Essence Absorption

The aftermath of the massive explosion was even more staggering than I'd expected. Every news channel on the hospital television was covering the blast that had originated from a well-known orphanage.

"They really gouged it out."

Footage shot from an airship showed a scene that looked as if a small nuclear bomb had gone off — the orphanage itself had vanished without a trace. What's more, the place had sat on the city's outskirts, and the explosion, funneled skyward by the basement bulkheads, had damaged the barrier. The shock punched a hole straight through it, and nearby monsters slipped through the gap into the city.

The swarming beasts were put down by a Hero and the hunters in the area, who'd been dispatched after reports of the orphanage explosion came in.

"The kids made it out okay."

I only let out a sigh of relief after seeing the news that a hunter who'd been visiting the orphanage had saved every last child, even while taking injuries himself. A silver lining in a sea of misfortune.

"Emily's the one who brought us here, right?"

"Y-yeah... she was here until just a little while ago... th-then she vanished."

The original work had almost no information on Emily, so I honestly couldn't predict how she'd react after hearing my story. It had been something of a gamble, and I'd been a little uneasy — but luckily, it had been the right call.

"Th-that's right! Emily said it was a g-gift, in the drawer..."

"The drawer?"

Following Shan's words, I opened the drawer beside the bed and found a stacked food box inside.

Surely it isn't empty... right?

Bracing myself, I lifted the lid. Inside were a note, a monster's Essence, and a bottle of potion.

"Ah! The last hit!"

"W-what's that supposed to mean??"

"Ah, it's a whole thing."

I'd passed out from the blast, so I hadn't been able to finish off the Disguiser myself. It had been a chance to let Shan rack up some experience.

"Haa, I should've taken care of it with my own hands. Sorry about that."

"Uh... huh? I mean, even if you'd left it, it would've b-burned to death anyway? W-wait a second... so then, what does that mean?"

Shan didn't seem to know how to react to what I'd said. She wrung her brain for an answer, blurting so then over and over.

"A-ahem...! Well... in that case, I'll specially overlook this one m-mistake...! I forgive you."

Would you look at this little thing?

I snorted.

"Thanks."

Now that I'd received Shan's forgiveness, I could check the contents with a clear conscience. The note first.

A potion?

Once I'd finished the note, I picked up the bottle. A crimson liquid sat inside a crystal vial of antique, elegant design.

"It's a superior-grade potion."

"Is that a good thing?"

"It's a high-performance potion that can heal most injuries on the spot."

A superior-grade potion — even official hunters found the price steep enough that they only carried a single bottle. The vial itself was a mass-produced artifact inscribed with a durability enchantment.

"Does it... taste good?"

"Taste?"

I'd never actually thought about that while drinking one... but even in the game, they hadn't been particularly bad.

"Probably?"

I twisted off the cap and took a sniff.

"It smells like strawberries."

I drank it down in long swallows. It tasted like strawberry milk.

"Pretty drinkable, actually."

True to its grade, my condition recovered completely the moment it went down.

"Shall we eat it now?"

I took out the Essence next.

Whoa.

"It looks like it could start pulsing and come back to life any second."

Shan must have been drooling at the sight of it — she poked out a little pink tongue.

The Disguiser's Essence was in pristine condition, without so much as a scratch on it.

"Th-this is a bit different from the Magic Stones the believers collected, isn't it?"

"Yeah. A Magic Stone and Essence feel a little different."

If a Magic Stone was like a bear's gallbladder or a deer's antler velvet — a portion of a monster's power or body — then Essence was the soul, the genes, the energy, the abilities, everything bound into one. It was, quite literally, a monster's everything.

Human technology could still only extract that power from a monster's body in the form of Magic Stones. So if you wanted to make a specific monster's power entirely your own, you either had to hunt the same category of monster over and over, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠collecting Essence until you'd recovered the original's full ability, or settle for a downgraded version.

It felt like a setting they'd tacked on in the game to justify grinding, but either way, Essence you could devour whole in a single hunt was a method of predation only monsters possessed.

"She went out of her way, I'll give her that."

A consolation prize for stealing the last hit, I suppose.

If we absorbed this, we could take in the Disguiser's ability as-is.

The Essence, shaped like a jade orb a little larger than my fist, hummed softly, green and brown light swirling endlessly inside it.

"Doesn't look like something you eat with your mouth. Shan, do you know how to eat this?"

"Uh...? I'm n-not sure, but maybe try holding it up to me? I d-don't really know, but I have a feeling that's how it works."

If it was a monster's instinct, it was worth trusting.

"Alright, I'll give it a try."

"W-whoa, that's weird... it's coming inside..."

The moment I held the Essence toward the right side of my chest, where Shan lived, it passed straight through my clothes, touched my skin, and began to seep slowly inward.

Shan's eyes sparkled as she started absorbing the Essence sitting in front of her, eating with tiny, eager bites.

"All that trouble paid off."

Shan let out a tiny, satisfied burp.

"Ahh, that was so good...! I ate like I was in a trance."

(= w =)

Her belly round and full, Shan wore an expression so blissful she looked ready to melt on the spot.

"Was it tasty?"

"Yes!!! This is revolutionary! A top-grade steak? No — it was mild and tender, but the flavor's in a completely different league. Even with my stomach about to burst, I feel like I could eat another one if it were sitting in front of me...! It's insanely good."

The moment Shan's feast ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ended, a vast, unprecedented energy welled up from the right side of my chest.

"T-Tiss, can you feel the Essence's power too?"

"Yeah."

At times like this, you did it like so... I sat cross-legged on the bed in a lotus position.

"What are you doing right now?"

"It's a good posture for meditating, more or less."

I gathered both hands naturally over my stomach and closed my eyes.

Now I had to separate what we needed from the Essence from what we didn't. It was like hunting a monster in a game, taking only what you needed and grinding the rest into materials. I would handle the selection and control of the abilities we required, and feed Shan the leftover byproducts and experience to help her grow. That was how we would keep both sides' growth in balance.

The great, pulsating mass of power looked like a planet forged of vast metal. The force coating that steel world — restless as churning lava — kept changing its color and nature. That coating centered on the Essence was probably the power of mimicry.

With the care of a surgeon, I began drawing lines across the Essence-planet, carefully peeling the mimicry ability away. Energy leaking through the cuts flowed naturally into Shan.

"Mmm. Something... a really nice energy keeps flowing in. Good. Good. Keep going."

I could feel Shan wriggling this way and that inside my body. I was starting to understand, a little, how this Essence was meant to be handled.

"I did it."

The Essence-processing I'd expected to go smoothly had hit several ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠snags along the way. Still, I'd managed to pull it together somehow. So this was how different the game was from reality.

Birds were already chirping outside. Was it morning already?

After peeling the mimicry power free of the Essence and gathering up every last scrap of what remained, I opened my eyes to find the sun rising.

All right — time for a test.

I pressed my palm to the wall, and the skin of my hand shifted to match the wallpaper's pattern and texture. It was reacting to the surrounding environment in real time. I switched on the television, studied the announcer's face on the screen, then looked in the mirror. It wasn't perfect, but I managed to transform into a face with a fairly high sync rate. Flipping through channels, I found I could imitate most of the faces that appeared — men, women, old, and young.

"This is incredible."

I'd only just acquired the ability, and already almost anything I could imagine was possible. With mimicry on this level, depending on how well I trained it, I'd be able to maintain Tiss's appearance.

Then my arm suddenly writhed, blooming with blue skin and black spots as if I'd been put through special-effects makeup.

"These are... warning colors."

Aposematic coloration, like a sea snake or a poison dart frog — a pattern meant to warn enemies off — had surfaced against my will. I couldn't get the ability under control. After several attempts, I finally managed to settle the mimicry down.

"Shan?"

A thin, wheezing breath answered me.

"Shan?"

Caught off guard by the sudden turn, I called for her in a hurry, searching her out through our link.

"Shan? What's... suddenly wrong with you?"

Shan's complexion was awful. Through the connected senses, even her breathing looked labored — she was clearly unwell somewhere. Compared to before I'd begun circulating the energy, white, cloud-like heat was puffing from her head, and her fur, usually white as snow, had taken on a faint pink tinge. Left alone, she looked ready to flash white and burst.

Did she catch a cold? Did the Essence not sit right? Should I have started her on Magic Stones one at a time and let her adapt first?

If the host died like this, there would be no future — no anything.

"If something was wrong, you should've said so, or stopped me."

The words came out more irritable than I'd meant them to.

"B-but... I was just... the Essence energy kept flowing in, so I... I just ate whatever you g-gave me."

Shan immediately shrank in on herself, wilting with misery.

Haa. This dense little thing. Of course this happened, if she just stuffed down whatever she was given.

"First — I'm sorry I snapped. It isn't your fault, Shan. I got some of it wrong too. It was our first Essence absorption."

This wasn't about assigning blame. It was something that had to be said.

If secrets sat between a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠host and a parasite, or if they failed to talk, just because it was embarrassing or awkward, even a small thing could snowball into a disaster.

"From now on, if something's wrong, don't hesitate — tell me right away. Okay?"

"A-alright."

First, I needed to hear what the symptoms actually were.

"Tell me where it hurts."

"Well, at first it was fine... it felt like I was just keeping on eating something delicious. The more I ate, the more power overflowed, and th-then, as time went on, it started feeling stuffy, like wearing clothes that don't fit. It's cozy, but I also want to get out. This contradictory feeling."

I'd spent a long time cutting monsters down as enemies, but I knew nothing about monsters getting sick. What kind of symptom even was this? Just the fact that a parasite was unwell wasn't enough to match it to anything I knew. Should I go find a doctor of monster studies?

This wasn't an ordinary monster — this was one of Abaddon's Spawn falling ill. Absorbing Essence was supposed to make her stronger, and instead her body was weakening. I had no idea what a symptom like that even was.

Wait. Had there been something wrong with the Essence? If Shan had suddenly gotten sick, that was the only explanation. Regret hit me late — maybe we'd been too hasty, eating what Emily had given us.

"It's fine. I'll feel better after a n-nap... probably?"

Having come through the Disguiser as a major hurdle, Shan had gained some confidence — she was the one being optimistic, insisting she'd be all right. The fact that I couldn't even ask about her symptoms while sitting in a hospital this large made my chest feel tight.

"Don't worry. I'm sure it's nothing serious. Just get some sleep for now."

"R-right? Then... I'll leave it to Tiss and... take a little nap."

A soft, purring snore. Only then did Shan seem to relax; she drifted off almost at once.

Haa. Now what?

Deciding I had to try something, I headed for the public terminal installed in the hospital lobby and started searching Shan's symptoms.