Parasite King

 

Jonah approached the giant slab of charred meat and pulled himself over the ledge. The slab had been part of the surrounding wall that his [Memory of Flames] had hit. The flames have penetrated deeply, and at least a good foot had been rendered sooty ash and charcoal. Under that, the meat had become tender and porous, but oily.

By mixing the two is a ratio he might have spent weeks trying to puzzle out on his own, if not for [Cultivate], he was managed to create a type of meaty pseudo-compost. His head, and what (admittedly, little) he knew of gardening before 'The Game' told him that there was no way it was a substitute for proper compost.

But his Skill insisted that it would work. Maybe Titanflesh was just more nutritious (it HAD kept him alive for 9 months), or maybe there were some funky system/mana shenanigans at play. Heck, maybe it was just the skill itself. Jonah had no way of knowing till he tested it out.

THAT was the tricky part. It wasn't like plant-life was common (or even existent) in his "home". Lucky for him, he'd just had visitors who'd left him with some gifts. Of the strange red storage bags that they had used, one he managed to keep with him, had a wide range of different foods, if very little of each. 

He assumed that either Gwen or Reggy liked to cook, as it was mostly spices and different kinds of grains. Most of the grains were useless, however, he immediately locked on to the dried Great Northern Beans. He remembered spending afternoons with his mother, making bean sprouts. It had always amazed him that he could get these hard white pearls to crack open with life using nothing but some water and a paper towel.

He didn't know what the chances of any kind of mundane plant surviving in the sunless stomach of a titanic snake where, but he would have to trust his Skill. And if anything had a chance of sprouting, it was these.

The next find had been two naval oranges.

The oranges themselves hadn't lasted long. After 9 months of nothing but meat and blood, he'd nearly wept at the sweet tang of the fresh fruit. But the real prize had been a dozen seeds nestled in its flesh. He knew that most commercial fruits now these days, were sterilized, so he prayed these were either wild fruit the two had gathered somewhere, or he'd simply get lucky. Either way, it was worth a shot.

After the oranges, came a small, soccer ball-sized watermelon. The super sweet kind that he'd often see people scoop out to add to drinks or desserts, further suggesting that one of the two had liked to cook, even while on the go. He doubted that fresh fruit like this was readily available anymore, what with the world going the hell and back.

Thankfully, the red bags seemed to keep things fresh (or at least slow down their spoilage rate), so he was able to crack it open search for seeds, while slowly devouring the small melon over the next week. You'd be surprised at how much easier a slab of Titanflesh went down when chased by a sweet chunk of melon (even if he didn't have to eat the meat raw any longer).

The fourth lucky find had been a few red potatoes. They were small, looking like they were intended for a stew or roast, but Potatoes were potatoes as far as he was concerned.

The last notable find had been a couple of heads of cabbage. Jonah wasn't a fan, honestly, but beggars can't be choosers. Besides, he vaguely remembered seeing videos showing how cabbages could be easily regrown as long as their root base was intact. Given that these looked freshly harvested, he assumed they were from some recent gardening attempts by survivors, or it was worth giving it a shot, himself.

Other than than, the red bag contained an assortment of spices, a few pounds of salt and sugar, and a wide variety of flours. Mostly useless to him at the moment, but his Skill did have him add a couple of handfuls of the Buckwheat flour to his pseudo-compost mix. He had no idea what it would do for it, but he was flying blind anyway, so why not.

His initial stumbling around in the first month hadn't born any fruit (no pun intended). Of the seeds planted in the meaty psudeo-compost, half didn't even germinate. No surprise there.

Of those that somehow DID manage to germinate, most quickly withered and died; either pale and weak from lack of sun, or sickly and twisted in their strange "soil". However, thankfully a few survived.

Four Bean sprouts, Three potato plants and two Cabbage heads and Watermelon vines, and a single Orange sapling. 

Well, at least that's what he WANTED to call them. But it looked like his little experiment had gone a little better (worse?) than he planned.

Jonah moved from sprout to sprout, cataloging each with [Milky Way Index].

The first was the bean sprouts. Each vine-like sprout was supported and wrapped around a sliver of worm-leg. Their blood-red stems pulsed slightly, like an exposed vein, sending chills up Jonah's spine. Their bright red leaves looked fresh and soft like any other leaf, but in Jonah's mana sight, he could see them slowly drawing in mana from the air, much as he did himself.

Along their length, several small, jet black pearl-like objects were slowly growing. That alone had thrown Jonah off when he'd first seen them since the Great Northern beans they started as were normally white. They were also the most high maintenance of the plants so far. He'd quickly learned that the bean sprouts were absolutely ravenous, and if he didn't constantly wet the "soil" with Titan blood, it quickly dried out and caused the plants to wilt. He'd already lost a few before he learned this lesson.

Wetting the soil for the day, he turned to the "Potatoes".

 

The top of the plant appeared to just be a normal potato plant. Even if they were a strange off brown color, despite looking lush and healthy. Under the top layer of "soil" however, Jonah could make out the shape of the repulsive, beating, organ-like tubers that were nothing like the potatoes that had gone in. The weird little things were squishy and fleshy, while at the same time being leathery and pulsing with a strange pattern that reminded him of a heartbeat. The thought of actually eating one of these things churned his stomach, but if the description was anything to go by, they were too valuable to just throw away.

Next came the heads of cabbage

Jonah had always knew Cabbage were evil things, but dear Lord, this was on another level. The blood red, plump leaves were barbed along the edges and looked razor sharp. They slightly reminded Jonah if a aloe vera leaf and a cabbage had a baby. Its center "head" was filled with green-red hard and razor sharp "teeth" that ground and wiggled. Whenever he drew near, the leaves and "teeth" would start to shake and spin around, sounding almost like a viscous animal.

Despite the Index's assurance that they were mostly harmless to lifeforms his size, Jonah couldn't bring himself to go near the things. On the other hand, their classification as "minor monsters" gave him some ideas for potential uses. But that would have to wait for another day.

Next on the menu was the Watermelons.

There had actually been over a dozen plants that initially sprouted. However, no matter how much he had "watered" them, they continued to wilt and die. It wasn't till he noticed one healthy plant near the edge of the slab extending its roots into the acidic, bile-filled pools below, that he realized what was happening. After transplanting the last surviving plant near the edge and carefully watering it with bile, did it finally start to recover like its brother.

The small, fist-sized fruits that sprouted on the vines shortly after, looked just like normal watermelons to Jonah, though the skin was much brighter, almost neon green. Cutting open one of the young melons revealed a soft yellow flesh who's bitter scent nearly caused Jonah to pass out on the spot. That was after spending 9 months in the belly of a snake.

The final plant caught Jonah's attention the most. The small, woody sapling had extended its roots into the nearby wound caused by the slabs fall. Its thin, Viney roots had wrapped themselves around the large exposed veins, even as new flesh grew over them. The red ruby leaves seemed to sway in an invisible wind, despite the air being stale.

Tiny, immature oranges had already begun to form on its thin branches.

Despite the strange appearance, Jonah wasn't expecting the window that popped into his line of sight as he approached the sapling, however.

Interesting. It seemed that he'd stumbled on to something wholly new with this one. In fact, he had been silently questioning why these seemingly mundane plants could "mutate" into variations that were apparently well known within Laniakea. Maybe he was thinking about it the wrong way?

Who's to say that the plants he was familiar with, weren't themselves just mutations of something not of this world? Theorists had always speculated at the possibility of life on Earth having been seeded from other worlds. Who's to say that life hadn't been literal Seeds?

Heck, he didn't even know how these plants were forming fruits without seemingly anything to pollinate them. Was it the mana? His skill? Some kind of gut bugs he'd been unaware of up until now? Who the hell knew?! He's almost given up understanding it at this point.

That was just more questions to stuff into the back of his head, however. For now, Jonah simply gave a mental nod.

Jonah lowered his head and thought for a moment. A name was an important thing, he believed.

Even if it was just a plant, he didn't want to just call them "oranges". That felt lazy. So he took a moment to ponder on what might be a good name. Suddenly, a memory from his childhood surfaced in his mind. Of spending a hot afternoon peeling sweet, dark red fruits with his uncles during their many visits, and the sweet, tangy juice they made with them.

The memory brought a smile to his face but also caused his heart to sink a little. They'd never have those moments again, would they? Those times had passed. But that Jonah wasn't going to fear the future anymore. He had to keep pressing on, otherwise, what had all of this suffering been for?

With a nod of his head, Jonah confirmed his choice and looked at the new windows that had popped up.

Jonah closed the windows and nodded. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

---

~ Somewhere on Earth, Present ~

The old man stood up and placed the dirty hoe on his shoulders and used his simple, sweat-stained shirt to wipe his wrinkled and suntanned forehead. He stared off into the distance with a frown and confused look on his face. The young man by his side stood bent over, breathing deep as he tried to catch his breath.

When he noticed the old man's gaze, he asked in a nervous voice,

[Young Man] - "What's wrong, Grandpa? Is it your Skill again? Do we need to check it out?"

The old man was silent for a moment, before responding to his grandson.

[Old Man] - "... I'm not sure. I'm getting mixed vibes. It's... interesting to say the least, but I don't think it's dangerous. Not yet, anyway. Time will tell, I suppose. Anyway! back to work! Let's go, you slacker, these fields won't weed themselves. We need to finish before Sundown if we're to meet the next quota, we have a lot of people depending on us, boy!"

The young man turned an eye to their work sighed.

[Young Man] - "I don't know Grandpa, this might be a tough one. You sure you're up to it?"

The old man gave a humph and turned back towards the massive, open field. Large enough to be considered a small plain, the open field in front of them was filled with a large variety of alien, vicious-looking plants. As they watched, a small monster wandered to close to one of the plants and was quickly snatched up by a previously hidden vine. Before it could react, it was thrown into a bubbling pitcher-like leaf, where it struggled for a few seconds before growing still.

The old man smirked and responded,

[Old Man] - "Bah! You worry too much, boy. I've yet to meet a plant I couldn't tame. We'll be fine. Now hurry up! we've not got all day!"

Without another word, the man marched into the untamed field, followed by his limp grandson.