After leaving our cavern, we stopped near a rocky protrusion we could use as a makeshift bed where Sylviane could lie down.

“Sylviane, do you know how nanites work and what effects they bring in your organism?” I asked.

“Well, there are rumors you become a superhuman with them. You can tear through an alloy plate 10 centimeters thick with your bare hands. Moreover, you’re harder to kill than a tank. I guess these are overstatements, but you know, every story has at least a little truth in it,” she claimed. Her voice was full of thrills.

“You’re right and wrong. There’s much more you can do. However, you’re right on one particular thing, we are harder to kill than cockroaches. Alyn will explain it to you, after all, nanorobots are her babies,” I laughed.

“Her baby, like AI’s babies? They’re very tiny Alyn?” Sylviane was confused, and blinked her big eyes.

“They are not. I’m unique. I created and refined a new version of nanites, they’re way better than what human scientists could engineer in the Empire. They are going to make you a superhuman, but you don’t possess a microchip dedicated to maintain a link with me like Drake so their performances are limited. However, I guaranteed at least 200% increased performance compared to usual ones. You just need to open your hand. Literally open your hand, please,” Alyn instructed.

“Give me your hand,” I suggested.

Sylviane took the hand I stretched to her. “It will prickle a bit,” I warned.

I took my knife out. Sylviane watched with wide eyes as I was cutting her hand open.

“Ouch, it’s not pleasant,” she said with a pained expression.

“Your hand will heal in less than 30 seconds, so you only need to wait.”

I cut my hand and placed it above Sylviane’s hand.

“Is it good enough for you?”

“Beginning transfer, give her nanopills too.”

As Alyn finished her sentence, we saw a metallic cloud rushing out of my hand toward hers.

I took the blister in my pocket and gave it to her with a water bottle I prepared beforehand.

“Take them all, they’re bitter and hard to swallow. You could use some water.”

I took another blister and swallowed two pills.

When she finished what I said her to do. Her open palm was healed in 2 seconds. You could see the two sides of her wound getting closer. After that, the red flesh was getting covered by white films of skin and layer by layer, her fair skin reappeared.

“See? As good as new!” Alyn was overjoyed. She likes when more people use her invention.

“It’s wonderful. I don’t feel any pain. Is there other effects apart regeneration?” Sylviane questioned. Her face was plastered with a delighted smile.

“Your physical prowess is going to improve overall. You can run for as long as you have enough water and energy left without suffering from muscle pain. You will be stronger in hand to hand combat, and you will fire with more accuracy. Likewise, your brain will work faster. All of this is possible thanks to Alyn’s nanorobots. They will act as oxygen conveyors, improve nerve impulse, repair cells,… They’re your organism’s handyrobots. Now you should lie down on this rock if you don’t want to faint standing,” I informed her.

She lay comfortably down and turned her head toward me.

“How much time do I need to wait for the effects to appear?”

“Nanorobots need one hour to replicate themselves, but you’ll need to acclimate yourself before we can continue our trip.”

“I’ll wait then. Can you please protect me during this time?”

“Of course, we’re a team. I watch your back and you watch mine,” I assured.

She smiled and quickly dozed off.

“Will she use her nanorobots at 100% after she wakes up?”

“No, she’ll need one day of synchronization and 2 to 3 months to understand her limits. Human aren’t all as freaky as you. Nobody can use it at the best of the nanites’ capacity in less than one week.”

“You were just the best teacher I could ever find out.”

“I’m the best in every other subject too.”

“Say it when you got a synthetic body, miss perfect.”

“I worked on it for 15 years. I’m stuck at the part involving brain and emotions. Our microprocessors aren’t yet sufficiently sophisticated.”

“Even you can’t do it?” I blurted out.

“Nothing’s impossible with enough computing power!” Alyn yelled, full of spirit.

“I got it. I promise you we’ll focus on this issue as soon as we have a stable situation.”

“That’s my man!” Alyn chanted.

“Yeah, something along the line. I’ll meditate while she’s recovering. I feel something’s off since we landed. Interrupt me if you spot something in our immediate perimeter.”

“Sure, if you’re bored you can talk to me,” Alyn offered with a slight, sorrowful voice.

I found a spot next to Sylviane where I can overlook the valley below the ledge.

You can see the village far away, as well as a forest next to it. I could figure a path to take in order to reach our destination. We should observe the village during the evening and the night for strange behaviors coming from the villagers. If they’re hostile toward us or incapable of reasoning, we’ll leave without them noticing. We are in a remote area and nobody spotted us yet. We can’t let spread rumors about strange humans appearing out of nowhere. In the worst case, we’ll need to fight them. I’ll do it myself. Sylviane didn’t experience war yet. She doesn’t need to bloody her hands or see it with her own eyes. A written report is better. Nobody should experience killing if this is not needed. I Hope I’m just getting ahead of myself. Let’s focus on the immediate problem. I need to understand the difference between psychic power on this planet and ours. I’ll experiment injecting a little of my psychic power into the air. It works in another way.

I was so engrossed with my research that I didn’t hear Alyn calling me.

“Drake, if you don’t respond, I’ll shock you…

“Drake? Fuck, you deserve it, it’s the third time I called you.”

“Ouch, what the fuck? What are you doing?” I jerked a little.

“You had your head in the clouds! You should thank me, not snap at me!” an outraged voice answered to me.

“I’m sorry, I discovered some interesting psychic reactions that I had never saw before. It is entirely my fault.”

“Humph, I’ll get back at you. Yet, the time has not come. Sylviane had woken up 5 minutes ago, and she’s just staring at your back. Can you stop her weird action?” Alyn took an irritated tone. Why?

“Yeah, we’ll depart for the village now. But you shouldn’t judge her too soon. You’re a stalker too! Who’s spying me 24 hours per day, 7 days a week?”

“Unrelated matters! Do you like so much when people are staring at you? Pervert!” she accused me.

“You’re the pervert!” I exclaimed.

I behaved like I just woke up, and I turned to Sylviane. An unexpected sight greeted me. She was lying on her belly looking at me, her hands on her chin.

“Are you all right? Why are you staring at me so intently?” I inquired.

“Yes, I never felt that good. My body is lighter and stronger than before. Additionally, I was just watching your back. We don’t want the enemy to attack us when you’re meditating, don’t we?” she confidently replied. However, a hint of red had crept onto her face.

“Just pointing out she’s nervous. I think she wants to assassinate you,” grumped Alyn.

“Jealous girl.”

“Jealous? No one can stand you but me!” she grunted.

“If you don’t feel any pain, you can synchronize your nanites. Simple exercises will do the trick.” I acted like I didn’t hear her jab.

“Okay, I’ll train.”

Sylviane jumped on her feet and started running. She was running faster than a normal soldier. After 10 minutes of running laps, she stopped.

“Wow, it’s like being on steroids. I’m so light and I don’t feel any fatigue.”

“You should understand why they’re so helpful now. You’ll take a while to get used to it. Now we can depart to the village, I found a path toward the village. Follow me.”

I approached the ledge and waved at Sylviane. When she arrived next to me, I jumped off.

*BOOM*

I made a 50 centimeters pit in the ground when I had landed.

“What are you waiting for? Jump!” I bellowed to the motionless Sylviane.

Her face was full of surprise. Her eyebrows were raised, with her gaze glued to the pit under me.

“I need to jump too? Will I not transform into minced meat?”

“You’re like me now, so jump will you.”

She finally leaped.

“First, we’ll leave the mountain range. We should enter the forest near the village by the afternoon.”

“Now, follow me closely. Alyn, notice me when we’re nearing unknown people or beasts.”

“Acknowledge. You should touch all the plants you can see. We need more information about local flora. The nanobots will identify their molecular compositions while I will research the utility of the said vegetation. I’ll color nonregistered plants red thanks to your nanobots.”

Doing as she said, I touched every unknown green I crossed. After a while, there weren’t many unidentified plants left. Now and then, I could see some flashing red plants. After I touched something like a carrot. Alyn made a suggestion.

“For security reasons, you cannot start a fire when you’re near the village. I recommend you to not eat rations, but collect some edible vegetables like these white carrots.”

“A great idea, we’ll complete with some fruits then.”

“Are you certain they’re edible?” chided Sylviane

“Of course, my analysis is spot on. You can sleep on an empty stomach if you prefer.”

“Sylviane put these vegetables in your pockets, and collect these orange berries too. We found our lunch.”

We stopped at noon in order to eat our lunch. After a little rest of 20 minutes, we resumed our march.

At 20 kilometers away from the village, we eventually reached the forest. Scents of flowers, tree trunks, damp mosses intertwined with each other, creating a soothing ambiance. Dimmed lights coming from the tree leaves and birds’ chirping contributed to this atmosphere.

“This is beautiful! Nothing like our planets covered by concrete, steel and glass. A paradise untouched.”

“Did you never leave Capital? Some planets are even more beautiful with fields of wheat, waterways and natural grasses filling your view until the horizon.”

“No, I never had this chance. This forest is one of the most charming place I’ve ever seen.”

“There are many untouched areas on this planet, we’ll tour the touristic places in the future.”

“My dreams are coming true. The bird in its small cage is no more.”

She’s coming from a wealthy and powerful family if she hadn’t once left Capital. Who in the hell is she.

“Let’s resume, we’ll reach our destination in less than three hours. We need to be wary now.”

One hour after entering the forest, Alyn spotted one beast looking like a wild boar.

“The drone sighted a Giant Boar 1 kilometer to your left. Prior collected data show hunting party coming from the Adventurer Guild killing it in a group of 3 persons. Once, it even killed all the hunters. I’ll send you the live feed.”

It wasn’t dangerous if I had my regular weapons, but right now, I can’t guarantee that my pistol beam can pass through its tough hide. Its small eyes were redder than its coat. Its left broken white tusk added to its dangerous air. Blue marks and red remains probably coming from animals were littered around the ground where it was resting.

“We cannot kill it fast enough to not draw attention. We can’t fight it for now. Let’s keep walking.”

One hour later, we reached the village’s border.

“Let’s climb into a high tree next to the village and lay in wait in its foliage for some hours. We’ll observe the village with our own eyes for 2 to 3 hours. We’ll probably sleep in the tree’s branches, so choose a good place,” I instructed Sylviane.

“Alyn, record the villagers’ talks and analyze their local language, we’ll need to talk to them.”

“Consider it done. I already completed the universal language used when different species interact with each other. I can send it to your nanobots when you need it.”

“Send it to us, we’ll learn it now.”

The nanites can improve our memory and even forcibly implement diverse languages into our brain. There are only two disadvantages to this method. The first one is the pain, but it fades quickly. The second one is our incapacity to fluently speak the new language as soon as we learnt it. We must practice our pronunciation.

“Grit your teeth. The pain will quickly fade away,” Alyn said.

I heard Sylviane’s grunt caused by the pain. The splitting headache soon stopped.

“Climb to this tree after me. I’ll stop above you. So if you need something, just ask me in a hushed tone to not alert them.”

We got an unobstructed view after climbing in the tree. The village was laying before us. It was comprised of 30 to 40 houses built with wooden planks. The houses’ roofs were made of dried herbs. We could catch the scent of freshly cut wood coming from the village. Bustling noises were heard from all over the village. They ignited a giant fire in the central plaza. With our improved sight, we could see the villagers going all over the place.

“Are my nanobots not working properly? I’m seeing red people,” asked Sylviane.

“They work fine, the villagers have red skin.”

We were looking at red people with horns coming out of their foreheads! We discovered our first alien specie living on this planet today.