After Vafum begrudgingly bought everyone a meal, NSLICE-00P made her way back to the inn. It was late at night, and the others had gone to sleep. NSLICE-00P was still operating at full efficiency though, and had work to do.

Which was figuring out what work she should do.

Up to this point, NSLICE-00P had been mainly reacting to events and local circumstances. She upgraded when circumstances demanded it, she took opportunities as they presented themselves, and she moved as situations dictated. This, perhaps, was to be expected. She was an enforcer, enacting her masters’ will and responding to situations on the ground.

But the scenario had changed. NSLICE-00P had acquired great gains and great revelations on the way to Velusitum, and so had a great many opportunities and upgrades before her. Exploring Metal Magic, Mana Crafting, Enchanting, and the Item Foundry to reverse engineer her own technology without corresponding industrial infrastructure, analyzing new non-standard materials and what implications they might have for her physical weapon arsenal, continuing to expand her magical arsenal, investigating Illusion Magic and how it might reinforce her emotional controls, or utilizing the foreign system to upgrade her implants were just a few. Likewise, she was now the lead unit of an entire NSLICE network. She had work to do there as well: upgrading existing cyborg units, processing new units, and exploring the new options for fully automated units, as well as researching options for expanding the range of communications and so the range individual units could operate apart from her. And then there was the software aspect of adapting NSLICE network-scale protocols to local conditions and the current mission set.

And that was not to mention the defense, development, and command of the NSLICE home base that had been established in Turannia, centered on the Otter Burrow dungeon. Or managing diplomatic relations with the local factions. Or upgrading the capabilities of the friendlies.

In other words, NSLICE-00P now had too many opportunities and tasks on her plate to simply react to each one in turn. She needed to organize and prioritize which would be the most efficient for her needs. And she needed to do so in light of her primary, critical, and major directives.

First of all she redefined her primary task in light of the directives. Her primary objective was to search for and report to the first found persons of interest, while maintaining the safety of friendlies Ateia and Taog and preserving the Dobhar race if at all possible. Her secondary objective was to improve her own capabilities to ensure her own survival under local conditions. Her tertiary objective was to expand the capabilities of the NSLICE network and rebuild or replace industrial and communication infrastructure necessary to maintain it.

Next she reclassified herself. She was not just an enforcer anymore, and it was no longer efficient for her to act like one. She designated herself as the acting command unit for the NSLICE network, a key maintenance and production facility, and the primary combat asset. She didn’t particularly have protocols for the first two designations, but it would allow her to shift her calculations away from her previous behavior.

She then analyzed the state of the primary directive and the various means she now had to pursue it. The most important intel she had gained were the various pieces of evidence that she was not on Earth and the failure of the Banishment spell. She needed to determine what, if any, relationship this location shared with Earth. All she had right now were implications and guesses and that wasn’t sufficient.

She needed to understand this place, what it was, and where it was. She needed to know if she was on some isolated place on Earth, a different planet, a different part of the universe, or a different universe entirely. If she had moved through space or time or not at all. Only then could she know, for sure, what her overall goal should be.

Whether to continue searching this place…or to find a way to leave it.

Her heart rate sped up slightly at that thought but she cast a Calm spell on herself and carried on.

The important point was that she could use this intel to prioritize her available actions.

Her new objective as an individual unit was to understand the reality around her. To explore the Banishment spell and other magics that might be related. To explore magic and mana itself, as well as the foreign system as they all seem integrated and critical to the fundamental nature of her current surroundings. And to investigate the space around her, how it differed from Earth and so how it might be related to it.

Exploring magic also could aid with recalibrating her emotional controls, and would expand her combat abilities as well, so it was an efficient task to focus her attention on.

As for searching this location and the local society for the persons of interest directly, she would defer to the Empire. The Empire clearly had long range communications and large scale organizations available, and so would be more efficient at a search than she would, even accounting for the new NSLICE network. So it was more efficient to rely on them than to walk around herself. So the most important thing she needed to do regarding the local search was maintain cordial relations with the Empire.

In other words, she would remain by Ateia and Taog and avoid hostility against the Empire if at all possible. This would also allow her to ensure her friendlies’ safety.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The NSLICE network could continue searching her immediate surroundings and she would continue expanding it, though at a lower priority. The NSLICE network was more trustworthy compared to an unaffiliated faction, but would not match the observed scale of the Empire anytime soon. So expanding the network would be a long-term objective she would work on as opportunity arose, but not an immediate priority unless circumstances required it's specific capabilities.

The same went for replicating industrial infrastructure and investigation of non-standard materials. At the end of the day, she could both produce new NSLICE units and upgrade her own components via the foreign system. The ability to do so manually was just another option, not truly a new capability. It was still a desirable option with benefits, including unlocking new upgrades within the system itself, but not an immediate priority. Perhaps friendly Melion could be tasked with this if integrated into the NSLICE network, as they had already expressed interest in working as a maintenance personnel.

It was at that moment that there was a quiet knock on her door.

“Seero, are you awake?”

NSLICE-00P opened the door to find Ateia outside.

“Affirmative. Query: Does friendly Ateia have a query or status update for this unit?”

Ateia shook her head.

“I just wanted to talk. It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to chat.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered. She originally planned to explore the Banishment spell next. Maintaining relations with friendly Ateia was important, though a lower priority than understanding reality around her if Ateia had no important updates or queries.

However, NSLICE-00P’s organic components indicated that a conversation was desirable, and that she should regularly check-in on friendly units in any case. Her cybernetic components…ultimately acquiesced. With the Calm protocol active, they detected no physiological anomalies or excessive emotions in the organic components that would interfere with that analysis. And besides, NSLICE-00P didn’t require all of her processing power to conduct conversation, so she could devote a thread to spell analysis anyways.

“Affirmative.”

Ateia smiled at her.

“Thanks Seero. It’s kind of been crazy, you know? Finding out my dad’s been using a fake name, that he never told me who he really was. I’m…sorry we haven’t talked much since. I just…was distracted.”

“Observation: Compartmentalization of classified intelligence is standard procedure.”

Ateia nodded.

“Taog said as much, but it still hurts, you know?”

NSLICE-00P scanned Ateia’s body but found it in optimal condition, minus standard end of day fatigue.

“Requesting Clarification: This unit cannot detect any physical damage within friendly Ateia. Please specify the nature and location of the injuries.”

Ateia shook her head.

“I mean…emotionally, Seero.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered and her cybernetic components dropped the separate thread.

“Request: Please describe the state of friendly Ateia’s emotions, the underlying causes, and any known treatment methods.”

NSLICE-00P realized something. If she gathered data on a full organic’s emotional experience, she could better analyze her own organic components and so better recalibrate her emotional controls. It was a way to gather data on organics that did not involve setting her own organic components loose.

She did have some basic psychology knowledge, but if there was anything she had learned since arriving here it was that her previously programmed protocols were much less efficient than data gathered from real-world incidents. Her programmed knowledge was focused on combat morale in any case.

And recalibrating her emotional controls could prevent the rise of unexpected directives, or even unexpected critical mission failure. When also considering the need to maintain relations with Imperial contacts and prevent damage to her friendlies, NSLICE-00P calculated this conversation as higher priority than an immediate analysis of the Banishment spell, and so gave it her full attention.

Ateia tilted her head, but started to speak, describing what was in her heart. And NSLICE-00P listened all the while.

R made his way into the cavern filled with heat signatures, dragging along a trembling Snuan. He found a large cavern, large enough to fit a small man-thing, filled with rat monsters scurrying every which way, bringing in food and random trinkets from countless tunnels. To the side of the cavern was a metal cage, holding a trembling Rattingtale while rat-monsters poked at his armor. At the center of the cavern was a small chair teetering on top of a pile of junk.

Setting on top of the chair was a ratkin, a hunched humanoid rat that towered over the others. He was a hulk of ratkin, with a massive gullet that made 01R wonder if he could even move. He wore a metal bracelet like a crown on top of his head.

“Minions! Bring-Fetch me my food! It is time for supper, yes yes! And hurry it up with that intruder-outsider! I want-desire that shiny armor, yes yes!”

R cleared his throat, and all the rats and the rat-kin stopped what they were doing and turned to him. Rattingtale’s eyes widened. Snuan hissed at him.

“W-What are you doing-thinking?! We need to sneak-creep, yes yes! We’ll be killed-slayed, yes yes!”

The ratkin chuckled.

“Well well well, what do we have-possess here? Another intruder-outsider, yes yes? And this one came to give-offer himself, yes yes.”

R crossed his arms.

“I believe you stole-took something that belongs to the wise-mighty-gracious boss-queen. I, 01R, her warrior-servant, have come to retrieve it. As well as to claim-obtain your loyalty for the boss-queen, as is right and proper.”

The rat-kin narrowed his eyes.

“Do you, now?”

He slowly rose to his feet.

“You dare to come here and insult-offend me, the powerful-deadly Boss Cravenfang, in my own home-palace? You will all die-perish for this! And then I will break-destroy your ‘boss-queen’ and show everyone this land belongs to Boss Cravenfang, yes yes!”

R’s robotic eye turned red.

“So you have chosen….death.”

Boss Cravenfang pointed at 01R and Snuan.

“Kill-slay them!”

The rat monster rushed forward as Snuan screamed. 01R extended his metal claws and charged into the fray. He met the first rat’s slash with his own. His metal claws cut through it with ease.

You have slain Monster Rat (level 3)!

Gained 7 XP!