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.

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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.