Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

Infecta Rot – Dungeon Tribulation

Infecta Rot was a peculiar Impuritas Group.

Far too little was known about them. Caldera Industries – who had years-worth of accumulated grudges – knew them as nothing more than machines that tainted everything they touched.

Silicon Rot spread through the living, turning the biological into inanimate crystals. Entire swaths of land in the northeast of Elysia were contaminated with the disease, rendering a major stretch of earth inhospitable.

It was not known how or where the Infecta Rot came to be. After all, if cognition came from the living, then why would the living seek to become ‘real’? How can the living yearn to gain a soul as proof that they were alive?

“My bad.” Nav jokingly said. “But, machines, golems, and constructs of Qoph can have a degree of ‘life’. Whether that can be called sapience or consciousness will leave us scratching for years to come.”

“We still don’t fully understand where or what makes the Impuritas Groups. I can’t believe I used to believe they were the byproducts of the Ateliers. If anything…” Frost trailed off as machines groaned behind the thick walls of the facility.

Shambling constructs dug into the hallways before her and Jury.

“Waaaah… Waaaah… WAAAAAAAH!”

“Feed me? Can eat?”

“Milk? Now.”

“Hello world!”

Hollow, artificial voices screeched from artificial lungs that were haphazardly made with scraps of steel. Small, little machines no larger than a meter tall hobbled into the halls once they had clawed their way out of their holes. Their bodies trembled, like how a car does when the engine is turned on.

Their steel chassis vaguely resembled an oversized infant.

Their distorted wails caused the reinforced glass to quiver as though on the verge of shattering. Such an attack could injure the likes of Frost and Jury. Their clothes were also able to withstand the sound.

But the industrial coat of paint that was slathered on the walls peeled into neat curls. Debris and metal fragments were flung in their direction. Miraculously, not a single one had touched the two.

Those far behind them, however, began to display signs of a malignant infection.

“The Paged Disease. The Hearts. Becoming a Geared. Having your flesh worn and paraded. Becoming one with the walls of the colony. Or having your very own fear extracted and weaponized against you… They all serve a purpose. But what purpose does it serve to infect people with your disease and leave them to suffer?”

Other entities joined it as they attempted to swarm Frost.

Scrutiny did not work against them much to her surprise. Nearly a hundred of these creatures yearned to claim their flesh. However –

“Don’t bother with them. Nav’s saying they probably don’t even understand you! And 35 AGI is pretty high for a ‘Dungeon’ monster. Infecta Rot’s one hell of a strong Impuritas!” Jury said with surprise, her bright voice cleaving through the horrific atmosphere.

They were not concerned with these things in the slightest.

Her tail poised behind her like a scorpion ready to strike. Then, the petals opened, revealing a fleshy organ that spewed a green, acrid paste. Immediately, the Impuritas melted, as though hot water was being poured on a castle made of ice.

A single droplet was enough to burn through multiple hulls of these creatures. Not only that, but it ate away at the reinforced walls, dribbling down as caustic, superheated steam rose into the air.

One whiff of that was enough to hollow a person’s insides in an instant. Jury could spray her acid into a gas form but refrained as it would be highly deadly and difficult to remove in such a confined space.

“Don’t kill them all. We need to learn as much as we can while they’re still here.”

One of these entities lunged at Frost, and she grabbed it by the head like she was catching a small ball. She held it against the fluorescent light above and began to analyze her target.

“Try not to squirm too much or you’ll break. I have to be quick before you self-destruct.”

[Analyze Target].

Born? Hello… World!

< Basic Observation >

< A machine that has not yet been stuffed. It craves attention, so that it may know what it should become >

< Skill Analyzed >

< PASSIVE: Envy of The Machine >

< Can we become like you? >

< EFFECT: Inflict unlimited Stacks of Hollow Envy onto oneself. Attack all living beings in the vicinity in pursuit of accumulating as much Mortal Pulp >

“Is that right?” Frost scoffed, thrusting her other fist which held a Traumatic Clock into chest. “Do you really believe that accumulating flesh… will turn you into one of us!?”

“Must take. Must.”

To live. World, hello! Soul? Must seek?”

“Waaaaaah! Need nourishment! Experience? Waaaaaaah!”

She tried to use the Traumatic Clock to peer into their memories. However, no matter how hard the clock turned or ticked, it could not access their memories.

Could it be the lack of a Soul?

“The Soul can carry memories and our experiences. Ilya’s return confirms this. But memories… can also exist in other forms. Books. Data. Paintings… Frost. Do you pity them?”

I can’t pity an enemy that’s hellbent on making people suffer.

“I see…”

Nav didn’t elaborate further, though it was clear that she was in deep contemplation.

Jury batted one aside with her tail. Their numbers were large for just a Dungeon. The last time Frost had fought the Clockwork spiders at F-H5, it took a matter of minutes to clear them out. But here, it was a swarm that required Jury to plug the holes with her tail and douse it with acid.

In the meantime, Frost moved ahead, eliminating the infant machines before moving onto the larger, human-sized stuffed toys. The ‘Drill… To Find it? Can We…?’ – which were the machines with a drill for a hand – were amongst a few such as the hammer-headed ‘Nail Down… Our Purpose…? Truthfully?’, the blade footed ‘Run Towards It! But is it there…?’.

The naming convention was a nightmare. It was better to call them by their standout features. That said, she regrettably could not harness anymore from these creatures. The Unstuffed and the Stuffed were all that a Dungeon could produce.

Frost moved through the halls like a moving a train. She did not need to use her Skills. She simply had to walk right into them to reduce their bodies to a pile of scrap. Eating them didn’t even grant her anything worthwhile, much to her disappointment.

*Crack*

*Chew*

*Gulp*

“… Damned texture is the exact same as eating steak. Tch. Haaaaaaah. Right. My RESIST is already at 1,300.”

Indeed. Their RESIST was extraordinarily high. It didn’t matter whether she ate them or not, but she chose to in hopes of removing the taste from earlier.

“The machines can’t communicate, nor do they have memories or a Soul. Not even a fragment of Light. They just exist in hopes of gaining it. But the way I see it, they’re an envious parasite. They require human remains to function.”

“Any guess where those remains might come from?” Jury came from behind, gulping down a drink from the tip of her tail. “Want some?”

“I wouldn’t want to accidentally bite you.”

“Just a sip! We’re pretty much done here! Just let the rest do the heavy lifting! See?”

Jury pointed ahead.

They had reached a dead end.

The room in front of them were the dormitories of Employees that worked on the Administration Floor. Unlike Workers, they enjoyed relative safety… as long as they worked on this floor, of course.

“C’mon~” Jury wrapped her arms around her neck, pulling her close. “Say ‘aaaah~”

“Don’t get any weird ideas just because we’re fighting baby machines.”

“Fake baby machines. A machine can’t start off as a child, unless they were built to be that way.”

Built that way.

It was an important distinction between what made the living so different from machines. An organic growth was impossible for them due to their bodily and mental limitations. Machines didn’t need to eat. But the very nature of the Infecta Rot made them require biomass to simulate an organic growth.

All for the sake of becoming…

“Alive. Real. To experience.” Nav solemnly answered, as Frost stood in the center of a pool of blood. “I once dreamed to walk and breathe. I still cannot do the latter. As alive as I may be, it’s not living in the truest sense… I doubt those machines will understand that merely having a Soul…”

Nav trailed off.

The clinking sound of a cup being placed down could be heard from her side.

She returned to ruminating on these thoughts.

“Infecta Rot hits close. Nav… We still have our promise. You’re not going to stay as a machine forever.”

“Yeah Nav! Don’t feel so down.”

“I am not ‘down’. I pity them. A Soul does not mend all wrongs. It doesn’t grant you flesh. What it means to be ‘alive’ is more than that. Don’t feel sorry for me. I have my cupcakes to enjoy the sweetness of this tea. Besides, I’ve already had a taste of mortality thanks to you two.”

They could almost picture Nav’s smile.

“Think of my moping as a way to raise my Emotional State.”

“Of course. Ahaha.” Frost sighed.