As Lucas stared at what he subconsciously identified as his core, he was struck speechless. Its otherworldly light illuminated his mind in a way he had never experienced before.

'Why does it hurt so much?'

Lucas asked, feeling a sharp pain coming from the newly discovered organ. His mind then flashed to what it was doing in his meditative trance.

'It seemed it has healed me somehow. How does that even work? Questions just keep piling up with no hint of an answer… Let's rest for now, I think I have earned that at the very least. With a fresh mind, maybe I will be able to make some headway with this.'

With that thought in mind, Lucas drew his attention away from his core and tried to settle in. The ache in his core still lingered however, a sharp, pulsing reminder of the mysterious healing it had performed—at what cost, he couldn't tell.

Even with the pain he was in, exhaustion tugged at him as his tendrils curled inward, pulling himself into the smallest shape possible, as if making himself smaller would make the ache quieter.

He might have been healed physically but his mind was approaching its breaking point so it didn't take much time for him to nod off.

A few minutes after he began sleeping, his core began vibrating at a strange frequency. Tiny streams of energy flooded out of it forming a complex weave of unnatural light within Lucas. Following this development, a gentle hum could be heard from Lucas' form as it took on a strange hue.

After a few hours of sleeping in this strange state, Lucas awoke from his dreamless slumber in the safety of his damp, cramped hole. As he came too, the phenomenon going on with his core ceased.

He felt revitalized, his form rhythmically pulsing with energy. He subconsciously generated some tendrils and flexed them around as thoughts bounced around his head.

'That was some surprisingly good sleep. I can't even remember the last time I felt this refreshed just from sleeping. Kind of ironic, considering everything that's happened lately…'

Lucas mused somewhat bitterly, still marveling at how peaceful his slumber had been despite the seemingly ever-present danger surrounding him.

Lucas stirred, his form still pulsing faintly with energy. It was subtle, like a rhythmic heartbeat, but he felt… good. Rested. For the first time since this nightmare began, his thoughts weren't clouded by pain or panic.

'Not bad,' he thought, flexing his tendrils experimentally. They moved with ease, their flow smoother than before. He couldn't deny it—he felt stronger. More alive.

'Time to figure out this core situation. If it really has the ability to heal me, understanding it might be the key to surviving another day… Not that I can really tell what "another day" means without a sun down here…'

Lucas then turned his focus inward trying to seek out his core once more. In a few short moments, he could see it once more. It looked just as radiant as it initially was in his meditative trance, pulsing with an otherworldly light as it peacefully floated within him.

'It's actually real.' Lucas mused in slight surprise. Not being used to experiencing something so… supernatural. Given his previous tired state, he was ready to wake up and see nothing within him then write off the core's existence as nothing more than a delusion. But the more logical side of him knew doing so would spell his doom.

'My universe was randomly destroyed by a cosmic entity a day ago, status screens and floating orbs with supernatural powers are just the natural progression.'

Lucas thought dryly. He then proceeded to analyze the orb more closely. He noticed it had none of the fluid-like substance from before but it glowed brightly.

'Seems sleeping recharged it somehow. Now, how do I actually generate the healing fluid?'

With this new objective, Lucas began experimenting with his core.

As he stared at the floating orb, he tried to interact with it in the only way that seemed possible—willing it to do stuff. And the results were… almost nothing. At best it would begin rotating slowly when he focused on it really hard but apart from that, it just sat there inertly. Almost mockingly.

'Why is nothing happening? When I was in a trance, it went out of its way to heal my injuries but now I can only get it to do a few spins?'

Lucas grumbled internally, unable to accept this roadblock.

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'Does it have something to do with my Mind or Spirit stat? I will have to investigate further. For now, I can only keep trying.'

Lucas could only sigh in the end. Everything to him in this new world was either unknown, trying to eat him, or both.

'It's not something I can figure out just by thinking about it on my own, at least not anytime soon. I can only move on to my skills for now.'

Lucas drew his mind away from his core and redirected his thoughts to his skills as he tried his best to curb his frustration by doing something he considered more productive.

Since he had already leveled up [Spirit sense] once more and [Leech] needed a victim to function, that narrowed down his focus to just one more useable skill—[Mimicry]. At least he hoped it was useable. But first, he had to take in the changes his [Spirit sense] level up had brought.

Drawing his attention away from his core, Lucas spread his perception around his crevice, taking in every detail to see what changes had been added to it. What he "saw" surprised him.

'Woah… there's way more detail now. I can actually see grooves in the wall. Even though the range hasn't changed much, the amount of detail is leagues ahead.'

Lucas thought excitedly, this development brought him relief.

Even though he could technically "see" before, it was very hazy. Leaving him with just white and gray impressions of moving shapes. But now, everything was much more detailed bringing him closer to the sense of sight he had as a human.

'Okay, [Mimicry] here I come!'

Feeling pumped by how developed his perception had become, he pressed forward in his skill exploration. Thinking about the skill, Lucas thought about what the word itself meant and his identity as a mimic

'[Mimicry], it should be the most important skill I have as a mimic, and by definition of the word it's simply the ability to copy stuff… but copy what exactly?'

As Lucas contemplated, various tendrils extended from his stationary form and began to gently bob and twirl around.

'I should be able to mimic other creatures at the very least, right? Let's try that first.'

With that idea in mind, he began sifting through various creatures in his mind. He settled on something he considered simple for his first try— transforming one of his tendrils into an arm. A human arm. The moment he had the thought, he immediately acted upon it.

With a flex of willpower, he retracted all his tendrils leaving behind only one. Concentrating all his willpower on the sole tendril, he tried to make it transform into something more complex, something more familiar. It swayed lightly at first, as if hesitant, before steadying under his will.

He visualized what he wanted the appendage to become as vividly as he could, conjuring up a very familiar image of his human arm—down to the veins, bones, and the subtle grooves of his palm. He poured everything into that image, willing the tendril to obey. In just a few moments, the tendril began warping and changing.

He could feel it rapidly thickening and gaining extra weight. Its tip split and formed a 3 fingered appendage while the tendril's skin became firmer. Before he could begin to feel excited though, he felt a stream of energy flow from his core to the limb followed by a sharp and searing agony. The tendril was immediately lit ablaze with pain, as though it were being torn apart molecule by molecule from within.

This insane amount of pain instantly broke his focus, causing the three-fingered tendril to rapidly transform back into a regular tendril. It then swiftly shrunk back into him before he could wrap his mind around what just happened.

'The hell?'

Lucas' thoughts froze. He tried to process what happened for a few moments and came to one possible conclusion.

'The pain probably came from generating nerves for my arm or something… but I don't have a brain or nervous system in this current form, right? At least not in the normal sense, so that theory is questionable at best.'

Lucas was stumped. After a few minutes of trying to think his way through the issue with no success, he switched tactics.

'If I can't think my way out of it, I'm just going to brute force my way through it. Sitting on my hands is not an option, besides, when has a little pain scared me? I have to do this. Not just for myself, but for everyone.'

Lucas thought to himself unwaveringly. It didn't matter the means, he was hell-bent on getting the skill to work. He was literally the last son of his home reality, his survival carried much more weight than it ever had. Calming his mind, he began the process once more. This time fully braced himself for the pain he was about to experience.

He swiftly generated a new tendril and trained his mind on it, he replicated the same process from just a few minutes ago. The tendril began to warp and change much faster this time, it thickened considerably in just a few moments.

Reaching this point, Lucas tightened his focus even more, bracing for impact. And then—it came.

'Aaahhhh!!!'

Pain shot across the limb like he was being bitten by thousands of fire ants. The tendril contorted and thrashed around frantically, looking for any sign of respite only to receive none.

Lucas buckled down though, not letting up an inch even as his amorphous form flickered chaotically along with the tendril. Even when every moment felt like waking agony which made him question his very existence, he persisted.

'I can do this! This is my opportunity to become better!! Pain is temporary!! Arrgh! Goddamn it!! Fuck!!!'

He roared to himself as if biting back against his own anguish. His internal roars swiftly went from motivational phrases to horrid curses.

He held on for what felt like hours on end, he held on for so long his mind began to fray. Staying conscious became harder and harder, his monochromatic perception flickered on and off like a bad lightbulb but he still held on.

Eventually, the pain began to fade and relief flooded into the limb. This caused his heart to sink at first.

'Did I lose focus? Did it fail??'

He asked himself as he turned his now faint perception to the limb. He was surprised to "see" what the tendril had become—a simple human arm.

He tried to flex it and it followed his will smoothly, each digit moved rhythmically and more flexibly than his actual hand ever had. In fact, its movements bordered on inhuman dexterity.

{[Mimicry] has leveled up from [Level 1]—>[Level 2]}

'I… I did it! Hahahaha I did it!'

A wave of relief flooded through Lucas. All that pain and hardship actually paid off and confirmed the use of mimicry.

After a few minutes of triumph and rest, Lucas reigned himself in as a pressing thought rose to the forefront of his mind.

'Can I transform back into a human?'

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