It was both surprising, and pleasant to hear good ole 21st century English. Not that the language download had made his current words uncomfortable. It was just nice to have the familiarity.

  The solemn words coming out of his recording’s mouth were followed by several seconds of silence. After which his lips twitched, and a smile spread across his face, and he let out a partially restrained laugh.

  ”Heheh… sorry about that. I just know that the recording I listened back in the day used the same first words. So, I figured that I may as well do the same. Just like you probably will once you make your own recording. If you do, that is.”

  Xander’s past-self leaned back in his seat, his arms folded behind his head, and the tone changed from the relatively jovial one to something quieter and more subdued.

  ”To get to the point… there are a few things that you need to know. First, I don’t have all the answers. Neither myself, nor the record of our past self that I found had any answers regarding what happened to Katie and the first few generations after our initial freezing. Apparently, that time was just too chaotic, and was so long ago that all records of it have been lost. Even in the Sage Empire, which is the oldest unified governing body currently known to man. All others have changed rulers over the millennia, but not Sage. The Sage family has ruled since the time it was just a pharmaceutical company.”

  Xander frowned. That was annoying, but he kind of figured that, with his luck, he was unlikely to get all the answers right off the bat.

  On the screen, the recorded image leaned forward and clasped his hands together under his chin.

  ”The second thing I must tell you, is that you need to be careful with your Gene-Mods. From what I’ve found from the past recordings that I’ve previously found, we’ve been through multiple genetic modifications, and even evolutions, going as far as the Apex, but always falling short of the Exalts.”

  That information was filed away in Xander’s memory as something he needed to look up later. For now, he focused on the message.

  ”Apparently, putting us in cryo, and mixing in some degenerative gene serums allows us to revert to as close to baseline as possible. But it can’t clear everything. Once you reach Beyonder status, you’ll understand what I mean. For now, just make sure that you avoid any of the overly aggressive combat mods. Survivability is fine, but whatever happened to us the first time we woke up… it left something behind. Something dangerous, but given that I’m only an Ascended myself, I don’t have all the answers yet. Hopefully I will, once I undergo the 4th Evolution and become an Apex, but I don’t have much hope. Not with what my instincts are telling me…”

  The recording trailed off, and Xander recognized the downturn of his past self’s eyes. It was the look he got when he knew he was going into a hopeless situation. One that he didn’t think he would survive, but he knew he had to go through with anyway.

  ”Regardless, with that in mind, all I can suggest to you is that you follow your instincts when it comes to your evolutionary path. But when you get to the point when you start getting ‘Elemental’ abilities, don’t choose ones that utilize anything flammable. I didn’t, and that’s why I’ve lasted this long, but other recordings had knowledge of those that did. They never got past Beyonder status. They couldn’t explain why. Just that, somehow, even though we’re incredibly compatible with them, such gene-mods area aggressive, extremely so for us. So, they often became violent and were put on ice much more quickly than the versions of us that took ‘colder’ paths.”

  Don’t go for fire power… a bit against my code of combat, but doable… It would be a change, but as Xander went over it in his head, he realized that more esoteric abilities were likely the best way to go.

  Standard firepower seemed to have limited effects compared to being able to do weird shit in the current era.

  ”Lastly, before my time to make this recording runs out… Beware of the Exalted Beasts. They are smart. Incredibly so. Yet they all serve a master, nonetheless. Do not trust any faction with a beast for their symbol either. Such forces are likely not supporters of humanity. You can see evidence of that from how this facility was destroyed. An Exalted beast was the least of our worries.”

  That didn’t sound good, and Xander found his expression matching that of the face of his recording.

  He couldn’t help but look down at his uniform, and the chimeric emblem that was emblazoned on it.

  ”I can’t say much more than that. Whatever this enemy is, it has tracking abilities that are out of this world,” Xander didn’t miss the emphasis on the end of that sentence, which just made him narrow his eyes, “so if you know too much, they’ll find out, and they’ll come for you before you’re ready. As it is, I’ll be helping this outpost, and much of the Empire, relocate to another continent soon. That means that I probably won’t be able to find any more recordings, since the Empire hasn’t stationed me there before. If you find this message, it’ll likely be several mortal lifetimes before I come back here, so something bad would’ve happened, to leave you so far outside the realm of the Empire.”

  Xander let out a curse. That meant that this recording was likely hundreds, if not thousands of years old. Meaning that something had gone wrong, but he didn’t know what.

  ”Alright… that’s all I really have to tell you right now. The rest will come to you after you put your hand on the scanner. It’ll hurt for a bit, but it should help you figure out what you need to do next. Good luck, me. I hope your journey takes you further than mine did.”

  With that said, the screen flickered and returned to the filing page that it was on previously. He now had administrative access, but that didn’t matter.

  He looked through the rest of the files, looking for additional information. However, there was nothing there, and he couldn’t stop himself from slamming the panel in front of him in frustration.

  “You couldn’t have left me with anything more than this?” The irony of cursing himself out wasn’t lost on him, but Xander didn’t care. “Whatever we faced… It must’ve been a real monster… I’m going to be meeting them myself, aren’t I?”

  With a sigh, Xander eyed the scanner that was built into the monitor. Then he eyed the rest of the room. His instincts nudged him along once more. He finally realized why he found it so easy to get here.

  ”This was my personal medical center…” He had had one before being frozen the first time. The sheer number of injuries he got on missions for Sage had warranted it within his first year of employment.

  ”No wonder it’s so familiar… I guess that makes you my personal upgrade serum.” He looked at the serum that was calling out to him on the wall. “…Later. For now, let’s see what other answers you have for me.”

  Reaching over, he placed his hand into the scanner. This time he left it on there, even after his blood had been drawn.

  ”Scanning…scanning…scanning…sequence initiated. Regenerative gene-mod registered. Limit breaker serum administered. Memory awakening in 3… 2… 1!”

  Xander felt another prick on his finger, before he immediately started screaming as his veins felt like they were on fire.

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  The pain trailed up his arm, before finally invading his brain directly.

  Within moments he was unconscious and found his mind inside a familiar space filled with constellations.

  —————

  In another region of the ruins, Gerome and his small army were gathered around a significantly smaller set of blast doors compared to the ones that protected the exit.

  “Are we certain that this is the primary gate leading to the other failsafe exits?” Gerome glanced to his side where one of the other scholars was furiously looking through blueprints on her tablet. “I don’t want to be opening the gates to hell if it’s not necessary.”

  The scholar double checked her work once more. She nodded once, her face set into a neutral expression, but her eyes gleamed with certainty.

  I’ll have to keep my eye on this one. Gerome thought after seeing the familiar sense of pride in the younger woman’s eyes. It was a similar look to the one that he had when he became focused on a genetic problem he was working on.

  Scouting out new talents was only a hobby, not a passion, but it did help with offloading the more annoying aspects of being so reliable in his respective fields.

  ”Defensive lines forward. I want barricades lined with whatever heavy weapons we still have, and any and every possible mutant beast fired upon once those doors open.” There were sounds of affirmation from the soldiers around him. “Any word on the camera’s on the other side?”

  Another scholar, this one much less certain, and clearly more nervous, shook his head. “Sorry, sir. Seems like, outside of the general layout schematics, the different sections of the ruins lost direct contact with each other. For security reasons. Until I get access to a panel on that side, I won’t be able to confirm anything regarding the situation.”

  While disappointing, Gerome knew that this was a possibility. So, it didn’t come as much of a surprise. He just wished that he had a better idea of what he was getting into.

  ”Ready!?” He called out once more.

  ”Yes sir!”

  Turning to the scholar at his side once more, he gave her a sharp nod. Several taps of her tablet later, and the door in front of them slowly slid upward.

  The first thing he noticed was the smell. It was a somewhat sweet scent, with a mixture of acetone and other acidic liquids. But beyond that, as the door continued to slide upward, there was nothing particularly indicative of a bug nest, like Gerome had feared.

  ”Careful. We don’t know how far away they are. Scouts, move out. I want at least a hundred meters of hallways mapped out before we move forward en masse.”

  A dozen of the remaining soldiers, at least among the ones that were here, moved forward, charging silently into the newly revealed corridors.

  They didn’t make it more than a few dozen meters, branching off just a little bit into the side hallways, before everyone’s’ radios crackled to life.

  ”… is captain… my squad mate, Laisa… betrayed us. I repeat, this is Captain Tami Lane. My squad mate, Laisa Yeal, has betrayed us.”

  The message played on repeat. Clearly it was a recording. One that had been set to play on all frequencies, once it got in range at least.

  “We are at the bottom of a bug nest—“

  At that point, getting the confirmation from the away team, Gerome knew that they were screwed. Getting through the bug nest would be difficult, but for the moment, they needed to try.

  Besides, if they wanted to get out of here cleanly, they’d need to make it to another one of the exits, or else risk being caught by the bugs outside once more.

  Flicking through a few commands on his tablet, Laisa’s face was shown to all the soldiers.

  ”Shoot to kill. No exceptions. Failure to do so will result in your immediate execution.”

  Gerome could see all the soldiers tensing up after he gave his command. But none of them seemed to be wary of following through with it. Instead, they just gripped their guns tighter and started moving forward.

  Stepping forward, his radio flared to life once more. This time on a frequency specific to his forces, not the open com that Tami had sent her message through.

  ”Specialist, I’ve found the edges of the bug nest. I don’t think we’ll be able to go through this way. But I think that we can clear some of the corners and close off another blast door. That should keep us from getting ambushed from behind.”

  With a sigh, Gerome gave his orders. “Do it. Then, once it’s closed, get to us and keep scouting. That goes for all who can hear this. If it looks like the hall you’re going down is fully invested, find a way to close it and double back. It’ll slow us down, but it should keep things relatively safer for us.”

  The sound of something breaking echoed through the halls, and Gerome knew that things were going to get much more dangerous much more quickly than he’d hoped.

  —————

  Unaware of the changes happening outside, Xander finally finished going through the memories that were tied to his evolutionary path. The additional clarity that came with the more recent memories sealed in his genes made his way forward much simpler.

  This information even included the most basic and generic gene arts method, which would aid in incorporating his gene-mods more efficiently. Not unlike what Laisa had taught him, but more suitable for incorporating mods, rather than processing consumable serums.

  ”I guess I know what I need to do right now… Time for a few more mods to be integrated.” He wiped his nose of the blood that had begun dripping from it. “Let’s see what resources are still available here and now.”

  Going through the computer again, he found a few more gene arts methods, but nothing that was specialized enough to help him for the moment. His basic one was also listed, and seemed to be all he could use for now.

  He also managed to find the storage rooms that had several materials sealed in stasis. There was more than enough for him to get several gene-mods integrated into his body. Though, it was not enough to complete the preparations for his first evolution.

  That would have to come later, when he was able to get the genetic materials from a wider variety of sources. Most of which he would only find outside of the Wrathmor Kingdom.

  “Well, let’s get at least one of them done right now.” Moving over to the wall, he grabbed one of the duller serums from the rack, ignoring the need to pull off the one he’d been eying when he first got here. “Later… I’ll save you for later.”

  Going back to the terminal, he went and opened a panel next to it and extracted an injector from where it was sealed away. Just in case he needed to use it later on.

  ”It’s a shame the bed isn’t in any good condition right now. It’d be nice if I could clamp myself down.” He took several deep breaths while he prepared the injector.

  From what he knew, this was going to hurt, and it was only after confirming with the scanner that he had met the minimum threshold for genetic stability that he decided to go through with this.

  Holding the injector up to his chest, he pressed the Luminescent Gulper Eel gene-mod, prepped and stored in stasis until this day, straight into his heart.

  For a moment, he didn’t feel anything beyond the numb, yet full, sensation that spread through his chest. Then, what could only be described as fireworks going off inside his stomach began blazing through him.

  He didn’t pass out, however, and instead his body shifted and twisted. His skin tore open, and eyes took shape, only to melt away as the flesh ripped itself off his bones and reattached right after.

  His organs squirmed inside his torso, and bulbous bulges rose and fell in quick succession.

  This went on for several minutes, all while he was awake. Unable to pass out thanks to the nature of this particular gene-mod. In the future, the stabilizers would knock him out, but for now, he needed to deal with it.

  Through it all, he also felt his stomach expanding, then shrinking, then expanding some more as energy nodes began growing all along his body, in tandem with the luminescent spots that he gained from the regeneration mod he first acquired.

  All at once, even with the pain from his mutation, he could feel his body craving sustenance. So, he opened his packs and did everything he could to consume as many of the high nutrient packets that he still had as he could.

  While the time this all occurred in was short, by the end of it, Xander felt like he had been through several hours of torment. It was almost enough to drive him mad, and he knew that this wasn’t an option he could risk again.

  But looking at the empty ration packs, and the numerous glowing orbs that were spread across his body, he knew that it was worth it.

  His regeneration was now significantly faster, and easier to use, while his body was in such a state that it now had a general performance enhancement that would put him leagues beyond what he was at before.

  “I’m glad I listened to Gerome. If I had gone with the toad stomach mod, then I would’ve still had an eating requirement. Now I can store energy for later use, instead of running out and eating later.” Xander shook his head and stopped his self-examination.

  His body’s abilities still weren't at the level of a dedicated specialization mod, but it was enough that he would survive in a fight with someone like Formund, who was much stronger, and tougher, than Xander was. He figured that it would be enough for him to get access to the other mods he would be using. Alongside the custom stabilizer that was still in the rack on the wall.

  ”I’d better put this somewhere safer.” He got up from his place on the ground and quickly hid the serums on the rack in several hidden compartments throughout the room. It wasn’t much, but it’d keep anyone else from getting to them while he was gone.

  With one last look through the room, he crouched low, before launching himself at the ceiling, right next to the central light fixture, and broke through into a large, hidden vent that no one but his previous self had known was there.

  Moving into the darkness, the hole he made was quickly closed by the backup panel, and all evidence of his presence here was now gone.