~ Kairo's Pov... ~
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'That thing's pretty big compared to the rest of them...'
[Definitely, in fact, consuming that one will yield higher results than the rest of them... I take I don't have to explain anything more?]
'No Nexus... Not at all.'
Kairo lowered his body, his tail swaying low to the ground as his eyes locked on the alpha. The creature towered over the rest of its pack-muscles coiled, eyes burning faint orange. He could feel the difference even from here. Its ki was thicker, heavier. Worth it.
He stepped out from behind the jagged rock, letting the cold wind brush against his skin. The creatures stirred immediately. Dozens of eyes snapped toward him. Then, without hesitation, he sprinted forward, his feet cutting through the dirt.
The alpha noticed as well. Its head jerked up, snarling, but before Kairo could reach it, one of the smaller beasts lunged into his path. He skidded to a halt, brow furrowing.
'Why would it-' He stopped his thought, slowly realizing what was going on...
Then, it hit him;
'No way... It's... Protecting the alpha.'
He scanned the area quickly, more than two dozen of them, all moving in sync. Their coordination was sloppy. but certainly not dumb. The alpha had stood at the back, barking guttural orders as the others rushed forwards in it's stead...
Kairo exhaled: "Of course it wouldn't be that easy."
The first wave hit him hard. Claws, teeth, and sheer weight. But Kairo ducked low, grabbing one by the throat and slamming it into another.
He twisted his body, using the rebound to deliver a brutal kick that sent a third creature flying into a boulder with a wet crack.
One by one, they fell. Not cleanly, not quickly, but surely. Every dodge, every strike, and every counter chipped away at their swarm. They were weak creatures, but they persisted.
It was death by annoyance, and Kairo was growing weary of it.
Then, from the corner of his eye... He saw it.
The alpha.
It was, running...?
"You cowardly littlebastard!" He shouted, his voice echoing across the rocky field.
Without a thought, he blurred forward, his smaller frame flickering through the chaos. Dirt exploded beneath each step as he closed the distance, until finally.
He grappled after it, but to his surprise, it ducked right under his attempt...
'Huh? How did it dodge that without even seeing me...?' He wondered. This time, he tried again.
However, this attempt was successful. His hand clamped around the creature's neck tightly.
"R-RAWR!!! d!!!" It squirmed and shouted violently, snarling, its claws scraping uselessly against his skin..
"Damn it... Stop moving!"
Kairo's grip tightened further... And then, he closed his eyes...
It's Bones? They cracked... Before-
SPLAT!!!
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A wet, visceral crunch echoed through the clearing as his fingers sank through its skull. Warm blood dripped between his knuckles, splattering down his arm and staining the ground beneath.
He exhaled slowly, watching the corpse twitch before going limp: "…That was annoying."
[It will be worth it...] Nexus replied, with certainty.
He sighed: "Yeah... I'm sure it will be."
Kairo slowly knelt beside the body, his eyes narrowing as he focused. Moments later, a soft chime rang in his head...
'Hmm...? This looks new.'
{Do you wish to consume this creature?}
He didn't even hesitate;
'Yes...'
The instant he thought it, the alpha's corpse shuddered.
Its flesh rippled unnaturally, bones snapping inward as if dragged by some kind of invisible string. Kairo tried to drop it, but his hands refused to let go;
"!??What the-!?"
The creature's body began to fuse into his arms, melting into tar-like streams that seeped through his skin. The sensation was horrifying... His veins bulged violently beneath his skin, with black lines crawling up his arms as the alpha's body-essence, seemingly surged into him.
"GAH-ARGHHHH!!!!!!!"
A scream tore through his throat. He buckled.
It felt like liquid fire coursed through every fiber of his being. His muscles convulsed, twisting and realigning; his bones creaked like steel under pressure. The fusion wasn't painless.
Inside him, his body was rewriting itself. His mitochondria, the engines of every living cell within a being's body, began to mutate...
Quickly, they seemed to expand, restructuring their folds into dense, spiraling labyrinths that generated ki and energy far beyond their natural capacity. Each one functioned like something akin to a miniature reactor, now converting oxygen and nutrients into power with near-zero loss...
Even exhaustion would take time to reach him now. His cells could run indefinitely on minimal fuel.
Next, his heart followed suit. The organ twisted and reformed, its fleshy walls thickening, valves reinforcing with what seemed like fibrous ki-infused tissue... Each beat became heavier, and much more efficient than before, pumping blood more than 3... No, 4 times faster than before with half the strain.
"Garhhh!!!!" He could feel it happening to him in moments...
His circulation roared within his body like a furnace, with oxygen flooding into every muscle with mechanical precision.
The agony peaked. Brown and gray sludge... It looked like dead tissue, impurities and leftover cell. It had slowly oozed out from his pores, dripping down his arms and torso. It smelled almost metallic, carrying the scent of feces...
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And then, silence...
He collapsed to one knee, steam rising from his skin. The ground beneath him now slick with a foreign substance.
Yet, he didn't mind it one bit...
[How do you feel host...?] Nexus asked.
Instead of answering, Kairo slowly rose to his feet...
Clenching his fists, before placing an arm over his chest. He could feel it... His heart now thumping powerfully, with a sense of surge it never had before.
'I-I feel... Incredible...!' Kairo thought.
His body felt as if his old body had burdened him his entire life. With this new body of his overflowing with energy, and vitality. Not only that...
'It feels like my senses improved too... My eyes, hearing, sight... it all feels so, vivid.' His senses felt much sharper than before.
[...I'm glad you seem to like it host.] Nexus commented.
"Like it...? I love it!" He jumped in the air with a sense of overwhelming stamina coursing throughout his being: "To think it's possible to feel like this... Heck, I don't think I even need sleep anymore." Kairo added.
[You still need mental rest host... But, given your current physiology. Technically speaking, you have nigh endless physical stamina.]
"You don't even need to tell me that, I can feel it." He landed back down onto the ground, but not before catching a glimpse of his tail...
His excitement dulling for a moment: "Whoa... Is it just me, or does my tail look a little, off? It was dark brown before. Now it's just a dark orange color."
'Plus... This shouldn't happen. My skill should make me look the same...' He thought to himself.
[It is off... Through merging with that creature earlier, you are bound to have changed somewhat. Your tail was just on the receiving end of that change, at least outwardly.]
He nodded: "Hrnn... I didn't think something like this would even happen." He grew a bit suspicious, but let it be for the time being: "..Thankfully, it's not that obvious of a difference, but it might cause some suspicion."
[Chances are it won't... Remember host, you are weak. A slight hue shift in your tail won't cause someone to look at you out of nowhere... Especially when we consider your-]
"-Enough! I get it! No need to rub it in." Kairo interrupted, before sighing.
[I'm sorry if you felt, offended... Would you like to see the changes in your Status instead?]
Kairo raised a brow, almost forgetting to check: "Yeah, go head..."
[Affirmative...]
______________________
Name: Kairo
Age/ Lifespan: 8 / 112 years → 8 / 129 years
Gender: Male
Height: 129 cm → 132.9 cm
Weight: 79 lbs./ 35.83 kg → 85.8 lbs./ 38.92 kg
Race: Low-Class Saiyan
Condition: Healthy
Power Level (PL): 164 → 184
Effective Power (EPL): 184 * 1.3 = 239.2
Physical Potential: 5 → 6.9 (The average is 5)
Mental Potential: 7 → 7.3 (The average is 5)
______________________
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'Oh~ Not bad at all.' He inspected the changes carefully.
'My lifespan increased by 17 whole years...! I even grew an inch as well.' He ignored the weight increase for the time being, since it was obvious why it had jumped;
'My power level went up by 20 more, which isn't too bad as well...' He looked at his two potentials;
'My physical potential grew by nearly 2 points! Not much can be said about the mental aspect, but I'm surprised it even went up at all, so I'm not complaining much...'
"Nexus... Did I get any skills?"
[Of course... It's called, Danger sense. Do you wish to see it's description as well?]
"Yeah..."
[Danger sense {MAX}: A sixth sense that allows you to sense incoming danger...]
"That should come in useful... Especially seeing how dangerous this universe is..." Then he paused, asking: "Wait... That ability, it came from the alpha Kalis, right?"
[Yes, it did... Is there something wrong?]
"Yeah, but... why isn't there more skills? I should have something like enhanced stamina or sharper senses or something like that... right?"
[No, host. That's not how your ability functions.]
Kairo frowned, confused. "What do you mean? I literally feel stronger, faster—my body's not even close to what it was before."
[Exactly. That's because those changes are no longer skills, Kairo. They've become part of your new baseline.]
"Huh?"
[Think of it this way.] Nexus's tone remained calm and patient. [Before you absorbed the alpha, your stamina could be measured as a 1. After the fusion, it became a 20. That 20 isn't a buff—it's your new natural state. Everything that once required effort or training is now your default.]
Kairo blinked: "So, instead of creating the boosts... I became the boost?"
[That's a good way of seeing it. The alpha's biological advantages. Its durability, metabolism, sensory range, and physical efficiency, they were rewritten into your cells. They are not passives that can be trained, or leveled. They are now you. Any passives you earn in the future will simply stack on top of this new foundation.]
He looked down at his hands again. Clenching his fists once more, letting that realization sink in...
"So... This definitely isn't just some surface-level power-up like I envisioned it to be when I made my wish... It literally changed my body."
[Yes... What you possess, Kairo, is not mimicry. It is evolution.]
Kairo let out a breath: "Heh... I was expecting some new passives... Turns out, I got something way better."
[Indeed... Danger Sense was the only skill extracted as a passive, since it's something the Kalis refined through their lives. A skill is learned, and strengthened over time. The rest? Those were inherent biological traits... They have now replaced your old limitations.]
Kairo understood, nodding slowly: "That makes a whole lost more sense.." He paused, looking back at the pile of waste: "I Guess, it explains why that alpha managed to dodge my first strike earlier."
[Essentially... Its Danger Sense had warned it in advance. That's also why you now possess it.]
A faint chuckle escaped him: "Figures. The thing almost outsmarted me once, and now I've got its instincts living in my head, or body... It's kinda' poetic when you think about it."
[...You could say that.]
Kairo stretched, feeling the sensation of his new physiology. Energy rolled off him like steady waves. "Thanks, Nexus. That definitely cleared up a lot."
[No problem... It is my purpose, host.]
Kairo smiled faintly, glancing back toward the barren ridge where his first battle had taken place...
'Well... I should probably get back now. Don't wanna make anyone worry... or worse, attract more of those things.' He told himself, before quickly leaving...
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END