A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Chapter 11: Sudden Changes (Part-2)



Ryan opened his eyes as he looked around before he could process what was happening another group of words were floating in front of him making his heart beat to sky rocket as he quickly blinked his eyes as his vision cleared he found himself staring at the words with dread.

Successful installation of Uncommon Tier Perk 'Partition of Brain' CONFIRMED.

Host has triggered hidden conditions

1) Installing First Perk at Tier 2

2) Installation of First Perk being Higher than Common Tier

3) Installing of 'Partition of Brain' (Uncommon Tier)

Conditions for Installation of Rare Tier 'Parallel Procession', has been reached ahead of Tier Requirement

Installing in 3…..2…..1…..0

As he watched those words his face morphed into a look of horror, 'NO no no not another one, please stop.', his desperate plea went unanswered as he felt a small ping on his head followed by a slight headache.

Successful installation of Rare Tier Perk 'Parallel Procession' CONFIRMED.

Presence of both Perks has triggered the Evolution into 'Quantum Brain' (Tier 1) (Rare)

Ryan looked at the words with a fearful look on his face as if waiting for another horrendous pain he waited for a moment but nothing happened then all of a sudden the ground seemed to shake and cracks began to form around the floor and in front of his eyes the floor seemed to fall apart, he could not help but shout out in alarm as he lunged at the glowing letters left behind by the last message in order to save himself only for them to break apart like glass as he plummeted into the dark abyss, then all of a sudden as if light and color came tearing through the darkness and he found himself looking directly into a well polished floor as he hovered above it, he blinked owlishly at that before he collapsed on the cold floor, he winced in pain, "Ow my nose."

The cold floor made his naked body severe as he quickly sat up, as he looked around he was greeted by rows and rows of bookshelf with what seemed to be parchment placed within them, each of the aisle was divided by letters handing above them and under each individual shelf letters were written underneath it, but most of them were empty, he looked around as he saw himself standing near the aisle that had the letter 'B' on it as he entered he took out a parchment from the self with the words 'BA' engraved underneath it, he unfurled the parchment as he saw it a blue print of a base, 'Huh it is the blueprint of the base I wanted to create.', so does that mean the other parchment are blue prints as well, he then opened the rest as he found another blueprint for another type of base making his eyes widen.

'Damn there are six different types to chose with their pros and cons', as he looked at the blueprints he squinted as he tried to read the words written on it properly as he studied them he noticed a small symbol of the button, 'Whose symbol is it? the person who made it', he touched it and then the blueprint glowed making drop it, then something happened that made his eyes go wide, 'No way an holographic projection coming out of the blue print.', the picture on the blue print as well as the words written were many times bigger as he looked at it he was flabbergasted at what he saw, 'It is amazing.'

He disregarded the coldness of the floor as he studied each and every one of them intently as he mused, 'Well this one is much nicer and the living conditions are more humane but the cost is a bit higher oh well I will change my plans accordingly.'

He placed the blueprints back into the shelves before shivering again from the cold, 'Damn this place could use a heater and why am I naked? It is so cold.'

He moved through the aisle as he looked around the place with curiosity, as he neared the end of the aisle a large machine was visible as he moved near it a jolt went down his skull momentarily making him grimace for a split second, 'Ancient Quantum Stochastís' words came to his mind along with instructions on how to use the machine, he shook his head before staring at his hand with a hint of fear, 'What is happening to me? With each passing moment I am getting weirder and weirder.'

He then noticed something that made his eyes widen, a chair not just any chair but one that seemed to be covered by furs, warm and cozy looking fur he dashed and took a seat on it, the chair was a bit weird the back rest went way above his head and the seat ended with an upward curve which made in uncomfortable to seat until they decided to seat with their legs folded like they were doing some yoga exercise, and most importantly there was no arm rest, but at the very least the chair was warm and cozy for a shivering Ryan.

As he relaxed on the chair another thought propped up in his mind, 'Why am I being so relaxed as if nothing has happened? Should I not try to leave this place? So strange I do not know what to think of it.'

The chair suddenly swiveled as it brought him towards the 'Ancient Quantum Stochastís' as it near the machine it suddenly switched on its large 40 inch screen booted on with a greenish hue, various option were displayed on, as numerous panels, knows and levers appeared as such he know understood why the chair was designed as such to offer better and smoother usage of the machine by the user, he could see faint glow in the multiple wire jungle that was protruding out of its back that seemed to disappear somewhere, the keyboard looked like that of a type writer, and from the knowledge he had gained, there were two wheels on either side to control the movement of the pointer with a push button beneath it for right and left clicking, the enter system was placed on the two sides of the type writer keyboard but in between those two were a set of levers, the lever on the right placed and removed the cursor and the one on the left was like redo and undo button.

As he looked through the machine what he found was list under the banner 'Augmented Module Research', they needed to be researched and he finally found the uses of soul, as each research consumed soul some like night vision that needed 5 souls, to lower the blood points requirement for stats upgrade to 75% of normal, which needed around 30 souls.

'Hmmm I know what to take for now, if I can save blood points more and more it would be great no not great amazing with each tire I need to gain more and more blood points like moving from Tier 2 to 3 would need 200 blood points and at the same time each stat needs a 200 each making it a total of 1000 blood points but if I lower it to 75% of the original just based on stats it would lower it to 150 each that means in order to move from Tier 2 to 3 I would not need 800 blood points.'

With a hiss and groan he began to operate machine as he selected a particular Module to be researched which was dubbed as Blood Points cost cut(Tier 1), as soon as he selected it his screen displayed a few more information about it, but what drew his attention was the time required for the research to be completed which was infinity.

"What the hell Infinity does it mean that I cannot get it?"

"No wait a minute what is this…..'Brain Allocation!'"

"Hmmm interesting so I can allocate part of brain and it would work on the research if I use full that is both brains, which got created by the perks I can get it twice as faster or I can do different research simultaneously at the same time hmmm….. it would need 3 days with my all my brain allocation otherwise 6 days well let's do it."

With that he started the research a small cold wave passed through his body as he watched his soul collection plummet to 31, as he watched he frowned as he whispered to himself, "Is it not weird that I got such nice upgrades almost accidently as if something or someone is trying to set me up with something but why? And most importantly who is it?"

"Getting this partition of brains and parallel processing might not be as accidently or am I thinking too much.", he rubbed his temple for a moment before he let out a tired sigh as he spoke, "I think I should try to get out of here, so how do I get out….. hmmm, aha.", he quickly closed his eyes as he tried to meditate and soon found himself waking up to look at what seemed to be a mud ceiling.

As he tried to sit up he winced, 'Damn my body feels so tired and week.'

"Son, easy there.", a soothing voice came to his ears as he turned right to see his mother sitting beside him with a concerned look on her face.

Ryan winced as he send a weak smile to his mother as he spoke, "Mom,….I…", he treid hard but no words came from his mouth he did not know what to say a glass of water promptly found its way into his mouth which he did not waste time to drink with large gulp after all he was thirsty.

As Ciara took the empty glass of water he spoke in a hurried tone, "Mom the creature it was attacking us and aunt Lena died trying to save me and then who killed it."

Ciara narrowed her eyes as she spoke, "Don't you remember anything about it? When I reached there I found you surrounded by spears coming out of earth with the creature skewered on the other end of it as such we deduced I had something to do with your powers."

Ryan knew that from the large increase in his blood points he had killed it no not him his powers had killed it and what his mother had said simply confirmed it, he felt numb at that as he spoke in a soft voice, "SO aunt Lena is really gone."

Ciara simply placed a hand on his head as she gently caressed him as she spoke, "So how are you holding up?"

Ryan gave her a week smile as he spoke, "Well like I went on a marathon while carrying an elephant on my back.", his smile then turned to a frown as he spoke, "I am sorry mom it all happened all of sudden and I was so scared mom aunt Lena told me not to look back and run I did what she said but it did not work it the guns the grenades nothing worked it tore them apart then it attacked me and I lost consciousness, maybe instead of getting scared if I had stayed with them and fought may be…"

Ciara looked squarely into his eyes as she spoke, "Stop do not dwell on the past and what ifs and it is alright to feel scared son you did exactly like she had told you and you are safe now."

Ryan balled his fist as he spoke, "I will not let that happen I will grow stronger and create weapons so that the same does not get repeated."

Whatever Ciara was about to say stayed in her throat as Ruby came in followed by Michalina who smiled at him as she spoke, "Brother you gave us all quite the heart attack you have been asleep for three days."

Ryan gawked at her as he spoke, "Three days you are joking?"

Michalina gave him a small smile as Ruby was busy giving him a check up as she spoke, "No brother not at all you were sleeping here for three days."

Ryan eyes fell upon hearing that as he spoke, "So I missed there funeral."

Hearing that both Michalina and Ciara winced as Ruby spoke in a blunt manner, "Yes you did but care to enlighten me what happened during the time you were sleeping, I have never seen someone recovering from necrosis like you or the fact your broken ribs healed itself."

Michalina frowned at that as she spoke, "Can your interrogation not wait he just awoke from such an ordeal."

Ruby did not look at her as she responded to her, "No it cannot wait, everything since the Goddamn apocalypse occurred is new to me and I do not wish to be ignorant and cause death of my patient due to my ignorance.", then as if he remember something as she spoke, "Oh why don't you leave us two alone it would be better."

Michalina face scrunched up in anger as she spoke, "I refuse."

Ruby looked at her as she spoke with a serene smile on her face, "I understand that I am the doctor here as such I am entitled to certain rights and one of them having to speak with my patient uninterrupted."

Michalina was about to explode in anger but Ryan sighed as he began to speak, "So from where should I begin doctor."

Ruby beamed at him as she spoke, "Well as soon as they leave you may.", Ciara stood up as she patted her son's head before she lowered her head near Ruby's as she whispered lowly, "If you regret making me leave him with you alone I will not care if you are the last doctor on this planet I.Will.Break.You", he accentuated each word with great emphasis as she gave a small loving kiss on Ryan's forehead before dragging Michalina out of the room.

Ruby looked a bit shaken as Ryan spoke again, "So Doctor, what do you wish to know."

Ruby gave a small smile trying to hide her nervousness as she spoke, "Start from the moment you were attacked."

An hour later an emotionally drained Ryan finished encountering everything because of Ruby's various questions as she finished writing up on the note pad a cough came from behind her as Ciara spoke, "Well since you have finished questioning him I think it is time for him to rest, Michalina you were so worried so why don't you spend some quality time with him."

Michalina nodded with a small smile on her face as Ciara turned towards Ruby as she spoke with a sweet tone that made Ruby sweat visibly in fear, "Well since you have already gathered various information from Ryan I believe we should have a little chat on a certain topic.", with that she placed a hand on her shoulder and literally dragged a whimpering Ruby out of the room."

As they left Michalina pulled him into a hug as she spoke, "I was so scared that I would lose you brother."


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