Chapter 8. Alleged Cannibalism

I collapsed in the dirt and started laughing maniacally inside my head. Even Beta, who was nothing more than a pure beast with no more free-will than what I allowed, noticed there was something wrong going on with me; that I was just staring at the abyss of madness waiting for it to stare back.

[ Panic Resistance ] has reached level 7!

Perhaps on the next life, for in this one, sanity would be my curse. And this moment, an opportunity like any other.

[ Bring those ]

We took the six bodies and lined them up at one side of the road. No point in carrying them back to the cave and doing this in front of the girl. That would have been worse. So, if I were to do this, it would have to be here.

I ordered Beta to bite on the bodies, as I did the same. After that, we just waited. The digestion process usually took around an hour to complete, but that was when the food was relatively fresh. I couldn’t help to compare myself to a scavenger, feeding on the dead.

I approached the first body to the right; while purposely avoid looking at their faces. I had enough nightmares already and no desire to give me more material to put in them.

Closing my eyes, I tried to picture I was in another place. It didn’t work though, so I quickly changed tactic and began convincing myself that this was all for the cause, that it hadn’t been me who had killed them, and that they would be going to waste otherwise. Take my word for it; start saying something countless of times, and eventually, the mind believes it. These weren’t persons anymore, just food. A means to an end. I needed that to be the case.

I don’t know what it says about me, but any remorseful thought I had before, vanished right after savoring the taste. Who would guess that eating another person could taste this good? Well, since I already made my peace with being a horrible monster, I wasn't exactly sure if this still counted as cannibalism. After all, was this cannibalism if I am no longer human?

Knowledge [ Swordsmanship ] → [ Sabers ] obtained!

Knowledge [ Swordsmanship ] → [ Cutlass ] obtained!

Knowledge [ Marksmanship ] → [ Muskets ] obtained!

Knowledge [ Marksmanship ] → [ Pistols ] obtained!

Knowledge [ Thun Language ] obtained!

Knowledge [ Horse-riding ] obtained!

I was just halfway eating from one of the bodies when I had to stop.

It fucking hurt! Doing this wasn’t the same thing as eating a [Water Boa] or a [Shadow Panther]. Nothing in my body experienced any changes this time, but my mind was in complete and utter disarray as if a massive amount of information had just been hammered into my brain. Faces I’d never seen, places I’d never been, things I’d never done. All of them just flashed like pictures one after the one, and some concrete elements remained.

It was too much.

Stumbling with a buzzing sound inside my head, I put the body aside and tried extremely hard to put my thoughts back in order.

Who was the one that had the great idea of making [ Assimilation ] absorb memories as well?

Blessing [ Assimilation ] → Allows the absorption of attributes and new skills by consuming their former user.

Right. ‘Skills.’ I should have known that something like this would happen. However, I was too blinded by the seeming lucky find to even noticed. Of course, what other skills would a human body have, if not the ones learned through experience?

All these bizarre happenings were for the sole purpose of becoming more human. Ironic isn’t it? Damn, it had only been what? Four to five days since I came to this world and my life was already a roller coaster of events.

After taking a deep breath, I reopened my eyes. After all, this wasn’t over. It was just starting. A quick glance at my status showed me there was still the need for three more levels of biomass before my evolution could take place. I shuddered just from thinking I would have to continue eating to achieve the milestone. Having a humanoid appearance was the goal, but if this was the price to pay, then I wasn’t as confident as before that doing anything would justify it.

It would have been great to know what I was going to get at the current state of affairs. Maybe, I didn’t need to continue eating this person to obtain what I wanted. Then, it occurred to me to ask the Archival what my current evolutionary paths were. Even with its integration halted, the Archival had already proven useful to identify numerous things of this world, so why the hell not? It couldn’t hurt to try.

And for better or worse, I got my answer in another ‘pop-up’ screen.

Tier 2 Evolutions available. You may select one of the following assimilated creatures to be integrated with the current baseline → [ Arachnaut ] [ Water Boa ] [ Shadow Panther ] [ Venomous Lebrilope ] [ Human ] WARNING: You don’t have enough biomass to begin the evolution process.

I felt an incredible burden being lifted from me.

It worked! And all it took to earn a humanoid evolution was crossing the taboo of eating a human being. No. Seriously, that shit wasn’t pleasant. The taste may be extraordinary, but when it carries the sorrow, hatred, and fear of the person it came from, then I rather pass.

Gazing at the bodies with the corner of my eyes, I still hadn’t decided what to do with the rest. Now that I knew the implications of eating them, I vowed never doing that again, unless the situations required it and three mere levels of biomass were just not worth the headache. I could always obtain them from eating anything else.

Very well. Let’s put this past me. What’s done it’s done.

Looking around, Beta had made quick work of the human in front of her and was already going for seconds.

[ Stop ]

I ordered, and she paused, frozen like a statue.

Perhaps it was the memories, or the mundane need to put my mind on other matters, but whatever the reason was, we started digging. We made six ditches and buried the remains.

I figured that with Beta and me working as a team, we could gather the necessary food for my next evolution, but I just wasn’t in the mood to go hunting since I was still having flashbacks of the guy I ate. I could remember the last five minutes of that guy vividly, so at least now, I had a basic idea of what happened on the road.

They were attacked. That one was obvious, but having confirmation should count for something. Their attackers, however, were still a mystery to me. The man I ate was called Jorgen, and he was a guard of some sorts. Besides that, his last moments were filled with a blinding radiance, scorning heat and pain. Lots and lots of pain. If I wanted to learn more about the incident, I would have to ask the girl in front of me, whose name I think was Ione.

It’s been five hours since I knocked her out, and since she hasn’t given any indication of waking up, I decided to exit the cave again and finally get the evolution process rolling.

The sun was already past its summit, and there I was, following the cave’s waterfall up the stream. My idea was to find something that didn’t require me to fight it, like a fish or a small bird. Thankfully, using the tree branches for movement allowed me to avoid the encounters, and instead, I tried to think what I was going to do once the girl woke up again. As much as I like keeping her unconscious so she wouldn’t freak out, that wasn’t a viable plan in the long run. I also couldn’t just order one of my minions to restrain the girl. I mean, I could do it, but only after imagining myself hugged by a giant spider, it became apparent that wasn’t a good idea. After all, the next course of action was earning her trust.

‘Eat, evolve, greetings.’ It seemed simple enough. Having someone to talk to would also be a nice change of pace; God knows I’m getting tired of talking to myself. I just need to keep in mind that some facts were better left forgotten and shouldn’t be brought back, especially the part when I ate one of her acquaintances.

Focus on the good things, Morgan. Just focus on the good things. Ugh. I really need to stop talking to myself.

After traveling some distance, we reached a small lake surrounded with slopes covered in moss and jungle vines. This time I decided to leave Beta back at the cave, standing in front of the girl and brought Alpha with me. We will be a better hunting party if all of us were strong and fit, and Beta had already eaten enough.

I told Alpha to start fishing, but apparently, the command was too complicated for him to obey. My fault really, but still not a big deal. There was a limit to how ‘words’ could successfully convey my intentions, but my connection with these creatures was beyond simple words. After taking the chance to practice through a chunk of the morning, I realized that using raw thoughts and ideas obtained better results, albeit it cost me an incredible amount of attention and I could only do it with one of them at the time. Hopefully, I would get better at it with practice.

Less than a lake and more like a pond, the water covered most of our bodies, but we still managed to put our eyes above the surface and search for unaware fishes. Catching something like this was a tedious process, but it was either doing this, fighting in the middle of the forest like some wild animal, or taking the risk of developing a multi-personality disorder from eating people and their inconvenient memories. So, after taking into consideration those last two alternatives, suddenly fishing wasn’t so bad.

And it yielded decent results too.

After going back and forth several times, I had captured twenty-six [Blue Trout] and laid them on the shore. Alpha also managed to catch a similar number of them and was already reaping the rewards. Seeing him, I started eating too. There was nothing fantastic about the fish, just a typical river trout with dotted scales and all; nevertheless, the skills I gained were very convenient.

Trait [ Gills ] obtained.

Trait [ Swimmer ] evolved to [ Born Swimmer ].

Now I can also breathe underwater, and that’s always welcome.

I rechecked my status page, and although I had eaten more than two dozen fishes, the biomass received was barely enough to reach level ten. Alas, since I was finally going to evolve, I didn’t care. Too impatient to return to the cave, I decided to do it on top of a tree and have Alpha watching over me.

Second evolution unlocked. Do you wish to review your evolutionary paths now? Y/N.

Of course.

Tier 2 Evolutions available. You may select one of the following assimilated creatures to be integrated with the current baseline → [ Arachnaut ] [ Water Boa ] [ Shadow Panther ] [ Venomous Lebrilope ] [ Human ] [ Blue Trout ] — Chose one.

Even when I already had made up my mind regarding the evolution, I still opted to check the other options just from the fear of missing something better.

[ Arachnaut ] + [ Water Boa ] → [ Drachnid ]

Crossmix between a reptile and arachnid. This evolution increases the regeneration abilities of the user. Replaces the heavy carapace with a lighter scaled variant, granting improved movement speed and agility. [ Arachnaut ] + [ Shadow Panther ] → [ Chimeranna ]

Predatorial arachnid. This evolution specializes in stealth and blending with the environment. [ Arachnaut ] + [ Venomous Lebrilope ] → [ Arachydic ]

Corrosive Arachnid. This variation evolved to overcome their venomous restrictions. Secretes an acid that can be thrown away, dissolving the target in a matter of seconds. [ Arachnaut ] + [ Human ] → [ Arachne ]

Arachnid with a humanoid frame. This variation transforms the cephalothorax into something mildly humanoid while also allowing for complex forms of communication. [ Arachnaut ] + [ Blue Trout ] → [ Aquamantula ]

Aquatic arachnid. This evolution adapts the user to an underwater environment, enlarging the body and making it suitable for swimming.

Nothing to reconsider over here.

You have selected the [ Human ] sequence for integration with baseline. Do you wish to evolve into an [ Arachne ] now? Y/N.

Come on! Yes!

Evolution in progress, creating chrysalis. Time until completion: 9 hours, 58 minutes, 47 seconds.

Another message appeared before eyes. Somehow, I had forgotten that the evolution would take some time to complete. So, while I was getting trapped in a cocoon for the second time, all my thoughts were with the unconscious hostage I had back at the cave.

It was at this moment that I knew; I fucked up.