Due to deal restructure text to speech player is currently unavailable. Will find a solution soon.

Chapter 716: 716

My body was… strange . Certainly far from ideal for my purposes . I still possess the normal senses one would expect, sight, smell, sound, touch and taste, perhaps even better than I’d experienced as a human, but the configuration of his physical form… not so much . As far as I can tell, I’m a legless, fleshy blob with two deceptively powerful arms that emerged either side of my fanged mouth .

My body also appears to be covered in a black, thickened tar like substance that is quite difficult for my claws to penetrate . So a slug with arms and a mouth covered in a defensive coating . Unpleasant, but I can deal with it .

I constantly shift my body and swing my limbs as I turn my attention to my surroundings . Conditioning myself and my reflexes to this new reality will be key to my survival . I can feel a vague sense of dysmorphia rising at having my consciousness supplanted into this rather horrific form, but I squash it ruthlessly . Anything that will impede my ability to survive in this new reality cannot be tolerated . Any instinct that works against this goal must be expunged .

I could feel the familiar mindset roll over me like a cloud . It was always like this when I was on a job . I had to be cold, calculated, make the right move at the right time and with the perfect execution . When the game was life and death, there was no other way to play . Even here and now, in this new body and in this new world, I can the thrill bubbling beneath my surface thoughts . If I could only find something to fight, something to hunt . That would scratch my itch!

The environment was hot . Overwhelmingly hot . The rock around me radiates heat to an absurd degree and not far away I can see open pools of lava that flowed into places unknown whilst lighting up the area . Everything else I see is blasted, black rock . Except something moved .

A flicker of motion captures my attention and I react instantly, using my two powerful limbs do drag my fleshy body into cover where I could gain a better vantage point . Like a panther, I prowl, a flabby, meat sack of a panther, but a predator no less . Around the jagged, burning stones I pull my body until I find what it was that he had seen . One of my own kind, a disgusting blob of dark flesh dragged itself forward with its arms . What is was doing, he didn’t know . From what I can tell, it had only recently been born, much as I was, emerging from the rock . In fact, yes, I can see it, a patch of ground not far from where my fellow larvae was now, loose stone and the indentation in the ground indicating where it had liberated itself from the heated stone .

I now had a choice . Should I attempt to befriend this creature and forge an alliance? Strength did exist in numbers, this was something I knew well . Two might survive where one would fail . Then there was the other choice…

Odin only knew one way .

After reaching the creature’s blind spot, I flung myself from the rock soundlessly and sailed through the air, my claws and fangs at the ready . Strength in numbers was the policy of the sheep . I have always been a predator! Let others cower and huddle together in fear, that has never been my path . Besides, my information is incomplete . If I reveal myself to the creature and it attacks me, I will have thrown away the advantage of surprise for nothing, putting me into an essentially even battle for no gain . Better than I silence the thing now than take any risks . Besides, I believe there will be much that I can learn from this creature…

My claws strike with deadly precision, my steady aim not having changed though my body has greatly diverged from what I knew . With the angle of my body, my mouth falls in the perfect position and I sink my teeth into the tough hide of the beast and it screeches with pain .

This style of fighting lacks the grace and elegance of my usual performance, but I have to admit, there is a certain visceral satisfaction in it, being this up close and personal .

Latched onto it’s back, the creature thrashes and tries to dislodge me but I hold on with my teeth as I rake at it with my claws over and over again . The wounds piling up and my foes struggles growing weaker over time .

[Demon Claw has reached level 4 . ]

Interesting… Once again the strange voice speaks to me of this game elements . As I continue to attack my prey, I notice that I appear to be doing more damage than before, even if the difference is only slight . So these skills could help him improve at actions in this world? Fascinating…

After a little more struggle, my victim finally collapses and I release my grip, only to find the voice speaking into my mind once more .

[You have defeated Level 1 Initial Demon Larva . ]

[You have gained XP . ]

I’d been right . This world would reward me, much as a game would, if I defeat enemies . If I have a level, that meant I could level up . If I can accrue experience by fighting, improving my skills and gaining levels, then that is what I will do . I need to amass power, and quickly . Which lead me to my other path of enquiry . It’s sitting right there in my status: Biomass .

Biomass meant food, it meant matter, and I didn’t see anything else to eat around here except this thing . Jaws open wide, I rip into the meat without delay, unwilling to waste any time and uncaring what it might taste like . For the record, it tasted disgusting, but the voice spoke once again, which sharpened his mind immediately .

[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Initial Demon Larva you are awarded one Biomass . ]

[Basic profile of the Initial Demon Larva unlocked . ]

Yet more information . Perfect .