Call of the Void (1)

*Sizzle*

Smoke rose from the charred skull of the Wyvern along with the pungent smell of its grilled flesh.

[To think I actually wanted to eat this fucking thing...]

Berkah's eyebrows twisted in pure disdain.

[... I think I have beef with all reptiles now...]

He spat inwardly, walking back to his mom.

He placed his hand on her long curly black hair and gently stroked it.

[Magic... I may be able to heal her with magic.]

Berkah gently brushed the hair on his mother's forehead and raised his arms above her body.

He didn't want to touch her because he could accidentally mummify her like he did with the young Wyvern.

"Okay... *deep-breath*..."

"Imagery... it's all about imagery..."

Berkah focused intently within himself and sensed the power surging inside his mana pool.

[I can't get used to this feeling...]

The sense of invincibility he felt whenever he accessed his mana was unexplainable.

■■ Mana Cu —□□

[!!]

"*Cough!*, *Cough!* *Splat!*"

Before he could even finish casting his spell he coughed up blood, his body screaming at him that he was attempting something beyond his current capabilities.

*Swirl!*

A tiny bit of bright, golden smoke, not even the size of a rain drop leaked from his palms, and seeped into Anaise's body.

"The fuck? That's it?? That took all of my mana though?! *huff*, *huff*"

"Ugh..."

Anaise let out a feint groan.

[!!]

"Mom!.... Her presence has definitely increased a little bit... so it worked!"

"But... it's not enough... if anything it just bought her a little bit of time."

[!!]

Suddenly, he remembered that there was a way he could replenish his mana and increase the size of his mana pool at the same time.

He glanced over at the Wyvern's corpse and began walking towards it.

[I wonder... Does it work on corpses?]

Berkah mused, his piercing blue eyes coldly glaring at the corpse of the Large Wyvern.

[Earlier, when I absorbed that red smoke from that small Wyvern...]

[That was the third time I felt that sensation.]

[An intoxicating surge of power entering my body. ]

[Is it mana?]

[... I wonder how strong I'll become if I absorb this large Wyvern's mana...]

[Will I be able to heal mom?]

Berkah racked his brains for answers that no one could give him, but at the very least, he understood that he had the ability to absorb the mana of other beings.

[But wait...]

His eyes flickered.

[... Whose mana did I absorb when I was still in the egg?]

"... Don't tell me..."

He swallowed the lump that formed in his throat.

[No...]

He shook his curly scalp.

[... I need to focus on saving mom...]

*tap!*

Berkah placed his palm on the Wyverns corpse.

"..."

"How do I even activate it?"

Berkah had no idea how to activate his Energy Absorption, the past three times were all completely coincidental.

[... There has to be some sort of condition...]

He stroked his chin.

[I'm certain that physical touch of some sort is necessary...]

[...Think... What could it possibly be?]

[Ah...]

After racking his brain for a few more seconds, he finally came to a conclusion.

"... It has to be my mental state right?"

"But exactly what was I thinking of?"

Berkah mused for a few more seconds before his eyes went wide.

[!!]

"It's... Hunger..."

"Or rather... Simply having an appetite..."

Berkah recalled all accounts of him activating his ability and it became clear what triggered its activation.

1. In the first instance, when Berkah was still trapped inside the egg, he had been craving Cola and French Fries.

2. In the second instance, he had not tasted food in weeks, so whether he wanted to or not all he could ever think about was food, which was actually what prompted him to attempt to break out of the "pod", amongst other reasons.

3. The third instance was when he had just defeated the young Wyvern, he remembered the taste of Crocodile meat from his previous world and couldn't help but salivate and wonder if Wyvern's tasted just as good.

[But... How come it didn't activate whenever mom would breastfeed me?]

"Fuck... I'm really never going to recover from that ..."

He pinched his eyebrows and got back to the main topic.

[Maybe it doesn't activate on beings much stronger than myself?]

[I can't know for sure... but I'll assume it's something like that for now...]

Berkah glanced back at Anaise, whose presence was slowly drifting into the realm of nothingness.

[She's dying... I need to hurry...]

[... Pizza... Macaroni and Cheese?...]

"Hmm... nothing is happening..."

[Fried chicken... Nah, that would lowkey be cannibalism...]

[Uh... P*peye's biscuits?...]

[Nope... That would be death by suffocation...]

[Why is this so damn hard?!]

Berkah cried inwardly, forcing himself to be appetized was a much more arduous task than he had initially thought.

"... I might lose her because I can't get myself to feel hungry?"

"...That's fucking pathetic..."

Berkah chewed his lips in frustration.

[If mom dies... whose gonna wake me up in the morning? Or protect me from the bitter cold with their wings...]

[Whose gonna make me that delicious diced fruit salad every morning?]

[Definitely not that deadbeat dude! He's barely even home...]

*SWIRLLLL!*

[!!]

A dense cloud of crimson smoke rose high up in the air above Berkah and the Wyvern which was gradually shrivelling up like parchment in the sun.

*Swirlll!*

The cloud of red smoke continued to rise up from the Wyvern until it was completely mummified.

"Woah... This is way much more than what I saw earlier."

*Fwosh...*

The smoke gathered and instinctively swirled into Berkah's tiny frame.

[!!]

*Rumble!*

"Augh!"

Berkah's body surged with an overwhelming amount of power, purple veins filled the entirety of his pale body.

"Argh!"

He felt a sharp pain. The feeling he felt was like a balloon being ceaselessly pumped with air until it popped.

"Ugh! Stop!"

Stop? The crimson cloud continued stuffing itself within Berkah's body.

The red smoke elevated Berkah and completely engulfed him, forcing him to absorb its entirety.

[... I feel like I'm about to explode!]

This continued for a few more minutes, Berkah endured through sheer will power.

"*huff*, *huff*.... That was fucking terrible! I almost died damn it!"

Berkah recollected himself and staggered over to his mother who was already dancing with the grim reaper.

"... it's now... or never... please work..."

Berkah raised his hands above his mother's frame and imagined the healing magic once more.

■■Mana Cure!■■

Berkah successfully cast the spell, and unlike earlier when he could barely squeeze enough out for a single drop, this time he felt like the spell barely taxed his mana pool.

Berkah's mana reserves were a dozen times more than what he had before he absorbed the large Wyvern's life force.

*SWIRLLLL!!!*

Large quantities of bright, golden smoke gushed out of his palms!