After her nap, Juniper is once again fully recovered and decides to finish up with the upgrades.
Opening the system inventory, she looks at the Injector with the Perfect T-Virus inside.
Staring at it for a good minute, Juniper throws her head back and whines. "I don't wanna do thiiiissssssss." Before falling to the ground and wildly rolling about.
"It is going to hurt like hell!" She reasons to no one but herself.
Stopping in her tracks, the demonic moth suddenly remembered something. 'Can't I just add a "Painless" definition to the injector?' Hope restored, Juniper darts up into a sitting position and does just that, only to pull a horrified grimace.
"Not enough souls…" Despair fills her eyes as the system showed her the cost for adding the new definition to the injector, especially because her reserves had been drained dry by the other modifications and left her with only two souls.
'I could just wait and go hunt some more souls before using the T-Virus. It wouldn't take too long…' Gritting her teeth she tries to convince herself that it wasn't necessary to use the injector just yet, but the sight of her status where the numbers remained in their pathetic state made her admit defeat.
"*Sigh*, fuck it. I'm way to weak right now, even with mantis blades and subdermal. The risk of running into a dangerous enemy is too high, meaning that I would need to sneak around which would slow down my hunt considerably… pain it is…heh, it seems that the saying stays true, no pain no gain." Resigning herself to the coming torture, Juniper takes the injector out of the system and with fearful determination stabs the needle into her thigh.
The perfect infusion definition allowed the thin needle to get past her subdermal with no issue.
Pressing the trigger on the injector, the moth demon feels how the T-Virus streams into her blood and spreads through her entire body, setting it aflame.
"AARRRGHH!!" Pain on a level unknown to her previously rages through her entire being as every cell in her body screams.
Her muscles, internal organs and bones expand at a crazy speed, the blood roared through her body, threatening to burst the vessels containing it. The pain caused by her rapidly growing body made Juniper's mind go blank and her clawed hands could not help but scratch all across her form, peeling off her skin, but luckily the subdermal armour underneath stopped her claws from digging into the flesh beneath.
To Juniper it felt like an eternity had passed when finally, the pain gradually began to alleviate.
Laying limp and breathing heavily in a heap of ripped off skin that is quickly regrowing, the demonic moth blinks her eyes to get rid of the blurriness that filled them.
Once she could see clearly again, Juniper took a deep breath and shouts loud enough for anything close to the cave to hear her. "FUCK THAT WAS PAINFUL!"
Following the initial shout is a flood of curses that went on until she was out of breath.
Shakily getting herself off the ground, she did not hesitate to take out another dead demon from her inventory and rips into its flesh without bothering to skin or season it.
Letting out some of her frustration by brutalizing her food for a bit, Juniper finally calms down enough to call upon her status.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Name: Juniper Actias
Race: Demon
Bloodline: At least four different kinds
Demon Name: Beherit Dagea Fenzri … Kalim Sedit
Form: Adult
Hierarchy: Top of the low rank
Attribute: Dark
Strength: 71
Speed: 37
Magic Power: 9
Vitality: 78
Loaded Materials: Mantis Blades, Subdermal Armor, Wings [True Flight], T-Virus.
Skills: Psychokinesis (Strengthened by Virus)
Talent's: Soul Peer, Demon Blood, Soul Devouring Addiction.
Items: Demon Corpses, Spear, All good Shaker.
Equipped: None
Number of Souls in Possession: 2
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'Hmm, that's one hell of an improvement. My strength stat increased by 55, speed by 24 and vitality by a whooping 62. Magic power obviously didn't increase, need magic power growth potion or eat some souls for that. Also got the psychokinesis skill, nice.' As she trails her gaze across the numbers on the system screen and absentmindedly licks the blood off her claws from her meal, the last vestiges of pain and exhaustion faded away, allowing her to feel the full extent of the changes that her body had underwent.
Each cell is brimming with vitality, filling her body with seemingly endless energy.
Closing the system, Juniper turns to inspect herself.
The most glaring change that happened is her size… her body size.
Getting up from the floor, the moth is forced to duck or she would collide with the roof of the cave.
'*Whistle* Damn I'm tall, better get out of here before doing anything else.' Making her way out of the cave that has outlived its usefulness after only a bit more than a day, Juniper pushes the camo tarp aside and steps onto the searing ground of the abyss again.
Straightening her back until she stands at her full height, she looks down at herself.
'My current height should be around 2 meters, or in cheeseburger numbers, 6.5 feet.' Clenching and unclenching her fists, Juniper turns back to the entrance and without another thought lashes out at the stone with one of her blades that snapped forth.
Instead of only leaving a mark on the rockface of the cave entrance, the mantis blade dug a deep trench into it.
Feeling a grin making its way onto her face, Juniper pulls the blade back before jabbing it at the stone again, digging the blade almost halfway into the rock.
"That's what I'm talking about! The T-Virus at least did its job, makes me almost think that the pain was worth it… heh, who am I kidding. Next time something like this comes up I'm going to make sure that there is no fucking pain involved, after all, I ain't no masochist." Finished with ranting, the demonic moth retracts her blade and turns away from the cave to look across the ashen sky and fiery horizon.
Just standing there at the demolished entrance for a moment, Juniper for the first time since her rebirth actually "looked" at her surroundings.
Until now she had watched and observed, taking in information and used that information to plan her actions.
But right now, she simply took in the hellish view of the upper layer of the abyss and fills her lungs with the hot sulfuric air filling it.
It is a dreary sight full of danger and violence.
Juniper saw at least six deaths in just the short moment she's been looking around, and how their subsequently exposed souls were devoured by another member of their own kin.
"Hehehe *clack* *clack*, seems it is time to explore this new home of mine for a bit, and of course collect as many souls as possible." Taking a step forward, Juniper focuses on her wings at the back of her head and activates their new function while spreading them out.
A green pulse of light washes across the wings for an instant before, with a single flap, the demonic moths toe beans left the ground, and she ascends to the sky.