The Atlantian System: Creation

Leta frowned, “I thought I was waiting until after all this to upgrade?”

“Doll, you ate a manticore you weren’t supposed to.” She could practically feel Ismene’s eye roll through the phone, “Which was terribly inconvenient, mind you. You’re literally eating into the time it will take you to get to the vault. Also, if you don’t use your points, you will hit your nanite cap before you get to a stopping point to spend your stuff.”

Leta moaned as she started to unbuckle herself from her seat, the need to hit her head against a wall strong. “Crap, I forgot about the cap.”

“Leta?” Allister looked back at her with a frown as the rest of the team began piling out of the vehicle.

“Sorry, Ismene’s got some things for me. Can you give me two minutes?”

The giant sighed, looked at his watch, and nodded, “Aye, lass, but no more than that. We need to keep to the schedule.”

Leta waited until Allister had shut the door to lean her head back against her headrest. She reminded herself to remember more important details like nanite caps and switch on her night vision.

Ismene’s words were compassionate as if she knew Leta’s struggle to keep up with life as an Arisen. “You’re three days into all this, and the rules are changing literally by the minute. Give yourself some slack. That said, I suggest increasing your mental fortitude by two and everything else by three. That will give you a big enough boost without putting too much strain on your body during the upgrade.”

Leta nodded to herself, “That’s doable. Any other suggestions?”

There was a pause on the other end of the line before Ismene answered, “I was hoping to get you upgraded later when you had time, but if you’re already running late, you might as well go ahead and get Summon Nanite. You won’t be able to use it, but it’s one thing off your to-do list, and it frees up room for more Nanites. It would be best if you also got something for speed or defense. But only get Summon and one other skill, you hear me? You need to pace yourself with skill downloads so your brain doesn’t turn to mush.”

“Fun,” Leta raised one eyebrow before addressing her hive mind out loud, “Gada? What suggestions do you have?”

[Many speed and armor-based skills are available to the Host. For defense, recommended options are Hand of the Shield Bearer, Static Armor, and Stone Skin. For speed, the recommended options are Thunder Jump and Storm Step.]

“Wow, that narrows it down. Bring up those descriptions, please.”

[Hand of the Shield Bearer - Level One: The Host can create an impenetrable circular barrier that will absorb physical damage. At Level One and with the Host’s projected stats, the barrier is 61 centimeters long and must be anchored to an Atlanite base. Thus, the Host is currently only able to anchor the shield to the Host’s hand and forearms. This skill requires 1,032,561 inert Nanites.

Static Armor: The Host can generate a charge that covers the Host’s form in a thin layer of static electrical energy. If the Host is struck during a melee, the attacker will receive an intense static shock, which will cause a temporary stun effect. This skill requires 783,053 inert Nanites.

Stone Skin - Level One: The Host can temporarily calcify skin cells in 12,000 square centimeters of skin for ten minutes every two hours, reducing trauma to the Host. This skill requires 664,109 inert Nanites.

Thunder Jump: The Host creates a compressed pocket of lightning under the soles of the feet, which propels the Host forward. This skill requires 502,451 inert Nanites.]

Storm Step: The Host has attuned themselves to the ebb and flow of positive and negative charges. The Host can create a contained lightning arc and instantly move their physical body from one end of the arc to the other. This skill requires 1,543,194 inert Nanites.]

“Jezzus.” Leta balked at the stiff price tag on the skills, especially Storm Step. That single skill alone was more than what she got from the minotaur that had nearly killed her.

“Yesh,” Ismene parroted Leta’s surprise and dislike, “That sucks, but they’re sound suggestions. Each one of those is really going to change how you keep yourself alive.”

“Which one should I pick?”

“Ah, ah, ah.” She could hear Ismene shaking her finger through the speaker, “That’s cheating. All of these are good choices and will help you in the coming fight, but I can’t make that decision for you.”

‘Damn,’ Leta thought to herself. This decision felt a lot harder than any other before. In the past, she’d been flying by the seat of her pants and only given a few easy choices. Now that everything was on the table, picking one skill felt like betting all your chips on a single hand. Would she be lucky and choose the right option or lose the game?

“That being the case,” Ismene continued, “I can give you some food for thought. Remember, these software upgrades are quick ways to get where you want to go, but at the end of the day, they’re just shortcuts. Every skill downloaded is one you could learn. What you’re downloading is knowing how to do something instead of figuring it out alone. Remember? You chose not to get Gremlin’s Trick but got it anyway during the fight with the Goblins.”

Leta nodded along, aptly listening to the Priestess’s words.

“Huh?” Ismene cut off as if talking to someone on the other end, “Oh, yes! Please and thank you. Your mocha espressos are to die for.”

She cleared her throat before addressing Leta, “Sorry, doll. I’ve already polished off one moka pot and am trying to stay awake, and the good doctor made me another. Back to what we talked about, the second thing you should remember is your fighting style. You’ve had a lot of unexpected skirmishes lately, so how did you feel going into those? Are you wishing for a specific weapon or something to help you in the fight? What is a skill that can compensate for that?”

A knock on the car door startled Leta as Atreus opened it to give her a stern look, “We must depart.”

“Go on, Leta.” Ismene chuckled, “Deep down, you know what you need to do. I have faith in you. There are some changes to the cheat sheet I gave Atreus earlier, but I’ll send him a message about this while they’re distracted by your upgrade. See you later, Doll!”

The line went dead, and Leta handed the phone back to her as she jumped from the car seat to the concrete floor of the parking garage.

“Sorry,” Leta responded sheepishly, “Ismene made some stat update suggestions I need to make quickly.”

Atreus blew out through his nose as he shut the car door, “This could not have been done earlier?”

“It was going to be done later, but things have bumped the schedule.” She shrugged, her head turning as Allister, Bonnie, and Hayato came around to join them. “Plus, I think it’s a good idea for you to see the who stats thing in action if you’re going to be training me.”

Atreus looked far from pleased and rolled his head on his neck as if to crunch out the kinks forming there just from this conversation. “Fine. Make it quick.”

“What’s this stat thing, Leta lass?” Allister raised an eyebrow, perplexed by the sudden level of secrecy.

“It’s… complicated.” She sighed, also rolling her neck from side to side as she steeled herself mentally.

‘Gada? Do it.’

[Increasing power, speed, stamina, reflexes, and constitution by three. Increasing mental fortitude by two.]

Leta gasped at the sudden pain that rippled through her body, her teeth clenching as she felt her skin tighten painfully for a moment as muscles swelled ever so slightly and bone hardened.

Within Leta, the Nanites were fortifying every tissue, ligament, and organ in her body. Her lungs expanded to take in more air as her heart began to pump blood more efficiently through her.

A sharp sting had Leta screwing her eyes tight as a migraine washed through her brain, her ability to intake, process, and react to the world around her increasing.

Atreus watched in shock as Leta’s body grew ever so slightly, her cheeks sharpening as her muscles seemed to become more defined. Was it just him, or did her hair seem lighter? More white than blonde?

Thanks to his abilities as a General, he could easily pick up on weaknesses in others when he concentrated.

As they stood transfixed at the tiny metamorphoses before them, he could visualize the scale of strength and weakness within Leta shifting more and more towards one side.

Leta took a breath and looked up at the men staring at her in wonder. Her blue eyes seemed brighter than before, and the more they stared into them, the more they realized that there was almost a bit of movement in her irises. It was as if the Nanites within her were waking, unable to be dormant now that they were awake.

[Inert Nanites remaining: 4,562,276]

‘Damn.’ Leta blew out a breath. It was good that she was freeing up space now - if she’d followed Ismene’s cheat sheet and absorbed from the two monsters on the list, she’d most likely exceed the cap.

[Increases in stats had affected the Host’s skills and skeletal system. Bone Density has increased to +1.4. Magician’s Hand restrictions have increased to 100 kilometers. Ears of the Judge have evolved from a toggled to a passive skill.]

‘Well, that bump for Magician’s Hand is certainly nice. Okay, let’s get that Summon Nanite.’

Leta’s eyes fluttered shut as an odd sensation infused her mind. The closest she could describe it was like her mind was a balloon suddenly filling with air, expanding beyond its set limits.

In her mind’s eye, she could almost see her Nanites as if she were a subatomic microscope looking through layers and layers of existence to the very atoms that gave her form.

She could see them, feel them. They didn’t look like bugs, like Ismene’s words implied. They were spherical in shape and almost silver and iridescent in color. The glow of the vibrating magnetic field surrounding it nearly looked like a halo, and for the briefest moment, Leta could feel a tear roll down her cheek in wonder at a race that could craft something so small and yet so divine.

Just as quickly, she felt her mind settling in her body as she took an almost meditative breath, looking around with a strange sense of serenity as if one of life’s mysteries had just been solved.

“Lords above. Lass,” Allister breathed, looking her up and down as if someone else were standing in her place.

“You’re stronger,” Atreus stated with a discerning eye, seeming to take in every inch of her as thoroughly as a soldier inspecting his weapons before battle, “And…taller.”

A glance at her stats showed that she was, indeed, a few centimeters taller.

Hayato’s head tilted to the side as if he were studying a scientific experiment. “Did you cast some sort of spell?”

“Uh, no.” Leta stretched and clenched her fingers to get the odd sensation running through her skin to quiet down, “You know how I can take from things? I can channel that potential into upgrading myself a little at a time. Can’t do it too fast, or I could end up hurting myself in the process, or worse.”

Hayato watched her absent-minded movements and marveled at the transformation.

‘Who is this woman?’

He thought to himself as he remembered the girl who had been so skinny in her hospital gowns last night that he’d mistaken her for a pretty skeleton.

Overnight, she’d filled out with muscle, her white-blonde hair longer than it was and shining with health and vitality. Heads would turn to watch her as she walked by, enraptured by her beauty that was as undeniable as a sunrise.

“I’ve got one more upgrade to go through, and then I’m good.” Leta gave them a sheepish smile before turning her attention inward to choosing a skill to keep her alive for what was to come.