Kane jerked upright so quickly that his head spun. He looked down in shock at his extended right arm and leg. Both limbs were a dull green and covered by long, segmented plates of a hard-looking chitin.
He ran his fingers along the strange material, it was smooth and unyielding, remaining sturdy when he applied pressure to test its durability.
He knocked on the plate covering his leg. The hollow thumping sound was accompanied by sensations eerily similar to slapping normal skin.
His right foot was also mutated. After the sharp ankle joint, his foot looked like a green stick with a ton of little needles sticking out of the bottom. They were sharp yet soft to the touch. Much to his fascination, he discovered he could control them in a way similar to wiggling his toes.
With morbid curiosity, he tested his right arm’s range of movement. The bicep’s hard exoskeleton contained flowing muscles that contracted with a liquid strength. With a single flex, he could tell the power inside that green shell was much greater than his other arm.
His forearm was similar to his bicep except for the needle-like feelers running down its length that reminded him of the toes on his alien foot. He could wiggle them as well, though it made his brain itch when he activated muscles that he had never experienced, as if he woke up suddenly able to fold his ears in half.
The wrist at the end of his forearm was held neutral at a one-eighty degree angle, giving his arm the appearance of a coiled snake, ready to strike. The blade where his hand should be shone with a dark and dull reflection. Looking at its sharpness up close caused gooseflesh to rise across what was left of his human skin.
“Holy shit, I’m half Bob.”
“Abomination!” Teepo’s voice echoed.
The sudden and very real sound of another voice inside his head caused him to flinch. Pain exploded in his brain as memories from Teepo’s life were forcefully brought to the forefront of his mind.
Kane knew he was a beast as surely as Teepo did. He knew it should be impossible for a beast to think and talk. Everything about the situation he found himself in defied Teepo’s memories of how Madra worked.
Sudden clarity sparked a realization within him. However, he found it impossible to think with the searing pain of Teepo’s memories rampaging through his brain unchecked.
“Teepo, stop! No more memories, if you have something to say. Use your damn words,” Kane rubbed his temples with the fingers on his left hand.
As if his demand had been the commandment from a deity, the memories ceased, bringing instant relief.
“You’re an abomination! Even beasts would find you disgusting. Why am I seeing this night terror? Fathers above, what have I done to be punished so?” The child inside his head whimpered.
“You’re just a ray of sunshine on a cloudy morning, aren’t you?” Kane mumbled while looking around himself warily.
“So, what you’re saying is that whatever happened to us, wasn’t normal,” As he finished speaking, the realization Kane had before came flooding back to him.
This is real. I’ve never felt so alive before. I can feel every fiber of coiled power inside my bad-ass arm. These little feelers on my feet and forearm are the real deal. The air on my skin, the moisture clinging to me from the river, the lights and sounds, it's all real.
Dizziness assaulted him just before bile rose like a tidal wave in his stomach. It gushed out uncontrollably as Kane emptied himself with wracking heaves.
A putrid, black goop nearly clogged his throat before it came hurtling out of his mouth to splatter on the rocky shore.
Oh, fuck, is that the shadow demon thingy? Did I actually eat that?!
I-I thought it was just a dream.
Another blast of black tar shot out of his mouth to join the first on the wet rocks.
I swear I’ll never drink tequila and eat chihuahua again. Just make it staaaahp!
After several more uncontrolled gags, his stomach was empty, and only a single strand of sticky black substance leaked from his lips. He wiped away the nasty with the back of his hand before sitting back.
“This is all real. I ate some kind of monster that was taking over our body. Teepo, do you know what that black place is? What about all those error prompts and status nonsense?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Teepo replied grumpily.
“Oh, c’mon. Don’t give me that, I know you have memories of the status at least. If you’re going to sit up there in my head and whine, then at least pull your weight and give me some decent answers. This is your world, isn't it? You have to know something.”
“I don’t understand anything that happened either. I’ve always been able to see my status by closing my eyes. The rest was all new.”
Kane barely registered his words as the very real and impossibly beautiful scenery stole his focus.
[https://i.imgur.com/FdpdhSR.png]
He flopped onto his back staring up at the kaleidoscope of colors once more.
“Hey, why am I not in pain? Weren’t we just stabbed to death?”
He fingered one of the holes in his ratty cloth shirt from where the knife had been plunged into his body. The skin beneath the hole was fresh and unblemished as if his death had truly been a dream.
Teepo began moaning again. Kane felt a fleeting image of the boy in that dark space, rocking back and forth with his knees clutched to his chest.
“This is why we burn the wicked. Why didn’t Papa burn you? Why didn’t Mama remind him? Now you’re alive and everyone is going to die!” He sobbed.
“Hey, get a grip, kid. Nobody is going to die. Besides, this is way cooler than being burned alive. Once you’re dead, you can’t fix anything. If you’re alive, you can always make things better.”
The rumbling growl of a stomach reminded Kane that he was operating with a vast pit in the center of his being that yearned to be filled with something not-disgusting.
The grumbling sound confused Him. It almost sounded like it wasn’t his own stomach, as if it was coming from a few meters away.
He lifted his head to look around. A shifting of leaves in the nearby foliage alerted him to three pairs of red eyes. They greedily watched his every move, as if his flesh already belonged to them.
[https://i.imgur.com/7pWwJAj.png]
Time slowed as Kane’s adrenaline surged. He leaped to his feet in a blur of motion, his hands instinctively rising up in front of his neck just in time to catch the first wolf as it barreled through the air.
As quickly as he sprang to his feet, he was launched back to the ground with the snarling beast on top of his chest. Its mouth snapped shut over and over, mere centimeters from his face. He could feel the beast struggling to push forward just a little further so it could sink its fangs into him.
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Teepo’s scream echoed inside of his skull. The child's shrill noise was accompanied by a wave of panicked terror that threatened to rise up from within Kane. He instantly clamped down on the intrusive emotions, refusing to surrender.
I’m not dead yet!
A wet sensation on his neck and the beast beginning to gurgle alerted him to the scythe-like hand that had impaled the wolf in its throat when it leaped onto him. Kane desperately tried to remove the blade so he could stab the beast again but his arm was pinned between them.
A flicker of movement to his left alerted him to the second wolf circling around to his vulnerable side. Through desperation born from the desire not to be lunch, Kane pushed.
He rolled the beast on his chest just enough to protect him from the incoming jaws.
He could hear the second wolf digging into its dying brother. Sounds of tearing flesh permeated the air. The beast, still pinning him to the ground, jerked wildly as its back was ripped open and its guts began spilling onto the rocks.
A crunching sound to his right and a terrible pain in his arm alerted him to the third wolf that had circled from the other direction. Its mouth was firmly latched onto his bicep. Sharp canine teeth easily pierced his exoskeleton as powerful jaws pulled wildly in an effort to rip his arm free from his shoulder.
Kane screamed in pain, the sound only incensed the beast further. It growled and jerked its head back and forth like a dog with a chew toy.
Fury and adrenaline filled him with strength. With a great flinging motion, he tore his left arm free from under the beast still pinning him. Its claws dug deep into his soft flesh with the motion, but he couldn't care less as his right arm being ripped from his shoulder was of far greater concern.
A madness descended upon him and in his anger, Kane bashed his child-sized fist into the wolf’s face. Its golden eyes looked at him with contempt and disappointment after the insignificant blow.
The force of his punch was too weak to pause the beast from its rabid dismantling of his arm.
I know I have more umph. Where the hell is all that power I felt before? I know it’s still in there. I can feel it in my chest, contained, like a caged lion.
Kane continued to uselessly strike the wolf in its face, each blow weaker than the one before. Something in his shoulder tore, and the blinding pain plucked a chord of emotion that surged through his entire body.
No. Not like this!
Anger, unlike anything he had ever felt, coursed through him. It latched onto the ball of power caged in his chest. The anger mixed with the liquid power and flowed through his arm and fist where it demanded to be unleashed.
“Just. Fucking. Die!”
His punch rocketed forward so fast he couldn't follow the movement with his eyes. When his tiny fist impacted the wolf’s snout, flesh and bone crumpled. The beast’s skull collapsed in on itself and wetness splashed across Kane's face.
The beast’s eye popped free and sailed directly into Kane’s wide-open, screaming mouth. He bit down on the eye, feeling it pop into liquidy goo that covered the inside of his mouth.
It was divine.
The flavor was unlike anything he had ever tasted. It melted smoothly, tickling his taste buds in a way that felt almost like it was evaporating.
God, that’s even better than ice cream on a hot day.
The remaining wolf finally ripped the corpse free from his chest and continued to tear into it with abandon while Kane stood on legs shaky with adrenaline.
He swallowed, tasting the delicious morsel slide down his throat as he cracked his neck to the side, a wild grin on his bloody lips.
“Let’s see how tough you are without your friends.”
With a quick step forward, the scythe blade descended and tore through the beast's eye. The tip plunged directly into its brain, even as Kane’s shoulder tore in agony.
“So weak. Shit, that should have been an easy fight but they almost killed me because they caught me lying on my ass.”
While Kane split his attention between looking out for more wolves and checking his injuries, Teepo calmed down and spoke.
“How are we alive?”
Shoulder is jacked, bleeding from holes in my arm that are probably infected, otherwise just bruises and scrapes. Not bad all things considered. This freaking Bob-arm is insane! That punch was no joke either. I have got to figure out how I did that.
Unfortunately, most of the damage was to my mantis arm, which is definitely my most reliable weapon.
“We are alive because I got lucky. That first wolf should have torn my throat out. If its stomach hadn’t betrayed it, I probably wouldn’t have noticed them before they attacked.”
Memories of flavor unlike anything he had ever tasted caused his stomach to rumble as he gazed down at the dead beasts.
“How am I supposed to cook these things? Quick, Teepo, how do you start a fire? I’m so hungry I could eat one of them raw.”
“Why would you burn the flesh? That would spoil the density.”
“What? That made no sense. What’s density and why would cooking the meat ruin it?”
“Density is everything and everything is density. Those beasts, the trees, and you are all made from density. All of Madra, all of life.
“The more density you consume, the stronger you become. Even a monster like you should know all of this.”
“Not going to lie, Teepo. That sounds like a load of bullshit some cult brainwashed their children into believing.”
“Fine, don’t believe me. Look at your status, that will make things clear.”
Curious after being reminded of the strange phenomenon, Kane closed his eyes to see the words painted on the inside of his eyelids.
Congratulations cognition singularity name change successful
Congratulations Race evolution successful
Congratulations Tiering successful
Mana unlocked
Concentration unlocked
Beast Core formed
Strength + .1
Agility + .1
Endurance + .1
Durability + .1
Wisdom + .1
Intelligence + .1
Molding skill acquired
Beast traits unlocked
Feral Instincts trait acquired
Forcing technique discovered
Further upgrades delayed due to lack of density
NAME
Lance of Madra
RACE
Abomination
AGE
7
WEIGHT
21.31 kg > 20.64 kg
PHYSICAL STATUS
Torn ligament \ Minor bleeding \ Minor nerve damage \ Mild infection \ Mild brain damage.
TIER
1
BEAST CORE
Insubstantial - Rank 0
GROWTH
01%
MANA
.13
CONCENTRATION
1
STRENGTH
9.9 > 10
AGILITY
9.9 > 10
ENDURANCE
9.9 > 10
DURABILITY
9.9 > 10
WISDOM
9.9 > 10
INTELLIGENCE
9.9 > 10
SKILLS
Molding lvl 0
BEAST TRAITS
Feral Instincts lvl 0
TECHNIQUES
Forcing lvl 0
OTHER
Unique - S*le(#i@# E&^l@t(!n
Amidst the sea of swimming text, a single word that followed his race header leaped out and grabbed Kain’s attention.
“Abomination?! Screw you, man. I'm beautiful!” Despite his fear and uncertainty at the situation, Teepo found himself snickering at Kane’s outraged reaction.