We went hunting for food again today. Gobukichi-kun who was forced to clearly understand our hierarchy, with who's above and below, moved according to my instructions and we were able to get a prey pretty quickly thanks to our experience from yesterday. Although it was just another Horn rabbit, it was at least twice the size of the one from yesterday. It might've been more dangerous though because Gobukichi-kun was only using a wooden stick, unlike me who is using the horn that I got yesterday. Its performance in combat was better than I expected.
While Gobukichi-kun caught the Horn rabbit's attention, I smashed its spinal cord and pierced its heart from behind.
Although the horn got damaged a little, the battle was still a success because of the spoils we obtained.
Just like the Horn rabbit that we killed yesterday, I broke off its horn.
I unintentionally said "The Most Legendary Horn", but the announcement which came after corrected me.
[ Goburou obtained [ Animal Horn (Medium) ]!! ]
I decided to ignore it since I don't understand what it is. While I was thinking that, I found Gobukichi-kun staring at the game with hungry eyes, then we shared the meat and ate.
As I munched the meat, crunched the bones, and slowly gulped down, I felt as though my entire body was brimming with life.
This convinced me of a matter that I had thought of yesterday.
It seems that I have reincarnated with my the ESPer ability [ Absorption ] that I had in my previous life. This means that my current situation is like a New Game mode with my ESPer ability, though the starting point is a negative value instead of zero.
By the way, Espers are basically evolved humans who are born with special supernatural powers with a probability of less than 1 in 1000, they began appearing from the time when mankind first advanced into space several centuries ago.
Although they are evolved humans, their evolved characteristics usually aren't passed down, and even though an ESPer's children have a higher chance of becoming ESPers, mysteriously the probability is still pretty low.
Well, because in this era humans are in constant contact and are living together with aliens in harmony, unlike in the past ESPers are no longer persecuted, furthermore ESPer abilities are recognized as a part of a person's individuality. Though if a user was still uncomfortable with their power, devices that are capable of suppressing ESPer abilities are commercially available.
And my ESPer ability [ Absorption ] was one of the strongest powers out there if not the strongest, it's in a different dimension compared to the likes of [ Psychometry ], [ Telekinesis ] and [ Teleportation ], which were of the general class. Simply put, no matter how hard or poisonous something is, I would be able to eat it. My teeth could tear through metals easily while toxins would be restructured and rendered harmless and edible in my body. The abilities of whatever I eat, be it an item or another living being, would be absorbed and assimilated into my body with a fixed probability, so that I could use them as well.
I'm not quite sure how it works though…
Oh well, I just wanted to inform you about what my ability was. In the first place questioning the principles of supernatural powers is nonsense.
By the way, just because I've eaten something that has an ability doesn't guarantee that I'll be able to absorb its abilities. For example, if what I just ate was a living being, its freshness is an important factor as to whether I'll get an ability or not. After its death, I have twelve hours to eat it before the chances to absorb its abilities are gone.
That said, there are certain parts that give abilities easier than others such as the heart and the brain, and parts where most of the creature's power is concentrated. In addition to absorbing abilities, physical strengthening and stamina can be secured too.
Furthermore, if the being that I consumed is stronger than me, it's certain that I'll get its ability. Moreover, it's possible to strengthen an ability that I have acquired previously by consuming beings who have the same ability.
In other words, [ Absorption ] isn't strong on its own, but the more I eat, the stronger I become. Naturally, it has its limits, which are the acquiring probability and requirements I talked about earlier.
After awakening to my ESPer ability in my past life, I strengthened myself by eating [ Disaster Designated Individuals ] and criminal ESPers that I captured.
Unfortunately, the abilities I got from eating them seem to have been reset. Since there were many useful abilities, the reset made me somewhat regretful, but it could be said that I was lucky enough to keep the [ Absorption ] ability which more than made up for it.
Using it, I can learn new abilities, and it enables me to eat anything without hesitation, for example, eating exotic things like the Horn rabbit and the mysterious insects, this is a side effect of [ Absorption ] that paralyzes my feelings when it comes to eating, rather it's more like an obsession with eating.
I think it's actually pretty helpful, because knowing that eating is important for survival, if I refrained from eating certain types of meat because of morals and emotions at crucial times, it will be fatal for my survival.
The ability I obtained this time is called [ Escape ]. Its effect is when fleeing, speed and probability of adapting to the new environment increases.
I tilted my neck wondering why the Horn rabbit didn't try to escape when we confronted it today and instead charged at us head-on… oh well.
After that, we caught two more Horn rabbits and ate them. Going to sleep with a full belly is a pleasant feeling. It seems like the rate at which Gobukichi-kun is relying on me has also rapidly increased. It's probably because of the laws of the jungle that he began looking at me as a superior being.