Initially, Anaxa's heart had gone wild with joy upon the system's confirmation that he had completed the task. The past two, nearly three days might have been nothing short of hell, but it was not in vain, at least he managed to pass the first hurdle, thus ensuring his survival for the time being.
The relief and comfort Anaxa felt when he realized that made even the meat in his mouth taste inexplicably so much better, to the point he almost felt like he was eating at a royal feast, not a a raw, bleeding frog from the ground.
It was just too bad that that sense of excitement lasted perhaps for only a split second, as the cruel system immediately turned to rain on his parade.
The curse had been activated.
"...." And Anaxa was turned speechless.
He simply stood there like a statue, reading and re-reading the text, forgetting to even chew,
'Honestly, what was I expecting?' before bitterly only noting this with a shaking head.
By this point, the man seemed to have come to complete terms with the sadistic nature of this mysterious system. So he simply skipped the cursing or crying phase and went straight to acceptance.
What would have whining about it done anyway?
As already said, Anaxa was currently at the complete mercy of the system.
If there was one slight thing he was peeved about, it was that the 3 day deadline for the curse had not technically expired.
Originally, Anaxa had hoped to use that time to take the day off, as a kind of reward to himself. After the brutal regime of the past few days, he thought he deserved some well earned rest.
But the system clearly had other ideas- it was happy to issue the curse as soon as the task was completed.
And no sooner had it been said, a brand new level of hunger pang formed inside Anaxa, roaring out for food like a pitless vortex. The call was so strong that Anaxa completely lost contact with all other thoughts- the only thing that mattered to him now was eating.
So with blank whites in his eyes, the tiny lizard dug into the giant meal, ravenously taking bites so big that they appeared almost supernatural.
In fact, they were indeed supernatural, as anyone observing from the side would conclude.
Every time he took a bite, his maw would open to proportions that should have been impossible for his bone structure to accommodate, the mouth appearing more like a python swallowing its prey rather than a tiny water lizard tearing off flesh.
Yet the one this was happening to did not even seem to notice, Anaxa was that engrossed with eating.
In fact, it did not even seem like he was eating to tame the raging beast inside his stomach, but more so because he had suddenly found an inexplicable joy in it, as even this lowly meat suddenly seemed to taste divine.
"Ding! 25 micro units of biomass accumulated!"
Anaxa only lifted his head upon hearing the ring of notification, a cool, serene look gracing his eyes, 'Ahh.. they say the luckiest man on earth is the man who does not have to worry about his next meal.'
Thus feeling the fire inside his belly had been at last put out, Anaxa had a profound sense of being 'filled and satisfied' and figuratively burped and patted his belly.
His mood only changed as he turned around to look at the leftover carcass.
"What is this?" He cried in shock, finding there was literally not a single strand of flesh left on the skeleton. In fact even part of the skeleton had been devoured, leaving only the hardiest bones like the femur and skull behind. And even those had clear tooth marks on them, proving Anaxa had gnawed at them but failed to ultimately break through.
"Did I eat all of this? In one go? How?" Despite the overwhelming evidence in front of him, Anaxa had trouble coming to terms with what he had done, and he even looked down at his belly, "The frog must have weighed at least as much as I. So how did I fit all of it?"
When Anaxa first hunted the 'beast' he never expected to eat all of it, just the most juicy and delicious parts. Then he would have either left the carcass, or if he had the time, dragged it to his nest to slowly snack on it at night.
Yet he had eaten all 40 to 50 grams of it in one sitting and his belly still appeared as flat as a board.
"System window!" Anaxa instantly cried, knowing the phenomenon had to have something to do with it. And as expected, it indeed had.
Anaxa found it in two separate texts.
One was with the strength stat in his attribute menu, where it now read- Strength- 0.5 (2).
The second was with his host window, where his status read- 'Cursed- Great Hunger. Host gets hungry easily. Host can devour prey at a much faster rate.'
It did not take long for Anaxa to connect the two dots even without the mute system's help, "Hmmm.. it seems the 2 in the bracket is by biting power, while the 0.5 is my general strength. I certainly feel that way- my jaw feels like it can even crush through steel. This must be a side effect of my curse- it makes me hungry more easily, so it also gave me the ability to eat faster." Anaxa did not know whether to feel happy or sad about this finding.
It was like a miner who had his quota for the day increased, but instead of still having to rely on old, simple picks and shovels, the management was also enough to equip him with an electric jackhammer. He still had to put in the same hours and the same effort, but at least he could dig more.
It was just that in Anaxa's case, he did not know who he was working so hard for.
"Sigh…." So thinking about the mysterious system and its unknown objective made the man understandably wary.
However he stopped his thoughts soon right there.
No matter what the enigmatic voice might have in store later, it was an irrefutable fact that Anaxa was where he was here only by the grace of the system. And if the same choice were to be given to other humans, most dying men would take the system's offer with little hesitation.
Anaxa concluded this not only because of how human nature tended to resist death even in the most dire of situations, but also because he recalled just as he was about to die, just when he was at the very doorsteps of the other world, something from deep in his soul instinctively cried out in absolute terror, telling him that death was not the end, neither was reincarnation and rebirth.
There was something much, much worse waiting for them all at the end of the tunnel.
Anaxa did not know what it was and his palpating heart hoped to never find out.
"Sigh! Maybe if I follow the system, I will become strong enough to evade death. Perhaps I will be able to regain my human form. Or even go back to my timeline and meet friends and relatives, living out my days watching movies and playing games."
Anaxa himself was not aware of how mundane his last wish sounded compared to the previous two.
But he was really speaking from his heart here- it was not only out of fear that Anaxa was doing all this, the comforts and entertainment of his previous life were also one of the great driving factors.
And for that, he was willing to trust the system to the best of his ability.
"Ding! New skill received!"
It was unknown whether the system's chime was a coincidence or if it had decided to reward Anaxa's newly found belief in him. Regardless, the sound instantly grabbed Anaxa, as he was surprised that the system was willing to recompense him further.
Hence he feverishly read the white texts as soon as they appeared,
"Skill- Expanded Stomach- (Host can hold much greater volume of food. Faster and more efficient digestion).
Proficiency-???
Anaxa's heart somewhat cooled down upon reading it, clearly unimpressed. He had assumed it was going to be a brand new skill or even one from the three choices he left behind.
Yet this was simply a supplement to the curse, something Anaxa had already figured out.
'Tsk, what was I expecting?' The disappointed man even half rebuked himself for getting his hopes too high.
But the system was unimpressed by his attitude, so decided to add to Anaxa's anger by announcing its next quest right then-
"Bonus Objective- Hunt down a fish weighing at least 200g.
Reward- Night Vision or a warm blooded body.
Penalty- …..
Duration- 3 days.
Note- Completion is highly recommended.