CHAPTER 55: THE RECOUNT

The Spaceship’s AI was silent for some time before it finally asked:

[Damaged?]

"Yes," Tatehan replied, the word flying out with pride.

The Spaceship’s AI must have been confused, that was why it paused, then asked the question again. Because it was one thing to damage a creature and another completely different thing to destroy it.

Tatehan didn’t know if he was exaggerating by saying he ’damaged’ it, but that seemed to be the case.

"While you told me where the core was located, you didn’t exactly tell me how to defeat it."

Tatehan paused and then sat on the floor. He was exhausted and needed to bathe and sleep before he could start another hectic task.

"It was hard to do, though. I made a friend who helped me kill the mauler."

The Spaceship’s AI was shocked. Tatehan couldn’t exactly say how he knew, but he just felt it, since it was pausing for quite a long time after each of his words, like someone extremely surprised by something.

This wasn’t a normal AI which was completely devoid of emotions. This one had some bit of it, maybe even more. Because a normal AI would have just given up on him based on accurate calculations, but the AI seemed to have hope and faith that he would come back.

[A friend?] the AI finally asked. [Sorry for the questions, but I just find it confusing. How did you make a friend?]

"He lived near the river bed, close to the amphitheater."

Tatehan had been expecting the AI to ask him if he got the core or not, and when it finally did:

[Did you get the bio-neural core?]

With a deep sigh, Tatehan started narrating to it how he got the core. How the mauler beat him so ruthlessly and was about to kill him when Kael saved him. Gave him shelter, food, and did his part in healing his wounds.

Tatehan told the Spaceship’s AI everything. How Kael trained him in just a short time. How they marched toward the mauler. How he killed it by thrusting his sword into its brain. And with a shaking voice, how he killed Kael.

It was a long talk, one that Tatehan found awkward at some points because it felt like he was just speaking to himself.

After the narration, Tatehan looked at the ceiling and said:

"That’s it."

[So the Martian human’s reason for staying in the cave, close to the amphitheater that long, was so he could get the core and treat his dying daughter.]

"Yes," Tatehan replied, now laying on the ground and rolling around because of boredom.

The Spaceship’s AI said nothing for a long time. Tatehan just rolled, doing so childishly. Soon, he stopped and started drumming his fingers on the floor as he waited. He didn’t know why the Spaceship’s AI was taking this long to respond in the first place.

After a full minute (almost two) the AI said:

[That’s a lot. That’s a lot.]

Tatehan sat up now and mumbled: "Yes."

[What I’m curious about is how you got the armor, the weapons, the abilities. Normally that should have taken you about two months.]

It paused and then said:

[Well, it’s been a month, three weeks and four days since you left, so technically it’s two months.]

"I got my upgrades at the far region of the bruteneck area. I had to battle different species of the creatures," Tatehan made a counting gesture with his hands. "Um, Lunatic Carapace Brutenecks, I’m sure there are normal Lunatic Brutenecks but I didn’t meet them. I also fought Knight Brutenecks and Dwarf Brutenecks and gained really valuable things from their cores."

"I gained upgrade glowing rocks from the Lunatic Carapace Brutenecks, then the armor from the Knight Brutenecks which came with the Kinetic Absorption ability. Then I gained a passive ability from killing Dwarf Brutenecks."

The Spaceship’s AI absorbed the information and then, slowly, it said to Tatehan:

[What are you, a luck god?]

Tatehan smiled slightly at that. Then he saw words flash across his retina, echoing into his ears at the same time.

[Your recounting to the Spaceship’s AI has upgraded its brain.]

[The absorption of your adventures has upgraded its processing capacity]

[The AI is part of the spaceship – a fundamental part of it]

[Congratulations host, you have upgraded the Spaceship.]

[Congratulations host, you have received repair points]

[HOST STATUS]

Name: Tatehan

Level: 4

Species: Human (Enhanced)

Knowledge: 50/100 [+14]

Repair points: 28/100 [+8]

[ABILITIES]

• Gravity Manipulation - Level 6

• Regeneration (partial) - Level 4

• Enhanced Durability - Level 0.3

[Inventory:]

[Chakrams]

[Map]

[Sharp sword]

[Knight armor]

Tatehan stared at his stats for a long time, willing them not to disappear. What made him stare for that long was the repair points, eight had just been added. With eight being added, and needing forty to be able to transfer the Spaceship to his system space, he couldn’t help but feel exhilarated. Maybe he might actually get to fly this thing.

While other Martian humans like himself might have felt and enjoyed the feeling of using their weapons, he hadn’t in any real way.

Of course he was using the Spaceship now. As a place for shelter, a home, a source of food, and a training ground. But he wasn’t actually using it in battle. To fight the horrors of Mars and all that.

It felt more like a piece of equipment than a weapon at this point.

[I must acknowledge you on the job well done, host. Of course, it may seem like you are now powerful, but technically you are not. You needed help to fight the mauler. To be really strong, you should be able to defeat the creature by yourself and do so in less than a minute.]

[But that’s not why I’m telling you this. My reason for saying this is that you’ll still need to train more than ever and upgrade your levels to be really strong. But for now, you will have to focus on repairing the spaceship to the capacity of it being high in the sky, in space, so you’ll be able to explore and meet more civilizations and planets. Maybe even check on Earth—surprisingly, it’s still there but now an almost uninhabitable place prone to collapse at any moment.]

"Noted," Tatehan said.

[Now let me use the core. Should give you lots of repair points to get really close to 40]

Tatehan sighed sadly.

"I’m not using the core on the spaceship anymore."