92 – Aggressive Assimilation

Every breath was painful.

Alexandra lay against the walls of the cave, the cold light of the mushrooms illuminating the room. She looked at the three dead trolls. She’d done that.

She’d done that, and she didn’t regret it. In a way, it made her feel even worse about it.

She wasn’t sure what to think about what Laika was forcing her to become. A little over a month, and she was already a murderer. Not just of trolls. Several humans, too.

Just because she had her reasons didn’t remove the guilt, though it was muted now, under the curse of cold blood.

She summoned her journal to make sure she had a chance at survival.

Giant Slayer 4 -> 5

Inflict Weakness 9 -> 10

Drain Life 1 -> 3

Combat Sense 9 -> 10

Aggressive Assimilation: Drain the entire lifeforce pool of a troll (1/1).

Aggressive Assimilation:

Extract the essence of a species’ lifeforce and convert it into a temporary buff.
Each level increases the buff’s potency and the conversion efficacy.

Uncommon. Her expression didn’t change. This was what she wanted. Now, she had to hope this skill worked as she expected it to.

She grabbed the half-spear beside her and pushed herself up.

“Fuck.”

The pain was unbearable. But she had to move.

“Thank god I got so many constitution quests.”

So far, she’d earned a whopping ten constitution points from her daily quests, bringing her to a total of thirty-seven. This was her highest, while she had only gotten six dexterity quests, her lowest. The difference wasn’t enormous, but battered as she was, it was worth all the gold in the world.

Back on Earth, such a collection of injuries would have knocked her unconscious.

Now…

Well, now, she wasn’t in great shape. But at least she could move.

Alexandra walked to the far side of the cave and headed deeper into the dungeon. The tunnels all looked the same, and now they started to branch out. She made the conscious decision to follow the wall to her left.

She met the next troll in a tunnel. It was slowly walking up, perhaps toward the room she was coming from. She ducked behind a stalagmite. The ground shook under the beast’s steps.

Moment of truth, now.

Either Aggressive Assimilation worked as she wished, or she was dead. She was in no state to fight.

Alexandra took a deep breath, the troll another step.

It was slow.

Another step.

She had to pull the trigger before it found her.

Fuck it.

Alexandra reached with Drain Life, feeling the powerful vitality of the troll. It wasn’t quite the club-wielding one, but it was still a fucking troll. But her skill had leveled up twice, and it made everything so much easier. She redirected a sliver from the torrent of lifeforce. She could take more. So she did.

When the lifeforce reached her, it didn’t try to join her pool, and failed because of the rank and species difference. Instead, she directed it into Aggressive Assimilation.

Extract the essence.

What was the essence of a troll’s lifeforce if not endless regeneration?

At least, that was what Alexandra was banking on.

The troll stopped.

Alexandra pressed herself against the stalagmite, not breathing. Her ribs were screaming from the contraction. The troll’s head swung left, then right. It had felt something. Of course it had. She was pulling at its life.

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She pulled harder.

The troll took a step toward her.

Come on.

Another step. She could smell it now. Dirt. Mushrooms.

Come on, come—

It was like drinking fire.

Warm, yet not exactly. Something fundamental shifted inside her, like her body knew what to do, and couldn’t stay broken. It flooded down through her chest, and she felt her ribs move. She almost screamed, almost gave herself away. She clapped a hand over her mouth as the bones ground against each other.

It should have been agony, and it was, but the move felt incredibly purposeful. Her instincts knew that it was good for her, so she didn’t panic.

Her next breath didn’t hurt.