Chapter 66 – Limbs and Things

Even the barrier between the Resh and Aarav that protected him from memories with some haze could not shield him from the feeling of utter horror at that encounter. The feeling of complete powerlessness in the face of certain death was not something he was planning to experience ever again. The fact that there were creatures like that in this world was something that he would use to drive himself forward.

Wow, thoughts went dark there for a second, but my sponsor didn't make an appearance though…my subconscious driving me forward again? I guess it…I would want to be motivated by something positive right?

This line of thinking made sense and once again Aarav felt the loneliness of having no one to bounce ideas off of. I will not fall down the same rabbit hole as I went through last time! He was looking forward to finding some allies at least, that way at the very least he would be able to speak to some people instead of just in his head.

He shook his pseudo-slime head to pull out of his troubling thoughts. He felt a chunk of flesh flop off his slimy body. The pigeon's heart had fallen to the tiles where the ribcage that was holding it in place had been eaten through…The gags came again and once more they were suppressed. Choking back the instinctual reaction he pointedly looked away and resolved not to look down under any circumstances. No matter what liquid squelching noises he heard.

Next were the various limbs he had acquired from doing the same disgusting thing he was doing now…absorbing the liquid and solids that made up the bodies of the creature he had killed. Hey, you've got to do what you've got to do, right? He couldn't help the queasiness and nauseous feeling that was creeping up on his from a non-existent stomach, which re-enforced that queasiness was a mental function. Damn brain, why do you always have to make everything so hard!?

Limbs

X Exp per Hour

Level

Exp

Next

Description

Limb

Earth and Sky Legs

21

1220

2050

Max Weight 3KG, +X% movement speed compared to normal.

Limb

A Fliers Wings

18

1502

1540

You can only fly for 3Xm each hour, consumes -0.1 Stamina per 3m of flight. Max 1KG. 1Exp per meter. 3X% faster than normal

Limb

Quad Worm Tails

16

109

1240

+X Reaction

Limb

Fins and Flippers

6

63

220

Max Weight 1KG, +X% movement speed compared to normal.

Limb

Tough Slime Skin

13

414

850

reduce damage by 0.2X%

Wings, Fins, Legs and Skin…what more could he possibly acquire? I mean that's everything covered right? Water, Earth, Air….only fire left…what would he even need for Fire. Those were the four principle elements in every book right? Light and dark and death…so many other that didn't fit in those categories though. Aarav was so confused with all of this. But there was no real disadvantage to having too many limbs right? That was especially true when he could retract them and manifest them at will.

With the newly acquired wings that he had gained the carrying capacity had increased but that also meant that if he wanted to continue to fly he would have to stay below a kilogram. These were the types of restrictions that were slowing him down. Otherwise it could spend like a month constantly consuming until he was a fat tub of slime and nothing else. Legs wouldn't work and wings wouldn't work and fins wouldn't work. No, that wasn't the best plan. He wasn't going to be a sitting duck so to speak. He would keep eating things to get those limbs stronger. What other option did he have? He really had nowhere else to go and nothing else to do.

Aarav was just about to look at the next section when he noticed something off in the distance, four somethings actually. They were too far away to make out clearly him, further than seventy-odd metres was not hard to do. But with Piercing Eyes +1 he did have a better idea of larger objects far away. Right now they were four silhouetted shadows in the distance, mere smudges on the otherwise breath taking sunset of reds, oranges and yellows. Aarav had missed seeing the colours of the sunset, sitting quietly in the park or woods and enjoying nature's beautiful offering.

As they gradually got closer, the blurs grew larger until it was possible to see some movement in the shadow. It…looked like wings? And some sort of bobble on top and a mass between each pair of moving parts, those moving things have to be wings right? What else could they be? They came closer still and then the bobbles on top formed into what looked like the top half of a humanoid. The bottom half resolved into something like horse legs, four of them. Wait! Are those centaurs? This world has centaurs? That is so cool! This is an unprecedented experience. Okay I take back all of my misery and unhappiness, those or freaking centaurs! I am suitably impressed. No more than impressed, this is myth and legend coming to life before my eyes!

Aarav excitedly waited for them to get closer, I mean their pseudo-humanoid, I'm pseudo-humanoid, we could be friends right? My ticket out of obscurity! I mean…my ticket to knowledge and betterment! That's what I meant. As they drew closer it quickly became apparent that it was actually four riders on four mounts.

The humans on the rides were pretty lame; boring humans who hadn't seen one of those? The mounts though…now those were something to look at. They were clearly Gryphons, front half eagle, back half lion. It was incredible. Even though he had been excited about centaurs, this was no less impressive or exciting. As a dabbler in the fantastic back in the home world, he knew what a gryphon was and it was insane that what mythology and story had created in books had become prevalent throughout fantasy lore was something that existed in another world! Was there some tie between Earth and this place? According to his Consuming Blorenar Talent, this world was called Borenar. Weird name but whatever, no weirder than Earth or Terra as the old world had been known.

The mythical beasts gently landed, one with considerably more excitement than the rest as the rider seemed to be especially excited with the prospect of riding. Aarav couldn't blame him, what he wouldn't give to be riding a Gryphon! I mean, it was a Gryphon! Alighting in the village green they just walked the gryphon…gryphons? No it is definitely gryphon for plural. They walked their mounts toward the line to secure them one villager had come out of the inn earlier and watched them land. He seemed to know the group from his gestures. Aarav couldn't see well, they were still outside his seventy metre range. They seemed to be having some banter from the arm movements and the words coming from them. He could hear them a little. He could understand them even less though. The language was lost on his thus far.

The one big man, perhaps the second largest of the lot walked into the inn in a huff then stormed out a few minutes later to the obvious laughter of the rest of the group. Aarav chuckled quietly to himself as well; they looked like a fun bunch. He had been reprimanded by someone instead and everyone else had been expecting it. Aarav thought about anyone he had had a similar relationship with but came up blank. This would be a good crew to hang out with…once he was human, obviously. Otherwise they would probably end up killing him and harvesting his organs or something. It was hunt or be hunted world after all. He couldn't find it in him to blame them for the action.

A few minutes later the group had entered the tavern having tied their gryphon outside where the mounts were kept. Aarav couldn't help himself. He had to get a closer look at the gryphon. He had never seen one before and these just looked magnificent. He was almost done with Consuming the pigeons, after which he had every intention of getting a closer look at these myths.

It was made more exciting by the fact that from his perch on the roof he could clear make out their shape but not features. A few more minutes later he finished the last of the pigeons and was getting ready to lift off before he realised that he was way too large almost 1.8kg. Close to double the maximum capability of his current set of wings. He hungrily eyed the wings of the gryphon. Could he? Dare he? They were too large though, it would take too long to consume them and besides, there was no way he was going to be able to kill those huge things; they might as well be buildings…or humans. Oh well….I can still have a look….right?