Chapter 15: Hysterical Hunger
Muscles are composed of motor units, which consist of a motor neuron and the muscle fibers it controls.
During normal activities, the nervous system only activates a fraction of these motor units to generate force
As a result, humans typically exert only about 30% of their actual muscular strength during their day-to-day life, the average varying for different individuals.
This limitation wasn't a flaw in our design, but a protective mechanism developed by evolution to prevent damage to tendons, ligaments, and other connective tissues.
After all, these types of tissues are strong but relatively inelastic strings of cartilage that connect muscles to bones and bones to other bones, respectively.
Overexerting muscles can place immense stress on these connective tissues, potentially leading to tears or ruptures that might never fucking heal.
Imagine an electrical circuit with a built-in fuse that prevents the flow of excessive current to protect the components.
The nervous system acts similarly, at least for the humans in my previous world, ensuring that muscles don't generate excessive force that could harm the body.
This circuit can be strengthened up to a certain point through rigorous training, one can condition their muscles and connective tissues to handle greater loads, and their nervous system to become more efficient at motor unit recruitment.
Elite athletes, for example, could tap into a higher percentage of their muscular strength, sometimes utilizing up to 70% of their potential.
What this means is that, in life-threatening situations, even normal people could sometimes exhibit extraordinary strength, tapping into this well of hidden power through sheer desperation and temporarily overwriting their brain's protective mechanisms.
Hysterical Strength was the name of this phenomenon, allowing random people to lift a car to save someone trapped underneath.
However, this almost always leads to muscle strains or tears if one's body isn't trained to handle the stress it has been put through.
∞
'Alas...I didn't really give a fuck about that, now, did I?'
Even as I allowed my mind to wander, my claws remained busy.
They ripped through a kobold's chest like a kid tearing into a birthday present, only instead of a toy, I was after the shiny rock within.
I knew where to search for, as this was far from my first "surgery", and the anatomy of these monsters was practically copy-pasted.
Unlike goblins who kept their magic stones right behind their sternums, kobolds kept theirs between the heart and left lung, offering a tiny bit more protection.
Not that it made any difference.
I snatched the stone and threw it in the back of my mouth, shattering it between my teeth.
A jolt of raw power surged through me like always, an electric current running through my veins, but with each consecutive magic stone, the feeling seemed to become increasingly bland.
The taste was going stale, like eating the same meal over and over until the flavors all lost their charm.
Even so, that didn't change the growing Hunger, awakening like a ravenous beast emerging from the depths of my soul, urging me to feed or die trying.
From the corner of my eye, I watched as the kobold whose magic core I'd devoured disintegrated into shimmering dust.
Alas, I was already in motion, dislocating my jaw with a sickening crack so I could cram another kobold's corpse into my maw at a faster pace.
The hunger gnawed incessantly, urging me to consume, to grow stronger.
Flesh and bone crunched between my teeth as I tore into the still-warm body, all the while ignoring the tiny fearful whimpers of the sentient monster observing me from nearby.
It didn't anger me as much as the first time I felt it, this madness encroaching on my thoughts.
The reason for that was my growing understanding of my own Skill.
∞
∞
∞
∞
(A.N-The following depicted actions took place yesterday, in the few-hour time skip between chapters 9 and 10)
∞
∞
∞
∞
Fenrir's Hunger besides its main ability to steal traits and skills was also capable of inducing a state of physiological starvation in my brain (or soul?), allowing me to eat literal monster corpses as if they were prime-grade beef.
I called it Simulated Hunger, as it wasn't truly a physiological need, more like a metaphysical one.
Also, as I had demonstrated last night with the help of a trusty golbin, when eating a monster's magic stone before consuming its flesh, its essence naturally flowed to me instead of returning to the Dungeon that birthed it - as if siphoned by an unseen force.
For certain reasons that I hadn't yet figured out, this had the unintended effect of triggering what amounted to an entire meal's worth of Simulated Hunger in a Single. Fucking. Second.
Suffice it to say, I wasn't too thrilled back then, almost losing control of my body while my primal instincts wrestled with my rationality, but I got over it after a while.
And as my curiosity eroded my apprehension, I couldn't resist trying another small experiment.
That time, I took two goblins unlucky enough to cross my path, broke their limbs, and then eviscerated one of them to eat its core.
The same overwhelming sense of famine descended on me, urging me to eat anything and everything I could lay my eyes upon, but this time I had a handy green lunchbox right in front of me.
I wasn't shy as I tore into the goblin, breaking my previous record by a landslide.
The poor thing turned into a bloodstain on the floor in maybe 10 minutes, whereas, I usually needed thrice as much time to finish such a meal.
Not only that but the more I ate, the more the Hunger faded, allowing my thoughts to float freely through my mind once more.
And then I realized...
This excessive hunger wasn't something to be afraid of, but a tool to be used, controlled, and harnessed...
∞
∞
(back to the present)
∞
∞
It had taken me a bit of self-reflection, but I was quite satisfied with the plan I concocted in the end.
'Using the Simulated Hunger to access my Hysterical Strength and keeping it at reasonable levels by taking bites out of my enemies.
All the while, using the small self-healing ability caused by feeding to recover stamina and to mend the self-inflicted wounds gained by pushing my body beyond his limits...'
It was a virtuous loop, raising my pathetic. pathetic Power attribute to be equivalent to someone in the H or maybe even G tier if my calculations were on point.
'There was no way I could have manhandled the Kobolds so easily without that boost...But of course, everything comes with a price.
This Hysterical Hunger can only be used against many foes weaker than me, which can be used as sustenance to compensate for the wounds gained by not defending properly.
Fighting a singular stronger opponent like this would probably lead to instant death, as I would be unable to make use of strategy.
There is also this feeling I have that at higher levels it would become more and more useless in battle given that Dexterity should also allow adventurers to unlock and control their hysterical strength.
Either way, for the current me it's a decent weapon when going against hordes, but I shouldn't become overly reliant on it. '
The constant urge to tear into flesh with my teeth is quite distracting after all...'
I moved on to the next set of corpses, methodical steps echoing through the Dungeon's cave as I did so.
Then, I began to repeat the procedure, following the exact same steps as before.
Removal, shattering, and consumption became my mantra as my body began to move on auto-pilot.
After all, it allowed me to cut what would have taken me an hour to consume to less than 10 minutes, I'd be a fool to waste so much time...I didn't forget that despite it being night and the upper floors seemingly empty, there was no guarantee that no one would feel like going for a stroll in the Dungeon.
Hell, I couldn't even be sure that nobody had seen me while I was fighting, how could I be, when all my attention was focused on not getting shanked?
'All the more reason to hurry the fuck up'
As I worked, I did my best not to even glance at the tiny goblin shivering nearby, as if I couldn't feel its piercing stare burrowing a hole in my back.
It was silent as it observed my movements, its green body twitching nervously from time to time.
This was, obviously, a test for the little critter.
I hadn't told it anything more ever since dragging it out of its hiding spot, and instead continued to work as if it didn't exist.
Of course, if it made the slightest attempt at running away, I would tear its head from its shoulders and test if, to my skill, a smarter goblin was considered a different species.
I kept my gaze away from the creature, making no attempt to command it still - after all, I had no guarantee about the sincerity with which it would obey.
It would follow my instructions, that was almost sure. I was clear of that as soon as I saw it preparing to cry in front of me, but who could say that the moment I was forced to exit the dungeon to sleep, it wouldn't run away?
Any monster with even a modicum of intellect was a threat in my eyes, for I knew they could grow stronger by consuming the magic stones of their brethren, just as I did.
Their potential for rapid evolution made them dangerous foes to have, and I had no intention of allowing such a possibility to exist.
Maybe I would have tried playing nice if we'd crossed paths earlier, but one look in its eyes when it glanced my way told me it was already a lost cause.
I couldn't blame it, since it saw me basically butchering its brethren, but this didn't mean I would allow for pity.
Instead, I held back, waiting to observe its most "natural" reaction. The slightest hint of hostility, the barest instinct to flee before I finished my meal - that would seal its fate.
Any threat, no matter how small, would be met with swift and brutal extermination. Survival demanded nothing less in this realm.
'I demand nothing less'
After all, while I had some ideas for what I could use a smart monster, (mostly as bait for humans) if I found one on the first few floors, they couldn't be that rare, no?
.
My train of thought was interrupted by a familiar feeling coming from the depths of my soul, causing the tiniest shadow of a smile to spread over my features.
10/10 Kobolds have been consumed!
Fenrir's Eternal Hunger Activates!
Please choose one of the following traits to devour :
1 - Heightened sense of smell ( Gain the olfactory ability of a kobold - roughly 100 times stronger compared to a level 1 adventurer)
2 - Minor night vision ( See a little better in the dark )
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone