Chapter 59: I Had to Choose: Eat the Trait or Save It for FORGE

Raven slowly released his grip.

"That seemed unnecessarily personal," Valeria said.

Raven looked at the two small punctures in his forearm.

"It bit me."

"Flawless reasoning."

Roland approached.

"Did the venom get in?"

Raven released Stonehide.

One of the fangs had reached skin.

A small drop of blood appeared.

"A little."

Roland stopped smiling.

"A little is still Glassfang."

Raven was already waiting for the reaction.

The burning intensified.

Then came the tingling.

Very faint.

Predatory Regeneration reacted almost immediately. Raven felt hunger, an internal pressure, and something resembling heat spreading outward from the wound.

The system displayed another notification.

«Foreign toxin detected.

Biological damage: MINOR

Neurotoxic agent detected.

Predatory Regeneration response initiated.

Estimated neutralization: 6 minutes.»

Raven watched his arm.

"Six minutes."

Roland blinked.

"What?"

"My body is neutralizing the venom."

"You shouldn’t be able to say that so calmly."

"Would you prefer screaming?"

"I’d prefer you not get bitten by a Glassfang."

"That was my first choice too."

Valeria approached and examined the wound.

"Regeneration?"

"Yes."

"Cost?"

Raven noticed she was asking that automatically now.

"Mana. Nutrients."

Valeria opened her bag, pulled out a strip of dried meat, and handed it to him.

Raven looked at her.

Then the food.

"Don’t let this become a habit."

"I’m giving you meat, Raven. I’m not proposing marriage."

He took the strip.

"Given my recent experience, I need to verify."

Valeria took a second.

Then laughed.

Roland looked between them and decided not to ask.

Raven ate while Predation displayed the full analysis of the corpse.

The first option was exactly what he’d seen in the juvenile Glassfang.

Only better.

«"Toxin Adaptation"

Source:

Hepatic Venom-Adaptation Gland

Secondary Blood-Filtration Tissue

Trait Integrity: 91%

Host Compatibility: 82%

Potential effects:

— Increased tolerance to biological toxins

— Accelerated hepatic toxin processing

— Adaptive response following non-lethal toxin exposure

— Increased resistance to repeated exposure

Limitations:

— Does NOT provide toxin immunity

— Unknown toxins may remain lethal

— Magical curses, corrosive mana, and non-biological poisons may bypass Trait

— Adaptation requires survivable exposure»

Raven stopped chewing.

That was significantly better than the juvenile version.

Not immunity.

Good.

Immunity would’ve been suspiciously convenient.

Adaptation meant his body became better at surviving poison, especially after encountering it.

In Sablewood, that was practically infrastructure.

He prepared to select DEVOUR.

FORGE activated.

Raven paused.

A second interface appeared beside Predation.

Not replacing it.

Beside it.

For the first time, both Authorities were evaluating exactly the same biological structure at once.

«"Compatible Trait Source Detected"

Trait: "Toxin Adaptation"

Two valid utilization pathways identified.

DEVOUR

Integrate "Toxin Adaptation" into host physiology.

Expected host compatibility: 82%

HARVEST

Preserve Hepatic Venom-Adaptation Gland for external integration.

Potential FORGE applications:

— Toxin filtration mechanism

— Alchemical resistance system

— Biological purification component

— Unknown compatible projects

NOTICE: Selecting either pathway will render the other unavailable from this specimen.»

Raven read the message twice.

Valeria noticed immediately.

"Something changed."

"Yes."

"Good or bad?"

"Useful."

Raven crouched beside the Glassfang.

This was the first time FORGE had made the decision explicit.

The Blackmaw had already demonstrated the rule after the fact. He’d consumed the regenerative structures, so FORGE could no longer use them.

But that had happened before he properly understood the secondary Authority.

Now the system was asking before he touched anything.

Eat it.

Or preserve it.

Power inside himself.

Or power inside something else.

Raven looked at the translucent corpse.

FORGE could use Toxin Adaptation.

Not for the rifle.

The current project had no need for a detoxification system.

Maybe future armor.

A respirator.

An alchemical device.

Something capable of filtering poison.

All potentially useful.

Predation offered something far more immediate.

Sablewood contained more than a hundred documented poisonous species.

He’d already been bitten twice by Glassfangs in less than a day.

The first hadn’t penetrated skin.

This one had.

He still needed to hunt Arc Needle Wasps whose entire combat strategy revolved around paralysis.

The decision took about three seconds.

"DEVOUR."

FORGE changed immediately.

«"Pathway selected: DEVOUR"

Harvest compatibility from this specimen will be forfeited upon consumption.

Proceed?»

"Yes."

«"Biological source identified."

Required tissue:

Hepatic Venom-Adaptation Gland — 71% minimum

Blood-Filtration Tissue — 34% minimum

Consume while mana integrity remains above threshold.»

Raven took out the extraction knife.

Roland watched him.

"So now you’re going to eat it?"

"Part of it."

"I was worried I was starting to get used to that."

Raven opened the abdomen.

"Apparently that concern was unnecessary."

Valeria crouched opposite him, careful not to touch the transparent body.

"FORGE wanted the same part."

Raven looked up.

"Yes."

That got her full attention.

"And what did you choose?"

"To eat it."

"I can see that."

"You asked."

"I’m asking why."

Raven separated a dark violet organ from beneath the liver. Unlike most of the serpent’s body, the gland was almost opaque, silver threads running across it.

"Because the rifle isn’t useful if I die before I finish it."

Valeria stopped smiling.

Raven kept working.

"FORGE turns resources into future possibilities. Predation improves my odds of reaching those possibilities. I’m not sacrificing every useful Trait just because I might be able to put it inside an object someday."

"So you’re deciding case by case."

"Naturally."

"I thought the rifle was your priority."

Raven removed the second cluster of tissue.

"It is."

"That sounds contradictory."

"No. The weapon is a project."

Raven looked at her.

"So am I."

Valeria watched him for a moment.

Then nodded.

"That was almost philosophical."

"It was logistics."

"Of course."

Raven examined the gland.

Predation confirmed it.

«Biological source sufficient.

DEVOUR?»

The smell was unpleasant.

Bitter.

Chemical.

Raven had eaten worse things.

Not exactly an achievement he’d expected to unlock after arriving in another world.

He swallowed the first section.

The taste immediately managed to be worse than the smell.

His expression barely changed.

Valeria saw enough.

"Bad?"

"Yes."

"You could cook it."

"Heat could destroy the structure."

"Then I’m immensely grateful I don’t have your ability."

Raven swallowed the rest of the filtration tissue.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Then his abdomen contracted.

Hard.

Raven braced one hand against a root.

Valeria moved immediately.

"Raven?"

"Wait."

Heat spread from his stomach.

It wasn’t Ember Spark.

It was internal.

His liver felt as though someone had wrapped hot wire around the organ.

The sensation climbed through his chest, then traveled down both arms.

The small Glassfang bite began burning again.