'...I wonder... if all this was necessary...?'
In one of the rooms on the highest floor of the bronze city hospital, in the middle of the night, a young man was staring at the ceiling from his bed.
The young man was surrounded by various types of medical devices around him, some with traces of magic circles, others that seemed to radiate qi and a couple that looked normal.
Not only that, but he was bedridden with his entire body wrapped in bandages and some parts even by plaster.
In short, this was the appearance of a patient whose condition was anything but light.
And in this case, the patient was none other than Jay, who was uncomfortable but truly helpless in terms of escaping all these restraints.
On the one hand, there was the fact that his body did need the special care he was receiving, and on the other, because he had already had one unfortunate encounter with a group of nurses and doctors.
The first time he woke up was just a couple of hours ago, and after a long and needed sleep, still being in a state of alarm because of how intense the previous night had been, the first thing the esper did was to stand up.
Or at least, that's what he tried to do, because when he wanted to do so, apart from bumping into a couple of nurses and a doctor, he ended up falling to the floor due to the bones in both legs being fractured.
This, of course, came as a surprise to Jay and a big scare to the medical staff, who were quick to put him back in bed and treat him before urging him to focus on rest and nothing else.
Having learned his lesson, the esper in question thought it best to listen to them, for while he felt he had rested for a considerable time, continuing to do so for a little longer wouldn't hurt.
Besides, he could take advantage of the time at the hospital to be able to do a rather needed recap of everything that had happened the night before.
Whether it was the treatment he performed on the others, the encounter with the monster, and the consequences of having expended all his energy, they were all things that needed urgent explanation.
Therefore, from the moment he was treated, Jay had spent all of his time going through his body as well as the system, finding an answer to most of his questions.
Starting from the biggest, there was the change his body had gone through, a change so great that it would not be wrong to call it metamorphosis and that could be seen in great detail in his [Status] window.
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[Parasyte System]
Carrier: Jay Sacrest
[Status]
Strength: (D++) (Currently F-)
Agility: (D++) (Currently F-)
Resistance: (D++) (Currently F-)
Status Weakened by Fundamental Transformation: Having undergone a [Race] change, the [Carrier]'s stats have been limited in order to further focus on recovery. (Estimated remaining recovery time: 30 days).
Interrupted Adaptation Period: Due to excessive use of a body still adapting, the [Carrier]'s body is in an incredibly fragile state. (Estimated remaining recovery time: 10 minutes.)
_____________________
In the description of the first negative state, there it was clearly the type of change he had gone through, a change of [Race].
Corroborating this piece of information, Jay searched for an answer in the system, one that specifically told him what his human percentage was now and how much it had decreased, expecting a result not so different from before.
However, the answer he received was a bucket of cold water against his expectations.
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Race: Parasitic Spawn (Human-Hybrid Form).
In Human Form (Base - Jay Sacrest): Improved adaptation to different types of environment and food. Improved speed when in motion for a prolonged amount of time. Improved learning speed. Low energy consumption.
In Hybrid Form (Base - Tar Aberration): All physical abilities greatly increased. Regeneration greatly increased. Ability to convert food into energy quickly. Poison effectivity greatly increased. High energy consumption.
Race Trait: [Connected].
_____________________
Finally, with this short message, but loaded with a great amount of information, it had become clear to Jay that he had stopped being human and had become something completely different.
He was not sad, as he knew that this, sooner or later, was something that could happen if he wanted to continue using the benefits of the system, but even so, it could not be said that he was indifferent to this change.
Once again, despite observing his body and no matter how much the system told him that he was no longer human, Jay himself did not feel any different.
Therefore, the only thing he could do about it on this subject was to simply let time pass, and see for himself what this race change meant for Jay the 'human'.
"Haa..." Letting out a sigh, the esper then closed his status window and focused on other parts of the system.
Parts which while not as shocking as that of his race change, in one way or another, were also related to it.
Following the normal order in which his main system window was organized, the [Hosts] part followed.
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[Hosts]
Parasites Available: 5 (Adaptable)
Two types of host have been identified:
[Esper] (+2% improvement in the assimilation process)
[Pugilist] (+2% improvement in the assimilation process)
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Here, there really didn't seem to be any big change except for the increase in the percentage of the assimilation process, which it had to be mentioned was something incredibly beneficial to Jay.
Yet, for Jay, that change was overshadowed by a single word that appeared next to the number of parasites available to him, the word 'Adaptable'.
Although until now he had seen different types of parasites, such as esper, pugilist and original, this was the first time he had seen the word 'Adaptable'.
The first thing Jay did when he saw this word was obviously to look at his little ones, and it was there that he realized that the biggest change to this section of the main window was not +1% increase in the assimilation process.
His little ones, cheerfully heeding what he was telling them, came out and showed themselves to Jay.
The moment they did, the esper couldn't help but be silent for a few seconds as he took in their appearance.
Before, depending on their type, though his little ones could vary in appearance, this was not a drastic change, but now, that trend had been broken.
With their entire small bodies covered in a black metallic hue, with a tiny pair of eyes that gave off a red glow, and their increasingly sharp teeth, his little ones stood proudly in front of him.
This caused a small wave of excitement from Jay, who happily and proudly shared such emotions on their [Mental Network], which in turn further encouraged the parasites to show off their change.
And after a short session of powerful poses, it was time to discover what this change meant.
Just as their name indicated, their little ones were no longer of a particular type, instead, they had developed the ability to adapt to their hosts, no matter what type they were, and at a faster pace than the originals.
Not only did this mean an easier time for Jay when assimilating other abilities, but also... that he hadn't gone through a substantial change alone, his little ones had accompanied him.
And although he wasn't going to say it out loud, this cheered him up a bit.
Truth be told, aside from the increased assimilation process and the change in his little ones, Jay had also hoped that now the system would recognize as a type of [Host] the aberration as [Monster] or something like that, but for some reason, this had not happened.
Thus, another matter to investigate was added to his ever-growing to-do list.
The section that followed now was [Skills], a section whose changes were clearly related to his change of race.
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[Skills]
Wind Control (D-): (99%) (Ready To Advance)
Regeneration (Passive) (D+): (0%)
Core (Half-Complete): +10% to the total energy of the [Carrier]. +5% energy while in [Human] form. -10% energy consumption while in [Hybrid] form.
Overload (System Ability): The parasites inside the [Carrier]'s body temporarily become a part of the [Carrier]'s body, allowing him to double his statistics for 15 seconds in exchange for all the energy available in his body. (Only available if there are at least 10 parasites in the [Carrier]'s body.)
Mental Network (Race Ability): Now that the [Carrier] is a [Parasitic Spawn], this skill is no longer owned by the system, instead, it became a part of him. Now the [Carrier] is able to access the Mental Network shared by the parasites with almost no energy cost. (Only available if there are at least 5 parasites in the carrier's body.)
Available Skills:
Currently there are no skills available to assimilate.
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Here, the changes were clear.
His regeneration, something that had been acting up nonstop from the moment he encountered the monster and even after, had directly risen, and two ranks at that.
As to whether this had been from the normal way in which esper abilities evolved or whether it was triggered by his change of race, it was obvios that it was the second.
Then there was his Core, his own power source whose effects were simple but effective, which had remained the same until now, had also changed.
The word that had appeared next to it to describe it might be somewhat confusing, but for some reason, Jay already had an idea of what this was without having to consult the system specifically.
A Core was something that only a handful of supers had, with this being the materialization of their talent, training and self-cultivation, something that had been molded perfectly for the super in question.
That was a Core normally, but in Jay's case, he hadn't gotten his naturally, so there was no adaptation or training process, or even time for the Core to be molded to his needs.
For that reason, the Core was incomplete, because it needed to grow along with Jay, in order to become more than just a source of energy, but something that could truly be called a second heart.
And with his last race change, the Core had definitely taken this as growth, changing in order to better support Jay's new body.
'...It's not for nothing that super's with a Core are so different from the rest.' Jay thought, pleased with this helpful change.
As for the system's abilities, its very description was all he needed to understand, though the part about the [Mind Network] now being something of his own did take him by surprise.
After all, this opened up new possibilities about abilities he could get, and whether or not the one he had, [Overload], could become his entirely.
'...Researching this will have a higher priority than the other things...' Jay thought, moving this matter up on his imaginary list.
Moving on then to the next section, another load of information had greeted him.
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[Traits]
Poison at Will (Parasitic Spawn Version): An artificial Trait product of the system and [■■■] successfully adapting the body of the [Carrier] to a specific type of poison. Ability to produce a random poison effective against humans and monsters at will.
Connected (Race Trait): Before, the connection between the [Carrier] and the parasites was weak and ambiguous, but now, no matter the distance, they will always be connected!
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Unexpectedly, even though he was a rank esper (D+), he already had two traits, something that only super that belonged to the prestigious rank (B) were supposed to have.
Even though one was artificial and neither was human, they followed the same rule as all Traits, that their effects were simple and powerful.
Seeing this, Jay just relaxed his head, sinking further into the pillow.
At this point, his emotions were a mess, not really knowing how to feel in the face of so many changes, but being truly sorry for turning his back on his fellow humans.
"...Hehe..."
...Or at least, that was what he had tried to do before remembering all the benefits he had received, which caused him to let out a chuckle of satisfaction.
Anyway, still with a smile on his face, Jay decided to see how much time he had left in this hospital before he could leave to try out his new body.
"...?"
However, the moment he looked at the calendar hanging on the wall, an expression of confusion appeared plastered on his face.
The calendar showed the month of May, with an x above all the days that had already passed and showing that today was Wednesday the 23rd.
Everything seemed normal...if it weren't for the fact that the night Jay went out had been the 10th.
"...Ah, so it hadn't been last night..." Jay said, his smile having disappeared from his face as he contemplated this fact, "I missed the exam on the 20th..."
Unexpectedly, the reason for his concern quickly changed.
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