Heath and Michael stared at him, their brains working in overdrive to figure out if they were actually supposed to take Eik's words as literally as he had seemed to present them. After all, whether something was called 'Original Life' or not, one couldn't simply create life out of nothing.

That went against reality.

"Are you saying that this new trait of yours can create—"

"I honestly don't know," Eik hurried to clarify. "I've never used it before. Honestly, I'm kind of afraid of what will happen. There are a few dilemmas I'm wrestling with. I mean, if it does do what I expect, is it even okay for me to do?"

Michael massaged his chin in thought while Heath looked between them. "Why not? It's just an ability, right? If you have the ability, then it's because it's supposed to be used."

"Yeah, sure, that's what I would normally think as well, but, like… What if I create some sort of tortured thing, cursed to live a twisted life, all because I wanted to test some new skill? What if it lives in perpetual agony, or terror?"

Heath gave it a second's thought. "Then we kill it again," he answered simply.

"Kill it?" Eik repeated incredulously.

"Yeah," the smith said nonchalantly. "You kill sentient beings all the time, right? What's the difference?"

Eik disagreed completely, but in the moment he had a difficult time articulating why. Michael jumped in to answer in his place. "The others are enemies. People who would do harm to us if we don't act. We learned that early. What this would be would be a being that has done nothing wrong—to anyone ever. Never gotten a chance to live. Never gotten a chance to make good or bad decisions. Although very different from the common understanding of the word, this' Original Life' would in every sense of it be Eik's offspring."

Heath's eyebrows shot up. "Holy shit, you're right. Are you going to have another kid today?" he asked, looking at Eik.

The Prince of Toxin suddenly found himself getting lightheaded. "I think I have to sit down."

"You already are sitting down."

"Fuck, man… Can I really just do this?"

"Have you talked to Ihasu about this?" Michael asked.

Eik flopped onto his back, chewing the last bite of his sandwich. "Yeah, she already knows all about it. She's way more composed about this than I am. She said the same that you did about how if I have an ability I should at least try it out."

"And what about getting another kid at home?"

Eik glanced at Heath. "Dude, I honestly doubt a trait from Living Manifestation is going to create a human baby."

Heath didn't seem convinced. "You never know, mate."

"Fuck, you're right. Mikey, what if I make a human baby?"

Michael rolled his eyes. "It's not going to be a human baby."

"You don't know," Heath insisted. "You know as little about this as us."

"I— Okay, yeah, you got me there. But there's just no way, right?" he said, trying to maintain his conviction, but it was obvious that it was slipping.

"There's only one way to find out for sure," Heath said, eyes Eik pointedly.

Taking a deep breath, Eik sat as comfortably as he could and reached into himself for the familiar sensation of his abilities. The Original Life trait of Living Manifestation sat dormant, simply waiting for him to beckon.

"All right, here goes," he muttered under his breath, spiritually grasping hold of Original Life and guided it out into the world.

Normally when he deployed Living Manifestations, there was a drain on his energy. Even a single unit could be felt. But now, with Original Life, it was that and something more on top.

Whatever that 'more' was, it didn't feel like a loss. There was a sense of giving but not loss. Kind of like how when you give love and kindness to those around you, you don't lose love and kindness as a result—as a matter of fact, it could be said that you gain something instead.

Unlike regular deployment of Profound Toxic beasts, this process was not a quick one. The toxin that emerged on his upturned palm flowed out slowly and viscously, settling into a glistening sphere no larger than his closed fist.

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There was a definite spiritual connection to the small glob of jelly in his hand. Common Profound Toxic beasts felt like some manner of primitive robots into which he could put simple commands. This one was more like a blank canvas. A featureless statue. Something that would slowly adopt its own characteristics.

"It's a… slime?" Heath said, putting his head close to Eik's hand to get a proper look. "Is this it? Seems kind of pathetic, doesn't it?" The blob just wobbled at Heath's approach, but a tendril of toxin shot out of Eik's arm and slapped Heath across the face with a meaty smack.

"Whoops, you shouldn't say that kind of stuff, man," Eik warned way too late.

"Oh, ouch, fuck, that hurts like crazy!" the smith cried, hand massaging his cheek that was already reddening.

"Don't you ever learn, dude?" Michael asked, patting the big man on the back. "Isn't this the fourth time you've been slapped by Profound Toxin now? Stop putting your face into slapping distance when you insult it."

"I didn't insult Profound Toxin!" Heath exclaimed, whirling on Michael, and then turned back to the wiggling tendril. "I didn't insult you!"

"Whatever this little blue blob turns out to be, it is obviously made from that same substance. It's like an indirect insult."

"That's just dumb," Heath grumbled, only to realize what he had said and threw himself away from the tendril which hadn't moved at all in response.

"Anyway," Eik said, returning his attention to the sphere in his hand. "Is this a true life, then?" he wondered out loud. "It does feel kind of different from the others. Unlike them, I can feel something that I can best describe as a presence. Like there's a layer that I haven't felt before."

"You can usually disperse Living Manifestations at will, right?" Michael asked.

"Yeah."

"Then, if this is its own being, with its own will, then you shouldn't be able to, right?"

Eik regarded the little thing. It wobbled and wiggled on his palm but otherwise showed no signs of realization that he was looking. "And what if it… works?"

"Well, then we know that. And then you try again," Heath said.

"Yeah, you're right," Eik muttered hesitantly. This little guy was definitely not like a regular Profound Toxic beast. Dread filled him at the thought of making it disappear. "All right, fuck it! Here goes!"

With a flex of his will, he commanded the Living Manifestation to release.

Nothing happened. The little blob of blue undulated innocently in his hand, utterly unaware that the moment before was supposed to have been its last.

Then, out of nowhere, it began to scream. It had no mouth, so perhaps a scream was not the most accurate way to describe what it was, but it certainly sounded like one. It writhed and spasmed, seemingly under some unseen torture. The sound was like that of the whistling of one of those old-timey kettles, high and pitched as it pierced right to the ear drum.

"What the hell is going on?" Heath shouted, clapping his hands over his ears.

"I don't know!" Eik yelled as Michael leapt over to get a closer look at the blob. "I don't have the same type of connection to this guy as I do with the other Profound Toxic beasts! I can't tell what's going on with it!"

"Look!" Michael shouted, pointing at the underside of the blob which was only barely visible against Eik's palm. Eik turned it over in his hand. "Is that—…?"

Glowing orange letters were steadily etching themselves into the blob's membranous surface, hazy bands of white smoke sizzling into the air. Eik flipped it over so the letters were right side up and legible.

He read out loud, forced to speak up in order to be heard through the constant screaming. With no lungs and thus apparently no need for breath, the shriek was just one continuous sound.

[NULL]

[Earth]

[Profound Toxin]

The text faded without a trace. "It's Awakening!" Eik yelled, his eyes seeking a flustered Michael. "Mikey, do you have your wooden plaque?"

"Yeah, I do!" the healer said, frantically ripping it free from under his shirt.

"Give it to me!" Eik said and snatched it from Michael's fingers quickly as lightning. He pressed it into the blue membrane as the Living Manifestation calmed down. The next message appeared on the plaque instead of directly on the target.

[E-rank — III]

"It's E-rank already!" Eik read. "Grade three, too!"

"Why is it Awakening so early? I thought sentient species only Awoke once they hit puberty, whatever that means for each species. This is thirty seconds after coming into existence, for god's sake! How does this make any sense?"

"Isn't that because that's when the System thinks the individual is ready to Awaken?" Heath suggested, finally coming closer. "Maybe it just thinks that this little guy is ready right from the beginning? It is a being made by an ability after all."

"Yeah, maybe. Hey, look at this. It's getting an ability," Eik said and began to read aloud again.

[New skill available]

[Choose one]

[Learn]

"That's it?" Michael asked, looking over Eik's shoulder at the plaque. "Where's the rest?"

Eik took a moment to think. "When you first Awaken, it offers at least one ability that lines up with your personal skill set or interests or something like that, right? Like, I was offered Resistance: Toxin because I worked with toxins every day and even took deadly poisons on purpose just to train myself to work quickly and under pressure."

"That is… fuckin' insane, dude. But yeah, same here," Heath added. "I knew I wanted to be a tank before I ever Awakened so I used to hit my own body with a stick and when I finally did Awaken, I was offered Fortitude—the tank skill of tank skills."

"Exactly. But this little guy," Eik said, holding the living glob of Profound Toxin between his thumb and index finger, the slime hanging like a viscous droplet of thoroughly chewed gum. "its first experience in life was the pain of Awakening. There are no prior events to base the first skills upon. There is nothing in its past. The only thing it can do is right now is…"

"Learn," Michael finished. "Holy shit."

The golden script faded and left the wooden plaque blank. "So you can learn stuff now, huh, buddy?" Eik asked the blob. "What does that mean? Do you understand me now? Do you know who I am?"

It bubbled but didn't answer. However, it did seem, somehow, to be studying him. The scratching noise of the wooden plaque sounded once more.

They read the message.

[Reached threshold: Evolution to ??? possible]

[Evolve?]

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