Shattered super-soldier

“Now then… With food and water secured, could you start growing me some legs, Aea?”

[Redistribution of bio matter to retake former appearance is not currently possible]

Matthew let out a sigh, he had expected as much, having lost everything below his navel meant he had lost a lot of ‘weight’ and even with the large toothless lizard and beast of burden there wasn’t enough to go around if he wanted to retake his past 2 meter and 10 340 kilogram hunk of muscle appearance

“What do you suggest then?”

[To avoid negative physiological effects, a younger appearance is suggested due to the loss of biomass]

“...How young?”

[Around the middle of adolescence]

Matthew let out a sigh, he didn’t much care for looking like a brat at his current age, but it was better than nothing and far better than having sticks for legs

“Alight, do it”

[Confirmed, starting bio mass reassignment in 40 seconds…]

Matthew quickly covered himself with sand as he dug himself a few feet below ground, then he relaxed his breathing until Aea’s voice sounded out in his mind

[Re-assignment of bio-matter begun, have a pleasant rest, master]

-

Matthew woke with a set, at once he reached upwards and began to dig himself out of the sand, after a few moments he realized that he had been covered with even more sand than he expected, while the shifting sands and the ever-changing desert was something he had expected this seemed to be a little too much

‘...I don’t like this, how long have I been asleep, Aea?’

[Loss of consciousness is logged to be a little over 4 days in total]

‘Great’

A few moments more passed before Matthew breached the surface and dug himself out of the sand, as soon as he emerged a fury of yells and cries of celebration and exhilaration, Matthew continued to dig himself out and spat out some sand as his eyes adjusted to the midday light, a quick head count placed the surrounding people at over 300 people that all were camped out in a circle around where he had buried himself

‘... And I am butt ass nude too, what is this, some sort of puberty fueled nightmare?’

After a little further observation, Matthew noticed that the large group of people were split into around 6 different political camps

“***** *** ** *** ****!”

A thunderous yell quitted the entire gathering at once, Matthew took notice of the person that had yelled, he looked to be a man in his early 60’s but he still seemed to be very lucid, he flashed a sly smile at Matthew before he sat down after having quieted the gathering, then he spoke again

“**** *** ** ****** **** ***”

With no way of understanding what was being spoken, Matthew scanned the expressions of the 6 different groups and noted that all 6 groups seemed to hold high respect for the old man and seemed to agree with his words

‘Suspend language analysis for now, focus on reading their faces, Aea’

[Confirmed]

Seeing that this would take some time and that moving towards any of the 6 different groups before he had determined their intentions wasn’t wise, Matthew simply sat himself down on the sand and waited, as 5 of the groups began discussing something that most likely related to him Matthew found himself watching the 6th group the closest, the old man in his early 60’s that had quitted the other 5 groups appeared to be the leader of this group, and even now he was watching Matthew with undisguised interest

‘...Still it’s been quite some time since I’ve felt this young’

Matthew’s attention slipped as he began examining his own body, he had shrunk about 40 centimeters so he estimated he was around 1 meter and 70 centimeters in his current form, his muscle mass had also shrunk as well as his overall weight, he clenched his hands a few times to get an estimate on his current strength

‘...Weak… Well, it’s not that bad considering my situation, still I feel slightly nostalgic…’

“*** ***** *****!”

“**** ***** ****** ****!”

Matthew snapped out of his thoughts as the leaders of 2 of the 6 groups appeared to be in a heated debate, one was a old matriarch that looked to be in her late 60’s while the other was a man in his mid 40’s, the two went back and forth for a bit before the old man that wielded the most authority suddenly spoke

“*** *** ***** ***”

It appeared he had offered a fair compromise between the two groups and the two leaders considered his proposal for a few moments before they both spoke

“**** ***** **** **”

“**** **** ***** ******”

They appeared to have agreed on something, and it also looked to concern Matthew as a young man from the matriarch’s faction stood and walked towards Matthew that still sat in the center, Matthew stood up and faced the young man that approached, he didn’t need Aea’s input to read the blatant disgust on the young man's face as he spoke with thinly veiled anger directed at Matthew

“**** **** ****!”

Matthew showed a smile and spoke back in Trerubian

“Yeah well I don’t like you too, you brat”

At Matthew’s response, the young man’s face went red with apparent anger and a moment later he drew the sword that hang on his hip, but before he could attack Matthew a yell sounded out from the leader, Matthew turned to look at him and felt a chill go down his spine when he saw the sly smile on the old man’s face, a moment later he was handed a sheathed sword which he threw at Matthew

“*** ***** ****!”

Matthew caught the sheathed sword with one hand and turned towards the young man that kicked off the ground with his sword raised, ready to strike Matthew down

“Wow there, easy”

Matthew’s figure blurred right as the young warrior slashed at him, Matthew parried the overhead slash to the side with the sheath of his sword as he stepped half a step to the other side and tripped the young warrior that nearly tripped as he stumbled past Matthew, the surrounding grew quite instantly and a moment later Matthew spoke again

“Don’t you know it’s dangerous to swing a sword like that?”

“**** ***** ****!”

The young warrior yelled as his face flushed with anger as he slashed towards Matthew again, Matthew simply stepped out of his range and kicked some sand up into his face before he slapped the young warrior in the face with the flat side of his still sheathed sword

“Come on now, try a little harder”

The young warrior let out a yell of frustration and slashed wildly at Matthew that early deflated and ducked away from the wild slashes

‘How is it looking, Aea?’

Matthew could easily have hacked down the young warrior by now, the only reason he had not were because he wasn’t sure if it was in his best interest to do so

[Facial analysis is still in progress, but it suggests that this is an honest duel between master and the other combatant with lethal force allowed, however there appeared to be more to it]

“Hmm…”

Matthew stepped in past a wild slash and stuck the young warrior in the lower chest with an open palm, sending him staggering back a few steps as he knocked the air out of him, then he grabbed the hilt of the sword he had been thrown and right as he unsheathed the sword a wave of dizziness struck him

[Unknown physical phenomenon encountered, stabilizing vitals]

Matthew staggered as his surroundings spun around, but suddenly a pain stuck his right hand which somewhat dispelled the dizziness, as his vision stabilized the enraged young warrior’s face entered his view and Matthew hurriedly raised his sword to parry the strike, however his defense was rushed, and the young warrior managed shift his slash to strike Matthew’s sword arm around his elbow

[Heavy laceration detected Trauma nanites pattern 1 and 2 assigned]

‘Halt that order!’

Matthew responded to the attack by striking the young warrior in the stomach with the sheath he still held in his left hand and gained some distance as he checked his injury, the slash had cut deep into his arm just above his elbow but had been stopped by his reinforced bones, as the blood flowed down his arm Matthew felt something strange, a sudden change happened

‘What is…’

Matthew felt the world around him change suddenly, it was as if he had suddenly gained a new sense

[Paradigm shift detected… Change in bio chemistry detected, physical body is undergoing an unexplained change]

Matthew felt it, unfortunately he didn’t have the time to sit down and take in his sudden change as the young warrior rushed at him again with a yell of anger, it seemed Matthew’s unexpected martial superiority had greatly embarrassed the young warrior and driven him mad with anger and humiliation, however now that Matthew’s body had suddenly changed keeping the surrounding people amicable was no longer a priority

“Shut up already”

Matthew easily dodged the wild anger fueled slash as he brought up his sword in an upwards slash which struck the young warrior in the right inner thigh and easily served his right leg in a single slash, just as the young warrior let out a horrible cry of pain Matthew reversed his slash and in a single motion his sword dug into the young man’s right armpit and exited through his left collarbone a moment later instantly bisecting the warrior.

‘Go ahead and stop the bleeding, Aea, but don’t patch the entire cut at once’

As the young warrior collapsed in 3 parts, the surrounds fell quiet for a few moments before yells of excitement and joy crescendoed out from 5 of the groups, needless to say the group the young warrior was a part of didn’t cheer