Chapter 13 - Another Day Another Problem Pt. 2

While caught up in the joys of being healed I was oblivious to what was going on around me until I heard a small cough which caused me to stop and slowly turn my head to find that Gaia had come to check in on me.

"Uh... Hello Gaia how are you today?"

"Well Vexsus I could say that its going just about the same as usual except in front of me is my weakened brother who is not supposed to be moving around let alone jumping up and down, let me guess your using mana again to use your legs. You know your not supposed to be doing this I am going to go get mom. It's for your own good." And he turns to leave but I ran over to him and stopped him.

"Gaia listen, listen, I am not using my mana after doing some deep, deep self thought I discovered that I had a skill that by eating something I could heal myself, I told mom and in turn she got me some of the rhino meat to test the skill on and it worked as you can see, I am back at full health and feel amazing."

With a look of doubt he did a couple of circles around me it seemed like he looked at damn near every scale on my body before finally sighing. "Fine I'll believe you but this is incredible to have a skill like this is just crazy the potential hidden behind this skill is to great to even think about. The types of training you could do could be hellish and yet if you had food you would be perfectly fine afterwards, Brother please teach me this skill I'll do anything please."

"I'm sorry Gaia I do not think this is something I can teach I feel like it is an essential part of my soul and unique to me." To say that the look on my little (huge) brothers face was heartbreaking was a vast understatement because I wanted him to not only get stronger to better help me with my plans but in my head he was becoming firmly rooted as someone who I truly cared about and wanted to see succeed. So I vowed then and there to do my best and help him learn and strive for the best.

"Gaia, brother what would you say if I could instead teach you other things, granted it may not be much now as obviously you are stronger than me but when I gain strength I will do my best to share it with you how does that sound, I will vow to see you as an equal. All I ask is that you see me in the same light."

You could see on his face that after every sentence his mood shifted becoming first distraught to a little pensive finally you could see the joy and the spark of excitement in his eyes as I gave him my promise, He nodded rapidly thanking me continuously until I shooed him away to let me get back to eating and after he left and I sat down to start smoking my next piece of meat I receive another notification.

[Vow with the dragon (Gaia) has been accepted, Message incoming from Ancestor.]

"Ahem, Descendant I see that you have made your first vow in this world. I should have told you the power behind those words but I did not think that you would be this like this nor care about another individual as you've shown, Now I do not know if this is out of self interest or if you actually care about this little dragon nor do I care. However I can give you the power to grant a weakened version of my sin to others But in doing so you will change their fates from what the world intended for their souls and doing this will gain the attention of the worlds sentience. I suggest you train to get stronger and after you have completed the tasks given to you we can discuss this new avenue of power, For now I'll add another task to your list which will give you a way to contact me. As always good luck."

After that a new screen popped up with the new task.

[Build Alter for SIN(Gluttony)]

Great so not only do I have to go kill and eat monsters and learn light magic to turn invisible I also have to become a damn Builder aswell, Atleast I can see the end goals associated with these tasks as ofcourse killing and eating would gain me much needed experience and grant me a stronger body, and the new magic element was self explanatory, I was still a bit confused at what my Ancestor was hinting at by giving me the task of learning invisibility and frankly I was a bit worried about whatever that situation may be but the Skill would still be useful in other situations that were not as stressful.

Keeping to myself for the rest of the day I had a visit from mom like she said she would do and she was ofcourse very excited and happy to learn that I could heal with as simple a thing as eating but she also cried tears of joy to see me stand up and walk towards her I did as best a hug as I could do considering my body is a quadrupedal form but the intent was there as she did the same, We chatted for a bit about what my next goals were and I told her I would finish the rest of what she gave me to make sure I made a full recovery and then by the time it was all finished I would be happy to start attending her magic lessons aswell as start going back to hunting with dad.

After she left I went back to smoking pieces of meat but this time I decided to try eating the skin and some of the fur since the skill said that I was able to consume inorganic material aswell but that begged the question was there a limit to what inorganic meant? like could I much on some gold and then wash it down with a bottle of acid or was it only applied to like maybe trees that was a mix of organic and inorganic in my opinion, But that rabbit hole was reserved to be dove into at a later time as I cooked the skin along with the meat while imagining it as a roast and then sprinkling the fur like a garnish, Surprisingly the skin turned into a nice crunchy layer and in between the skin and the meat was a layer of fat that thanks to the smoke and heat melted into a perfect juicy steak-like meal. The best part that was although I was enjoying this basic but delicious meat I got a ding as a a screen appeared.

[Fire Rhino consumed, assimilate? Y/N]

Pressing yes released a torrent of energy out from my stomach into the rest of my body as I could feel a heat rising inside me before dwindling back down to normal. I felt a surge of strength while also getting more pop-ups

[Genetic Material has been assimilated now acquiring appropriate skills.]

[… Sorting of Genetic code has been completed Generating list of potential skills now.]

I was a bit confused by this I Figured I would just gain skills like I read back in the old world from different novels and saw from anime, but it seems like I would have to choose? Does that mean that I am limited to what I can acquire? Or does that mean that the amount I ate was insufficient to gain everything?

[Skills obtainable from current Fire Rhino Material]

[Rage] - Focusing only on the anger within increase Str and Spd but lower all defenses.

[Heat resistance] - skill already acquired, capable of increasing owned skill.

[Fire Hide] - Passively generate heat aura capable of reaching melting temperatures. Able to control heat emitted at higher levels.

[Fire Stampede] - Unleash a fire surrounding your body and rush at your enemy.

I took a while to look at the 4 skills I could learn 1 I could use to strengthen what I already have, 1 I could use to strengthen myself for short bursts in battle, and then the last 2 I could gain but without an understanding of fire magic was essentially useless but had the potential of giving me insight into the element. Pondering on my options I decided to get [Rage] just for the fact that until I am strong enough to not need it, it would be best to have something like this incase of deadly emergencies. I understood the risks but if I was going to die anyways I felt like it would be best to not be the only one going down.

With that decided I turn towards the slow smoked meat of the white furred rhino I wondered if I was going to gain similar options or if some twist of the universe would grant me an OP skill from the start, Oh like maybe a Ice Beam that freezes on contact with my enemies or even like the power to breathe out a ice fog that would be nice. Shaking my head and waking up from my daydream I start to eat the meat which weirdly no matter how hot the smoke was, the meat had a sort of chilled temperature to it, which I'll admit was a little off putting since my meals so far consisted of atleast room temp meat, I dug in nonetheless with a look of excitement as I could only imagine at what I could get.

I stare at the screen in front of my eyes with my mouth hanging to the floor.

[Rage] - skill already acquired, capable of increasing owned skill.

[Ice Resistance] - Capable of handling extremely low temperatures.

[Frost Hide] - Passively generate a cold aura capable of reaching freezing temperatures. able to control coldness emitted at higher levels.

[Frost Stampede] - Unleash Ice surrounding your body and rush at your enemy.

'What the hell is this, its all the same stuff as the Fire Rhino except with Frost in the name instead of fire. I knew it was going to end up like this but still are the 2 so similar that even their skills are just copies of eachother? It goes without saying that I was a bit disappointed but in the end I chose Ice resistance Just to widen what I could Defend against, A guy could never have to much defense.'

After my excitement/disappointment ended I had a new idea come to mind. 'What if I ate the horn aswell? Could I gain something from eating that, or does it even matter aslong as I eat material from the creature as a whole?' There was only one way to find out and With that in mind I head out into the main area where everybody sits and relaxes after the day is done, Unfortunately I did not know that in my focus on eating I was unaware that today was a resting day for the others and not giving it much thought I saunter in to the area without a care in the world expecting nobody to be around only to have all of their eyes on me and with extreme shock on their faces, (except Gaia and mom ofcourse).

"Vexsus What is the meaning of this You were told not to do something so reckless as using mana again boy this is outrageous." My dad had a look of extreme anger at the thought of me disobeying yet again.

"Solace, the boy is not using mana he gained a skill that let him recover simply by eating I do not the specifics of this skill but by the way he looks it seems to have worked so please calm down and just enjoy that our son is healthy again."

Hesitant to accept what was in front of his eyes my dad could only examine me in detail to make sure that what mom told him was true. "Well he does seem to be looking better, and I do not sense any magic being used. So boy tell me did you truly gain a skill that heals you just from eating."

"Yes father as long as I have enough food my body is able to heal it is not as powerful as you may think but it is helpful giving the current conditions." I ofcourse lied because I did not want to share just how amazing and potentially OP this was in the long run.

But this was short lived as I hear a loud huff and footsteps approaching me as a golden body stood infront of my eyes so with as much niceness that I could muster I look up at Aurums as he glares down at me. "Hello little brother, how can I help you today?"

"Humph, I don't believe these obvious lies. Your telling us that with as simple an act as eating you can recover from a broken back and over usage of mana? Absolutely no way there has never been any mention of such a skill being passed down in our family, if there was then how could it fall into your hands and not into the hands of someone who could use it effectively as me."

Being to happy to let this guy get me down I just stare up at him listening to the hate drip off of every word. "Little brother, maybe the world saw fit to grant me such an amazing skill knowing that your body was strong enough as it is and that I would need this handicap to even think of catching up with your potential." but in my head I thought 'You little shit just you wait once I get strong enough I will make you kneel to my power, you had better enjoy this while you can.'

"New" [Rage] lvl 1 0/10 - Focusing only on the anger within increase Str and Spd but lower all defenses.

"New" [Ice resistance] - 0% - Capable of handling extremely low temperatures.