After a few painful hours, Alex woke up. He was still drowsy and his senses were in full rebellions. His skin felt extremely sensitive, as his nerves flared every time he touched something. His eyes were refusing to open and seemed to be stuck close. His ears had become hyper sensitive, as even the tiniest sound felt like drums banging near his ears. And finally his nose, which seemed to have taken a mission to make him feel the worst. Every smell was highly magnified. The combination of his stink and the smell from surrounding slums had him heaving. Fortunately, there was nothing left inside him to spill out.
Carefully, he went through his memories, trying to figure out what went wrong and what managed to go right. The evolution process was painful. But this was not painful. This was plain third degree torture. Peeling your skin, pulling your nails and hairs, burning his nerves...it really was the cliche third degree torture. The last thing he could remember was swallowing the core and then it was blank. Just pain.
'Did something go wrong with the core?' he could only guess. But he could feel a monstrous strength hidden in his body. He could feel some alien power hidden in his blood. All of these were signs of successful awakening. So why did he go through such pain?
But before he could give this anymore though his stomach started gurgling. He finally realized how hungry he was. And how hypersensitive his body had become. He slowly got up and somehow managed to find the food pills. His eyes still closed, he immediately swallowed the rest of the pills present in the bowl. He could feel the pills flow down his throat and reach his stomach. Immediately an immense power seemed to devour the pills and within seconds all its energy was now flowing through his body. There has been no digestion. It had been cleanly devoured. Although he could not see inside, he could feel what went on.
"What the hell?" he asked himself shocked. As of now, he could only put it under evolution.
Sighing he got up. With his hunger, somewhat sated, he carefully maneuvered himself to the bathroom in the corner. He washed his face and could feel large pieces of something flaky and later grimy fall off. With his face cleaned, he slowly opened his eyes to look around.
And the first thing he noticed was how sharp his vision had become. He could make out tiny details across his room. Whether it was the tiny information sticker on the food dispenser, or the small hole on the wall across the room, which was home to some bug. And finally his eyes fell on the mirror. A handsome young man stood inside it. Except the fair face with slightly sharp features, the rest of his body looked like something straight out of horror film. Large pieces of skin hung from him. Smaller pieces were slowly flaking off. Underneath them he could see a layer of dirt and grime. Here and there small patches of blood were also visible. He really looked ugly.
"What in the name of god?" he exclaimed. "This is probably the shedding people talk about."
When awakening, the body would go through a metamorphosis. It would shed lots of waste and useless products as it would perfect itself. A person would go through four more such sheddings as he grew stronger. The first shedding although occurred all over the body was not exactly complete. The following four sheddings would lead to a complete change in body. First was the skin, then the muscles, followed by blood. And finally the bone. It was a comprehensive evolution.
He immediately ran back to the bathroom. Starting the shower at full force, he thoroughly cleaned himself up. He scrubbed himself at least thrice to get everything off. The grime which was probably his body fat mixed with sweat and dirt, was the most persistent. Even after two scrubs he could feel a slight sticky feeling all over his body. Fortunately, he managed to off it in his third scrub. He came out of the bathroom looking like a chicken. His skin was red due to constant scrubbing. His nerves which were already hypersensitive were not flaring and acting like it was doomsday. He just collapsed on his bed feeling the thin mattress swallow him whole.
He finally woke up seven hours later. His clock showed that it was close to 12 pm.
"I overslept...fuck." he cursed and once again fell on the pillow asleep.
Few hours later, feeling like a hangover he somehow managed to walk to his bathroom. He wouldn't have even woken up, if not for his hunger. He hurriedly cleaned himself up and dressed himself in his staple jeans and hoodie, forgoing the shirt was some reason. With slippers on, he rushed downstairs. Jumping over most steps and barely balancing on the broken ones, he reached the ground floor. Without paying any attention he ran to Barrows. Barrows was a restaurant? It was a little above your average restaurant in the area. Infact, it could even be considered a high class place in this area. But this was slums, so even JackDonald looked high class.
The main reason he was here was it's all-you can eat buffet. They charged a lot but you could have your money's worth if you eat a lot. And currently, he felt like he could eat a whole cow. The restaurant itself was made of stone and steel, which made it cut above the buildings here. A large holo just above it's open doors, described it's menu. Large sign on top of the building declared its name. The inside was okay looking. It really didn't have to be impressive. It's customer base was basically the poor, the homeless and the one in a while adventurer. The boss charged just enough that the poor were able to pay for it, but not low enough to make a loss. He really was a genius.
An hour later he walked out of the restaurant. Behind him stood two waiters and the chef, who looked relieved to see him go.
"Was that guy a monster in human skin?' asked one of the waiters his eyes wide with shock.
"Even monsters eat less than him. Bastard emptied the whole fucking pantry." cursed the Chef in anger. Only he knew how tired he was cooking and roasting meats and vegetables.
"Really?", gasped another waiter. He was the one responsible for filling the pantry. The pantry should have enough food for at least a hundred people.
"The devil didn't even leave the bones behind. Who the fuck eats the bone. Was his ancestor a dog?" cursed the first waiter vehemently. He was the waiter who had to bring plates after plates, dished after dishes, while taking back the already empty ones. His shoulders and hands were already sore after so much lifting.
The other waiter thought for a while and suddenly asked, "How much did all his food actually cost?" His face was already going pale thinking about it. They already had a very low profit margin and depended on quantity to make it up. But this guy...he had even licked the plate cleans.
Hearing this the chef fainted.
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Meanwhile, the perpetrator was finally feeling full. Warm currents of energy were slowly moving through his body. With a grin on his face and his tummy full he decided to walk to Steve. He wanted to figure out why he was so hungry? And what was his power? Maybe even drop a thanks or two.
Going through formalities, greeting Luke and cursing everyone who tried to pickpocket him, he reached Steve's shop. From inside he could feel the sharp smell of dirt cheap poor liquor. He carefully entered inside, taking care to not step on the bottles lying on the floor.
"Who died?" he asked after a moment of contemplation.
Steve looked up. His face was even worse. His eyes hung, his skin was pallid and to Alex's strong nose, his breath smelt worse than the gutter.
"Alex…" he wailed and jumped to grasp Alex in a hug.
Alex immediately stepped aside as Steve slipped on the bottles and fell. Face down. Somehow he managed to make the fall look something straight out of Tommy and Cherry, the famous cartoon which somehow was still broadcasted on Animetoon Network. The slip, the twirl, the hands on the side and the beautiful fall. If this was a Falling Tournament he would have given him a solid eight.
Steve immediately sat up and started bawling, "Lucy...she...she…"
"Who Lucy?" he asked, confused. He didn't remember any Lucy. Unless Steve was talking about someone from the joy house. They loved their small names, Candy, Sweety, Jewel…
"Did you get someone pregnant?" he asked cautiously.
"What? NO! No! NO...Do I look like someone who will do such a thing?" he shot back, as he stood up.
Alex simply looked at him from top to bottom and said with a poker face, "I believe you…"
"What's with the face. If I want I can get any girl I like. I am just not interested in a relationship." he vehemently said.
Alex said nothing but just looked at him with pity.
"You bastard...I will let you know that I have had more girls than you. I am just down on my luck these days…"
"Steve, dolls are not girls.'
"You…" Steve stuttered red with rage and humiliation. If this was a Chinese novel, Steve would have been spitting blood. But alas it's not.
"So what happened to Lucy?" Alex hurriedly changed the topic. If it was just another day, he would have thoroughly teased Steve. But he needed help, so he had to maintain some basic manners.
Steve, hearing the question, once again started weeping. After a few minutes of heavy sobbing on Alex's shoulder, he finally stopped.
"So lucy.." Alex reminded.
"Lucy rejected Akira." he said with tears.
'Who the fuck is Lucy and Akira.' , Alex thought. He didn't remember any such girls in this area.
"Who is Lucy? And who is Akira? And why are you crying if she rejected her...Wait! Is it some girl who rejected your gender bend character online?"
"What? No bastard. Lucy and Akira are the magical girls who protect Central City. The Cold Queen Lucy and Fire Witch Akira...the protector of innocent, leader of the Witch Coven..." he said with anger which later turned into devotion.
'Magical Girls...The bastard was crying over an anime.' thinking this Alex couldn't help but facepalm. He knew that Steve was into 'this' stuff, but this was taking into into the next level.
"You are crying over Magical girls…A fucking anime." he demanded.
"Don't curse!" Steve reprimanded, "They are not 'just' magical girls. They are 'THE' magical girls." he said with a giggle and a pose, which creeped out Alex.
"You know...I will just come later." Alex said and slowly walked back towards the store door, not removing his eyes from the giggling Steve who was still in his weird pose.
"Wait! Wait!..." Steve stopped him. "Why did you come? Did you awaken? And you don't need to worry for me. Although I am sad that the LucyAkira ship broke, it's not like there is no other girl. Amy is also a good choice..."
'Who the hell cares about him.' cursed Alex silently.
"I have awakened but I might be facing some problem." interrupted Alex.
Immediately Steve became serious, making Alex wonder if this guy had a split personality.
"Start from the beginning." ordered Steve as they took a seat. Steve shut down the door and changed the OPEN sign to closed. Taking a seat, he handed Alex a can of beer.
Alex slowly explained how he prepared and what happened. He further told him about today's incident at the restaurant and how he didn't feel bloated or as such.
Steve quietly listened and didn't say anything. He would sometimes frown and note down every once in a while. Although Steve generally acted like an idiot, he was dependable when required.
"You said that you swallowed a Monster Core. Which core was it?" inquired Steve. He had helped many people to awaken and the only variable here was the core. Rest all were usually the same, just changing in quality. Unknown to Alex, the Potion he used would have definitely been graded close to S. So the potion was not at fault. The Vitality Fluid was bought from his store, and was definitely okay. So something was wrong with core or Alex.
"It was the one you had checked a long time ago." Alex responded. He further clarified, "The dinosaur one…"
Before he could say anything more Steve stood up alarmed and grabbed his shoulders. "Are you dumb? How could you use that core...Bloody Bastard. How stupid can you be? You fucking loony, airheaded, brainless oaf." He cursed in anger.
Alex honestly didn't know what was wrong. So he just asked, " What's wrong in taking it?"
"What's wrong? What's wrong!" he screamed before falling on his chair. " You…" he stuttered in anger.
"Who uses a completely unknown core? If that wasn't enough, who in his sane mind, will use a core from some bygone era? Let's not talk about all the diseases and parasites which could be in it. The sheer difference in your genetics should have killed you. You are alive because of a fluke. A fucking fluke."
"Can you explain?" he asked, trying to maintain his calm. Seeing Steve blow up by itself was scary. Hearing that he was just a bit away from death was enough to chill his heart.
Seeing Alex's confused face, Steve sighed. He threw his beer and started gulping from a liquor bottle lying close by.
"The cores....the monster core we use are from animals of the same generation. We share a great amount of DNA with each other. Just for example, humans and Bananas share about 50% of DNA. The Awakening theory works on a slightly similar basis. It grabs the required DNA and modifies it to fit our human DNA. Since we have at least some level of closeness the DNA merges with some modifications. But it's not like all DNA can be merged. The early days of this theory were filled with people dying." he said with a sigh.
"It's because of those deaths, we have been able to create a database of acceptable monster cores. Apes stand at the top with a merging success of above 95%. Other primates follow them with about 90% of success rate. And so on we go. The closer we are to some animal the better it is."
"Your dinosaur core or whatever it is. It's so old...we don't even know how much the DNA has deteriorated. The species of that monster is also unknown. We have no idea if it is water dwelling fish, an avian or some other weird species."
"That era itself was full of nature's trial and errors. Animals so weird that you can't imagine. And you...you just used that DNA. Let's not forget what parasites roamed around 50 million years ago. It could be anything."
Hearing all this Alex face turned pale. He had ignored all these dangers and simply chosen because he assumed it was a dinosaur. When people hear dinosaurs they imagine those beasts such as Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor, Apatosaurus and so on. They forgot that other beasts also existed. Dinosaurs itself were a very small part of other beasts which we usually include in Dinosaur classification. They themselves were part of Dinosauriformes which included five more clades excluding Dinosaurs. Dinosauriformes were further part of Dinosauromorpha.
"And finally, dinosaurs could be considered failed evolutions. There is a reason so many went extinct. Birds are probably the only living descendants of your dinosaura. And..you...you just went and merged with a failed result."
"Uhh...Birds merging rate is between 50-75%, right ? So it shouldn't be too bad?" said Alex on the verge of crying. He was trying to grasp any straw he could. Steve just looked at him with sorrow, and delivered the final blow.
"And this reminds me. We didn't even know that prehistoric beasts also gave birth to monsters. How much different will their DNA be? God only knows…"
"So you my young friend, have probably just doomed yourself."