Chapter 82 Mistakes Were Made

Chapter 82 Mistakes Were Made

The moment that the spider egg hatched, the two Beast Spaces in his mind were nearly torn apart, with a third trying to form, and the imbalance between the complete space and the incomplete one was not allowing them to find a common distribution rate to form the third space.

"I need high-energy food, whatever you can get." Karl informed Alice with a pained wince, feeling like his head was going to explode.

"What is happening?" The mage asked as she sent a message on her phone to the others.

"Both of them hatched too close together for me to equalize their living spaces. It is trying to create a third space in my mind, but the second is not ready to be split, and the first can't give up the energy that it already has. I need that energy." Karl demanded. Updated from n0velb(i)n.c(o)/m

"It's on its way, just hold on for a few more seconds, and we will get you something." Alice explained.

The reserves for Hawk were almost all raw meat, which Karl would have a horrible time digesting, but there was some roasted chicken in there, which Karl pulled out as a stopgap measure until he could get something with more energy.

"Does it have to be meat?" Alice asked frantically.

"Anything with an Awakened energy level or better." Karl replied as the energy influx from the chicken flowed through his body.

Jodi rushed in with a bag from the truck, and began pulling out supplies until he got to the prepackaged meals.

"These are all Ascended Rank meat for the main course, and the other dishes should be decent. They're made for Commander Rank Elites on energy-intensive missions." He explained as he tore the first pack open and handed it to Karl with a spoon.

If the beasts hadn't been hatchlings, they would have needed more energy to stabilize a space at their power level, and I would most likely be dead right now, or one of them would have broken free. There is a cap on the size, but not on the power density of the first space that I have reached. But there is a minimum requirement to properly bond a new pet, I know that now. One separate mental space, with as much or more stored energy than the creature being bonded has.

In the future, it would be best to keep going with hatchlings, unless I have time to form a space for them in advance and to stock it with massive amounts of energy. But right now, I need a lot of food for growing beasts, and to try to recover what was spent. I don't even know how long that will take. Have any of you ever seen anything like this before?" Karl explained.

Jodi frowned. "I have, but it was the result of a hostile spell, not backlash from an ability. It looks like there are dangers to overextending yourself in this way. But are the two new beasts really stable?"

Karl inspected the Beast Spaces. "Yes, they are stable, at least for now. They are going to need some time before they're ready to actually begin training, but they are stabilized."

"Then our priority is to get you back into functional shape. We will help you eat and try to regain energy tonight, and then in the morning we will determine if you need to be hospitalized until you can regain enough of the lost mass to be safely moved back to the Academy." Alice informed him with a pitying look on her face.

"I guess I had better get to work on my recovery then. What do we have for higher rank foods? I will let you know when it's too much for me to digest efficiently." Karl sighed.

"Start with this salad. It might taste awful, but it's the most potent in the group. It was prepared for us to recover quickly from injuries, so it has healing properties and a Commander Rank base." Alice offered.

Karl took the first bite, and energy flooded his system at a rate faster than anything he had ever experienced, then began to drain into all three of the Beast Spaces as fast as he could eat. It took immense focus to keep some of that for his own body, but after a few bites, he was getting the hang of splitting the energy four ways.

The mental strain of the new spaces was diminishing as the energy influx became greater than the beast's need to draw from him in order to stabilize their early growth, but the pounding headache that Karl had was only getting worse. It felt like someone was kicking him in the skull from the inside, but he had no idea what he should do about it.

Then, after a few minutes, and three of the four salads, Karl found the reason. A new voice broke through the pain and whispered in his mind.

[This food is good. Is there more?]