"I thought the impact would be painful. Who knew it would feel like being reborn?" A man chuckled at hearing Haseo speak. "First time exiting a pod? That feeling is a self defense mechanism, to sedate your thoughts about certain psychosis. Can never be too careful."
The man walked off, Haseo never let the man leave his eye sight till he exited the room. "Hurry up Haseo! Stop being weird and get out of the pod, we have to get to school." Two pairs of legs fell to the ceiling. No that wasn't correct, Haseo was just upside down.
"Mary and Bird, nice to see you two. For some reason I am stuck. I was wondering if this was a world where everyone's limbs were glued into the seat of this.. this pod is really fleshly."
The two reached under and pulled Haseo out by his pits. It took great effort as if Haseo had melted into the seat.
"Man, how long was I in there? My skin is covered in weird patterns. None of my naps have every reached this deep of markings."
Lines and moons were engraved into his skin as if they were carved into wood by knife. "Well that is the reward for breaking that door. If you paid attention, all people here have those markings. We are all werewolves right now."
Getting steady on his feet, he felt his head for an extra pair of ears. "I guess they aren't real ears, just tufts of hair sticking together. Everything else is like a human, how is this a werewolf?"
Mary took a picture of his back and showed it to his face. "Your body is covered in moon tattoos, that is what makes you a werewolf. Resident of the night, vampire, whatever name you use , it is all the same. We are creepy flesh eating monsters. This is the way we process all the living beings in ArkShip Atoms we take over."
Bird patted Haseo as they followed Mary outside of the pod shop. "She gets sensitive when we enter this place. Also you haven't checked your system yet. So while I drag you to school, read up."
…
[Virtual Hydra Mecha Overlay Confirmed. Fireflies Onslaught:Blast Out A Radiation Wave Of Mecha Platforms. Warning: No contol, User can only push and pull energy in and out.]
The overview was enough for Haseo to understand. He tried reading further into the system updates, but seeing all the Mecha Platform schematics scared him off.
He only needed to understand if he wanted to fight, he would have to be further away from an ally, unless there was no friendly fire. But he felt like even if there was no friendly fire, the Overlay would only see the rules as suggestions and it wouldn't work out so well.
Haseo and the other two ended up at a school cafeteria. Haseo followed them in line and just copied what they did.
He sat down with a nice looking meal and swallowed hard as he inspected his food. Mary looked over, noticing they picked the same food blushed a little.
"Haseo, I don't think anyone noticed but try to read what you order next time. The meal is for helping replace blood you have lost, if you eat it without the need…"
She got quiet and Haseo felt like asking her if she recently lost blood and was okay. Luckily his mouth didn't open and say anything dumb.
Bird leaned over and looked at his food. "It's not too weird. He probably just wanted some extra blood, in the pet guides male pets do this t-."
Mary covered Bird's mouth. "Anyways, food is important for your growth. Each food item is a whole months worth of a ration. A full moon of food if you will. One moon is combined about a thousand people's worth of matter."
They finished their meals and then got back in line for more food. "This is a place of indulgence. All food items heavily effect your mood. The more you eat, the higher chance of you rampaging. Though food can cancel each other out."
Haseo felt the moons and lines on his body get warm and feel like they were pulsing. Still feeling hungry, he went and got more food.
The speed of the three eating was similar, very fast. So there was hardly a time there was 2 people sitting down.
When Haseo went for another round, Mary sat down with Bird who stopped eating so they could talk.
"He hasn't noticed his food is more heavy with the effects or rather his body just craves stimulants at an abnormal level."
"Well his food is pet food, full of things to make sure he grows up big and strong. Though the way his moons fill up doesn't sit well with me."
Bird snorted and ate some food, seemingly not caring for the conversation.
"He is a special pet, why do you think I dropped so much money on getting him a Hydra based Overlay? Those moons feel weird for you because he is filling them with Mecha Platforms."
Mary rubbed her chin in thought. "He is working without a Metal Overlay, but it seems he doesn't need it yet. His path is probably going to stack all 5 of our powers as one. Metal is such a good Elemental Category."
…
The girls left after feeling full, but Haseo kept eating. Nothing could stop his hunger and the girls felt like they might need a vet to check him.
It was night time and the lights were half turned off, though there was a lighting issue causing the half that stays on to flicker.
As he was alone, he was just standing by the food line to cut the time he wasn't eating. Even though he was the only one, the food took longer and longer to appear.
Though Haseo was patient for food and at most it was a 10 minute wait. His level of hunger never changed, so it wasn't like he was rushing to fill himself up.
As he put in an order for a burger, a loud thud came from the food line and someone walked out. It was a man in a greasy white tank top holding a knife.
"What is your deal ya freak? I put in enough sleepy moon powder to comatose a vampire whale. But you aren't even drowsy yet? I should just use you as a dish so I can get some rest!"
"So is that a no for the burger? I don't see a burger in the other hand, just another knife?" The man yelled and charged at him. "There will never be a burger for you again! I am going to kill you!"
"Not being able to make a burger makes sense. I mean two knives? You need a spatula, a knife would make it impossible, let alone two."
The man started wilding swinging his hands, hoping to get a cut in by chance. "I don't understand the moon things yet, so I guess it is Hydra time?"
Waving his hand, a swarm of fireflies appeared. The man ran into it and burst into flames. "So I can push it out of just my hand? I was expecting to push from every pore and hole."
Haseo held his stomach, the burning smell coming off the man caused him to feel stuffed. "Smelling the 'food' can fill someone up? I guess that makes sense, full ArkShip Atoms turned into a smell."
Everything was processed differently. As Haseo's main thing was Metal Element Category, he went at things using technology.
When it came to collecting living cells, Metal Cuts Wood, all living things are processed into Haseo for assimilation.
So say he was to use a knife to carve off flesh. The surrounding atoms would be affected by the act of cutting. They are unlikely to have any living residents. But the flesh you cut off, depending on skill will range from affected to unnoticed.
For the Hydra, Fire Melts Metal, he was turning things into slag and recombining it into the Mecha Platform. Though he has the Fire Overlay, allowing him access to firearms at all times.
Once he gets the Wood Overlay, he might have a better way to process the organic matter. But for now it was either burn it or chop it for processing.
Chopped will give some living ArkShip Atoms left, meaning they can still function and produce product. Burning will cause all to be dead, but will instantly process things to basic materials.
Haseo watched the man burn into ash. "Who am I kidding? I couldn't summon my Metal powers. If I could, I would be in a MechCar killing things left and right. I don't like this flesh being exposed to the outside world."
He was about to go find the two girls to see where he would be staying, but he noticed something on the man's corpse.