores didn’t stick on my arm anymore, so I had to store them in my backpack. Since they were made out of compact nanobots, they were hard enough to handle the snapping jaws of a Nano-Z. This armguard actually saved me from a few nasty bites while I was fighting against multiple Nano-Z at a time.

The solution Xerya came up with in regard to my ‘falling unconscious’ problem during the absorption process was to have the cores stick to me like that and then, when I went to sleep normally, she would begin the process. By the time I woke up the following day, all the changes and upgrades to her systems would have been completed and if she needed more time, she would tell me beforehand so that I would find a safe place to fall asleep as soon as the night set so that I wouldn’t find myself waking up in the middle of the night with more energy than I knew what to do with.

By now, the only upgrade that was still in the experimental state were the Nano-Fiber and Nano-Coat, which reached V 0.6 and V 0.7 respectively. The reason for this was because Xerya needed to make some DNA adjustments that would help with supporting the future upgrades. The problem with that was that she didn’t know what changes could help me and what changes would harm me, so she experimented in an isolated environment, one cell at a time. For now, she was just 34% sure that the procedure wouldn’t kill me or turn me into a mutilated mess that would eat its own feces.

It sounded horrible enough for me to agree with her on this on and not recklessly attempt to mess around with my own DNA. To be honest, I was surprised she was capable of things like this despite it being one of the top leading research domains.

The other systems, which didn’t require to modify my DNA to work, were all being developed steadily. Xerya’s own processing power was now higher, and she was starting to sound more... human, to me at least. Maybe I just got used to her and was craving for any sort of human-like interaction?

Either way, I also made another startling discovering while I was out hunting. At nighttime, the Nano-Z become more restless and tended to move around faster. Their eyes glowed blue in most cases, but when they spotted a potential prey or even enemy, their eyes would turn red and begin to make loud noises that attracted other Nano-Z. Killing them turned into a stealth mission, but when I asked Xerya whether or not this behavior had any logical reason behind it, she replied that it did.

According to the initial Zombolik program, once the host was ready to enter the second stage, they would need to hunt down other hosts with the Zombolik nanobots in them. They would begin to eat and consume the Nano-Z core and add it to their existing one. After acquiring about ten of them, they were ready to enter the first stage of their ‘Mutated’ state. It would take more than 100 cores to finish the evolution process. Then, the Nano-Z would go through a researching phase like Xerya did and afterwards proceed to change the host into something else. At this point, these new Mutated Nano-Z would be more powerful, faster, and smarter than the others.

The stages of this Mutate state were three in number. The first one required ten cores to complete, the second one required around 100 normal cores and 10 first stage Mutated cores, then the last one required another 100 normal cores. The number was ridiculously high, but Xerya explained that unlike us, the Zombolik hosts would go hunting for normal humans as well to feed on their nanobots, they counted too in this process, however, these number were just mere estimates. It was possible for a Nano-Z to enter Stage 1 from consuming 1 core or after its 100th.

When I asked how this was possible considering the fact that the nanobots were practically machines with precise programming, she replied that these changes also took into account the damage the current host sustained, their body type, weight, height, and also age as an infected. The nanobots would try to go through the changes automatically even if the host didn’t consume anything, but if they did so, they would end up as a Revenant. A more feral, skeletal form of the original Nano-Z hosts, which had no chance of reverting to their previous form.

In other words, it was such a complicated process that when you simplified it, the whole thing came down to whether or not the original host was lucky enough to go through all of those mutation stages.

Unfortunately, the Nano-Z cores were at this moment the best loot that I managed to obtain after searching throughout all the upper floors in my apartment building. The amount of stuff left behind by the original residents and survivors alike was really disappointing. There were very few neighbors I recognized or remembered to have lived here, but considering the staggering amount of Nano-Z, I assumed that at one point, a horde might have broken in and simply rushed through the entire building. There were corpses scattered around at every floor like one big disgusting carpet, and the few survivors remains I found barely had any useful stuff on them.

This didn’t mean that there were no apartments where the survivors locked themselves in like I did, but either because of violent survivors or the overwhelming force of a Nano-Z horde, most of them had been forced open. The few apartments who weren’t were filled with nothing but the rotting corpses of the previous inhabitants. Without food, the nanobots inside them could only keep them alive for just a few more days.

Upon encountering these unfortunate fellows, it did make me wonder about whether or not I would have been able to rescue them somehow if I woke up earlier. Xerya, in an attempt to comfort me, told me that not only could she not hasten my transformation process, but the earliest I would have needed to wake up in order to reach my current level of strength would have been almost a month ago. There was also the problem with the fact that a month ago, this apartment building would have had far more Nano-Z roaming through it, making my advancement not only more difficult by highly more dangerous as well. Not only this, but the stairs were all blocked, the elevator was broken, and the signs of battle were everywhere. Something happened here that led to this place turning into what it was now.

In a way, everything led to this apartment building becoming the perfect hunting ground for me and a grave for the other survivors.

The few who managed to escape this apartment complex Hell probably took with them all the supplies. I found very little in terms of food and useful tools, but I did find another gun and an army knife. Because I now had two of them, Xerya decided to try and analyze the device in order to see if she could make something for me. Initially, I thought of a Gun Finger, but the idea of cutting off a finger to replace it with a prosthetic wasn’t worth it.

Thus, on my 7th day of killing Nano-Z, I woke up as per usual, then I did my stretches, checked my supplies, had a quick breakfast and then headed out to the floor below.

As I was going down the stairs, I asked Xerya “Do you think we’ll be able to fly at one point?”

“Unknown.” she replied.

“What if you made me some wings or a pair of jets?”

“It is not impossible, just highly improbable that it would be achievable without hunting for a reasonable 100000 Nano-Z. The amount of external nanobots needed would be very high.

“What about other weapons? Or a grappling hook?” I asked like an excited kid that was getting a new toy.

“Both are doable, I will think about it.” she replied.

“Well, it will be interesting to see how that will turn out, but what if I grow tired of one tool or weapon later on?” I asked her as I stopped to look over the edge at the Nano-Z below “Those cars are like natural roadblocks... It’s impossible to get through there without a tank or some other sort of heavy vehicle.”

There were quite a number of those slow walkers down there, most of them showing signs of extensive injuries, while others were clearly survivors who had turned. Within some of the cars, the Nano-Z who couldn’t go out were growling from inside, knocking on the windows or trying to free themselves from the wreckage that trapped them there. It was a horrible sight to behold, but by knowing how many of them were down there and where exactly, I would know where I could flee or where I could rush in for an attack.

“All the weapons and some of the upgrades can be repurposed without putting your life in danger. The nanobots that are found useless can be turned into idle mode or become spare processing facilities. I am currently using them like this whenever you are not using your Retractable Blade, for example, or when you are sleeping.” she replied.

“So, if needed be, we could also repurpose the nanobots into a temporary system that we might need at that time, like a skeleton key or a blunt weapon or something?” I asked as I just came up with the idea of using this versatility to our advantage.

“It would be difficult to do so unless I already have a schematic of the device prepared beforehand with the required programs for individual functions of the nanobot structures. I will run some simulations to see if a multi-purpose construct is possible.” she replied.

“No pressure, Xerya, for now, I think we are doing just fine!” I declared with a smile before opening the door at the first floor.

This place had been cleared by me yesterday, there were twelve of them lurking around, but luck was on my side that they were all split up in different rooms rather than moving around as a group. I was able to sneak up on them and kill them before they had a chance to call for their pals. Unfortunately, the situation on the ground floor wasn’t as rosy as it was on the upper floors. Almost all of them were gathered in a big group in the middle and the rest scattered around. The doors at the entrance were left wide open and the windows shattered, leaving plenty of space and opportunity for the Nano-Z outside to rush in and get a bite out of me.

If not for my advantage of being undetected by them until I initiated an offensive strike, I probably wouldn’t have been able to get too close to them, and I would have tried to find another way to take them out or leave this apartment complex.

My current plan was to kill the scattered ones with a sneak attack and then rush into the group in the middle of the floor, where I would kill the others with fast strikes right in their vitals. It was dangerous, but with my current abilities, it was doable.

As such, I unsheathed my Retractable Blade and as soon as I stepped on the ground floor, I reconfirmed the positions of the Nano-Z. The first one I wanted to take out was located at the entrance of the apartment of the Building Manager, it was his wife, and she looked as if she had been chewed on by seven rabid dogs. Flesh was literally dangling off her body, so with a fast strike in the temple, I ended her undead life. With the help of the Extractor, I took out the core located in her brain and then, after cleaning it, I attached it to my forearm like a magnet on a piece of metal.

“One down.” I said and then focused my attention on the next one, the husband of the woman I just killed, who was deeper inside the apartment, banging his head against the wall.

I sneaked up behind him and then pierced my blade into his temple. He jolted in reflex before slumping to the ground motionless. I extracted the core and then moved towards the corridor. The other six were all scattered throughout the apartments here, so I moved carefully, without catching the attention of the big group in the middle of the hallway. Even when I moved around it, I had to do it while sticking close to the wall. Thanks to Xerya, they didn’t even look at me when I was just 30 centimeters away from their drooling mouths.

Before attacking the group, I peeked outside to see how close the Nano-Z were. I saw seven of them dragging their feet around and looking with empty gazes at the tall buildings around them.

“I should kill a few of them, just in case...” I said and then proceeded to do just that.

They were scattered and easy to pick one by one. In the end, I killed all seven of them and made it so that even if I was a bit louder while killing the remaining Nano-Z in the building, there wouldn’t be others rushing in to grab a bite out of me. Now, with this job out of the way, I could fully focus on that group. With my blade ready, I walked up to the one with his back at me until he was in strike range. A single fast stab to the temple was enough to finish him off. The others took a moment to realize that an enemy was among them, but before they attacked, I took out another one. Only four were left. They looked at me, snarled, growled and then reached out to grab me. I dodged to the left and stabbed the blade in the temple of the one on the far left. As he fell down, he stumbled the others, and I used this opportunity to land the finishing strikes.

The whole attack lasted not even a minute, but it was enough.

“All the Nano-Z in this building are now dead.” I said as I looked down at the bodies and then back at the entrance to this place.

“The current cores are enough to attempt a new upgrade for your Nano-Coat and Nano-Fiber. I can also begin the construction of the Experimental Claws and Experimental Zapper.” Xerya told me.

“Claws?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“A secondary melee weapon which will add curved claws to your fingers. This will help with slashing, grabbing, and scaling on the side of buildings. It can be used as a hidden weapon too in case your Retractable Blade is too visible.” she replied.

“Is it really that useful?” I asked her, not really believing it though.

“If we come to the conclusion that it’s unneeded, we can repurpose the nanobots.”

“Alright, what about the Zapper?” I asked as I began to extract the cores.

“The Zapper is a system through which you can store electrical energy in well-placed batteries, which you can latter unload through a discharge system installed in your blade or claws. Further improvements will allow it to be used similar to a ranged electroshock weapon.” she explained.

“Awesome! So, an electric attack!”

“Yes.”

Before heading up to my apartment, I took a look around the floor to see if there were any decent resources to scavenge. I found some food and a metal bat that had a bloodstain on it, but that was about it. Considering that this was the first floor and the one most likely to get searched by survivors, it was no surprise. It wasn’t as if the people who fled this apartment building didn’t try to take with them as many resources as possible. The fact that I already found so much should have been impressive already.

The idea of heading out to look around the neighborhood did cross my mind, but I wanted to do that once I was ready to leave my apartment building. There was a chance that on my first day, I would find one of those camps and get settled there, forgetting about returning to these streets filled with Nano-Z. According to Xerya’s simulations, however, something like that would have been highly improbable given the way they were supposed to mutate in the following months.

“Let’s first head back... and organize my resources. Besides, what if I encounter someone from the Ryxen, 6Ryzers, the Dyoza, or the Maxmers? There are some nasty rumors on the net about them. People who joined them and never returned, people who were said to have been killed after encountering them during a scavenge run, and so on. Whether that’s true or not, my first goal is to meet someone from the Resonance camp. They are the most likely to have people I may know...” I looked down the empty street.

“Sounds reasonable. Although, you have a higher chance of evolving fast if you continue to hunt down the Nano-Z and collect their cores than to rely on my simulations in idle mode.” she expressed her opinion.

“Maybe...” I shrugged and then turned around.