I have Nine Lives

Felix was hanging on the levitating ruby pillar with all of his might. His strikes were quick and precise as he aimed at the cracks that he already created, trying to expand them and destroy the ruby in one go.

But it was easier said than done. Now that there was nothing that inhibited the giant from finding Felix. And he had enough space to use his arms. He could easily grab Felix and throw him away.

Even though Felix was hanging on the giant's core for his dear life, it was rather hard to destroy it in his current position. He didn't have any momentum, and he was dangling in the air, not having any solid ground to stand on so he could increase the strength of his attacks. His body strength was still pretty huge. But he wasn't able to use it at 100% capacity in his current situation.

It was a rather awkward place, and his armor's jets didn't work either. So he couldn't create any momentum to increase his striking power.

Felix's body could handle it, but the constant pestering of the giant was making things harder than they were supposed to be.

The giant was currently using his fingers deftly to pry Felix off his core and crush him into bits.

He knew that he couldn't use brute force, or there was a chance he would damage his core by himself, and it was already cracked. Any more damage and there was a huge chance it would break, making him die in the process.

He could already feel the cold embrace of death nearing him as the cracks on his core were being expanded by Felix's strikes. If he wasn't in such an awkward position, he would have broken half the core by now.

Flying wouldn't help him much in this situation, and if he didn't stick to the crystal as he did now, the giant would throw him away and then run, most likely.

Felix could feel that the giant stony fingers were moving his internal organs as they struck his back while trying to pry him off the ruby pillar, but he didn't give up.

He wasn't being struck by the runic energy. So all the damage that was done to him was quickly healed by his new abilities.

Felix could feel that his internal energy was being quickly drained, but he struck his armor one time, activating the Rubix cubes inside as they started to pour energy into him.

They were already fully charged as it would take less time to gather and purify planetary energy compared to the spatial one.

Felix's aura continued to flare to life- as it was being fueled by the extra energy from the cubes.

His endurance would be unlimited as long as he had enough energy. The pain didn't matter to him as he already endured the highest pain that he could during his evolution and came out okay.

His body started to glow as he activated the needle of the armor and inserted it directly into the core, creating a sound that resembled that of nails on a chalkboard.

'Scrrchhhh' The sound was so loud that Felix's ears started bleeding, but he continued to hang onto the pillar as bloody red crystallized energy started to enter the needle and then the armor before arriving into Felix's body and bloodstream.

Felix's cells became active as they assimilated the crystals. They were just like mini hungry monsters as they ate through the hard crystal as if it was tofu.

His body started to harden quickly in response to the absorption he was doing. A green rock layer started to grow over his body as another type of armor was unlocked.

Felix's muscles spasmed as he became a rock man with no facial features as they were now hidden behind the 'helmet' of his new armor.

All of the giant's attempts at prying him off his core were slowly becoming weaker and weaker as Felix continued to absorb his life essence.

Slowly but surely, the giant's life was ending.

The hand that was trying to pry Felix of the ruby pillar slowly stopped as it dropped to the side, and an agonized voice came from the crystal:

"RAGHAHGHAAH!"

It was only gibberish, even if the AI was active right now. It wouldn't be able to translate as these were the death throes of the falling giant.

Felix had already absorbed his most important 'brain liquid' that he couldn't live without, so he was only one step away from death.

That step was finally taken as the body slowly fell to the ground of the planet, burying itself directly as it created a crater that was as long as its body. Creating a view that could be seen even from space.

Felix ignored the downed body as it quickly decomposed into normal rocks that filled the crater. Without the core that kept the rocks together, the giant rock man became a normal underground mountain.

Felix's face became visible again as the rocks disappeared from his body, for doing such a high amount of work. The ability that he got from absorbing the rock man's brain wasn't really interesting. It was actually quite plain.

A rock armor, that was all he got... Maybe if the AI was online right now, he might have been able to explain. But, unfortunately, Felix didn't know to fix the armor.

Felix dropped down from the sky as he took in a big gulp of air. He could feel his lungs expanding as he became a little bit more familiar with his new physique.

His human form's potential hadn't been fully unearthed, but as he would become more and more familiar with it. It would become so strong that he wouldn't have to return to his primal form ever again.

He cracked his neck and fingers as he felt his surroundings shake. It was time for the teleportation.

This time the teleportation didn't take much time as he found himself back at the academy.

Vangar was a few meters away from him as he smiled at Felix before nodding and saying:

"You have done a great job and in record time to boot."

"You have gained all of the abilities that our scientists found to be the most compatible with your physiognomy and you even evolved, gaining a humanoid form and reaching a higher life level. You are actually 1 tier ahead of the human race!"

Vangar was practically glowing as he analyzed Felix from top to bottom.

"You have really done great, and we are ready to improve you once more before we will let the flood gates open."

Felix nodded as he looked down at his hands, he didn't feel like himself anymore, but Felix was still Felix, right?

As his morals degraded further and further, he even questioned himself. Why he would go through these things for the planet? There were a few important people on the planet, that was right, but as he thought about it...

He would live for thousands or even tens of thousands of years, maybe even hundreds of thousands of years. Who knew when he would even die of old age? Siracha's story about not being able to die from old age as God's chosen was nice, but Felix knew that that was only a fantasy. Only the higher beings would have immortal life, but they could still be slain, Felix still remembered Manitola's story.

Why was he doing all of this for? So he could see those he cared about to wither and die before him? Or just so they could do that and not die of outside influences?

What was the difference?

Seeing that Felix went all quiet on him made Vangar a little bit surprised. What was Felix thinking all of a sudden?

Vangar approached Felix and put his hand on his shoulder awakening him from his trance as he asked:

"Are you ok? Did the evolution affect your soul as well?"

Felix shook his head as he looked at Vangar. He was way older than him, maybe he could answer his questions?

Felix opened his heart to Vangar as he questioned him:

"I thought about it for a short while, but why are we doing all of this?"

"What do you mean, Felix?"

Vangar wasn't sure what Felix was asking him, it was a bit too sudden, and as a military man, he wasn't someone who could talk about the way of life. He would just accept orders and do as he was instructed. Of course, he wasn't a puppet and he could do things on his own, but he wasn't good at talking about this kind of stuff.

He was a direct person with little to no hobby's and even though he was retired, his thinking was still on how to improve his country and do the best for it. He lived in a propagandistic way since he was born, so he wouldn't be able to answer Felix's question with something that would soothe his wandering soul.

"Why are we doing this? Well, all I can say is that we are doing it for the better of everyone because we are special, we need to protect those that are below us. Because we are strong, we need to take care of the weak. It's our duty as people who have been born talented and it's our duty to serve the mother planet that gave birth to us..."

That's when Vangar realized that he misspoke. This speech would have worked on a normal individual from their planet as it would stoke the fires of its heart, but Felix was from a different dimension!

However, there was nothing else he could say because that was all he knew.