Merging with a large mass of nanobots into the human body was a daunting task, but for those who dared to undergo the process, the rewards were limitless. The first step was to ensure that the nanobots were compatible with the host's DNA, a process that required extensive genetic testing and experimentation.
But Michael was desperate at this point. Without a second thought, he grabbed a shard of broken glass and cut his palm. Blood oozed out and dripped onto the optimizer.
The optimizer needed a piece of his DNA to dissemble and merge with the host as it is programmed. First generation optimizers would require at least ten drops of blood to recognise and imprint the DNA into its core but for higher generations, lesser genetic materials are needed as they are more advance than their previous generations
One drop, two drops, three drops...
Michael's face began to change slightly upon his twelfth drop of blood. The lesser his blood, the lower the biofuel cell contained within his his body and the weaker he would become.
Gritting his teeth, he created an even larger gash on his left wrist. An even faster rate of blood gushed at the optimizer.
There block of metal absorbed the blood like sponge, but there was no reaction and no sign it was going to dissemble soon.
19th drop, 20th drop...
His face started to pale at this point as his vision begins to blur. If this continues, he was certainly going to die from blood loss. Just as he was hesitating whether to stop or not, the large block of metal suddenly metamorphosed from its previous rusty metallic colour into a crimson hue, then as though it was dissolving, the previous blocking metal liquefied on the surface of the table like a blood pool !
The pool of blood, flowed and squirmed about like the tide of a river, slowly overturning and twisting with a mesmerizing grace.
Except this wasn't real blood, this pool contains a vast network of self-assembling nano robots with sentient features!
The swarm of machines moved in perfect synchrony, with waves of electric impulses causing their body to expand and contract, driving them through the surroundings with incredible precision.
Even more stranger was that they even managed to divide into 50 separate drops, forming separate orbs of red drops. Their bodies glimmered as they suddenly started to flow in different directions, seemingly in searching for something.
Some were exploring the edges of the scattered and littered table, others were crawling up the sides of the room, and a few even made their way towards to the roof.
It was as though each pair of nanites contained its own intelligence and they simply weren't mindless robots programmed to follow the mother bot which was supposedly supposed to be the only nanites to possess intelligence to control and guide the nanites.
Although this phenomenon sparked something at the back of his brain, perhaps a chilling sensation. However, Michael was too mesmerised by the spectacle to care. This was the first time he was witnessing this wonderful, beautiful scene.
He had heard stories of how nano machines would looked like when activated, but no description could ever match reality! It was mesmerising.
A drop of liquid started rolling in his direction, at the edge of the table. It was about to drip off the table, to the ground when Michael unconsciously stretched his left hand towards it.
The separated orb of nanites that was about to fall off the edge but was stop by Michael's finger. As it touched him, it paused and retreated backwards, as though in recoil. After a while, it seem to have confirmed something and lightly touched his finger.
Then it began climbed up his finger.
Seeing this, Michael's smile widened. He could feel the tiny machines crawling over his skin like centipede, their metallic bodies tickling him. It was a strange sensation, like having a thousand tiny spiders crawling on him. But despite the creepy feeling, Michael was fascinated.
He felt as though he was playing with a little puppy. The drop flowed upwards his finger, defying gravity as it reached at the open injury on his left wrist.
It immediately paused as though in hesitation as it probed.
Michael couldn't help but chuckle out loud. "So adorable!" in the next second, it immediately slipped inside of his wound!
Suddenly, the other 50 drops of nano machines exploring seem too have received some sort of signal, they immediately swarmed and climbed his extended hand and legs like ants seeping inside his open injury, rapidly infiltrating his bloodstream like a parasitic swarm.
Michael's face changed slightly. He could have waited until he got more information about the optimizer before using it.
However, his first optimizer was stolen from the previous guy between the first ten minutes. He would never let that happen once more.
Feeling the odd sensation of cold metal entering his system, Michael gritted his teeth and endured the uncomfortable feeling.
As the entirety of the nano swarm entered his body, he felt his entire body becoming heavy and heavy until he couldn't almost take it anymore.
Michael's body was overwhelmed by a sensation akin to swarms of bees moving and squirming under his skin. The surface of his skin bulged and squirmed, from his back of his head, all the way to his feet.
The feeling was unsettling, yet strangely exhilarating at the same time.
Just as the swarm of nanites settled completely at the depth of his tissue, it then separated into a single nanites.
Nanite by nanite, they split up into a single nanite and began to close in onto every cell, gene and DNA strands in Michael's body.
If one take a closer look at a single nanobot, one would see that half their bodies looked extremely similar to a human's cell while the other half contains metallic tentacles that enables them to move.
Immediately they latched onto a cell, they began deconstructing them like a mechanic dismantling a faulty vehicle.
At first, it was a slight itchy feeling, deep within his bones. One that he couldn't scratch. But then, the itchy sensation gradually got intense.
As the unsettling transformation persisted, sweat gradually dripped down Michael's nearly bare body. His sweat-soaked apron clung to him, forming a moist pool on the cluttered ground that expanded with each passing second.
Michael's body shuddered uncontrollably, and he resorted to desperate scratching, a futile attempt to alleviate the itchy sensations that pulsed beneath his skin.
Despite the injuries to his fingers, Michael persevered, using both hands to scratch at his skin with growing intensity. His efforts left his skin inflamed and red, yet the maddening itch persisted, surging to levels of intensity he had never before experienced.
Michael experienced the surreal sensation of the minuscule machines coursing throughout his body, an unceasing flow that followed his veins, traversed his bloodstream, and infiltrated his flesh and heart. It was as if these microscopic entities had meticulously absorbed every fragment of genetic information pertaining to his genes and cells, assimilating his very essence into their enigmatic design.
Then after which, the nanites began to deconstruct every single cell it encountered, in sequence!
His gene, DNA strands, and chromosomes weren't spared. It actually started tampering with his DNA sequence and the gene structure that made him a human on a molecular level as though it was the one who wrote it in the first place.
If Michael were to describe the agony surging through him at that very moment, he would liken it to the sensation of nitrogen being ruthlessly injected into the core of his soul.
It was an excruciating, chilling ordeal that manifested as an insatiable itch, an unrelenting pain that penetrated the very depths of his body, rendering him both numb and acutely aware of the heightened sensitivity to every searing sensation.
At the same time, he felt like his body was a furnace, or a work shop and someone was busy filing, cutting, melting, hammering and at the same time, tempering his body under a very high temperature.
The feeling was indescribable, as if his body was both expanding and contracting at the same time, with the nanites acting as both the catalyst and the conductor of the transformation.
He felt like he was being pulled apart like a puzzle and pieced back together all at once, with each movement of a single nanite creating a new sensation of agony.
Michael's mind reacted to the pain and was about to put him into coma, but he couldn't! The pain was too great! He couldn't fall unconscious for even a second.