The hours bled together. Swing, lift, breathe.
By midday, sweat stung my eyes, and the world had narrowed to heat and sound.
Health: 70/100 -> 65/100
Hunger: Stage 2
Progress: 48% -> 62% -> 79%
Mason leaned against his shovel, panting. "You sure you're okay? You're digging like you're angry at the dirt."
"Maybe I am."
He laughed uneasily.
I didn't.
Each strike bit deeper. Each breath scraped raw. My stomach was a hollow pit, and beneath it, the beast stirred.
Health: 60/100 -> 55/100
Instinct Reponse Rising
Internal Stability: 82% -> 74%
Vargas's voice boomed from the scaffold.
"Holt! Pick up the pace! You think the rock's gonna move itself?"
I barely heard him. The system's hum drowned everything else out.
Starvation Protocol Engaged.
Physical Overload engaged.
Progress: 93%
The shovel hit metal with a crack that echoed through the pit. Sparks flared. The scent, sharp and electric, burned my throat.
Strain Actions Completed: 2 / 3
EXP: +38
Health: 55/100
Internal Stability: 69%
I dropped to one knee, head pounding.
Mason's voice reached me through the ringing in my ears. "Terry? You good?"
"Yeah," I rasped. "Just… dizzy."
He started toward me, and something in my chest growled. Not words, just instinct.
"Don't," I snapped. My voice came out low, feral.
He froze.
I forced a breath. "Sorry. Just tired."
He nodded slowly, eyes wary.
—————
The sun was white and merciless overhead.
Every breath scraped fire down my throat. The world wavered in the heat, shimmering like it was breathing with me.
Vargas's voice cut through the haze.
"Holt! That beam's still down! You blind or just lazy?"
My fingers twitched around the shovel. My pulse thundered in my ears.
Health: 52 / 100 -> 48/100
Instinct Level: 59% -> 73%
Internal Stability: 69% -> 61%
He barked again, sharper this time.
"Move, damn it!"
Something inside me snapped. The hunger, the exhaustion, the constant gnawing hum of the system. It all hit at once. My jaw locked, muscles coiling tight.
High Intensity Strain Opportunity Detected
Category: Controlled Transformation Attempt
Warning: Risk of Host Loss: 74%]
The system's voice slid through the noise, low and eager.
Use it. Break. Rebuild.
"No," I whispered.
But my hands were already moving. I crouched, fingers curling under the beam. The metal was half-buried in rock, weighed down by stone and earth. It should've taken a loader to move it.
The moment I lifted, pain ripped through my arms and something else answered.
A growl, low and wet, crawled up from my chest.
The metal screamed, bending in my grip.
Mason's shout barely reached me. "Terry! Stop! You're…"
Too late.
The world tilted red. My heartbeat pounded like a drum. Skin split across my knuckles, not from tearing, but from stretching.
Dark veins spidered beneath the skin, pulsing.
Vargas froze on the scaffold. For the first time, I saw fear behind those mirrored lenses.
He took a half-step back. "What in God's name…"
The beam shifted, rising in my hands. Every muscle burned, every vein thrummed with fire.
Health: 48/100 -> 41/100
Transformation Threshold : 88% -> 94%
Internal Stability: 61% -> 43%
The world narrowed to instinct: heat, blood, and the sound of Vargas's breathing fifty feet above me.
He's afraid of you, the whisper said. Show him why.
My vision flashed gold. The ground trembled beneath my feet.
For one second, I almost did it. Almost let go.
Then Mason's voice cut through the static.
"Terry! You're bleeding!"
It broke something in me; the sound of my name, human and real.
I slammed the beam into place with a scream that didn't sound entirely mine.
Silence swallowed the quarry. Dust hung in the air, glowing in the light. I was shaking, sweat, blood, and something else dripping from my palms.
The system flared:
Accelerated Growth Protocol Complete
EXP: +42
[Daily Quests Completed]
"The flesh adapts. The form endures." +10 exp
Total Experience: 90/50
Pending Rewards:
+1 Attribute point
Skill - Scanner unlocked
[Host : Terry Holt ]
Level 3 (+1)
Health: 41/100
Stamina: 100/100
Strength: 8 (+2)
Endurance: 6 (+1)
Perception: 4
Instincts: 5
Available Points: 2
Experience Points : 40/75
He blinked, almost disbelieving. The ache in his muscles hadn't vanished, but beneath it there was a subtle hum; power, quiet and restrained, like something waiting to be unleashed.
He flexed his fingers, watching the veins stand out against his skin. His body was adapting. Growing. But every bit of progress came with a cost, and the gnawing emptiness in his stomach whispered what that cost might be if he let it go too far.
"System…" he muttered under his breath, voice low, strained. "Don't push me tonight."
Health: 41/100 -> 37/100
Transformation Threshold: 95 -> 71%
Internal Stability: 43 -> 67%
Vargas was still on the scaffold, staring down at me, knuckles white on the railing. He didn't speak. Didn't shout. Just watched.
Mason crouched beside me, voice low. "Terry, what the hell was that?"
I forced a ragged breath. "Just… a good day."
But Vargas didn't move. He was still frozen, eyes fixed on my hands; the ones that had lifted a half-ton of metal like scrap wood.
When he finally turned away, I knew the truth.
He'd seen too much.
And he'd never stop watching me again.