18 What did you just say?
While Erik worked in the field, he could see how much easier it had become to make the plants grow. Besides, the scale of how many things he was able to produce severely increased. His birth brain crystal power appeared to be stronger than he assumed.
With this ability, it appeared he would never starve, and if he managed to acquire a field, he could live off farming.
Maybe his future wasn't as bleak as he thought. However, the problem didn't lay in what he did AFTER his military years, but DURING.
Despite this, he felt grateful to the Biological supercomputer for the opportunity he received. Still, he reluctantly agreed that it was also his father's merit.
"Erik, go collect the carrots!"
Mister Fox's voice interrupted him while admiring his work in one corner of the field. Erik wondered why the older man didn't say anything to him. He found it weird he didn't notice the difference in his power.
"Yes, sir. I'm going!" Erik said with a slight tint of annoyance to the old man's commanding tone.
He then ran towards the vegetables, picking up each carrot carefully. The field where the carrots were planted looked magical. The plants became massive as they grew faster than any vegetable before he got the biological supercomputer.
He was eager to try them, too, so he asked Mister Fox a couple of them to see how they tasted. It took a lot of work, but he eventually finished gathering all the carrots.
"Mister Fox? I just finished collecting the carrots. Where do I put the last ones?"
"Put them there," Mister Fox said. His voice sounded tired. He was old now, and doing all that work was not simple.
The young man ran to put away the carrots and then went to Mister Fox's house. His hands were dirty from doing manual labor. After washing off his sweat and dirt, he came downstairs to find Mister Fox sitting at the table.
"Here is your daily pay," Mister Fox said while handing 20 new dollars to the kid. Erik grabbed them with gratitude and then went to change.
He left the house, grabbing a bag of carrots and some apples Mister Fox gave him.
"Don't forget to come tomorrow. Same time," the man said while Erik was walking out.
"Yes, don't worry!" Erik said.
The door closed behind the young man; he stood outside, looking at the sky. The sun was already setting, painting everything in red hues. A few stars were already visible in the middle of the sky, the brightest ones and the moon was starting to shine brightly over the horizon. This image gave Erik a lot to think about. They ranged from love to friendship, family, and life.
The sound of wheat rustling disturbed his thoughts. The sound was unnatural. Erik turned toward the source, Mister Fox's wheat field, but didn't see anything noteworthy.
"It must have been the wind," the young man said.
Then his eyes caught sight of something moving through the fields. Something small and fast. "Huh?!"
Erik then saw a small rodent's head with sharp fangs pop up from the wheat field. Erik realized it was about to run straight toward him when he saw the creature turn in his direction.
Initially, the young man couldn't recognize that creature, as it looked like a big rat, but a thought came to his mind. There were no rats in New Alexandria. Dread filled the young man, as that was a Thaid.
[WARNING. HOSTILE DETECTED.]
Then a window appeared in Erik's eyes.
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<Emergency quest: Survival>
-Rewards for completion: A hundred experience points for killing the creature; Fifty experience points for escaping the creature. Forty DNA points in either case.
-Failure Penalty: Death.
-Description: Kill or escape the unknown creature.
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"FUCK!" Erik shouted back at the system. The young man was panicking. It was the first time he found himself in such a situation.
However, his quick thinking made it so he could assess the creature using one of the Biological Supercomputer's powers.
"Analysis," the young man shouted, and another window appeared before his eyes.
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- Species: Unknown.
- Brain crystal power: Unknown.
-Dimension: Approximately fifty centimeters long and thirty centimeters tall.
-Description: The beast has two sharp fangs and resembles a rat. The host is advised not to be bitten by the creature as mana surrounds the creature's teeth.
-Power Level: 5
-Approximate Strength: 2
-Approximate Intelligence: 1
-Approximate Dexterity: 2
-Approximate Energy: 8
...
...
…
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The beast jumped out of the field and started running in his direction. Fear spread inside Erik, who turned his back on the creature to flee, but the thing kept following him.
By any logic, the student should have been faster than the creature since his strength was higher, but biology played a bad joke on Erik: four legs were better than two.
The thaid was faster than Erik, and in a couple of seconds, it was right behind him.
"HELP!" the young man shouted. The thought of his untimely death scared him.
Was it possible that he would die now that his life was turning for the best? He was angry at life's unfairness.
"Help me! Please help!!" He screamed, trying to attract the other people's attention. But no one would help him, as he was too far from the closest house, Mister Fox's.
All those days of loneliness and anger seemed like nothing compared to being eaten alive by a thaid. That fear alone made the young man scream louder. However, hate and fury surged inside the young man's body besides the surging need for survival.
After some time walking, the thaid leaped into the air, landing atop the fence surrounding Mister Fox's property. The beast looked at the young man as if he was a succulent piece of meat. Its teeth were ready to rip open his flesh.
The creature stared at the young man for a few seconds, and then the thaid leaped again.
"MOTHERFUCKER!" Erik shouted.
With nowhere else to do, he threw the bag of carrots and apples Mister Fox gave him earlier. The fruits traveled through the air as missiles. He hoped that this action would give the beast some distraction. At least it might buy him another second, perhaps even more. However, deep inside his heart, he knew it was all futile, and he would die.
Then, as by instinct, Erik channeled mana into his neural link, and the usual electric feeling spread throughout his entire being.
Then, the young man released that mana, this time without physically touching any recipient.
While the thaid was still in mid-air, the energy hit an apple, and a tree started growing at astonishing speed from the seeds due to the sheer amount the kid pumped into it.
The tree became easily and rapidly massive, though it traveled in the air as if a giant had thrown it.
The apple had already been thrown, and the speed multiplied as the tree enlarged thanks to the mana the young man released.
The tree trunk traveled like a bullet toward the thaid, who could do nothing to avoid the humongous plant from reaching it. Then a loud noise spread in the surroundings since the trees hit the beast and buried it.
[HOSTILE CREATURE KILLED: MANA ABSORBING PROCESS STARTING.]
[0%...1%....5%...30%...70%...100%]
[MANA SUCCESSFULLY ABSORBED, STARTING CONVERTING PROCEDURE.]
[3...2...1...0]
[MANA SUCCESSFULLY ABSORBED INTO EXPERIENCE. 30 EXPERIENCE POINTS AWARDED TO THE HOST.]
"What?" Erik asked himself. "30 experience points?!"
[QUEST COMPLETE.]
Then the Biological supercomputer addressed Erik.
[THE HOST IS ADVISED TO COLLECT THE CREATURE'S BRAIN CRYSTAL AND A SAMPLE OF BLOOD.]
"Wait, why?" Erik asked the system, as he was still caught up in the fear and confusion, but then he recalled what the computer told him previously.
The Brain Crystal Power Extraction and DNA Extraction abilities worked this way. He needed to collect the brain crystal and the blood to use them. The reason was more impressive than its functioning was disgusting.
[AS ALREADY EXPLAINED TO THE HOST. IT IS POSSIBLE TO GAIN THE BRAIN CRYSTAL POWER OF KILLED ENEMIES AND MAKE IT HIS. YOU SHOULD NOT HESITATE.]
That's right. Before falling asleep, yesterday, Erik asked the system what the function he had unlocked did, and that was the system's reply. Initially, he found it hard to believe that since a power like this was heaven-defying, it was bound to shatter all notions of how brain crystals worked.
Besides, Erik thought his chance to get brain crystals would come only when he started his military service and dismissed the idea of getting more powers. Yet, by a strange twist of fate, he was now here with a dead Thaid in front of him.
However, a dilemma spread in Erik's mind: how to explain how he acquired such powers? He should have refrained from using them, but what was the point of having this power if he couldn't use it?
Though, there was a chance to take advantage of at least one of them in front of the others. The young man returned to reality and ran to the beast's corpse.
"What do I have to do exactly?"
[ANSWER: EAT THE BRAIN CRYSTAL AND DRINK THE CREATURE'S BLOOD, AND I WILL DO THE REST.]
Erik grabbed the body, or what remained of it. It was disgusting to look at the creature.
The corpse was reduced to mush, and its organs scattered through the ground.
He cleaned as best as possible, then gathered his courage and grabbed the creature's corpse. With the creature under his arms, he ran away from that place before anyone could see him.
