Wolf awoke to the humming of machinery and familiar white light from before. Though the pain had mostly faded, it was still enough to make her groan as she sat up from the table. What was worse, her head throbbed like crazy.
『Welcome back, Wolf. How are you feeling?』The familiar voice asked her, making her head hurt more.
"My head hurts, like, really hurts." She groaned as she swept her legs around to sit on the edge of the table.
『That is likely due to your Mana Deficiency. As you have only just awoken, you have likely used the Mana naturally held in your body.』
As the AI spoke, a cord descended from above carrying a metal mug of liquid. Surprised, Wolf carefully accepted it and brought it up to her maw to sniff it. Finding it was just water, she happily gulped it down and let out a heavy sigh of relief. This, however, caused her to hold her side in pain.
『While I have purged the Ichor and tended to your wounds, you will need time to fully heal. You will have to manage until another Subject awakens and have been confirmed to have the Healing Talent.』
"Let's stop there. First, who are you and what is this place?" Wolf asked as she slammed the cup down on the table next to her. "And what the hell were those, Thralls or whatever you called them?"
『As we have time, I will answer as much as I am able. To start, we are in a research facility called NEST. It is a place where those like you have been created by Humans with their last breath. As for me, I am known as Caretaker, in charge of awakening the Subjects of Project Pheonix once your bodies have stabilized.』
The Caretaker gestured as she spoke, forming a holographic screen before Wolf. At the center was an emblem of the Pheonix rising from what seemed to be ashes. After a moment, a map of the facility replaced the emblem.
『You are currently here, in Laboratory 1. As prodigal dictates, you were the first to be awakened to drive out any Void Flayers that would interrupt the Rising.』
The map was replaced by several images of malformed entities covered in that same black tar the Thrall were covered in. They varied in size, from small human sized ones to giants that could block out the sun. The images themselves made Wolf grit her teeth in disgust.
『The ones you faced just now are what the Humans called Thrall. They are Class 10 entities that become scavengers whenever the Void Flayers leave an area. As you can see, they collect the bones of the dead to make themselves and grow stronger.』
More images of the Thrall came up, splitting into three categories. Those that resembled humans were in the Shreiker category. The ones that looked and acted like animals belonged to the Howling category, while the ones that resembled plants were in the Fauna category.
After a few minutes of flipping through the pictures, a sudden thought occurred to Wolf, though she likely already knew the answer.
"And the Humans?" She asked as she looked back at Caretaker.
『It is unlikely that any have survived these last 4,372 years.』
"Four- then what about me? How am I alive?" Wolf asked as she gripped the table, clawing at the metal beneath her.
『You, along with the others, are the last remnants of Humanity that still live. Cultivated using the highest levels of Magical Science, you are the beings dubbed to be the Last Will of Humanity. You are only alive thanks to the Final Sacrifice of the Creators.』
The shock caused her to reel. The room around her spun as the weight of reality pumbled her to no end. The darkness encroached her mind until she remembered something that Caretaker had said.
"Wait, you said there were others, right? Where are they?" Wolf practically begged as she hopped off of the table.
After a nod, the Caretaker pulled up the map of the facility once more. Looking at it again, the place was much more massive than it had originally appeared. There were several red dots along some of the corridors, but most of the rooms held several green dots in them.
『Currently, there are 99 others like you within this facility. All subjects within this facility are the 1st Generation. Each of you are specialized into respective fields to help lead your species.』
"Right, who do you suggest we wake up first?" Wolf groaned a little as she slowly stood up. Thankfully, Caretaker had placed her weapons back on the shelf and reloaded her pistol for her.
『If you wish to clear the Facility faster, I suggest waking Alpha 023 and Alpha 068 first. They will be able to assist in speeding up the process at the safest pace. I also suggest putting on your armor.』
Caretaker motioned towards the larger locker that she had slammed into earlier. Leaving the weapons where they were, Wolf limped to the locker that had opened at Caretaker's signal. Inside stood a rather light looking set of armor, woven in strange metals and equipped with a glass helm.
『It is estimated that you have 5 minutes before the Thrall recovers. Then 30 minutes for it to bring more here. I suggest you move before that happens.』
Wolf took a few breaths before pulling the suit out of the locker. Thankfully, it was lighter than it looked, though the arms and leggings were made from denser material. After a small struggle, she finally dragged the armor to the operation table and set it down for her to put on.
"Given the information in my mind, we are equipped like military. Who's the commander?" Wolf asked as she unzipped the armor and scrambled to try and climb in.
『The Commanding officer is Designated Alpha 001. Codename: Wolf.』
The words caused Wolf to stumble a bit, once more narrowly catching herself on the table. Turning to the Caretaker, she gave her a look that mixed shock and horror.
"You can't be serious."
Though Wolf found it outrageous, Caretaker simply gave her an emotionless smile.
『Please make sure your crew awakens safely, Commander.』