Chapter 7 - The Cave Viper (Part 2)

...Darkness. Once again, I'm back here. In this state of nothingness, just existing in this state of nirvana, the ultimate bliss… Or so I thought, but I could hear a faint voice coming to my mind, gradually clearing it..

[Aid.n... Can...y...hear...m…? Aid.n…]

I could not make out who was speaking and what it was trying to convey. It was almost like a faint buzzing.

[AIDEN, WAKE UP!] Suddenly a female voice shouted loudly, startling me.

'Wha-what happened, where am I?' I blurted out the question as I came to my senses. I realized that the voice that helped me come back was my faithful system, Enya.

[Finally, you woke up. Regarding your question, I have bad news and good news. Which one would you like to hear first?]

Although she was supposed to be just a system designed to assist me, it did feel that Enya was more than just a machine. Much more in fact. Listening to her cheeky voice, it was clear she was capable of human emotions, and from her earlier outburst, and her tone now, it seemed to care for me, warming my heart.

'Please start with the bad news first, although I have an idea where we should be. I'm not in the hole I aimed myself at right?'

[Yes your observation is correct Aiden, you failed to reach safety. The Cave Viper swallowed you. The good news is, the snake was so eager to claim victory, that it swallowed you whole. The system, with the help of your Blessing's excess energy, could switch you back to your Slime form, giving you immunity to the acidic fluids of the Snake's stomach. You could actually absorb this liquid in this form, and convert it to bits of energy, recharging your reserves. I suggest you use this small timeframe and recuperate using the acidic fluids to recharge your own reserves.]

Enya's advice was correct, my situation may seem dire, but actually it could be a blessing in disguise. My huntress thinks her hunt was successful and that she caught the troublesome bug that dares disturb her rest.

I was sad that I lost my vision once again, and with my reserves almost completely drained, I could not even utilize my Dark Sense ability either. I was once again back to square one.

My small blobby body was standing in some shallow fluid, that was supposedly acidic. To me it just felt like regular water would when the waves caress your body. No harmful or violent reactions at all.

'So I'm really immune to these in my Birth Form, huh. It is good to know.' I exclaimed inwardly. I wanted to test how much energy such fluid could provide, so thinking back to my earlier escapades, I absorbed a small amount of the liquid mass. My body immediately started working in breaking down the fluid to its core elements, and then converting them to energy. It only took a short while, and I could feel the familiar feeling of being revitalized by the energy. It coursed through my entire body and my inner self, resting in its place inside my body in its non-corporeal state.

From the first 'sip' only a miniscule amount entered my reserves, the rest was used up by my tired body. I repeated the process, sipping up small amounts, then waited to be fully converted to energy, and settling down in my reserve pool. Once I felt that the remaining bits of energy rested in my reserves, then did I only take another sip.

It was a long, arduous process but I had 2 reasons to be cautious. First, I wanted to slowly feel how the energy converting process worked to be familiar with it and learn it. Being able to revitalize and restore my reserves seemed to be a core element to my existence, as I was able to do it in my Bug form as well. Energy is the very core part, a critical element to my being, so I need to be innately familiar with it.

The second reason for my cautiousness was that I did not want to alert the snake in any way. I did not know if it could do anything to me in this place, but I did not want to find out either. The last thing I want in my current situation is another unforeseen circumstance showing up making my already critical situation even harder. I still have no idea how I could even escape my current situation, but at least I now had the means to survive.

Right now, at this moment, however, I do not need to think about escape. I am safe, and I just need to work slowly and silently to restore my Soul Power. I need to be in peak condition before I can think about such things.

An indeterminate amount of time has passed while I was mindlessly absorbing and converting the fluids to energy. I could feel the shallow pool of fluids slowly draining, and at some point I had to stop and wait for the responsible organs to refill them. This further increased the required time needed for me to recharge, but currently time was the only commodity that I had plenty of.

Once I felt my reserves almost fully recharged, I took a look at my Status in the system.

[Name: Aiden

Race: Primal (Evolver)

Active Form: Slime Form (Tier 0)

Condition: 75%

Soul Power: 2 (90%)

Might: 1

Agility: 1

Spirit: 10

Skills:

Primal Absorb (Level 1)

Effects:

Blessing of Ioris (-), Physical Resistance (level 1), Fall Resistance (level 1), Water Resistance (level 1), Poison Resistance (level 1+)]

(A/N: From this point on, outside of the Auxiliary Chapter: Character Sheet, I will focus on showing only the changed, updated or relevant sections of the Character Sheet. There will be a lot more detail added, and it will be confusing in the later chapters to see a huge wall of text that is not needed. Obviously, the Auxiliary Chapters will be regularly updated.)

'I still need some time before I am completely refilled.' I was focusing only on my condition and Soul Power section that's why I haven't noticed the small change in my Effects section. 'Enya, what is the plus sign next to my Poison Resistance section?'

[That section is an indicator there is a change regarding that skill. Unfortunately however, until you resolve your current predicament, the system will not be able to provide you more information on this matter. I'm sorry Aiden.]

The response surprised me a bit, but then I realized that the ultimate goal for the system is to help me and push me forward. I calmed my mind, and while remembering to get back to this matter later.

I absorbed a small amount of stomach acid once again, and while converting it to energy, I kept focusing on the condition's section of my Status screen. It was interesting to see that my condition had the priority in using up the refreshment, and from every sip, only around 20% of it went to my reserve pool.

It didn't take that much longer to see my condition get back to its peak state, with my Soul Power reaching it slowly afterwards.

Now, however, I had to think hard about resolving my current situation. I was focusing only on restoring myself to peak state, but now that I'm almost there, I should try to analyze the situation and my options. Although I had no clear memory of my past life, I could vaguely recall that I used to rely on my analytical mind many times.

I was inside a snake. Said snake was dumb enough to not chew me, but used my motion to counter it and swallow me whole. I felt no movement at all since I woke up, so most likely it is resting now. I am probably around the eggs or at least close by.

I can survive inside as long as I stay in my current form. However, once I change back, the energy fluctuations will alert the Cave Viper that something is happening and it will try it's best to crush me. This means that once I morph back, I will be on a timer, so I need to think about my big 'escape' plan right now.

'Hmm.. I don't think my current form could do anything to absorb any of the inner walls of the snake's flesh. But, if I morph back to my Bug form, I still don't think my mandibles could do anything, it's not sharp, it's not for thrusting, it's used for lifting and crushing objects…' I was deep in thought, but after a few minutes Enya chimed in.

[Aiden, remember you have the Blessing that you could use for your current situation. While it has severe consequences, this cavern is relatively safe once you get rid of the viper.]

That's right! The Blessing of Ioris, the help I received from that Almighty One. He probably foreseen this event playing out, and it might have been that reason that he gave me this Ability in the first place. However, I still had one concern with it.

'That's true.. But, would it still count towards my current Evolution Task? Will it still complete it?'

The last task before I could master the Bug form and finally learn all of it's secrets, and potentially maybe the reason behind this last task hidden initially is something I do not want to skip with some easy cheat. If that is the case, then I would rather think more and continue laying low until I can figure something out.

[It will still count towards completion. The Blessing was a gift to you as a means to help you in your early stages. Even the cave that you were 'born' into this world, was carefully selected to give you a trial to go through.]

'That's just fantastic. Really happy that me being EATEN was a carefully thought out plan. THANKS!' My frustration reached its peak with the news I received. I can't deny that the first cavern was peaceful, and it helped me get my basics ironed out. But being eaten is not a fun experience.

Anyways, enough self-loathing, and let's end this battle once and for all! Finalizing my plan of attack, I stopped my absorption, and focused my mind to the previously experienced process, using my energy I converted my outer shell back into the cocoon-shell and started morphing back into my Bug form. While doing that, I gave the order to Enya as well:

'Enya, once I finish the evolution process, please initiate the Blessings ability and let's absorb this pesky snake!'