After about an hour and half of uncrossing strands to straighten my abilities, I start searching through my body to gain a better understanding of where everything is. It looks like most of my skills correspond with intricately tied-together sigils that exist within the pathways inside of my brain with strands that reach out to parts with which they interact. An example of this is my Assessing Eyes that reaches toward my eyes.
While searching, I notice that the framework around my body with the Energy Conduit isn’t alone anymore and seems to have Hunger tied to it with strands reaching all over my body that culminate in the pit of my stomach. Everything seems to be in working order, but I can’t seem to figure out why Hunger was already set up correctly.
I open my eyes and clean myself off as I head over to the fire and sit down near the ring of stones that Ivy has setup. She’s currently grilling a piece of meat on a see-through frame over the fire.
“Hey, got a question for ya Ivy.” I say without acknowledging the meat.
“What’s up? Want some while we talk?” She says while floating the meat over towards me.
“Nah, I’m good. Not really a fan of eating meat. Thanks though. Anyways, when I went through my pathways I noticed that Hunger got integrated perfectly fine while my other skills I got beforehand had to be integrated manually. Would you know why that is?” I respond.
“Usually after the first few skills are manually adjusted, or the body has been primed in the case of people born into this world, then the body will integrate them by itself.” She says while flipping the meat to grill more evenly on the other side.
After nodding, I notice an internal pain start emerging from within me. It kind of feels like I’m hungry so I start looking through the forest for anything edible. I start walking around the different plants and foliage and scan anything that looks like it might be food.
Manashroom: This brown mushroom with blue veins helps regenerate mana when eaten. It is quite popular for alchemists due to being a mainstay in many potions.
Uses: Alchemical base for potions and edible as food for a lessened effect.
I grab a few from around the area and bring them over to the fire with a stick I found for roasting. As I clean the mushrooms off in a nearby stream I notice that the pain is getting worse and I keep feeling like I’m being nudged back towards the carcass of the Roller Bear from before. I ignore it and sit back down and poke the stick through my five mushrooms and start slowly roasting them while spinning the stick.
After a few minutes I get a nice, earthy aroma from the mushrooms and pull the stick out of the fire and let it cool on a rock. I pick off a mushroom and start munching on it. It tastes like any normal roasted mushroom would and I feel pretty full after eating them while noticing that my mana points are about ten points above my normal maximum and slowly dwindling back down.
I begin lounging against a tree and then the pain comes back and I physically feel myself being pulled towards the carcass. I wrestle with it while sweating from the internal struggle. I slowly clench and unclench my hands to give myself something to focus on while fighting the urge to gorge on the dead animal.
“Struggling against the Hunger skill?” Ivy asks while nibbling at the piece of meat she’d been searing with a few different leafy vegetables I don’t recognize.
“That obvious?” I ask between deep methodical breaths.
“Yeah I’ve seen that same fight before with Lycanthropy, Vampirism, and other skills like it. I’ve never seen it act so quickly, but then again yours is unique so there isn’t really a precedent set for it.” She responds kindly.
“I understand not wanting to hurt or eat anything, but you don’t really have a choice now. Instead of fighting it you should work on mitigating it. Make it so you don’t kill without a necessary reason. Anything that can help you with understanding the situation you’ve been put in.” She says while looking down into the fire.
“Is there a way to get rid of it?” I ask with more and more sweat coating my clothing.
“If it works like the other skills that change your race, then not that I’m aware of. Some have made potions or medicine that will make it less of a driving factor for your life, but most just learn to live with it or get ostracized because of the nature of their skills. Yours doesn’t seem to require it to be fresh meat or anything, so it doesn’t seem to be anything as bad as those examples.” Ivy answers.
“What happens if I fight it and never give in?” I ask with a sly smile on my lips.
“Take a look at your health and ask again afterwards.” Ivy responds without even looking up from her food.
I open up my status and quickly focus on my health.
Status
Health Points: 47/50
Stamina Points: 60/60
Magic Points: 24/20
“What so I’ll die if I don’t follow it?” I ask angrily while watching my health slowly tick down.
“Most likely, you’ll be knocked unconscious and your subconscious self will do whatever it can to make you survive. Or you’ll follow suit with Lycanthropy and Vampirism and lose your sanity slowly and satiate your hunger on anything including innocent people. I grilled a piece of that Roller Bear this big because I had a suspicion it would work like that.” She says while using her magic to manipulate the rest of the meat into the air.
“I hate not having a choice in the matter…” I seethe more to myself than anyone.
“I apologize for everything that led to this scenario, but there isn’t anything I can do to help you here besides offer you the cooked meat instead of letting your insanity run wild.” Ivy apologizes sadly.
I wrap my arms around my knees and scream into them to release some of my frustration.
Let me take over
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“What was that?” I ask, my scream stopping abruptly. I look over my knees and around at Ivy who’s still across the fire from me.
“I didn’t hear anything besides your screaming.” She says with her brow furrowed.
“I thought I just heard something say ‘Let me take over’.” I say quietly while scanning the woods around me.
“Could be something in your mind that’s snapping from the overexertion that getting placed here and changing your race has caused. I didn’t hear any words spoken though. Sorry.” She says while looking at me.
“I’ll just eat the meat I guess.” I say with a look of anguish on my face.
Ivy floats the meat over to me and I tear a piece off with my hands while looking at it. It smells like any backyard cookout steak or burger would and I hesitate while building up the courage in myself to do it. I slowly take a bite and chew the meat. It tastes like the best idea of a steak could in my mind and I hate that I’m enjoying the flavor and texture.
The Hunger forces me forward and I eat the rest of the meat like I haven’t eaten in weeks. Afterwards the feeling of pain and slight discomfort in my stomach goes away. I can feel my health quickly regenerating and I feel something different than before. I open up my Status screen to see if anything comes up.
Information
*Enhancement Choice Available*
Alaina Glace
Race: Devourer Tier I
Class: ???
Level: 3
Status
Health Points: 50/50
Stamina Points: 60/60
Magic Points: 22/20
Attributes
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 10
Endurance: 9
Constitution: 10
Wisdom: 6
Intelligence: 8
Charisma: 8
Luck: 10
Skills:
Survivalist Basics I, Shelter Building I, Assessing Eyes I, Instinctual Understanding (Basic) I, Energy Control II, Hunger I [Unique]
Titles & Achievements:
Ancestral Progenitor (Be the first of a race of your design. Congrats! Plus five percent effectiveness of all charming skills or spells)
Revenant (How are you even alive?! Lived through a fight with an elite type enemy with 1 HP or less. +5% to Constitution and Endurance and gain the Iron Will or Steelskin skill)
Traverser (You got yourself Isekai’d… Cool, I guess. Want a cookie? Gain Instinctual Understanding Skill)
Racial Traits & Bonuses:
+5% Constitution
+5% Endurance
+Hunger [Unique] Skill
Consumption:
Roller Bear: ???
I scroll through the menus until I can bring up the enhancements choice it’s talking about.
*Roller Bear Consumed*
Due to Elite Status of creature your choices have been modified!Due to Elite Status of creature you may select 2 Enhancements!
1. Attribute boost of +1 in Roller Bear’s highest stat
2. Gain form of Roller Bear at level 1
3. Gain Skill Armored Hide I (Your skin becomes tough and resistant to piercing and slashing attacks based on the level of the skill)
“Looks like eating the Roller Bear gave me some benefits I can choose from. Sorry about how I acted and thanks for helping out how you did. I really appreciate the support even though we don’t really know each other that well.” I say while smiling at Ivy.
“No problem at all! Do you get to choose or is it automatically added?” Ivy asks curiously.
“Not quite sure if this is the norm since the Roller Bear was an Elite, but I get two enhancement choices from it.” I say uncertainly.
“Oh interesting. If you don’t mind sharing, what options do you have?” She asks while flying over towards me with a ball of water.
“I trust you and you’ll be able to see it when it updates on my status later anyway so of course I’ll share it.” I say with a smile.
I sip some of the water from the ball and then have her dump the rest on my head to cool me off after my sweaty struggle with Hunger.
“Looks like I can either get an attribute boost of one in the Roller Bear’s highest stat, get a Roller Bear Form at level one, or the Armored Hide skill at level one.” I say after cooling off.
“Stat boosts are pretty important, but we aren’t even sure what stats you’ll want to look for quite yet so that’s a gamble. The other two seem extremely strong. If you get that from every animal or enemy, then you might become an evolved of the highest quality. Anything else new happen?” She asks while drawing out a sigil above my head. Once she finishes the sigil a nice warm air blows through me and slowly dries out my clothing and body and warms up against the chill of the night.
“I got a new menu in my Status called Consumption. Do you have any more information on that?” I ask while enjoying the warm air.
“Looks like it is specific to your race. It keeps track of your consumption and updates with each new ingestion of a different beast. Doesn’t look like it will change if you keep eating the same animal, but you could technically go through and kill a whole herd and eat a bit off each animal. I don’t think your gains will be as good that way. I’m also getting information that doing that method will eventually make your consumption lock out that animal for a little while so you don’t just commit genocide against something for a quick power up.” She says with her eyes closed and a thoughtful expression on her face.
“Yeah I have no plan on doing that, so we’re good there. I think I’ll just take the two last options in case I get an attribute that doesn’t help me at all.” I say while mentally selecting the two choices.
Congratulations!
Form: Roller Bear I added!
Armored Hide I acquired!
“Ah looks like I have a new Forms section and the Consumption list for Roller Bear updated with what I got from it.” I note while looking at my updated sheet.
Alaina Glace
Race: Devourer Tier I
Class: ???
Level: 3
Status
Health Points: 50/50
Stamina Points: 60/60
Magic Points: 20/20
Attributes
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 10
Endurance: 9
Constitution: 10
Wisdom: 6
Intelligence: 8
Charisma: 8
Luck: 10
Skills:
Survivalist Basics I, Shelter Building I, Assessing Eyes I, Instinctual Understanding (Basic) I, Energy Control II, Hunger I [Unique], Armored Hide I
Titles & Achievements:
Ancestral Progenitor (Be the first of a race of your design. Congrats! Plus five percent effectiveness of all charming skills or spells)
Revenant (How are you even alive?! Lived through a fight with an elite type enemy with 1 HP or less. +5% to Constitution and Endurance and gain the Iron Will or Steelskin skill)
Traverser (You got yourself Isekai’d… Cool, I guess. Want a cookie? Gain Instinctual Understanding Skill)
Racial Traits & Bonuses:
+5% Constitution
+5% Endurance
+Hunger [Unique] Skill
Consumption:
Roller Bear: Armored Hide
Forms:
Roller Bear I
“You could try out your new skills and form now while it’s quiet and dark or you can try and rest and I can setup a perimeter protection spell then come sleep on your shoulder.” Ivy says
“I’m exhausted and it’s dark so I’ll just head to bed and we can try them out tomorrow morning on the way to a city.” I say while cozying up with the tree behind me and closing my eyes.
“We’ll talk in the morning then.” She says from off to my right somewhere.
I nod while slowly drifting off to sleep.
