The next morning, Silvain walked toward school.
"Only 2% progress in one night. At this rate, even if my time ends, I won't be able to fully integrate this transformation talent."
Fantasy Points were hard to come by. He hadn't seen a single one during his month as a security guard at Vought International. Now that he was finally in a fantasy world, there was no way he'd be satisfied with just one or two talents.
"Judging by the Parasytes in the original series, there's no way they only have two talents. Could it be that the Migi I analyzed yesterday was in its juvenile state?" Silvain pondered while thinking of how to make contact with more Parasytes.
Relying on random encounters would be too inefficient.
Just as he was racking his brain, a boy in a light brown coat entered his line of sight. The boy was looking down at his right hand, muttering to himself.
"Shinichi."
Silvain's sudden appearance startled him.
"Careful! There's a comrade nearby, the same kind of creature as me."
"You mean Silvain's also been parasitized?" Shinichi asked nervously.
As Silvain walked toward him, Izumi Shinichi quickly pulled out his phone, pretending to answer a call. In reality, he was speaking to his right hand.
"It's not him. It's someone else. It's getting closer."
"How can you sense them?" Shinichi glanced at Migi, which had turned into an eyeball.
Migi replied, "I can sense brainwave-like signals."
"Good morning, Shinichi." Silvain greeted casually. "By the way, aren't you going to school today?"
"Shinichi, ignore him. Let's leave immediately. We have to find it before it finds us." Migi quickly withdrew into Shinichi's body as Silvain approached.
Izumi Shinichi scratched his head. It felt too rude to just walk away, but he couldn't think of a good excuse, so he simply stated his original plan.
"I was heading to the police, but I guess I don't need to anymore. I'm planning to head home. Just realized I forgot a workbook."
"Want me to come with you?" Silvain smiled when he saw Shinichi's face turn red like a monkey's behind from the lie.
Some people just weren't cut out for lying. Shinichi was one of them.
"No need, I can go alone."
Shinichi refused quickly.
"Alright." Silvain stood still, watching Shinichi's hurried figure disappear, a meaningful smile appearing on his face.
Elsewhere, Migi reappeared in Shinichi's palm.
"Strange. Wouldn't it have been better to just say no?"
"You don't get it. That would be impolite," Shinichi explained patiently.
Migi blinked its round eyes, puzzled. "Politeness? What's that? Seems there's still a lot I need to learn."
Guided by Migi, Shinichi weaved through the alleys.
Soon, at the end of one alley, he witnessed a horrifying sight: a pet dog was eating the corpse of a golden retriever.
"A dog eating another dog…"
Shinichi muttered in shock.
The pet dog noticed him and immediately turned its split-open head toward him.
The scene looked straight out of a horror film.
What shocked Shinichi even more was that the pet dog spoke.
"Have you failed too?"
"Are you dissatisfied with where I parasitized, with the animal I chose?"
Migi sensed the opponent's intense killing intent and immediately warned Shinichi to run.
After Shinichi fled, the pet dog's head sprouted a pair of fleshy wings, lifting it into the air.
"Incredible. That transformation was nearly perfect." After both had left, Silvain stepped out from a nearby corner."
At the same time, Shinichi, hiding by a wall, thought he had escaped. But when he looked up, the flying pet dog was already coming toward him.
"You've got to be kidding… This is too—" Shinichi didn't finish.
Migi transformed into a tentacle and lunged at the creature.
Although the dog was agile, it was in midair and had transformed part of its body into wings, limiting its ability to fight back. After a few rounds, Migi's tentacle pierced its body and pulled out its heart.
Migi held the organ in front of Shinichi.
"It really used the dog's internal organs and digestive system to survive."
"This is a comrade you finally met."
"It turned out to be a dog. I know that's probably due to the environment it was born in, but still… it was really dumb."
Migi's words made Shinichi feel how cold and emotionless it was. Killing one of its kind meant nothing to it—like squashing a bug.
"Forget it. Let's go. I need to find a place to wash the blood off my hands."
Less than two minutes after they left, Silvain reappeared.
He walked over to the corpse and shook his head regretfully.
"What a valuable research subject. Such a shame it died like this. Still, the body has value. Can't let it go to waste."
Silvain picked up the body, stuffed it into his schoolbag, and returned home.
Missing two classes occasionally wasn't a big deal. Right now, the fusion progress mattered more.
He grabbed a fruit knife from the kitchen and, suppressing his nausea, began dissecting the corpse. He didn't need the precision of a med student, just enough to clearly see the structure of the transformed parts.
It took a full half-hour.
Only then did Silvain figure out how the fleshy wings worked. He straightened his back and summoned the panel.
As he expected, the fusion progress had reached 14%, an increase of 10%. This proved his theory: only through deeper contact with Parasytes could he accelerate fusion.
"Now things are starting to get interesting."
Silvain smiled in satisfaction. He looked at his right hand. All five fingers had turned into sharp blades.
He ran a few quick tests. In this state, his stamina consumption was about the same as running at full speed. Of course, it couldn't compare to the body of a fully parasitized host, but Silvain was already very satisfied with this result.
"Looks like when this walk-along ends, I'll need to figure out how to fuse a superhero's stamina. Otherwise, even with transformation abilities, I won't be able to use them long."
As Silvain considered which superhero to target next...
His phone buzzed in his pocket.
He answered the call and, hearing the teacher's voice on the other end, quickly explained.
"I'm really sorry, I had a bad stomach last night. I'll head to school immediately. I'm really sorry."
After hanging up, he instinctively wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
"Strange… I've been out of school for years, so why am I still this nervous talking to a teacher?"
(To be continued.)