I sit in my new, much larger home, eyeing the extremely solid stone wall in front of me.

[Are you ready?]

[As I'll ever be.]

[All right, then. All Void reserves going into size and strength, same as always.]

I can feel the process start, a tingling feeling which creeps from the tip of my antennae down my head, and through my body. As it changes to an uncomfortable stinging sensation, I sprint forwards and ram my head into the wall.

The wall shakes, dirt and dust raining down from the ceiling.

[Joule? Why didn't I get knocked out?]

The stinging is getting much worse.

[You're too tough now!]

[That's not a good answer!]

I turn around ready to charge back at the wall when the pain explodes into existence, and I collapse as a result.

[Joule!]

[I'm working on it!]

I can feel my carapace as it cracks and splits, and then repairs itself. Crack and repair, split and fix, an endless cycle of agony wrapping around every nerve in my body. I manage to take a step, legs shaking, and then my limbs fail me, and I crash onto the ground, striking my head hard. Unfortunately, not hard enough.

My legs practically explode as new ones grow from underneath them, the cast-off bits disintegrating into black particles and flowing back into me. I can feel a grinding sensation as my interior rewrites itself, organs growing larger and stronger to accommodate my ever-increasing size (did I just grow lungs?!). My skull bubbles and expands, and even my eyes shred themselves as they grow and repair the damaged tissue.

It goes on for ten minutes.

At the end of it, I simply lie on the ground, not moving at all.

[Null?]

Joule's voice comes into my head rather tentatively, not willing to give me any more injury than I already have.

I exhale deeply, the lungs emptying in a very unfamiliar manner.

[Next time, we make darn. Well. CERTAIN that I can knock myself out, all right?]

[That sounds like an excellent idea.]

Some time later, I force myself to my feet and feel my antennae brushing the ceiling.

[Wha - how much did I grow?]

[About a foot. You're getting closer to Noah's height, if you were stood up on your abdomen.]

It's a weird mental picture, but a tired feeling of victory fills me up from the inside, tasting better than a chicken.

[That was worth it. What do you want to do now?]

[Well, I was thinking we'd go eat something. Anything nearby?]

[Just a small pig. Not one with abilities, that'd be out of the question in your current condition.]

I'm intrigued by the last part she says.

[What do you mean, current condition?]

[We dipped slightly below the recommended level, and your regeneration is catching up, which is using more energy, and... well, the long and short of it all is that you can't use any of your normal abilities for some time.]

I'm a little alarmed at the prospect. What if something attacks me that I don't see coming?

[Let's go eat that pig, and then see where we should go from there.]

[That sounds like an excellent idea, especially considering that we acquired some new techniques.]

Now that's good news.