NBB - A sphere's tale - Chapter 8 Going up

When GD18 finished inscribing the vocal pattern, Mutar still wasn't back. GD18 wasn't worried. He had seen how fast the undead had gotten used to his body during the battle. If anything happened, he should be able to flee.

GD18 focused on the skill and rumbling moved through the tunnel. Stones began bobbing up and down, and dust fell from the ceiling. A soft buzzing followed, and for a few minutes, odd sounds echoed around. Then a soft, surprisingly smooth, and mellow voice echoed through the tunnel.

"Test one, two, three. Testing. Ah… that's how it works."

So most of my hearing works through the vibrations I pick up from the rock, while my vision is almost fully dependent on the smell from the tentacles and tongues. That means I am at a disadvantage if things make high-pitched sounds that don't cause vibrations or have little to no smell.

Working through the information he had gathered, GD18 finished up his testing, then looked at the tunnel's exit. Still not back… Did something happen? Not sure what to do, he waited for another ten minutes before moving forward, slow and steady.

As his head reached the exit, his smell-o-vision drew a picture in his mind of a massive domed cave with a pit in the middle. The sickly sweet scent came from inside, so strong it made the entire area around the pit hazy and hard to see.  Distant screeching came from the opposite end of the cave, but it was muted, showing there was little vibration involved. A dozen exits led away, three with the same metallic scent.

Moving his entire body out of the tunnel, the sense of open space enlarged the feeling of freedom GD18 experienced. Scanning for the smooth, strong bone scent that was Mutar, he noticed there was something that smelled of food close to the furthest exit. That was the same spot he heard the sounds from. GD18 calculated the shortest route that didn't bring him too close to the pit and surged forward.

As he passed the pit, he smelled something familiar. It took him a moment to pinpoint it, but then he realized it smelt like he did. That must be the wyrm they lured into the pit, he thought. He wondered if he could consume it. Probably, but that meant he needed to get it out or himself in. Both didn't seem like a viable option.

The further he moved from the pit, the clearer the image beyond became, and when a strong wind came from the tunnel ahead, it blew the scent away for a moment clearing up the image. Mutar's strong scent popped up, and from all around him came the scent of food.

"Mutar?" GD18 spoke, his smooth voice rolling through the air, causing the stones to vibrate.

"Geed! You've learned to speak?" Mutar shouted, sounding surprised. "I've found more of those things that look like you but aren't you! I've collected twelve spheres already!"

Twelve? GD18 moved closer, and a hundred feet from Mutar, his smell made out fourteen wyrm-centaur bodies. He determined the shortest path that would let him grab all of them and angled left towards the closest body.

"Did you remove all the orbs?"

"Yes," Mutar shouted as he moved towards GD18. His chest was slightly bulged, and he had a glowing blue mana-orb in his hands. An opening appeared in his hand, and the sphere was sucked inside as he climbed atop GD18 before standing on his head.

Gobbling up the bodies one at a time, GD18 decided the Mutar was more than a little useful. He would keep him around until he could do everything by himself.

When the last body disappeared down his throat, GD18 moved towards the nearest tunnel.

"Shouldn't we get that wyrm in the pit?" Mutar said.

"We can't get it out, and I can't get in," GD18 said. He didn't add that he didn't feel comfortable that Mutar potentially gained a pseudo-mana-core, or worse, a true mana-core.

"Too bad," Mutar muttered, staring back at the pit until they disappeared into the tunnel.

The metallic scent trail led them upwards through the ground through a long maze of tunnels, and the further they went, the more excited GD18 became. His status was constantly in the corner of his vision, the currently most important values highlighted. It was the only thing that was clear to him, as the pungent odor had caused his vision to become murky like a muddy puddle.

Mana-field: 3961/9000

Physical density: 2791/3000

The amount of metal in the wyrm-centaur corpses was enormous, and it was obvious it was enough to increase his physical density to the cap. At the same time, his body was generating more and more mana, gradually filling his mana field. His calculations showed he would max out both values within the next twenty-four hours.

"There is something odd ahead," Mutar said.

The undead was sitting on the middle of GD18's head, staring ahead while absorbing more mana-orbs. GD18 had no idea if he had maxed out his stats already, and without the remote-control inscription on his mana field, he wasn't able to see.

"What does it look like?" GD18 asked.

Brown and red like some of the stones, but angular. Small parts are grey and gleaming like the plates on those wyrm-centaurs we ended."

Rust? It was the only thing that made sense if he added the scent, coloring, and gleaming together.

"Is it in front of us?"

"Some of it, but most are above us, in the ceiling. It looks like a wyrm barged through, or something just as big."

GD18 slowed down. "Is the hole large enough?"

"Yes. Whatever went through was much bigger than you."

"Go and see if there's anything dangerous," GD18 said as he stopped.

Mutar got up and slid off, disappearing into the murky image three steps away from him.

I need better vision. This is too unreliable.

He tried to split his attention; one part on the entrance he couldn't see as the other part read through the list that held the sensory patterns. Most were skills, and he quickly realized his body's intelligence was far too low. The status patterns had barely any prerequisites, but many of the skill patterns had high requirements of the host body.

Something moved through the fog towards him, and he readied his tongues as Mutar stepped close.

"According to those images and words in my mind, there are buildings ahead. I didn't recognize them first, but I do now. Something called... subterranean parking lots?"

GD18 was stunned for a moment, then searched through the databases on his mana field. He knew he must know the term, but he didn't have it in his readied memory. When he found what they were, he was confused. These things hadn't been used for thousands of years when they left. Did we find something that was buried long ago?

"Wait," he said, opening up another package of data.

He took out his current map and overlaid a historical one over it that showed cities that had been there but aren't anymore. Only after he went back over two and half thousand years did he find one.

> Terento. Destroyed during the first nuclear war and irritated beyond help. Not livable for an estimated twenty-three thousand years.

That won't be a problem then, he thought, as a far longer period of time had passed. Still, he did a quick search to see if radiation could even harm the undead. To his surprise, it could, as their bodies decayed at a rapid pace.

Double-checking the duration of nuclear radiation,  he was relieved to find it should have long since dissipated.

"Were there any metallic objects inside?"

"Just some scraps, but mostly rubble."

GD18 moved ahead into the fog. Fifty feet in, he could see no further than a few feet, his smell now even less useful than his rudimentary and unfortunately placed eyes.

"Tell me what you see," GD18 said.

"You can't see?" Mutar replied, surprised.

Why else would I ask? GD18 thought, surprised at the irritation he felt. His inability to do such a mundane task at seeing was bothering him. It was something he had been able to do well since being created.

"No. Tell me if there are exits that look like they are leading up."

It took a minute before he got a reply.

"The other wyrm created a path to the far side of this area, and there is a hole there. You will have to follow that, or you won't fit below the roof."

GD18 began moving ahead in a straight line. From what he had gathered, unless there was food in the equation, wyrms moved in lines.

"Are you sure you can't see?" Mutar asked after a while.

"No. Why?"

"You are moving exactly in the middle of the other wyrm's path…"

GD18 didn't respond and continued on until he reached the hole. He could see its outlines as the fog seemed to pour from it.

They continued through the tunnel, and GD18 recognized it wasn't a straight line. It was moving up in a circle like a corkscrew.

"What do you see?" he asked after a few minutes.

"There are more sharp edges. I think the other wyrm was eating its way up?"

Very likely, GD18 thought. He wondered what the other wyrm was doing now. The scent was only getting stronger, meaning there had to be more metal up there.

The tunnel kept going up without change until a massive waft of hot air blasted out of it. Mutar's claws dug deep in his scales, and GD18 was completely blind now. Even the foggy outlining was gone, and he found he could see more with his eyes. A blurry stone ceiling passed above him.

Why do these things have eyes on their back? Reaching for the data packages, he was about to search for other beings that had it when Mutar hissed.

"What?"

"The tunnel is ending ahead, and there is light streaming down from above. I see parts of a city ahead, but everything seems broken. Weird oval things are lying around close to the entrance."

Weird oval things? Anything that was still intact now had to have been placed there relatively recently. Perhaps eggs?

"Is the other wyrm anywhere?"

"No. Its trail disappears somewhere between two buildings."

GD18 resisted his need for information and moved forward at a crawl. When he exited the tunnel, he felt it and stopped. The temperature increased, and his fuzzy vision cleared up enough for him to see the outlines of buildings. Part of the city seemed buried below a thick layer of rock and earth. A woosh came from above, and a moment later, dust and debris were blown across him before being sucked down the tunnel behind. His vision turned matt yellow for a moment before slowly clearing up enough to see the outlining again.

Mutar was staring up. "There is so much light up there. Are we going?"

"Eventually. Where are the eggs?"

"Eggs… are that what those things are?" Mutar asked.

"Probably. Where are they?" GD18 asked. The area around him was too indistinct.

"To your left, slightly further ahead."

GD18 turned left and headed forward.

"You are going straight for them. What are you-" Mutar stopped talking as GD18 gobbled up the seven eggs he found. As soon as they reached his stomach, he felt more energy begin to stream into him, showing he was right. These things held a lot of metal.

"Why did you eat them?"

GD18 turned towards the vague outline of two buildings, the left one mostly embedded in the ground, and sped up before answering.

"Because we don't need more of these things running around, eating the metal I need."

Mutar didn't reply, and as they moved further into the city, GD18 saw pockets of metal. It was obvious to him that the wyrm had been here for a while because there wasn't as much as there should be. Why the planet still had any form of an atmosphere was odd, but this was old-world metal, from before the humans learned to create metals that didn't corrode away as easily. It should have all rusted away millennia ago. He used his eyes up, and a clear image formed.

These eyes aren't made for the dark, which means these wyrms are meant to live above ground? GD18 searched through one of the data packages about worms and other things that roughly resembled the wyrm he now was and felt even more confused. Worms didn't have eyes, just some light receptors, and no other life-form he saw in the list of possibly related species he had packed did.

A soft rumble came from a distant place in the city.

"The wyrm?" Mutar asked at the same time GD18 thought it.

"Maybe. Go ahead and see what you can find. I'll stay here."

"Don't you want to eat the other wyrm?" Mutar asked, not moving.

"Do you remember the size of the tunnel? This one is much bigger than me," GD18 said, wishing the undead would just follow his orders.

Mutar remained seated. "Can't you take over his body?"

GD18 was about to answer, then fell silent. That is the second time he has asked about me taking over a body. Is he trying to find out if I could possibly take his body? Or does he want to learn how to take over another body? Neither option made much sense.

"No, I can't. Go and see if there is another wyrm and how big it is."

Mutar slid from his body and disappeared into the city.

A soft alarm came from GD18's status system, and he quickly pulled it up immediately, noting that his physical density was full and his mana-field growing rapidly.

Mana-field: 7247/9000

Physical density: 3000/3000

Less than an hour, he thought. That meant that the growth had sped up at some point. It also meant that he was going to wait here until it filled up before going anywhere else.

Mutar came running back ten minutes later, quickly climbing up his side.

"There are three of them," he said as he sat down. "One is almost twice as long as you, and the other two are roughly the same size."

How did that many get down here? Did they fall? GD18 suddenly felt a great sense of loss as he remembered he couldn't just calculate the answers to his questions with a near-infinite amount of data and dozens of separate logic threads at his disposal.

No. There are benefits to everything, but at least now I can feel the loss. The loss faded as his determination to create his own future grew. Part of him knew he was changing, his mind turning into something not unlike a human mind, but he had no interest in examining this existential question now.

He examined Mutar before making a decision. Going back down had been an idea he toyed with, but in the end, the idea of hiding in a tunnel with only one way to flee seemed dangerous and stupid. On the other hand, going forward as he was now was just as dangerous, leaving the least dangerous of the options.

"I need you to patrol around and make sure nothing comes too close. I'm going to evolve, and as I do, I won't be able to move."

"Are you going to become bigger?" Mutar asked, interested.

"Perhaps. I have not decided what to do yet," GD18 partially lied. He had a general idea of what he would do, just not the details. "It might take a long time before I am finished. If any of the other wyrms come close, try and lure them away."

"Alright! I'll guard you. Nothing will come close while I'm here," Mutar said. Then he slid down and rushed towards a nearby building, scaling the wall like a spider.