Chương 7: A Thing Called Love

It had been a long time since Nihil had last been on the deserted island and he still hadn't fully grasped the nuances of his new skill. That's why he was willing to take a full seven days of scouting to observe the situation and eke out any experience still to be gained from the black threads he was now composed of.

Exp +2 Exp +2 Exp +1 Exp +1 Exp +1 It was thus after several hours perched in the crown of the tree observing the movements of the fishmen and their amateur hunting, that he finally set to return to the campsite of his human compatriots. The sun was already setting, casting the sea into a gorgeous pink. He silently exited the jungle, only to be faced with a group of weaklings pointing somewhat sharp looking plastic spears at him.

"Calm down, it's just me," Nihil muttered as he took more steps forward and past the speartips facing him. The group grumbled and went to sit down at their rather large campfire over which they were boiling a small pot of water in half a coconut shell with the coconut flesh still glistening through the liquid.

"Huh, didn't know you could use coconuts as a cooking pot, have to remember that," he muttered. Last time he'd simply found and chipped up a large rock taken from an outcropping on the sea that was reachable when the tide was low.

"Being from a tropical place finally came in handy," the older Deborah said nervously, putting down her plastic spear"You dug a nice pit," Nihil observed, looking at the rather deep firepit. It was the proper size for a group of eight, several feet across and several feet deep. Good for warming the half sand half ground it was set in while not broadcasting the location to everyone with eyes. Not that it mattered, Nihil had lit entire bonfires the last time and the fishmen had never come out.

He looked around the campsite, expecting more but also less at the same time. There were plastic tarps covered in leaves scattered across the entire beach and several felled trees with a few plastic handsaws and axes lying by the side.

"What's in the jungle?" Musk asked brusquely, mosquitoes buzzing all around him. He was obviously working on his control and gaining experience. Nihil sat down, the sun having fully set. The covered fire didn't provide great light, but it sufficed. He drew a fish onto the ground under the expecting eyes of the group. Then he gave it limbs and a spear. It was rather makeshift but it got the point across.

"There are monsters in the jungle, as expected," he said simply, before shaking his head.

"I don't think they can leave either. I hid myself in a large tree and observed as they passed by underneath. They're the size of an average human, but with the torso and head of a fish. They seem to have basic toolmaking capabilities as they were all armed with crude spears. The reason why I think they can't leave is because the gills on the sides of their heads were spazzing out completely, gasping for air.

They likely have a pool of water somewhere in the middle of the jungle and can't leave it for too long, thus restricting their mobility. Let's call them fishmen for now."

"Were they all male?" the plastic maker asked. Nihil shrugged.

"How am I supposed to tell?"

"I wonder if there are any with the bottom half of a fish but with the torso of a human stuck inside the water," Deborah muttered curiously.

"That's what I want to find out," Nihil said. The last time around he'd managed to use his minions to kill a few of the fishmen, but had never made it all the way to the hypothetical village. Too dangerous. Now? Maybe not anymore.

"Before you ask, there are insects, birds and snakes deeper inside the jungle, but I didn't see any mammals such as deer or goats. What's new on the coast?" he followed up by asking. Plastic man, seemingly having taken the leadership of the group pointed at the tarps collecting water and the felled coconut trees. Now that Nihil looked closer, he could even see a hard plastic shovel.

"We spread the tarps with leaves to collect water and dug a firepit before felling a few trees to collect wood," the man said with a somewhat puffed up chest.

"You'll need something with a roof next," Nihil commented idly.

"If it rains the firewood becomes useless, as will the pit."

"Two of the coconuts disappeared during the day," Musk suddenly said confrontationally.

"The first one could have been a coincidence. The second time we all noticed." He looked around distrustfully at the group, before his gaze eventually settled on the somewhat corpulent Deborah. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Figure it out amongst yourselves, I don't really care," Nihil said dismissively.

"There's no sign of life on the beach, someone probably just got hungry and ate it."

"Bring a snake from the jungle next time, or a bird," Musk ordered next.

"We need to eat meat, the diarrhea will probably start tomorrow otherwise." Nihil gave him a flat stare.

"I'll see what I can do," he said dismissively. He wasn't really planning on putting effort on helping people who would survive anyway. Also, perhaps the biomass conversion skill was closer than he'd thought. Experience: 372 -> 450 Black Thread Biomass conversion: Human and animal biomass can be converted into additional black threads. Experience Cost: 1295 -> 1278 He'd gained nearly 40 points of experience in just twelve hours.

Sure, the gains had slowed down in the second half, but for the moment it seemed that having ditched his human biology had set him on a path of experience accumulation that he hadn't expected. It was very well possible that he might actually be able to create the skill while still on the island, after which all the biomass in the jungle was his.

"I saw a little black creature," one of the girls suddenly said, brown hair, unassuming height. The sort of average that basically made one invisible in most situations.

"It was skittering around when we were digging the pit."

"There's not a single living creature on the beach," Musk said dismissively, before frowning.

"Which is odd."

"It's not a real ecosystem, just a reconstruction of one," Deborah pointed out.

"There could very well be some special creatures that inhabit the beach that know how to stay out of sight."

"Where's Aliyah by the way?" Nihil asked curiously. He wondered if she'd listened to his advice on pursuing the path of necromancy.

"Went off somewhere to practice her skill, all secretive about it," plastic man said dismissively, waving to the left side of the beach."God knows what she picked."

"Brave of her to be out after dark," Nihil mused and stood up, dusting himself off from the sand.

"I'll go check on her and go out again before sunrise to observe the fishmen. I want to get a better idea on their behaviour before anything else. See if I can estimate their population size by finding a way to tell them apart." It was as he started gaining distance from the group that he heard them start arguing about whether one could eat the fish part of the fishmen. Nihil pulled his face in disgust. He'd been the only one who'd actually seen the slimy fuckers with the hairy legs and arms.

They were really a mix between fish and neanderthal. Even if he still needed to eat, he wouldn't eat that unless starvation was imminent. -/- In a way the deserted island truly was a vacation for Nihil. After all, he'd gone from level 99 to level 0 with the shot of a gun. The upper levels of the tower had been… Complicated was one way of putting it. Tortuous was another, more honest way of phrasing the situation.

Being back on a simple and safe level such as level 1 was letting him consider some things more clearly and relax his mind. It was with this relaxed attitude that he finally found the red-haired Aliyah playing with a severed hand under the moonlight.

"So you listened to my advice?" he asked as he looked down at the woman. The severed hand twitched its fingers.

"I was thinking about your skill, turning yourself into something not human to avoid human weaknesses. The need for food, water, sleep. I realised that the most effective way of facing the challenges ahead is likely to distance yourself from the danger. Either by becoming something that has fewer weaknesses, or stacking up bodies in between."

"You'll need a corpse inventory skill next," Nihil commented lightly as he plopped down on the sand next to the woman.

"The corpses won't follow you through levels unless you store them somehow."

"I can't afford it yet," Aliyah muttered, having queried the suggestion.

"Although, ever since I created Corpse Animation I've been gaining way more experience."

"Experience is gained doing things you haven't done before, superpowers are possibly the most novel thing you can do," Nihil muttered.

"You know a lot about skills despite them only debuting 24 hours ago. Do you have any answers, what is this tower, why are we here?" Aliyah suddenly asked. Nihil hummed thoughtfully.

"It said something about the multiverse and that all the answers will be revealed at the top? Best guess is that this is all a sort of test. Either for us as individuals or us as representatives of humanity."

"But why us, why us specifically?" Aliyah asked.

"It said there's a million people in the tower. But how did they choose this million?"

"I haven't seen any elderly people or pregnant women around, nor did I see any kids," Nihil said.

"I imagine the criteria is something about being able to fend for yourself."

"So it's just a mystery," Aliyah whispered.

"Maybe this is the afterlife," Nihil said dismissively.

"How can you be so blase about it?" Nihil stood up, saw something flash in the corner of his eyes. He whirled around and punched out, his arm shot forth to strike against the sand beneath a coconut tree in the direction of the jungle. He reeled in his fist while Aliyah gave a delayed flinch. There was something different about the island. An entity he hadn't met the first time around doing this level. Nihil clenched his fists.

"Descartes once questioned the validity of existence," he said as an answer to Aliyah's question.

"In a manner fairly transgressive for his time he asked if we could rely on sensory experience, or if maybe we were already in the grip of a devil making us live an illusion." He shook his head.

"My answer as to why I'm nonchalant is that I don't care. I'm experiencing this reality so I'm just going along with it. None of it really matters, but it is exciting when approached in a certain way." A grin split his face as he once again turned to look out at the endless sea.

"In other words, who gives a fuck why we're here. In many ways it's better than Earth. Man against cosmos, powers in hand, competition, thrill, adrenaline." His grin widened even further, beyond human limits. His eyes glinted as he threw his next words out into the sea.

"In a few days I'm going to go into the depths of the jungle and slaughter dozens of monsters. It's going to be an experience I would have never been allowed to have back on earth! It's going to be a blast! I love this fucking place!"