On the first run, Kivas could barely move after leaping for a small timespan. And now, the very same grandpa in a jello malformed tadpole body could survive the harsh winter for more than two hours.
He didn't feel like he had consumed anything either.
Unless.
'The ice.' Kiva looked away from the two fiery outlines of the information panels. 'Ice is just water frozen into a solid state, it might be a hunch.'
Kickass' body absorbed the moisture around him, and turned it into energy.
Well, that theory was still not fully practical, because Kivas haven't really made any contact with any normal water until now.
'Regardless, the most efficient thing to do is definitely to choose the unchosen of the two, right?'
Unlike the first time where the symbol of the second panel was a swung claw with wind lines trailing from every edge, this time, it was an illustration of a scaly claw.
'Claw with fish-like scales. I see, so it is a dragon!'
There was a silver lining from all of this suffering.
The more he chose an unchosen option, the less obscure his future from not knowing anything about the upgrade at all!
Without any hint of hesitation, Kivas reached out one of his lower claws upon the floating orb.
'I choose you!'
Once again, the [???] let out a serene humming of wind as the other panel disintegrated into nothing. The chosen panel then rearranged itself, sliding into the center of Kivas' view before revealing its content into a language that he could understand under the golden light.
-Boon of Constitution-
[Lizardman's Constitution: Scales Body Type A]
-Jolly! Jolly all around! For the Lizardman sings, dances, and wails. They shed their skin like a snake, and left their scale for others like altruistic snails. The scales won't be worn like a home however. They will repels any misfortune of others away, and provide their wearer with protection like a chainmail-
After three seconds of gazing at the burning gold panel, it dispersed before converging into a flickering golden orb, hurling itself into Kivas
Like a valiant transformation, Kivas' body began to get enshrouded with blue firm and sharp scales.
'Woah! This feels amazing!'
From a malformed jello tadpole, Kivas might have undergone the most important transformation of his life both physically and mentally, yet.
And the result…
He was still the same malformed tadpole with three hands, but with scales.
'So much for anticlimactic…'
Kivas then proceeded to continue his venture for something other than a three meters patch of snow under his skin.
But after 5 meters, he felt something unusual.
'My energy… It is draining!'
Because of the forced evolution that he went through, a considerable amount of energy was taken away from his body.
But how come his energy still feels like being drained?
It didn't even take a minute for him to realize what was happening.
'Could it be…'
The Lizardman's Constitution affected the system of the body and how it works. In the original form, Kivas was merely a blob of moveable jello, and the energy acquired from the hypothetical moisture was enough to flow through the vein of the tadpole slime with ease, circulating the power for every part of the body to use.
But that was when he was still a blob of ugly jello.
In fact, he looked like a ball of scales from the front without his arms.
Right now, not only are the scales of the lizardman significantly denser than the former surface of the slime-like skin, it took much more raw energy to move the entire body. In fact, the weight alone was enough to initiate a quite noticeable passive energy-depletion every second!
'Not to mention…'
Because of the firm and tight scale placement on his body, the body was prevented from absorbing the moisture from the ice!
It might still be a speculation, but Kivas didn't notice any increase of energy the moment the boon was implemented into him.
'Tch, I can't go on like this!'
Surely and slowly, Kivas suffered a slow and agonizing death.
He was back once again to the realm of perpetual darkness, and within that boring world, there was a flickering violet flame in the distance, waiting for him to take it for another adventure in the world of the living.
Kivas didn't know whether his body would disappear under the snow, engulfed by the blizzard, or disperse into a thousand fireflies as the shiny little critters ascended to heaven.
'Huh, fireflies? Why did I suddenly remember that all of a sudden?'
There was a great memory gap that seemed to be important, but not actually tangible enough for Kivas to discern the hidden information that was covered by the depth of his subconsciousness.
Although the feeling of not being able to recall something important was distressing, Kivas felt like the memory would regain its own footing when the time comes.
'Alright, I guess it's time to do some more exploration! Whatever the hell that means!'
Dying was irritating, pain was excruciating, but it didn't change the fact that Kivas could finally feel something other than emptiness and the intangible darkness looming at every corner of his consciousness with every moment passing by.
Within bad times, there would be good and fun times in-between. Bad things won't stay the way it is forever, and if Kivas kept moving forward, maybe he would find the key to survive in this world of limited perception.
Regardless of any of that, this experience on itself was deemed so valuable to him, that he wouldn't mind having bad runs and dying repeatedly for the next 5 tries as long as he could feel how to be alive under the illumination of his torch.
And what did he know, he ended up dying 5 times after that.
'Well, talk about anticlimactic.'
The world was not as easy as he thought. There was always something lurking beyond his limited perception, and the lack of illumination from the Torch of Blight made his life in a hell difficulty.
Because of this, he would always prioritize the [Blight Expansion] upgrade. Surprisingly enough, this boon in particular will sometimes appear again and again. But in the end, he somehow managed to die.
In response however, Kivas managed to acquire and unlock the information of several new boons.
Afterall, knowing what the boon does is extremely vital for his survival.
-Boon of Utility-
[Torch's Wrath]
-Begone evil! And begone shrapnel! The world is harsh, and they all want thy. So to protect thy arms, legs, and soul, the Torch of Blight shall lend a hand without any fee. Wrath! Anguish! Let thy enemies experience these. For the flame won't be gentle, and abide as thy please-
'I got this boon after finding a broken piece of antique plate in the woods. It is really useful! It made the torch to attacks any hostile entity within the vicinity of the torch's illumination! Combined with [Blight Expansion], then it will prove to be an extremely effective blessing combination! If only I notice the raging giant bear coming from behind me back then…'
-Boon of Constitution-
[Ground Dragon's Constitution: Walking Limbs Type A]
-Does thou hear it? The thumping sound of mother nature! Some said that the kind mother is enduring sickness. Same said that she is in love. They all didn't see the prehistoric beast, running around chasing a dove-
'I thought that I would get a new pair of rear legs. To my surprise, both of my lower claws transformed into thick and tall hulking mass of muscles! I died after slipping on the muddy terrain, having my soft and squishy main body getting crushed to death by gravity.'
-Boon of Modifier-
[Lizardman's Constitution: Scales Body Type A+]
-Better! Denser! Stronger! Thy won't move any faster, but thy scales shall acquire the enigmatic power of the tyrant! More durability means less damage, less damage means more lifetime to spend on exploring the great wonders of the world!-
'I chose the dumb lizardman's scale again because I've found a good source of water. Yes! The original form does absorb water to gain energy! Albeit, because my insides are still that of a squishy blob, I'm floating above the water, until I chose this boon that made me sink like a stone. It might be a theory, but I guess this body also needs a higher concentration of oxygen, thus I'm unable to breath underwater.
'Though, thanks to that, I know that this kind of boon exists. This is exciting! Dying, not exciting!'