4 Chapter 4 - A dragon, rotten luck again, and the consequences of being a bit cautious
Using my rat body, I started looking around in what seemed a larger tunnel or a cavern.
That humongous thing at the center of this cavern seems like a fantasy lizard sort of thing, or even a dragon.
'Please don't notice me, please don't notice me…', I found myself thinking about that continuously.
I moved Rat-Two until it reached a pile of dead bodies, then I made sure four bodies of mine… From Seven to Ten maybe?... Started hiding in that pile. I sneakily tried to move to another pile of herbs not far from there, while many messages started piling in my mind.
[SOURCE OF MUTATION DETECTED.
DO YOU WANT TO ACTIVATE "MYSTERIOUS ABSORPTION"? (YES/NO)]
[SOURCE OF MUTATION DETECTED.
DO YOU WANT TO ACTIVATE "MYSTERIOUS ABSORPTION"? (YES/NO)]
[SOURCE OF MUTATION DETECTED.
DO YOU WANT TO ACTIVATE "MYSTERIOUS ABSORPTION"? (YES/NO)]…
'ARS, automatically accept any new source of mutation from dead bodies'.
[OPTION IS AVAILABLE. ESTIMATED TIME FOR ABSORPTION: 3645 SECONDS]
'It's a lot of time, but better than nothing', I thought.
Before I managed to get to the herbs pile, though, a raw, deep and arrogant voice resounded in my mind and the whole cavern.
"Who's there? Who dares disturb my sleep?"
It was the lizard-thing.
DAMMIT.
Before I could think of any escape plan, my "main body" got blown away by a horrendously cold breath attack from that creature.
[HOST IS EXPERIENCING A DETRIMENTAL ENVIRONMENT. EXTREME ADAPTABILITY AUTOMATICALLY ACTIVATED. ESTIMATED TIME FOR ADAPTATION…
COLLECTING DATA…
2000 SECONDS… 1997 SECONDS…]
'Ouch! Ouch! It hurts!'
In mere seconds, 5 of my bodies disintegrated under the effect of that breath attack.
Fortunately, "I" wasn't completely there.
I just couldn't help but shiver internally at the thought of having almost died like that.
That bit of prudence was the silver lining between life and death.
I learned the hard way that having all the bodies in the same place was a bad decision!
'ARS, show me my stats'.
[CALCULATING…
BASED ON HOST'S KNOWLEDGE, THESE ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS:
SPECIES: DEVA SWARM CRITTER – ???
STRENGTH 3 (1.3+2)
DEXTERITY 6 (1.6+5)
TOUGHNESS 2 (1.1+1)
INTELLIGENCE 11 (10.2+1)
WISDOM 11 (10.3+1)
CHARISMA 2 (1.1+1)
LUCK 31 (30+1)
MANA 31 (30.4+1)
LIFE FORCE 5/23 (13+10)
SPECIAL FEATURES EXTREME ADAPTABILITY, HIVE MIND, MYSTERIOUS
ABSORPTION, KARMIC FLAME EMBER.
COLD RESISTANCE IN 1994 SECONDS.
DUE TO SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES, INTELLIGENCE AND WISDOM, AND MANA ARE ABOVE AVERAGE.]
'Huh?'
'I have half the bodies, but I didn't notice the characteristics got summed up.'
Now I have four bodies in the pile and one body on the left side of the tunnel.
I quickly decided to mutate Three as a Rat, and got it explore the left side of tunnel. Meanwhile, each of the other four bodies were absorbing a new source of mutation.
'ARS, how can I regain the bodies killed?'
[COLLECTING DATA…
NEW BODIES EXPECTED TO SPONTANEOUSLY PRODUCE EVERY 360 SECONDS IF HOST HAS ENOUGH LFP AND MANA]
'So one every hour. Not so bad. And how much mana is necessary to regain one body?'
[COLLECTING DATA…
30 MANA NECESSARY FOR ONE BODY]
'Interesting… How much mana do I regenerate per minute?'
[COLLECTING DATA… 1.1 MANA POINTS REGENERATED PER MINUTE]
'Hm, so it's either linked to Intelligence or Wisdom…'
While I was talking to myself and asking to ARS, Three arrived at another larger tunnel.
This time, quite darker, and full of colorful crystals.
I approached them, very curious.
[SOURCE OF MUTATION DETECTED.
DO YOU WANT TO ACTIVATE "MYSTERIOUS ABSORPTION"? (YES/NO)]
'Oh? So I can also absorb minerals in this way…?'
[COLLECTING DATA…
USING HOST'S KNOWLEDGE, IT IS POSSIBLE TO EXPLAIN WHY THESE OBJECTS REFERRED BY HOST AS "CRYSTALS" OR "MINERALS" CAN BE ABSORBED. ALTHOUGH, IT WILL REQUIRE 783237872 SECONDS]
'… Yeah, no thanks. I'll just go with the flow. Yes, absorb them'
Instead of getting a new body type, though, absorbing these things caused different effects.
There were mainly yellow, azure and red crystals.
[ACQUIRED 170% ELECTRIC RESISTANCE, 130% WATER RESISTANCE AND 120% FIRE RESISTANCE.
COLLECTING DATA…
CALCULATING…
COMBINING COLD AND WATER RESISTANCE IS POSSIBLE.
TO ACQUIRE COLD RESISTANCE, 194 SECONDS ARE NOW NECESSARY]
'Huh, quite interesting. And less painful', I thought.
After that, I didn't feel very hungry, probably because even those crystal things counted as "food" for me, or also because I was absorbing four bodies.
I rested, waiting for the other four to complete their development, and maybe to generate in the meantime another body or two. Or even all of them.
---
Three hours later, I regenerated three bodies; I decided to grow them from Three's body. It was a more prudent decision, for me.
Then, I decided to move all of them together, looking for other branches in that tunnel. There were still some, after the "chamber of crystals". Two ramifications, so I decided to send One and Two on the left side and Three and Four on the right side.
After what seemed like another half an hour, One and Two arrived in a larger, darker tunnel, with heavy, humid air. They looked on the left and the right side at the same time, then I decided to move One on the left side, leaving Two on the smaller tunnel.
At more or less the same time, the small tunnel where Three and Four were walking started becoming colder and colder. At the end of that tunnel, it was so cold they both started shivering as an automatic reaction.
[HOST IS EXPERIENCING A DETRIMENTAL ENVIRONMENT. EXTREME ADAPTABILITY AUTOMATICALLY ACTIVATED. ESTIMATED TIME FOR ADAPTATION…
194 SECONDS… 192 SECONDS…]
'Brrrrrr! I-It's too c-c-c-cold here!'
'Show me the status, but just the LFP, MP, skills and resistances'
[CALCULATING…
BASED ON HOST'S KNOWLEDGE, THESE ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS:
MANA 31 (30.4+1)
LIFE FORCE 15/23 (13+10)
SPECIAL FEATURES EXTREME ADAPTABILITY, HIVE MIND, MYSTERIOUS
ABSORPTION, KARMIC FLAME EMBER.
170% ELECTRIC RESISTANCE
130% WATER RESISTANCE
120% FIRE RESISTANCE
COLD RESISTANCE IN 186 SECONDS.]
'I can't stand it anymore! Too cold!'
I swiftly moved Three and Four in a warmer place of the tunnel, and the countdown to acquire cold resistance stopped. My double shivering stopped too.
I checked my LF points and they dropped to 11. Not good.
I had a bit more than three minutes to endure and in less than ten seconds I lost 4 LF points.
I had to wait.
'Hey, ARS, do I have something like Life force regeneration?'
[CALCULATING…
BASED ON HOST'S KNOWLEDGE AND DATA, THERE IS A PHENOMENON THAT CAN BE CALLED "LIFE FORCE REGENERATION".
THIS PHENOMENON GENERATED 0.1 LFP PER MINUTE]
'Ugh. So I have to wait for more or less seven minutes to regain 4 LFP, but I lose them in less than ten seconds…'
'ARS, can you explain me how this phenomenon generates LFP?'
[COLLECTING DATA…
USING HOST'S KNOWLEDGE, IT IS POSSIBLE TO EXPLAIN HOW THIS PHENOMENON GENERATES LFP. ALTHOUGH, IT WILL REQUIRE 871 SECONDS]
'… Well, I have time. Please explain me'.
...
After a few minutes, I understood that some form of energy was in the air, and my bodies could slowly absorb this energy to regain LFP. It was the same for MP actually. Although, being LFP linked to biological functions too, this process was way less efficient.
'Is there a way to make this regeneration more efficient?'
[CALCULATING…
IT IS POSSIBLE TO INDUCE THE CONVERSION OF LFP AND MP IN JUST LFP OR JUST MP.
HOWEVER, THE EFFICIENCY OF THE PROCESS IS REDUCED.
IT'S 94% POSSIBLE THAT THE REGENERATION RATE OF ONLY LFP IS 0.8 AND ONLY MP IS 2.5]
'Hmmm. Interesting. Can you control the ratio of LFP and MP so that when MP is full I acquire only LFP, but if my LFP goes under 5 it will automatically go to LFP until I get at least 10 LFP?'
[AFFIRMATIVE.
DO YOU WANT TO BUILD THE SKILL "SWITCH REGENERATION"? YES/NO]
'Wait? Can I build skills?'
[AFFIRMATIVE.
IT IS NECESSARY TO CONSTRUCT MODIFICATIONS OF ABILITIES YOU ALREADY HAVE, OR MIXING SKILLS IN CERTAIN RATIOS.
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO BUILD SKILLS WITHOUT ALREADY ACQUIRED SKILLS AND ABILITIES]
'Oh, I get it. Very interesting'.
Then, I rested with Two, Three and Four, and continued my exploration with One.
