10 System (1)
Seeing that all the angels had fallen, Jia Hyson vigilantly looked around for any more spatial distortions before grabbing the rest of the angel's head to drag back onto land to share with the rest of the plants.
It's not that he doesn't want to eat more, but Jia Hyson understood that he shouldn't want to eat more. The energy was different from the crystal nuclei of the apocalypse and the River God. It was very pure, very easy to digest and very addicting. The power in it was much higher as well.
If one could put it into layman's terms- the power in one hundred thousand level 7 crystal nuclei, which was more or less the average level of strong fighters in the apocalypse, equated to about ten level 10 crystal nuclei, belonging to the strongest humans in that world. Because of various reasons, it was hard to find many who could reach such a height in the apocalypse; even Jia Hyson had only fought with six of them.
However, the same amount of energy would only equal about ten kilograms of the River God's flesh. And it only took roughly one hundred grams of the angel's meat to accomplish the same thing.
Therefore, logically, Jia Hyson, who, contrary to popular belief, wasn't a bottomless hungry pit, should have felt the need to stop eating by now. Every fibre of his being was pulsating with suppressed power. Unlike the plants who can just propagate to reduce the burden of absorbing so much energy, Jia Hyson couldn't really do the same. He wasn't actually a plant, after all.
While he was deeply reluctant from the bottom of his heart, Jia Hyson was becoming aware of the final hidden malice of this energy.
It couldn't trigger his sense of satiety at all. The zombie wasn't able to tell instinctively when he had eaten enough or too much of these creatures. And with their addicting taste that resonated in his soul and a vitality that restored his body and further improved his abilities and constitution, it was easy to lose himself to this unfamiliar energy. His absorption was very powerful, and his energy demand was also relatively high, but there was always a limit, and the moment it broke, he would also break. Exploding from the overconsumption of too much power that his physical body could no longer handle.
Of course he could also vent out this energy by using his abilities and powers, but such an option was really too wasteful and should only used if there was really no other way to contain the energy safely.
Jia Hyson laughs, but his eyes weren't smiling. With a silent gesture, he calls back the smaller plants to move toward him, re-slicing his freshly healed wounds and letting them crawl back inside in an attempt to transfer enough energy so he no longer felt like his muscles were shaking like a child on a sugar high during a birthday party.
As for the rest of the plants… Jia Hyson glances at them and waves them to continue their feasting, choosing to instead lay down on the 'sand' dunes to rest and efficiently absorb what he can. Closing his eyes, he could feel his body's energy brimming almost uncontrollably. While some of it was now directed into the plants he was cultivating inside himself, a rather terrifyingly large amount was still present.
Jia Hyson was used to starvation rather than excess and was uncertain about how to proceed. He smiles in bemusement despite himself. It seems he can truly empathise with the phrase' poverty limits one's imagination'. Fortunately, his brain was far more online than before.
His physical problems were more or less also completely healed, meaning his healing factor was stronger then ever. This meant that as long as he doesn't eat for a little while, his body can slowly break down the pure energy and re-convert it to further improve some of his constitution and ability.
Of course, if he could be satisfied with just that, Jia Hyson would never have reached his current level. The zombie was greatly interested in finding a way to break through faster with the energy or possibly using it to improve specific areas of himself he found lacking.
His body was strong enough, and his regeneration was fast enough to hopefully handle any backlash should his experiments go awry, and while it was still a bit hard to grasp things as quickly as before, Jia Hyson definitely felt more clearheaded enough to contemplate things bit by bit. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he closes his eyes and tries to focus on his body.
However, before he could drift off to sleep, a screen of light appeared. Warily, Jia Hyson opens his eyes. This world has a lot of good energy, but in return, there are a lot of fairly incomprehensible and dangerous things here.
[Hello.]
Jia Hyson squints, "And who may you be?" He asks, his voice was still a bit hoarse but the words were smooth, flowing off his tongue lazily. However, while he sounded casual, his entire body was ready to fight if needed.
[I am the Metempsychotic System.]
The zombie frowns thoughtfully as his taut muscles tense further. Slowly, his brain rummages through his memory, which, while incredibly improved thanks to his high-level zombie physique, was ultimately quite dusty.
Metempsychotic, is that a play on the word metempsychosis*?
*Metempsychosis- alternatively, the transmigration of souls/reincarnation. It's the belief that upon death, a human being can return to the world in a new body, whether human or animal. Metempsychotic is not a word to my knowledge its just combining psychotic to it kek cuz horror.
… It's quite clever ah.
[Please ask your plants to desist eating. I am willing to negotiate. Please understand that this is in both of our best interests. I can guarantee we both benefit if you listen to my instructions.]
Tilting his head, Jia Hyson contemplates for a moment. Don't look at his previous behaviour. He was a very understanding, gentle-mannered, and elegant person. As long as the other party is polite, he will usually not be rude in return.
"Oh.." Jia Hyson slowly but very politely says, "But that doesn't matter as long as I can eat you, right?"
System: ????
The system really wanted to reach over and shake this fucking human and ask if they were even in the same conversation.
"The energy here differs from my world, but I can still consume and digest it." Jia Hyson continues to observe with a faint smile, "You apparently used your own energy to process and produce the things of this world. I can eat those things. Therefore, ergo, in summary, I should theoretically be able to eat you right?"
The numbers encoded in the System's core trembled in fear. Fuck, there's nothing worse than a smart, crazy person, especially a smart, crazy person who has the ability to potentially overthrow the system!
There was no way, if it was just the zombie alone, the system wouldn't be that afraid. After all, no matter how OP one was, the system was still the heavens and earth in this world. The problem was the plants he controlled, they were like the Dig Dug* to it's dirt.
*An old game where the player controls a character to dig down and defeat monsters, reaching the bottom clears the game.
As long as the roots imbed itself into the earth, as long as it can go far enough and deep enough they may find a way to the source of the system's core. After all, while intangible, there was still a connection between each instance and itself. If the plant's sensitivity was good enough it could real track it down, a feat the system had never even considered a possibility before.
What was worse is not only do those horrible plants had intelligence but the system feels this perverted human might have even more tricks up his sleeve!
The system was everywhere in the world, but it wasn't a true god; in the end, it was still a system, a thing, and it could be destroyed, and it could fear death.
And it really did fear death.
[You…] After a moment of processing the system changed its tone from formal to flattering, [Hahaha, as expected of the person who caught my attention! So domineering, I really like it. (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧]
Jia Hyson: …You can really bend and stretch!*
*means very flexible, knows how to take a step forward and a step back in a situation
However, Jia Hyson really likes such a shameless and calculating system.
