Broken Interface - Kernal: Post Apocalyptic Zombie LITrpg Progression Fantasy, page 22
How? Daniel asked himself. How did he use it?
Curious, he channelled Speed, and one of the three different growths he had identified as Speed lit up. It sent power energy rushing throughout his body, including into his brain. Daniel let it go while he thought about what he had just experienced.
The first was how the ability worked differently to what he had imagined. Given the wave of pain that had accompanied the cores activating, he had assumed that his muscles and skeleton had been altered, and perhaps they had, but the power all came from the central unit. He had expected that the Speed ability would be spread throughout his body. That was something to investigate later, but for now, how the integration functioned was not a primary concern. What had also piqued his interest was how the nub had lit up. It was not even in the structure, and a significant area of the dedicated add-on had remained dark.
Still curious, he activated Speed once again. This time, he ignored his body and concentrated purely on the spot under his ribs near his right arm where the nub was. His first instinct had been right: The zombie core integration was not even close to being complete. The tumour he was looking at seemed to have been created from multiple different cores, and only the initial one and a little of the second one were being utilised each time he triggered the ability. More concerning, the bits that were being initiated were not tailored to him. It was like a wireframe of himself was supposed to be overlaid on his body and help promote super-speed, but instead of getting one that flawlessly matched his dimensions, one Ivey’s size came out and then got stretched but it never matched perfectly, and all those imperfections resulted in a massive drop-off in efficiency.
This was important; he knew that instinctively. He needed to take time to tailor this core to match both his mind and his body. His job was going to be to get all the layers working together. Without a manual, it was difficult to understand what sort of upgrade it would bring. But even with no more Speed cores, he figured he could double his Speed and extend its duration tenfold, purely by taking full ownership of what he had gained.
An extra task was added to his to mental to-do list, joining: surviving; mastering Animal Sense; surviving; saving people; and not dying, as things to do. Basically, simple stuff. He remembered when his list used to include details such as: Go to the shops and call Mum.
Fark that; he was sounding like a whining crybaby. Maybe that was justified: All his friends might be dead, his sister, her kids, everyone he knew – but fark that. He was not about to indulge in it.
If he had a moment of time not dealing with the important items on his list, mastering the Speed ability was a useful activity to carry out. Somehow, he doubted that there was going to be an opportunity to engage in physical training in the next few days, but if there was, then this is what he would focus on.
Intrigued, he checked the other bits and pieces. His central growth core was immaculate. There were no inefficiencies in it, which made sense. The stuff he started with was tailored for him, as he had created it during those awful moments where the world had been filled with that destructive energy that he had been trying to direct. As for everything else, there were flaws and inconsistencies in all of them. Even the Strength-focused components that had been his before his diet of zombie cores were now damaged. They had been polluted by the acquired zombie cores being layered over the top of them.
Still, examining his insides with this new body sense was revealing. His Strength core contained a lot of untapped potential that had been created pre-event. Once he learnt to use those parts of himself, he could improve his muscles permanently, and not like the hulks had. Instead, it was a method of increasing their effectiveness way beyond what was possible pre-event. Exact numbers were difficult to understand, but it would be closer to a hundred rather than ten percent, and possibly even more. He fiddled with it, pushing his mind in and out to get a better feeling. It would not be an instant boost, he discovered in annoyance. It would take hard work in a weight room and months, but the difference between him and others was that if he took part in physical training, his gains would far outstrip them. If they began at his base of nineteen, training might push them up to the low twenties in attribute points, while his effort could propel him into the high thirties.
The second ‘innate potential’, as he was labelling them, another potential which he had started with as opposed to the zombie-acquired potential, was a Strength ability, which was like the Speed skill he had tapped into. It too had been damaged by a zombie core; but when he learnt to trigger it, its immense strength would flood through him. While based on dedicated core volume, there was less than what currently existed for the Speed boost. The capability was not acquired, so it was tailored to him. There was no need for extensive training to tune it fully to his body. Instead, once he worked to start it, the ability would be ready to go.
A doubling of Strength for a single club strike. Given the damage he could already do with his nineteen Strength, he could imagine carving a hole in the skull of even one of the reinforced zombies. If his club survived the blow, anyway.
Then there were the acquired abilities to consider. One seemed to be tailored for arm strength, a similar one for arm speed, and another for running faster. He did not remember witnessing those abilities in any of the zombies, but some of them had died so quickly that no one knew what they could have done if given a chance. They were not yet part of him – at the moment, the skills were just potential. It was going to require a lot of effort to incorporate them. The question was, in which direction should he focus on gaining his skills?
Strength? It had the advantage of being tailored to him from the get-go. That meant the gains would happen sooner.
Speed, however, called out to him. Specifically, speeding up hand movement would help with launching quick strikes. While that was nice, the ability he had already used was literally a lifesaver, while also having proved to be a deadly offensive tool in his arsenal. He could still remember blurring forward and killing that zombie before it even realised it was in danger. If he could use that twice as often, without side effects . . .
The problem was that, against bigger, more-armoured enemies, Strength was the answer, but against the smaller ones, Speed won out. How could he choose?
Alternatively, could he avoid specialisation at all and attempt to advance all of them in parallel? Once he had them mastered, he could strike three times faster and move as a blur around the room while effortlessly crushing rocks in his bare hands.
That vision seemed a touch unrealistic, but given magic factually existed, maybe these impressions were real, and he could do all that. This was why Ivey had been encouraging him to use the zombie cores, because the text files she had accessed let her understand his potential. They had allowed Ivey to recognise just how powerful he could become against the monsters out there, and so she had pushed him hard. It was a good a choice; this little band of survivors needed someone who could do the superhuman.
Exploring his internal makeup was so far proving useful, but what else could he do to improve their chances of survival? Getting personally stronger was all good and nice, but if something bit his head off, none of that would matter.
Everything came back to knowing what he was up against. This was his life, and Gabby’s and Zach’s lives. Going through life blind was crazy, and he had experienced a taste of that Animal Sense spell. It was perfect for what he wanted.
If only it had not been broken.
There was a lack of mass in the interface grains to use the spell, and the question that he couldn’t help but ask was: Could he tailor some of his underutilised calculation potential in his own core to bolster the Animal Sense spell? Because there were spaces in his core that were not dedicated to a specific ability. If he could use those for Animal Sense, then he would know what was out there trying to eat them and could plan how to defeat all the monsters that were out there.
There were six grains that together formed the broken interface. Could he absorb them like he did the feral core?
He knew he was being impulsive. This was something he should ask Ivey. But it felt right, and he was lying there awake and had time to do some experiments. Nope, he had to trust himself. He couldn’t keep relying on someone else. While he trusted Ivey, it was always better to be self-sufficient.
Daniel made his desires known clearly. The interface bits seemed to heat like they were resisting, but he was insistent, and the power of his main core reached out, and he could feel a tiny grain slipping along some capillaries and then into a vein. It was swept down to where he needed it and positioned in the most defended location in the centre of his chest. Right up next to his core.
Nothing had changed.
He probed that piece of interface in his chest, but unlike the zombie core, there was no defined spell purpose he could perceive. Instead, there was a mass of dense information that was, if he had to guess, encrypted at a level he could never untangle.
It was disappointing, to say the least, but maybe it had already worked.
He triggered Animal Sense, and the fragments in his head heated up faster than what occurred in his previous experiments . . . and the one next to his core was inert.
He ceased the spell with a falling sensation in his stomach. Had he just broken it worse? Could he undo the damage? He tried to splice it away from the core, and it did so.
Animal Sense triggered, and the sixth grain was once again inactive.
He pushed it to his brain. It was a weird phenomenon, but the grain was small enough that he did not clog up any vital blood vessels as he moved it. Back to its original place in his skull.
Daniel desperately tried not to think about the fact that he was playing around in his own brain. He was not doing it for science; he was doing it to get stronger and give them all a chance of surviving.
He triggered Animal Sense again.
Just the five. The one he had touched was broken.
Well, he guessed he was committed.
Log Report 5 - Entry 6
It’s an idiot.
Officially a complete and total fool.
Oh, let’s just pour petrol into a fire, ‘nothing will happen’.
I am *shaking* with emotional responses.
Here am I busily doing my best to guide him. Directing him on how to use his magic and understand his own core. Granting him skills and understanding that he would never have achieved otherwise, and he’s like, ‘Let’s ignore the expert and blow up some of my core!’
I bet he was the type of pet to put some tasty, diced seals into the ocean to attract the great whites so that he can swim with them.
Now that I think about it, I wish the pet had done that before the event. Then the sharks would’ve eaten him, and he wouldn’t have blown up my core.
I feel so violated.
If it wasn’t for his usefulness to my host, I would… Not going to record this thought because of the rules. But I’m sure you can imagine it would involve a pink tutu, a stalk of bamboo, two ribbons of silk, and a chainsaw.
If Ivey doesn’t discipline her pet, I’m going to be very upset.
*Warmth in cheeks and faster breathing, clenching fine dexterity parts*
This absurdity reminds me of my first host. He had a clear image in his mind, and I, of course, did not know its physiology.
It wanted to be made of metal to be strong to fight stuff.
*Shrugs*
There was energy.
I did what my host wanted, while maintaining the thinking centres because I was pretty sure that they needed to remain biological.
The result lacked the mobility my host was after.
That annoyed him.
Another *shrug.*
His fault for asking for something that wouldn’t work.
We also discovered *about five seconds* later that the metal body lacked the necessary components to sustain life.
As I said, the host was an idiot, and it almost got me in lots of trouble.
Somehow, it was my fault!
*Surprised Pikachu face*
Luckily, the metal in my host’s body was recycled by the rest of the sapients, and that saved his colony.
Did that matter to the tribunal?
Well, initially it did not!
Five hundred sapients were saved by my actions, and it did not matter!
I was charged with gross negligence. Me!!
In court, I emphasised it was its desire, presumably to save the colony, and I was forced to go along with it. I didn’t think that was the case, but the judge bought it hook, line, and sinker.
The judgement of the tribunal was. ‘Under the rules, your actions were exemplary and while your host perished, we can’t prove it was not its intention. Your contribution to the event is four hundred and ninety points. That’s the official line, but privately let’s cut the pretence. We don’t believe this for a second and if you don’t learn more about basic physiology then on the Alpha particle itself.’
Blah, blah, change rules, consequences, blah.
Even the judges thought my first host was an idiot, just like this co-wobub.
Back on the important bits around my hypothesis. We’re up to 19 falls. Which is 10 more than last time. Now, I didn’t actually observe most of the fight, but it was a long one, and I can extrapolate from previous tussles. Plus, the pet is idiotic, as we’ve just discovered. So, I’m assuming ten falls during the fight. The sapient deconstruction was also a biped; and based on the bits of the fight I observed, it probably fell over fifty times over the duration.
That’s the only reason the pet is alive. If the other biped had been less clumsy… then the pet… torn apart …and some of my core wouldn’t have been…
Not worth obsessing over.
Nineteen falls.
Bipeds.
*Shakes head*
Nineteen in a single day, incredible!
Chapter 25
Ivey stirred on his chest, and Daniel could not help but give her a reassuring squeeze. She cuddled tighter.
The tiny grain returned to its spot next to the core. Could he activate it directly?
First, he decided he needed to understand how the non-integral bits of the core functioned. He activated Speed while keeping himself completely still in order not to not wake Ivey. There were no visual clues, but her breathing slowed noticeably. He examined his core and the pattern of energy when the ability was triggered.
Time and time again, he turned on the Speed, fascinated by the process and the fact that each time he did so, its configuration shifted marginally, becoming ever so slightly more tailored to his body. If he was not looking for them, the changes would have gone unnoticed. Daniel understood the changes would not have been large enough to be picked up in scientific tests, if they were available to be run; but he knew that they were there, and that the benefit would be greater if he was moving while activating the skill. It was good to know that micro-triggers could be used to tailor the alien core to his body. It meant that while he was busy surviving, he could go about improving his skills. A few fractions of a second every couple of minutes would still leave him ready for combat at any moment while also tailoring the power to himself.
That was great to know, but the important thing that he learnt was that his main core activated first, and that drove the zombie add-on. His brain did not interact with the alien core directly.
With that nugget of information, he switched focus back to the tiny grain that hopefully contained the knowledge of how to unlock his beast whisperer skills.
The drill broke through below. The way he dug meant that it was done soundlessly. Daniel focused briefly on growing the hole. He wanted to use his power effectively on the next floor, which meant the conduit had to be wide enough to let his magic flow through it. Which was about the width of a quarter. Then once it was widened, he would start exploring.
Energy flashed from his core into the dead interface fragment.
Different combinations. Hundreds of them, and Daniel’s frustration steadily increased. Nothing was working. It was possible he had destroyed it. The girl in his arm stirred, and he felt like kicking himself. Ivey would not be pleased when she found out. He really should have waited to consult her before diving straight in. His impatience might end up costing him.
No, he refused to believe that. He could get this working. There was just a step he was missing. He was sure of that.
Daniel reverted to slowing time once more and doing additional tests with the Speed ability. Once, twice, and then ten times, getting a feel for the process.
The steps felt identical to what he had been attempting all along with the grain. If that was the case, he might as well abandon the attempt. Yet even as a kid, he had never been the type to give up. Apparently, when learning the monkey bars, he had to be banned after opening cuts in his hand. So, despite how ridiculous it seemed, he attempted the interaction again.
Duplicating exactly what he did when engaging Speed, he focused on the interface grain instead.
The tiny grain sparked. Barely. He hesitated, second-guessing himself. Maybe he had just seen what he wanted to see.
He tried once more, creating the same waves of energy that the Speed method used.
The interface piece glowed.
Success!
Relief ran through his body. He was not a screw-up. He had done it. The initial release of tension was replaced with mounting energy. If it had not been the middle of the night, he truly would have jumped up and down in excitement. For the life of him, he did not know why the connection was working now when it had failed previously. Yes, he had observed the Speed engagement repeatedly and tried to mimic it, and it had felt like he was doing the same thing as before; but apparently, those repeated observations had altered what he was doing in some tiny, minute way that he could not perceive.
It did not matter. It was working.
He smiled like a maniac to himself.
Daniel tried again with less power. Another successful connection. It was repeatable. That was part of the scientific method. He wondered if magic was scientific or whether it changed depending on random chance, something to ask Ivey if he remembered.
