『Processing...』
...
When Robert awoke, he found that his vision was nearly the same as before, except for one striking difference.
Trails of what looked like green mist could now be seen hovering through the air. Like guiding lines they twisted and turned throughout the labyrithn-like valley floors of the snow mountains.
Where they led, he did not know. But he did have a hunch.
'I'll take that trail,' he thought, focusing on a trail that stopped a small distance away from the monolith structure.
'Two birds with one stone,' he thought to himself, as he made his way down the slope.
He followed the green trail as fast as his puddle body would allow him, which wasn't very fast at all. Lucky for him, it did not seem that his body knew of fatigue and he was able to keep a constant pace without trouble.
'Odd, not a single creature in sight' he thought to himself after having travelled a few minutes. At the pace he was moving, it would be several hours before he reached the monolith structure, and by then it would be night fall.
'If only I could shout, perhaps my search would bear fruit even faster,' he thought, pondering over it for a moment.
'Besides, even if I did find something, how would I communicate with it?'
He decided he would search for another radioactive sample, and use it to gain speech.
Just as he was about to continue moving, another floating mist-trail appeared into view. This one was red, exactly like the sky.
Curious, he followed it.
The more distance he covered, the thicker the floating trail became. Until eventually it grew into a massive cloud which seemed to originate from behind a small snow mound in the distance.
He kept close to the snow mountain on his right, avoiding the small streams of icy water that trickled down into the valley floow, and exuded mysterious yellow gases.
...
'What is that?'
Behind the snow mound, a creature much like a dog lay on the icy ground. The ground seemed to be a frozen lake, and a trail of blood led from the dog-creature, all the way back to a small cave on the other side of the lake.
'Whatever it is, it's the first living thing I've seen in this hellscape.'
He approached hesitantly.
The creature had no fur, and it's purplish red flesh lay exposed. It's abdomen was rising and fall in irregular patterns, and it's snout was raised in the air as if howling. However Robert could not be sure, since he did not have the ability to hear.
Once he was just an arm's reach away from it, in the centre of the frozen lake, the creature stared at him. For several minutes all it did was stare, it's pitch black eyes like black wells.
Robert could see his reflection in it. He was a green puddle, glowing just like the radioactive samples he needed to regain his senses.
The creature brought its snout close to him, and sniffed. It opened its mouth and two tongues came out, one with a sharp end, and the other a bulbous.
'What is it doing?' Robert thought, his curiosty over-powering his fear.
The bulbous tongue rested on him softly, and instantly the creature trembled.
It fell over itself trying move away from him. As it stood up to run away, he saw it. A ice shard about the size of a knife embedded under its belly, from which a stream of blood was steadily flowing.
'Did it get hit by a falling ice stalactite?' he thought, moving towards the creature's new resting spot.
It was now resting with its bulging belly visible.
'Is it pregnant or full?'
Regardless, the poor beast would soon die. His first acquitance and already they would part ways.
For some reason though, something deep within Robert relished the idea of this creature dying. The red cloud that it exuded was just as alluring as the radioactive samples.
He felt disgusted by this sensation, but it was something fundamental to his new body, and no amount of self guilt reduced this drive.
And so when the creature took it's final breath, Robert inspected with great excitement.
Strangely, it's body turned to a fleshy paste just seconds after its death. What remained was a sludge of pink and reddish-purple, no sign of the once complex creature it used to be.
The red mist it exuded only seemed to grow stronger with this change. Robert braced himself, and got onto the flesh pile. His weight shifted it around, and after a bit of movement, he uncovered the source of the mist.
It was a red crystal, similar in shape to the radioactive sample he had collected earlier. It even had the same pulsing glow.
Without too much thought, he slid over it, consuming it.
『Tier 1 Radioactive nucleus has been collected!』
『Processing...』
A wave of euphoria washed over him. This was a tad bit more intense than with the radioactive sample. It made his entire being quiver in satisfaction, like a soothing warmth caressing every single particle of his body.
『2 Rads have been processed.』
『Nucleus traits have been processed.』
『User currently does not have the necessary build tools to view nucleus traits.』
'Nucleus traits? What's that?'
『1 trait is being selected at random...』
'That's not good.'
『Trait: 'Offspring' has been selected. 』
'Offspring. Wait now, I hope you don't mean I'm pregnant.'
『Restructuring DNA to sync with new trait...』
『Processing...』
The now familiar electric charge exploded in his mind, and his vision slowly dimmed.
However unlike the times before, a vision played within his mind, right before he went completely unconscious.
First it was the image of a lab, or atleast what looked like one, he was in a cage. And then bodies everywhere, a light at the end of a long hallway.
The next series of images were that of this ice hellscape; mountains, ice trees, snow that fell up to the sky instead of down. And then there was a dark cave, with two glowing green eyes at the far end.
And finally, he saw a green puddle in the middle of a frozen lake, right before everything went black.