I stared at the lizard's corpse, its tail still gripped in my hand like it might suddenly come back to life and bite me again.
My stomach was biting, twisting itself into knots so tight I could barely think straight.
Hunger like this was so new; extremely deeper than anything I'd felt back on Earth, even on those days when I skipped meals because I didn't have enough for the month.
This was too different. This was the kind of emptiness that made my hands shake and my vision blur at the edges.
Am I sure this is hunger and not some curse?
When my uncle yelled at me for wasting food, when I was younger, "Stop wasting it! Some children are starving in Africa!" I totally get it now...
Even bell peppers and other gross vegetables, I'll take it!
Well... How do I even do this?
I mean… eat this
Really, the scales looked hard as rock, and the flesh underneath was dark and stringy, blood already starting to congeal in thick black pools.
The thought of tearing into it with my teeth made my throat close up.
Maybe I could roast it first?
Make a fire somehow?
But the second that idea crossed my mind, I pictured the glow; the orange flames flickering in the dark, smoke curling up toward the ceiling, the smell drifting out into the tunnels.
Haha, it would be like ringing a dinner bell for every monster out there. "Hey, fresh meat here, come get it free!"
So scratch that plan.
It's a bad idea. A terrible idea.
I'm so hungry, though.
Hungrier than I've ever been in my life.
I let out a long breath and knelt closer.
The rotting smell from my mother's body was still there in the background, but the lizard's scent was now seeming sharper; metallic blood mixed with something sour and reptilian.
Now that I'm calmer... this lizard stinks!
I reached out, hesitating, then pressed my palm flat against the softer underbelly where the scales thinned out near the throat wound I'd made earlier.
But the moment my skin touched it, something weird happened.
A faint warmth spread from my fingertips, like dipping my hand into bathwater that was just a little too hot.
Then the flesh beneath my palm… dipped. Not like cut, or torn. I mean, it just receded somehow.
It sank inward.
And the scales around the contact point rippled like water disturbed by a stone, then began to dissolve, pulling toward my hand in slow, liquid waves.
The body didn't bleed more; it just disappeared into me.
Absorbed, as my fingers tingled with the mass flowed up my arm, spreading through my chest and my stomach, like drinking something thick and warm from the inside out.
Haha, I feel like a spider feeding. So crazy.
[Consumer] activated.
The red panel appeared without fanfare as usual, calm and clinical.
I froze, watching in stunned silence as more and more of the lizard vanished into me; Its tail first, then the thick hind legs, the torso collapsing in on itself like a deflating balloon.
No need for chewing or swallowing. And no mess beyond the initial blood smear on my skin.
It was all just going into me. I think a technology like this should be invented on earth.
But really, this is great. I don't have to actually eat it with my mouth!
Maybe this was what that cute, smooth slime felt too.
That part was a relief so big I almost laughed.
Yeah, but then the taste actually hit.
Not in my mouth, but in my whole body.
A bitter, acrid burn that coated the back of my throat, seeped into my tongue even though nothing had touched it, and spread behind my eyes like some bad eye medicine. Rotten eggs mixed with something metallic and spoilt.
I gagged, but nothing came up.
It still lingered there, coating everything inside me. So gross! I feel disvirgined.
[Skills Obtained through {Consumer} are as listed]
[Poison Fangs: LV 5]
[Poison Claw: LV 5]
[Night Vision: LV 2]
[Poison Resistance: LV 5]
The words floated there in my head, simple and bright.
I blinked. Then blinked again.
Wait, I got its skills, for real?
Truly?
Not just some vague stat boost, but the actual abilities it had used against me.
I looked around the cave.
And the change was immediate and startling.
Before, the darkness had been almost total beyond the faint glow of the fungi; shapes blurred and edges were lost.
But now… everything had sharpened.
Of course, not like turning on a light, but like my eyes had learned to, uh, drink in what little light there was and amplify it.
The jagged stalactites overhead stood out clearly now. The cracks in the walls showed tiny veins of mineral. Even the pooling blood on the floor looked almost crisp, every droplet defined.
I could see the slow drip from a distant stalactite, the faint shimmer on the remaining scales that hadn't fully absorbed yet.
It was still dark, though. But now it was like perceptible dark?
Usable dark, if i could say.
Nevertheless, [Night Vision] rocks!
I let out a shaky breath, as a fearful thought wandered into my mind.
Should I… go back out there?
You know, check out the bigger cavern again with these new eyes?
But the thought made my stomach clench in a different way.
Out there I'd seen and felt the pressure of all those monsters. The growling, the roars, and the skittering.
With Night Vision, I might actually see what was watching me down there. I might see the shapes in the shadows, and see how many there were.
And yeah, that might traumatize me. Probably would.
I glanced down to the lizard; it was almost gone now, just a shrinking puddle of scales and flesh being drawn into my palm like soup through a straw.
The taste was still there, foul and lingering, but my hunger… I mean, that annoying, clawing, and sharp emptiness in my gut was fading.
I won't say it was completely gone, but it was more like muted now.
I was satisfied in a weird, second-hand way.
Well, let's just say I'm full now. Sort of.
Maybe I could have used it's skin for pants? I don't know.
I flexed my fingers, adn they felt stronger and sharper. Like something inside me had woken up and stretched real good.
Okay, but no more getting ambushed like an idiot.
If something comes through that entrance again, I need to be ready.
Traps.
i need traps, or at least, something simple; something that buys me time or hurts whatever tries to get in.
But what kind of trap?
A rockfall?
I could maybe pile loose stones above the crack, but how do I make it drop on cue?
And would it even slow down a real monster?
A troll? A wolf pack?
No, I was doubtful.
Ah, maybe a tripwire would do!
A tripwire made of… what?
I don't have string, or vines, or even a rope.
Just stone and blood and my own two hands.
However, I have to face the truth: if I don't leave this little safe spot eventually, this isn't going to end well.
I can't camp here forever, and food won't randomly appear like this: This lizard was supposed to eat me, infact.
Monsters won't stop coming here too. And sooner or later, something bigger than a level-5 lizard is going to sniff me out!
...But... right now...
Right now I felt heavy... and a bit dizzy.
Not just my body, my mind too.
The adrenaline from the fight, the absorption, my new senses... these were all probably crashing down on me at once.
My eyelids drooped, and my thoughts slowed like they were moving through water.
I feel really, really sleepy...
But no!
Sleeping here is a bad idea.
I believe it is more than just risky, it's plain suicidal!
If one monster gets past that entrance while I'm out cold, that'd be it. Game over.
I'd be lucky to even see what eats me, before i join mom over there.
I forced myself to stand, my legs still a little shaky, but steadier than before.
L... Let's build that trap first!
Something. Anything.
I scanned the cave floor for loose rocks, or sharp fragments... anything I could use.