ALTverse: An Odyssey To New Land. Chapter 2
Fortunately, the first creature you get to know — the partner rolling around in front of you — builds a strange rapport in just half a day. What follows is the battle of food. Trailing your new partner, you head into the jungle. The jagged branches cast a misshapen light on the ground, and in the sunless corners there seems to be a watching eye, and with the mind of an explorer you silently quicken your pace.
The trek is well worth it, as a lush patch of grass came into view. The monster runs up and returns with a bunch of red fruit in its mouth. This unexpectedly delicious bite of fruit lifts your spirits as, from a distance, you look out onto a patch of trees laden with fruit trees. The hope of survival, your instinct speaks; as your running speeds up.
You fiercely pick all accessible fruits until a shadow looms over you. Sharp, knife-like arms, film-like wings, and a chitinous shell shimmer with a cold light. Even with nothing to wonder about anymore, this is beyond your imagination.
This insect is nothing but danger, as its compound eye tells. “Help!” you panicked, but a furry figure has pounced on the bug before you can even spit it out.
It turned out that your monster’s nature was more than meek at all. After the vicious battle, the insect vaporised into light in the air, leaving only the pair of wings on the ground. It won’t be pretty, it doesn’t take Darwin or Einstein to deduce that — but you see the monster raises its ill-assorted claws up and tries to attach the wings towards its back. Perhaps this is a way to show off the trophy. You help it place the wing, and witnesses how the wing and the body just join as one, even with flashes of gleams. God. You sigh, calling the only thing you share with the earth now.
Information so far:
Plants: Certain plants produce edible fruit that support earth life living; hardly any abnormal reaction such as food poisoning has been observed.
Creatures: There have been multiple reports of encounters of native creatures, mostly near fruit areas. Native creatures have a high ratio of being dihybrid or carrying different alleles from other species. Their marked aggression towards the monsters and monsters’ owners can trigger combat behaviour. Some of the fighting ceased after disengagement, presumably with the native creatures having a strong sense of territoriality, while the rest of the fighting continued until at least one side of firing parties died. When a creature dies, its body disappears completely within a short period of time, and in rare cases, some kind of organ is preserved. Statistics show that most companion creatures are significantly more powerful in combat than native creatures.
Highly confidential: A rare organ fusion case has been reported by an anonymous monster owner . The monster has directly absorbed the residual organs of the native creature and retained their full function; the principle is unknown and constant observation is recommended.
