The Eternal Winter - Book 1 - Chapter 73 - A Meal
Added 2023-03-08 07:20:57 +0000 UTCYou may ignore these lines as they are because a certain website is stupid and has made some stupid new changes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexander North
It doesn’t take me long to climb down the stairs, and fortunately all of the symbionts still seem to be inside of their containers. So I rush up to the closest one – the one that was originally hiding the executive stairs before I opened it – and smash the window open, not bothering with the safety procedures since they likely don’t work anyways. And when the window shatters to reveal an inner one, I smash that one as well, revealing the symbiont in all of its gory glory.
The blob of red goo that looks like solid melted flesh or something starts going crazy the moment it’s exposed. But whether that’s due to the cold air or the fact that it’s no longer enclosed from the space around it, I’m not sure.
Either way, the instant the scent of the symbiont enters my nose, I feel a strong hunger for it.
|Requesting Alexander devour the Symbiont. Should you do that, your statistics will drastically increase|
And this time, it doesn’t have to tell me twice.
I immediately reach in, to the apparent horror of the creature, before grabbing it and bringing the glob to my mouth where I take a bite. It actually lets out a screech-like sound of pain, which I didn’t realize was possible as I start chewing the thing.
Then instinct begins to take over and the rest of it goes down practically in an instant, making a very strong warm feeling spread through my entire body, followed by the pleasant sensation I always got from absorbing energy.
Seconds pass. Then the seconds turn into an entire minute before it begins to fade away and the terminal shows me the results of the ‘nourishment’.
/ Notice \
The following user statistics have updated:
Strength: 2.39 -> 2.56
Agility: 2.83 -> 3.01
Reflexes: 2.67 -> 2.78
Constitution: 2.48 -> 2.61
Senses: 2.70 -> 2.82
Energy: 3.64 -> 3.72
\End of Notice/
My eyes widen in shock at the drastic changes.
“Holy. Fucking. Shit.” I mutter rather slowly.
|Requesting Alexander devour more Symbionts. Should you do that, your statistics will drastically increase|
No shit.
But it can’t just be that easy to get stronger. Can it?
Terminal, do these Symbionts give diminishing returns for each one I devour?
I hear the buzzing sensation in my head for a few seconds before it responds.
|Answer unknown. Requesting Alexander devour more to get more information|
Hmm, okay.
I walk over to the next container before smashing it as well and eating the poor creature. Then the same process repeats itself and I get another statistics update.
/ Notice \
The following user statistics have updated:
Strength: 2.56 -> 2.60
Agility: 3.01 -> 3.16
Reflexes: 2.78 -> 2.88
Constitution: 2.61 -> 2.71
Senses: 2.82 -> 2.92
Energy: 3.72 -> 3.80
\End of Notice/
Okay, looks like they either aren’t all as effective as the others, or-
|Answer confirmed. Each symbiont gives approximately 10-20% less nourishment for your body than the last|
Okay, do you know why that is, terminal?
|Your body retains less of the nourishment and expels the rest|
Expels? Do I want to know how?
Probably not.
Looking around the storage unit, there should be about thirty or so symbionts left. Which means bon appétit I guess.
It’s obvious from those diminishing effects that I won’t be getting as much from all of this as it’d sound, but it’ll still be a hell of a large boost. Maybe enough to fight that elite wraith thing from before on equal terms.
I immediately set about to eating the rest of the symbionts, and by the time I finish, I have trouble controlling my strength so as to not put my foot through the floor when I step. Which makes things awkward.
Terminal, show me my body analysis.
/ Current Analysis of user Alexander North \
Strength: 3.02
Agility: 3.83
Reflexes: 3.25
Constitution: 3.21
Immunity: ???
Senses: 3.29
Energy: 5/5
Body Malfunctions: N/A
Error: Cannot determine Immunity of user’s current species without the user getting sick to collect data.
The average of a human being without a symbiont is a 1 across all stats except for Energy.
The Energy statistic is determined with a 1 being set as the user’s original starting statistic for Energy.
\End of Analysis/
My mouth drops open as I stare at the new statistics of my body. Especially my energy, which apparently – unlike the other stats – didn’t have diminishing returns for each symbiont. So it just kept going up by about 0.08 for every symbiont I ate.
I really should have gone back for the symbionts earlier on…
“I’m actually stronger than a Tier 2 Symbiont Host now…” I can’t help but mutter aloud as I stare at the analysis.
And that’s not even mentioning my energy now. Which is actually stronger than that infected symbiont host from earlier.
My eyes widen as I remember the monster currently charging its way towards the city.
Shit.
Without a moment of hesitation, I immediately take off up the stairs, then through the building until I get to the hole that the frozen one created when it left. Then I simply jump straight out of it, my body practically sailing through the air until I land wobbly on my feet outside.
Okay, I should probably get used to my strength a little bit before I head over there.
With that thought in mind, I walk up to a wall and pull my fist back, only to send it flying forward straight into the armored plating. And surprisingly – or rather unsurprisingly considering how strong I am not – my fist breaks straight through the plate. Armored plating. Something that normally only bullets can break through.
Wow.
I stare at my handiwork for a few seconds before breaking out of my stupor and doing several stretches and even more exercises that I learned a while back for when I originally planned to become a Symbiont Host. Ones meant to adjust an individual to a sudden shift in personal physical abilities.
And after spending a few minutes doing that, I head out for the city as quickly as possible.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
