Chapter 258 - 258. Dream
Noah died but his will remained.
It wasn't a conscient will, only a sliver of the strong emotion that he had felt when he died.
His body was left on the ground to feed other worms, Noah felt as if his conscience was spread among other beings.
The hunger returned.
It was an instinct too strong to suppress, Noah had to eat or he would go crazy!
Yet, that place didn't have that much "Breath" to begin with, only the terrain offered some kind of nourishment.
Noah ate the terrain without hesitation, his mind was divided between ten or so worms but his experiences were the same.
All he did for years was excavating and eating terrain, without ever managing to satisfy his hunger.
Then, that feeling became even stronger.
Noah couldn't control himself, he went looking for his companions.
When he found another magical beast, he pounced at it without hesitation!
He fought, using his body to perform simple attacks.
The surprise effect didn't allow his opponent to defend, he was able to kill it in a few attacks.
Then, he ate it.
The feeling of having his hunger pleased was incomparable, he felt full, almost complete in some ways.
Yet, that moment of pleasure left him unguarded.
Other worms had watched that act of cannibalism and didn't hesitate to follow his example, they pounced at Noah from different angles, killing him in a few seconds.
Noah died again, but his will spread to those that had eaten him.
Those same events repeated themselves for many years.
It was a simple life, guided only by his instincts.
Then, the humans invaded his lair again.
The worms lost themselves at the sight of such an appealing prey but they couldn't match their power.
They could only jump at them while the humans simply waved their hands to kill tens of them at the same time.
Many of the worms carrying Noah's will died, increasing his hatred toward those powerful humans.
The corpses of the beasts became the nourishment for the new pack, spreading Noah's hatred in each surviving worm.
He was now inside each beast of the pack but they still had a different will, he couldn't control them.
Another life of cannibalism began, Noah found himself dying and eating at the same time.
That feeling seemed natural, he lived to satisfy his hunger after all, there was no ethic in the world of the magical beasts.
Yet, the humans would always come to kill him.
That cycle repeated itself many times, Noah felt his will becoming stronger and denser after every death.
Like that, his thoughts became more complex.
At first, it was only simple hatred, he hated those that had killed him so many times.
Then, he began to feel envious of them.
They moved their bodies in a strange way to obtain amazing effects and Noah wondered if he could do the same.
He began to actively feel his body.
It was soft but resilient, he wondered if he could use it to imitate the humans.
Yet, he was too weak and his conscience was still too spread, his thoughts only lasted for a few days before disappearing completely.
He spent hundreds of years like that.
Dying, eating, thinking, he felt the death of each worm, he felt the hunger of each worm.
Then, a change happened.
The humans began to feel threatened by them and decided to leave only a few beasts after their cleansing.
Those few remaining beasts fought themselves for the privilege of eating their dead companions, leaving only one of them alive.
Noah's will was finally concentrated in a single beast again.
The feeling was amazing, he had a clear mind and he could finally think before following his instincts.
That allowed him to survive more easily, it allowed him to actively choose when developing his pack and when to resort to cannibalism, it finally allowed him to actively use his body to imitate the humans.
Then, Noah saw himself.
He watched the entire fight against Daniel and his group from the point of view of the rank 4 creature.
Noah held on, his body was filled with injuries but he still performed the technique that he had spent years to create.
Yet, those efforts were in vain, he ultimately died again at the hands of the humans.
His will remained but it didn't spread to other beasts, it was held captive in a barrel inside his lifeless head.
Then Noah saw himself picking the Bloodline Inheritance and nearing it to his forehead, he felt himself disappearing, fusing with the mind of the human.
It was at that moment that Noah woke up and his consciousness returned to his human body.
He released an inhumane screech before thrashing himself around while holding his head, he felt as if his mental sphere was going to explode!
It took him a while to calm down, his mind was still sore, he couldn't asses its actual improvements.
However, he could focus again on the room and watch what he had done while he was dreaming.
The room was almost destroyed, Noah could see as every piece of furniture had been broken and bitten.
There were bite marks everywhere!
Noah inspected his mouth and found many pieces of wood between his teeth.
'Don't tell me that I have actually eaten part of the room.'
Noah inspected his body but found nothing wrong with it, even if he had eaten something strange, there were no apparent consequences.
'That was so strange, I have completely lost myself in the experiences of the worms. What a pitiful life they have.'
Noah clearly remembered every sensation of when he was a worm.
Yet, as a human, he couldn't imagine being completely driven by his instincts, his mind was simply too complex.
'That hunger… Is that what every magical beast feels? No wonder they are so aggressive, they literally need to eat or they would go mad.'
Noah could only have those few considerations before deciding that he was too tired.
The process of absorbing the Bloodline Inheritance had exhausted him, he needed to recover to assess his actual gains.
He went to sleep on the remaining part of the bed, hoping to have dreamless sleep.