The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 116

Chapter 116: Nihl
Pain.

That was the first thing he felt when it gained sentience. Its form was unknown to even it as it felt like a liquid placed in a jar too small to even contain it.

It could hear multiple voice around it but couldn’t recognize what any of them were saying. It felt confused at the situation but most of all, it felt hungry.

A hunger to merge and consume everything and anything. That’s when it felt itself being moved. It could see nothing, so where or how it was moved was unknown to it.

All it knew was that it took a couple of minutes before it was flipped and gravity took over as if being poured into something else. The new space felt a lot freer than the last but that didn’t matter to it because it could feel what it desperately craved.

Food.

Although it could see nothing, it could sense its food in a certain direction within the new area it was placed in.

It dragged its liquid self across the space, heading towards where it sensed its food. Reaching its potential meal, it latched onto it, searching for any opening it could used to hijack the food.

But the food reacted. As soon as it latched onto the food, it started struggling, although it seemed to be restrained so its struggles yielded no results.

Regardless, the food continued fighting.

It thrashed, releasing what sounded like growls of both anger and desperation but the liquid-like creature held on. Its hunger had gotten overwhelming now that its feast was so close.

The creature poured into the nostrils, pores, eyes and mouth of its food as soon as it discovered them.

The food, a gold tier primal, convulsed and continued struggling harder. For a moment, it seemed to gain enough strength to reject the creature invading its body by flaring its energy.

The creature shuddered as it felt pain from the energy being emitted by the primal, attempting to purge it out, but it was too late.

The creature had already invaded its entire body.

The primal’s struggles weakened and its defiant roar started coming out as nothing but weak cries. It’s body twitched as the liquid-like creature merged with its body, completely reforming it.

The creature felt each sense becoming active as it hijacked it. It could feel the primal’s core gently beating within it similar to a heart.

It could now smell the air around it and could hear the people that surrounded it speaking words it didn’t understand.

“The merging was a success” one of the voices said.

“It has completely assimilated the primal into itself” another voice came.

“Are you satisfied with our work master?” the voice that spoke this time was laced with anticipation, fear and respect all at the same time.

‘More food’ was the first thought that came to the creature’s mind.

Slowly, it opened its eyes and that’s when it spotted it. It felt a fear so primal it sent chills run through its entire being. The creature that stood before it looked completely wrong, something that should not exist.

The newly formed aberration didn’t know the concept of fear, only the instinct to consume and merge. But when it faced the being before it, its entire form seemed to be screaming for it to run away.

It couldn’t understand why.

The creature standing before it wasn’t large, neither did it have fangs, claws or anything that would be considered dangerous according to the memories it gained from consuming its food.

In fact, it looked no different from the other beings that stood behind it but unlike it, the others behind the creature didn’t seem to instill fear in it as much as the one standing Infront of it.

The master stepped forward, causing the creature to flinch and scramble back. Its first instinct was to growl at the master but a stronger instinct warned it otherwise.

“Oh?” The master spoke, causing the creature to shiver again “it can recognize a stronger opponent.”

He chuckled seeing the creature’s reaction to him.

The master crouched, staring directly into the creature’s eyes and said “now, what should I name you?”

Being this close to the master, the creature finally understood its source of fear, his eyes.

The master’s red eyes seemed to glow with an eerie energy which instilled fear into the creature.

His hand reached towards the creature and before it could move back, it felt itself freeze. It wanted to escape the approaching hand, to flee but it couldn’t move.

It wasn’t that it had been restrained by anything nor was it ordered to stay still, it just couldn’t move at all.

The master’s fingers brushed against its newly formed body, and the creature shuddered violently. It was not pain it felt, nor was it pleasure. It was submission.

“From now on,” the master started speaking again “you are my child.”

Weirdly enough, although the creature didn’t understand everything of what was previously being said, it clearly understood the master’s words.

“And I’ll call you Nihl.” He named the creature.

The master withdrew his hand, satisfied. “Now, my child,” he said, his red eyes glowing ever so slightly, “it’s time you learned your purpose.”

—————-

A few days had passed since its awakening and its father’s visit and the creatures that called themselves human scientists had continued feeding it.

Although, they didn’t allow it to merge with all the food they had fed it, only allowing it to absorb them.

It had mutated during the past few days, the head of its new body had split in the middle as if chopped by an axe with rows of teeth lining up on each side.

Nihl had learned much in the few days since its birth. It now understood the strange sounds the humans made—words, language, commands.

Most importantly, the hierarchy of power.

Its father—the red-eyed master—was at the top.

The humans that scurried around in white coats, constantly monitoring it, treating it like an experiment, were beneath him.

It hated that it couldn’t completely merge with its food but it didn’t lash out due to it’s father’s warning.

And finally, the day for it to fulfill its purpose came. A day it was promised a complete meal if it followed the plan.

It firstly shrunk its abominable form to a smaller size and allowed the scientists to shut it down.

————

The next time its eyes opened, it being stared at by another human.

The human looked scared, an emotion the creature had come to like seeing in its preys.

But it restrained itself, it had to follow the plan and not absorb this human just yet.

“What even is this thing?” The human spoke “it looks straight out of a horror movie.”

This human was Darren who the old man had just handed the forged beast to. He was currently trying to figure out what this thing was.

Its head was split in two with teeth lining up on each side. Darren didn’t know why, but he always felt chills looking at the creature.

But the old man promised that the thing would help make him stronger. It would help him get the recognition he deserved.

And the only thing he had to do in exchange was to beat Reid Fletcher. This was like killing two birds with one stone, he’d prove that Reid didn’t deserve that promotion while also gaining recognition and possible promotion.

So he hesitantly outstretched his hand, revealing his neural tattoo to create a bond between him and the creature.

Nihl allowed him to establish the connection, while carefully observing the human’s every movement.

Its consciousness probed Darren’s and for the first time since its creation, it had a direct link to another being that wasn’t its father.

And it hated it.

This human was weak.

This human was food.

But Nihl resisted the instinct to consume. It had orders to follow.

Darren shivered as the bond completely formed. Their intertwined soul power was supposed to give him insight into his new Forged-Beast’s abilities, its nature, its emotions.

Instead, all he felt was hunger—a bottomless, never ending urge to eat and merge with something else.

Darren almost instantly regretted his decision to accept that old man’s gift but he couldn’t turn his back now, he could feel it from their connection.

This creature was extremely powerful and that was exactly what he needed right now.

“Heh. Whatever. You’re my partner now, you freaky bastard.” Darren clenched his fist, trying to suppress the unease bubbling in his gut. “Let’s see what you can do.”

Nihl remained silent, merely watching Darren. The bond between them was not as strong as Darren thought. Infact, it was fragile and completely one-sided. The scientists had made sure that whoever it was bonded with didn’t have complete control over it.

Darren thought he had gained a powerful Forged-Beast. In truth, he had bonded with a ticking time bomb that was ready to explode at any moment.

—————–

“He challenged me to a duel the very next day,” Reid finished, recounting everything he had learned from the memories he had absorbed from both the creature and Darren.