In the end, Tetsu could only witness his precious meat get devoured by that greedy rhino.
Oh, what perfect sibling would it have made?
"I'm going to kill you," Tetsu growls and crawls faster, ignoring his rising fatigue levels.
Getting closer to her, Tetsu picks up a random stick. Skill 'Edge Cut' activates and sharpens Tetsu's weapon as his mana flows around the stick, curving at the edge. The ordinary stick transforms into a spiky stick with mana forming its tiny blade.
Tetsu never learned to control his mana. The most he can do is push his mana out through his palms. Even that is because of the incubation grounds and its high-intensity mana pressure. These help him feel, understand, and control the pressure a bit.
He's been practicing every day, but yet has no notable results. The same goes for his vital energy and mental energy. All three basic powers were still a mystery.
He had a lot to do and very little time to do it, yet at this moment all he wanted was blood or jelly. Whatever, the stupid rhino spills when it's stabbed.
Tetsu jumps and thrusts the sharp stick into the rhino with all his force. It encounters an invisible shield and breaks in half.
"A cowardice move," yells Tetsu.
He didn't let up, using the skill again and again, sharpening the stick's broken edges until he had nothing but his fist.
Mana swirled around his wrist, forming tiny claws around his knuckles. For a second he imagined his own arms as weapons and the skill activated.
The mana density increased, enveloping his hands with a thicker layer of mana, visible to the naked eye. Along with the mana's creeping sensation, a seventh sense within him exited its slumber.
At this moment, mana felt more familiar to him. Tetsu dragged and held onto this sensation, directing its flow as he pulled from within and his surroundings.
His claws grew an inch before clashing against the rhino's invisible shield. Bones creak and the mana surrounding the wrists disperse, with his own fatigue pinning him down onto the invisible shield.
RJ didn't register a single attack Tetsu threw at her. She broke her yummy free meal into smaller chunks, while Tetsu broke himself.
She didn't understand why the dumb human cried. He eats and craps it out, anyway. At least she grew stronger after every meal. Because of all the resources the humans gathered, she would be level seven soon. Shouldn't he be happy that one of them was growing?
RJ takes a step back and drops Tetsu into the pit, which she clears out. She covers him with dirt, leaving him there to recuperate.
"Geez! Thanks." Tetsu scoffs.
RJ snorts, disregarding his apology. She steps aside and digs another hole, revealing more of Tetsu's hidden rations.
Tetsu gaped at the sight. He completely forgot he had more rations hidden away. Lucky for him, RJ noted down every pit he ever dug. At least the ones that contain food.
"No! Stop, please, no..."
RJ went from pit to pit, devouring all of Tetsu's rations.
Halfway through, Tetsu acknowledged his fate and gave up. He tried to speed up his recovery, but broken bones always took longer to heal. A broken shell also increases fatigue levels faster, so, with no other choice, he concentrates on healing.
Yet again, the system didn't offer him any skill for his breakthrough. Was he still lacking a component, or was there something more? Tetsu dwelled deeper into his recent outburst, trying to reconnect with his awakened seventh sense.
"Common... what is the difference? How did I control you all of a sudden?"
His seventh sense slipped into its slumbering state, while Tetsu struggled to find and awaken it again
Except for his broken bones, Tetsu recovered the rest of his health and mana. His fatigue still spiked when he tried moving his hands, so he slumped back in his pit and shifted his focus over his wrists.
Even his expectations to understand and control his inner energy failed. "I suck on so many levels." He pouts.
Tetsu ignores the constant nagging behind his head that urged him to keep experimenting. His eyes roll around and spots another one of his failed experiments.
"Today sucks."
His constant flow of mana over the broken wood made it sharper. Tetsu assumed his mana acted as a sharp edge, but it instead flowed around the object to sharpen its edges. While he always inserted little energy, he never caught onto the skill's actual concept.
"A bit of progress." He shrugs and screams. "Ah! Don't move, dumbass."
"This skill might help me understand mana better." Tetsu formulates more theories to test once he recovers. The wood was meant to become an artifact, but he clearly didn't understand the word artifact.
"There must be something more." He concludes.
"Still, if it can help me understand mana, that would be a bigger bonus," Tetsu assures himself that this indeed is a victory.
In truth, all his experiments were leading nowhere. A literal dead end. He can cook up more experiments, but his heart wants to build an overpowered weapon and super deep insight over mana.
He wanted a cheat to win this game. Is that too much to ask?
While Tetsu was having yet another worst day of his life, RJ was having one of her best.
The human didn't know much and was pretty dumb in almost every area, but he sure was lucky when it came to finding good food. "Also, resources." She agrees.
RJ chugs down the last of Tetsu's food storage. After many days, she found her chubby self back. A good look on her if she says so herself.
Tetsu witnessed what he can only assume was a jelly's burp. Bubbles form deep within her stomach, rubbing against each other before they burst.
The darn fat jelly is finally full!
For the day.
"Well, at least someone is enjoying their life." Tetsu smiles. "I wish I could devourer everything like you and..."
Images of iconic characters devouring their favorite meal fill Tetsu's head.
"Hmm… Devour." The puzzle clicked, and a rune formed in his head.
Intent; consume anything and everything until the source is satisfied.
Tetsu buckles down and meditates, ignoring his surroundings. A part of him activates the 'Expert Deceit' skill as a precaution. His breath and muscles listened to his every command, making him one with the surroundings.
Neither the cold stinging air nor the growls of a deadly beast reached him at this state. For he is lost far within himself, where sensations mean little and emotions hold no value.
Time passed by as he healed and built theories in his head. Some get approved for the second round of testing while the rest get tied up for future reference.
"Let's add a condition over this intent to enforce my will." Tetsu nods to himself.
As an overthinker, he just enjoyed assuring and focusing himself, while his inner sage adorned a goofy smile.
Sage knew Tetsu tapped into yet another unknown force, and like always, he would be a good teacher and keep his discoveries to himself.
He would figure out the impossible applications pretty soon, right?
With simple rules to follow, Tetsu created another word in his language. 'Devour,' a rune meant to consume anything into substance.
Based on where the Ru'nic word is placed, the rune converts the energy present in its surroundings into the energy the object requires to maintain its optimal form.
To test out his newfound theory, Tetsu had only one test subject; his own tongue.
Where else does one want such power?
The main reason Tetsu created this rune was to first eat like his heroes, and then maybe survive this ordeal of eternal slumber.
Getting out of this eternal slumber should be his priority, but Tetsu preferred to quench his smaller goals first. Any creature can squash him and his long-term goals both literally and figuratively.
You are always one mind fuck away from serving a tree, so yeah, literally, too.
So, it's a no-brainer that Tetsu focused on what he can do for now. Live the little moments until you are dead or worse, a slave.
With a survival rate of zero-point one percent. Yes, it hasn't changed since last time. Tetsu dared to go deeper into the incubation grounds and saw stuff.
Stuff that made him doubt his calculations, yet if he stayed near the mind fucking tree, he or she or it has no choice but to protect him.
And yes, again, Tetsu is okay with hiding or even serving the tree to survive. Pride is dammed. He has to survive.
What's the point of pride if you're dead?
[Ding! Skill: Consume is available...]
"What the fuck!"
Tetsu skims through the description and declines the skill right away. He didn't once consider putting the skill in the skills tomb folder.
Experiment be dammed, he made a superior version, and the system offered him an inferior version of his creation.
"How dare you?" Tetsu points a finger with rage.
The next second, he bowed and apologized. "If you can't make a superior version, please don't bother with the inferior ones." Tetsu rises with a smug look on his face. "I realize rune force is hard." Tetsu leans against a tree with his system screen superimposed over the tree. "But I got your back." He hugs the tree, imagining having hugged the system. "I got our back." He pats and kisses the tree and things get escalated...
Being alone is hard unless you're an introvert or an overthinker. Both of them are very comfortable in and around their own skin. They get even more weird once you get to truly notice them.
The act of keeping one entertained is... well, weird. You talk to yourself, laugh at your own jokes, rethink every social construct that you've ever been in, regret ever being in a social construct, and generally enjoy your own company way too much than to bother with others.
Once you perceive their true selves, they transform into mystical beings with unimaginable personalities. This isn't them changing, but you seeing their true self.
Tetsu is known as a forced extrovert. An introvert who was forced to be an extrovert because Kile needed a test subject before he decided what to become.
There is a long waiting period before introverts give you a tour of their inner castle. Once you get in, there is no getting out. Much like the rhino who couldn't get rid of the weird human making out with a tree.
You will forever be stuck with them, mainly because of guilt and concern, but also genuine interest.
"Must be that time of the month." Shrugs RJ.
When would she ever get used to his antiques?
"Wait! Why am I thinking of getting used to him?"
RJ battled with her newfound ideology while Tetsu made yet another rune that the almighty system wasn't able to copy.
'Devour,' Tetsu smirks and activates the rune on his tongue. The ever-present pressure of the concentrated atmospheric mana intensified around his tongue.
From being able to feel the weight, he begins to savor the mana.
All mana affinities in their purest form have no taste or odor. Until and unless they are concentrated and comprised by one's will, they always stay neutral to their properties.
Tetsu had no way to separate one affinity of mana from the other. Yet by tugging on all of them to reclaim his lost resources, he could differentiate between the different pressures.
Tetsu required vitality and mana. These two held a distinct presence and pressure as they were the only sustenance Tetsu's body required and pulled into itself. With this as a reference, he combed through other affinities, tugging on only vital energy or pure mana.
His recuperation was minuscule, but Tetsu recovered faster.
The rune forcibly converted the rest of the affinities through his will. This, however, made Tetsu lose more mana than what he recovered.
"Of course! Runes are two to four levels lower and converting takes more energy." Tetsu realizes this and shifts his tactics.
He let other affinities escape, while he devoured the mana and vital force. Mana regenerated slower than health, as he constantly had to use mana to keep the rune active. Also, until and unless he entered serene meditation, he lost more resources than what he had devoured.
Tetsu adorns a huge grin and winks at the rhino. "Thanks."
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