Seed of Titan-Chapter 116: You Are What You Eat

Drai was speechless. He dazedly stared at the notifications, stunned by the sudden level up. It took him a while before he snapped back to reality.

’It hasn’t even been two weeks since I last leveled up. How come I already leveled up again? Was it because of the Siprootberry? If that’s the case, then I might have to visit the underground jungle again in the near future.’

Examining his attribute increase, he furrowed his brows. ’Hmm... Overall, my stats aren’t growing much. I think I only got the bare minimum increase for most of them—four in strength and constitution, and one in agility and dexterity. But why did I only get half an intelligent point? Is my brain reaching its limits?

Drai let out a sigh. He felt that the SP reward was also underwhelming, barely enough to cover two skills. However, he was rather surprised that his transcendence had increased quite significantly.

’I thought my transcendence would keep going up by 0.1 per level since it has been that way for the previous two level-ups. Did I unknowingly trigger something?’

Drai tried recalling anything that might resemble the moments where he received a sudden increase of transcendence prior to this, like his visions. But in the end, he still couldn’t figure out what caused this disparity.

’Forget it. Let’s just be thankful for the power up. Anyway, based on my stat growth, rapid leveling seems to have quite a drawback too. The additional stats I usually gained were probably from my training, but this time it looks like I failed to fulfill the requirements and lost the bonus points.’

Drai was quite disappointed. He felt that he could have gotten a point or two for at least his main attributes if he had leveled up normally.

’Yeah, whatever. I can’t refund my EXP anyway. But at this rate, won’t I hit the second stage way before graduation? It’s only the first semester, but I’m already halfway there. Oh well...’

Pushing aside this matter, Drai opened his skill page. ’Let’s see what kind of skills opened up.’

Scanning the list of skills, Drai soon found out that there was only a single new skill available to him. Seeing its name, Drai was baffled.

’Don’t tell me...’ he muttered as he opened the description.

[Skill: Universal Grandson]

[Description: Having attracted old people’s attention, your grandson aura was forced to take shape.]

[Effects: Moderately increases the chance of leaving a good first impression on the elderly. Slightly increases affinity gain when interacting with known elders.]

[Cost: 2 SP]

After reading the description, Drai couldn’t help but facepalm.

’Seriously? I know my skill restriction is gone, but why do I keep getting these useless skills? Come on... just give me an energy blast or something. And why does this shit even cost two SP?’

Drai took a last glance at the description before letting out a sigh and closing the sub-interface. He then scanned the list of available skills once again, but he still couldn’t find the other skill he was expecting.

’System, didn’t I get a unique skill from the Siprootberry? Why isn’t it listed here?’

[You have automatically acquired the unique skill after your assimilation, so it cannot be displayed here. Instead, you can find it on your status screen.]

’Oh, nice! I thought I’d have to spend SP for it. Since it’s a freebie, I might as well get the skill that I couldn’t afford last time.’

Drai’s eyes landed on Basic Combat Sense. He rechecked its details, making sure that it was exactly as he remembered.

’Now this is a skill worth spending SP,’ Drai remarked as he was further impressed by the skill’s effects after comparing it to the weird effects of Universal Grandson.

’System, give me Basic Combat Sense.’

[Acquiring Basic Combat Sense will cost 3 SP. Proceed with acquisition?]

’Yes.’

[3 SP has been deducted. You have learned Basic Combat Sense.]

’Nice. Now I think it’s worth trying out some new techniques when I’m done practicing the basics. Having a personal trainer to guide me would be really helpful, though.’

Upon thinking of this, Samara’s face suddenly emerged in Drai’s mind. Drai slightly lowered his head, feeling bitter for losing one of his favorite professors. But he soon put away his feelings recollected his spirit, for he was sure he could mourn as much as he wanted after this whole ordeal had passed.

As Drai returned to his previous thoughts, he suddenly remembered that Natalia had asked for personal lessons as her venture reward.

’Now that I think of it, I’m kind of regretting asking for that useless tiger—I should’ve just asked for private lessons instead, just like Nat. Hmm... I wonder if she’ll be willing to let me take her spot for a few sessions in exchange for some Sugar Garden pastries...

’Anyway, I still have two SP left. Should I just spend it?’

Drai looked at the skill list, contemplating which ones were worth getting. After a short moment, he sighed.

’If I were still fighting against Nero, Basic Magic Resistance would help a lot, but I don’t know if it will be all that useful in this place. Even back then in the underground jungle, there didn’t seem to be any magic users. After all, wild beasts tend to develop their physicality. I guess I’ll just keep my SP for now in case I get a pricy skill on my next level up.’

Closing the skill page, Drai then opened his status screen.

[Name: Drai Varz]

[Class: Seed of Titan]

[Level: 5]

[Strength: 58]

[Constitution: 60]

[Agility: 20]

[Dexterity: 15]

[Intelligence: 14.5]

[Transcendence: 8.9]

[Skills:]

{Titan’s Fortitude} {Colossal Augmentation} {Lesser Titanic Physique} {Training Freak} {Bio Drain} {Basic Combat Sense}

[SP: 2]

’Bio Drain? That must be the unique skill I just got. Let’s see what it does.’

Praying that the skill would be far more useful than the weird Universal Grandson, Drai opened its description.

[Skill: Bio Drain]

[Description: A unique skill obtained by assimilating Siprootberry’s essence.]

[Effects: Allows the user to drain the essence of other organisms through their hands as long as one hand remains lodged inside the target. Absorption speed, essence quality, and quantity vary depending on the target.]

"What the fuck?!" Drai shouted. He rubbed his eyes, reading the skill’s details in disbelief.

"System! What kind of messed-up skill is this?!"

[It appears you have acquired Deepwilds Siproot’s primary method of procuring sustenance and nourishment.]

"What the hell? So am I supposed to eat through my hands from now on?"

[No. The skill has been adjusted to your physiology to prevent it from interfering with your natural metabolism. Instead, any acquired essence will contribute to your class progress, similar to the Siprootberry essence that you assimilated.]

"Phew. At least I won’t be stabbing my hands into my food. I don’t have much problem with it, but I’m sure everyone would think that I had gone crazy, including Mom and Dad."

[User, please note that the skill is most effective when used on living organisms. Using it on removed organs or corpses will yield significantly diminished essence.]

"Got it. What about the usage? Does it have a transcendence-based duration and cooldown like my other skill?"

[No. It simply uses your energy, like exerting your muscles, so it does not have a strict duration or cooldown.]

[Good to know. Thanks," Drai replied before closing his System screen.

Still sitting in the dark narrow space, Drai examined his hands, trying to see if the skill had made some holes, proboscis, or any other weird stuff on them. But to his relief, there was no such thing—his hands looked entirely normal.

’I don’t know what to think of this Bio Drain. When I read the effects, it seemed pretty nasty. But thinking about it, aren’t I basically stuffing my mouth with pieces of dead animals every day? And when I put it that way, this essence draining thing seems less revolting in comparison.’

As Drai stretched his limbs, his eyelids suddenly felt heavy. He tried checking what time it was, but he quickly realized that he had turned off his comm earlier.

’Maybe it’s around midnight... I think I’ll go to sleep and explore the area tomorrow when it’s bright.’ 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Following this, Drai crawled out of his spot. He then walked around and collected a bunch of leaves and rocks, putting them into his dimensional storage. A minute later, he returned to his small "cave" and piled up the rocks at the entrance to block the passage. He also spread the leaves on the ground as a makeshift bed.

After patting the leaves, Drai lay down in a curling pose, as there wasn’t enough room for him to fully extend his legs.

"Everyone, stay safe..." Drai whispered before falling asleep.

Hours passed, and the morning sun finally pierced through the dense jungle canopy. The air was soon filled with chirpings of birds and various calls of the other jungle inhabitants.

The sound of rustling leaves woke Drai up. He rubbed his eyes and slowly sat up, making sure not to bump his head against the low rock ceiling. Suddenly, his stomach growled.

’So hungry... When did I last eat?’ Drai thought as he rubbed his protesting stomach. He then stretched a bit, as his muscles felt stiff from his uncomfortable sleeping position.

Rustling leaves kept echoing nearby, which made Drai curious. He crawled forward and silently peeked out through the gaps in his makeshift rock barricade.

A few yards away from his spot, an animal was munching on some leaves around a thicket.