Eating The Seed Again

[The sloth suddenly comes barreling towards you. You throw your spear at it, attempting to distract it. As it leaps out of the way, you explode towards it with your quickest punch.]

Lem's simulated self dropped his spear and punched out in a blur.

He felt the brief moment when his knuckles met the furry shoulder of the sloth, carrying the vibration force into the hard, tough skin beneath…

BANG!

The arm was instantly deformed and cut beneath his fist. All of the tyrant sloth's insides were rattled.

Lem's body was sent flying backwards, but he somehow managed to land on his feet.

He watched as the tyrant sloth was launched in the opposite direction. It was dead as it impacted the ground.

His punch was less explosive than the first time he had killed the sloth, but this was purposeful.

Lem's simulated self remembered how easily it had been before, so he had shifted his focus towards control and speed.

As a result, the bruising on his knuckles was also far less severe.

[Your fist comes in contact with the tyrant sloth's arm and makes a loud sound. The arm deforms and you are launched backwards, while the tyrant sloth is sent flying through air.]

Lem was unable to make any meaningful observations. 

The fight was too short, and there was too little pressure being exerted on his simulated self to produce any breakthroughs.

Despite this, he was still happy.

From the performance of his simulated self, he could see his experiences in prior simulations were bearing fruit.

The first time, he had killed the tyrant sloth without any serious injuries, but it had been nerve-wracking.

This time, the entire fight had been smooth. He had hardly exerted himself.

Lem's simulated self ran forward, casting a brief glance aside at the sloth.

Motionless.

He continued over to the general area where he remembered finding the seed.

[You land on your feet and run forward. You make sure that the sloth is dead, before running over to where it had been standing.

You immediately feel the pleasant sensation that you recognize as ambient spiritual energy, and you follow it to find the saturated patch of ground. Without hesitating, you dig out the small spiritual seed.]

Seeing the dirty seed in his palm, Lem's simulated self felt the urge to stuff it in his mouth and devour it, but he was prepared.

Lem did not know exactly what was going through the mind of his simulated self but he felt an enormous conflict emerge in his body.

Both Lem and his simulated self remembered the danger he had been in the last time he had eaten the seed.

Lem guessed that he was fixating on that memory.

He felt nervous, as he saw his simulated self struggle.

The next few moments had the potential to ruin the current simulation if they were handled improperly.

Lem's simulated self exerted all of his discipline as he attempted to break the seed into two portions. That way, he could eat it in parts and lower the danger.

However, no matter how many times he tried, his fingers only slipped off of the seed. When he used his knife he had the same problem.

Lem could feel the patience in his body was wearing out.

He just wanted to shove the whole seed into his mouth immediately!

Lem's simulated self lost the battle and finally gave in.

He put the seed to his lips. With his last shred of self control, he made sure to only bite off a part of the seed.

Crunch.

Lem's simulated self swallowed greedily.

[You try to break the seed in half with your hands, but it is too difficult. You take a bite out of the seed, leaving slightly more than half remaining.

The seed has a strange flavor, but you can only taste it for a moment before an overwhelming amount of spiritual energy floods through your body. You feel something in between euphoria and terror.]