So That's Why
Jack's ability to adapt to any situation seemed to be rather reflecting on the system he got. Just like the tentacle, put Jack in somewhere peaceful, he would become tame—put Jack in a dangerous forest, he would become wary and assimilate with the biomes as if it was second nature.
Put Jack in a raging battlefield—he would be running away because he wasn't affiliated with the battle at all.
"Thinking about something, Sephiroth?" Jack raised his eyebrows with a confused grin, as if he was able to feel what his partner was doing.
[Digilite don't think, we calculate. As of now, I'm calculating on how adaptive you are in various environments.]
"Pfft! Despite those millions of years being held in one space, I've actually got more than eighty years of experience in a world where everything is unkind to the unprepared."
[Ahahaha_
[If so, logic and heart, which one do you follow the most?]
"Both," Jack said with a smile. "Both is good."
Both were important but it seemed like the new world he was in didn't really care much about logic.
After that, he removed two Rock Mutagens from his Mutagen Sockets and added the new material.
[Socket: Mutagen {Rock} > Mutagen {Ignitor Fang}]
[Socket: Mutagen {Rock} > Mutagen {Anti-Heat Flammable Fur}]
[You aren't going to use the jagged blade as the Mutagen?]
"I want to, but we don't know if there were any downsides with any of the mutations. Not to mention, I'm more curious about giving more weird things to Petra other than probably growing a sword on its tip or something." He snickered.
After receiving various notifications about Petra's growth, he opened the tentacle's stats to behold the increasing numbers for his reliable tendril.
[ Name: Petra Tentacle {Power Level 1}
Type: Grappler >> Fighter {42%}
Length: 113cm
Width: 28cm-12cm
Weight: 15kg
Kinetic Strength: 30kg
Toughness: G
Regeneration: G
Growth Rate: F
Unique Feature: Suction Pads
[Mutated Ability: Partial Stone Layering {M1}
[Mutagen Sockets>
Socket: Mutagen {Rock} >> (12%)
Socket: Mutagen {Ignitor Fang} >> (1%)
Socket: Mutagen {Anti-Heat Flammable Fur} >> (1%)
[Artificial Intelligence>
Intelligent Quotient: 42
Body Feature: Host Allocation | Exteroception | Hostile Identifier
Action: Grab | Slam
Trait: Calm
Aggressiveness: 52 ]
Meanwhile, the Petra Tentacle was deployed in the background near the bonfire. It seemed like the heat stimulated the mutation to appear faster. Although there were many variables, especially the tentacle's trait that seemed to affect the compatibility the Mutagen's effectiveness had with the environment.
With an improvised stone cutlery, Jack dined a lavish panther steak while his eyes were analyzing the stats screen. "Oy! Sephiroth! Is there no way of increasing the Mutagen Sockets?"
[The easiest way to acquire more Mutagen Sockets is to increase the power level of the tentacle. Even then, it wasn't absolute that you'll get more socket upgrades per level up.]
"And how do I do it?" A smile permeated his face as the taste of meat saturated his tongue. "Mmhh~ it needs some herbs and spices, but doable." He then chomped another chunk of meat onto his mouth.
[Apparently, my database couldn't analyze how.]
Within his mind, Sephiroth was sending a shrugging emoticon.
"So it's through trial and error, hmmm."
[Although, it's better if you could craft another tentacle and add a more specialized build instead of focusing on just one.]
"Ohoho!" His excitement was halted when he realized that Sephiroth lacked the Reality Fragments to do so. He groaned. "Welp, both will take a long way."
After his belly was full, he then looked at the jagged blades from the beast that he killed. It was as long as a normal blade with a slight curve. Because there were four of them, he turned two of them into a usable weapon in combat with the power of woods, vines, and leaves to create a handle for the swords.
The other two were given the same treatment but with a little bit of surprise. Jack wanted to finish this project right away but it seemed like his body needed some rest after the constant physical strain right after he was freed from the egg.
With one of the jagged blades on his side, and the Petra Tentacle deployed on the other, he slowly closed his eyes, hoping that the throbbing headache that he endured would dissipate after the sunlight prodded him in the morning
He was asleep for four hours, until something awakened him past midnight.
The Petra Tentacle felt threatened, it constantly slapped Jack's face as if it was a scared child trying to wake up their parents. It felt rather comfortable for a few seconds until some of its mucus was stamped on his face.
"Hmm? Do you need to eat or something? Wait, do tentacles even eat?"
The ground trembled and his bonfire was extinguished by a weird shockwave pulse, as if something was telling the whole forest to keep quiet. Panicked, he immediately grabbed his sword and focused on his tentacle movement if it managed to notice something.
An eerie wailing could be heard rather seamlessly with the chord of the night. The sound of the crickets and the nearby insect stopped. Only the wind, and the wailing from the unknown.
Jack felt like if he were to make any movement, he would be doomed. Even his tentacle became stiffer than the rock it was supposed to replicate.
'What happened?'
[Don't look up, Jack. Maintain your stance.]
Jack noticed that something above the tall trees were covering the scenery of the nearby mountain. It was greyish and looked to be some kind of skin from a beast.
Without looking up, he tried to scan the upper area of the trees from the corner of his eyes. The thing that was covering the view of the mountain seemed to be something gigantic.
Feeling brave, he slowly raised his vision inch by inch. As he did so, the horrifying existence was shrinking in width as the body part went up, appearing to be taller and taller than the mountain at the same time.
Before Jack's vision reached the horror of the night's neck, he stopped to look up as something red could be seen glinting by the moonlight, falling like a single droplet from a terrifying row of vast array of jagged teeth.