《Amalgam》 Prologue If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Chapter 1 Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Chapter 2 Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Chapter 3 ¡°Now that all your questions have been sufficiently answered, let us move on to the ability selection. Please activate the interface on the guide device that is being distributed.¡± In my hand appeared a small, clear gem-like object that swiftly melted into my skin and vanished. My vision then began to display a UI very similar to one you would find in video games on Earth, with separate options for displaying stats, map, inventory, etc. It seemed that what the figure had said earlier about it being modified to resemble our technology had been true. All options were currently greyed out, except for a glowing one labelled ¡°Pull of Destiny ¡î¡± After selecting it, a virtual gumball machine filled with round capsules appeared, with a small lever attached to it. I began to reach for the lever before hurriedly stopping myself. No, there¡¯s something very important I had to do first. Everyone knows that before you do a gacha pull, you need to perform your good luck ritual first. Jupiter has to be aligned with Venus, it has to be exactly 6:14 PM and I have to sacrifice 3 of my precious toilet paper rolls to- wait there¡¯s none of that crap here. I guess I¡¯ll have to settle for plucking one of my nose hairs. The excruciating pain I suffer will in exchange guarantee me an omega rare ability surely. Taking a deep breath, with a slight tremble I reached out and pulled the virtual lever. With a small plop, one of the capsules fell down and began rolling down the spiral. Please, if there¡¯s a god watching over the Earth, just give me something good. I¡¯ve never had luck with these things, but just this one time please let me hit the jackpot. Tink! The capsule fell out and opened with an explosion of golden light and fireworks. Holy crap! This must be an ultra-rare right?
Grade: F [Substances or entities regarded as foreign will instead be seen as friendly by your body if chosen]
quite a bit as well, so I¡¯ll have to consider that as we- Good luck ritual my ass! I should have known it couldn¡¯t have been trusted after the last 754 times. What the hell was I going to do with this useless ability? I didn¡¯t even understand what it meant. Foreign substances as friendly? This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Looking around, I saw that everyone else had also finished their pulls and were excitedly discussing their results while also demonstrating their abilities. One person was shooting fire out of his hands while another was leaping dozens of meters into the air without issue. Damn, it looks like they must have gotten at least B-rank abilities or higher compared to mine. But, as I began to listen to the hubbub around me more, my brows gradually began furrow deeper and deeper. I couldn¡¯t find a single person around me that had received an ability grade greater than ¡°F¡±, even the guy with the fire ability. Was the ability gacha rigged? And if even those seemingly strong abilities had been deemed to be the worst grade, how strong were those at the higher tiers? I¡¯m not one to usually complain and make a scene, but I was already feeling quite wronged over my ability and with a mentality of having nothing to lose, I angrily shouted to the figure,¡± Hey what gives? I don¡¯t think a single one of us here got an ability higher than F! You can¡¯t tell me that out of a thousand pulls, every single one happened to be the lowest! There¡¯s no way this thing is fair!¡± The figure paused for a moment. Then it slowly began to smile, wider and wider, almost splitting its face from end to end. ¡°Indeed, you are correct. The ability pool for your world has been specially curated to only contain those of the lowest quality. There is a finite number of abilities that exist to be distributed, and it would be of the utmost waste if a lowest tier world was given anything higher than an F. As I stated earlier, your world is only here to fill the remaining spots. Your world¡¯s participants have been calculated to have a 99.87% chance of complete annihilation within a mere 7 solar days. Tell me, what would be the point of gifting a high-grade ability to such a lowly world destined for destruction, instead of one that has an actual chance of winning?¡± And with that, for the first time, the figure began uproariously laughing, as all of us stood there in cold shock and fear. Ah, I get it now. Why that thing had been so patient and answered all of our questions without responding to any of the threats. The bastard had been enjoying seeing us fill with hope and calm, before brutally thrusting us into the abyss. When it had previously said we here to simply make up the numbers, I been naively hoping that it meant something else, or that we could find a way out of it. Maybe it had been lying about our chances, but somehow I knew it wasn¡¯t. Come to think of it, it had smiled like this too when it first appeared on Earth, giving its condolences to the world. So this is what it had meant. But, the chance of total failure had only been 99.87% within 7 days. In my mind appeared the words of a certain very smart man-¡± So you¡¯re telling me there¡¯s a chance.¡± Chapter 4 ¡°Now, without further ado, I welcome you to your demise.¡± A deep, dark red portal ominously appeared next to the blurred figure as everyone stood there, still reeling in shock from news of their impending doom. A few began to openly weep, while others blankly stared into space with hollow eyes. A couple tried to futilely attack the figure but their abilities merely passed through without leaving a trace. The figure merely chuckled and said, ¡°Please enter in a prompt manner. Any still remaining here in 10 minutes when the portal to Bellona closes will be swallowed by the void.¡± And with that, the figure dispersed into various rays of light and quickly vanished. A deathly silence fell over the crowd. What could anyone say, after all? Here they were, ripped from their normal lives into an utterly bizarre scenario, with their deaths all but guaranteed. Eventually, some discussion arose, mainly about whether they thought the figure had been lying. Some were still in complete disbelief, and believed that they were in some terrible dream, or were hallucinating. After a few minutes or so, a man stood up, and shakily said,¡± I-I''ll head in first then. No point in waiting around for our deaths I suppose.¡± He then, with shaky steps and trembling the whole way, walked into the portal and disappeared. That guy was probably selected for being the bravest, huh? I had nothing but respect for him, for his courage despite being clearly terrified out of his mind. Like a floodgate being opened, people began to quickly file into the portal after the first person had entered. Guess I should make my move soon as well before I get left here. Right before I stepped inside, I took a brief glance behind me. I could still see quite a few people sitting there in a daze, with no signs of ever moving. It looks like we might be losing some of our troops right off the bat. Alright, let¡¯s do this. With a single step, I felt a gut-wrenching pull as I phased through space and was transported. Crrrrunccch! Before I could even open my eyes and get my bearings, I felt an excruciating pain tear through me from my right arm. I looked and saw a massive, 3-meter-tall wolf-like creature casually chewing on what used to be my arm as blood spurted out like a fountain from me. Shrill screams surrounded me, as I saw everyone who had entered ahead of me being gruesomely torn apart or eaten alive by a pack of similar creatures. Half-eaten corpses lay everywhere, as blood flowed like a river. It appeared to be a massive forest, with the trees so tall and thick that even the sky could not be seen. Light appeared from bioluminescent plants scattered throughout the forest, providing illumination in the otherwise pitch-dark surroundings. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Desperately suppressing the scream bubbling up in my throat, I began to run while holding my gushing right shoulder with my remaining arm. The massive lupine continued to lazily chew on my arm, crunching down on the bones, as if it had no fear of me escaping. Complete pandemonium and chaos surrounded me as some attempted to fight back, while others, like me, tried to run. Maybe because I had already been designated as the creature¡¯s prey, or by sheer luck, none of the other wolf monsters chased me as I frantically ran deeper into the forest. Shit, shit, shit. I have to do something fast. There¡¯s no way that thing will let me live. Sooner or later, it¡¯s going to finish me off once it¡¯s had its fun with my arm. That¡¯s right, wasn¡¯t there supposed to be some sort of guide feature included with everything else? I quickly activated the neural UI and selected the ¡°Pathfinder¡± function. An amorphous white blob appeared in front of me and began speaking. ¡°Greetings! My name is Melchior and it is my great honor to-¡± ¡°Enough with that! Tell me how I can get the hell out of here! I¡¯m being chased by some huge wolf monster that¡¯s about to chow down on me!¡± ¡°Hmm. I detect the presence of many Lycophs nearby, which I presume to be the monster you speak of. Lycophs have poor vision, so they hunt primarily using their extreme senses of hearing. I detect the presence of multiple high frequency sound waves emanating from your body, so I advise you to abort these functions in order to avoid their pursuit.¡± Huh? Multiple sound waves coming from me? But the only sound I was making right now came from my labored breathing. Unless it meant.... My heartbeat. The blood pumping through my veins. My stomach and intestines slowly digesting what was left of my breakfast. All the various normally imperceptible noises my body made. So, it was basically telling me to go and die in order to escape, right? ¡°I can¡¯t stop these noises I¡¯m making. Isn¡¯t there some other way I can avoid them?¡± ¡°A second option would be to consume an Amanita Citrias plant, which would place your body into a state of suspended animation, stopping all bodily functions temporarily.¡± A small gleam of hope in the darkness! ¡°Ok, where in the world can I find this thing?¡± ¡°Amanita Citrias can be found semi-commonly along water sources in Bellona¡¯s first layer. Please bring me to a nearby river or lake and I shall aid you in finding them. However, I suggest you first purchase a healing aid as I calculate that at your current level of physical exertion and rate of blood loss, you will expire in approximately 3 minutes.¡± No wonder my vision was getting blurrier and blurrier as I felt increasingly lightheaded. Purchase? I hurriedly navigated to the Shop function I¡¯d seen earlier and selected the ¡°Healing¡± tab. Within, I saw a list of items commonly seen in games conveniently ordered by price. [Lesser Potion of Restoration]- 10p [Medium Potion of Restoration]- 100p [Greater Potion of Restoration]- 1000p I saw a long string of items following those 3, but I had no time to be concerned about any of those. I only had 300 points, just enough to purchase 3 Medium Potions. I quickly spent all my points, and with a ding, I received a notification that they had been delivered to my mailbox. Damn, I¡¯m literally dying over here, can¡¯t you just make them appear in front of me directly? They didn¡¯t have to copy every detail of Earth videogames. I scrambled to collect the potions from the Mailbox function, and as soon as they appeared, I quickly drank one while pouring another over my bleeding shoulder. As the sweet, honey-like liquid flowed into me, I instantly felt much better, with my vision clearing up and the bleeding stopping with new skin rapidly growing over my stump. I even felt a surge of energy, as my fatigue melted away and even my bad back felt like new. I guess you get what you pay for. I felt a brief sense of disappointment however, as I had half-hopes that it would regrow my arm as well. Well, maybe some of those other items in the shop can do that later down the line. For now, at least I¡¯m in somewhat decent shape to keep moving. Time to find that plant. Chapter 5 This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Chapter 6 With a gasp, I jerked awake and immediately regretted it as I promptly swallowed a mouthful of dirt. Hacking and coughing, I burst out of the ground like some third-rate zombie and greedily breathed in the sweet air. Other than the mud pie I¡¯d just eaten, I felt surprisingly good for having just been buried in the ground for over 3 days. The ache in my shoulder had faded to a dull throb, and I just felt a bit sore in my legs. ¡°Welcome back, Master. I hope you had a pleasant rest,¡± the small orb next to me cheerily chirped. ¡°Ah, thanks Melchior. Anything I should know about that happened while I was out?¡± ¡°Nothing of note has happened. I have not detected any Lycoph signatures in the vicinity, you appear to have safely escaped their pursuit. However, I would like to take this time to complete my introduction that was interrupted by your previous predicament.¡± ¡°Sounds good. Go ahead.¡± ¡°Greetings! My name is Melchior and it is my great honor to serve as your guide. Welcome to the first layer of Bellona, known as Canopy. Canopy is a predominantly forest type environment spanning approximately 150,000 square kilometers. It contains a variety of native fauna and flora that vastly differ from those of your world, as well as currently hosting the 100,000 other races present. Before we proceed with further explanation, please designate your display ID.¡± ¡°My display ID? What¡¯s that for?¡± ¡°This ID will be used to represent you on the leaderboards, as well as to other races you may come into contact with. I am equipped with an automatic translation function, so there is no need to worry about any communication issues.¡± ¡°ID huh? Let¡¯s go with.....Adun.¡± ¡°Very well, Master Adun. You have been registered on the Nemesis Leaderboards as well as the Points Leaderboards.¡± ¡°Nemesis Leaderboards? What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°The Nemesis Leaderboards are the rankings of those with the highest number of Nemeses slain. Every combatant is given a randomly selected Nemesis from another race. Both combatants are always aware of each other¡¯s position, ability they were given, and basic information. Whichever Nemesis slays the other is given a varying amount of points and more importantly, inherits the slain Nemesis¡¯ ability. Once they have slain their Nemesis, they are immediately designated another Nemesis to hunt down.¡± ¡°So someone could potentially accumulate dozens or even hundreds of different abilities if they were to keep hunting down their Nemesis?¡± ¡°Correct. The Nemesis Leaderboards serve as an indirect way to display the current strongest combatants, although they may not be entirely accurate. After all, one high grade ability can easily trump multiple lower grade ones.¡± Holy crap, just one of the ¡°F¡± grade abilities I¡¯d seen earlier had seemed quite strong. I couldn''t even begin to imagine how powerful someone with multiple high grade abilities stacked on top of each other would be. Not that that would ever have anything to me, though. I couldn¡¯t even figure out to use this blasted ability, [Oblivious], that I¡¯d already nearly forgotten about. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°So Melchior, who¡¯s the Nemesis I¡¯ve been given?¡± ¡°Please select the PvP tab on your interface to view details about your designated Nemesis.¡± I carefully scrolled through the various tabs and gingerly tapped on the PvP tab with a bit of anxiety. Surely they¡¯d give a weakling like me another weakling as a Nemesis?
ID: Celendis Race: Chromatic Dragon Ability: [Conqueror] Description: [??????????????????????????????] [Stats] Strength:??? Intelligence:??? Agility:??? Physique:??? Mana:??? Nemesis victories: 0
Hm, I see. I sat back in the grave I¡¯d made and began covering myself up with dirt again. ¡°Master Adun, there is no need for your current actions. As I previously stated, I no longer detect any Lycophs in the-¡± ¡°Yeah, no. I¡¯m completely screwed, might as well skip any of the nonsense and just die right here. This was rigged from the start anyways. Question marks on all the abilities? It¡¯s obvious they¡¯re so disgustingly overpowered that I¡¯m not even allowed to look at their stats, like some shitty boss that¡¯s way above your level. Just end me now.¡± ¡°...................¡± After a few minutes of wallowing in despair and self-pity, with a sigh I got up and began brushing myself off. Jokes aside, it was time to get moving again before any other unsavory beings found me. On my map function, I noticed a red marker hundreds of kilometers away that appeared to be slowly moving. Ah, that must be the Nemesis marker. Oddly enough, it didn¡¯t seem to be moving in my direction and instead seemed to be proceeding even deeper into the Canopy. ¡°Master Adun, although your chances of victory against your Nemesis are indeed minimal, might I offer some words of encouragement? The Chromatic Dragon race was the victor of the previous Realm Wars, and is one of the clear favorites to win the current one despite the addition of abilities. As such, there will likely be many other races seeking to eliminate them and perhaps even cooperating together to do so. You may be given a new Nemesis without even lifting a finger.¡± Yeah, well, let¡¯s hope so because right now I didn¡¯t even have many fingers remaining. Somehow, though, with how my luck had been going, I didn¡¯t feel like that was going to happen. For now though, I wanted to try heading back to the portal spawn point to see if there were any other survivors. ¡°I¡¯ll listen to your other explanations later. Can you show me the path back to where I came from?¡± ¡°Charting course.¡± In my vision appeared a bright red line clearly indicating for me to follow. Thank the heavens for this guide function, otherwise it would have been completely impossible for me to find my way in the near absolute darkness of the forest. As I carefully made my way back, I spent some time familiarizing myself with the various different functions present within the guide device. One of the tabs labelled as Allies in the Tracker function caught my eye and I decided to ask Melchior about it. ¡°Hey Melchior, what exactly does this tab here do?¡± ¡°The Ally Tracker function displays the position of all entities designated as an ally. All members of your original race are designated as an ally by default, but other races can also be added manually.¡± Nice! This would save me quite a bit of time regrouping with any of the other survivors. With a bit of luck, there might be some still close by even though it¡¯d been a few days. I quickly activated the Tracker function with a hint of anticipation. What appeared however, was just another visual of the map, with a green dot indicating my position. ¡°Hey Melchior, is this thing bugged? It¡¯s only displaying my current position on the map.¡± ¡°System diagnostics show no sign of error. All functions are fully operational.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°There is no mistake with the Tracker function. You are the only one remaining from your world.¡± Chapter 7 For a long time, I stood there frozen, still unable to fully comprehend what I¡¯d just heard. Everyone else...was already dead? But how? I mean, I knew we¡¯d been thrust into a terrible situation right off the bat, but surely some of them must have been able to fight their way out or escape like I did. I guess...that 7-day survival rate that had been calculated was actually being generous. Only 3 days had passed and we¡¯d already been basically completely wiped out. Only I, most likely the absolute weakest of the bunch was left. This must have been some sort of sick joke. As I finally arrived at our spawn point and saw the hundreds of corpses littering the ground, I felt a terrible rage and grief well up within me. What had we done to deserve this? All of us, torn from our lives and slaughtered to serve as cosmic entertainment for some sadistic being in the sky. And now, were we doomed to have our world scrapped and destroyed? My dream of a lazy life doing nothing, gone just like that? What could I do on my own, with an ability I didn¡¯t even know how to use? No. No. NO. The rage within me grew, consuming every other emotion. Those gods thought we were doomed to fail, and didn¡¯t even give us any proper abilities? Sent us in as cannon fodder? I refuse. I¡¯ll take everything back by myself. They allowed a thousand of us to go in because we were the lowest world tier? It¡¯s fine, just me is enough. I¡¯ll show them why I was selected as the most stubborn person in the world. I won¡¯t let things go their way. One day, I WILL lie down in my bed again and do nothing but watch videos all day. Just wait. First, I need to address the most urgent issue, the fact that I¡¯m currently missing an arm. Only having a single arm was a huge hindrance, from maintaining my balance while running to overall combat power and utility. Maybe I could use one of the arms from one of the corpses and reattach it to myself using one of the Shop items? Looking around, what remained of the gruesome remains of the human group appeared to be decently preserved, most likely because the forest was quite cold. There were probably several arms that I could use that were in serviceable shape lying around. I plucked one of the light plants nearby and used it as a makeshift lamp in order to more closely examine my surroundings. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Grimacing, I forced back the bile rising up in my throat as I picked through the corpses looking for possible candidates. Soon, I found someone¡¯s arm that roughly matched the length and size of my old one. There was only one issue: I had no way of separating it from the body. The Shop most likely had some sort of blade I could use, but I was clean out of points at the moment. ¡°Melchior, how do I obtain more points?¡± ¡°Slaying indigenous creatures, completing objectives, and eliminating other races all reward points along with the welcome bonus for 7 days. Being at the top of the leaderboards will reward points along with other rewards. Lastly, certain gods or entities may offer points in exchange for accomplishing various tasks for them.¡± Welcome bonus I browsed through the Weapons tab of the Shop and saw a variety of different armaments, ranging from swords, axes, and firearms to bizarre alien devices. All the weapons I knew from Earth were incredibly cheap, going up to at most 5 points for the most expensive assault rifle. For now, I bought a [Butcher Knife- 20 AP] for 1 point, and after collecting it from my mail, offered a quick apology to the man I was about to dismember. Hacking and sawing away an arm was surprisingly difficult, especially with just one arm, but I remained rather calm through it. After all, nothing could surprise me at this point. After about 10 minutes of excruciating effort, I was able to finally obtain my new friend. Now, how to go about attaching it to myself? My first plan was to try and pour the Medium Potion over it while holding it to my shoulder, in hopes that they would fuse together. If not, I¡¯d ask Melchior if there were any items I could use to help me. With the Medium Potion awkwardly held in my mouth ready to pour, I began to firmly press the arm to my right shoulder. Drop by drop, I carefully poured onto the arm looking for any sign that they were connecting. By the time I¡¯d already poured a third of the potion, not a single thing had changed. The arm and my shoulder refused to combine. With a sigh, I began to consider the next plan. And then, all of a sudden. Ding! [Foreign entity (Human right arm) detected in proximity. Activate ?] Wait what? My ability triggered the UI? Someone else¡¯s arm was apparently classified as a foreign entity and could now be designated as friendly by my body. Trembling with excitement, I agreed to activate . I then felt an incredibly intense itching sensation, as if a million ants were crawling over my right side. Looking over, I could clearly see the arm and my shoulder gradually fusing together, bit by bit. Hallelujah! I¡¯m back in it! My ability wasn¡¯t completely worthless! Where there¡¯s a will, there¡¯s a way, as they say. So this is what it meant by foreign entity huh? Wait....if other people¡¯s body parts could be attached, then what about... A truly outlandish notion suddenly popped in my head as I grinned at the single Lycoph corpse that was present. Chapter 8 Clink! Clank! No matter how hard I swung, my knife merely bounced off the Lycoph¡¯s corpse without leaving any trace of damage. I see now why the Earth weapons hardly cost any points; they were utterly useless against actual enemies. For now, I¡¯d held off attaching another right arm to myself and had ripped it off while it was still barely fused. If my theory was correct, and I could use one of the Lycoph¡¯s limbs instead, I didn¡¯t want to have to go through the excruciating process of removing an arm again. ¡°Melchior, what kind of weapon do I need to cut off one of this thing¡¯s limbs?¡± ¡°Lycophs on average have a Physique stat of at least 40. In order to penetrate its defense, you require a weapon with an Attack Power of 80 or more.¡± Haaah, I already know this is going to cost an arm and a leg.... although I guess I can just replace them now. I browsed through the Weapons tab once more, looking for the most economical option. The problem was that every decent weapon was too bloody expensive no matter how cheap I tried to be. [Mythril greataxe-300 AP] - 6000p [Plasma cutter-150 AP] - 1500p [Laser sword-200 AP] - 2001p [Legendary crowbar-200 AP] - 2004p . . . . [Force of Nature-???? AP] - 300,000,000p [Dragon Ascent-???? AP] - 600,000,000p Those weapons at the bottom were definitely some disgusting pay-to-win items reserved for the whales of the other worlds, not something for a lowly peasant like me. Shedding tears of blood, I finally settled on an extremely futuristic looking [Nanoblade-95 AP] that I shelled out 700 points for. I comforted myself with the fact that I still had 3 days of the welcome bonus left to tide myself over. I retrieved the Nanoblade from my mailbox and pulled it out of its jet black sheath. It had a silvery-green blade over half a meter long that quietly hummed as it glowed in the darkness. Unable to hold myself back, I immediately began to........swing it around crazily and strike some extremely cool poses. Damn I look good. Any watermelons nearby I could use? After I had my fill, I turned back to matters at hand. I pressed the blade to one of the Lycoph¡¯s massive forelimbs and began slicing. The blade sunk in with hardly any resistance, even through the bone, and within a matter of seconds I¡¯d completely severed it. The Lycoph¡¯s forelimb was incredibly thick and muscular, a far cry from my own pathetically tiny arm, and equipped with gleaming claws that more closely resembled daggers. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Now, for the moment of truth. I held the limb up to my right shoulder once more, and waited with bated breath. Ding!
[Foreign entity (Lycoph right forelimb) detected in proximity. Activate ?]
Holy shit! It really works! I immediately activated the ability and began pouring the rest of the Medium Potion from earlier over my shoulder. Accompanied once again by an incredibly itchy sensation, in real time, I could clearly see muscle fibers and tissue sprouting and combining together in an unholy fusion. In less than a minute, the process had completed and I could feel the sensation of something on my right side. I gingerly tried raising my new right arm, and with a slight delay, it rose up. I began experimenting, moving it from side to side, opening and closing my ¡°hand¡±, and swinging. Most likely because there was incompatibility between my body¡¯s nerves and the Lycoph¡¯s, it seemed the arm did not instantly respond to my commands and had some lag to it. It also expended significantly more energy, as I felt myself quickly getting out of breath as I swung. But, it didn¡¯t matter; I¡¯d gained far more than I¡¯d lost. I swung at a boulder next to me, and with a sound akin to an explosion, it completely shattered into thousands of pieces. In this moment, I knew. If I was going to climb my way out of this hell and make it back to my blissful retirement, this was how I was going to do it. This was my win condition. It didn¡¯t matter how many body parts I¡¯d have to replace or what I¡¯d look like in the end. All that mattered was wiping the smirk off that guy who sent us here.
[The Heretic God takes interest in your creation]
What? Some god was watching me like some kind of pervert? I couldn''t tell if this was a boon or a curse, and no further notifications came in. I think with how weak I am still relatively speaking, its best to keep as low of a profile as possible. I''ll try to keep the heretic activities to a minimum from here on out. No more picking my nose and flicking it into the bushes. I briefly considered swapping my other arm out as well, but decided to hold off on it for now. My left arm still had far more dexterity and utility than the Lycoph arm did, and I could use it to wield the Nanoblade with far less clunkiness. I pulled out the Nanoblade and once again began cutting, severing all its limbs and even removing all its organs. These would serve as my ¡°backups¡± for the future. As for where I¡¯d store them..... I figured the Inventory function would come in handy. ¡°Melchior, will these things rot while I¡¯m keeping them in the Inventory?¡± ¡°The Inventory function is effectively a pocket dimension, and all objects placed inside should remain as is without the passage of time. However, only inanimate objects can be stored inside.¡± Excellent. Any future parts I came across would also be stored in there and I¡¯d take them out and use as necessary. After I finished dismantling the Lycoph corpse, I sat down and took a moment to catch my breath. I looked around, the ground still soaked and reeking of the blood my colleagues had spilled. Chewed, broken bones with the marrow sucked out littering the ground. Faces of pure terror and despair that lay half-eaten. I shouldn¡¯t just leave them here like this. I owe them that much. With the help of my Lycoph arm, I dug a large grave and buried all the corpses, along with whatever remains I could find. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry that I ran away and left you all behind. I¡¯m sorry that I¡¯m the one who survived. I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t help any of you. I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t know any of you or your names. But you must have had even grander dreams and aspirations than I had. Every single one of you must have been a much greater person than I was. But I promise you. I won¡¯t sit back and be a spectator, hoping someone else will take care of things like I did in my old life. I¡¯ll save our world. Requiescat in pace. Chapter 9
This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Chapter 10 Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
Chapter 11 With nothing but a shrill screech to signal its approach, the Deinopi Arachnid launched itself, thick green saliva drooling from its curved fangs. The Deinopi was massive, with a nearly 2 meter long body encased by a thick, dull yellow carapace. Propelled by 4 pairs of hairy legs, its ghoulish face was viciously contorted as it savagely tore into me. Luckily, I managed to react in time to the aerial ambush and blocked its menacing mandibles with the Lycoph arm. The Lesser Charm of Wind was already proving its value in real-time; without it the delay in moving the Lycoph arm would have cost me my life. The Deinopi¡¯s 6 eerie eyes blinked in confusion as it felt its fangs unable to penetrate into the arm, as if it was biting into a thick metal sheet. Taking advantage of this brief lapse, I swiftly stabbed the Nanoblade deep into its unarmored upper abdomen. With a shriek of pain, the Deinopi released the Lycoph arm and immediately retreated into the shadows. Huff, huff, huff. It had only been a brief clash, but my heart was already beating out of my chest, as if I¡¯d just run a marathon. Unfortunately, I hadn¡¯t been able to kill it in a single blow, but I¡¯d definitely landed a major hit. The problem was that I had no idea where it was lurking in the darkness. No matter where I shone my light, it could not be found. Shik! With a groan, I felt something pierce into me from behind, penetrating the carbon fiber armor. I immediately turned around, Lycoph arm raised, but nothing could be seen. Shik! Another stab, this time in my right shoulder. Shik! My left leg was pierced, causing me to stumble and fall. Cold sweat began pouring down my back, as panic began to take hold. What could I do? It was too fast for me, even despite being injured. It was whittling me down slowly, perhaps afraid of taking another major injury. Blood began to soak my clothes, pooling down onto the floor as my body screamed in pain. My mind began to turn hazy from the blood loss, and I found myself getting dizzier and dizzier. This won¡¯t do, first I have to do something about these injuries. I immediately grabbed a Medium Potion off my belt and poured half of it over my wounds while drinking the other half. Almost instantly, I felt the wounds closing up and my mind clearing. The carbon fiber armor had done its job and softened the Deinopi¡¯s strikes, so none of my injuries had been too major. But the root of the problem remained at hand; I couldn¡¯t respond in time to its attacks. Because of the darkness surrounding me, I couldn¡¯t see it coming in advance and defend with the Lycoph arm. No choice, I have to use the Potion of Invigoration that I¡¯d been hoping to save and hope the agility boost from it is enough. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. With my back against the wall, literally and figuratively, I uncorked the amber potion and drank, its tangy yet fizzy flavor flowing down my throat. I wonder if the Shop sells zero calorie versions of this? I felt a surge of power well up within me, and my previously heavy body once again became light. My senses became sharper, and I felt like I could lift a mountain. Shik! Again, I was stabbed in the chest. But this time I felt it. A brief current of air right before the Deinopi struck. Shik! Hey! I wasn¡¯t ready yet! Ok, wait for it...here it is. Crunch! Like music to my ears, the claws on one of the Deinopi¡¯s legs shattered against the impenetrable Lycoph arm that I¡¯d successfully managed to block with. With a low hiss, the Deinopi again retreated into the darkness. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! I managed to shatter another 3 of its claws before the Deinopi stopped, and we arrived at a temporary stalemate. What to do? I couldn¡¯t find it, and it couldn¡¯t hurt me. But this wouldn¡¯t last; only a couple minutes of the potion buff remained. After it expired, I¡¯d be completely incapacitated for 3 hours. I had to force it out somehow. Those things that looked like eggs! Even the worst monsters protect their young right? I made a mad dash over to the eggs I¡¯d spotted in the corner earlier and punched with the Lycoph arm, completely obliterating one of them in an explosion of white goo. Scrambled or sunny side up? A low, keening wail was immediately heard and the Deinopi charged out of the darkness with an explosive speed, fueled by an intense rage. In that moment, I could clearly see that 2 of its legs had gone limp, on the side where I had stabbed it earlier. Seems like the paralysis plant had some effect after all. Despite this, it was still incredibly fast and I barely managed to defend with the Lycoph arm, but I was still sent flying from the sheer impact of it crashing into me. With a thud, I slammed into the wall and felt like my insides had turned to jelly. Groaning heavily, I managed to pick myself up after a brief moment. My 60-year-old back had definitely upgraded to an 80- year-old one with that. But it didn¡¯t matter, for there it lay, twitching in its last death throes with the Nanoblade completely buried in its head. It had impaled itself on the Nanoblade I¡¯d held out right before it had collided with me in its desperate attempt to push me away from the eggs. All the tension and stress instantly poured out of me, and I felt a sense of exhilaration bubbling up. I did it. I actually did it. I, the weakest of the weak, had killed a monster from hell by myself. Somehow, against all odds, I¡¯d survived. Come to think of it, hadn¡¯t that 7 day survival rate prediction just been successfully thwarted? Raising a big fat middle finger to that 99.87% chance, I stumbled over to the Deinopi, intending to finish it off. I slowly cocked the Lycoph arm back, intending to completely pulverize its head as revenge for the torture it had inflicted on me. Suddenly, one of the legs that been twitching swung toward me in a blur. I attempted to dodge, but I was too exhausted and taken aback with surprise. Splurt! With an explosion of pain, the left side of my vision turned dark and a fountain of blood began streaming from my face. Shouting various expletives, I fell backwards as I held what remained of my left eye. I¡¯d let my guard down and celebrated too early, drunk with victory. Fingers hastily fumbling, I uncorked the last Medium Potion and poured some of it over my left eye. The bleeding quickly stopped, and new skin began to grow, but my vision did not return. Great, now I¡¯m down an eye. The Deinopi¡¯s legs began to rapidly stiffen after it struck, and soon it became completely still. Ding!
[Successfully hunted a Deinopi Arachnid (female). +500p]
500 points? That was it? That barely recouped just the cost of the potions I¡¯d spent on this endeavor. I¡¯d barely survived by the skin of my teeth and I had to somehow hunt even more of these things while turning a profit. The high of victory I¡¯d felt quickly came crashing back down to earth as cold reality set in. The only reason I¡¯d been able to prevail was because it¡¯d been severely slowed down by the first stab wound combined with the paralysis plant. But I couldn¡¯t hope to get that lucky every time. Not to mention, the Potion of Invigoration was quite expensive and sucked up most of the profits by itself. What to do? Well first, let''s fix this eye. I turned to the Deinopi¡¯s 6 gleaming eyes and creepily smiled. I¡¯m going to enjoy this, you bastard. Chapter 12
[Foreign entity (Deinopi Arachnid anterior lateral eye) detected in proximity. Activate ?]
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Chapter 13
[Successfully hunted a Deinopi Arachnid (male). +400p]
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
[The Heretic God laughs at your plans of deceit.]
Chapter 14 Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
[D-grade Objective- Reach and activate the Objective marker. The first to do so will receive: Leapfroggers, x10 Troll Blood Potion, 5000 points]
[The Heretic God grins and tell you to prove your worth]
[D-grade Objective- Eliminate every other race present within a 1-kilometer radius. The last remaining race will receive: Leapfroggers EX, x50 Troll Blood potion, 20000 points]
[Foreign entity (Deinopi Arachnid leg) detected in proximity. Activate ?]
Chapter 15 Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Chapter 16 The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Chapter 17 The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
[Successfully eliminated ID: Raijinzu. +20000pts]
[D-grade Objective- Only two races remain. All locations will be revealed.]
[The Heretic God congratulates you on your victory and urges you to finish the deed]
Chapter 18
[D-grade Objective completed. All other races eliminated. Distributing rewards.
[The Heretic God praises you for your cunning, but is slightly displeased at your disobedience]
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
[Acquired Leapfroggers EX, x50 Troll Blood potion, 20000 points]
[ID: Kaelen has sent you an Ally request. Accept?]
Chapter 19 As Khaelen¡¯s figure gradually vanished into the thick of the Canopy, I too readied myself to continue moving. However, there was one last, major treasure that still remained here for me. With a single bound, I arrived at the Onisha¡¯s corpse. The Leapfroggers, combined with a freshly grafted set of Deinopi legs, allowed me to traverse vast distances almost effortlessly. The mysterious elastic substance on its soles seemed to significantly reduce the impact of falling and allowed me to land without harm. I grimly stared at the fallen Onisha as I considered what I had to do. First, I had to confirm something. From the Shop, I purchased a [Void Dagger-250 AP] for a whopping 12,000 points. The sleek, jet-black blade appeared to absorb light itself as it sliced through the Onisha¡¯s chest. Within moments, I peeled back a thick flap of fat and flesh and exposed the Onisha¡¯s chest cavity. Nestled tightly within its rib cage, I saw a grey heart the size of a bowling ball flanked on each side by a massive pair of lungs. My own heart sank at the sight. Initially, I¡¯d been planning on replacing my heart and lungs in hopes of solving one of my biggest weaknesses at the moment; my incredibly low stamina. I was like a high-octane engine powered by a potato battery. In my clash with the Onisha, it had nearly cost me my life. I wasn¡¯t sure how much real estate I had in my own chest, but even with a quick glance it was readily apparent that there was no way it¡¯d be able to fit the Onisha¡¯s organs. Nor could I make use of any of its limbs; merely attempting to move its titanic arms or legs would likely cause my heart to explode. The tantalizing feeling of having a treasure chest packed to brim with riches, yet being unable to open it, was agonizing. What should I do? Just give up and store it away for the future? No....I refuse. There must be a way, there always was. Or, at least, that was what I had always convinced myself with. The easiest, most logical option was to just chop up the corpse and save everything in the hopes I¡¯d eventually be able to use them somehow. Maybe I could find a set of internals that fit my body and were efficient enough to at least use the arms or legs. Some sort of piece of equipment perhaps, that¡¯d magically allow them to fit. In the meantime, I could shore up my physique stat with some items from the Shop. But that wasn¡¯t my style, not anymore; hoping that things would fall into my lap and things would go my way. If anything, every experience here had taught me that I had to be prepared for any situation to go south, especially with that Heretic God meddling in my affairs. The next Tier 4 or higher race I came across would most likely spell my doom. I had to seize every opportunity and create my own luck, enough to bear the destiny of my world. As I stood there, lost in thought, an absurd plan formed in my mind. Even considering everything that had happened, it was truly insane. But one couldn¡¯t survive in this twisted world without being a little insane. But I wouldn¡¯t be able to do it alone; I¡¯d need a second pair of hands, a bit ironic considering how many I had in my Inventory. ¡°Melchior, is there anything in the Shop that can move on its own? Maybe like some sort of pet or assistant?¡± ¡°Master Adun may wish to consider inspecting the Auxiliary tab of the Shop. However, it requires the purchase of an upgrade.¡± Sigh, more points down the drain. Looks like I was about to become a pauper again. I selected the list of Shop upgrades and quickly found what I was looking for.
Shop Upgrade V ¨C 10000p Description: Unlocks the Auxiliary tab and expands the Shop selection Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Within the Auxiliary tab I saw quite a few items that looked to potentially be quite useful, including various elixirs, magic scrolls, and futuristic equipment. Seems like this Shop is just a mish-mash of things from all over the universe. I browsed through the Shop for quite a while, but couldn¡¯t find anything that quite fit my needs. I saw that there were a variety of pets being sold, but I didn¡¯t need some wisecracking, yapping mutt. What I required was something that could carry out my commands precisely, even in the absence of my presence. ¡°Master Adun, if I may suggest something? Please purchase the Dorai Mark 4 bot,¡± Melchior suddenly chimed in. Hm? I inspected the Dorai bot, which cost 2000 points, and saw that it appeared to be a helper bot only capable of performing simple commands such as cleaning or cooking. There were more advanced autonomous robots available, equipped with a multitude of combat and support functions, but their prices were astronomical. ¡°Melchior, are you sure? I don¡¯t think this bot is smart enough to do what I need it to.¡± ¡°Master Adun need not worry. As an advanced artificial intelligence myself, I should be able to interface with the Dorai Mark 4 bot and control it.¡± Not bad, looks like I might have to upgrade you from just being Melchior-dex. I purchased the Dorai bot, along with 5 Greater Potions. I didn¡¯t want to take any extra chances with what I was about to do. As I retrieved the Dorai bot from the Mail, what appeared in front of me was a rather cute, blue cat robot that was strangely missing its ears. It hovered in the air using a tiny propeller attached to the top of its head. ¡°Beginning interface. Standby.¡± Soon, the Dorai bot¡¯s eyes shifted to a pure white color and it began move on its own, experimentally flexing its limbs. ¡°Everything alright Melchior? How is it?¡± ¡°This body¡¯s capabilities are extremely limited. I will not be of any aid to Master Adun in a combat scenario. However, I am able to perform most basic functions.¡± Excellent. That was more than enough. Now to complete my preparations. I walked over the massive club that still lay next to the Onisha and, pulling out the Void Dagger, began to saw away at one of the spikes lodged inside of it. After several minutes of grunting and sweating, I was finally able to break a spike free. The golden spike still hummed with energy, slightly vibrating as tendrils of electricity flickered within. This would be the final piece to the puzzle. I took a deep breath, slowly exhaling. I thought myself to be quite desensitized at this point, but what I was about to do was unprecedented. I handed the spike to the Dorai bot as I said, ¡°Alright Melchior, here¡¯s the plan.......¡± Once I¡¯d finished explaining exactly what I needed it to do, I lay down in the warm earth as I gazed up at the impossibly high expanse of the Canopy. These might be my last moments here. But it was still better to have died on my own terms than to be taken out because of a moment of hesitation. This was just the first of many impossible odds I¡¯d have to beat. With a slight tremble, I raised the Void Dagger tightly clutched in my Lycoph arm high above my head. And with a single, fluid motion. I swung it down upon my neck. Splurt! A crimson spout of blood erupted, my head now completely severed. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, as I watched the leaves sway in the gentle breeze. My vision began to blur and the once lively cacophony of the forest became muffled. Ah, it¡¯d be so easy to just fall asleep right now. Fall asleep, and just forget everything. No more pain, no more suffering. Just blissful oblivion. No, I can¡¯t. Job¡¯s not finished. Vaguely, I felt something carrying me through the air, and after what felt like centuries, place me down somewhere. My sight, once able to pierce the veil of the Canopy, had become twilight, like the last embers of a dying flame. In the corner of the encroaching darkness, suddenly I saw something appear. Ding!
[Foreign entity (Onisha main body) detected in proximity. Activate ?]
And then everything went dark. ------------------------------------------------------- When Melchior learned that it had been assigned to be the guide for a Tier 6 world, it had believed its assignment to be a brief one. Soon, it would be able to return to the comforting embrace of the Core. Yet somehow, it still remained here on Bellona for a timespan that had far exceeded its calculations. The last remaining human had thwarted death time and time again in a manner that bewildered even it. As it carried the human¡¯s head to the Onisha¡¯s corpse, it began to consider whether there had been an identification error in the candidate selection for the Tier 6 world. Perhaps this human had not been merely the most stubborn in the world, but the most insane as well. What sort of living creature would willingly decapitate themselves, after all? Perhaps to achieve such levels of obstinacy, one had to be a lunatic as well. As it lay down the human¡¯s head, now staring vacantly into space, it uncorked a Greater Potion and began pouring it over the neck. Slowly, but surely, the head began to fuse to the Onisha¡¯s torso as new flesh and tissue sprouted. But it wasn¡¯t enough. The Dorae bot hovered in the air above the Onisha¡¯s still exposed chest cavity with the lightning spike clutched in its small blue paw. And then, it plunged the spike deep into the Onisha¡¯s heart. Chapter 20 If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Chapter 21 With a sudden gasp, I woke up and instinctively attempted to sit up. Immediately, piercing stabs of pain radiated from every inch of my body, particularly around my chest area. Looking down, I saw a strange, unfamiliar sight; an immense frame densely packed with taut muscles and an exposed heart powerfully beating like a pair of drums. ¡°Master Adun, please limit your movement as much as possible. I was able to successfully jumpstart your new heart with the spike but your condition is still unstable.¡± Hah....it¡¯d worked. My gamble had paid off. Looking up at the small robot hovering next to my head, I said, ¡°Thanks for the hard work Melchior. You¡¯ve saved me yet again.¡± ¡°It is my pleasure to do so, Master Adun.¡± I then investigated the source of the massive pain in my chest and saw the lightning spike still deeply embedded within my heart. Using a huge blue hand that made the spike look like a toothpick, I pulled out the spike with a muffled grunt. I immediately poured a Greater Potion over the leaking heart and resealed my chest cavity with the dangling flap of flesh. My new body was overall in terrible shape as it still bore all the wounds from the calamitous battle that had taken place. I hurriedly drank a Greater Potion and dumped the rest of my potions all over my body. New flesh and tissue began to regrow, but at a significantly slower pace compared to my previous body. It seemed that I¡¯d need more potent healing potions to achieve the same results due to the Onisha¡¯s high physique stat. As I waited for my body to finish regenerating, I pulled up my status screen eagerly.
ID: Adun Race: Onisha Ability: [Oblivious] Grade: E Description: [Substances or entities regarded as foreign will instead be seen as friendly by your body if chosen] Augment: [Additional substances or entities can now be designated as friendly. Compatibility between entities will be maximized.] Stats: Strength: 72 Intelligence: 8 Agility: 31 Physique: 65 Mana: 15 Nemesis victories: 0
The difference between my old and new stats was like day and night. In addition, even the Mana stat, which had always been 0, was now 15. However, I was more interested in my new E grade ability; how exactly did the augment work? The compatibility part I clearly understood, as my limbs smoothly moved without the slightest delay. Previously, there had always been a slight lag with any grafted parts due to the mismatch of ¡°hardware¡± but now it truly felt as it was a body I¡¯d been born with. But the ¡°additional substances or entities¡± part remained a mystery.... did it mean a wider selection of parts could be grafted? Or something else? It was something I¡¯d have to gradually explore and figure out later. For now, I laid my thoughts aside and picked up the Onisha¡¯s obsidian club, now light as a feather.
[Storm Caller] - 210 AP Active Ability - Draw in and summon nearby electrical currents that can be unleashed. Additional mana can be consumed to increase effect.
Holding it, I could feel the club resonating with something in my lower abdomen. It felt as if I could feed some sort of force into it if I so chose. As an experiment, I tentatively moved a small strand of energy into the club and it immediately began to spark, forming small tongues of electricity that flickered about. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Interesting... it seemed that there was an organ responsible for manipulating mana within the Onisha¡¯s body. Would other races have organs like this as well? I then began to pour as much mana into Storm Caller as possible, until a miniature sea of lightning had formed around me. I¡¯d already witnessed its overwhelming firepower but I wanted to become familiar with my limits. As Storm Caller glowed with a blinding light, I hurled it across the clearing, into the trees. BOOM! With an even larger explosion than before, a massive swathe of trees was completely obliterated. It seemed that the Onisha had been holding back when it had made its strike, perhaps trying to conserve its energy. A wave of exhaustion immediately washed over me as I lay back, my mana completely drained. I¡¯d have to be careful with managing my output in the future, at least until I could increase my mana stat. Nevertheless, this entire ordeal had been a resounding success. My combat abilities had been massively upgraded and I was now essentially a humanoid tank. My agility had slightly decreased compared to the speed of the Deinopi legs but that could be compensated for with the Leapfroggers. Standing up, I lumbered over to the smoldering crater that remained and retrieved Storm Caller. The world looked much different now looking around, as I stood nearly 4 meters tall. I imagined I must look quite peculiar with my disproportionally tiny head attached to such a massive body. This must be what those bodybuilders back home felt like, huh? I also made sure to strip and store my former body, now just a headless corpse. I strangely felt nothing as I did so, as if it was just another lump of meat.... just another part to be used. I looked around to see if there were any other corpses that could be salvaged, but they were all burnt beyond repair or had been utterly pulverized during the Onisha¡¯s rampage. Well, time to get moving again. I was once again utterly destitute, and my new body would require a tremendous amount of points to keep it fueled up. What was I supposed to be doing again.... ah that¡¯s right. I was originally on the way to hunt down the Talpiderys marked on the Species tracker...I¡¯d nearly forgotten with all that had happened. I hesitated, not sure how much value hunting them down would be at this point. However, considering how close they were, I soon decided I might as well. With a slight bend of my knees, I sprung up and soared through the air, leaving the still smoldering battlefield behind. ------------------------------------------------------ After only half a day¡¯s time, I arrived at the location marked by the Species tracker. The Leapfroggers, combined with my now superhuman stamina, had greatly expedited my travel speed. What lay before me was a small stream, quietly gurgling as it flowed through a lush, thick underbrush. Oddly, a few plants could be seen uprooted here and there, but no traces of digging could be seen. I wasn¡¯t able to smell anything particularly out of the ordinary, not even any animal feces. As I continued deeper within, my sensitive beastman ears suddenly twitched; I could hear a low, humming vibration that was growing in strength coming from below me. I immediately leapt high into the air as a ferocious mole-like creature burst out of the ground, snapping at my heels. It had a pair of extremely wide, curved claws along with a mouth full of razor-sharp incisors that drooled with hunger. Dozens of Talpiderys continued to emerge from the earth, approaching me from every direction like a pack of rabid dogs. Using the Leapfroggers ability, I jumped once more while midair and deftly evaded all of them. Hm, wait. Why am I dodging? Old habits die hard, I suppose. I pulled out Storm Caller while falling down and with a mighty swing, instantly turned three Talpiderys into a bloody soup. Ding! Ding! Ding!
[Successfully hunted a Talpiderys (male). +400p]
[Successfully hunted a Talpiderys (male). +400p]
[Successfully hunted a Talpiderys (male). +400p]
As the string of System notifications rang in my ear, I felt a Talpiderys tightly latch onto my right arm. It attempted to rip it off with a quick jerk of its head as thick saliva pooled onto my arm. Instead, with a loud snap, all of its teeth completely shattered into tiny shards while my arm remained perfectly intact. With an evil grin, I grabbed the Talpiderys by its neck and squeezed, causing it to go limp immediately. I wanted to preserve their bodies as best as possible, minus the three I¡¯d crushed with my club. A swarm of Talpiderys soon crawled all over my body as they futilely tried to devour me. Calmly, I plucked them off my body one by one, like removing a tick, and tossed them into a pile next to me. The only thing I had to be wary of was protecting my head, as that was my only vulnerable part. Perhaps realizing they had quite literally bitten off more than they could chew, the few remaining Talpiderys attempted to escape by burrowing through the ground. Their broad, thick claws allowed them to virtually swim in the earth like land sharks but it was too late. Raising Storm Caller high into the air, I slammed it down into the ground with all my force. A large crater formed as a shockwave of force spread, turning the fleeing Talpiderys¡¯ internal organs into mush. And with that, the battle was over. In just the blink of an eye, over 40 Talpiderys had been eradicated without receiving a single wound. The battle had been laughably easy, with their attacks barely tickling me. Most likely, none of the native creatures on the Canopy layer of Bellona were a match for me anymore. I couldn¡¯t get complacent however; who knew what lay ahead in Bellona¡¯s next layer? Slaying the Talpiderys had proven to be surprisingly fruitful, as I¡¯d netted around 17,000 points total. Like Melchior had said, there were quite a few of them grouped up together, which had made the process incredibly efficient. If a group of Tier 5 otherworlders had come across them however, it would most likely have been an extremely difficult battle due to the sheer quantity of them. I began to dismantle their bodies for parts, but the only thing that seemed of potential use to me was their large digging claws. My Inventory was beginning to get rather full so I decided to just take 6 sets of claws and some meat, abandoning the rest. Once I finished, I didn¡¯t waste any time and immediately chose my next target. With a grim smile, I input a certain name into the Species tracker. It was time for a rematch with an old friend. Chapter 22
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[Successfully hunted a Lycoph (female). +1100p]
Chapter 23
Ring of Minor Insight ¨C 500 p Description- When worn, provides +5 intelligence if base intelligence stat has not exceeded 20.
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Chapter 24 After only a brief period of travel, I soon arrived at the Objective spawn marker with over 30 hours to spare. Good, that would give me plenty of time to setup. I didn¡¯t sense any other people nearby at the moment, but they would probably start trickling in once only a few hours remained on the spawn timer. Unlike the last time, the Objective was located within the thick of the forest, with hardly any open areas and poor visibility even with a light source. I stopped about 200 meters away from where the Objective would be appearing and began my preparations. Taking out the Void dagger, I quickly severed and replaced my hands with the Talpiderys¡¯ large digging claws. The claws were extremely broad and shaped like a scoop, perfect for moving large amounts of soil. Powered by the Onisha¡¯s monstrous physique, I began to burrow through the ground at an incredible speed. The Talpiderys¡¯ sharp claws effortlessly cut through with minimal resistance and gave the sensation that I was swimming, rather than digging. I doubt even the most powerful excavating machines could match me right now. In mere moments, I dug a pit several meters deep and wide enough to accommodate multiple people. Now, to arm the trap. I coated the walls of the pit with a slimy green fluid that I¡¯d harvested from one of the Canopy¡¯s creatures. The walls, now incredibly slippery and impossible to gain any traction from, could no longer be climbed. Next, I squeezed out a thick, sticky web from a Deinopi gland onto the bottom of the pit until it was entirely covered. I¡¯d already personally tested the web and determined that unless your strength stat was at least in the high 30s, it wasn¡¯t something that could be escaped in a short amount of time. Of course, the web could also be cut with a sufficiently sharp weapon or ability, but that would still take time. As the final step, I pulled out a light orb from my large stash and rigged it to explode when something fell into the pit. The first trap was now complete. I lightly jumped back up to the surface and began to cover the hole, leaving only an extremely thin layer on top. I also erased any traces of loose soil or broken earth and soon the area looked exactly as it had before. Hehehe, better watch where you step little piggies. I walked a few paces away and began digging once more, setting up an identical trap. Once finished, I continuously repeated the process over the next 20 or so hours. Eventually, the entire vicinity of the Objective spawn was completely littered with pitfalls left and right. Twice, I even fell into my own traps and had to rearm them. I definitely didn¡¯t forget where I¡¯d put them, I was just personally testing my product. Don¡¯t want any bad reviews, right? The Objective area had now become a minefield, and it¡¯d be nearly impossible to not run into at least one of the traps unless they possessed advanced detection abilities or flight. Even if they did, I wasn¡¯t overly concerned about having a few escape. With less than 10 hours to go, I ceased my efforts and took a break high up in a tree as I reattached the Onisha hands. Even at this height, it was difficult to see anything below with how thick the foliage and underbrush was, but it mattered not. Now, all I had to do was wait for my ¡°volunteers¡± to appear. As I waited, I spent the time spamming Khaelen with stupid jokes through the Message function. While I¡¯d been hunting the last few weeks, we had begun to occasionally send each other messages about what we were up to. Soon, we were conversing daily about anything and everything. As the last survivors of our worlds, I think we were both a bit starved for companionship.
[ID: Adun] : Hey Khaelen, have you seen any Bofa plants around? I really need some. [ID: Khaelen]: Bofa plants? I¡¯ve never heard of them.... my guide system doesn¡¯t know what they are either. What do they look like? [ID:Adun]: They look like Bofa these nuts in your- ID: Khaelen has blocked you.
Well, he seemed to be doing well. He told me that he had recently managed to join up with a friendly group of Tier 5 otherworlders who were in similar situations and were travelling together. It¡¯s a shame he doesn¡¯t seem to appreciate my brilliant humor though. As the hour drew near, I felt a change in the wind. Something was definitely here. Still, I remained relaxed, unlike the last D-grade objective I¡¯d been to. Even if a Tier 4 race showed up like last time, I figured I had a very good chance of victory. Worst came to worst, I already had an escape route completely mapped out through an underground tunnel I dug nearby. By the time only 30 minutes remained until the Objective began, the forest seemed to teem with life as a myriad of foreign scents and sounds permeated my sharp senses. However, none of the traps had gone off; it seemed that everyone was still maintaining a fair bit of distance from the spawn point. Judging from the number of scents, it appeared there was a considerable number of groups present; several dozen at the very least. It seemed that everyone was starved for points and rewards at this point, with all the native creatures having been hunted. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Well, the more the merrier. Finally, the countdown reached 0 and the Objective activated.
[D-Grade Objective ¨C Eliminate the summoned creature. The race with the highest contribution will receive: +5 to lowest stat (maximum of 40), 10,000 points.]
A giant blob-shaped creature made of shadows began to materialize on the Objective marker, oozing a trail of an unknown substance behind it. Strangely, I wasn¡¯t able to detect any signs of life from it, as if it was an inanimate object. It almost seemed as if it was an echo of something that had once existed. As if a floodgate had been released, an avalanche of projectiles, abilities, and elemental attacks began to bombard the shadow slime the moment it appeared. However, most of them simply vanished within the depths of the slime¡¯s body, leaving no traces behind. Despite this, none of the groups stepped forward to engage the slime directly, perhaps out of fear of being caught in the crossfire. The scenery around the creature gradually began to become visible as the onslaught also destroyed its surroundings. The slime was swelling in size, having nearly doubled its volume as it absorbed more and more attacks. The otherworlders, sensing that something was wrong, began to cease their assault. However, it was too late; the slime had already reached a critical mass. A giant mouth suddenly split open in the middle of its body and in a massive storm of light and metal, it regurgitated all that it had consumed. BOOM! Three groups were instantly obliterated as a wide swathe of trees vanished in a multi-colored explosion. Ah, my precious volunteers! In the piercing silence that followed, not a single race seemed to dare to move a single inch or a muscle. It was clear they had all been scared witless and were desperately trying to avoid seeking attention on themselves. No, this won¡¯t do. If they just keep hiding like this, they¡¯ll never run into the traps. I sprung into action and leapt from my vantage point directly at the slime with Storm Caller drawn. As the club began to surge with lightning, I delivered a mighty swing directly into the slime¡¯s center mass. I felt almost no resistance as Storm Caller passed through its body, as if I was swinging through air, but it seemed to prove effective. Large chunks of dark tendrils were blown off the shadow slime and it noticeably shrank in size. Sensing the imminent threat to its life, the slime sprouted a pair of arms that lunged at me in a frantic attempt to grab me. I dodged its sluggish movements with ease and swung once more, causing it to further shrink in size. The slime, now less than half of its original size, appeared to be much more manageable. Having achieved my goal, I leapt back up into the high branches to prepare for the harvest. Many races were now rushing through the trees with their weapons drawn, having been emboldened by my move and seeing the damage I¡¯d inflicted. Almost immediately, one of the traps I set up went off as the rigged light orb exploded, creating a mini flare that alerted me to its location. First victi- ahem, donor acquired! In all the ensuing chaos and frenzy to destroy the slime, no one noticed as I immediately dashed to the first trap and jumped into the pit. Below, I found two lizard-like creatures fiercely struggling as they lied completely entangled within the bed of webbing. Upon seeing me however, they completely froze, eyes widening in shock and horror as they gazed upon the Onisha¡¯s colossal body. In an attempt to soothe them, I tried to give them a friendly smile and a cheeky wink. This was an ethical farming service, after all. For some reason, it only seemed to make matters worse; the pair immediately began to blubber and cry, snot flying everywhere. ¡°P-pl-please, spare us great being! I¡¯ll give you anything you want! Anything at all! I¡¯ll even let you eat my tail.... actually, please eat my partner here instead of me! He¡¯s much plumper and tastier than me because of all the extra fat he injected into his butt to attract all the-¡± ¡°Alright alright, just shut up. No one¡¯s going to be getting eaten here. I¡¯m just here to collect some donations, then we¡¯ll all be on our way. First though, tell me what your stats are and any special abilities your race has.¡± After repeatedly assuring the two that I wasn¡¯t going to kill them, I was finally able to learn their stats, which were mostly in the 20s. Their only racial ability was related to their tail, which they were able to voluntarily detach and transform into a copy of themselves to serve as a decoy. Their stats were too low to possibly have any of their limbs or organs be an upgrade to mine, and the Onisha body didn¡¯t have a tail ¡°slot¡± on it. Well, might as well just take a random part to get some Law fragments out of it. With a sigh, I said, ¡°Okay, leg or arm, you guys choose what you want to lose. Then you¡¯re free to go.¡± The two lizard otherworlders, having barely just calmed down, immediately broke down and began to weep once more. ¡°Please milord, I thought you promised you wouldn¡¯t kill us! Please don¡¯t do thi-mgnggmfff!¡± I lost my patience and stuffed a handful of anesthetic plant extract into their mouths. Then, before they could react, I immediately severed an arm each from them with the Void Dagger. Splurt! As blood sprayed from their bleeding stumps, I pulled out an item that I¡¯d originally thought I had no use for. Uncorking a Troll Blood Potion, I force-fed them once more, pouring the entire contents down their throats. Soon, the bleeding began to stop and new flesh sprouted from their shoulders as their arms regrew. The pair simply lay there quietly, still in stunned disbelief from having their arms amputated. I stowed the 2 arms away in my Inventory for extraction later and pulled the lizard otherworlders free of the sticky webbing. Setting them upright, I warmly patted them on their shoulders and said, ¡°As promised, you guys can head out now. I also sent you guys 500 points for your troubles. Stay out of trouble now okay?¡± As the two dumbly nodded, a thought suddenly struck my head. ¡°Actually, let me get one of your tails. You guys said they grow back on their own right? Don¡¯t be stingy.¡± Reaching over, I gently grabbed the tail of the lizard with the plump behind and pulled. Hmm, whoever did those fat injections did a good job. With the still wriggling tail in hand, I grabbed them by the neck and tossed them out of the pit trap. Right on cue, I saw two more flares of light appear in the darkness. Better do this fast. I opened the recording function in the System and firmly held the tail to my behind, intending to send a meme picture to Khaelen mocking his much smaller tail. Let¡¯s see you say I¡¯m not a real beastman now! As several seconds passed while I tried to get the camera angle right, something completely unexpected happened.
[Foreign entity (Ryzar tail) detected in proximity. Activate ?]
Chapter 25 I stood in place for a few moments, as flabbergasted as the two lizard otherworlders had been. Somehow, had triggered and was now allowing me to graft a Ryzar tail onto the Onisha body. This shouldn¡¯t have been possible; I had only ever been able to get to activate on missing parts. But this... this was adding something that had never existed in the first place. First, I had to confirm whether it would actually work- maybe it was some sort of error or glitch. I agreed to activate and poured a healing potion over the tail as I continued to hold it to my body. Just like any normal grafted part, the tail quickly began to fuse to my skin. I felt a slight burning sensation as tiny, wisp-like tendrils grew from the base of the tail and burrowed into my body, forming several nerve clusters. Soon, it had finished; I now had my very own tail that I could move back and forth at will. It was an incredibly bizarre sensation having an extra appendage I was now able to control. All of my other grafts had been strange, sure, but they had still all just been modified versions of body parts I¡¯d always used. This on the other hand, would take significantly longer to get used to. I gingerly wiggled the tail and experimented with it for a little bit as I paced back and forth. My gait seemed steadier than before as I walked, most likely due to the tail improving my balance. There didn¡¯t seem to be much of a downside to keeping the tail for now, especially with its ability to transform into a decoy. As I stood there, lost in thought, yet another flare illuminated the darkness above me. I¡¯d have to investigate this new phenomenon in much greater detail later; several traps were already waiting for me to harvest them. With an explosive leap, I soared out of the pit towards the nearest trap that had been triggered. Inside, I found just one Tier 5 otherworlder attempting to cut its way free of its restraints. As with the lizard group, I collected data on its stats and special abilities before making a selection. I dropped the friendly act and instead tried to be as imposing as possible, as I really needed to pick up the pace. Even now, flares were going off in every direction. I hurriedly cut off one of its tentacles and jammed a Troll Blood Potion down its cloaca before setting off once more. Rinsing and repeating, I darted around the chaotic battlefield like a maniac as I desperately tried to get to every trap. Most of the otherworlders in the traps meekly complied with my orders when confronted with my aggressive attitude and intimidating presence. Some, however, immediately attacked upon seeing me despite knowing that they were hopelessly outmatched. Regardless, I did not kill them or even retaliate, merely subduing them. The only reason they were in there was due to me, anyways. I wouldn¡¯t fault them for trying to defend themselves. Unless I absolutely had to, I would never kill any of the otherworlders present, even if I could reap a massive amount of points doing so. On their shoulders they carried the hopes and dreams of entire worlds. To slay them was akin to slaughtering billlions. Who was I to decide whether the flickering light of their fates should be snuffed out? I was no saint by any stretch of the imagination, but I refused to play along with the sick, twisted whims of the deities watching from above. If I eventually won, it would be on my own terms. As I continued my farming spree, I paid special attention to any extra organs or body parts that didn¡¯t exist on my body. If what had happened earlier wasn¡¯t a fluke and my suspicions were correct, these could prove useful. A few of the traps were already empty by the time I got to them, but it hardly mattered with how many of them were triggering. It seemed like at least half of the otherworlders present had fallen into a trap at one point, while some never learned their lesson and kept falling in. In less than an hour, I was able to use my entire supply of Troll Blood Potions and my Inventory now contained quite the variety of unique parts. Towards the end, I even started to only harvest 1 member per trap in order to get as many different races possible. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. After releasing the last batch of bewildered donors, I took a moment to check on the progress of the D-grade Objective. The otherworlders were still locked in a fierce struggle with the shadow slime, now a fraction of its original size. The slime had put up a good fight; several half-dissolved corpses could be seen lying nearby in a dark puddle. It appeared to be on its last legs, however, as bits and pieces of it continued to be torn away like a fish surrounded by piranhas. Most likely, the only reason it had lasted this long after I¡¯d weakened it was due to all the traps scattered about. Time to ¡°secure¡± the kill. Like a massive battering ram, I plowed through the swarm of otherworlders surrounding the slime. As they momentarily froze in surprise, I began to scoop them up like a miniature whirlwind and throw them high into the trees. Their futile attempts to stop me only left minor scratches as I continued to clear the area. Once the slime¡¯s vicinity had been emptied, I pulled out Storm Caller and leapt high into the air. Copying the Onisha¡¯s move, a sea of lightning formed around me as Storm Caller continued to charge. When about half my mana had been consumed, I began to descend with Storm Caller thrust downwards. BOOM! The shadow slime instantly evaporated in a dazzling explosion of fire and light. Ding!
[D-grade Objective completed. Highest contribution race: Onisha. Distributing rewards.]
Sorry fellas, I¡¯m not nice enough to give up the Objective rewards as well. A virtual treasure chest appeared in front of me just as it had last time, and I immediately collected the rewards. I felt the mana organ in my body slightly swell as my mana stat increased to 20. Not bad. I could probably manage 4-5 decent strikes with Storm Caller¡¯s ability before I ran out of juice now. As the surrounding otherworlders glared daggers at me, I began to make my way out of the area. Yet, none of them attempted to stop me. The main reason I¡¯d eliminated the shadow slime in such a flashy manner was for this very reason. The otherworlders, clearly intimidated by my overwhelming strength, didn¡¯t even dare to attack me. And it was best that they didn¡¯t; I was in quite the rush. It was time to thoroughly investigate . ----------------------------------------------------------------- I quickly found a small, secluded cave and settled down to begin my experiments. First, I detached and reattached the Ryzar tail to confirm that it hadn¡¯t been an accident. Next, I attempted to attach a gland that secreted a potent painkiller that I¡¯d extracted from one of the Tier 5 races. With the Void Dagger, I created a long incision in the side of my stomach and inserted the squishy, sponge-like organ into an empty cavity. After several tense seconds passed, the notification I¡¯d been hoping for appeared. Ding!
[Foreign entity (Tarvor gland) detected in proximity. Activate ?]
Success! With this, I¡¯d finally figured out what my E-grade augment had been. Now, organs or limbs that weren¡¯t part of the body¡¯s original makeup could be successfully grafted and utilized. A whole new world of possibilities had opened itself up in front of me. A thought suddenly struck my head- what if it wasn¡¯t limited to just new body parts, but also included the same body parts. I quickly pulled out a Lycoph arm from my inventory and tightly held it just below the Onisha arm. Ding!
[Foreign entity (Lycoph left forelimb) detected in proximity. Activate ?]
With a quick pour of a Greater Potion, the Lycoph arm fused into my body and connected to my nervous system. In mere moments, I now had 3 fully functional arms that were able to be independently controlled. Still slightly in disbelief, I attached a tentacle that could release a deadly gas onto my back and watched as it too began to move. Holy hell, was there no limit to this? I began to go on a grafting frenzy, attaching anything and everything I found useful. An extra pair of eyes on the back of my head, an organ that purified the air before it entered my lungs, a specialized kidney for neutralizing poisons. One after the other, until I became a writhing mass of flesh. However, I soon realized the grave consequences of doing so. The whispers of my body, once quelled by increasing my intelligence, had now turned into a discordant cacophony of instincts that tore away at my mind. Every part I¡¯d attached screamed at me to follow the commands engraved within its genes and threatened to destroy my consciousness. Rip. Kill. Run. Hide. Fly. Bite. Snarl. Secrete. Dig. Smash. Chase. Barely managing to hold on, I ripped off part after part until the sounds had settled into a dull roar. I then collapsed onto the floor with labored breaths, drenched in sweat and covered in blood. I¡¯d nearly completely lost myself again, drowning in the sea of instincts. So that was the limit then.... how much my feeble human brain could handle before being overwhelmed. This new ability was both.... a gift and a curse. I¡¯d have to dance along this fine line of sanity and madness for as long as I remained here it seems. A deep sadness filled my chest as I looked up at the starless canopy of Bellona. Will I truly be able to return to my old life after all this? I hope I can. Chapter 26
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Chapter 27
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Chapter 28 The cyborg¡¯s crocodile head snickered as it continued its relentless assault from the shadows. ¡°I thought you¡¯d put up more of a fight, the way you came at us in the beginning. Seems like you¡¯re nothing more than a freak show. Not so cocky now, are you?¡± I remained silent and merely focused on continuing to defend. After all, a true keyboard warrior knows to reserve the trash talk for after they¡¯d won, otherwise you¡¯d just look like an idiot. And I was planning on turning him into an absolute clown. I only had one chance, and I had to make sure he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape. In order to do that however, I¡¯d need some help.
[ID:Adun]: Hey, are you nearby? [ID:Khaelen]: I¡¯m helping the rest of the group evacuate, but I can be there soon. What do you need? [ID:Adun]: How¡¯s your aim right now? Feeling confident? [ID:Khaelen]: As long as I can see it, I won¡¯t miss. [ID:Adun]: Good. Here¡¯s the plan....
Now, I just needed to hold on until Khaelen arrived. Judging from his position, it would be at least a couple minutes. I winced as yet another energy blast scorched my chest and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Hurry up Khaelen, I¡¯m literally cooking here! I uncorked my last Grand Potion and began to run, bobbing and weaving among the trees. Beam after beam of light pierced through the thick trunks behind me as they accurately tracked my position. His eyes must have some form of thermal tracking or night vision as well. The Mossdew ring and my potions were working overtime, as freshly healed wounds split open, then regrew again in an endless cycle. I think I¡¯ve spilled enough blood to feed a poor, starving village of vampire children at this point. Finally, I received a message from Khaelen; he was in position. I immediately turned and began to run to a small clearing nearby, with the cyborg right on my heels. Upon reaching it, I abruptly stopped and merely stood still, as if I had given up. The cyborg emerged from my shadow once more, ready to deliver the decisive blow. Here it comes, you bastard. Withdrawing a large cluster of light orbs, I threw them high up in the air, directly above my head. Right on cue, a shuriken flew through the air and struck the orbs, shattering them completely. Crack! For a few brief moments, a miniature sun appeared in the dark of the Canopy. The clearing, now flooded with light, no longer had any shadows. Storm Caller began to glow, as I poured every drop of mana I had into it. Its studded spikes crackled with lightning as it gathered electricity from every possible source... including the cyborg. Arcs of blue-purple lightning began to flow from his power core into Storm Caller and his red eyes gradually dimmed. Before I could fully drain him of his battery however, the cyborg began to desperately fly away. The organic part of its reptilian face was contorted in shock and fear, providing a stark contrast to its ever-emotionless machine half. I was already prepared however, with another cluster of orbs thrown into the air as I followed right behind him. Again, a pair of shurikens flew through the air and detonated them, leaving no shadows for the cyborg to disappear to. Meanwhile, Storm Caller grew brighter with every passing moment as it ravenously devoured the cyborg¡¯s energy. Gradually, the cyborg¡¯s movements grew slower and slower, and I became able to keep up with ease. The thrusters on its back began to sputter and spark, soon failing entirely, and it had to resort to running on the ground like the rest of us peasants. By now, it was slow enough that I could easily reach out and grab it, but I chose to maintain my current course. I didn¡¯t want to give it a single opportunity to turn the tables or escape. Finally, by the time I had thrown the ninth round of orbs, it had completely stopped. It remained on the ground, seething with a glare of pure malice, as it lay trapped in a prison of metal fused with flesh. ¡°What are you? For what reason have you interfered? Are you not aware of the pact all Tier 4 worlds have made? Your race will be slaughtered if this is found ou-¡± Crunch! With a brutal snap, I tore off both of its arms and crushed its legs. The sly bastard had been stalling for time and trying to retrieve something from its Inventory. For good measure, I pulled out the Void Dagger and buried it inside its abdomen, pinning it to the ground. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Now, it was completely and utterly immobile, even if it attempted to disappear into a shadow. As blood and a strange oily substance began to flow from the cyborg unceasingly, I poured a Medium Potion over its stumps so that it wouldn¡¯t bleed out. After all, it wasn¡¯t every day that I got to speak with a fellow parts connoisseur. ¡°First, I¡¯m from a Tier 6 world, not a Tier 4, so the little pact you¡¯ve all made doesn¡¯t matter to me. Second, I stopped you two because I just felt like it. It¡¯s a free countr- ah, world right?¡± Khaelen, who at some point had arrived behind me, chimed in as well. ¡°This guy¡¯s just saying that because he¡¯s embarassed. Just admit it, you were worried about m- ahfgffgf blargh!¡± With a casual flick of my finger, I shot a particularly large and juicy booger straight into the loudmouth and calmly turned back to the cyborg. Its snout wrinkled in disgust, it replied in a derisive and mocking tone. ¡°You expect me to believe you¡¯re from a Tier 6 world with that kind of strength? At least make it somewhat believable and say you¡¯re from a Tier 5. Even if my guide system can¡¯t figure out what race you are for some reason, we¡¯ll find out eventually. I¡¯ve already sent your image to all the Tier 4 races I¡¯ve Allied with nearby. You and your kind will be killed on sight. Enjoy your victory while it lasts.¡± I merely sighed and shook my head in response. ¡°Fine, you don¡¯t have to believe me. But you¡¯re going to have to answer some of my questions.¡± ¡°Hah! And for what reason would I ever comply?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t spare you, but I¡¯ll make your death as painless as possible. Otherwise, I¡¯m willing to try some of those things you were spouting off earlier.¡± The cyborg howled in laughter, as it replied, ¡°You think I¡¯m scared of some pain? Do whatever you please. My world is already doomed, at your hands. I will never give in to you.¡± And with that, the cyborg remained silent, refusing to speak any further. Damn, doesn¡¯t seem like I¡¯ll be able to extract anything from it. I was hoping on obtaining some information on where the exit to the next layer of Bellona was at the very least. Well, I suppose it''s time to send it on his way. I stooped down and reopened its barely healed wounds with a quick slash of the Void Dagger. I wanted to avoid smashing any more parts of its body and preserve it as best as possible. As its life essence began to pour once more from its body, one of my tentacles penetrated its chest and began pumping anesthetic synthesized by one of my auxiliary glands. A sign of respect, and an apology, even though he had been a murderous lunatic. Ding!
[Successfully eliminated ID: Aurex. +20,000p]
I collected and stored its body in my Inventory, and began walking over to the crater where the other cyborg still lay. I stood over it, Void Dagger drawn at the ready. Minutes passed, and yet I still remained there, hesitating. A bitter taste filled my throat, and my giant hands began to tremble as they balled up into tight fists. A hand covered in black fur, incredibly small in comparison, reached over and gently grabbed my blade. ¡°I can do it, if you want.¡± With a forced smile and a lump in my throat, I shook my head. ¡°What, and let you steal my points? Get away from me, you scammer.¡± This is my burden to bear, my sin. The first of many that would come. Shik!
[Successfully eliminated ID: Sceira. +20,000p]
Then, a few minutes later. Ding!
[World: Ageo has been eliminated]
[Congratulations on eliminating your first world! As a special one-time bonus, you will receive an additional 50,000 points!]
The System¡¯s notifications rang hollow in my ears as I remained standing there, rooted to the spot. An entire world, reduced to ashes by my very own hand. I had never seen it, never known what kind of lives its inhabitants led, or even known its name until this moment. And yet, I had so casually been able to decide its fate. A sick joke. How many more worlds would I have to condemn in order to save my own, I wonder? How many more times before the deities above tired of their twisted little games? The Heretic God had been right. The cycle must be broken. Even if I must step upon the corpses of a thousand burning worlds, I must find a way. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The leader of the group of Tier 5 otherworlders, a thin blue-skinned individual with four pairs of eyes, deeply bowed in my direction as he spoke. ¡°Sir Adun, you have our eternal gratitude for rescuing us from our plight. We do not have any points left to repay you with, but say the word, and we shall repay you however we can.¡± Hmm, anything I want you say? One, two, three, four.... there¡¯s about twelve of them. Not a bad harvest. With a sly grin, I said, ¡°Well, I¡¯m ok on points for now. But there is a little something you could give me. It¡¯s very little, I promise you.¡± As I explained to them what I wanted, the entire group of otherworlders began to pale in fear and one even began shooting out an ink cloud. ¡°You- you want WHAT from us? Sir Adun, I admit I said we¡¯d do whatever was possible but-¡± ¡°Relax, I have some potions that will regenerate whatever parts I lop off and I¡¯ll inject some painkillers in you so you won¡¯t feel a thing. It¡¯ll cost you nothing, I¡¯m actually the one losing out here!¡± After some hurried and whispered discussion, along with some reassurance from Khaelen, the leader finally said, ¡°We-Well, alright. If it truly is as you say....¡± Hehehe, these country bumpkins fell for it! One of the otherworlders, a small mouse-like girl, ran up to me and desperately grabbed one of my legs as fat tears rolled down her cheeks. ¡°Mr. Adun, p-please d-don¡¯t cut off my arm! Please! Mr. Khaelen said you were a good guy! I¡¯m so scared of getting hurt...¡± What was her name again? Misha? I decided to have some fun with her. I flexed all four of my arms and posed menacingly in front of her as I wickedly smiled. ¡°Did Khaelen say that? Bahahahaha! Well let me teach you a lesson today, little girl. The world is full of scammers, and I¡¯m one of the best! And you¡¯ve just crossed me! Now as your punishment, I¡¯ll be cutting off your head instead and eating it! Wahahahaha!¡± With a shriek, Misha¡¯s eyes rolled back and she directly fainted on the floor. Khaelen frowned and walked up to me, saying, ¡°Stop being an idiot. She¡¯s been through quite a bit the last couple days, having to maintain the shield constantly. She¡¯s not as strong as us.¡± ¡°Alright alright, I¡¯ll make a special exception and I won¡¯t take one of her parts. Sheesh, you''re no fun.¡± I grumbled and walked away, preparing to receive my donations. She probably didn¡¯t have any good parts anyways. Probably didn¡¯t even taste good either. Chapter 29 Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
[Foreign entity (Agarian brain) detected in proximity. Activate ?]
Chapter 30 Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Chapter 31 This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Chapter 32
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Chapter 33
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
[Foreign entity (Agarian main body) detected in proximity. Activate ?]
Chapter 34
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Chapter 35 I set the struggling slug leader down on the floor and firmly held it in place with a massive Onisha foot. My tail, still coated with three different types of poison, deeply pierced its body through an open wound. A warm, squishy sensation enveloped the tail as I guided it in, making sure to avoid any vital organs. After a few moments, I swiftly withdrew from its body and wiped myself clean of the remnant mucus and slime. The effects of the paralytic and hallucinogenic poisons quickly made themselves known, as its body stiffened and it began babbling incomprehensibly. The rate at which it healed also drastically decreased, courtesy of the Grievous Coagulant. With my ¡°gift¡± now properly wrapped and prepared, I picked it back up with a spare set of hands and began making my way to Khaelen¡¯s position. The rest of the slugs would be following soon with their Ally Tracker function but I had a little bit of leeway. My speed gradually increased as the various debuff abilities affecting me wore off, and I soon spotted a familiar bushy tail. Khaelen and the others were grimly standing in a circle as they prepared for battle. It seemed that they hadn¡¯t yet noticed I¡¯d already left. I softly walked up behind them and tapped Misha on the shoulder. As she turned her head, she came face to face with a cheerfully wagging array of tentacles. ¡°Hieeeeeeeeek!!¡± A shrill screech at a pitch hitherto unknown to man pierced the air, causing 10x critical damage to my ears. Almost immediately, a shuriken flew through the air and collided with my calmly raised Onisha arm. Several other hastily fired attacks followed behind and were easily dodged. As I brushed off the thin layer of frost on my arm, I said, ¡°Relax it¡¯s me. Sheesh, I was just saying hello.¡± With a sigh, Khaelen lowered the second set of shurikens in his hand and said, ¡°What are you doing here? We thought you were in the middle of fighting and were getting ready to join in.¡± I grinned widely and held the limp slug high in the air. ¡°I¡¯ve got a little present here. This is Misha¡¯s Nemesis right? Just have her kill it and we¡¯ll get all of its abilities for ourselves.¡± ¡°How did you.... never mind, I¡¯m not going to even bother asking. I barely even recognize you anymore. You get a new look every time we meet, it seems.¡± As the rest of Khaelen¡¯s group chattered excitedly about the new additions to my body, I tossed the Void Dagger over to Misha. Fumbling desperately for a few moments, she barely managed to catch it with trembling fingers. I walked over and held the Nemesis in front of her, gesturing with my head. ¡°Just stab it right there and that should be enough. Look what a nice and handsome guy I am, giving you this on a silver platter. Hey, don¡¯t give me that side-eye.¡± Even if I look like this now, I¡¯m still quite the catch! Misha hesitated for a moment, as she quietly said, ¡°But... I¡¯ve never killed anyone before.¡± Sigh. How the hell did someone like this get selected for the Realm Wars? I thought I¡¯d been ill-suited, but compared to her I was practically born for this. A somber expression came over me for the first time, and my tone grew harsh. ¡°Do you realize the situation that you¡¯re in right now? That we¡¯re all in? All of us are the last of our worlds, and we shoulder the lives of billions. It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to murder someone in cold blood, but this thing was one hundred percent going to kill you. Just look how it already has three abilities. Killing it not only helps your chances, but all of ours as well.¡± The small, mousy girl remained quiet, her head hung low, and eyes fixed on the ground. The eight-eyed leader of Khaelen¡¯s group, Xandros, spoke as well. ¡°Don¡¯t forget what happened to the rest of your people.¡± Gradually, her shaking hands stilled and her ragged breaths grew steady. Then, with one swift motion, she plunged the dagger deep into the slug, only stopping once it had reached the hilt. Not bad. There may be some hope for her yet. The slug leader groaned as it writhed in my arms, its final death throes spraying a thin film of mucus everywhere. Its movements eventually ceased, and the once soft body began to rapidly harden. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Three glowing shards of light emerged from its chest and hovered briefly in the air. Each of them shimmered with different colors, creating a vibrant display within the monochrome darkness of the Canopy. Interestingly, they seemed to vary in size. As if finding their target, each shard abruptly turned and shot forward into Misha. For a brief moment, her entire body became as radiant as the sun. The rest of Khaelen¡¯s group stood there in awe and silence as she absorbed the Law fragments, while I continued to constantly monitor the surroundings. The rest of the slugs would be arriving here any moment now. Soon, the light faded and she collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. As two of my tentacles slithered forward and helped her to her feet, I asked, ¡°You alright? How are you feeling?¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m ok, Mister Adun. Actually, I¡¯ve never felt better.... Thank you for helping us again. Here, I¡¯ve sent you the points I received from k-killing him.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. I¡¯ve benefited quite a bit from following you guys around as well. By the way, what abilities did you get from it?¡± Misha paused for a moment as she opened her Status screen and inspected it closely. ¡°Umm... there¡¯s a D-grade ability called that lets me link with my Allies and equally distribute any damage. But any healing we receive also gets split up as well. There¡¯s also another ability that lets me mark someone I can see and makes all our attacks-¡± Khaelen suddenly interjected, as he urgently spoke, ¡°Let¡¯s save the small talk for later. We¡¯ve got some company.¡± I had sensed it as well; the rest of the slug otherworlders had finally arrived to reclaim their leader. A bit unfortunate, as only a petrified corpse now remained. Xandros tensed as he withdrew a wooden staff that glowed with a faint blue light. The rest of the group readied their respective weapons as well, while a couple buffing abilities were applied to my body. A golden chain spread from Misha and linked everyone present. Before it reached me, however, I hastily shook my head and declined. ¡°Don¡¯t include me in that ability. The way I fight usually ends up with me taking lots of damage, because I can just swap things out. It¡¯ll just end up hurting you guys more.¡± The preparations appeared to have been completed just in the nick of time, as the soft rustling of bushes could be heard. The nearly forty-strong mass of slugs emerged from the trees with spears tightly gripped and antennae at the ready. Their expressions were exceptionally grim, as if they had come to meet their ends. Everyone¡¯s faces, save mine, slightly paled in shock as they realized the sheer number of enemies they were facing. Oops, I forgot to tell them how many there were. I remained unperturbed however; without , these guys were nothing more than slugs to the slaughter. A crackling blue energy coalesced in front of Xandros¡¯ staff and Khaelen¡¯s shurikens became encased in frost. My shoulder cannons began to quietly hum as they charged, and Storm Caller glowed with a menacing light. Just as a torrent of attacks was about to be unleashed, suddenly, every slug kneeled to the ground in unison and bowed their heads. ¡°WE SURRENDER!¡± ....Huh? Moments passed as we all collectively froze in surprise and disbelief. The slugs continued to remain prone on the floor, their trembling antennae the only sign of life. Well, this was rather anti-climactic. Here I¡¯d thought they¡¯d been ready to fight to the death with how they had approached. As I coughed and cleared my throat in the awkward silence, I slowly approached them until only a few meters remained between us. ¡°Ahem ahem, what¡¯s all this then? Don¡¯t you want to avenge your leader? His body is right over there.¡± One of the braver slugs spoke up, as its voice slightly quavered. ¡°No! Actually, we hated him! He never listened to us and always ordered us around! Just because he was a little bigger and stronger than us, he forced us to only hunt for his Nemeses! He even made me clean out his cloaca with my-¡± ¡°Alright enough, I get it. So why didn¡¯t you all just run away once he died? I don¡¯t understand why you still showed up here.¡± Another slug chimed in from the side, saying, ¡°We knew we were no match for you, and that you have the ability to track us. I tried telling Florr this many times, but he refused to listen! Rather than being hunted to our deaths, we came here in the hopes that you would find it in your heart to spare us in your infinite mercy, O Great one.¡± ¡°Stop with the flattery, it won¡¯t get you anywhere. Haa..... I don¡¯t know, what do you guys think?¡± I looked over to where Khaelen and Xandros were standing with the others. After a brief discussion amongst themselves, Xandros simply shrugged his shoulders and replied. ¡°It is your decision to make, Sir Adun. We took no part in subduing these creatures, and as such, have no right to influence what may come.¡± Well, I couldn¡¯t just squash them all flat with Storm Caller now that they¡¯d surrendered like this. It seemed like the main culprit in attacking us had been dealt with anyways, and the rest of them had only been reluctantly following along. Should I just carve a piece from them and send them on their way? Just as I was about to make my decision, one of the slugs from earlier spoke up. ¡°Please, if I may make a request! Let us join your group, and we swear upon our slime that we shall not betray you! Even if you let us go today, we are surely doomed without Florr¡¯s abilities.¡± Joining us? There were already too many mouths to feed as is! But... one couldn¡¯t deny there was a certain merit to having strength in numbers. I wouldn¡¯t be with Khaelen¡¯s group forever, and the addition of nearly forty Tier 5 otherworlders would significantly bolster their strength. But there remained one issue. ¡°Talk is cheap, but how can I be certain you guys won¡¯t turn around and kill them when I¡¯m not around? After all, the motive exists.¡± The slug replied, its head still bowed. ¡°Sir, your group¡¯s Nemesis has successfully slain Florr and taken his abilities, yes? If they were to include us within , killing them would be the same as killing ourselves. In addition, as I mentioned before, our chances of success in the Realm Wars are virtually nonexistent on our own now. It would be the epitome of foolishness to betray our only allies.¡± Ah right, I¡¯d forgotten about that particular aspect of the ability. I turned once more to Khaelen¡¯s group and asked, ¡°Well, are you all ok with that? It''s your group, your decision. I¡¯m only here as a passenger.¡± Xandros nodded, saying, ¡°I believe they can be trusted. My species is rather sensitive to the emotions of others, and their desire to join us appears to be genuine. As for their past actions in pursuing us.... let bygones be bygones. We are all merely trying to survive in this world, after all.¡± The slugs began to wildly cheer and hug each other, while some shed mucus-tears of joy. As they continued to dance and roll in glee, I suddenly raised my hand and spoke, interrupting their festivities. ¡°Hold up! Before you start celebrating, there something you need to know.¡± With a wicked grin and a bit of drool leaking out of the corner of my mouth, I pulled out the Void Dagger. ¡°There¡¯s a very small initiation fee to join this group.¡± Chapter 36 Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Chapter 37 ¡°Move over, your damn mucus is dripping all over me.¡± ¡°No can-do buddy, I''m quite comfortable lying down like this.¡± Khaelen and I were currently sequestered dozens of meters underground in a small, cramped cavern. While he sat in the corner hunched over with his knees tightly drawn in, I lay at ease on a soft mattress of leaves with all my limbs spread wide. I sipped on a cool, fizzy drink I¡¯d purchased from the Shop as several of my tentacles performed a full-body massage. Ah, this was the life. Khaelen grumbled as he shifted in place, saying, ¡°Can¡¯t believe I was the one with the closest Nemesis... being stuck down here with you and listening to your stupid jokes all day is literal hell.¡± ¡°Hehehe, don¡¯t pretend like you didn¡¯t laugh at some of them. Anyways, have they gotten any closer to us?¡± ¡°Not yet. They¡¯re still circling the area. About a kilometer from our position, I¡¯d say.¡± Hm, quite cautious for a Tier 4 otherworlder. I¡¯d expected them to rush in immediately, but it had already been over a day since we hid underground. Nevertheless, the trap had already been set; the smoldering wreckage of trees and various craters dotted the surroundings. Large splotches of blood and the occasional limb could be found lying about as well. At a quick glance, a catastrophic battle appeared to have taken place. Hopefully, they¡¯d make their move soon. Another one of the group¡¯s Nemeses would be arriving soon as well, and things could potentially get quite messy with the addition of a third party. I wiggled the periscope tentacle that remained above and rotated it fully in a small circle. This tentacle was linked to an ¡°extension cord¡± of sorts, created by fusing multiple appendages together to form a long rope of flesh. At the end of it, I attached a pair of Deinopi eyes as well as ears that fed sensory information to one of my auxiliary brains. As such, I was able to clearly observe the situation on the surface from the comfort of my cavern underground. The rest of the group was waiting on standby a few kilometers away, as previously planned. If I determined that I wouldn¡¯t be able to handle the enemies alone, they¡¯d rush over immediately. For this venture, I didn¡¯t anticipate needing their help however; Khaelen¡¯s Nemesis appeared to be of entirely average strength for a Tier 4 race, at least stat-wise. Of course, if there were more than a few of them the story would change. Khaelen and I continued to lie in wait as several more hours passed. His Nemesis gradually circled closer and closer, until finally, a faint rustling noise was heard. The periscope tentacle immediately turned in the direction of the sound, and soon two figures could be spotted high in the trees. They gingerly moved forward, until their appearances could be fully seen. A thick, chitinous shell covered much of their segmented bodies, as they crawled forward on three pairs of armored limbs. Their large, bulging eyes darted about rapidly while their curved mandibles clicked audibly. One of them wielded an obsidian greataxe, while the other carried four long, faintly glowing blades. Several pieces of equipment and accessories adorned their bodies; these were by far the wealthiest otherworlders I¡¯d seen so far. Their multifaceted eyes began to narrow in confusion as they continued to approach their Nemesis marker. Soon, they stood directly on top of the marker, located in front of a large tree. One of them chittered to the other, which was picked up my ears and automatically translated. ¡°Are you sure this is the spot?¡± ¡°Yes, there¡¯s no doubt about it... unless there¡¯s a mistake with the System.¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be possible. The only other explanation is that.... damn, we need to get out of here!¡± Too late. My massive frame burst out of the ground in an explosion of dirt and sediment. The immovable Onisha arms tightly grasped Khaelen¡¯s struggling Nemesis, while a second pair of hands quickly carved a thick incision in its exposed thorax. I swiftly inserted my poison-coated tail as well as the Void Dagger for good measure. While not working as quickly as they had on the Glathar, the various poisons soon began to exert their effects. In the blink of an eye, I also brutally tore off all its flailing limbs, leaving only a segmented carapace and its head behind. The disabled Nemesis was then tossed down the underground tunnel and into Khaelen¡¯s waiting arms. The other Tier 4 otherworlder, who had initially fled upon my sudden ambush, returned upon seeing the merciless dismantlement of its partner. Chittering furiously, it swung its greataxe at a shocking speed directly at my helmet. As I bent my knees, preparing to dodge, I suddenly found myself unable to move. The ground had risen to my knees and hardened into an unknown metal, sealing me in. The greataxe continued its trajectory towards my head. Despite my abrupt immobility, I made no attempt to defend and merely stared calmly as it approached. With only inches remaining between us.... it swung forward and only struck thin air, eventually leaving a shallow mark on the metallic ground. I found myself back in the cavern underground, having activated the Rebounding Boots¡¯ ability that I¡¯d prepared beforehand. Khaelen was there as well, preparing to deliver the final blow to his Nemesis. He raised an eyebrow at my sudden appearance, asking, ¡°Everything alright up there?¡± ¡°Yeah I¡¯m fine. It just took me off guard, is all. I¡¯m heading back out.¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll be right behind you once I finish this up.¡± I clambered back up the tunnel and began pursuing the Tier 4 otherworlder, who had retreated after its initial attack failed. As it narrowly dodged an energy blast from behind, it created a massive metal barrier that temporarily blocked my progress. Right as I managed to climb over it, I was greeted by a surging wave of metal that sprouted from the ground. I hastily activated the Wanderer¡¯s Ward and lashed out with all my might. The temporary shield along with my counterattack allowed me to remain relatively unscathed, but I was now trapped in a cocoon of metal. The walls strained and creaked as they pressed against the shield in an attempt to crush me. Outside, I could vaguely sense the otherworlder continuing to reinforce and expand its cage. Think you¡¯ve got me, do you? I withdrew several sets of Talpiderys claws and grafted them onto my body. As the claws smoothly cut through the earth, I escaped the enclosure with great ease. I continued to tunnel for several meters before finally reemerging. With all my artillery already charged, they immediately fired as the backside of the otherworlder came into view. Several beams of light shot forth and were deflected off its armored shell, with only one managing to penetrate a chink in its defenses. Hm, that shell was sturdier than I¡¯d thought. The smell of burning flesh filled the air as it hissed in pain and turned around, preparing to activate its ability once more. Suddenly, a massive swarm of shurikens pierced through the air and struck it from every direction, creating icy explosions. It struggled to break free as a layer of frost steadily formed and encased it in a frozen prison. A taste of its own medicine, so to speak. With its movements now effectively sealed, I dashed forward and swung Storm Caller in a wide arc. Crunch! The armored invertebrate collapsed to the floor, its chest cavity completely caved in and leaking green juices. Its segmented limbs thrashed about erratically while it seemingly lost control of its ability, causing metal formations to sprout randomly. I raised Storm Caller and prepared to deliver the finishing blow but hurriedly caught myself. No need to cause any unnecessary damage to my precious parts. Instead, I ignored its flailing forearms and with one smooth movement, reached deep into its shattered chest. A slippery mass was soon felt and subsequently ripped out, causing it to spray jets of blood as it continued to strongly beat in my hand. I stowed the heart away in my Inventory and watched as the light in its eyes quickly faded away. Ding!
[Successfully eliminated ID: Lanx. +20,000pts]
Ding!
[World: Diplar has been eliminated.]
Another world, turned to dust. The second of many more to come. A heavy feeling settled upon my chest but I carried no regrets. The moment they entered this area, their lives had been forfeit. Soft footsteps echoed behind me as Khaelen approached. ¡°Any injuries?¡± ¡°Nope. It was a clean kill. But what was that just now? I¡¯ve never seen you throw that many shurikens out at once before.¡± Khaelen smirked as he said, ¡°Did you like it? I might be able to give even you some trouble now. The ability I got from my Nemesis lets me create temporary copies of my weapons. Even the frost ability that I infuse into them gets duplicated as well, so I¡¯ve got some serious firepower now. If I could use mana, I¡¯d be able to make even more.¡± ¡°Alright, don¡¯t get cocky now. I can still squash you anytime, you little punk.¡± Still, he hadn¡¯t been entirely wrong. Given the right circumstances and some luck, he might have been able to defeat that Tier 4 otherworlder even without my intervention. Receiving an additional ability that even slightly synergized with your original could cause your combat ability to skyrocket. I then turned my attention to the best part of winning a battle; the loot! According to the agreement we¡¯d settled on beforehand, I¡¯d have the first pick of any piece of equipment per body. In addition, I¡¯d keep all the points from any enemies that I killed myself, and half of all points from any that I didn¡¯t. The remaining equipment and points would split up amongst the rest of the group according to need and contribution levels. I¡¯d already profited a cool 30,000 points from this battle alone, but I suspected the real rewards remained on their bodies. I first inspected the otherworlder I¡¯d just killed and removed a pair of gloves, three accessories, and its greataxe.
[Ring of Greater Fortitude] Description: When worn, provides +5 physique if base physique stat has not exceeded 50
[Gloves of Deflection] 90 armor Description: Upon activation, greatly reduces damage from ranged attacks or projectiles for 45 seconds. Attacks below a certain level will be negated completely. (900s cooldown)
[Unga Bunga¡¯s Blessing] Description: When attacking, your attack speed is increased by 2% each time you directly strike an enemy, up to a maximum of 70%.
[Graverobber¡¯s Ring] Description: Whenever an Ally is eliminated, obtain a random portion of their Inventory.
[Darkforged Greataxe] 220 AP Passive Ability: When in darkness, this weapon will be reduced to one-tenth of its weight.
Quite the jackpot, even for a Tier 4 otherworlder. Every single item would be worth a small fortune on the Shop, and there had clearly been some thought put into its selection of equipment. Seems like it¡¯d gotten rich off the deaths of its companions. I wanted it all. Yet I could only pick one... the ultimate dilemma. As I knelt on the floor and moaned while shedding fat tears, like an obese child who¡¯d been denied entry to a buffet, Khaelen finally interjected. ¡°Alright alright, stop pretending to cry. I know you put in an extra tear gland just so you could do that. Just take two things from this one and leave everything else on the other body.¡± Instantly, the waterworks vanished as I perked back up with a broad smile. ¡°Really? You¡¯re sure? No going back, ok?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s fine. I already asked Xandros and the others, and they don¡¯t mind. Check the stuff from my Nemesis before you do though, in case there¡¯s something you like more.¡± I rifled through the small assortment of goods that he presented me with. There were a couple interesting items within them, but nothing better than what I already wanted. After some careful deliberation, I decided to take the [Gloves of Deflection] and [Unga Bunga¡¯s Blessing]. The greataxe wasn¡¯t a high priority since I already had Storm Caller, and I could stack [Unga Bunga¡¯s Blessing] quite quickly with all my additional limbs even without the reduced weight. I set aside the corpses of the Tier 4 otherworlders for careful investigation later, and called in the next member with the closest Nemesis. The ability grinder must go on! Hm, it¡¯s just a pity we couldn¡¯t get that metal manipulation ability. It was quite powerful, and I could think of a variety of ways we could have utilized it. As I began to burrow back down to the cavern below and prepare for the next wave, an idea popped into my head. We might not be able to get the extra abilities but.... there was a business opportunity here. Chapter 38 Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Chapter 39 With a tired sigh, I placed the last, still warm organ inside the Agarian cyborg¡¯s body and waited for it to finish attaching. Once it had finished, I severed the long strands of nerves connecting it to my main body and stored the Agarian¡¯s corpse back in my Inventory. The last several weeks had passed in a blur, with hardly any downtime. It seemed that the moment I finished handling one wave of enemies and processing them, another would pop up near instantly. I barely had any time to inspect their bodies or equipment, to the point where I¡¯d started just tossing things randomly in a giant bin for later. Only the Tier 4 corpses were given more than a cursory look; the majority of the Tier 5 races weren¡¯t likely to offer anything significant in terms of improvements at this point. The rare moments of peace I had were spent upgrading both my main body as well as the spare body, which used the Agarian cyborg as the base. As a tentative name, I¡¯d chosen to call the spare body as the Scout v1. I wanted to keep the Scout v1 as lightweight and stealthy as possible, so major attachments were kept to a minimum. Instead, I¡¯d installed it with a range of general improvements, such as additional mana organs, another power core, and an extra Tier 4 brain. I also attached a set of gray, feathered wings to further increase its flight speed. As a side note, I¡¯d already tested using the wings on my current body and deemed them too inefficient and slow with how bulky the Onisha¡¯s frame was. Several auxiliary glands were added to enhance its stealth capabilities. One produced a scent that would mimic the surroundings, while another allowed manual control of body temperature, allowing me to minimize my heat signature. Thickly padded feet were added to reduce the sounds of any footsteps and tiny, sharp protrusions were added to palms of its hands. Now, it¡¯d able to silently crawl up any trees or similar surfaces without the slightest noise, which I¡¯d tested using my own enhanced hearing. Many unnecessary attachments were removed or stripped bare. Only about half of its original armaments remained, but every single one of its original stats had vastly increased, especially its agility. Its overall efficiency had improved, and with the addition of another power core, its Overdrive mode could be used for a much longer period of time. Of course in a head-to-head battle, my main body was still the clear winner, but I now had an incredibly agile secondary frame with decent combat capabilities. Most of the Tier 4 equipment I¡¯d looted so far had actually been selected with the Scout v1 in mind. I was already pretty satisfied with how the main body was doing, and there was a limit to how much could be equipped at once due to mana constraints. As such, the Scout v1 was currently armed to the teeth. The weapon I planned on using with it, a dull red blade, was one of the best finds I¡¯d obtained so far.
One Strike 250 AP Passive: While remaining undetected, the first attack on an enemy will cause damage to a random vital point no matter where you strike.
The other pieces of equipment were also chosen carefully to maximize my ability to run the hell away, with one being purchased directly from the Shop.
[Impish Charm] Description: When worn, all aspects and equipment can be reduced up to 70% in size. Agility will increase and strength will decrease proportionally to change in size.
[Unhindered Steps] Description: When worn, any slowing effects or abilities affecting you are reduced. Mana will be consumed if number of slowing effects or abilities exceeds 4.
[Fleet Ring] Description: Upon activation, increase agility by 40%, up to a maximum of 80, for 45 seconds. (500s cooldown)
[Ring of Major Fortitude] Description: Increase physique by 5, up to a maximum of 60.
The boots would be kept unequipped until needed, in order to take advantage of my padded feet. For now, I hadn¡¯t added any additional arms or legs, since I didn¡¯t have any extra equipment that¡¯d be worth the tradeoff. It was still very much a work in progress, but a necessary investment. If I wanted to be able to sell all the Tier 4 otherworlders I was currently holding in my little dungeon, I needed a different form than my current one. The Onisha body was still too recognizable, even with all the modifications I¡¯d recently made. I was currently marked for death for supposedly breaking some sort of pact that all the Tier 4 worlds had made, and I really didn¡¯t want to deal with the hassle of having them track me down. All the Tier 4 Nemeses that had come so far had been taken out quite quickly, without any time or thought to spare as to my identity. However, if a Tier 4 buyer arrived, there was a high chance they¡¯d be able to put two and two together given enough time. As such, I¡¯d be using the Scout v1 for any transactions and swap back to the main body for any combat scenarios. If a Nemesis trade deal went south, I was highly confident in its ability to escape even against a group of Tier 4s. Out of curiosity, I decided to check what the stats on the Scout v1 body was. It was good timing anyways, as the first Tier 4 buyer was arriving soon. Time for a test run. ¡°Alright Melchior, let¡¯s do it just like before.¡± ¡°Very well, Master Adun.¡± The Dorai bot whirred to life as Melchior took control of it. I tightly held the Void Dagger in my hand and held it to my neck. Ah, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll ever get used to this. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Splurt! A spray of hot blood gushed out as I swiftly decapitated myself for the second time. Instantly, I felt blind and helpless. The minds that kept me company.... now quiet. The many limbs that gave me strength... now gone. The extra organs that let me adapt to any situation... now still. I felt naked. I was just a weak, helpless human again. My vision blurred and I rapidly began to lose consciousness. I faintly felt Melchior lifting my head and carrying me through the air. Plop! I was dumped unceremoniously on top of the headless Scout v1 and immediately doused with a Greater Potion. Ding!
[Foreign entity (Agarian main body) detected in proximity. Activate ?]
Tendrils of flesh and fiber sprouted from my neck, connecting me to my new frame. Thump, thump Its cold heart began to beat anew. The two power cores hummed with a steady vibration as they came online and a dull glow briefly appeared over its metallic parts. My vision soon became clear and I felt a sense of control return. A wave of relief washed over me and the brief sense of anxiety I¡¯d felt disappeared. In truth, I¡¯d hated it. Loathed being reduced to my most base form, and at the whim of any being passing by. No longer hearing the soft whispers of flesh that didn¡¯t belong to me. No longer feeling the gentle caress of my alien parts. I hated that I was chained down by the last part of me that truly remained human. A hatred I should never have felt. I fear that I am slowly.... becoming a monster. I thought I¡¯d managed to stave it off with the addition of my extra minds, but this ran deeper than that. It was getting harder to keep sight of myself. I took a deep breath and calmed my shaken nerves. As I gingerly wiggled my new fingers and stood up, I felt an incomparable lightness in my body. The weight of the world seemed to have been lifted from me, and I felt as if I could soar to the heavens. Every movement I made seemed more responsive and efficient. ¡°Try to be a little gentler next time, will ya Melchior?¡± ¡°My apologies, Master Adun. I deduced that time was of the essence and utilized the most optimal series of actions to restore your life.¡± Yeah yeah, I know you¡¯re still mad I didn¡¯t shell out the points for a better bot. I then turned my attention to the Status screen and examined the Scout v1¡¯s stats.
ID: Adun Race: Agarian Ability: [Oblivious] Grade: E Description: [Substances or entities regarded as foreign will instead be seen as friendly by your body if chosen] Augment: [Additional substances or entities can now be designated as friendly. Compatibility between entities will be maximized.] Stats: Strength: 53 Intelligence: 38 Agility: 63 Physique: 56 Mana: 30 Nemesis victories: 0
Not bad at all for the limited amount of modifications it had on it, compared to the Onisha body. If I activated the Fleet Ring and then Overdrive Mode, it would practically move at lightspeed. For comparison¡¯s sake, after all the upgrades I¡¯d currently applied to the Onisha¡¯s body, its stats were as follows:
ID: Adun Race: Onisha Ability: [Oblivious] Grade: E Description: [Substances or entities regarded as foreign will instead be seen as friendly by your body if chosen] Augment: [Additional substances or entities can now be designated as friendly. Compatibility between entities will be maximized.] Stats: Strength: 67 Intelligence: 51 Agility: 38 Physique: 61 Mana: 38 Nemesis victories: 0
The main body¡¯s strength stat had increased by 5 compared to before, thanks to a stat boosting accessory I¡¯d taken from a Tier 4 otherworlder. Now, the Onisha limbs¡¯ true strength stat was a whopping 77, as my displayed stats were averaged. Originally the accessory should have capped out at a maximum strength of 70, but gave me a loophole to exploit. My physique had increased by a few points with the addition of the shell I¡¯d grafted to my back, but my agility had also decreased. Intelligence and mana had increased the most out of all but this came at no surprise; several brains and mana organs had been added. The only reason I¡¯d stopped attaching more was due to the severe diminishing returns I was experiencing from attaching additional minds. Each mana organ took up a large chunk of mental resources to control the flow of mana, and I needed to reserve space for other parts. I stored the headless main body away into my Inventory and began to head back up to the surface. Right on cue, I received a message from Khaelen.
[ID:Khaelen]: They¡¯re only four ingvas away. Grab the third person in the second row and head up. [ID:Adun]: Got it. [ID:Khaelen]: Also, let me know immediately if things seem off. We¡¯ll come over immediately, deal be damned.
I turned around and walked back over to the turnip farm I¡¯d planted in my cavern. I quickly found the otherworlder Khaelen had specified and dug it back out of the ground. The rest of the heads rooted in the floor continued to babble incoherently as I carried it away. My new legs explosively shot forward and I nearly crashed into a wall before barely managing to catch myself. This new speed would take some time to get used to. I continued to proceed back up the tunnel and found myself standing back on the Canopy¡¯s surface within mere seconds. With a single bound, I took my position behind an extremely well-made wooden stall and began to wait. As I sat there, I felt a small trace of nervousness. This was the first Tier 4 buyer I¡¯d be doing business with, and I wanted everything to go smoothly. Up until now, selling off otherworlders to their Nemeses had been quite simple. Any of our Nemeses¡¯ companions that were Tier 4 were subdued instead of being killed if possible. Then, they were injected with a heavy cocktail of drugs and poisons that were purchased from the Shop or produced by me. One of the drugs that was purchased, Liar¡¯s Bane, had the effect of forcing those that ingested it to tell the truth. This coupled with the addled state they were in made it incredibly easy to interrogate them and find the details of their Nemesis, including the ID. There was however, one instance where a captured Tier 4 otherworlder had to be immediately killed upon discovering that their Nemesis belonged to a Tier 3 world. Once their information had been revealed, they would be contacted with a message sent to their ID. In order to protect my own identity, Khaelen was in charge of brokering the deals and exchanging details. While many had been initially hesitant, they had been more reassured upon seeing the photos of their incapacitated Nemesis and Khaelen¡¯s status as a lowly Tier 5 otherworlder. Once a time had been agreed upon, I would bring the bodies up and complete the transaction. I could sense that many of them had come with more nefarious intentions, but they had all immediately backed down the moment they saw me. Once I confirmed that the points had been sent to Khaelen, I would hand over the Nemesis and leave them to it. Usually they had to scrape and pool together all their points in order to pay the steep 50,000 points price but it was still quite the bargain in my opinion. After all, the price was in truth only 30,000 points, considering that 20,000 points were given for slaying a Tier 4 otherworlder. However, these had all been Tier 5 otherworlders I¡¯d been selling to.... judging from my past experiences, there was a good chance these Tier 4 buyers wouldn¡¯t play nice. I wasn¡¯t looking for an excuse to kill them necessarily, but I was definitely going to err on the side of caution when they showed up. Try to cross me, and they¡¯d face the combined wrath of over 50 Tier 5 otherworlders armed to the teeth. Hm, maybe I should charge a premium to these Tier 4 buyers for the added risk? Or perhaps there was a safer way I could carry out the transactions? My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by faint sound of footsteps approaching. ¡°Are you the crazy bastard that¡¯s been selling people off?¡±