Rain knew nothing of the digestive systems of animals or reptiles—or even his own, to be honest; but what he did know was that an abnormally fast digestion rate wasn’t the norm.
The fact that the world was not yet filled with the fog and its Wraiths meant that it had not been that long since he’d been gobbled up, and that was why he was completely surprised.
Well, not exactly. There was something else. And that was what his features appeared to be from the liquid on the ground.
Rain Leclair was no longer a fair teenager with blonde short hair, he now possessed a pale skin and red-blood hair that fell down to his shoulders.
He’d first of all thought that his hair’s color was as a result of his changed eyesight, but no other thing in his line of sight had such a tinge. His hair was definitely red. Furthermore, his hazel pupils had turned predatory, his teeth had turned into fangs that felt weirdly natural and not out of place in his mouth, and… He looked at his hands… His nails were longer too; they’d become claws.
It’s like… I’m some sort of human beast.
His heart was pounding quickly, but even through that he was still able to calmly rationalize his situation, and that was why he recalled a single message that seemingly held the answer to what had happened to him—to why he was suddenly immortal.
[Met Conditions: First human to feast on the border between humanity and beasthood]...
There was only one scenario Rain deemed close enough to this Met Condition for receiving whatever this Mark was. And that was when he drank the blood of the Mutated Coyotes he’d killed.
Is that really it?
Rain shook slightly.
First human to feast on the border between humanity and beasthood? What he had done seemed eerily close enough. He was a human but he had acted like a beast, drinking the blood of his kill in the same way a predator did to their prey.
That’s why I was turned into a half-human half-beast? Wait! Does that mean… The healing powers of my blood, it isn’t something all humans can do? I see… I think I get it now. This absurd healing power came from drinking the blood of those Coyotes, which means the Coyotes’, no, all animals and human blood in themselves do not have healing abilities. It’s no wonder J could only heal from drinking my blood.
Rain was not sure how to feel. Happy that he was alive, or someway else.
First human? So there’s no one else like me? Shit! How am I going to connect with other people when I look like this? I can’t go back to Alice, Sean, and J this way. I can’t… seek my family while looking like this.
There had to be a way for him to revert back to his human form, surely.
With that in mind Rain pulled up the Plexus Interface, shifting the ‘Shadow of Asklepios’ message aside, so as to check for a way to fix his situation there.
[Plexus Interface]
Player: Rain Leclair.
Role: Side Character.
Class: Lightweight.
Division: Saint.
Active Skill: Blade Saint (Low Level).
Passive Skill: Aura. Photographic Memory.
Mark: Caduceus
Epithet: [Shadow of Asklepios]
Benefactor: None.
Privilege: None.
Golden Points: 00
[Entertainment Level] [Attributes]
The Plexus heeding Rain’s request did not offer him a way to free himself from the ghastly form he had assumed, but he did notice that his Interface had changed; rather, two new things had been added.
Well, they aren’t exactly new now, are they?
He had already seen those words some few seconds back, so he wasn’t stunned at the sight of them. And besides, he had come to understand the gist of what was happening to him. His body had apparently been tainted by the Mark of Caduceus, and in return he became the Shadow of Asklepios.
Whatever Caduceus and Asklepios were, he didn’t know and really didn’t care at the moment—that went for their Mark and Shadow as well. All he wanted to figure out now was how to get himself back. After all, the rest of his journey—no, his life—depended on that. But, alas, the Plexus was not so explanatory that he would figure that out by staring at its Interface.
Rain sighed exasperatedly, then all of a sudden his focus was drawn towards a section on the Plexus Interface that had been skipping his mind all this while.
What even is this?
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Rain shut his eyes in a moment of respite as those words crawled into his head with an overwhelming rage behind the voice that had generated them. He shifted the Plexus back to his peripheral vision in return. There was no way he had forgotten about the Anaconda, he had just been waiting for it to finish all its thrashing about in the air. It was all done now.
“I don’t know myself,” Rain told the Chimera in a surprisingly calm manner. “But it is nice to be alive, though. Now I don’t want to die even more.”
It was right for the snake to think that way, after all, just a few minutes ago he’d been in its belly. But seeing as the thing was yet to notice the physical change he had undergone it seemed like it wasn’t very bright.
Okay, I take that back.
All in all, Rain felt very differently from how he’d been a moment ago. If he had to use a situation to quantify his change, he would compare his first interaction with this Anaconda to his first with J, and his current one with his interaction with the wharf rat. In the former he’d felt like a prey, but in the latter he knew he was the predator.
Yes, it was weird, but for some reason he could not just seem to be frightened anymore of the prideful monster towering over him. And what’s more was that his Blade Saint Skill had long deactivated in the absence of a blade-type weapon, but he could still see a critical point to deal this monster a fatal blow. In the sea of red that painted his vision, there was an even deeper red pulsing slightly below the snake’s neck region. It was obvious that it was the location of its heart.
At this moment, Rain felt he could reach it. No. He felt he could rip it out.
It’s all too weird that I’m feeling this way, but if it’ll help me survive then I’ll gladly accept it for now.
“Pride comes before a fall,” Rain looked at the claws he had grown as he whispered to himself. Then he turned back to the Anaconda. “I have a question.”
The Anaconda hissed in distaste.
Rain acted like he didn’t hear what the snake was saying and went on to ask either way, “How come you speak good English? This is a language for humans; a language that even some humans can’t speak, so how come you—”
With that, Rain deemed that he had heard enough. Night was nearing, he could see the sky’s color turning darker than it already was. He did not have the time to spare with this proud snake any longer.
Saying no more words, he bolted forward. The Anaconda responded with a hiss and a swipe of its exaggeratedly large tail.
For a moment there, Rain’s heart palpitated as a notion that he had been way over his head sprung up in his mind, but it had been swift—far too swift that it was almost comical.
As though he was the most athletic man in the world, as though his Agility had been doubled—no, tripled—Rain hoisted himself onto the Anaconda and sprinted up its body with an unfathomable speed that bamboozled him. In a few seconds he arrived at the beast’s nape. Then, using a strand of the thick black hair that made up its mane, he swung himself downwards like a monkey to where its heart was located.
The Anaconda seethed in realization of what was happening.
It was unable to complete its sentence though, because Rain plunged his claws through its glimmering armor-like scales, as though it were a piece of paper, and dug out its heart just in time to prevent himself from hearing anymore of the snake’s bullshit.
It happened in a flash.
The earth shook as the Anaconda’s lifeless body dropped to the ground like a rope thrown down from a high location. It had avoided smashing the house beneath its body, though, and for that Rain was grateful.
[Side Plot: Completed]
Side Character, Rain Leclair, has successfully eliminated his adversary.
[Bestowed Reward(s)]
+5 Experience Points (Assignable).
Chimera Anaconda’s heart.
A feeling of euphoria caressed Rain’s body at the sight of the Plexus’s message while he bathed beneath the drizzles pouring down from the sky. It was a battle he was surprised he won, but as long as he survived then he was happy.
Despite that way of feeling, though, he was still curious about something. What had happened to his Attributes? Weren’t they bound to the numbers they possessed. What were they reading now with his mysterious spike in power?
He pulled up his Attributes Interface in that regard. And with its appearance came shock.
[Attributes]
Strength: ??.
Speed: ??.
Agility: ??.
Perception: ??.
Durability: ??.
Stamina: ??.
Experience Points: 05.
Question marks? Why are they in question marks?
At that moment, something unprecedented happened. The messages before his view crackled and changed into new words that further deepened the expression on his face.
[The Mark of Caduceus has fulfilled its purpose]...
[Asklepios seeks an offering in return]...
[Offering has been decided]…
[Side Character Rain Leclair is to feast on the heart he has obtained immediately]...
[Failure to do so will result in Side Character Rain Leclair losing the Mark of Caduceus]...
The message shifted once again. Like it had been a mistake, it was scratched off eerily, and in its place appeared new words.
[Failure to do so will result in Side Character Rain Leclair losing his life]...
Rain fell into a daze filled with terror, but that did not make the words before his eyes change into anything else.
He really would lose his life if he didn’t eat the Anaconda’s heart?
Am I being slowly converted into a beast?
Whatever it was, he couldn’t stop to think deeply about it at the moment. His life was at stake.
All I have to do is eat the heart, right? Rain swallowed a big gulp as he stared at the lump of flesh he held.
A second of hesitation, that was all he had… and that was all he took. As soon as it clocked a new second, Rain sent his newly grown fangs into the squishy organ in his hand and tore it apart like a savage wildling.
Goddammit!