Completion.

The last spurt from the lasers and the materials transferred across, it was like laying bricks, except one of the builder tools ‘arms’ ejected the ‘bricks’ onto the dwelling rather than placing them.

But surprisingly the medium dwelling wasn’t what Sera had been focusing on, despite it being her main focus for the last few days.

It also wasn’t Iva who was now swimming around the newly built dwelling, which took her a few seconds to fully swim around.

It was what she had been reading and learning during that time. During the first hour it felt like she was counting the seconds, but then the PID finished refining the objects and her perspective changed completely.

She closed her eyes at the recent memory, it all started from the recent reminder that still lay heavy on her mind.

How many other secrets were hiding in the PID? Hidden not out of possibility but passivity.

After some juggling with the builder tool, Sera managed to move over to the database section one-handedly only to find the interface had completely changed!

PID Interface

Database Updated!

Dwelling module repairs are still underway, however the database section has just completed updating.

Skill Sets: (New!)

[Expand]

History: (New!)

[Expand]

Recipes: (New!)

[Expand]

Map: (New!)

[Expand]

Assimilation: (New!)

[Expand]

This! Her gills widened, and her heart quickened as Sera realised how much information was just sitting there, untouched and unfound.

Until now.

Peeking back at the builder tool the materials were still slowly being assembled in front of her, taking another peek, this time behind her, she saw the stack of refined materials not even a quarter consumed.

She had time.

The remaining hours passed quickly, and as they did, concepts that Sera could only dream of came past her like little comets.

The skill sets all explained methods of maximising growth through alchemical solutions from fish so rare the PID couldn’t predict she would find any one of them… Even if she could live multiple lifetimes!

The history section explained the beginnings of what Sera could only assume was the origins of the green glowing shipwreck, not the one that had crashed in a fiery embrace.

The race that built the technology had their name corrupted, but Sera decided to just call them The Ancients.

From how Loretta had first explained that the weird technology seemed to be ancient, Sera found possibly the most interesting piece of information yet.

How they crashed came to light.

The data banks the earliest history of the ancients came from their ‘journey’ escaping the…

“W-wait. This can’t be right, how-” Sera stared at the word in disbelief.

Reincarnated.

“What does this mean?” Her mind began fuming at the thought.

She thought she was special! How could there be more-It didn’t make sense!

Sera desperately continued reading.

PID Interface

-reincarnated. They possessed bodies like parasites but more than that, they were capable of seeing their memories, learning their skills. Unt⟟l finally they brought th⟒ ⟟⋏⟒⎐⟟⏁⏃⏚⌰⟒. The ☌⍜ds in our ☌alaxy were ⎅ead we n⟒⟒ded t⍜ escape to a n⟒w real⟟t⊬ before they cam⟒ and fini⌇⊑⟒d us.

It was corrupted and her rapidly beating pulse and the warm water coming from the gills under her chin gave every indication that she was freaking out.

Putting down the PID Sera was tempted to cancel the dwelling and just…

Stop.

Had she been lied to? Was she a… a parasite rather than a hu- a neriead?

Her new life, was it just a lie for some cruel God?

Sera felt the motivation and burst she had saved up almost evaporate from her body, what was the point of saving the princess, gathering the modules or even surviving if she was living a lie?

Her eyes wondered back to the PID and the still open screen, and stuck to the last two lines. ‘Unt⟟l finally they brought th⟒ ⟟⋏⟒⎐⟟⏁⏃⏚⌰⟒. The ☌⍜ds in our ☌alaxy were ⎅ead we n⟒⟒ded t⍜ escape to a n⟒w real⟟t⊬ before they cam⟒ and fini⌇⊑⟒d us.’

Sera tried to focus despite her emotions threatening to make her cry in despair and destroy what little progress she had made on the shelter so far.

The builder tool sounding like a mini-construction site barely a meter away from her face also didn’t help the situation escalate easily.

Finally despite feeling like she wanted to throw up and curl up into a ball she brought the two questions to mind. “What did the reincarnated bring? And if I’m deciphering this right, it looks like they had to escape before the found them because their… gods were dead?”

Her face slowly grew from confused to concerned as she realised the link. Whatever was chasing them could kill gods, and in the end they didn’t escape despite having superior technology to everything she had seen so far.

Nothing in Keira’s memories of the city had even come close, the only weapon that seemed amazing from this world was… the compass and flair she found.

It was a while until she continued, it took so long that midday had come and only with Iva’s fresh food delivery did she continue, and despite the bite in the middle of the fish the meal was delicious.

She hoped it was because the seasoning was hunger and not Iva’s saliva… if that was the case-she shivered at the thought as her hands went back to the builder tool and PID.

She needed to read the rest of what was left.

Besides after reading about aliens landing on Temporous, dying to another alien race that could infect dead people and kill gods, what else could surprise her?

Browsing to the last topic, namely the ‘assimilation’ Sera couldn’t help but get a bit nervous.

Starting the tool up again,and with only an hour left on building, Sera’s mind was locked on one subject.

PID Interface

Assimilation: (New!)

Capable of upgrading organic components and very importantly the User’s unique Aspect. Built-in functions rely on a dwelling to properly facilitate the assimilation process into a higher level, which is also known as ranks and are in some cases used to structure societies. Allows User to advance in the ‘Anicents’ assimilation rank, starting from beginner specialist, to conjurer and then to ☊⍜⍀⍀⎍⌿⏁⟒⎅*>!

Assimilation Database corrupted, future modules necessary.

(Reminder that users nicknames replace unknown entity names.)

“Holy crap.” Sera spoke in a nearly breathless manner.

The rollercoaster of emotions she had been pushing out couldn’t have been good for her body, but she couldn’t help getting excited again as she looked at the possibility of assimilating.

If I could grow stronger, maybe I’ll be strong enough to actually do this, actually be able to save the princess and have my own life!

Her eyes began to burn lightly at the thought-

Which Iva instantly noticed.

Despite swimming around and almost always just out of sight she was always there for her, two small squeaks followed as Iva landed on her head again and began comforting her neriead.

Sera’s cheeks quickly grew hot as she awkwardly pet Iva. “T-thanks Iva, it’s not anything serious, I-I’m just happy.”

Her eyes stopped clouding over as she looked over at the finished masterpiece, she had been using her time wisely, and it had paid off.

Two birds with one stone, knowledge and a home.

The dwelling itself looked… small.

She built it right in front of towering cliffs and wide caves, the PID did say it was draggable, but her excited heartbeat began to slow when she again looked around her surroundings.

It now truly felt empty.

There were hardly any fish still around and the ones that were left seemed old or particularly smaller, which brought another thought to mind.

Predators. Her eyes instantly went to the water’s surface, her head craned as an entire day’s worth of sunlight had bleached her as she worked.

The PID predicted they would be coming, which led to more than a few times Sera checked over her shoulder and her surroundings as she slowly built the dwelling.

Her mind went back to the assimilation, but she focused on what was in front of her. “I need to check this out first.”

Unable to hold back any longer, Sera quickly swam towards the dwelling.

It was a flurry of colours, as the surrounding brown rocks, green coral and yellowed sunlight shone on the surface of the dwelling, it almost blended in with the surroundings.

Putting her hand on it the frame was smooth and shaped like an oval missing the top, without the small struts holding it up, it would look like a malformed egg that only a reaper would lay.

Despite having a small chuckle, her eyes still went to the sunlight and checked the surface. It couldn’t be called paranoia when you had the chance of being eaten alive by a creature you were the size of the tooth of.

“Okay! Let’s go inside, Iva.” Pushing the thoughts to the side, Sera began searching for the entrance which seemed to blend in with the environment a bit too well.

Despite the whole thing being white, Sera nearly thought she had to build a hatch inside until she found it at the bottom of the dwelling.

Opening the hatch, Sera pulled herself in while absent-mindedly holding the hatch open for Iva as she stared in awe at the surrounding space.

It.

Was.

Big.

It felt like a TV show she watched when she was little about a box that was bigger on the inside than the outside, except this time it was reality.

Swimming around her dwelling, Sera quickly found out the size as she examined the surroundings in detail.

For starters, it was dark… and warm!

The light coming from the hatch was enough to light up the room, but Sera brought out her scanner anyway.

The space was roughly 3x3 meters or four queen-sized beds squeezed together, and the room itself well, the walls, the ceiling and even the floor seemed to have a continuous circular pattern.

“Hmm… If I remember right, I’m pretty sure circle and triangle shaped structures have higher integrity. Wait a minute-”

Sera began really looking at the base when she realised the elephant in the room.

“This looks nothing like the Ancient’s shipwreck or Temple!” The words burst out of Sera and scared Iva off the corner of the room it had begun to lay down in.

“Crap-Should I have used the black metal? But it didn’t ask for it-Maybe it’s an upgrade?” Bringing out her PID, the whole structure suddenly vibrated.

PID Interface

Medium Dwelling Detected!

Habitat Exclusive Recipes are shown with a * sign.

PID Mount recommended!

Power Source recommended!

Assimilation Zone recommended!

Map visualiser recommended!

Foodoccul-