The night air of the city didn't smell like freedom; it smelled like an electrical fire and old copper. Ren shuffled along the shadows of 5th Avenue, his back pressed against the cold limestone of the skyscrapers. Every hundred yards, he had to stop, his chest heaving as the [Laboured Breathing] status pulsed like a dull red heartbeat in his peripheral vision.
A local convenience store, its neon sign flickering. At the center of a riot. Ren watched from the dark as a group of men—now "Winners" with glowing fists and enhanced muscles—tore through the metal shutters. They weren't looking for Flux. They were screaming for water.
“It’s all gone!” one man roared, hurling a rack of candy bars into the street. “The soda is empty! The water jugs are just... air!”
They didn't understand the System’s cold logic yet. The Shop provided the means to kill; the world provided the means to live, but only if you were willing to take it. Ren watched them fight over a single, missed can of peaches, their new skills flaring in the dark. A bolt of lightning from a winner with a police uniform turned a shoplifter into a charred corpse over a bag of beef jerky.
Idiots, Ren thought, his breath a grey, sickly mist. They’re spending precious mana just to fight over a snack. They’ll be empty by midnight.
He ignored them. He didn't have the HP to join a riot, and he didn't have the strength to fight for a can of peaches. He turned into a narrow, trash-choked alleyway, the darkness swallowing his grey hospital gown.
The alley was silent, save for the wet sound of dripping pipes. There, piled near a dumpster, Ren found them: the carcasses of three [LVL. 1 - LEECH LARVAE]. They were smaller versions of the horror he had seen in the lobby—pale, translucent, and segmented like fat, wet worms. Their bodies were riddled with holes, likely from the same police officer he had seen in the street.
He knelt beside them, his 4 HP blinking. He reached out his hand, but the [Energy Siphon] remained cold.
No Flux, he realized. If it was from a living organism, it had to be alive.
His stomach let out a hollow, agonizing growl. In the old world, the thought of eating a mutated parasite would have made him vomit. In this world, it was the only way to make it through the next mile.
Ren scavenged a few pieces of dry cardboard and a broken wooden crate. Using a sparking, half-converted power box on the wall, he coaxed a small, pathetic fire into life. He didn't have a knife. He had to use a jagged piece of glass from a broken bottle to saw through the Leech's rubbery, translucent skin.
The "meat" inside was a sickly, pale violet, smelling of ammonia and stagnant water. He skewered a hunk of it on a piece of wire and held it over the flames. It didn't sizzle like beef; it hissed and bubbled, releasing a scent that reminded him of burning hair and rot.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
When he finally bit into it, his body recoiled. The texture was like chewing on a wet, sandy balloon. It was rubbery and tough, and when his teeth finally punctured the fiber, a cold, bitter fluid squirted into the back of his throat. It tasted like bile and rusted iron.
He forced himself to swallow, his gorge rising.
For Maya, he told himself, choking back a sob as the foul slime slid down his throat. Eat. Eat and Survive.
As he clumsily butchered the second larva, his glass shard slipped, slicing through a small, dark sac near the creature's head. A thick, viscous black liquid coated the meat. Ren was too exhausted, too hungry to care. He shoved the blackened, bitter hunk into his mouth and swallowed.
Almost immediately, the world went quiet.
The burning fire in his lungs—the constant, scraping agony of his scarred tissue—simply vanished. He looked down at his chest. He was still wheezing, his breath still came in ragged puffs of smoke, but he couldn't feel it.
[CONSUMABLE EFFECT: LEECH VENOM INGESTED]
[STATUS ACQUIRED: PAIN NULLIFICATION (TEMPORARY)]
Description: Nerve endings are dulled. Sensory input for [Pain] is muted for 30 minutes. Warning: HP loss will not be felt by the Player.
[STATUS PERMANENCE: CHANGING DURATION TO PERMANENT]
Ren let out a ghostly, silent laugh. He was still dying, but for the first time in years, he was comfortable. He leaned back against the brick wall, the grey mist swirling around him.
But the smell of the cooking meat had traveled.
From the mouth of the alley, a low growl echoed. Then another. Three shapes detached themselves from the darkness. They were small, the size of terriers, but their skin was hairless and pulled taut over elongated, twitching muscles. Their eyes were white, cataracts of the System, and their jaws unhinged to reveal rows of needle-teeth.
The floating texts above their head indicated
[LVL. 1 - STARVED HOUND]
They weren't mutated pets; they were the System’s basic hunters, and they were just as hungry as Ren.
Ren stood up, his movements heavy and sluggish. He didn't feel the fear he should have—the venom was keeping his heart rate steady, masking the adrenaline. He looked at the lead hound as it lunged, its teeth snapping inches from his throat.
Ren didn't have a weapon. He didn't have a shield. He only had his curse.
As the first hound slammed into his chest, knocking him back against the dumpster, Ren didn't feel the impact. He only saw his HP bar flicker.
[HEALTH: 3/10]
He grabbed the hound’s head with his good hand, pinning it to his chest. The creature snarled, its teeth sinking into Ren’s shoulder. Blood—dark and thin—soaked his hospital gown.
“My turn,” Ren rasped.
[ACTIVATING ENERGY SIPHON (LVL. 1)]
[MANA -1 (9/10)]
Unlike the electronic lock or the power outlet, the hound was alive. As Ren’s fingers tightened on the creature’s neck, the Siphon didn't just pull Mana. He felt a sudden, violent jolt of warmth—the literal heat of the creature’s blood and soul—transferring into his own body.
The hound didn't just lose energy; it shriveled. Its frantic struggling slowed, its muscles turning to water under Ren’s touch. The white glow in its eyes dimmed to a dull, dead grey.
[ENERGY SIPHON SUCCESSFUL]
[OBTAINED 2 ORGANIC FLUX]
[CONVERTING 2 FLUX INTO HEALTH]
[HEALTH +2 (5/10)]
Ren’s HP bar ticked back up. [5/10]. The wound on his shoulder didn't close—the [Status Permanence] wouldn't allow that—but the "life" he had stolen filled the hole where his strength should be.
The other two hounds paused, their primal instincts screaming at them. They had expected a dying man; they had found a predator that ate life itself.
Ren stepped forward, the grey mist from his lungs thickening, swirling around his head like a crown of smoke. His eyes, usually dull with pain, were now sharp with a cold, borrowed vitality.
[SUCCESSFULLY KILLED 1 LVL: 1 STARVED HOUND]
[GAINED XP: 10/300]
[GAINED 8 FLUX COINS]
“I’m still hungry,” he whispered.
The hounds turned and fled into the night, their tails between their legs. Ren didn't chase them. He didn't have the stamina. He sat back down by his small fire, his 5 HP stable for the moment, and looked at his hands.
He had learned the math.
Flux is everywhere and everything organic or inorganic. The Environment or inorganic for Mana. Organic Life for Health.
He took another bite of the disgusting, venom-soaked meat. He had twenty miles or so to go. He would have to eat a lot more than leeches to make it to the porch.
