A Taste of Fear

"This is a joke now."

Tending the field for the young man became easier.

<The best part, though, is that I don't lose consciousness anymore.>

Yet Erik didn't have that much mana, and he still got tired. But as things were now, since the scale of how many things he was able to grow severely increased, Erik might be able to decrease his food expenses a little or to eat healthier.

<I need to put some of the plants home, or at least near. A couple potatoes, basil. I might plant a fruit trees in building's small garden…>

With this ability, Erik would never starve, and if he bought a field, he could live off farming.

<It would not be so bad…>

Erik felt grateful to the Biological supercomputer for the opportunity he'd received. Reluctantly, he acknowledged that his father also deserved some credit.

Maybe his future wasn't as bleak as he thought, regardless if he turned powerful or not. However, the problem didn't lay in what he did after his military years, but during.

"Erik, go collect the carrots!"

Mister Fox's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Yes, sir!"

Though it was weird. The man was acting as if he had noticed nothing. <It's impossible to find it weird that I can do so much now…>

…

…

…

Erik did as instructed. Actually, the carrots looked tastier than usual.

"Mister Fox, I've finished collecting the carrots. Where should I put the last batch?" Erik asked.

"Put them there," Mister Fox said. He sounded tired.

Erik quickly put away the carrots.

"Here is your daily pay," Mister Fox said, handing 20 new dollars to the kid.

<Mother 20 fucker… New Dollars as usual. He might actually be trying to starve me!>

But the most likely reason for the low pay was that Mister Fox wanted to keep him tied to him.

Erik grabbed them, showing gratitude, and then went to wash and change. <One day, you will be the one working for me, old fart.>

He actually left the house, grabbing a bag of carrots and some apples from one of the sacks outside.

<Serves you well, old fucker.>

Erik couldn't wait to eat them. <Geez… these look good.>

"Don't forget to come tomorrow. Same time," Mr. Fox said. Erik hid the stolen vegetables hastily.

"Uh… Yes! Yes! Don't worry!" Erik said. Mr. Fox gave him a bad look, pretending not to see the small bag behind Erik. He knew Erik stole his stuff here and there, but he didn't mind.

After all, the young man significantly boosted his profits. What harm could a few new dollars' worth of produce do?

The young man left the house and stepped outside. He looked up at the sky. The sun was going down, and a few stars were already visible. The brightest stars shone in the middle of the sky. The moon was starting to appear on the horizon, its soft light beginning to show.

The sound of wheat rustling in the wind disturbed his thoughts, and he started heading home.

…

…

…

<What can I do with apples? Mhm… Maybe meat? heard some people cook chicken apples; maybe should try…> He kept walking.

…

…

…

The sound of rustling vegetation became stronger.

Erik turned toward the source, Mister Fox's wheat field, but saw nothing noteworthy.

<It must have been the wind…> In truth, Erik luckily glanced around because he caught something moving in the foliage.

"Huh?!"

Something small but fast was approaching. It looked like a small rodent to Erik, but...

"There are no rats in New Alexandria."

Two sharp fangs popped out of the wheat field.

Then he recognized the creature.

The creature set its eyes on him and then started running toward him.

"SHIT!"

Dread filled the young man, as that was a Thaid.

[Warning. Hostile Detected.]

Then a window appeared before Erik.

—EMERGENCY QUEST—

<Quest Name: 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: Survive a sudden encounter with a hostile creature. Choose between fighting for your life or fleeing to safety. Your quick thinking and actions will determine your fate.

—END—

"FUCK!"

Erik was panicking at that point. He had fought nothing in his life, and for sure not a thaid.

<What do I do?> The Thaid kept getting closer.

Erik thought quickly and used one of the Biological Supercomputer's abilities to examine the creature.

"Analysis!"

Another window appeared before his eyes.

—Analysis—

Species: Unknown (more information is required).

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: 15

-Approximate Strength: 8

-Approximate Intelligence: 3

-Approximate dexterity: 7

-Approximate Energy: 20

—END—

Erik turned his back on the creature. That thing was stronger than him in every sense. It had more strength than him; it was relatively intelligent and had a much greater dexterity than him. It also had much more mana than he had. There was basically no way for him to kill that thing.

But the beast kept chasing him, quickly showing him that fleeing was even more futile than trying to run.

In a couple of seconds, the monster was right behind him.

"HELP!"

Just as he finally got a chance at making his life better, he was going to die.

<It's not fair!>

He kept running, but the monster got closer.

"Help me! Please help!!"

He tried to attract as many people as he could, but the houses were too distant.

At that point, all those days being bullied and beaten suddenly became nothing. Being eaten alive was certainly worse than getting beaten up, even if daily.

However, as hate and fury surged through the young man's body, something snapped inside of Erik. He wasn't going to go down without a fight. He still got a chance.

While running, Erik gave a look at what he was holding.

<There are apples there.>

Erik didn't know if that was going to work, but the Thaid didn't look strong enough to resist something like that.

At some point, Erik almost reached Mr. Fox's house. The thaid leaped into the air, its teeth ready to rip open his flesh. It attacked, aiming for Erik's back neck.

"MOTHERFUCKER!" Erik turned to face the monster. It was mid-air, jaws open.

"EAT THIS!" he said, throwing the bag of produce in his hands. Erik channeled all his mana into the apples. There were seeds in it, and while Erik didn't know if he would hit the monster or if the seeds would grow enough to turn into trees, trying was still better than doing nothing.

While the thaid was still in midair, the energy hit an apple, and trees started growing at astonishing speed from the seeds.

However, Erik got drained.

The trees grew quickly and became huge. They flew as if thrown by a giant.

The massive tree trunks flew like bullets towards the thaid. The creature had no chance to dodge. With a loud crash, the trees slammed into the beast, crushing 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?"

Thirty experience points were a lot.

[Quest Complete. 100 experience points and 40 DNA points awarded to the host.]

[Level Up.]

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

[The host is advised to collect the creature's brain crystal and a sample of blood.]

"Wait, why?"

Erik was still scared and confused about what had just happened. But then he remembered what the computer had said some time before about collecting these things.

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 killing enemies and make it his. You should not hesitate.]

Erik remembered asking the system about his new ability before going to bed the previous night. At first, Erik couldn't believe it.

This kind of power seemed too amazing to be real. It went against everything he knew about how brain crystals worked.

However, the AI was actually serious about this.

<I thought something like this was going to happen when I entered the military.>

Yet it already did.

Erik faced a problem.

<How should I explain this?>

Getting a new power wasn't exactly normal.

<Maybe I can hide it, but what would be the point of having multiple powers just to them?>

It was indeed true, yet it was dangerous. The problem was that this was Erik's chance to really make the bullying stop once and for all.

<Besides, it's not like there isn't a solution for this…>

There was something that could give Erik justification for all of this. <I need to think about it well before doing anything rush…>

Then, sounds made Erik turn back to reality.

<I need to get them!>

He ran to the beast's corpse.

"What do I have to do exactly?"

[Eat the brain crystal and drink the creature's blood.]

Erik grabbed the body, or what remained of it. It was disgusting to look at the creature in that state. It was more of a paste than a body. Everything was reduced to mush, and its organs scattered through the ground.

Erik 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.