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Energy Eater - Chapter 34 - People of Madison
🕑 Added 2024-09-05 20:25:43 +0000 UTC“Does this hurt?” an older woman, nearing her 50s, asked. She was one of the first ones to be born after the fall. She had dark hair and a suntanned skin that made her look much younger. Her eyes were green and the small button nose made her age show even less. The woman was gorgeous, and having someone like her take care of you when you got sick would make any man or woman swoon. She was fit and had large breasts that made me a bit jealous. At least her ass wasn’t that big, proving that there was some justice in the world.
“Fuck! Yeah, it does. What did you expect?!” Pops groaned.
“Stop being a baby, I didn’t even pull it that hard,” Courtney, the only medic in Madison, huffed and took a step back. She took a jar from a shelf with some green goo inside, “It does look like you’ve broken this. I can help with the swelling, but only time will fix the bones. With luck, you will be back on your feet in a month, if it’s a bad break, that it can take at least two, if not more.”
I glanced at Pops, who seemed completely unaffected while being cared by Courtney. He always said he could only think about grandma Camilla and I guess this was proof of that. Either way, focusing back on what was happening, I thought about his injury. It was likely on the upper level of what Courtney said, two months that would be reduced to one with the help of the System. And that was considering he focused first on leveling up and actually was able to get to Tier 1 without hunting. Which would require… something. I wasn’t entirely sure what exactly. Still, it was likely he would be able to get there before finishing the 500 uses of {Body Regeneration}. Which would, in turn, cut the amount of casts required by half, more or less.
Seeing that difference made me realize how much my title increased my ability to recover from wounds. While Courtney applied whatever that goo was to Pop’s ankle, I took the chance to ask the System about that. Making sure not to make any sound.
‘Sys, is it possible to share a title with someone else?’
[Sharing a title is not possible. As it is a fundamental transformation of the SP present on user’s body. That transformation is unique to the user and once System is given to someone else, any special attributes of the SP are reset in order to give the new user a clean slate. However, it is within the realm of possibility for System to calculate a skill that could mirror the effects of a title to a lesser degree.]
‘Is it easy to make that?’
[System will require the creation of a quest. However, unlike other quests that will ask user to find particles that might have relevant information, System will be the one analyzing the effect of the title on user in order to create said skill. In addition, user will be unable to use the resulting skill as user is already under a stronger version of its effects.]
‘Oh? And I forgot, is there a limit to the number of quest I can have?’
[Yes, System is only able to track a finite number of quests at the same time. The number of available quests will depend on their complexity. If user asks System to create a skill from user’s title, the number of available quests will half as this particular request is resource intensive.]
‘Ok then. Do that. Get that quest. Any idea how long it will take?’
[Since this is the first time user is requesting a quest. System is unable to give a current time frame. However, that will be rectified in the near future once System is able to analyze some of the data related to the title.]
‘That works. I just hope it won’t take too long. I should’ve thought about this sooner,’ I held back a sigh. It might make Courtney focus on me, and I didn’t want that.
[User Cassandra is the first Human to ever have System. It is understandable that due the volume of new information and interactions, user is unable to foresee all possible uses of System.]
‘Thanks, Sys. I know you are trying to cheer me up, even if I’m not sure it’s working.’
“All done. Now, what the hell happened for you two to get like that?” Courtney asked.
“It’s better if we tell that to everyone at once. Garreth, Joseph, Melinda, everyone who is in charge of the village,” Pops replied.
“That big, huh? Ok, I’ll have someone get everyone here. You still shouldn’t be putting weight on that foot, and I need to make a splint for it,” Courtney stepped to the other room. As she passed me, she patted my shoulder, “You did good carrying him back. If he tried to walk, that injury would’ve been much worse. But as advice for the future. If something like that happens again, try to immobilize the limb before moving the person. It helps a lot.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks for taking care of my old man.”
“No need to thank me, it’s my job. And he wasn’t that bad of a patient. I’ll be right back.”
Pops and I were left alone in the house for a few minutes. We talking a bit, mostly checking if each other was ok. Eventually, he gestured for me to get closer. Touching my hand, he sent a message.
Pops: Are you sure you don’t want to share the System with anyone else?
Cassandra: I’m not sure who I trust here. Maybe Gareth, but he had a hand in gathering the people for the supply crew. So he is not completely innocent.
Pops: What about Courtney?
Cassandra: It’s the first time I’ve met her. The whole point is to share this with people I can trust, not just the ones that seem nice. Even a medic can have skeletons in their closet.
Pops: Is there anyone who you think you could trust with this? Considering the hive… we might need help.
Cassandra: Yeah, but we need someone who is willing to help get everyone out of here. Not someone who is going to want to fight against them.
Pops: Do you really think anyone would be crazy enough for that?
Cassandra: I don’t know. And that’s the problem.
We heard steps getting close and cut the conversation short. Courtney had come back with Gareth in tow, “We had someone go fetch Joseph and Melinda. But Gareth was already waiting outside.”
“Yeah, you said there was nothing to worry about, but I would like to confirm one thing. Did you get followed?”
Pops shook his head, “We didn’t.”
However, I couldn’t say the same. Not with the same level of certainty. Even if we didn’t see anything, that feeling I got when I was looking into the woods still bothered me.
“Cass?” Gareth turned to me, noticing my hesitation.
“I don’t think we were, but we saw things that we never imagined. So it’s hard to say with certainty,” I glanced up, seeing the worried faces of Courtney and Gareth, “I don’t mean I think something was following us, but since we saw things we don’t know about, we also don’t know about what can be following us. I mean, what if there is an Eater that can fly, or one that can be invisible?”
“Eaters can’t be invisible. They are monsters, but they don’t have superpowers,” Gareth rolled his eyes. It took a lot of willpower not to glance at Pops after that statement.
“But it’s not entirely impossible. Many animals evolve camouflage. They could have developed something that makes them invisible to our eyes. Like tigers are invisible to most animals in a forest due to their orange fur,” Rakeen explained.
“What? How?” Courtney asked.
“It has to do with the types of colors wild animals are able to see. In some areas, they don’t have the right nerves to see orange. If they see that, it instead turns to green,” I explained.
“But we can see every color,” Gareth protested.
“Not really. We can see a large spectrum, yes. But there are many colors we couldn’t see. It boils down to three colors, red, green, and blue. Everything we see in within that spectrum,” I continued, the System helping out with some of the information.
“Green? What about yellow?” Courtney crossed her arms.
“Color channels and primary colors are different,” Pops chimed in, “It’s complicated but it has to do with the frequency of the light. The point is, we see things on three channels. There are animals that see in much more.”
“How many more?” Gareth turned to my grandpa.
“I believe the mantis shrimp can see in 12 channels. And UV light, but I don’t remember if that is part of the 12 or it would be 13. Either way, what Cass is talking about is a possibility we can’t prepare to. It’s like saying that we should be ready for a monster that hunts the Eaters,” Pops tried to calm the two down, but the nagging feeling that I missed something was still there.
Joseph and Melinda arrived soon after. Since they were already in the central building of the village, the two were close by. Which was a pleasant surprise. The first to speak was the man responsible for all the hunters and for a decent part of the food available here. He was the youngest of the group, being just a few years older than me. His arms were thick and muscular and his sun kissed skin was extremely beautiful. Clearly, he was the type to spend hours working, building muscle and…. What is wrong with me? Why am I thirsting after everyone today? I shook my head to focus back on the situation.
“What is going on?” Joseph asked.
“Yes, I heard you were injured. What happened?” Melinda asked, she was the oldest person in the village, someone who was also there when the old world fell. Long gray hair tied in a braid and a hand made shawl over her shoulder. If anyone talked about their sweet grandmother, they would be talking about someone like her.
“Yeah, my ankle is broken. But that’s not the main thing,” Pops glanced outside, seeing a few people look into the infirmary, “Can you close the door first?”
Joseph nodded, and once we he made sure no one would overhear us, I started speaking, “We went to the Hidden Horn Village. Got there early today. But… It wasn’t our village anymore. Instead, we found the place crawling with Eaters.”
“What?” Garreth gasped.
Melinda frowned, “You got there and back in a day?”
“We were running for most of the time. Both of us were scared shitless,” Pops explained.
Melinda still had suspicion in her eyes. She turned towards Garreth, who was thinking about something. After a moment, he nodded, “They almost collapsed once they arrived. We had to carry them here. If they ran all the way, it would make sense.”
“And how likely is that they brought an Eater to us?” Melinda asked, the visage of a gentle grandma vanishing as her voice became cold.
“If there was an Eater chasing them, they would already be dead. They are not smart enough to recognize when people are going home or something,” Joseph explained.
“Ok then. We need to make sure no one goes to that side of the river until the Eaters are gone, warn everyone about that. Once they leave, then we can use that side of the river again,” Melinda told Garreth.
“They won’t leave,” I protested.
“How do you know that?” Melinda squinted at me.
“Because they weren’t just walking around. There was a hive there. An Eater hive.”
Joseph scoffed, “What are you talking about? That kind of thing doesn’t-“
Before he could finish the sentence, we heard a loud crash, followed by screams of terror. The only thing I was able to understand from that was one specific phrase.
“Run! It’s an Eater!”
Despite what we said, it seemed like those monsters had chased after us. Quickly grabbing my pouch, where my staff rested, I rushed out hoping that it was just one, and it was one I could kill.
