Twelve Years in the Dunes(1)
[Time remaining: 99,903 hrs]
Approximately four days had passed since my fight with the Minotaur. It took some time to consume the creature in its entirety, more so for the humongous dinosaur carcass that was left behind.
After devouring such ridiculous amounts of meat, the hunger only intensified and it felt like I was losing my mind again. I struggled to regain control over my body, resisting the bottomless voracity that gnawed even at my sanity.
And finally, I was now able to occasionally stop myself from bursting into a mad dash every time I caught the scent of any living creature. It gave me some time to assess my current situation.
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Challenger: Doma Curtis
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Strength: 10 (+8), (+50% Boost) ≈ 27pts
Stamina: 10 (+6), (+50% Boost) ≈ 24pts
Intelligence: 14pts
Spirit: 13 (+2), (+6) ≈ 21pts
Talent: 18 (+10) ≈ 28pts
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Units: (+15) (+25)
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Power(s):
- [Indomitable]
> 'High Adaptability' attribute is passively activated.
> 'Strength Boost' attribute is applied.
> 'Stamina Boost' attribute is applied.
- [Monarch of The 8th Sin; True Successor]
> 'The Scarecrow's Lust' attribute is passively activated due to the special attribute "True Successor".
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There were many things that I wanted to point out.
First was why I was recognized as a 'Cheater' by the system even though the fault was on their part, technically. That higher-entity thing forced me to be his successor which ended up in me ending up in this sh*thole.
100, 000 hours. If I did the math correctly then that would be about 12 years, give or take. Just thinking about not being there to protect my dear daughter was enough to depress the hell out of me and send me back into a blind rampage.
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[Time remaining: 99, 759 hrs]
The next time that I regained consciousness, over 6 days had gone by. This time I woke up with my mouth full of the innards. The texture was disgusting but the bloody juices suited this body's choice of taste and it was delectable, to say the least.
Around me were the remains of vaguely humanoid creatures of strangely unbalanced proportions and grayish skin. Their limbs were quite short contrary to their height, standing close to 3 meters tall which was about as tall as I was in the present.
[You have conquered an Orc Den! Bonus Units have been awarded.]
I was inside an earthen den shaped like a mound, conveniently enough. The only downside right now was that I had not one clue of where I was.
My 'Stats' had gone up even further this time around and I had acquired quite a lot of Units while everything else was still the same.
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Strength: 23 (+7), (+50% Boost) ≈ 28pts
(Forced Limit)
Stamina: 21 (+4), (+50% Boost) ≈ 28pts
(Forced Limit)
Intelligence: 16 (+1) = 17pts
Spirit: 24pts
Talent: 28pts
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Units: 40 (+8), (+9), (+12), (+10), (+10), (+7), (+16), (+4), (+9), (+10), (+5), (+5), (+5), (+11), (+9), (+6), (+12), (+10) = 148
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I trembled. Each of those additions was a kill, I knew for sure. That minotaur was about 20 units worth so I mustn't have fought with anything as dangerous, thankfully.
My capacity for murder was much worse than I thought, but I didn't care.
I was more worried that I couldn't talk in this body; weird hissing noises came out instead of language.
'Forced Limit?' I tapped the red label curiously, an explanation popping out.
[You have reached the limits of your Talent!]
[Invest more units into 'Talent' to increase your limits!]
This gave me an idea of how this game was supposed to go.
'Invest 20 Units into 'Talent'.' I commanded, hoping that a mental request was sufficient.
[Confirm investing 20 Units into 'Talent'?(Y/N)]
'Yes.' I sighed in relief.
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[You have invested 20 Units into 'Talent'!]
Units: 148 (-20) = 128
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Talent: 28 (+20) = 48pts
Strength: 30 (+50% Boost) ≈ 45pts
Stamina: 25 (+50% Boost) ≈ 38pts
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Maybe it was due to the large increase in points, but I could almost feel my muscles becoming denser and stronger whilst I felt refreshed as my body seemed to get lighter.
Then I noticed something. The left-arm that I had lost before was good as new. I tried to look for scars under the cloth-like scales, not a scratch. Did it regrow or reattach? I had no idea, but I'm glad I wasn't missing a limb anymore.
Now that I recall that fight, I remembered that I now had acidic blood. That was probably developed at the same time my body was 'adapting'.
'All I'm missing is a long head and a tail and voila. I'm a fucking xen*morph.'
A/N: Shut up! You're gonna get me sued.
I wondered whether this 'High Adaptability' attribute followed Darwinian evolution or something more fictional. Whatever it is though, I'm glad I picked it.
I'd be dead by now if I chose anything else.
As I further observed, I took note of a few things about my new body. I wasn't as skinny as before but I was still lanky. The scales covered every part of me, all jet-black with bluish edges that danced in the wind.
I didn't have a nose or an ear but my senses way more fine-tuned than a human's. I was worried for a second because my genitals were absent; but thinking about it, I didn't have to pee or take a dump anymore which was sort of an achievement.
On the other hand, one creepy detail that disturbed me was that my mouth reached up to where my ears would be and razor-sharp teeth lined even the inner walls like a shredder. It allowed me to eat without having to worry about my victim's size.
'...why would I even adapt this trait?' I thought for a second, shrugging. That wasn't important right now and besides, it worked in my favor.
Looking around, this place was quite a decent if one disregarded the pungent smell of blood, guts, and excretions. Multiple cavities were carved out on the side of the walls, most likely used as beds by the 'Orcs'.
The settlement didn't reflect much of a sophisticated culture and could be considered more to be structured from the stone age. However, this place could serve as the foundation of my base during my stay here in this hellhole.
Yet as always, my misfortune didn't want to be forgotten.
[The stage will be renewed in: 0:27s]
[Stage difficulty will be increased!]
Perhaps it was due to my depression but I truly was out of control in the six days that went by, thus I had no clue as to what had transpired in those days. I was on auto-pilot, or auto-murder would be more accurate.
'I must've turned into a monster.' I thought. Just thinking about how I could've died due to my stupidity made me angry at myself.
'I must maintain control. The more I learn about this killer game, the better I'll be able to protect Alva!'
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[Time remaining: 99, 699 hrs]
As the message stated, the stage was renewed. I blinked, the Orc Den was gone and I was now surrounded by a sea of metallic conifers.
[Scorching Dunes of Endlessness - Stage 4]
I was overwhelmed by the ridiculously sharp spines of the plants around me, wounding me several times.
The way it disregarded my scales and acidic blood was annoying. But getting pricked over and over again by those jagged needles was what tested my patience, to the point where even my spirit leveled up.
Not long after, I met the also horrible residents of this jungle.
Bulletoids.
They were pangolins the size of an adult man mixed with the patience and stupidity of a rhino and scales of the same material that made up the conifers.
They were troublesome individually, launching themselves at me and curving up into a literal wrecking ball. One was barely manageable in this environment but an entire herd beat me black, blue, and bloody.
It took a long time before I finally exterminated the bastards with the cost of investing all my Units into Talent and Strength. It was refreshing to see the pests explode after coming in contact with my fists.
But thanks to this struggle, I was made aware of my regenerative and adaptive capabilities and the existence of stages. Each stage evolved according to my stats and targeted my weaknesses, with this one going for the durability of my body. Eating those Bulletoids led to me developing reinforced bones and scales.
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[Time remaining: 99, 267]
The following two stages nearly killed me. Stage 5, the Slime Swamp, and Stage 8, the Grudges.
I was thrown directly in the middle of a lake of living acid. It tried to drown me once it realized that I was melting slower thanks to my acidic nature and regeneration. The slime was impervious to physical attacks and thus I had to find another way fast.
Five days go by and I was still trying to save myself from drowning.
It seems that I could influence my body's adaptivity attribute to a certain extent as I was able to synergize my blood to become as acidic as the slime. This led to me evolving my scales and regeneration even further; even creating a layer over my face that served as a helm to protect my eyes.
But despite all these improvements, I couldn't break free of the gelatinous constraints. I was close to exhausting my Units too. I lost control of my hunger for a bit but after devouring the jelly around me I managed to regain focus.
The thought of eating my way through to shore did cross my mind before but there was no guarantee that I would clear this stage by going to safety. Nevertheless, safety was still the priority.
As I painstakingly munched over and over whilst fighting off the tentacles that kept pulling me down, a stroke of genius finally hit me.
'If my guess is correct, then I could very well clear this stage in one go with a gamble. And if I'm mistaken...I'll die without a doubt.'
Before proceeding with my plan, I made sure to gobble up as much jelly as I could before letting myself be taken by the slimy appendages.
'Endure. I have to endure. Just a bit more...!'
The deeper I was pulled down, the higher the acid's concentration became, and the faster my body began to melt.
'...there!' after reaching what I could only presume as the bottom, most of my scales had already been dissolved. I was getting digested faster than I had expected.
But that didn't matter anymore.
I struggled to get closer to my target, step by step into the creature's core. And when I was finally able to touch the crystalline exterior, my plan commenced.
Thermoregulation.
In the time I spent trying to break free and survive this nightmare, my control over the changes that occurred on my body strengthened enough for me to grasp the handle over bodily temperature.
Near instantaneously, the scorching heat that I emitted vaporized the gelatinous material and revealed the humongous slime core.
After that, all I had to do was ravage the core into pieces.
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[You have slain 'Geluga the Acid Pit', an S-grade Slime!]
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[You have a chance of inheriting one of the Mob's attributes!]
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[Choose an Attribute!]
1. Crystal Clear (A-Grade) - Intelligence Boost
2. Toxicity (B-Grade) - Acid Secretion Ability
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And so I acquired the much-needed intelligence boost and a new section in the system panels, the 'Personal Attributes'.
On the other hand, the great increase in Intelligence was quite literal on one side, highly enhancing my memory and mental strength; and more fantastical on the other.
[You have begun to notice the existence of Magicules in the air!]
Indeed. Though extremely minute, I could now sense something that I couldn't quite describe; like it had always been there before and I just couldn't notice.
Like we can feel the air, this element was also tangible but it was hard to grasp.
Before I could further explore this new sense, the overwhelming hungry had once again started to strain heavily at my mind. To produce that much heat through thermoregulation, I had to consume a lot of bodily mass; depleting nearly half of all the nutrients that this body had accumulated till now.
I helplessly lost consciousness at the time, waking up in the middle of stage 8.
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