“Nine… t-ten.” I huffed before collapsing onto the floor, resting my head on the rough carpet. It had only been two days since I started these exercises, but I was astounded by the insane progress I was making.

  It was all thanks to the nanites and their incredible abilities.

  I could now get around without stumbling and was just about as strong as I had been in my old life, accomplishing a feat that would have been impossible back on earth given the time frame.

  I rolled over onto my back and stared at the ceiling as I rubbed my temples. For some reason, the constant sirens seemed even worse today. I had thought I’d gotten used to them by now, but I was starting to get a headache.

  It almost didn’t feel real, like I could wake up soon and laugh it all off as a nightmare.

  If I got lost in thought, I would sometimes catch myself wondering if this was all a lucid dream that my dying mind had come up with after the car accident that started all this.

  I had always been an avid daydreamer, so much so that it would interfere with my actual life, so it wouldn’t be completely out of question.

  But even with those thoughts, a part of me knew that this was real. I was here in this new world and unfamiliar body whether I liked it or not. So I was going to make the best of it.

  I still had my concerns about what happened to original Nyxia, but unless she suddenly popped up one day I could deal with it later. There was enough shit going on right now and had to focus on the present, not what if situations.

  I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay in the apartment forever if I wanted to help Valerie. But what could I even do? I had done some browsing online to see what the world was like, but everything here was at least a few generations ahead of earth, meaning most of my knowledge would be completely useless to me.

  I could try to find a normal job, but from what I found, the working conditions of this city were absolutely horrendous! Long hours, terrible pay, no days off, among countless other things! It was amazing to me that people here hadn’t rebelled! Or at least formed unions to fight against the injustice.

  It made me appreciate how good Valerie’s current employment was. Even with the stuff she had to deal with, I was certain that the average person down here would literally kill to have her job in the Aether’s Flame.

  Most of the jobs that paid as well as the Aether’s Flame were incredibly dangerous ones where you had to risk your life on a daily basis, if not hourly.

  I sighed and climbed up into the nest of blankets I’d made on the sofa. I could probably do something like that if it really came down to it. Especially with my nanites.

  But, while I wasn’t entirely certain that my nanites were unique, the fact that the doctor from the med-bay had just assumed that my injury was exaggerated made me think they were at least rare.

  If these nanites were truly one of a kind and anyone found out about it, I might end up on some corporate lab’s dissection table!

  I shuddered at the unpleasant thought of being torn open by an uncaring, knowledge-hungry scientist.

  It would be best if I found a way to kill monsters for a living, that way I could increase the efficiency of the nanites as well as keeping a low profile. Luckily, there was a job I could do that would allow me to do just that.

  The mercenary guild allowed people to apply for a license, and if they were accepted, they could take job listings and enter the magical realms called dungeon rifts. Mystical realms that sometimes popped up in places with high mana levels. Most of the time, a corporation would buy the rights to the larger, more permanent dungeon rifts and restrict its access so they could monopolize the resources within for themselves.

  Interestingly enough, there was a secretive organization called RMS (Rift Management and Safety Network) that handled the use and exploitation of dungeon rifts. It acted outside the government or corporations jurisdiction and was specifically founded by the Admin thousands of years ago.

  There were smaller ones that occasionally popped up in old mining shafts or ruined buildings that weren’t worth the effort for a corporation, so they would let the mercenaries handle them.

  Apparently, the tunnel monster we killed came from one such portal. It was the reason that shaft we were sent down was no longer used for anything other than a convenient place to make people disappear.

  It was free to apply to be a mercenary, but the guild would take 5% of the listings’ pay and portal loot as a handling fee. Apart from that, it was as self-employed as you could get in this dystopian city.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  I also wasn’t a complete amateur with a gun. My dad from earth was a retired army vet and had taught me the basics of how to shoot and handle a firearm safely. So that wasn’t much of a concern for me.

  The only problem was that I was sure Valerie would oppose it if I brought it up.

  The other way I could maximize my abilities was to try to hunt down monsters that roamed some of the more dangerous districts. However, given the crime statistics of this city, wandering around alone was basically telling everyone that you were a target. And, while I knew I could probably find my way back to those tunnels, I wasn’t sure I could kill one of those things in a fair fight. I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that we survived that day due to our own abilities. We only escaped because luck was on our side. A lot of luck.

  And what would I do if I even managed to make it there safely? I didn’t even have a weapon besides a small dagger Valerie had bought me yesterday. Apparently you were an easy target if you didn’t have some kind of weapon, even if it was just a knife. I kind of wished I had a gun of some kind, but I wasn’t about to ask Valerie to buy me one after all she’s done for me. I refused to leech off of Valerie, that would make me a terrible sister.

  Sighing again, I stood and looked around the kitchen for something to do to distract myself from an endless loop of over-thinking.

  For now, I would just focus on getting stronger so I was ready when the time came.

  The trash bin needed to be emptied, so I went about taking it outside. I was honestly surprised that they didn’t have some magical way to make it just disappear, but I guess you couldn’t have everything.

  The door to our apartment clicked shut behind me as I carried the trash out to the dumpster outside the building. A cool breeze and loud streets greeted me as I stepped up to the large metal bin.

  The honking of futuristic cars and blaring of sirens in the distance were a nearly constant source of noise. A tingle of unease brushed across my neck as I looked around, for some reason, there were no people out today. Odd.

  I should have thought about it further, because that was when I heard it. A low growl coming from the alley behind me.

  My heart pounded in my chest as I spun around to see some kind of rabid dog creature with sickly green scales approaching me with long, dripping canines bared in a snarl, ready to rip and tear my flesh away from bone.

  The lack of people suddenly became clear.

  I quickly drew my dagger and held the trash bag between me and the hound. It wouldn’t hold against an attack, but it would work as a temporary shield.

  The beast didn’t wait for me to prepare further as it charged. Its jagged teeth tore into the bag, throwing random trash in all directions as it shook its head, viciously ripping through my makeshift shield.

  I wouldn’t let this opportunity go to waste. I lunged forward and jammed my blade towards its neck, but to my shock, the knife merely skidded across its scales without doing any lasting damage.

  The creature released the now useless bag from its jaws and snapped at my exposed arm, its sharp teeth digging into the scales on my forearm.

  “Arghh!” I cried out in pain as I was pulled to the ground by its thrashing head. It hurt, but my scales seemed to be holding up well enough against its bite. This time, I went for its unguarded eyes, my naturally clawed fingers digging deep into its sockets. The smell of blood instantly filling my sensitive nose.

  It yelped in pain, releasing my bruised, but intact arm, allowing me to rush at it while it was half-blinded by my attack. My blade found its mark, tearing through its eye and into the skull.

  I heaved a sigh as the creature fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, twitching a few times before going still. The world fell still around me as my heart hammered in my chest.

  I waited a moment to see if I got another pop-up… but there was nothing so I brought it up manually to see if there was any change.

  [Experience Gained! Experience Threshold Not Reached!]

  [Nanite Swarm Efficiency: .5%]

  Okay, so it was working, but the difficulty must increase with each milestone. I winced as the adrenaline rush slowly faded, causing my arm to throb.

  *Growl…*

  My eyes widened in fear as I snapped my gaze toward the sound. There were three more stalking towards me.

  I lowered my center of gravity and prepared to defend myself…

  But before either side had a chance to attack, a sudden burst of red light ripped into the beasts, blasting large holes through the scales I struggled against only moments ago. As the last of the creatures fell to the ground lifeless, I turned to see a heavily armed woman in ragtag armor slowly approaching from the nearby sidewalk.

  “Did ya’ kill that one?” Her face mask hiding all but her searching brown eyes as she gestured to the corpse of the one at my feet.

  I took a step back, still clutching the bloodied knife in my injured hand as I prepared to flee back into the apartment. Maybe I was overreacting, but I didn’t like how she looked at me. If she was going to attack, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight her off in my current state. So I erred on the side of caution.

  “Easy now, I ain’t gonna hurt ya’,” She raised her empty hands, letting her laser rifle hang by its strap, signaling she wasn’t a threat. She must have noticed my tense posture. “I was tracking those Scale-hounds after they slipped past me from the new portal nearby.”

  “Yeah… I killed it.” I said cautiously, relaxing the smallest bit at her explanation.

  “I’ll admit, that’s impressive. It’s not often you see a civvy take out a Scale-hound with a knife. They are notoriously resistant to normal blades.”

  I nodded curtly, I could believe that. My knife couldn’t do anything against those scales.

  “Either way,” she continued, her eyes wandering over the corpses again, “thanks for killing it before it could hurt more people. But you should go back inside in case more get out. We’ll clean up out here. Luckily the portal isn’t permanent, so it should close on its own in an hour or two.”

  “Okay, thanks for letting me know.” I nodded my thanks and turned, hurrying back inside, and quickly heading to the safety of the apartment.

  I pushed the door closed behind me, letting it click into place before sliding to the ground as the tension left me.

  This city was far more dangerous than I had originally thought.