Chapter 7 - The Cave Viper (Part 2) (1/2)
...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