A tide of sulfur and bile flooded my pores. The heat didn't just burn; it melted consciousness, erasing who I was before I could even remember. Corrosive liquid devoured my surface, liquefying the outer layer of flesh with a constant hiss.
Acid. Welcome to hell.
My nerve endings fired pulses of agony. The darkness wasn't empty; it was dense, vibrant—a prison of flesh that contracted rhythmically.
A Herculean pressure crushed me. The titan's stomach contracted, shoving me against the world's refuse: bone fragments, decaying tissue, and the remains of less fortunate travelers.
[Warning: Physical Integrity at 42%][Status: Active Dissolution]
A translucent grid overlapped the blackness. Floating text. A post-mortem hallucination? No, it had consistency. Pure data.
[Species: Parasite Larva (Level 1)][Base Trait: Bio-Assimilation]
I propelled myself through the gastric soup. Ringed muscles twisted against the viscosity of the bile. There was no time for panic; only for calculation. If I didn't eat, I died. If I didn't... What was "Bio-Assimilation"?
I tried to focus on the letters. Nothing. I tried to touch them with my mind, as if using a phantom muscle.
Find food?
The text flickered. A response.
Biomass?
The system reacted to the intent, illuminating the chaos with faint markers.
A hunk of red muscle, wrapped in a faint glow of energy, floated just millimeters away. Remains of a Blood Wolf. Digestive trash for the titan, a royal feast for me. Rank D. Enough to get out of the red, if I could figure out how this worked.
Something sliced through the liquid. Shockwaves hit my flank before the enemy did.
A pale, segmented mass slammed into my side with projectile force.
I was thrown against a pulsating gastric wall. A circular jaw, bristling with chitinous teeth, snapped shut over my lower end.
A burst of white static. A third of my body vanished in an instant.
Tapeworm.
Ten centimeters of biological armor. A mountain of pale flesh compared to my larval size. Its jaws opened again—a bottomless pit of infinite hunger. A rival in the local food chain.
It had the size. I had the need.
I lunged. Not at it, but toward the Blood Wolf fragment.
My jaws sank into the tissue. I didn't know if it would work. I just bit and wished with all my might for that "Base Trait" to do something.
There was no taste, just an electric shock that surged through my ganglia. Pure life energy, concentrated and potent.
[You have consumed: Blood Wolf Muscle (Rank D)][Biomass +15][Suggested Evolution: Resilient Cuticle]
An option flickered in my vision. How do I accept? Do I scream? Do I think?
The Tapeworm was preparing for the final blow. There was no time to read the manual.
I concentrated all my will on the glowing option. Do it! Now!
[Processing...]
My surface hardened instantly. The acid ceased to be a torture and became a warm bath. It worked.
The Tapeworm attacked again, frustrated at losing its easy prey.
Its teeth clashed against my new cuticle. A metallic screech vibrated through my bones. Its advantage had evaporated.
My turn.
I tried something new. If I could evolve, could I use my body as a tool?
I activated the adhesion gland. I anchored myself to its head, ignoring its frantic thrashing. It was like riding a bucking bull in a sea of acid.
I drove my jaws into its neck.
Absorb. This time, the mental command was clearer, more direct.
Not just flesh. I extracted its genetic code directly from the nervous system. Its biomass flowed into me like a river of liquid fire. Pure looting.
[Assimilating: Common Parasite (Rank F)][Progress: 12%...]
The world tilted.
An external roar shook the universe. Earthquake. The stomach expanded violently, the walls stretching to their limit.
A cascade of bright blue fluid rushed down from the esophagus. The air filled with a chemical, sterile smell that cut even through the stench of bile. Pure magic.
The Tapeworm let out an ultrasonic shriek. Its skin began to bubble upon contact with the blue liquid. It was dissolving like sugar in hot water.
Purification Potion.
Poison for us. Medicine for the titan.
Red warnings saturated my vision. The Tapeworm's health was plummeting. My loot was evaporating before my eyes.
I had to swallow it all. Now. Before the blue tide wiped us both off the map. It was a race against the purge, and I was hungry.