Travels of a Soul Eater Chapter 1 (Original Writing) (Patreon)

Well, this old idea that I've had since back in High School reared it's head again and wouldn't let me write anything else but it! I'd honestly forgotten about it for the most part. No idea why I suddenly remembered it, but here's the first chapter, so I  hope you all enjoy!

“The Balance is fading…”

“I’m aware…”

“Too many have broken from The Cycle.”

“I know…”

“How do they remove themselves from it?”

“Free Will, along with Magic, it gives them an escape.”

“What will you do? Destroy them all?”

“I did that before… I don’t want to do it again.”

“Take away the Magic?”

“I cannot without destroying everything.”

“You don’t have any to spare to fix the problem?”

“No… Will you help me?”

“One minute… You may transfer all of them for a single minute. I have enough, maybe too many… So I’ll help you.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

-Chapter 1-

‘Where am I?’ He thought to himself. ‘It’s dark, I can’t move, I can’t hear!’ He didn’t know what was happening! Why was it dark?! Why couldn’t he move?! How did he know that he was a ‘He’? He panicked, lost in a spiral of thoughts and questions he couldn’t answer! After a while he tried to calm down. He needed to think! He needed to take stock of his situation and see what he could do about it. ‘Okay, just stop, think and calm down. Let’s take this slow. What do I know?’ He mused as he tried to get his thoughts in order. ‘I can think, so I just need to go through what I can and figure things out one by one.’ With that he took stock of what little he could. ‘I can’t see, everything is black, either I’m in a place with absolutely no light, or I’m blind. That’s not good either way.’ His next observation wasn’t much better. ‘Either there is absolute silence around me, or I’m deaf too. Another problem I might not be able to do anything about.’ He let that thought settle before moving on. ‘I can feel though! So I’m not completely insensate! Alright, we have a sense to work with, now, what am I touching right now?’ He felt, devoting all of his awareness to his body, trying to glean any information from touch alone. ‘I’m on something solid, hard, cold… Is it ice? No, wait, it’s not that cold. Maybe stone then? That seems possible.’ He stewed on the new information for a bit before thinking some more. ‘Alright, so I’m either in a place with a stone floor that’s completely dark and silent; or I’m in a place with a stone floor and I’m both blind and deaf. Neither are good options. I wonder if I can move somehow. Maybe if I just try shaking my body first?’

Without any other options he tried to shake. A few attempts yielded some results. He moved, just slightly, in place.

‘That’s still progress!’ He thought to himself as he shook more. Eventually he felt the floor change slightly. ‘Is that a bump? Is it part of the stone? So this isn’t a flat floor?’With a few more shakes he felt something different. It was soft; it was under him, probably on the floor. Suddenly the soft thing wasn’t so soft. It felt like something was on him, something sticky. ‘Did I just crush something?’

A small rush came over him. It was a pleasant sensation. Sort of like water when thirsty, or a warm drink when cold. It was the best feeling he’d had since he’d become aware. The lingering sticky feeling wasn’t pleasant though.

‘What was that?’ He wondered as he continued to shake and slowly move around the stone floor. The sticky feeling seemed to be rubbed off as he moved, so that was helpful. As he moved he felt another soft thing, small like the last one, then it gave way and he felt the sticky sensation again. The small rush came again and he enjoyed the fleeting experience. ‘Huh, maybe if I could find a wall or something I could at least get a sense of the size and shape of the area I’m in?’ With a course of action decided upon, he continued to shake his body to move.

Over the course of his search for a wall he crushed a few more of the soft things. The short-lived pleasant rush occurred each time and the sticky feeling was removed after a bit of movement. Deciding to keep track of the soft things, just to have something to focus on, he counted how many he crushed. So far it was six. It was an unknown amount of time later, with another seven soft things crushed, before he ran into what he thought was a wall. It felt like stone and as he moved against it the surface seemed to be flat like a wall. Continuing to move, keeping the feeling of the wall on one side, he tried to navigate the area. Quite a while later, judging by the fact that he’d crushed a total of forty-three of the soft things on his trip, he felt the wall disappear from his side.

‘Did the wall curve?’ He wondered as he tried to move back the way he came. ‘Hey! I can do that!’ He realized happily as he felt the wall on his side again. Trying to ease more against the wall he felt as the wall curved and then flattened out again. ‘A corner, does that mean this room has a way out?’ He backed up until the flat wall was at his side again. ‘I’ll go back along the wall and check the other side first. Maybe I’m not even in a room, just a corridor or something?’ He reversed course and kept the wall on his side again as he continued to move.

He wasn’t able to really measure time while he moved. The only thing he had to count was the number of small, soft things he crushed as he moved. At the moment he’d just crushed his ninety-seventh soft thing. He still hadn’t found the opening again, but he did discover that the wall was gently curved. He hadn’t encountered any sharp corners like before at least. So that meant he was in either a large circular room, or a gently curving corridor.

‘Ninety-eight.’ He counted as another soft thing was crushed under him. The short rush came and went, still pleasant, but ultimately fleeting. He moved along the wall, still not having found the next corner. ‘Ninety-nine.’ The count was kept as a way to focus. Being alone in the dark and soundless world without something to focus on would drive anyone nuts. ‘One hundred.’ He counted as he moved over another small, soft thing and crushed it. ‘I don’t even know what it is I’m crushing. I wish I could see.’ A sudden feeling of lethargy hit him; he stopped moving as the feeling persisted. The area lit up slightly and he realized there was light! Even if it was incredibly dim, there was light! He could see it! Or maybe it was better to say he could perceive it? This noticeable light was dim, vague even, not like the clarity of sight.

‘This is still an improvement!’ He thought happily. Maybe if he wished for it his sight would clear up and improve? ‘I want to see! I wish I could see better! I want to see better! I wish for clear sight!’ He thought and wished but only the vague perception of light remained. ‘Well…that didn’t work…’But still at least there was some vague, dim light now. But what had caused it? ‘I wanted to see, because I didn’t know what I was crushing, and then I felt tired and suddenly I noticed the vague light.’ He mulled over this new occurrence for a bit before a realization came. ‘It was after I’d crushed the one hundredth little soft thing! Maybe if I crush another one hundred of them I’ll be able to see even better?’ With that thought, that hope, in mind; he continued moving. He quickly realized a problem, however.

‘Am I rolling?’ He moved forward some more, taking time to note when the light disappeared and then noticing ‘where’ it reappeared from. ‘I am rolling! That’s not good! I can’t just roll around if my pseudo-eyes are in a fixed location! I’ll be blind again if they’re underneath me!’ He pondered on this predicament for a bit before trying a different way to move. ‘Just move forward, stretch and contract, like a caterpillar, come on!’ With some trial and error, he moved forward slightly. It was slow, but it kept his ‘eyes’ in place so he could monitor the vague light around him. ‘Let’s go for one hundred more squishy things!’

He inched forward, little by little, following the wall and keeping track of the number of the small, soft things he crushed. He’d squashed another thirty-one of the things before he found another sharp corner. With his pseudo-eyes he noticed the vague light was brighter here. He moved forward some more, after several moves forward he felt the wall on his side again. He’d just crossed a corridor. He was sure of it! That meant this was a circular room!

‘Okay, so I’m in a circular room, it’s made of stone, and there seems to be lights around. Is this man-made, or is it like a cave that’s lit up by torches or something?’ He pondered on his new discovery. After some time of thinking he decided on a course of action. “The only thing I know is this room. Until I can get better eyesight, I’ll stay here. If I just keep circling the room I’ll eventually squash enough of the small things to try again!’ His plan decided, he continued to keep the wall on his side as he moved. Now he had two things to focus on at least, the number of soft things he crushed and the number of times he circled the room!

Around and around the room he travelled. He crushed another sixty-nine of the small things before he even completed one lap. With another hundred crushed he tried his luck again.

‘I want better sight!’ He wished with all he had. The strange feeling of lethargy came again and the light became a bit clearer. He felt his round body change physically, just a little around were his pseudo-eyes were. He noticed, barely, that the light was brighter in some areas and dimmer in others. ‘That worked! Alright! If I just keep doing this I’ll be able to see soon enough!’

So the process began again. Around the circular room, over and over again, each time he counted one hundred of the small things squished, he wished for better sight. His third improvement, which also physically changed the area around his pseudo-eyes again, gave him better clarity of where the lights in the room were. He also noticed that he could vaguely make out his surroundings! It was too blurry to really see, but he got the impression of shapes now! He also noticed a small, dim light in his pseudo-vision that never went away. It just stayed in the corner of his sight, unmoving.

His fourth sight improvement, after feeling his ‘face’ change again, gave him depth and some image. He now knew he was definitely in a cave of some type. The lights weren’t from torches at all. They came from glowing rocks or crystals on the walls and a few on the floor and ceiling. He still couldn’t really see well, but he could finally make out his basic surroundings at least. The little light in the corner of his sight, might’ve been a square? He’d figure it out once he improved his sight some more.

The fifth sight improvement didn’t physically change his ‘face’, but did drastically improve his sight! He could look around now! The image was clear, sort of, still blurry at a distance. But he could see detail now! He finally knew what he’d been crushing, small worm-like bugs that crawled over the cave floor. He noticed the flitter of something on the cave ceiling too. He suspected some kind of bat or other cave-dwelling creature. He’d also noticed lizards scuttling about the cave floor. They were fairly small though, none of them seemed to be a threat, more interested in eating the little worm-bugs and stuff than anything else.

‘Now I can figure out what this little thing is.’ He thought as he focused on the small little light in the edge of his vision. It was indeed a square, but it almost seemed to have words on it? ‘Info…? Why does it say that?’ His answer came when the small square seemed to flicker. He couldn’t really tell if it did or not, since his sight was monotone, and without any real color, just varying shades of muted grays and black. In an instant a whole slew of information was before his eyes. ‘A menu screen?’ He wondered as he looked at the words of light in his vision.

-Info Screen-

You are a Transmigrant Soul.

You have some knowledge of your last life to help you perform your World Task.

You are a ‘Soul Eater’, a creature that can consume the souls of the living things they kill to gain strength. Unlike normal creatures, your growth and development is entirely in your control. Every time you make a physical change or upgrade, you’ll lose a proportionate amount of your power to facilitate the changes and development. Likewise the acquisition of abilities is dependent on your power. The stronger the ability you wish to acquire, the more requirements there are to gain it.

World Task: Devour the souls of Immortals and send them back into the Cycle of Reincarnation to maintain the Balance of the World.

-Info Screen-

‘What the hell? I didn’t sign up for any of this! Is this what the afterlife is? Is it really just another life to live through in some other place?’ He wondered as he looked at the information on the floating screen. He knew, though he didn’t understand how, that no one but him could see this screen. ‘Well, if this is my life now, I guess I better make the best of it. Though what the hell kind of task did I get saddled with? Immortals? That’s a thing here? I better check this whole screen out.’

He looked through the screen and the message before wondering if there was more. At his thought the screen changed and what looked like a stat sheet was brought up.

-Info Screen-

Name: None

Species: Soul Eater

Body Type: Undefined

Body Attributes: Physical Form, Eyes

Abilities: None

Strength: 1

Defense: 1

Agility: 1

Mana: 1/1

-Info Screen-

‘Those numbers aren’t encouraging…’ He thought to himself with some lament. ‘At this point I’m basically just a blank slate. But it did say my development is completely up to me. I wonder what the limit for that is. Well, only one way to find out!’ With that he scooted over and crushed another of the small worm-bugs. The familiar sensation came again as well as a notice form the still opened screen.

[Soul Consumed]

‘Huh, so that feeling comes when I consume a soul. I guess it’s similar to sating thirst and hunger.’ He considered the development as he looked at his stats. Not seeing any changes was disheartening. ‘Maybe the souls of small, simple creatures aren’t very strong? I don’t think I’m fast enough to catch one of the lizards though. I might not even be strong enough to kill it even if I did catch it.’ As he thought about his hypothesis he considered the other aspects of his stats. ‘It says my Body Type is ‘undefined’, maybe I can give this body any type of form I want with enough development? At the moment I’m basically just a living ball with eyes. But, if I could give myself eyes, than surely ears, a nose, a mouth, and stuff is possible, right? Maybe even limbs!’ With hope in mind he set himself a goal. ‘Look out little worm-bugs! I’m coming for you all! I’ll grow into something worthwhile and live a full life!’ He quickly scooted forward, with eyes he could see where larger congregations of the worm-bugs were in the middle of the room. He’d devour all of their tiny souls!

Without any way to measure time, he simply continued to run over the worm-bugs that lived on the cave floor. With access to his stats he was able to figure things out. For example, it took ten worm-bugs to increase his mana by one point. To improve his sight cost him ten mana points. After his fifth improvement, which sharpened his vision and brought everything into focus, including more distant objects; he’d boosted it again with another ten points and gotten color vision. The cave was still fairly dim, but it was bathed in the yellowish glow of the crystals that filled it. Feeling like his vision was as good as he needed it for now; he moved on to the next sense he wanted. ‘Let’s get some ears working! Aside from sight, that’s the next most important sense!’

It took another hundred worm-bugs to develop the most rudimentary form of hearing. A shift in his body, something solid forming on the inside, just below his skin; he believed it to be something like a small bone. It made his skin that it was pressed against more sensitive to vibrations. It wasn’t very useful by itself, but he knew how to make it better now! He crushed more and more worm-bugs, devoured their tiny souls and left the remains behind for the lizards. The second improvement developed a more attuned structure inside his body. He could faintly hear the lizards as they followed behind him, eating the remains of the worm-bugs.

The third improvement brought the first outer change as a small depression formed on either side of his round body. Sound was focused into the depressions better, and he could occasionally hear the flutter of the bats on the ceiling. The fourth improvement turned the depression into a full canal. The bones inside of his round body were pressed into this canal and picked up the minute vibrations of sounds much better. The fifth improvement saw the formation of balance and orientation for his body. He now had a much more definitive idea of top and bottom for himself and he could pick up fainter sounds as well. The sixth improvement formed the outer ears, helping to focus sound into his ear canal so that he could pick up even fainter noise. He now heard when the bats occasionally swooped down to snatch one of the lizards from behind him. Apparently they were carnivorous, he just happened to be too big and too strange for them to consider him prey.

With sight and hearing acquired to good levels he focused on the first large change to his body. He was planning to acquire limbs! He expected them to cost a lot more than his sensory organs had, since he needed to form entirely new body structures. But this cave room seemed to have almost no limit of the worm-bugs. With his course decided upon, he continued to move and devour the tiny souls that he could prey upon.

‘So many worm-bugs!’ He lamented, closing his eyes as he finally acquired enough mana to form limbs! Fifty mana points was the cost of the small, stubby limbs on his round body. They reached the floor and he was able to use them to increase his mobility a bit. But they were horribly weak, not to mention they weren’t like hands or anything. Sort of like flippers with small caws on the end at best. They weren’t even fast enough to hit one of the lizards! ‘Am I ever going to graduate from worm-bugs?’ He wondered, despondently.

Five-hundred worm-bugs later and he became able to develop his arms further. After letting the lethargy pass, he looked at his newly advanced limbs. They were still somewhat flipper-like, but now they had noticeable digits, each one of said digits ended in a claw as well. With these he was finally going to move up the food chain!

‘That’s right, come get the worm-bug remains, you know you love them…’He thought as he gazed at the lizards eating the remains he’d left behind him. He had both of his small arms raised high, just waiting for the scavengers to get close enough. When a few got within his arms’ reach he slammed his ‘hands’ down on top of them as hard as he could.

[Soul Consumed]

[Soul Consumed]

‘Yes!’ He yelled his join in his mind, even as the rest of the lizards scattered. Checking over his stats he blinked when he checked his mana. Was that right?

[Mana: 4/4]

He’d gained a mana point for each lizard! They were worth ten times what a worm-bug was! If he’d had a mouth it would be forming into a vicious smile. He knew what he’d be hunting now! These little lizards could probably be tricked with easy meals over and over again. They’d spent so long following him around for the remains of the worm-bugs that he was sure they’d keep doing it, even if some of them were killed!

‘Time to bait the trap again!’ He thought deviously as he crushed a trail of worm-bugs, devoured their little souls, and then stopped and waited for the lizards to be drawn in by the easy meal. It took a little longer than normal, but the small reptiles obviously didn’t have a very long-term memory as they started to scrabble their way over to the free meal. He let them eat, let them get close, and once two more were in range he brought his arms down again.

[Soul Consumed]

[Soul Consumed]

[Mana: 6/6]

‘Oh yeah… This is going to be much more efficient!’ He thought as he remained still and let the lizards work up the nerve to come back for the food again. He was fairly certain they’d even eat their own dead, if given the chance.

Time passed in this way for quite a while. Occasionally he moved to a new spot, leaving a trail of crushed worm-bugs for the lizards to follow. The reptiles never seemed to catch on to his scheme. It wasn’t long before he got his next advancement for his arms. Now with multiple-jointed digits he could grasp things and his limbs seemed more suited to being swung as well, with the development of a shoulder-like joint. The fourth advancement of his arms fully formed the shoulder joints and granted him an opposable thumb-like finger, though it was short and stubby compared to his other digits. When he advanced his arms for the fifth time they were long, had fully formed hands with opposable thumbs, and he was content with them.

‘Let’s see if I can do this now.’ He mused to himself as he picked up a stone from the floor. It fit in his hands well and had a bit of weight. Looking up towards the ceiling he saw the bats hanging from the rock. Steadying himself with one arm, he cocked his other arm back and threw the stone as hard as he could! The rock flew towards the ceiling and smacked into the clustered bats! With a pained shriek one of them fell from the ceiling and hit the ground. The flying rodent flapped around on the ground, one of its thin wings clearly broken from the rock. He used his arms to scramble over to the downed bat. With a good hammer fist the bat stopped moving as its thin bones broke.

[Soul Consumed]

[Mana: 3/3]

‘They’re worth two mana each?!’ He exclaimed in his mind. This was great! He could use the same stone over and over again. He’d kill every bat on the ceiling of this room and devour their souls! ‘After all, I need a better body and a pair of legs to go with these arms!’ With that thought he made his way over to the stone and picked it up again. Steadying himself with his right arm this time, he cocked back his left and hurled the stone with all of his power again. The rock sailed into the cluster of bats earning another screech as a second rodent dropped to the ground. A quick, if awkward, rush to the downed bat and another hammer fist finished the job.

[Soul Consumed]

[Mana: 5/5]

Quite a while later, it could have been hours or days, he had no way of knowing; the last bat in the chamber fell to the ground dead. Several of the bats had flown out of the room when their numbers started to drop. But he’d gotten a large number of them. Looking over his stats and mana he tried to decide the best way to use his new abundance.

-Info Screen-

Name: None

Species: Soul Eater

Body Type: Undefined

Body Attributes: Physical Form, Eyes, Ears, Arms

Abilities: None

Strength: 1

Defense: 1

Agility: 1

Mana: 102/102

-Info Screen-

‘Hmm, I guess I should get legs first and see how that affects me. Then I’ll know if I need to lengthen my torso to match my arms or lengthen the legs.’ He thought to himself. Something else happened though when he was tried to wish for legs.

[Other Options Available – Would you like to view them?]

‘Other options? That’s new. I guess I should look at them at least.’ He considered and a new screen came up.

-Development Options Screen-

Gain Nose – 10 Mana

Gain Jaw – 20 Mana

Gain Legs – 50 Mana

Develop Scales – 40 Mana

Develop Fur – 40 Mana

Abilities

Mana Manipulation – 100 Mana

-Development Options Screen-

‘Huh, what’s the point of developing Scales or Fur?’ He wondered glancing at the options.

[Develop Scales – Bonus to Defense Stat, prerequisite for other Scale Developments and Abilities]

[Develop Fur – Bonus to Defense Stat, Unlocks Cold Resistance, prerequisite for other Fur Developments and Abilities]

‘Oh, that’s useful. Good to know.’ He nodded at the new information. ‘What’s Mana Manipulation?’

[Mana Manipulation – Allows use of mana for Abilities, Spells, and certain Skills, prerequisite for all Abilities that require mana and for learning Magic and certain Skills]

‘Hmm, even if I can use mana, that doesn’t mean I’ll have any left to unlock an Ability that uses it. Pretty sure I’m not going to find any spell books that I can read in this cave either. Better to stick with improving my body before I worry about that.’ He decided as he picked the ‘Gain Legs’ option. He instantly watched his Mana amount get cut in half and the lethargy hit him hard again. When the tiredness lifted an undetermined amount of time later; he looked down at his proto-legs. They were similar to how his arms had been, sort of flipper-like. He checked his options again to see what he could do with his remaining Mana.

-Development Options Screen-

Gain Nose – 10 Mana

Gain Jaw – 20 Mana

Advance Legs – 50 Mana

Advance Torso – 30 Mana

Gain More Arms – 50 Mana

Gain More Legs – 50 Mana

Develop Scales – 40 Mana

Develop Fur – 40 Mana

Abilities

Mana Manipulation – 100 Mana

-Development Options Screen-

‘Okay so the Torso is an option now that I have legs.’ He looked at the option and its lower cost compared to the others. ‘It’ll take less time to build back up to the next advancement if I choose Torso. I guess I’ll go with that.’ His choice made he watched as his Mana amount shrank again and the lethargy set into his body.

‘Huh? Oh damn, I actually fell asleep that time!’ He started suddenly as he realized that two advancements so close together had actually knocked him unconscious! ‘I’ll have to be careful about that in the future. It could be dangerous.’ He looked over his newly transformed body. His torso had lengthened and gotten broader. His shoulders had migrated to the proper place and he rolled them a bit. He saw his proto-legs and noticed that they were placed more towards the front of his torso. Wondering about the placement he opened the Development Screen again.

-Development Options Screen-

Gain Nose – 10 Mana

Gain Jaw – 20 Mana

Advance Legs – 50 Mana

Advance Torso – 30 Mana

Gain More Arms – 50 Mana

Gain More Legs – 50 Mana

Develop Scales – 40 Mana

Develop Fur – 40 Mana

Develop Tail – 30 Mana

Abilities

Mana Manipulation – 100 Mana

-Development Options Screen-

‘I guess that’s why my leg placement seems weird.’ He thought as he looked at the new option. ‘A tail, huh? I mean, it could be useful, depending on how I developed it. If I made it prehensile it would basically be another limb. Then again I could just double up on arms if I wanted to.’ Looking at his remaining Mana he couldn’t actually afford any further developments at the moment. ‘I guess I’ll check my stats and see if gaining the legs and torso did anything.’

-Info Screen-

Name: None

Species: Soul Eater

Body Type: Knuckle Walker

Body Attributes: Physical Form, Eyes, Ears, Arms, Legs

Abilities: None

Strength: 2

Defense: 1

Agility: 2

Mana: 22/22

-Info Screen-

‘Alright, I’ve made some progress, that’s good.’ He nodded to himself; now that he had a proper body he could do that! Glancing around the room or cavern he noticed there were still plenty of lizards and the floor still had plenty of the worm-bugs crawling on it. ‘Well, back to work if I want to develop further.’ With his stronger body he smacked the worm-bugs on the ground with one hand.

[Soul Consumed]

[Soul Consumed]

[Soul Consumed]

[Soul Consumed]

[Soul Consumed]

[Soul Consumed]

[Soul Consumed]

[Soul Consumed]

[Soul Consumed]

[Soul Consumed]

‘Cool! Now that I’m bigger and stronger I can take out more in one shot! That’s a whole Mana point in a single strike! Plus the lizards will come over once I sit still for a bit.’ With a sharp look at the worm-bugs crawling on the ground, he nodded at his plan of action. He smacked over and over again; devouring enough tiny souls with each strike to gain another Mana point as he moved around the floor. After a while, and adding thirteen more points to his Mana total, he sat still and waited for the lizards to swarm the feast he’d laid out for them.

He didn’t have to wait too long. The small reptiles couldn’t resist their base instincts. A veritable flood of the small, gray lizards poured out of every small crack and crevice in the cavern. He sat and waited, carefully picking up two rocks, he held them in his hands as the lizards practically piled up on each other to try and get at the food. When he felt the writhing pile was big enough, he struck. Lashing out with the rocks in his hands, he bludgeoned and crushed lizard after lizard. Several managed to get away, but he’d gotten more than enough for his first goal.

‘Alright, now let’s advance my legs to the next stage.’ The drop in Mana came and the lethargy of his development followed. A short time later and his advanced legs, much stronger than they were previously, were formed and ready. With careful balance, using the wall of the cavern for support, he stood up on the legs fully. Taking a few steps, hand still on the wall, he was pleased that he could now walk upright. ‘Now I play the waiting game.’ He mused as he picked up his two rocks again. It would only be a matter of time before the lizards emerged to eat again.

It was much later, and three rounds of bludgeoning the swarming lizards with his rocks, before he gained enough Mana points to advance again. With a thought he pulled up his status screen and looked at the options.

-Development Options Screen-

Gain Nose – 10 Mana

Gain Jaw – 20 Mana

Advance Torso – 30 Mana

Gain More Arms – 50 Mana

Gain More Legs – 50 Mana

Develop Scales – 40 Mana

Develop Fur – 40 Mana

Develop Tail – 30 Mana

Abilities

Mana Manipulation – 100 Mana

-Development Options Screen-

‘Hey, where did ‘Advance Legs’ go?’ He demanded in his mind. He wanted to get his legs up to the same level as his arms. He briefly noticed that ‘Develop Tail’ was highlighted. ‘What’s this about?’ He questioned and instantly got an answer.

[Develop Tail- Must be chosen or discarded permanently before further leg advancement can be done]

‘What’s the benefit of having a tail?’ He asked the screen.

[Develop Tail – Increase to Agility through balance, prerequisite for all further Tail Developments]

‘Alright, I’ll take an Agility boost.’ He accepted and a smaller screen popped up in front of the first one.

[Develop Tail – Has two branches, Thin and Flexible or Thick and Sturdy, please choose one]

‘Pretty sure if I want it to be prehensile it’ll need to be flexible, so I’m going with Thin and Flexible.’ He chose and watched as the second screen disappeared before his Mana total dropped and the lethargy set in. It wasn’t as bad this time, and when the drowsiness faded he looked behind him to see a thin tail hanging from just above his rear. He couldn’t really move it much beyond a small flick or gentle wave; but it was on its way. ‘Back to hunting, I guess.’ He shrugged and picked up his rocks again. While he’d been busy with his development, the lizards had started swarming again.

When the lizards’ numbers had dwindled down to only a few left, days might have passed. Not much caring about time, he quickly brought up his screen and advanced his legs for the fifth time. If they were anything like his arms then five times was the max. Once he’d woken up from the lethargy he stood up on his strong legs and stretched. He just needed to advance his, now small looking, torso and he’d be almost fully formed, aside from a nose and mouth and any additions he chose to develop.

‘This cavern is probably starting to stink with all the rotting lizards.’ He considered, since he hadn’t developed his olfactory senses or a jaw yet. Not like he could smell or taste the air. ‘Maybe it’s time to leave this cavern?’ Just as he thought that, he heard a faint sound coming from the corridor leading out of the room. Pressing himself back against the wall and crouching down, he locked his gaze on the entrance to the cavern. What came crawling into the cavern was a larger lizard. This one looked a mix of black and grey, it was larger than anything he’d seen since becoming aware in this cave. Its’ scales jutted outwards and looked sharp. Its tongue flicked out of its’ mouth, tasting the air, and it moved towards the piles of little lizard carcasses.

‘I’m taller than it by a good amount, maybe I can take it?’ He mused as the large lizard crawled closer towards the pile of rotting meat. He picked up his rocks and quietly made his way out of the lizard’s view. Cocking his arm back he threw the first stone and nailed the spiky looking lizard. The reptile nearly flipped over from a combination of the hit and its’ own startled reaction. Not giving it any time to recover, he threw the second stone, nailing the lizard again. The spiky reptile flailed again, thrashing around in pain. Seeing his target still moving, he picked up whatever rocks he could reach and started lobbing them at the lizard.

Nine rocks later the large, spiky lizard lay still and he noticed a faint glow leave the lizard’s body and head towards him. When it made contact with him, he got the warm, pleasant sensation again. It was stronger than it had ever been before and he hurried to check his stats.

-Info Screen-

Name: None

Species: Soul Eater

Body Type: Humanoid

Body Attributes: Physical Form, Eyes, Ears, Arms, Legs, Tail

Abilities: None

Strength: 2

Defense: 1

Agility: 3

Mana: 11/11

-Info Screen-

‘That thing was worth five points!’ He blinked at the increase to his Mana total. ‘Huh, so the bigger something is the more its’ soul is worth? Guess I should take the opportunities when they’re presented to me then.’ With his increase finished he slowly made his way out of the cavern he’d been in since first awakening in this world. Listening carefully for any sounds, he peeked around the corner to check the corridor leading out. Not seeing anything he quietly made his way down the corridor until he emerged in a larger tunnel. Still wary and on the lookout for any other creatures he travelled down the tunnel. He had a good sized rock in each hand, just in case.

As he continued to make his way down the tunnel he noticed a surprising lack of animals. He hadn’t seen any bats on the ceiling, no lizards flitting about on the floor; the worm-bugs were pretty sparse too. Following the path for a bit longer he found a similar corridor to the one that he’d left. Peeking around the edge he didn’t spot anything. Moving slowly and quietly, he made his way down the corridor and into the cavern. He emerged into a room not unlike the one he’d awoken in. Examining the cavern, he noticed it was more oval-shaped than really circular. There were bats on the ceiling here. Some of the gray lizards were scurrying around the floor too. Something moved on the ceiling and caught his attention. Looking closer he noticed a bat; it was distinct from the other flying rodents in that it was at least three times their size!

‘I bet that thing is worth at least five points too!’ He thought to himself as he took aim at the larger bat. He threw the first stone as hard as he could. The rock flew through the air and smacked the large bat off the ceiling. The shriek the bat let out was painful to his ears and sent the rest of the bats into frenzy as they flew around the cavern. Not worrying about the small bats squeaking and flying about, he hurriedly moved over to the flailing bat and brought the second rock down on it over and over again. A few moments later and a faint glow emerged from the large bat. The glow was taken into his body and the pleasant sensation followed.

[Soul Consumed]

Checking his stats he was happy with his newest ‘meal’.

[Mana: 16/16]

‘Nice! The rest of the bats are calming down too. Looks like I’ll be able to clear this room out the same way I did to mine.’ He thought as he looked around the cavern as the small bats settled back onto the ceiling. ‘Time to get back to the hunt.’ He picked up one of his large he’d brought with him and took aim.

By the time he’d cleared out the second cavern he had made quite a bit of progress. He’d been able to advance his torso four more times. It now matched his arms and legs. His balance was better and his strength had increased thanks to it! He’d even maxed out his new Nose and Jaw! His tail had advanced twice as well! All in all, he was very happy with his progress!

-Info Screen-

Name: None

Species: Soul Eater

Body Type: Humanoid

Body Attributes: Physical Form, Eyes, Ears, Nose, Mouth, Arms, Legs, Tail

Abilities: None

Strength: 3

Defense: 1

Agility: 4

Mana: 4/4

-Info Screen-

He had discovered a downside to creating his Nose and Jaw though. With their creation came the related internal systems. He’d lost consciousness when they’d formed his lungs and esophagus. He’d awoken in a daze with a new set of internal organs! He breathed, his stomach rumbled, and the smell of blood was heavy in the air. Strangely enough he didn’t get ‘hungry’ in the physical sense. Consuming a soul sated him in the same way as eating would. He thought of it as a blessing; especially because he wasn’t eager to try snacking on raw lizards or bats. While developing and advancing his jaws, he’d taken the middle path of an omnivore for his tooth formation. He had pronounced canines that resembled fangs in his mouth, but other than that, most of his teeth were molars meant for chewing. His incisors were sharp for biting through larger foodstuffs, but that seemed normal to him.

The final surprise that came from having the internal organs came in a new option on his development screen.

[Develop Genitals] wasn’t what he’d expected when he’d formed his nose and mouth. But he supposed it made some sense, if he ate physical foods, he’d need a way to evacuate the waste products. He needed more Mana if he wanted to choose that development though.

‘I guess it’s time to move on again.’ He mused as he looked around the devastated cavern he’d cleared out. Piles of dead bats and lizards were all over the floor, the few remaining lizards picking at the corpses. Grabbing the two largest rocks he found in the cavern he made his way back down the corridor and into the large tunnel.

He kept to the side of the tunnel as he made his way through it. Just in case something dangerous came barreling through, he wanted to stay on the side and hopefully avoid any potential collision. He stopped dead when he heard a noise. It was a clicking sound, no, more of a scratching sound. Like the sound of claws on stone! Pressing himself further against the tunnel wall, somewhat obscuring his form against the rough walls, he waited to see what was coming.

Out of another small corridor that he hadn’t yet noticed further down the tunnel; came two large…rats? They looked like the rodents, but they were way too big! They were almost up to his knees at the shoulder! More like small dogs than rats! The two rodents of unusual size sniffed around the tunnel as they moved along. With a grimace on his face he noticed both of them perk up as they got closer to him.

‘Damn it!’ He shouted in his own head. They seemed to have noticed him! He wasn’t sure if he could fight both of them! They weren’t giving him much option though as they charged towards his location!

“Come on then!” He used his mouth to shout at the rodents! The two charging rodents let out high pitched shrieks, before the one on the left took a large rock to the face. It squealed as it stopped its charge and darted to the right, towards the wall. The rat on the right continued to charge and lunged at him with a bite. He jammed the large rock he had in his left hand into its opened maw. The rat’s jaw was now stuck open! It scrambled around, its’ front paws scrabbling at the stone in its mouth. With his enemy stunned and distracted he swung a full strength punch into the side of the rat’s head. The creature staggered and he kicked it in the body as hard as he could. The large rat was sent a decent distance away as it flailed in pain.

A sharp pain came from his other leg and he looked down to see the second rat biting him! With a cry of pain and anger he kicked it across the head, the rat shrieked as it took the blow. With his anger over the injury he raised his uninjured leg and stomped on the large rat. Again and again he stomped on the flailing rodent until it stopped moving. He spotted the glow of its soul leaving the body; he grabbed it and tossed it into his mouth. It had no real taste, and the consistency was similar to thick mist. He felt something in his mouth but it was like it was mostly air. Without a thought he swallowed it down and the pleasant sensation swept over his body. Looking around for the second rat he noticed it was hobbling away down the tunnel.

“Oh no you don’t!” He declared as he moved after the injured rodent. “Don’t start what you can’t finish!” He yelled, grabbing a stone from the tunnel floor and using it to bludgeon the rat’s head until he saw its soul appear. He quickly ate the soul and relished in the feeling it gave him. Breathing heavily, he leaned against the tunnel wall to steady himself. That was dangerous, but not as bad as he’d thought it would be. The injury to his leg wasn’t horrible, but he’d be hobbling for a little bit. Maybe he should’ve developed scales or fur for the Defense boost? Well, hindsight and all that. As he rested and evened out his breathing he checked his Mana total now.

[Mana: 20/20]

“Damn, those guys were worth something at least.” He sighed while resting a bit more. Once he felt up to it he hobbled over to the corridor that the two rats had come from. Peeking around the corner he didn’t see anything. Straining his ears he listened for anymore scraping of claws on stone. After a while of not hearing anything he entered the corridor and made his way into the cavern. The place was empty, save a small colony of bats on the ceiling. The rats had clearly been cleaning this place out of whatever they could catch.

Deciding to hunt the bats once his leg stopped hurting, he examined the cavern. The dim yellow glow that permeated these caves from the glowing crystals made it easier to see things at least. Noticing an odd shape on the floor he moved over towards it. Reaching down he picked up the item and brought it closer to a glowing crystal to see it better.

‘A knife?’ He blinked as he saw that, indeed, the item in question was a knife. It was chipped pretty badly along the cutting edge, but the tip was still intact. The metal looked a little worn, as did the leather wrapped around the handle, but it was still usable for the most part. ‘I’m keeping this.’ He decided as he looked the weapon over. It had probably been tossed aside when it had gotten damaged, but that meant that either something intelligent enough to forge knives lived in these caves, or that someone from outside the cave had come in with weapons. ‘Either option could be bad for me. I’ll just have to stay under the radar until I’m strong enough.’ With his new worn-knife in hand he sat back against the wall of the cavern and rested. He didn’t really fall asleep, but he dozed lightly while huddled in the corner behind a decently big rock.

He came out of his dozing sometime later and noticed his leg didn’t hurt much anymore. Checking his injury in the low light, he saw that it was mostly healed over now. That was a good sign, at least. Standing up, he put some weight on the leg. When it didn’t hurt, he put his full weight on the leg. A small soreness appeared, but it was negligible. Picking up a rock he chucked it at the bats on the ceiling. When one fell down he hurried over and stabbed it with the worn-knife. The bat stilled instantly and he consumed its’ soul automatically. He repeated this process until the bats were all cleared out. Sitting down behind the larger rock in the corner he checked his mana.

[Mana: 48/48]

‘Alright, good, I have enough now. Develop Fur, please.’ He chose and he watched his total Mana plummet again. The lethargy came and he huddled up behind the rock as he dozed off.

“Ugh… That wasn’t comfortable, but at least I wasn’t attacked.” He grumbled as he awoke sometime later. He stood up and stretched. Hearing his joints pop he shook himself back to alertness. Looking over his form he noticed he was covered in dark fur, maybe a dark-brown or black, it was hard to tell in the low light. He felt the top of his head and realized he also grew hair. He supposed that made sense, hair was still a form of fur, it was fairly short, but if it grew like hair, then it’d be longer soon enough. Looking behind him he noticed his tail was also covered in the dark fur. ‘I bet I look like a human/monkey hybrid to anyone that sees me right now.’ Checking his stats he looked at the changes.

-Info Screen-

Name: None

Species: Soul Eater

Body Type: Humanoid

Body Attributes: Physical Form, Eyes, Ears, Nose, Mouth, Arms, Legs, Tail, Fur

Resistances: Cold Resistance

Abilities: None

Strength: 3

Defense: 2

Agility: 4

Mana: 8/8

-Info Screen-

‘Good, my Defense went up and I got the Cold Resistance too. It isn’t cold in the cave, but it’s also not really warm either.’ Bending down he picked up the worn-knife. “Back to the grind, I guess.” He grinned as he made his way towards the corridor to check that the coast was clear. He still had a long way to go if he wanted to really live his new life.

-End Chapter-