I stared at the remains of the dragon as I wondered what just happened. If im in a book I have insane plot armor to stand up after breaking my ribs.
I tried making sense of the current events. The facts were that:
Multiple beasts exists and they are all with abilities. I recovered from life threatening injuries with a green rock inside a beast. I gained at least 3 abilities: fire, ice, wind. They appear after a mark on your wrists appear Dragons exist. So do abilities. And they could be wielded by potentially any concious being. Insight into abilities can be gained through consumption of a more experienced being's brain.
Though these are only the insights from a single fight, I couldn't jump to any conclusions.
I stared down at my right wrist. There was now a circle with 3 dots surrounding it. Could the dots surrounding the circle represent the number of abilities you can use? And if so, how many is the maximum? As for my left wrist. a black circle with two dashes emerged. I didn't quite understand what this one did, besides that it appeared when I decided to analyze the enemy, and once it appeared, it granted my greater insight skills. So would the dark circle represent knowledge? Or insight? And If it did, how would I increase proficiency in it? Experience could be a sort of knowledge, but creation is also knowledge.
There are two things I can do right now:
stay in the same area and hope to live go to a larger area where more people or monsters dwell and hope to live.
My current location is Shunyi, in the northeastern area of Beijing. If I don't move, it would be good in the short run, but resources will run out. I need to move. I'm leaving to the city in search of insight and survivability. I can't stay here and repeat the same day. I will go to Wangjing first to see if I can find anyone I know.
The easiest way will be a direct path from the subway line 15 Guozhan to Wangjing Dong Zhan its around a 30 kilometer walk from where i am. if the meteors struck everywhere, all subways should be offline and most food should be free to eat. Moreover, monster meat is edible.
I need equipment before I set off. It was unfortunate, but dragon skull is far harder than a simple metal pipe.
The spear was what I had the most practice with before the meteors fell. Most of my party tricks revolved around doing a flip with a spear in hand. I went to look for a metal rod, but none were near me. What if I used the femur of the dragon? It was long enough to be a staff. the leg was at least 3.5 meters tall. And the thigh covered two thirds of it.
I started harvesting the organs of the dragon with my melting and cooling abilities. To get to the bone I froze the meat and melted it. The wind I somehow gained through eating the brain gave me a consistent atmosphere around my body which doesn't allow things outside hurt me. was this the first step to flying? Dragons had wings…
Once I got the femur bone of the dragon, I was able to attach the sharpest tooth to the femur through some nailing. It seemed very primitive compared to others, but it worked. It was a staff the size of my body with a very white hue to it. I had to use duller teeth to cut the femur down so it could fit comfortably in my hand. The end of the tooth was red from being in the gums of the dragon, which gave it a pretty cool white-red look to the staff.
My clothes were in rags, and I wanted a bandage to cover the burn mark left over my chest. I didn't need drama around the mark if I met people. but just the jumper I had as my pillow was fine.
I would rather use a dragon wing as clothes, but I didn't know how to stitch or anything like that.
'I really want that wing'
I ended up ripping the wing to tie around my waist as a hold for my spear. I welded the skin together on my body with the heat that emerged from my hand.
I prayed to the corpse of the young child as I set it by a tree with a flower before I set out on my journey to Wangjing. Their face was a black skull with vague patches of burnt hair at the back. Their eyes had popped and you can see the results of the explosion. the world was simply like this now.
I sighed deeply and walked away.
***
I finally arrived at the Guo Zhan, the first subway stop as I thought of the sentences that filled my head once I ate the brain:
"Fire Is the energy of particles. Control it and you can control all"
"Proficient insight into [the void] which fills space"
These two sentences were maybe the most important into knowing how to use each symbol I have gained. these lines only appeared after I had consumed knowledge from another being superior than me in ability usage.
It was also true, fire didn't just appear from the dragon's mouth, it needed to charge up before it blasted. Could this be how the dragon controlled the energy to create fire?
I tried activating the fire in my right hand. It became warm and then extremely hot, but it didn't create flames. However: it made my hand vibrate violently without touching something else. Could the 'energy of particles' mean how fast the particles vibrate? If so, then could the mark I gained with the warmth be connected to particle vibration?
I picked up a flammable leaf on the ground.
I held the leaf and willed the warmth to come through. The hand didn't vibrate, yet the leav was shaking violently in the air. It blew up in flames and disappeared just as quickly.
This meant that I can transfer the vibration of my hand to different materials to create heat. I could propagate the fire.
Then what would the ice ability mean?
Suddenly the second line came through my head: "Fire is produced through giving energy. Ice is produced by taking energy"
I again willed ice into my right hand. I realized that the hand wasn't vibrating, however the air around the hand became distorted, almost slower at passing what light was coming though it. I waved my hand through the air and realized the affect will transfer wherever the hand went. Would this mean that my hand will take the vibrations of particles through the surrounding area? This would make sense as I solidified the blood of the dragon when I willed the ice. Absolute zero is when the particle has no energy to vibrate, so perhaps I create an immediate temperature drop by absorbing the energy of the particles?
"aaghh!! This is so complicated!" I yelled out loud in frustration and stomped the ground
"So, I can take and give energy?" "Is that the basis of my skills??"
'Insight into the [energy] increased' the voice in my head exclaimed
"so I'm right?? And what is this voice?" I spoke in confusion "apparently the other dark circle was called the 'void' in the other message and that it fills empty space"
It was easier to talk my thoughts out loud
"Right hand energy and left-hand void?" "One of them creates and one of them isn't anything??"
A wave of sudden exhaustion hit me, and I slumped on the floor "what...?" my eyes shut slowly as I lost consciousness. 'I can't sleep now; I might get attacked… shit… Was this the cost of using the marks?' my eyes blinked and didn't open as I drifted into a deep sleep.
weeeeeee