Chapter 4: Mutation and Appetizer
The tall undergrowth swayed in the gentle wind as the wolf moved through it, leaving a trail in its wake. Its deep wound grazed against the vegetation, leaving a streak of blood that mixed with the earth and the dampness. In its mind, it was going over its current situation.
-(Damn! Damn! The adrenaline wore off and now it hurts like hell! Damned wild creatures, driven entirely by instinct invisible codes so complex they're nearly impossible to understand. They attacked me because I don't fit into that garbage language of theirs. So what? Next time I'll make sure to kill them. But first, I need to treat myself.)-
Chemical applied: [Analgesic] [Antipyretic]
As nightfall drew near, the sun sank below the horizon and light barely grazed the treetops.
Still enduring the intense pain, a brief but sharp smell reached its nose blood. And the sounds of footsteps could be heard nearby. A silent movement among the bushes broke the wolf's stride. It stopped to investigate. Using its sense of smell, it managed to pinpoint the source of the blood it was behind a dense cluster of bushes. It smelled of fear.
At the end of the vegetation, there was a small, sharply sloped dip in the terrain a little hollow where the trees and bushes thinned out and encircled the area.
At the bottom of the slope, it found a young deer. Its coat still bore white spots, signs that it hadn't yet matured. But what stood out most was the wound on its front leg bent at an unnatural angle, already bled out considerably. Its gaze, a mixture of alertness, fear, and disorientation, made it clear it had been separated from its herd.
-(What is this deer doing so far from its friends? Wait isn't this my best opportunity to gather more mutations? Besides, this body needs a nutrient recovery. Wouldn't it be better to devour it?)-
The virus analyzed the shape of the deer's trembling with an unnatural gaze simply staring at it, unblinking. The little deer, eyes locked on the wolf, shook with fear, breathing in ragged bursts. It wanted to flee as fast as it could, though its body could no longer respond properly from exhaustion. Yet its body seemed to understand one last effort. It rose to run in the opposite direction, attempting to climb back up the steep slope, but its legs could barely hold it upright. Stumbling and tripping, it couldn't manage anything.
-(What is it trying to do? Is it so desperate to escape? It's a terrible shame, but you have to understand this is a natural process of the fittest. I'm not doing anything wrong. I'll be quick. You'll barely feel anything.)-
Descending the slope, it approached the deer, which was still trying to climb. It didn't notice the wolf was already at its side. Its body gave out and it collapsed. Face to face with the wolf, it was met with cold, soulless eyes staring back at it not the gaze of a predator looking at prey, but the gaze of something that saw it as nothing more than a resource. The young deer couldn't understand that, but it was already paralyzed exhausted, afraid, breathless. It was clear that it stood before death.
Applying [Ferocity]
In an instant, the wolf opened its jaw and bit down on the deer's neck, sinking its fangs in. The deer shuddered and struggled to break free, but its body began to fail it, and it went still. In its final moments, the young deer saw: a night sky, a sea of stars barely filtering through the forest canopy, a silent wind caressing the vegetation, the damp smell of earth, the crunch of its own flesh being chewed, the warm blood it could feel flowing, the cold sensation of losing its senses that was the last thing it remembered.
A buzz and an announcement interrupted the wolf's meal.
New absorbed skills have been acquired: [Keen Hearing I] [Jump I] [Balance I]
-(Waahoo! New skills! At this rate I'll be able to get revenge on those wolves though I'll need more skills first. But I should satisfy my nutritional needs first.)-
A second buzz, and another announcement.
Due to skills [Sense of Smell II] and [Keen Hearing I], a new mutation has been added. [Enhanced Senses I]
New base skill added: [Synthesize I]
-(What? Wait did you say new mutation?)-
It paused mentally, letting the announcement repeat and resonate for a moment before processing it.
-(I can mutate and synthesize skills? Fascinating!)-
-(So some skills can synergize with each other. If they're similar, if they share a function, the system fuses them into something new. That means I'm not limited to what I receive I can build on top of it.)-
-(This is a whole new door! The combinations of skills will be infinite! I have to try it.)-
With excitement, the virus attempted to form a mental image of some of its skills. [Jump I] and [Agility I] seemed the most likely candidates for a mutation. It didn't ask or command but the system responded, and a buzz followed by an announcement confirmed its theory.
Request registered: Forced Mutation: Accepted. Following skills to force mutation: [Agility] + [Jump] New mutations have been acquired: [Strength I] [Precise Movement I]
-(…Did I do it?)-
It didn't shout. It simply repeated it in silence, letting the certainty settle in.
-(I did it! Hell yes, it worked it's incredible! Praise whoever designed this system!)-
While its mind rejoiced at the discovery, a shiver ran from its head to its tail. It sensed something was off and looked around. Its breathing slowed to something almost meditative as its pupils dilated, absorbing every fragment of light filtering through the branches. The world seemed sharper. The sound of the gentle wind rustling through the swaying leaves, the birdsong echoing in the distance, the cool air brushing against its soft fur, the fresh scent of damp grass rising from the ground, the iron taste of flesh, the blood still warm processing every stimulus with startling clarity.
-(Ooooh! This is insane this improvement is phenomenal. So that's how it works. I'm getting dizzy, there's so much to process. This skill rattled my whole mind. I have to try the other one [Precise Movement].)-
Moving with caution, steadying its body and breath.
Applying [Precise Movement]
Testing its new skill, its paws responded with precision as though they were its original body. Every muscle seemed to have been finely tuned. It leaped far onto a rock jutting out from the slope and landed without any difficulty.
Looking up from below at the deer's carcass, it reflected that the deer's death had been necessary just one more step toward recovering what it had lost. One more step in its evolution. A step that had to be taken.
But in the middle of that thought, a stab of pain from the open wound reminded it that its body was still weak. Though the analgesic it had synthesized had dulled the sensation, the torn flesh was still plainly visible to any living creature.
-(I can't waste time every second counts. This forest is full of threats. I need more Symptoms, more Lethality, more Infectivity. I must do it for "him." Even without my memories, there's a feeling that still pulses within me. That promise I have to keep it! But the most important thing right now is closing this wound.)-
Leaving the area behind, it pressed deeper into the forest. The night had fully settled, clear and still. Moving forward, it came upon a wide, shallow river with remarkably clear, crystalline water. It drank a little it was very cold and fresh.
New symptom acquired: [Diarrhea I]
It washed itself in the river to rid its body of the smell of blood and clean the wound a little. The cool air that gusted past, the moon reflected on the surface of the wide river, the cold sensation of water soaking through its fur, the sounds of animals living nearby all of it flooded its senses at once.
-(I wonder if "he" would have liked this view. Maybe he would have been captivated by it.)-
It lingered on the moon's reflection in the water a moment longer than necessary. Then it leaped across the river and didn't look back because it knew that if it did, it wouldn't move forward.
The melancholy didn't disappear. It simply tucked it away somewhere it wouldn't get in the way, and kept walking.
It pushed further into the forest, pressing ahead without looking back, its mind still turning over the pain.
The undergrowth grew less dense, and the trees began to spread apart, surrounding a natural clearing. At its center, a massive tree rooted atop a protruding rock rose like an ancient altar forgotten by time, covered in moss and the roots that wrapped around it.
It approached cautiously. Circling the rock, it noticed a small opening at its base, barely visible between the roots that embraced it.
It crouched down, sniffed the interior, and detected dry air no trace of blood or threat. It was a shelter. A place to rest.
-(This place… seems like a good spot to rest and recover from this wound. No predators nearby, no signs of other wild creatures that's good. I don't want to deal with any more idiots driven purely by instinct.)-
It eased itself slowly into the opening, which expanded into a small underground cavity not very deep. The floor was earthy and damp, but firm. The ceiling was low, forcing it to stay crouched. Even so, the narrow space was enough to curl up in. It stretched its body back to ease the pain, then settled in to rest.
-(This body isn't mine, but pain and fatigue those I can feel firsthand.)-
-(This day has been an ocean of madness. In my other life, I never would have ventured out to explore the world. All of this feels like an illusion… A dream. A dream I'm going to wake up from one of those where everything is too vivid to be real.)-
A long pause.
-(But he won't be there when I wake up. No one will be there.)-
-(…Alone.)-
And so, with the night glowing softly around it, deep in the hollow of the stone cavity, the wolf's body finally rested. And the virus still conscious even as its body lay still chose to sleep for the first time since it had come into existence. It slept to try to recover the feeling of being renewed. Without a fixed course, but with a goal it was simply an entity seeking evolution.
And its mind stopped thinking.