Very pleased with her hunt, Sarah crouched down to the ruined remains of the creature, and cut a little bit of flesh off with her claws. She looked at the slimy, yet firm flesh with disgust but shoved it in her mouth anyway.
"Just… why?" She asked despondently and had been barely able to continue chewing. It was tough, but slimy. It took a very long time to chew, and it tasted foul. Sarah firmed up her resolve and swallowed it whole after a while. She shuddered with her whole body until a system message let her freeze in surprise.
She spit out the rest of it, until another system message let her freeze again.
Cannibal (Seriously?): Beings of the same species as you have an instinctive fear of you.> It had been some time since the system had insulted her in this way. But this went too far. "Come on!" Sarah shouted while still trying to spit out any possible remains in her mouth. "How the hell should this be the same race as me?!" But most of the time, the system didn’t respond to her. "I swear, if I ever find out that you have some sort of body somewhere, you are up for a serious spanking." Sarah growled with annoyance and kicked the remains of her foe away from her. Defeat 100 normal enemies (1/100) Defeat 2 elite enemies (0/2) Defeat the dungeon boss (0/1) Eat 100 snails (0/100)> Sarah was flabbergasted. This was the first time that the system had reacted so strongly to her. And why the hell did it have to make this adjustment to her quest?! "Just kidding! I’d never hit you! Snails are not necessary! It was a joke, I promise!" She begged for some time, but the system remained unresponsive again. Anger and shame flaring up in her, she fletched her sharp teeth but didn’t say anything else. Defeat 100 normal enemies (1/100) Defeat 2 elite enemies (0/2) Defeat the dungeon boss (0/1) Eat 100 snails (3/100)> Sarah’s eyelids twitched in suppressed anger, but she swallowed it down again. At least it had already counted the snails she had eaten so far. After her feelings had calmed down somewhat, she started wondering about all the implications she had received in these few moments. She started collecting samples of the different biological materials surrounding her while her thoughts swirled wildly. First of all, the creature she had defeated just now had apparently been of the same species as her. As much as she didn’t like the thought, it had to be true. The system might not be all knowing, but it had never lied so far. The question was what kind of mutant it had been. She was fairly certain that the wolf from the swamp had been a mutant too, because it looked very different compared to the other wolves. But she hadn’t gained the cannibal achievement by then. So logically speaking, the system might differentiate mutants by their origin. Which in turn would mean.... "Shit." She said with horror in her voice and looked over at the mutilated corpse. "Have you been human?" The corpse looked pretty horrible by now, but the vaguely humanoid features were still visible. The body was distorted and grotesque, but it was definitely possible for it to have originated from human physiology. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators! Horrible nausea rose up in Sarah, and her tail curled up involuntarily as she thought back to just a few moments ago, when she had taken a bite out of the thing. The mutant slash former human. She knew that she had no way of knowing that this horrible-looking thing might have been human once. And she still didn’t want to know. The forgotten fear of mutations going wrong bubbled up, but she pushed it deep inside of her. She had no time for an existential crisis right now. She first had to survive all of this, and then she could take her time to deal with this issue. By now, she had taken samples of the mushrooms, the moss, the flowers, and the flies. After a brief moment of hesitation, she also picked up a snail, including its shell. There was only so much available in the end. She started walking back to the tunnel she had come from and resumed her ruminations. The next issue to handle was the notification about corrupted genetic material. It was strange, that only the former humans… no, the humanoid monsters had the corrupted material but not the snails. She had been able to eat three of them. So what was the difference? It didn’t matter how much she thought about it; she didn't have enough information to draw any logical conclusions. The only one she had was that maybe the humanoid monsters had, for some reason, stayed on the surface for a long time. And therefore their genes had somehow degenerated. But that was only a long shot. She had no idea what the environment on the surface did. Only that it couldn’t be good for living organisms, as nothing lived up there. When she came back to the cave she had arrived in, she suspiciously looked up at the shaft she had fallen down from. There was no red energy string in sight, only the colorful sky far, far away. Even though she was a little bit afraid of going up there again, she started climbing upward. It certainly wasn’t easy with all of her luggage, but she somehow managed with the help of her tail. Repetetive use of it had made it stronger. Although this could have also been caused by her increased stats. Another mystery on the list. On the surface again, she looked at the sky with suspicion in her eyes, but there was no indication of an event similar to earlier. She started running in the direction of their hideout, but she never let down her vigilance. Even though she was on alert, the last of her questions pushed through it all. What exactly was up with the system? She had already known that it had some kind of personality. It even answered her from time to time. But she had sworn at it time and time again, but it had never reacted to it. Only this time, she had threatened to hurt it if it happened to have a physical body. Which was immediately punished by adding eat snails to her quest contents. What did this mean? Was the system annoyed by her? Afraid? Did it actually have a physical body somewhere? She wouldn’t rule out that it had gotten enough from her antics. But up until now, it had never reacted in any way to her accusations. Only the threat had elicited a response. The most logical conclusion she could draw from it was that the system should really have some sort of physical body. This thought, at the same time, blew her mind and confused her. What good did that hypothesis do her? What did this mean for the system and the world itself? And for her Too many questions, with too little information to answer them. Sarah was frustrated with all of this. She was usually the type to confront her problems head-on and… well, smash them. These abstract theories and problems really weren’t her thing. Maybe she’d find some time to talk to Melissa about them, if they’d be able to catch a break. And if she’d survive. When she arrived in front of their hideout, a nervous knot built in her stomach. She was afraid of Melissa not being able to eat anything. She wound her way through the narrow entrance and ran towards their resting place. When she got closer, she noticed a surprise waiting for her. Not only was Neil not tied up anymore, he was happily chatting away with Melissa. They were even sitting on soft things… no, chairs, as Sarah realized with a slight pang of pain in her head. Melissa soon noticed Sarah’s approach and stood up with a beaming smile. "Neil is fine again! And we even found some chairs and other stuff! This fabric is so soft, you won’t believe it!" Sarah approached with suspicion in her eyes and looked at Neil. She dropped the food on the floor and stepped in front of Melissa. "How do we know that you are not under her influence anymore?" She asked with a growl, only to receive a light slap on her shoulder from behind. "Do you think I am stupid? I checked on him myself. There is nothing left of her. He is fine. Mostly, at least." Melissa told her with annoyance in her voice, only for Sarah to look back at her with a raised eyebrow. "Mostly?" "Thank you so much, Sarah!" Neil shouted and threw himself on the ground in front of her. "That’s what you meant." Sarah mumbled with wide, open eyes, looking down at the prostrating man. "Yep," Melissa said with a dead-pan look. "It has been so horrible to have this thing inside of me! A part of me just always knew that something was wrong. But then you saved me from her and took me with you!" He shouted with an excited voice and looked up at her with tears in his eyes. The whole scene was pretty absurd for her, but she also sympathized with the frantic man. She knew full well how horrible it had been to have this thing inside of her. She stretched out a hand to him and spoke in a gentle voice. "I didn’t save you, Neil. I understand you are grateful to us and happy to have this thing out of you. But get your head straight. We need you focused right now." Neil looked at her, startled for a second, and then looked down at himself. He cleared his throat in embarrassment and took her hand to stand up again. "I am sorry." He mumbled and scratched his blond hair. He had a soft-looking, round face, which seemed very gentle now that she took her first closer look at him. "I was just so overwhelmed. I also embarrassed myself in front of Melissa." His face blushed a little thinking back at it. "Just… Can I do something to show my gratitude somehow? I know what I have done while being controlled. Melissa made it clear to me that I wasn’t in full control of myself. But still, I want to be of help. Just tell me what I can do, and I will do everything I’m capable of." "Everything?" Sarah asked him with a glint in her eyes. Neil seemed a little unnerved by her reaction and smiled a little. "….Yes?" "Do you have poison resistance?" "…….Yes?" "Do you have acid resistance?" "…………Yes?" Sarah smiled at him and laid her arm around his shoulders. She turned around with him and pointed in the direction of the food pile and the snail, who had come out of her shell and had started slithering away. "Congratulations Neil. You’ll be the first to eat today!"