Ivar woke up with a start as he heard loud voices outside the nearby window. He didn't know how long he had been asleep, but he estimated a few hours at least.
He quickly looked around himself to ensure he was in no danger; seeing the woman still unconscious and no one else in his surroundings, he decided to take a look out the window.
When he did, he realised this window looked out over the very dead-end alley where he killed those three thugs.
The now corpsified low-lives were surrounded by three other half-metal thugs, causing Ivar to frown.
They clearly belonged together, as he could see similar markings on these people's skin and clothes. Ivar has very little belief in coincidences, so he assumed they have a way to track their fellows, something he should keep in mind in the future.
Still, unless they had a way to track these clothes he took, he should be fine.
Just as he thought so, he noticed one of the men looking at some device and then pointing at the door Ivar had come in through, causing Ivar to sigh. Perhaps they did have a method to track these clothes? Or perhaps…
Remembering that glass rectangle, he realised it would make more sense if they were tracking that, but what could he do now?
If he destroyed the device, it would just alert those men that he was aware of their presence and inside this building, meaning they would probably just start kicking down doors until they found him, something that would cause more commotion than Ivar was willing to accept.
So he decided the best course of action was to let them find him so he could quickly deal with them like he had with the others.
He didn't consider trying to convert them, even though that would give Selene more power; first of all, it would take too long because he would then also need to spend time subjugating them, and second of all, the thought of a therian body mutilated by those metal parts disgusted him to no end.
Machines should assist but never replace unless there is no other choice, at least in Ivar's opinion.
Wait, how did he even know what machines were? He remembered what Selene said about transferring information, so he asked, "Selene? How do I know what machines are?"
He heard a giggle in his head, "I've been transferring more information about this world to your brain; there is still plenty to go, though, so I'm doing it in phases, but we can talk more about that later; go deal with our guests."
Ivar didn't much care for how that sounded like a command, but since he was going to do so anyway, he decided not to be a child about it.
Since he wanted those men to have an easy time entering the apartment, he removed the obstructions he had placed in front of the door and waited inside the bathroom, having already shifted to complete wolf form.
Now that he knew a little more about this world, he realised cameras existed.
He would consider himself lucky if those three corpses had not filmed him in any way, but since he preferred to keep his human face unknown for now, he decided to take precautions this time, even if that meant his wolf form might be revealed on camera instead.
He didn't have to wait long before he heard some voices.
"Are you sure this is the place?"
"Absolutely, Ricardo's uplink is in there, and likely his killer, too, so be quiet!"
Clearly not caring about the second man's orders, another voice sounded, "What was up with Ricardo being naked, anyway? This guy didn't, uh, you know. While dead. To Ricardo."
"I told you to be quiet!"
"Yeah, but… I'd like to know if we're about to walk into the apartment of some kind of necrophiliac freak."
Those words seemed to give the apparent leader pause before he said, "Well, I guess we'll find out, freak or not; I'm not going back to the boss and telling him we found nothing, are you?"
Ivar stood there listening, now able to understand the language and rolled his eyes. Clearly, these idiots didn't know what stealth was. Not to mention that he had left this Ricardo with his underpants on, so what exactly did they think he did to the guy?
Regardless, there were no more voices of discontent when he finally heard the door open, but they immediately started up again when they smelled the stench, "Ah, what the fuck! What is that stench!"
Although Ivar had removed the corpse, a stench like that did not dissipate so quickly.
"Smells like a carcass; it might belong to that corpse we found at the bottom of the stairs. Probably dumped there by the guy who killed Ricardo."
He sighed, "Anyway, whoever is here is either sleeping or waiting in ambush, as there's no way they haven't heard us by now, so stay alert."
Ivar nodded inwardly; this guy seemed to have at least some brain cells. Still, that wouldn't save him.
Ivar decided shock and awe were the way to go here, as the earlier display clearly proved these guys had no discipline.
So, when the three thugs neared the bathroom, Ivar threw it open and jumped out while roaring at them.
Ivar's tactic proved correct, as suddenly being face to face with a roaring, over two-meter tall, humanoid wolf monster with glowing amber eyes seemed to cause their brains to halt for a moment as they tried to come to grips with reality.
But a moment was all Ivar needed, as his clawed hands flashed and three heads rolled on the ground.
Deciding not to go back to human form just yet, Ivar quickly searched the woman's body for another one of those glass rectangles, apparently called an uplink.
When he indeed found one, he dropped it on the ground, in case they were tracking that too and then scooped the woman up.
He quickly left the apartment, considering himself lucky it was still night and said to Selene, "Selene, can you guide me to another empty apartment? Preferably in another building?"
The reply came almost instantly, "Yeah, hold on." Selene once again extended her senses and quickly found what they were looking for.
Ivar travelled through the same alleyways as earlier until they came to the back of a slightly nicer-looking building. Ivar once again broke inside and let himself be guided to another empty apartment. This time, luckily, without a corpse.
Selene mentioned something about a security camera that she apparently took care of; Ivar took note of this but decided to ask about it later.
He once again put the woman on the bed, wondering when the conversion would be finished, as he couldn't just keep hopping from appartement to appartement. Even now, it was uncertain if this place had a living owner who might return anytime.
He sighed and decided to just take it one step at a time for now. He turned back into human form, once again being naked as Ricardo's clothes were still back at the previous apartment.
He looked at the blood and filth that had caked onto his body and decided it was time to clean himself while hopefully finding some fitting clothes in this place.
He went to the bathroom and used the knowledge Selene had started implanting in his brain in order to operate the shower there.
Showering was a new experience for him, as he had only ever used luxurious baths back on Máni since showers didn't exist there.
He found himself enjoying the experience quite a bit.
After finishing with the shower, he rifled through the closets and luckily found some well-fitting clothes. He still didn't like the style, though, and he also decided to remain bare-chested while inside.
With all that done, he rifled through the kitchen to get something to eat, as he was starving, and then took another seat near the unconscious girl, finally feeling somewhat refreshed.
It was time to get some answers from Selene about what she had been up to since touching that uplink, so he said, "I think it's time you tell me about what's been going on, Selene. Where did you get all this information you've been transferring to me?"
Seemingly having expected this, Selene immediately appeared and sat herself down on his lap once again with a grin.
Ivar felt like mentioning something he had realised earlier, "You know, you seem calmer than you were back on Máni."
Selene shrugged, "Maybe I wanted to test you a little. But besides that, I really was just excited to explore and conquer another planet. Now that we're here, though, I realise we can't rush things."
She grinned, "Anyway, let me show you what I've been up to."
She touched Ivar's forehead, and suddenly, something started floating in front of his eyes.
*relative to strength level, 10 being average for current strength level.
**unrelated to strength level.