Finish eating this tree, then go and used method 2 (the cost-intensive) on another tree.
+1
If we have enough mass left over, send out a single tendril to another tree and tap it while parasitising our main tree. We can quickly absorb the other tree, and as we gain more mass from those trees, use it to make more tendrils to tap more trees at once.
+3
You begin eating the tree, taking care not to cause another collapse. While it requires a good deal of maneuvering, you really don’t feel like getting squashed.
As you make your way down the trunk, you notice that you aren’t getting as much of a boost this time around. It’s still considerable, to be sure, but between your increase in mass, and the tree’s bedraggled state, there aren’t nearly as many nutrients to go around.
Even so, the tree leaves you with enough vitality for you to relocate yourself. You crawl to the most dense cluster of trees you can find, and promptly begin the process of latching onto what looks like the juiciest plant.
It becomes clear that this will be difficult, even with the energy reserves you tore from your previous host. You didn’t call the process cost-intensive for nothing- it takes a good deal of energy to push your mass up the tree, and even more to compress it enough to make the incisions. You only make it about halfway up the trunk before running low on vitality.
Given your unfortunate circumstances, you figure a nearby tree would make as good an emergency meal as anything else. You shape yet another portion of your mass into a tendril, this time with a crystallized barb on the end, and use it to tap the nearest bark-wrapped snack.
Just moments after you settle down, your vibration-sense picks up the sound of footsteps. Not the footprints of your typical animal, either. These are slower, heavier footsteps- something that indicates a creature much larger than the assorted rodents you’ve sensed (and occasionally digested) before.
As the mysterious animals draw closer, you begin to notice more oddities. At first, you thought the speed of their footsteps was due to greater size, but, if you listen carefully, you notice that they seem to have a different gait- almost as if they are walking on two legs, instead of four. They also seem to be emitting a constant stream of noise. Whatever they are, they apparently have no survival instincts whatsoever.
The creatures are coming very close to you, almost close enough to tough. You can see that they are, indeed, bipedal- and just as large as you could have hoped.
You've discovered that animals provide you with much more vitality than plants do, and these are the largest animals you've seen. You can practically feel the energy within them running through your veins- but even so, their oddness puts you off.
Currently, the corruption is a large mass of goo that spreads between two trees.
Fully spread, it could stretch three feet in every direction. It is rather hungry.
The Corruption has a small puncture wound.
It is in a forest of moderate size.
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Topic: Corruption (Read 5876 times)