There is no way to explain this feeling other than that one moment I was slung on the ground and the next, I was much higher up. It’s hard to describe, but all of a sudden, I feel… Larger. Which is what you’d expect after increasing size.

-But it’s bigger by a lot!

Hang on, I’ve got nothing to compare myself to, uhhh…

Wait! Is that a bug I see?? Oh, I sure do think so!

I grab it gently in one of my extended arms. They feel so much longer, but more distressingly, if the bugs were previously the size of a rat or so, this bug is now the size of a-, well… A bug. I have to hold him gently so as to not squish him completely. Size seems to also increase strength as well as - if the struggles of the bug's are to be understood as such - general toughness.

When I was a smol thing, a bug’s foot could easily pierce me. Now, though? Not so much.

Very interesting. Anyway, I have lots of mouths now, and they are much bigger, and I’m standing on a rock; prime for eating.

I faceplant the asteroid and start eating.

…

…

...Welcome back. I don’t know how long time has passed. Hours? Days? I don’t know. The asteroid is about half of the size it used to be, and I hit cave holes pretty fast. I’ve gained a whole bunch of points, and I put each and every one of them into size. Really, it was only a single upgrade that I was able to purchase, but it felt like a lot!

Man, things sure are getting expensive, huh? Why, in a while, I’ll probably need to eat a whole bunch of asteroids just to get bigger!

Is this my life now? Eating rocks?

...Better than writing my thesis. Dodged a bullet there, heh.

Still, eating rocks isn’t exactly fun.

666 -> 700

That’s about the only interesting part. Now, what to do with this… Oh, I should upgrade regeneration! That never hurts! If it did it’d be a pretty grave paradox, but… Anyhoo.

Upgrade Regeneration? Cost: 150 (you have 700)

How about twice?

Upgrade Regeneration? Cost: 225 (you have 700)

Yeah?

Upgrade Regeneration? Cost: 325 (you have 700)

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Let’s see, how does that math pan out… Alright, do it!

700 -> 0

...Very interesting. And now, as always, the test of quickness!

I rip off one of my five primary tentacles. It floats off a little bit. Doesn’t regenerate. And only now do I remember that it has-, what? Four cores in it? Heck. So, with a sigh in my heart, I reel in my own arm, make all its eyes close, and gobble it up. As expected, it doesn’t give me diddly squat, but it does leave my watching in excitement as my arm grows back.

...Technically speaking, it’s much quicker than before. Each individual part heals much faster than before, but the whole damn arm takes about as much time as before.

In other words, both faster and not. Curious.

I continue eating the-, no, actually, I can’t bother. This asteroid is still like ten times my own size, and I’ve been eating at it forever!

I really think I’m ready to sort of just-, float? Seeking out and fighting other monsters (because there has to be more) just doesn’t sound like my kind of deal, although it is a bit more fun than just eating rocks.

I dislodge myself from the asteroid, pushing my whole body out of its gravitational field and into the regular asteroid field.

Asteroids in all manner of sizes whizz by me and I instinctually wrap myself into somewhat of a ball, just to defend myself. And then I realize that not only are some of these not going that quickly, but that some of these are easily small enough to be eaten by my tertiary mouths. Hesitantly, all of my tentacle shivering and trembling, I spread my body wide. The second I do, a small but bullet-quick asteroid slashes off one of my tentacles. It’s fine, it’s cool. It grows back in a matter of seconds. A too-large asteroid approaches quickly and I only barely pull out of its way.

Two small asteroids tear off two of my tertiary tentacles. Mentally, I take deep breaths. Focus.

My eyes are moving, focusing, redoubling their efforts. I’m spread out wide. Adrift in the wind, pushed along the streams almost too easily. Focus, focus.

I see it approach a little bit faster than I move myself. A small piece of debris, barely worth my notice. Two of my tertiary tentacles grab a hold of its rugged surface and bring it to the tertiary mouth closest to them. Munch.

0 -> 3

-Confirmation! It works!

This is a viable way of existing!!

In my excitement, I almost miss how a somewhat large asteroid bereaves me of one of my secondary tentacles. If I could feel pain, this would probably be very painful. Since it isn’t I’m able to focus on the prize. Thanks to having many eyes, I can focus on many asteroids at once, and by using my many, many tentacles, I can, in turn, also grab many asteroids at once. And eat them.

Small asteroids are brought to my smaller tertiary mouths using only my tertiary tentacles. Slightly larger asteroids have to be brought to my secondary mouths, often by using more than two secondary tentacles and their branching tertiary tentacles. In the small off-chance that an asteroid is large enough to be brought to my single primary mouth, I sometimes have to use more than two or three primary tentacles.

In such a manner, I eat.

3 -> 144

I’d probably be more bored if the act of consuming so many rocks at once didn’t demand so much attention. It feels kind of like forcing yourself to fully and completely focus on a textbook, without a single thought of comment or anything unrelated to the task at hand. Just working, working and working.

Grab rock, put rock in mouth. Grab big rock, put rock in bigger mouth. Grab even bigger rock, put it in biggest mouth.

144 -> 210

Evade too-large slow asteroid. Ignore the small one that just robbed me of a full secondary tentacle. Eat rock.

210 -> 332

At any given moment, I am eating around three rocks at once. Sometimes I need to chew them in halves, which can cause a small build-up, but in general, I’m always eating. Always chewing. Constantly exercising the full extent of my concentration to move a dozen limbs at once. Rock goes in. Points come out.

332 -> 412

And by this point, after a few minutes of doing this, I can already tell that I’ll get extremely used to this in some time. This is that kind of skill where it feels impossible at first, like with the clarinet, using what feels like too many fingers to push too many buttons, and then to also blow air at the same time and also read notes and then in a marching band I need to do all that while also dancing and wearing silly hats??

In other words, if I could get used to that, I can get used to this!

412 -> 498

I’ve already succeeded at the first step, which is to be able to actually think while doing all that complex shit. See? This whole business is easy! In a few minutes, I’ll easily be large enough to get through all of this fully unscathe-,

It appears.