Beyond The System
Chapter 178: Transformation and Consumption

I was left alone after Elric returned to his training, left wondering how to speed up time without losing my mind. There wasn’t much to do, really. Aside from idle playing, which quickly lost its charm.

Still, something eventually broke through the monotony. A curious surprise, though not without a touch of concern.

I’d wandered back toward the water, summoning my gloves while Elric’s words echoed in my head. Without channeling any energy, I dipped the nails into the sea.

There wasn’t an immediate reaction, but then, slowly, a faint layer of thin and delicate ice began forming, drifting on the surface in soft, bobbing patterns.

And then there was still that violet light.

The same one I’d seen before when using my techniques, clashing with other weapons. A flickering glow I’d come to expect. But now, something else was missing. I had used Precursor Sense earlier, and usually, after its strain, that flame would recover with time.

Now, it didn’t.

Not entirely gone, but clearly reduced. A thread missing from the two strands I’d captured.

Which raised an unsettling thought.

When my gauntlets had broken before, none of the energy came back to me. It vanished, like an unstable core dissolving into nothing. If these gloves broke, would the same happen again? Would that unique power just… fade?

I had a feeling it would.

Still, the damage was already done. I tried not to dwell on it.

For a while, practicing control, running through techniques, even checking in with Wyrem and Luna helped pass the time. Luna was still working on Spiritual Refinement, and they had their usual back-and-forth, but even that grew stale.

The night dragged on.

I couldn’t sleep, not with unknown threats potentially lurking, but doing nothing at all was starting to really wear on me.

So, I decided someone else could take a turn.

“Thea?” I called softly, shaking her shoulder. “Theeea? I have a snack…”

No response.

Alright. Don’t panic.

“Elric!” I turned and called.

Still nothing.

I glanced over at Griffith. Slumped over in the shallows. Not exactly reassuring, but I figured I should at least keep his head above water. If he was transforming, drowning would be a terrible end to the breakthrough.

I ran over and pulled him upright, then sprinted back to Thea and reached out with my Spiritual Sense.

Same as before. Her Harmonic Channel, organized and stable and no sign of distress.

She was fine.

Energy moved through her exactly as it should. I double-checked Elric.

Also fine.

Still, I felt my chest tighten. Why aren’t they responding?

Wyrem, I reached out. Why won’t they respond?

What’s wrong? he replied.

I looked again, deeper, trying to find some flaw, some disturbance—anything.

I—I don’t know. Nothing seems wrong. But they just… can’t hear me.

He paused. I imagined he was thinking before responding.

When do your friends usually stop responding? Transformations? Deep focus? Maybe they’ve unlocked something new.

Luna curled tighter around my arm. They’ve been working on Spiritual Refinement, haven’t they? Maybe they’re just less talented than me and finally made some progress… I really think I should start Body—

Go back to training, Wyrem cut her off. But she has a point. Keep watch and wait.

I dreaded that advice. But I followed it.

With Precursor Sense active and True Sight layered on top, I wandered the beach, senses sharpened and curiosity tugging me along.

There were a few creatures here and there. Small crustaceans. A sea star washed up in the sand. Though the base of it held a nightmarish surprise. A mouth ringed with tiny, rotating teeth.

A bit too horror-esque for my taste.

I felt a little bad, but the moment I saw it, I tossed it away with a shudder. And me, tossing something? Yeah. That poor thing was gone.

Rustle.

Behind you, Peter, Luna warned.

I turned. A small green slime was inching its way out of the treeline, jiggling forward in cautious, wet pulses.

It kept coming, slow but deliberate, making a wobbling beeline toward one person. 

Thea.

What can I say? Boredom was killing me. So I sat back and watched, silent and still, as the creature inched across its invisible border.

It got close. Then suddenly stopped.

Then I noticed something I couldn’t sense before. Something rising from the ground that must have bee too low, too buried, until now.

Without thinking, I lunged. Grabbed the slime and dove back just as the earth exploded like a triggered snare.

A messy column of sand shot upward, and from it burst a creature. It was segmented and eyeless, just a bit larger than the slime I now cradled in both hands. It snapped a jagged beak at the air where the slime had been.

But I'd interrupted its ambush. With no prey, it sank back beneath the surface.

The green blob in my grasp trembled violently, vibrating in tight, continuous shudders.

“I’m not going to eat you,” I said, trying to sound reassuring. But I guessed language wasn’t one of its skills.

I could try Beast Force? I offered to the minds in my own.

While no one can help you if something goes wrong? Wyrem shot back. Stop messing around and wait properly.

“Ahhh,” I groaned. “Fine…”

I looked down at the little thing again. “Why were you trying to reach Thea?”

No answer of course.

“You couldn’t be the same…” I trailed off.

Wyrem, he’s going insane, Luna said, deadpan.

It happens sometimes. Use it as a learning moment, Wyrem replied. Focus prevents this. Lose it, and you falter.

Yes! Luna replied with attention.

Eventually, the slime stilled, the trembling fading as it rested in my palm.

I wandered the beach again, captive in hand, idly digging up small critters along the way. But the moment a glinting crab the size of a fingertip squirmed from the sand—its shell metallic and clicking, the slime started thrashing.

It stretched itself toward the tiny creature, elongating with surprising force, but it couldn’t quite reach.

“You want it?” I asked, already scooping the crab up and bringing it close.

“Here.”

The slime’s surface warped, dimpling inward where I pressed the meal. The crab resisted for a moment, then disappeared, sealed inside its gelatinous cage like a prisoner behind green bars.

It twitched once. Then again.

And then stilled, floating deeper toward the slime’s center.

I watched as tiny bubbles formed around it, its body beginning to dissolve.

The slime pulsed once.

Then again.

Its green surface quivered and then bulged outward with a soft, wet squash.

“Are you okay?” I asked, holding it out, now unsure if I should feel proud or worried.

A faint shimmer danced across its body. Then thin, hairline cracks began forming across the surface—no, not cracks. Segmentations.

The energy inside it spun wildly, out of control, roiling like a storm beneath its membrane.

Its surface thickened, no longer squishy, but turning dense and tough. The outer layer split, parting into plates that resembled a shell. Not quite like the crab’s, but clearly... inherited.

“Whoa…” I breathed, crouching instinctively.

From between the shifting plates, two black beads rose through its translucent flesh. They floated upward, then pierced the surface and hung there, hovering briefly before settling.

They looked at me.

While it was a little gross, and I usually would be creeped out, I was too stunned for either.

“You transform into what you eat?” I breathed, eyes locked on the pulsing, still-shifting slime in my hand. But then what about the bigger ones? The primate from earlier. The crab was small, easy to overpower, but the fox, and others would be far harder.

Could be a scavenger, Wyrem offered. Perhaps it doesn’t need live prey. Either way, fascinating. And potentially... useful. This island has so many.

The creature still looked like a slime. Its basic form hadn’t changed beyond recognition unlike some of the warped horrors we’d seen before. This one hadn’t turned into a twisted echo of another monster. A mockery of life.

It was still itself, a small sentinel in gelatin armor, crowned with two glistening black eyes that drifted from me… to Thea.

“Peter?” a low and rough voice called behind me, making me jump slightly.

I turned, spotting Griffith pulling himself out of the shallows, shirt in hand as he wrung it out. Water dripped down his arms in thin rivulets, glinting in the faint light.

“We should start a fire,” I said. “Might help dry your clothes faster.”

He moved quicker than I expected, nodding without a word. Then, with practical indifference, he stripped off everything except enough to maintain some modesty.

“What’ve you got there?” he asked as he stepped fully onto the beach. He paused only once, eyes flicking to the slime in my palm, then kept walking.

“One of the territorial creatures,” I replied. 

As I fetched more driftwood for the fire, its embers starting to flicker to life, Griffith watched me carefully. His expression didn’t shift, but I could feel the question forming behind his eyes.

“What’s happened?” he finally asked.

I took a breath. Then laid it all out.

The slime. Its transformation through consumption. Elric and Thea situation, but also that they seemed spiritually stable.

Then the Dragon Vein… and that immense serpent coiled around it. The violence in its aura, and its simultaneous moderate disinterest in us.

Griffith rubbed his forehead, brow furrowing like he was trying to piece together fragments of a broken puzzle.

“I wasn’t there, so I can’t be sure,” he said at last, “but I doubt it wasn’t interested in eating you.”

I blinked. Tilted my head. “Then why didn’t it keep pursuing?”

His gaze sharpened. “Maybe it wasn’t hungry,” he said, tone turning hard. “Or, there is something far more important.”

His face tightened, stern and deadly serious. “It's training as you said, somewhere with great power. It values that over you.”

A pause. Then, with absolute certainty.

“We need to attack. Soon. Before it’s too powerful.” His eyes narrowed. “If it isn’t already.”