Beast Devourer: I Grow Stronger by Eating Monsters

«Foreign biological toxin detected.

Source Classification: Fungal / Botanical Hybrid

Host Trait ”Toxin Adaptation” responding.

Resistance Compatibility: PARTIAL

Estimated toxin filtration improvement: 23%»

Raven frowned.

Twenty-three.

Not enough.

Another notification appeared.

«Neuromuscular disruption detected.

Respiratory irritation detected.

Predatory Regeneration response initiated.

Combined metabolic load: MODERATE»

Raven felt the hunger before the pain.

A deep contraction in his stomach.

Then weakness.

Valeria reached him.

”Raven.”

”I can walk.”

”I didn’t ask.”

”You were going to.”

She examined him.

”Your pupils look different.”

Raven blinked.

His vision took too long to stabilize.

”Toxin Adaptation is only working partially.”

Roland approached without crossing into the cloud.

”How much did you inhale?”

”One small breath.”

”Dizzy?”

”Yes.”

”Numbness?”

Raven moved his fingers.

”Not yet.”

”Nausea?”

Raven waited.

His stomach contracted.

”Now, yes.”

Roland pointed toward the camp.

”We’re going back.”

Raven looked toward the food cache again.

”We can still observe.”

Valeria looked at him as if he had just said something particularly stupid.

”No.”

Raven turned.

”I’m functional.”

”You’re also poisoned.”

”That isn’t new.”

”You literally acquired a Trait to prevent this a few hours ago.”

”Reduce this.”

”I am not arguing semantics while you’re changing color.”

Raven touched his face.

”I’m changing color?”

”A little.”

Roland was already walking.

”Camp. Now.”

Raven considered arguing.

Then a second wave of nausea hit him, and he decided the forest had won that argument.

For now.

It took them almost twenty minutes to get back.

Raven walked the entire way.

That proved more difficult than expected.

Toxin Adaptation was working. He could feel it in a strange way. The poison wasn’t disappearing, but the symptoms rose and fell in less violent waves.

Predatory Regeneration was trying to repair pulmonary and neuromuscular damage at the same time.

Both abilities were consuming resources.

Mana.

Energy.

Nutrients.

Too many.

By the time they reached camp, Raven’s hands were trembling slightly.

Not from fear.

Low blood sugar, probably.

Or the magical equivalent.

He sat down.

Valeria placed a bag of food in front of him.

Raven opened it.

Dried meat.

Bread.

Cheese.

Fruit.

He ate.

Not slowly.

Roland prepared filtered water with a mixture of herbs that, according to him, helped reduce lung irritation.

Raven drank.

The system continued working.

«Toxin filtration in progress.

Host Trait ”Toxin Adaptation” calibration ongoing.

Predatory Regeneration active.

Mana expenditure increased.

Nutritional deficit detected.»

Raven ate another piece of meat.

Then another.

Valeria sat across from him.

”That’s disturbing.”

”What?”

”The speed.”

Raven finished the bread.

”I’m hungry.”

”I noticed.”

Roland opened another bag.

Raven took it.

Valeria stared at him.

”How much have you eaten today?”

Raven thought about it.

”I don’t know.”

Roland answered from behind him.

”Enough provisions for three people.”

Valeria looked back at Raven.

”Three.”

”Then I need to start buying for four.”

”That isn’t how that works.”

”My stomach appears to disagree.”

She laughed, but the sound faded when she realized Raven was still eating.

”You’re seriously still hungry?”

”Yes.”

”How much mana do you have left?”

Raven opened his status.

He hadn’t checked during the walk back.

That had been a mistake.

«Mana: 7 / 18»

He had started almost completely full.

Burst Step had consumed part of it.

Regeneration and Toxin Adaptation had taken the rest.

”Seven.”

Valeria stopped smiling.

”You had almost all of it.”

”Yes.”

”Because of a plant?”

”Because of a plant and two Traits trying to stop it from killing me.”

Roland sat down.

”Burstpod usually won’t kill a healthy adult from an exposure that small.”

”Then the system is spending too much.”

Raven studied the notifications.

Not exactly.

Predatory Regeneration was repairing even minor damage.

Toxin Adaptation was processing the poison and adjusting itself.

Both were working correctly.

That was the problem.

Correctly didn’t mean efficiently.

Raven could survive more easily now.

But if he allowed his body to use everything it had whenever he was exposed to a serious poison, he could end up without mana and without energy in the middle of the forest.

Then something else would arrive.

And Raven would have two excellent Traits for surviving poison while a creature tore his head off.

Valeria appeared to follow the same logic.

”You could collapse.”

”Yes.”

”Even if the poison itself isn’t lethal.”

”Yes.”

”Because your abilities could burn through everything just keeping you stable.”

Raven nodded.

”That seems to be the case.”

She crossed her arms.

”I’d like to officially record that as a fairly important limitation.”

”Recorded.”

”Don’t do that.”

”What?”

”Answer like you don’t care.”

Raven finished drinking.

”I care. That’s why I’m calculating.”

Valeria watched him for several seconds.

”Calculating what?”

Raven pointed at the food.

”How much I need to carry from now on. How much mana I need to keep in reserve. When it’s worth letting Regeneration work and when I should just bandage something.”

”Can you stop it?”

”Not completely. But it seems to react more aggressively when the damage threatens function. Minor injuries consume less.”

Roland rested his elbows on his knees.

”So if you get hit with a stronger poison...”

Raven finished the sentence.

”I could burn enough mana and energy trying to survive that I’d be incapable of fighting afterward.”

”And if you’re exposed to multiple toxins?”

”Worse.”

Valeria pointed toward the forest.

”And we’re in Sablewood.”

Raven looked around.

”Yes.”

”I just want to make sure you appreciate the irony.”

”I appreciate it.”

”Good.”

Raven opened Predation.

The new Trait displayed additional information after the exposure.

«Trait: ”Toxin Adaptation”

Grade: LOW

Recorded Exposures:

Glassfang Neurotoxin — Minor Adaptation

Burstpod Mycotoxin — Initial Adaptation

Current Resistance:

Glassfang-related neurotoxins: LOW

Burstpod-related mycotoxins: MINIMAL

Repeated survivable exposure may improve resistance.

WARNING: Deliberate high-dose exposure not recommended.»

Raven read the final line.

Valeria noticed.

”What does it say?”

”That I shouldn’t deliberately poison myself to train the Trait.”

She remained silent.

Raven looked up.

”What?”

”I’m waiting for you to say you’re going to do it anyway.”

”No.”

”No?”

”No.”

”Now that is personal growth.”

Raven closed the interface.

”It says survivable exposure. I don’t need to discover the limit by using my liver as a measuring instrument.”

Roland let out a laugh.

Valeria looked genuinely pleased.

”Finally.”

”Besides, we already have enough things trying to poison me for free.”

”There it is.”

Raven went back to eating.

Recovery took almost two hours.

That annoyed him more than the poison.

Raven was used to evaluating injuries according to how much they reduced operational capacity. A bullet that missed bone and arteries was a manageable problem. A broken rib was an inconvenience until it interfered with breathing or movement.

In Veyr, he had to add another variable.

Internal resources.

It didn’t matter that Predatory Regeneration could close a wound if doing so emptied his mana right before another fight.

It didn’t matter that Toxin Adaptation could let him survive a compound if the process left his body consuming energy at an absurd rate.

Survival still had an economy.