Parasite King

Osamaru

Edited by @In_awe (again) XD

Jonah would reflect back on this day in the years to come, it was both the moment he "died" and the moment his story truly began. However, between being thrown into a "game" by a psychopathic caricature version of yourself, swallowed by a monster snake, burned by scalding blood, and going mad on weird stomach fumes, he had to admit— the acid was the worst.

The first thing that crossed Jonah's mind as he slipped into the snake's stomach was the heat. It was hotter than a sauna and small enough he could touch either wall. Then came the burning. It started as a faint tingling as his clothes became soaked in the vile-smelling liquid that filled a 1/8th of the small chamber.

It didn't stay that way for long.

As the stomach began to pulse and contract, Jonah could feel it gradually fill up with more acid, oozing from the walls around him. The slight tingling progressed to a burning sensation and finally becoming unbearable agony as the acid slowly ate through his previously scalded skin. He flailed around in the pitch-black darkness, desperate for any form of relief. However, with barely enough room to spare for even two or three of him, his options were limited. By chance or fate, or possibly even just how the snake had decided to lay down at that very moment, his hands stumbled upon a small fold of flesh, protruding from the pool, just large enough for him to wedge himself up on. Not that it would last long, given how fast the acid levels were rising— still, it allowed a moment of relief that gave him the time to do what he needed to. With his bile soaked clothes still smoldering on his body, Johan pulled himself up and reopened the Skill Shop, this time not hesitating to buy the skill.

Jonah was instantly hit by an overwhelming itch over his entire body. As he wiggled and squirmed under its influence, scratching every inch of his skin he could reach, he could feel his blistered and damaged skin peel away like a bad sunburn under his touch. The new skin surface underneath was as smooth as a baby's bottom but felt rubbery and thick to his touch. He could still feel the tingling of the acid as it made contact with his skin, but he could tell the progress the acid was advancing at had drastically slowed. He let out a deep sigh and felt his muscles relax a bit. It wasn't much, but it had bought him some time— and time was what he needed most now.

He wasn't out of the fire yet. Now that he'd split his token, he only had D and E rank skills to work with. When he'd first opened the Skill Shop, the token in his hand had vanished, apparently credited to his account. Much to his relief, the same went for the D and E rank tokens, they were broken down, it seemed. That was good; he'd already lost the manual when he hit the pool of acid. Now, it was presumably floating around in the darkness somewhere. He opened the menus and started to shift through the list. His most pressing matter now was his source of air.

The snake had swallowed a large amount of air along with him, but he knew it was slowly being replaced with the toxic fumes. He'd felt lightheaded and sick for quite a while now, the fact that he could even still think straight already amazed him. What he needed now was a way to clear away the gas and keep from suffocating.

Air magic was the first thing that popped into his head. Unfortunately, anything under B rank simply moved the air around and didn't actually generate or clear it. It was good for maybe giving the snake a bad case of gas, but that was about it.

Using Martial Art Breathing Techniques was his next idea; legendary skills from popular stories like the "Ancient Turtle's Breath" could slow his breathing down drastically and conserve his supply. There were several D rank skills that had similar effects, but they were a no-go as well. All of the skills that might be effective had equivalent cultivation requirements, meaning he would have to buy the cultivation techniques and spend the time to reach that level. 

Time and money... he didn't have.

Maybe Holy Magic? Could he purify the air itself? Perhaps even get rid of the acid? If he prevented the snake from digesting anything, conceivably, he could starve it to death?! Looking through the list, he crushed this hope as well. All of the skills that could do what he wanted... were for lack of a better term, "Mana Hogs." Their cost to effect ratio made him wince. 

Guess he should have expected that.

He flipped his Status Screen for what seemed like the hundredth time today. Nope, still wasn't going to happen....

His frustration continued to build as both his patience and time slipped away. Maybe it was the acid, or his wounds, or a combination of both— but his "health" had been steadily decreasing each time he looked. Not very fast, but rapid enough to worry. If he felt THIS bad after only losing 25%... he imagined once he crossed the 50% mark, he might not even be able to move.

His eyes continuously scanned the list in front of him, searching for something— anything to help him out of this situation. The next moment, as he was browsing through the E-ranked list, searching for some kind of combination that might work, the screen flickered with the barely audible sound of white noise. One of the items on the list twisted and vanished before being replaced by another with remnants of corrupted data still flickering around it.

...... Ya, because that wasn't suspicious in the slightest. Without a second thought, Jonah flipped the list forward and continued to search for other options.

Or, at least he tried to. 

No matter how he willed it, the screen would only flicker and shake, before resetting back to the same spot.

[Jonah] - "...Son of a... FINE!"

Gritting his teeth, he willed the skill into focus. He didn't have time for this. The window that popped up appeared normal, except for the eerie red border surrounding it. However, the more of this skill's introduction he read, the more excited he became.

This was it! It was precisely what he needed at the moment. Not only was it a way for him to survive the immediate crisis but also a method to quickly recover his MP. 

Two birds with one stone. 

Nonetheless, he hesitated; It seemed a little TOO perfect. 

The whole situation smelled fishier than a week old fish stand. Unfortunately, he didn't see much of any other choice. Maybe he would come to regret this in the future, but at this moment his life was what mattered most.

He bit his lip with what was left of his ruined teeth and made the purchase.

Fire exploded in his chest, worse than any heartburn he'd ever had. Violent coughing fits wracked his body, leaving him aching and exhausted. Blood and tiny chunks of flesh spilled out of his mouth and plopped into the ever-rising pool of acid beside him. When it finally ended, he gasped for breath.

That first breath was unlike anything he had ever experienced in his life.

A cold wave washed over his body in an instant, filling every cell with energy and opening all of his pores at once. Each new breath sent a shock through his spine and a feeling of freshness through his lungs, like he'd been breathing smoke and smog for the entirety of his life up to that point. He took a moment to adjust to the strange feeling, breathing in and out. He soon realized he wasn't really "breathing," at least not in the same way that he had before. While he had the distinct feeling of "inhaling and exhaling," there was no real movement involved. His chest remained eerily still, and placing his hand against his nose, he couldn't feel any air movement.

If it wasn't for the steady pulse of "breath" through his body, he would have thought the skill was a failure. He wasn't quite sure "what" he was breathing, but it wasn't anything physical. Was it the "energy" mentioned in the skills? But then what was the source of that energy? Was it mana like in the novels? Or was it something simpler; heat was a form of energy, after all. Maybe he was "breathing" in the thermal energy from his surroundings? It WAS hot as hell in here. All he knew was that he felt a thousand times better than he had a moment before. His head was even starting to clear up.

After a moment of rest, Jonah tried to open up the shop menu, only to find out he couldn't speak. No matter how he tried, he couldn't get the words to form. He panicked for a moment before slapping himself in the head. That was right, he didn't have any air in his lungs. How could he talk if he didn't breathe? THIS could be a problem...

It took a few minutes to get the hang of it, but Jonah found that he could still "breathe" normally. He didn't seem to actually get anything out of the action, but the motion alone was comforting. Soon he was able to sync up this motion with his "energy breathing" as he'd come to think of it. It took some conscious effort at first, but soon it came naturally, like riding a bike. The first words out of his mouth were raw and gravely with his sore throat protesting the sudden passage of air, as the taste of blood filled his mouth.

Maybe because his lungs didn't have to work as hard to extract the energy, or perhaps it was some subconscious micromanaging on his body's part. Still, he felt that after syncing his breathing, his energy breathing had become more efficient. Renewed energy soon flooded his body, and he started to feel better than he had all day. Or at least since he was swallowed. He could tell he didn't NEED to do so if he so wished, but it definitely helped in some way.

Remembering the situation he found himself in, Jonah returned to the task at hand and opened up the Skill Shop once more. He'd solved the immediate issues of not being digested and not suffocating for the moment, but he wasn't out of hot water yet. He only had 1 D-Rank skill token left. Although he considered breaking it into 2 E-Rank tokens to give him more options, after a moment of thought, he decided against it. One of his E-rank skills was extremely situational, and the other was extremely fishy.

He doubted he could keep up that kind of luck going forward. Right now, he needed something strong to help with his immediate problem...

He glanced at his Health Bar and gave a slight shudder. It was still steadily decreasing. Now that he had a method of regenerating mana, his eyes returned to those mana hogging healing spells he had looked at before. The only problem was that he didn't know what the rate of Breathless' regeneration was. The skill itself didn't even mention rates, and he assumed that it was a variable depending on the energy concentration he was "breathing." But how much was enough? Without proper testing, it was a total crap-shoot. After searching for close to 20 minutes, he'd finally narrowed it down to 3 choices.

It wasn't a bad skill at all. 

It was your classic starter healing spell you might see in any game or novel. The only problem was that it wasn't very efficient at starting off. The more he used it, the stronger it would get, but there was no guarantee his regeneration rate would be able to keep up with it.

This was a strange one. While he was hesitant to trust anything created by something with the moniker of "The Mad," he had to admit it seemed more powerful than a D rank skill should have the right to be. He assumed it had something to do with the passive ability. For most mages, their MP was even more important than their HP, so to have a skill that would constantly drain them was most definitely a negative. But for someone like him, who could regenerate mana just by breathing, it could be quite effective. It was basically 2 skills for the price of 1!

Jonah was sorely tempted by this one. Who didn't wish they would stumble on some ancient martial arts technique that would let them become a cultivator?! Unfortunately, the skill didn't mention what the actual rate of healing was. It wouldn't do him much good if it, for example: just doubled his natural recovery rate. Besides that, he questioned how viable "peaceful meditation" was in the belly of a snake.

Three paths.

Three choices.

Whatever he chose, he would have to live with it. Or maybe die with it, he supposed. Jonah closed his eyes and took a deep breath before giving the mental command.