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『 Evaluated Absorption』
[Skill Level: Ev.1]
[Description: Allows absorption of evaluated minerals into the main-body.]
[Restriction: At Ev.1 absorbed minerals is restricted to 5% of the main-body's constitution.
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Raddan stared at the screen with intrigue. He swiped his arms through it and found that it was ethereal. In fact, he suspected the screen wasn't real at all, perhaps some sort of mental overlay encoded into his mind. It wasn't too far-fetched to assume that he himself was a construct created for experimentation, after all, he had done similar things back on Earth.
But still, the thought rubbed him the wrong way. That a group of scientists could be monitoring him like he was some sort of lower intelligence.
'No, such thoughts aren't important right now,' he decided, moving it to the back of his mind.
'This Evaluated absorption skill seems to allow me to take on the properties of minerals I've successfully identified,' he thought, focusing on the shard of obsidian in front of him. 'But how do I activate it?'
He crouched over, extending his arms so that they could touch the obsidian.
An instant later, a sharp pain tore through him, like a million tiny needles rushing into his bloodstream. Well, if rocks had blood.
Once the pain subsided, the shard of obsidian was gone, but he didn't feel any different.
"Did it not work?" he whispered, inspecting his body.
His legs were much the same, mostly purple crystal; however, their tips were black now, and slightly sharp. He looked at his arms, and it was the same; a sharpened black material now stood at its tip.
"Well, it's not a lot, but this will suffice," he whispered, stabbing his arm into the walls of the crater.
Little by little he climbed up, until eventually he made it out of the crater.
A small open area was spread in front of him, scorched black by the impact of his earlier crash. Beyond that were mounting heaps of uprooted trees and rocks, and due to his short stature, he couldn't make out anything past that.
'If this world has any forms of intelligence, they'll likely come investigate the cause of the shockwaves earlier,' he thought. With them, at least some of his questions would be answered.
However, as he stood there, he started to realise that his thinking was slightly warped. He wasn't a human anymore; in fact, he wasn't even a life form that any intelligent creature would deem to have rights. If he were found here, he would likely be taken in for experimentation. Or at least that's what he would've done if he found a talking rock out in the middle of nowhere.
'No. I have to get out of here.'
Just then, another chime.
"You again," he sighed.
[New quest: Open Celestial screen!]
"Don't shout!" he screamed back.
[Please invoke 'Celestial Screen' to proceed!"
"I said stop!" he shouted back. "Isn't there a way to turn you off. Surely just opening the screen will suffice? Why must you scream in my ears and ask infantile tasks of me?"
Though, as expected, there was no response. If he had one goal at this moment, it would be to give the robot sentience, so that he could torment it for its annoyance.
However, he still complied. Whatever the robot was, it seemed to be his only source of information, and very likely tools he would need to survive in this new place.
He invoked the screen name, and a moment later, another ethereal screen appeared.
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『 Celestial Screen』
[Celestial Title: Mineral Celestial]
[Rank: Ev.1 (20%)]
[Augmentation: None]
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[Sustenance:
Water level: 5% !(Dangerously low)
Nutrient level: 10%
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"Hmm, so a summary of my powers?" he whispered thoughtfully as he read over the screen. "But what's this about sustenance? What kind of rock needs sustenance to survive?"
A thought occurred to him. "No, maybe I'm not a rock. Or at least in the traditional sense," he surmised. "Still, that isn't much of a breakthrough thought. I need more information."
[Quest complete!]
[Processing rewards....]
"Yes, yes, I know," he grunted under his breath. He looked at his surroundings. If he really required sustenance, then he would need to find a source of water. He wasn't in any rush to die a second time, much less to something as low-brained as thirst.
He began walking towards the piles of uprooted trees in the distance. If there was water, then it would be somewhere past that.
The distance shouldn't have been too long, well, not for a human anyway. Perhaps a 10-minute walk, but as a rock, he was looking at at least an hour or a half's worth of running. He never thought he would ever miss being flesh and blood.
Just a few minutes into the walk, the rewards notifications came in.
[20% progress has been achieved towards next evolution.]
[Tutorial section has been completed.]
[Full system capabilities have now been unlocked!]
[Skill tree unlocked!]
[Mineral conversion store unlocked!]
[Evolution pathways unlocked!]
"System? So then that's what this is," he whispered. "Does full system capabilities also mean I get a more intelligent robot voice?" he asked, louder this time. However there was no response.
"Of course not, I can't imagine that something as neanderthalic as you could be made more intelligent," he grunted.
A loud rumbling tore through the air from above. Raddan looked up, and found that pitch black masses of cloud were beginning to cover the skies.
'Sudden weather changes? This world truly is strange,' he thought. Though he realized with a blue sun, this was to be expected.
He wasn't worried though. Even as a human he quite liked the rain. So he continued his walk, inspecting the new system updates.
*
Half an hour passed, and he finally made it to the first few uprooted trees. They would've already been gargantuan sized trees to a human, but to him they were like fallen sky scrapers. That's to say maneuvering past them was no easy chore.
However he was in no real rush. If any creatures appeared, he was small enough to hide under any of them. And with the rain approaching, he would get his water sooner or later. Besides, he had things to think about. Specifically, the implications that the system updates brought about.
He had spent the entirety of the walk inspecting and analyzing every part of the system, trying to understand it like second nature.