Chapter 95: A Monster's Gift (Patreon)

Hey everyone,

I think there’s only one chapter left and we’ll finally be done with Book 2...

Honestly, I didn’t expect things to get this heavy with the cosmic horror. At some point, the story just took that direction and I kind of went with it 😅

Anyway, I wanted to finally share the official titles for Book 2 and Book 3 with you guys.

Book 2: Principles of Monster Engineering

Everything you’ve read with the Operator’s mutations, evolution, Eron, and everything surrounding that arc is part of Book 2.

Book 3: Dao of Engineering

The writing schedule will continue as usual, so there won’t be any changes there.

Thank you so much for reading and supporting the story. It really means a lot.

Before she could even process that thank you, N'vaa went completely rigid, slipping into a sudden, deep trance.

A cascade of strange, overlapping syllables flowed from beneath its crimson hood, pulsing with an unnatural rhythm. These words were not meant for Eron or the Operator. N’vaa snapped back to reality; the trance lasted only a few seconds. The entity turned away, stepping past the broken, crying man. The Winged One had fulfilled his role.

“The signal has been sent,” N’vaa said, clasping its pale hands. “We know exactly where to find them. Now we can talk.

“I must admit, your initial refusal of our gift disappointed us. However, you have proved to be extraordinarily valuable. And believe it or not, we are not interested in just any world or civilization; we are selective. And you have brought us a rarity.”

"It is not going to happen again," the Operator replied coldly. "I just want to leave, and never cross paths with you again."

“That is a pity,” N’vaa said, though its tone carried no real sadness. “But it doesn’t matter. Like all Catalysts, you cause ruin for others and bring us endless joy. We respect your choice. Still, we have a gift for you.

"I don't want anything. I just want to get out of here."

“Oh, but you will like this,” the entity insisted, raising a pale hand to gesture toward the ruined ground and the red barrier surrounding them. “Your gift… is this floating piece of land, anchored in our dimension.”

The Operator looked at the broken asphalt. “What am I supposed to do with a piece of the world you just destroyed?”

He was about to answer, but exhaustion and stress were boiling over in her. She needed to draw a line. “N’vaa, can I just say what I’m actually thinking? Without you or something else in this place killing me for it?”

N’vaa tilted its hooded head and said, “I would love for you to do so.”

She inhaled deeply, relaxing the tension in her shoulders. “We have been speaking formally since you forced me to meet you, but you slaughtered all these people and destroyed these worlds. I do not want any fucking relationship with you. I just want to get the fuck out of here and never want to see your face or that gigantic eye out there again. Is that possible?”

N’vaa did not respond. The cosmic entity remained entirely silent, its faceless hood fixed on her. The silence continued.

My fucking mouth again. Tera, shit, shut my fucking mouth. I am dead here.

N’vaa remarked, “Your mind is quite limited.” The air around them immediately thickened, pressing against the Operator’s chest as she struggled to breathe.

“You see us as evil, as monsters destroying civilizations, but ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are merely small concepts. Your kind created them to make sense of the unknown. The universe’s chaos brought us into existence. And when I look at all this,” N’vaa said, gesturing toward the dimension beyond the barrier, “I see beauty. That’s why I didn’t take your earlier rejection well. Your idea of benevolence is a cosmic anomaly. Entities like the one that shielded your mind? You will not find many like it.”

N’vaa stepped directly into her personal space. The polite tone vanished, leaving only a hostile, suffocating pressure in the air between them.

“I’m showing restraint because the last time I acted this civilized was long before I became what I am now. In this form, it is extremely difficult to control my impulses. Every instinct is screaming to tear you to pieces right now, and the fact that I can stop myself is rare.”

The faceless hood tilted downward until it was mere inches from her face. “Don’t tempt me again.”

She forced herself to remain completely still, fighting the urge to flee, and gave a stiff nod. “Loud and clear,” struggling to keep her voice calm. “But I have a question: why are you so fixated on giving me a fragment of a lifeless planet?”

N’vaa pulled back, and the suffocating pressure in the air evaporated. Just like that, the entity returned to its relaxed posture, clasping its pale hands as if the threat had never happened.

“You may not want to join us, but we wish to maintain a connection. You could say we feel an affinity.”

In the background, Eron sobbed loudly, desperate and completely out of control.

"Shut up," N'vaa snapped.

Eron’s mouth suddenly closed as if an invisible thread sealed it, muffling his loud cries into panicked wheezes.

Thank fuck I'm on its good side. Even if it's a lie, I'll take it.

“Returning to my earlier point, two of my kin and I explored the underground structure associated with the mark of the first Catalyst, the head you wear as an ornament, which I absolutely love. This is how we discovered the Winged race, and deep inside, we found many individuals trapped in small glass containers.”

The Operator froze, recalling the exact area he had referred to and the echoing screams she would always remember. This fucking thing was really there, right next to us.

“You have to understand that we had just arrived, and it honestly looked like a welcome meal left by the Catalyst,” N’vaa remarked. “First, we disposed of a few creatures moving around. Then we enjoyed the banquet… But we left a fraction alive, less than half, to be honest. We never woke them. I saved them as a potential snack for later, assuming the Leviathan that ate part of this world didn’t finish them off first.”

The shock of the confession froze her for a moment. Snacks? She then understood.

She ran straight up to him. “That place you’re talking about is still here? It wasn't destroyed?"

N’vaa turned its head, watching her reaction. “I made sure it wasn’t destroyed. It’s still functioning, and many people are still alive inside, though some are unconscious, as I mentioned before.”

“I accept the gift… I accept it,” her voice stripped of its earlier defiance. “Thank you, N’vaa.”

At that moment, a massive explosion shook the sky outside the dome. The ground trembled violently. Above the red barrier, dozens of planets appeared, and around them, an endless fleet of ships blocked out the meat walls.

“The guests have arrived,” N’vaa announced. Its voice sounded almost excited. “Let’s finish quickly. I need to go welcome them.”

On the asphalt, Eron pushed his broken body up. With his mouth still sealed, his cries were reduced to a muffled wheeze. He wept as he stared at the sky, and seeing his reaction, she knew he recognized those worlds and the armada defending them.

The Operator also looked up to watch the spectacle. Seeing worlds arrive was mesmerizing, but she didn’t know how she felt. Part of her felt sad, knowing what awaited them, while another part thought they deserved it.

She turned back to N’vaa, and despite the cosmic nightmare unfolding above, her voice stayed completely calm. “How do I access this dome once I leave? I don’t even know where I'm heading to next.”

“Open your hand,” N’vaa instructed.

She hesitated, then slowly opened her fingers. N’vaa reached into its crimson robes and pulled out two black seeds. They didn’t look like ordinary plants, mostly because they pulsed like a beating heart. He dropped one into her palm. It felt strangely warm against her skin. The second seed floated from the entity’s hand and shot off like a bullet, heading straight toward the Bioresearch facility.

“Wherever you plant yours, it will create a direct link to the one I just sent flying,” N’vaa explained.

She glared at the pulsing seed in her hand. “So it’s a beacon,” she snapped. “I plant it and give you the exact coordinates of whatever world I’m on so you can invade it.”

“Why would we do that when I am trying so hard to build your trust?” N’vaa replied. The entity clasped its hands again. “By the way, one last thing. Some associates of ours who claim to know you have demanded that we hand you over.”

That fucking sphere came back. I thought the Great Realm portal had sent it far away.

“You could say our refusal damaged our relationship with them,” N’vaa added.

Then she looked back down at the Winged One, crying on the ground. “What about Eron? Are you taking him?”

“He is on your property.” N’vaa didn’t even look at him. “Do whatever you deem necessary.”

The Operator stared at the broken man. He was crying pathetically. A small part of her felt bad for his despair. But then she remembered the people kidnapped deep inside the facility, including children. Even in the mental images of their atrocities that Mordran showed her before he died, Eron appeared in many of them.

Leave him alive? Let him roam around with access to the bioresearch facility where the people he kidnapped are? Not a fucking chance.

She walked toward him, but Eron didn’t even notice her approach. He kept staring at the sky, unable to look away from the slaughter of his kind. Stopping beside him on the cracked asphalt, she stepped in close and grabbed his head. For a fraction of a second, his tear-filled eyes finally met hers. There was no fight left in him, only a silent plea.

The Operator didn’t hesitate. With a violent twist, she snapped his neck. His body went limp, collapsing heavily onto the cracked asphalt. She stared down at him for a moment. The crying finally stopped. And she knew, without a doubt, that she would do it again.

A low laugh came from the entity behind her. “We definitely have an affinity. See you soon, Operator.” Before she could turn around, N'vaa launched into the sky, heading straight into the massacre to join the feast.

Time to get the fuck out of here. She was getting ready to sprint when she suddenly stopped. Shit. I almost forgot.

Turning back, she crouched beside Eron’s crushed eye. Why do I have to be so impulsive?

[Activating Bio Reading]

Red threads shot from her fingertips, sinking into the ruined tissue. She focused on her HUD, and the interface immediately appeared in her vision. Even with Tera offline, the upload bar for the biological composition continued to move.

Excellent. Now let's get out of here.

Tensing her muscles, she propelled herself forward, sprinting at full speed toward her group. So all of this is mine now,she thought as the landscape blurred past. But I’m not stepping foot in here again until I know for sure it won't give him a direct path to my location. It’s way too dangerous.

Reaching the ship, she decelerated, her boots skidding on the ground. No one was waiting outside. She stepped inside the ship, and her entire group was there, alive but wounded.