My awareness returned slowly. First, because I had experienced death (under no circumstances do I recommend anyone try this. It hurts much more than advertised) and because I had a hard time accepting the floating box in front of me.
I looked at the words ‘Status Screen’.
Is this… an isekai? Reincarnation? Seriously?
I really… get a second chance?
For several long moments, my mind was blank. Unbidden, a horrible memory resurfaced. The framed photo of Mimi, taken the week she had gotten a job in the hospital all the way across the country from her previous position, because it was where I had moved to.
Her arm wrapped around my neck and she offered the camera her trademark crooked smile.
My heart tightened.
Just like that, I borrowed some of her practicality and felt my own growing resolve. I surged with confidence. Okay Tallum, from now on, you live in the moment. Even if it's hard, accept your new role as the son of a disgraced Count, or whatever, and revitalize the surrounding economy. While we are at it, lets add some antics to fantasy life.
Build my forever home and bring on the leisure!
All it took was a thought to connect to the particulars of my new reality. The menu blossomed and my own Status appeared in front of me proving immediately…
… that the situation had definitely turned abnormal.
Name: Tallum Frost (Awakened)
Species: (Nascent) Chimera Core
Level: 1
Health: 10/10
Anima: 5
Skills: None
My Stats were, as expected, quite pathetic. But my real hiccup—
A chimera what?
With such a dubious Species, I tried my best to understand the situation around me. Obviously, without avoiding hard truths, because that was just the modus operandi of the new, emotionally evolved Tallum.
Look, when you make a declaration with oblivion watching and it stirs, take it seriously…
I had a second life; that truth continued to fill me with a strange giddiness. But that giddiness sat on top of my grief and regret from my previous life. All of it was mixed up. I winced inwardly. I do need to think about this more… but also I need to figure out what’s going on first.
Yet I only became more confused as I flailed around and tried to get my bearings. Because my awareness hadn’t sharpened beyond the Status screen. Several vague, gaseous impressions floated around me. I instinctually curled up. And this gave me a bit of information.
There were the sensations of my… form folding in on itself. At least my body worked, but my head spun the more I attempted to comprehend the undulating nature of the world to which I had been transported.
Each thought saw my blind flailings lash outward. My confusing body flopped back and forth. What’s this? Where’s my Hero’s welcome? Where’s my overpowered Class? Isn’t this my chance to become a low-stress-
Ah. So it’s like that.
During my overdramatic breakdown, I noticed that when I moved, the area around me pulsed and undulated as well, starting from my position. So I stilled myself and waited. Gradually, the peculiar shifts died down and I could study the surroundings.
I seemed to possess some sort of energy sonar. Tragically no eyes. Each of my movements released a pulse of… something that updated my impressions of the surroundings. I sat in the middle of a circular chamber, with the walls glowing brightly in my senses. However…
If this really is my awareness of the surroundings… My body quivered. At the center of the swirling impressions I could sense, a small blob quivered. Does that mean I am that lumpy mound…?
This… is the second chance I traded for…? Was that darkness even an eldritch god?!?
I stifled these distracting, avoidant thoughts. Focus. Que sera sera. I was a blob. Still, the lingering regrets I held from my sudden human death remained in my psyche, along with my resolve to build my present with a second chance, which made me try and spin this in an optimistic way.
Definitely, I don’t think Chimera Cores need to pay taxes! Or have family members. Who could expire unexpectedly-
Okay, let’s not shake that can of worms quite yet. One emotional regurgitation per day.
Oh! I bet Chimera Cores also don’t have sneering, superior therapists!
So now I needed to figure out how to be a Chimera Core.
Once I understood how my awareness worked, the images around me stabilized. The small chamber with its bright walls became more clear, even as I oozed back and forth, testing the limits of this new body of mine. With my blobby form, I could create tentacles that stretched out from my core ooze. Perhaps most strangely, I could create up to five and control them independently without much thought. Each tentacle possessed its own unique consciousness, as though I could split my mind into pieces.
If I had rubber balls inside this strange place, I probably could have juggled at least fifteen of them, each tentacle handling three. Based on the limit of five, it seemed that this ‘Anima’ was quite the useful stat to have-
My surroundings shifted. The far side of the chamber opened, revealing a passage forward.
Hum? Curious. Well, no need to go immediately… I’m a man- monster, of leisure now. Besides, to live in the present, you must understand the present! And in fantasy worlds, often the rules are different. Determining the governing laws is the highest priority.
I ignored the opening and approached the glowing walls. Instantly, my instincts warned me to stay away, but I remained skeptical. A Chimera Core did not seem a particularly bright species. I sent a tentative tentacle out to investigate-
Bzzht!
For the first second of agony coursing through my form, I was frozen. What they don’t tell you about System worlds is that you can feel your Health depleting, in a sensation independent from the pain.
Like a hole was being drilled in your brain that allowed all your heat and life to just seep away. A deep part of you knows, on a fundamental level, what will happen if your container ever empties.
Horror mounted in my body and I tried to pull away, but the tentacle was locked into place by the coursing electricity. Another blast wracked my body, even more painful than the first. Another fat gulp drained away.
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Luckily, the tentacle disintegrated after that second burst of static. I was left… well, I would say panting, but this form didn’t seem to need to breathe. So I quivered like a shaken plate jello. Almost afraid of what I would find, I opened my Status Screen.
Name: Tallum Frost (Awakened)
Species: (Nascent) Chimera Core
Level: 1
Health: 7/10
Anima: 5
Skills: None
Well… losing 3 Health already… I felt bitter. In the future, I will listen to my instincts. This body knows this world better than I do…
I waited for a time to see if my Health would return. It did not. I felt an even more depressing feeling in my (Stomach? Core? Aya, how can I know the world if I don’t even know myself) at the loss of those Health points. I wasn’t sure of my surroundings, but they were clearly dangerous.
Still, I couldn’t just remain here forever. Even if it was hard (and a bit scary) I couldn’t withdraw from life.
Not again. Not with my lingering regret I felt toward my sister tightening around my heart.
So I moved forward.
I oozed toward the opening in the chamber. My energy sonar worked around me, so it was quite strange to feel my awareness shifting as I moved, but I gradually became used to it. The tunnel wasn’t long, about twice the size of the chamber where I started. At the other end of the tunnel, was another similar chamber. But inside-
Ah, another me. I oozed out. I could hear my sister clicking her tongue, like she did before a lecture. ‘Social interactions can be awkward, but only if you don’t make an effort.’
I wiggled several of my tentacles at this fellow in what I hoped was a friendly manner. Hello friend. Can we communicate with each other? Ahem, from my observations, this area is artificially created. So therefore-
The other oozing Chimera Core noticed me and rushed toward me.
My instincts released a pulse: he’s about to attack you.
This time I listened to my instincts. I concentrated my Anima into only one powerful tentacle. As the other came toward me, I used it to smack the other ooze.
It quivered in displeasure but continued oozing forward after a brief delay. When our two bodies touched, I could feel that our energies began to hiss and eat at each other. As far as I could tell, I didn’t inflict any damage with my whack. But on the other hand, simply touching each other caused us to harm the other. My Health decreased by a point, and likely this bastard did as well.
God, I hate the feeling of losing Health. If this keeps up-
Suddenly, I remembered why humanity is superior to instincts. When it clicked this interaction wouldn’t end well, its main message was ‘time to panic’.
That last bit from my instincts I ignored; my reborn life would be one of investment and leisure! I wasn’t going to allow petty details to shake my resolve!
But considering that my earlier curiosity gave me a -3 debuff to Health-
I lost Health number 2 from contact, but I refused to let my rationality drown in the flood of emotions. Or at least I tried not to, but my quivering body gave me away. Yet I maintained enough focus to think up a plan. I’m not losing this second chance.
I split my one big tentacle into two. These reached over and plucked up my ooze opponent, who essentially didn’t really care about my actions. This thing was raw aggression, a demon possessing a spoonful of jam. Our bodies sizzled against one another, but I realized that I could at least instinctively harden the ends of my tentacles, so the contact wasn’t as painful. Very ready to get rid of this idiot, I plucked it up and tossed him against the walls.
Bzzht!
When another was affected by the electrified edges, it was quite amusing.
This is a bad look for me. Is my first successful moment of reincarnated satisfaction… due to cruelty?!? Definitely, when I have a spare moment, some meditation on my sudden, monstrous proclivities…
I know I have a lot of unprocessed grief, but this is quite alarming…
After a few seconds, the ooze making contact with the edge disintegrated and it fell to the ground. From a soft impression my energy sonar gave me, it appeared this guy’s body steamed.
Have you learned your lesson? I observed the other Chimera Core.
When it had ceased quivering in pain, it slithered toward me with even more malice. I wiggled a tentacle at it. Clearly, Chimera Core’s were dumb. When it was close enough, I picked it up again and tossed it against the wall. Unfortunately, the contact made me lose another Health, but-
You have slain a Lvl 1 Chimera Core!
You have Leveled Up! Health +2, Anima +1.
For reaching Level 2, you have unlocked the Species Skill “Absorb Anima”.
For reaching Level 2, you have unlocked the Species Skill “Integrate Body Part”.
With these notifications, I examined my Status again.
Name: Tallum Frost (Awakened)
Species: (Nascent) Chimera Core
Level: 2
Health: 6/12
Anima: 6
Skills: (Species) Absorb Anima Lvl 1, (Species) Integrate Body Part Lvl 1
I quivered my body in disappointment, somewhat enjoying how wiggly I could become (a positive source of enjoyment!). At the same time, I didn’t like that the Level Up hadn’t restored my Health. Why couldn’t I have been in a fantasy world where the aegis of plot armor waited in the wings in every battle, ready to rejuvenate me at the most dramatic moment…
Still, it might also be an advantage this way. Considering my negative karma, enemies would Level Up around me and recover from the brink of death. No, it would be better to remove such a troublesome development.
My mood improved at another realization. Levels existed! I could learn Skills! All my past life forays into fantasy worlds became valuable research! The plot had been warped somewhat by the non-human body I currently possessed, but this was still a genuine reincarnation scenario.
My thoughts were interrupted by one of the walls of the new chamber vanishing, revealing another passageway. I quivered my body; whoever designed this area really needed to get over these repetitive plot developments. I oozed as quickly as my body could manage, exploring the new area.
To my surprise, I arrived in a chamber almost ten times the size of those I had departed. With my energy sonar, I almost couldn’t see the far edge. And if my strange senses weren’t deceiving me-
As the passageway closed behind me, I felt a sense of fear tingle through my gooey body. Eight other Chimera Cores.
I observed them for a while before moving, lest they mob me. But rapidly, several facts became clear. First, my fellows possessed strangely lopsided shapes. My understanding was fuzzy because of the inexact nature of my energy sonar, but a few of these other blobs possessed limbs, tails, or heads that I did not. Second, most were as stationary as I, but also when two moved too near to each other, a beam of blazing light would shoot down from the sky and enforce space between them.
These heavenly beams glowed the same color as the walls, so the other beings shied away from touching them. Stupid as the blobs might be, their instincts could at least identify dangerous energies. Thirdly…
There are corpses in the middle of this room, my body quivered, this time not due to my playfulness, but due to an instinctual hunger.
My instincts screamed: DASH TOWARD THE CORPSES AND FEAST! ETERNAL GLORY AWAITS!
Ahem, let’s not be dramatic… I feel like a teenager, a victim of the vicissitudes of my hormones…
I found myself drawn forward to the third, and largest, of the corpses. It seemed the others had already been consumed by my fellow monsters, which also explained their strange, lobsized forms in my awareness.
As I oozed atop the corpse, numerous notifications popped up in front of me. So this is the use of the Integrate Body Part Skill…
Would you like to integrate the hair of Chubby Rat Lvl 1?
Would you like to integrate the foreleg of the Chubby Rat Lvl 1?
Would you like to integrate the hair of Chubby Rat Lvl 1?
Would you like to integrate the spleen of Chubby Rat Lvl 1?
Would you like to integrate the hair of Chubby Rat Lvl 1?
Chubby rat? More like hairy rat… My annoyance grew as one notification in particular popped up, over and over again. I oozed around, checking the body parts that hadn’t yet been taken. Then I stumbled across a notification that made me… well, if I had been able to, I would have blinked.
Would you like to integrate the left eye of Chubby Rat Lvl 1?
Could I… see with this? Although I had gradually grown used to the energy sonar, ultimately, I had lived as a human for twenty-nine years. Regular vision would be much more familiar. After a small hesitation, I selected yes.
Integration requires 3 Anima. Continue?
This made me pause. It also explained why the corpses hadn’t been completely consumed by the other seven. We were limited by our Anima in what we could absorb. Still… what a weirdly perfect metaphor. I had wanted to build purposefully in my second life, and now I even had the option to construct my own body?
I chose yes.
You have integrated the left eye of the Chubby Rat Lvl 1. You have unlocked the (Temp) Stat Sight! Left Eye of the Chubby Rat provides Sight +2.
This time, I really blinked. Well, I closed a bit of hardened ooze around my eye. I had no eyelids to blink. I could still sense the energy sonar, but now I could also see. In a vague way that hinted I needed glasses, but I suppose this is the best I could expect from a single rat eye.
I witnessed my own lavender ooze body, with the other seven cores looking like spilled jello of varying shades. Most of those bodies were covered with hair, but I could also see a few with claws, bones, or various muscles as part of their ooze.
A Sight Stat of 2 apparently wasn’t very good, because farther than that became quite blurry. Still, I could see a metallic cage apparatus wrapped around the chamber, crackling with electricity. Other portions of the environment seemed to have been built with sheet metal. And if I look up, beyond the limits of the cage, I could see-
Several dark shadows leaned over the trapped Chimera Cores.