I awoke laying flat on stone, the entirety of the mat underneath me. Confused, I sat up and found the entirety of the blanket covering me, and a small pile of fabrics folded neatly right next to me.
Across the wall was empty, meaning Oldren must have left, making me the last one awake, again. I unfolded the clothes and quickly slipped them on. They were much too big, but they had plenty of drawstrings to tighten.
The clothes were a boring brown color, with no patterns or any sort of decoration. But it was comfortable, which is all that matters. Just a shirt and pants, though I had to toll up the sleeves quite a lot for both of them.
I walked outside of the cave to see Max and Oldren longing around on two bruised logs. They were curved around a rack of sticks with clothes hanging on them. Beneath sat a line of burning wood, which was smoking the clothes. Despite the conversation, Max was keeping a close eye on the fire, frequently poking at it with a long ash stick.
When he spotted me, he bore a complex expression for a moment, before donning a small smile. “Bout time you got up.”
I looked up at the sun, and noticed it was high above us in the middle of the sky. “It's noon already!? You should have just woken me up.”
Oldren spoke up. “For some reason, Max didn't wanna do it. And, you know, I don't know you so~ I figured I shouldn't. We've been out here for like three hours. Or at least, I have.” He looked pointedly at Max.
“Oh yeah, I've been up since like 5 am.” He saw my look. “I got hot.”
“So~ what now?” I asked.
“Well, we have two options,” Max revealed. “Obviously, we can go back to what we were doing. OR, we can venture into the cave.”
I tilted my head, and he nodded. “I have a skill that lets me sense the wind. Its what let me predict that storm. I can feel a draft coming from inside the cave. However, the quality is weird. Its hard to describe but… I can tell that the cave is huge. And there's another opening. Who knows, it could be a short cut.”
“Yeah, to the afterlife.” Oldren sniffed. “You know what happens when people explore mysterious caves? They don't come out.” Max made a ‘hmph’ sound and turned back towards me.
“Yeah, so i'm for it, Oldrens against it. That makes you the tie breaker.” Max says, looking at me intensely.
“Adventure sounds fun.” I said lamely. Then I realized that doesn't really answer the question. “Of the cave variety, that is.” Oldren let out a light scowl, while Max beamed at me.
All in a day's work.
Everyone began moving. Max ushered me over to the rack as Oldren went back to the cave, nearly tripping on a piece of branch, too distracted by his own grumbling.
“So, our clothes are dry now. Unfortunately,” he passed his old shirt to me, and I got a whiff of something foul. “-they aren't exactly in wearable condition. Plus, my cloak is just refusing to dry off for some reason. I think it's at the end of its life span, which sucks, considering how long I've had it and all that.” He sighed. “I'll just scrap it for parts and throw it out.”
“Can't you have Oldren fix it?”
“That's the thing, even if he could, there's no reason to now. With Oldren here, he can make way better equipment.”
He took all the clothes off the rack, rolled them into a ball and set off towards the cave.
“Don't forget your backpack.” He called before stepping into the shadows.
Before I followed, I looked around at my surroundings. The entire forest was in shambles. Most of the trees were torn out of the ground, split apart by the violent winds and then sent hurtling toward the ground, which in turn sent more things into the air.
What laid before me was devastation as far as the eye could see. The ground had been churned up into pools of still liquid mud, and rolling hills of loose dirt. Trees, shattered rocks, sand, and lots of dead animals littered the ground.
But then, something caught my eye. Something glinting between debris not far in the distance. My curiosity got the better of me, and I ran towards it. Nearly a hundred feet away rested a huge knocked over tree, with a huge split in its bark facing the sky.
I climbed on top and looked inside. Then I had a thought; if the crack was facing the sky, how did I see the glint? Turns out, I didn't. Even outside of my range, I could sense the mana trapped within. And once I got close enough, I realized what it was.
A source.
At least, it must be. It shines like a beacon in my awareness, just like the fire and water source. I bent over and reached as far into the wood as I could. After some trial and error, I managed to wrench the oddly shaped crystal out of the wood.
The sudden force sent me off the trunk and crashing onto the ground. I stood up, dusted myself off and studied the glowing green crystal while walking back to the cave.
< Appraisal Result: Primal Wind Source- The result of mass and violent compression of wind aspected mana into a single place, usually the aftermath of a sentient storm. Formed at its center, the mana within crystallized into a solidified version of the aspected mana. Generates air passively. Creates wind mana when pure mana is threaded through it. >
Interesting. On a whim, I pulled up the results for the water and fire source as well.
< Appraisal Result: Fire source- The result of natural mana funneling of unneeded mana of a specific type into a random spot in nature. Such hotspots of aspected mana leech into nature and form flora of that mana type. Over a vast amount of time, a weak source of that specific mana type was grown. Passively generates heat. Sets material aflame when in close proximity. Generates unstable fire mana when pure mana is threaded through it. >
< Appraisal Result: Water source- The result of natural mana funneling of unneeded mana of a specific type into a random spot in nature. Such hotspots of aspected mana leached into nature and formed flora of that mana type. Over a vast amount of time, a weak source of that specific mana type was grown. Passively generates water. Water ceases to generate when its surrounding space is full. Generates unstable water mana when pure mana is threaded through it. >
So this one is different from the others somehow? Instead of being grown, it was made from the storm. So I guess it's higher quality? And what's unstable mana?
I shrug and then pocket the source. This one was shaped weirdly. Unlike the solid geometric triangles of the other two, this one's shape was similar to a sphere. Except it had these wide triangular ribbons of crystal wrapping around its entirety.
I walked over the scoured land and returned to the cave, where Oldren and Max were talking. About what I have no clue, as I try to stay away from their conversations.
“What to-” Max started once I came into his field of view.
I fished out the wind source and showed the both of them. “Look what I found!” Oldren immediately snatched it and began visually inspecting it. Max looked stunned as soon as he saw it.
“Some kind of source? It feels… strong.” Max quipped.
“Where the hell did you find this?” Oldren asked seriously. “Wedged between a split tree. It actually wasn't all that far from the entrance.” Then I relayed the description I got from [Super Appraisal].
“That's pretty similar to what I'm getting, but I also have some tidbits about its production value. Essentially, from what I've seen on the market, this thing could make us rich, or a target.”
“Not only is it mega expensive, but their stupid rare. Like, one in a billion chance rare. The weapon potential is off the charts, but that comes back to the materials issue again. I say we just hold onto it for now.”
“Agreed. Now let's get a move on.” Max called, already stepping deeper into the cave.
*** Primary
The tunnel continued forward for miles.
I had found it odd, the air wasn't stagnant but carried on in a neat stream. I haven't exactly been in many caves, but I feel like that shouldn't be the case. And so, when I woke up early I ventured down the cave a bit to satisfy my curiosity, but it just kept going.
Even now, ten minutes later and the cave isn't even close to ending. Alarmingly, the entire cave had been changing as we went downwards. The cave gained a noticeable but not unmaneuverable slope. The stalactites and mites had vanished. The entire cave became rectangular and positively massive, both wide and tall, I'd say about twenty feet.
Then, after a noticeable threshold, lines traced through the walls, forming a brick pattern. The wall color transitioned from boring brown to dystopian gray. While the halls remained hopelessly dark, I had a sinking suspicion I knew where we were.
A scraping sound and low growls confirmed my suspicion.
A dungeon.
Rather than fear, I was actually kind of excited. Dungeons are a very well known trope, so I doubt any of us will get surprised. Now I know I need to look out for traps, alternate paths and..
“Monsters!” The creatures that had been patrolling started running once they herd the shrill voice.
Thanks alot Lily.
“Aaaand you gave us away. Thanks a lot.”
“I was just making sure we all knew they were here!”
“My sense is four times higher than yours. If you can see them, I saw them a long time ago.”
Silence.
The group of monsters ran at us with muted hostility. Unlike others that would bellow in rage, these guys were eerily quiet. They looked like eyeless hippos the size of wolves, with legs to match. Their faces were mostly angler fish style teeth, more mouth than anything else.
Oldren summoned a portal and pulled out- is that a gun?
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Yes, yes it is.
I had stopped advancing to watch the fire fight, but then launched forward again. Oh wait, he's stealing my xp!
The fight was trivial. With my amazing sense, I could see absolutely everything. These monsters were made for the dark, and utilized tactics that benefited from the darkness. Unfortunately for them, nothing can hide from my sight.
Any sneak attacks I stopped with a cheeky skill execution. Only a minute and a half after first blood all the monsters lay dead at our feet. Oldren went around collecting bullet casings as I checked my notifications.
< lv10 Stealthopotumus Slain x9 1665 XP acquired>
< [Health Pulse] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv3>
< [Evasion] Experience threshold Reached. Lv9 -> Lv10>
< [Way of the Wind] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv2>
< [Terrain Memorization] Experience threshold Reached. Lv5 -> Lv6>
< [Strafe Lith] Experience threshold Reached. Lv5 -> Lv7>
< [Brash Dash] Experience threshold Reached. Lv12 -> Lv13>
< [Supplementation] Experience threshold Reached. Lv18 -> Lv19>
< Class skill: [High Hound] Experience threshold Reached. Lv3 -> Lv4>
A resounding head ache overtakes me as my senses dramatically increase once again. Been awhile since that one went up. Infact, I think my class skills are leveling up slower than Lily and Oldren's. I wonder what's up with that.
Once I get over the increase, I check my status.
Class - Thresher | lv 31/50 | 5467/6200 xp **
Party Composition: Max (Dealer lv4 | -18% Skill cooldowns) | Lily (Leader lv2 | Clarity Buff) | Oldren (Crafter lv1 | 5% Material Efficiency)
Name - Maximilian | Race - Modular Human m
Achievements- The Special | Self indulgent | Sure Kill | I’ll be watching you | (+6)
Hp- 5500/5500 (11000) (1/2) | St- 7895/8000 | Condition- Curse of Soul Fray
Legacy: Sky Wyrm ( Wind | Draconic )
Ability’s: Chaos Potential | Overload | Resonation | Mana Sense
SkP- 1 | Stp- 0 | Souls- 292 101 4
Assimilation Bonus:
Stats - (+31 phys)(+3A)
Strength 83
Speed 77 (+5A)
Stamina 80
Dexterity 97 (+71)
Intellect 68 (+17)
Insight 11.8
Sense 95.7 (x2.9)(+10)
Vitality 55 (1/2)
Charm 16 {locked}
Special / Class Skills
Existential Empower ||| lv16/20 - Death Resistance \ lv4/99 - Corruption Resistance ||| lv1/20 — Desperate endurance || lv3 - Schematica (4/9) || lv4 - High Hound || lv4 - Defense Vocation || lv1 - Imitation || lv1
Offense Skills -
Power Boost || lv6/10 - Penetrate || lv1/10 - Wrecking Smash || lv1/10 - Slash || lv9/10 - Sharp Shot ||| lv5/20 - Spectral Arrow ||| lv4/20 - CQC || lv9/10
Defense Skills -
Health Pulse ||| lv3/20 - Evasion || lv10/10 - Break Fall || lv1/10 - Night Owl | lv4/5 - Conceal || lv5/10 - Rumination ||| lv1/20 - Nimble Hands ||| lv9/20 - Supplementation ||| lv18/20 - Greater Pain Res || lv10/10 - Shadow Res | lv2/5 - Greater Force Res || lv5/10 - Paralysis Res | lv2/5 - Cutting resistance | lv1/5
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Mobility skills -
Strafe Lith || lv7/10 - Brash Dash ||| lv13/20 - Spring 7/7 || lv 9/10 -
Knowledge Skills -
Complex Crafting ||| lv17/20 - Adv Dismantling ||| lv5/20 - Chisling ||| lv12/20 - Toxicology || lv9/10 - Travel ||| lv18/20 - Bark Runner || lv2/10 - Terrain Memorization || lv5/10 - Knitting || lv2/10 - OLL ||| lv4/20 - Way of the Wind || lv2/10 - Seeking ||| lv7/20 - Take Down | lv3 - Grip | lv3 -
Magic Skills -
Stone Mind || lv1/10 - Mana Grasp || lv1/10 - Mana Manipulation | lv5/5
Stocks - +96 Str | +57 Spd | +63 Stm | +37 Int | +35 Vit | +33 Def | +7 Fer | +3 Stl
Piercing chomp lv1-2 x5 Crushing Bite lv1-3 x13 Ripping Snap lv2-4 x9 Healing Rush x5 Feather Faint lv4 x1 Claw Strike lv3 x2 Snipe lv7 x1 Armor Up lv1-4 x7 Thread Spin lv7-12 x34 Scale shot lv2-9 x28 Flame Charge lv7 x1 Six-Fold Smash lv23 x1 Roar lv14 x1 Fore-Blade lv19-34 x5 Sonic Javelin lv18 x1
Modularity-
Special: Assimilation
Nervous 300% Immune 300% Integumentary 300% Ardent Muscular- 300% ||| Absorbing Skeletal- 300% | Circulatory 300% Reproductive 300% Primal Assimilating Digestive 300% || Respiratory 300%
Brain 200% Heart 200% Lungs 200% Stomach 200% Intestines 200% Muscles 200% Bone marrow 200% Arteries 200% Veins 200%
Eyes 200% Ears 200% Jaw 200% Nose 200% Mouth 200% Tough Neck 200% | Supportive Shoulders 100% | Forked Tongue 200% | Arms 200% Stomach 200% Hard Hands 200% | Fingers 200% Condor Thumbs 200% | Demolishing Teeth 200% ||| Hard Hands 200% | Soft Feet 100% | Vigorous Legs 200% |||
Ok, what do I need to improve on? First off, my stats are pretty good except for insight. Insight is an advanced stat, meaning I can't directly put points into it, as it grows off another stat which, in this case, is intellect.
As for stuff I need to use, it's mostly Chaos potential and my new class skill, [Imitation]. I have no clue how it works, but I'm pretty sure I need to use it on a human. From the feeling I'm getting, it seems to be a pvp skill. I still have no clue what Chaos potential can do, or how to activate it.
I need to use my offense skills way more. My defense and mobility skills are leveling up nicely, but I need to level [Spring] and all of my resistances. Knowledge is the issue. Now that I'm traveling around, I don't have the opportunities to make stuff or dismantle things. [Toxicology] has been sitting at level nine for a painfully long time.
And then, there's my stocks. At this point, it seems like I wasted the free modification coupon. I have not been using anything at all, and the reason is… well, i'm the kind of guy to hoard items until the end of the game. Never using them, even on the final boss. Because, ‘what if I need them later!’ So yeah, I really need to stop hoarding my stocks.
As I was thinking, I had been eating all of the monsters, about fifteen counting the ones Oldren took out. I noticed his expression in the corner of my eye, and he looked well disturbed. “Hey buddy, why the long face?” He looked queasy.
“S… should you be doing that?”
“Listen Oldren, I need to eat to get stronger. It's kinda my thing. Just put up with it or look away.”
“Oh, is it one of those skill eater tropes?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
A moment later and I was ready to go. The eating had only given me a few points of strength and stamina, but I had gotten a new stocked skill: Shadow Sting. I hadn't even noticed before, but those hippos had these weird fluid tails.
I tested the skill, which materialized a black tentacle from my shoulder. It glistened in the darkness, readied its barbed end and stabbed into the wall with impressive precision.
We continued onward, until the path split off. Left hand rule, and we went to the far… left. Obviously. This signified some change in the dungeon, as alternate paths began popping up all the time. Including the frequency of patrols.
By this time, we were all accustomed to the darkness, making the sudden burst of light burn all of our retinas. Except Oldren, of course. When I say sudden burst, I don't mean we suddenly saw a light source, no, the entire dungeon switched into light mode. As if the lighting had been bugged out this whole time, and god just flicked a switch.
Safe to say, I was shocked. But, raising stats has no downsides. Everything gets an upgrade, including the ability to adjust to sudden light. The pain was an illusion, my brain's surprise given physical form.
“I hate this place.” Lily stated, whilst covering her no doubt burning eyes. We all silently agreed. As we went forward the light dimmed noticeably. Now it was just well lit and not blinding. No longer were the walls pure white, but yellow from an unseeable light source.
This weird giraffe looking thing turned the corner, and I [Slashed] its head off immediately, netting me both a skill level and actual level. Once again, no soul. Eating it gave me decent stats but no skills. We continued forward.
Then, the traps came. First, a humble tripwire. Then, quicksand. After that, the classic wall crusher. Luckily, no puzzle rooms, though we did come upon a large forest. The room was big and square, with a faux sky and cold sun. As soon as we stepped through, the dungeon walls faded into a blurry distance.
The illusion faded with proximity; if I got close, it would go back to dungeon wall, but only near the entrance. Within the forest, or more accurately, wetland, was only slightly alien fana. As soon as I saw a tree with eyes I stabbed it to death. I think.
Then, we came across a single lizard man. It was short, about four feet tall, and donned only a loincloth and stone spear. I figured it might be intelligent enough to run away, so I just stopped and watched it. The lizardman noticed us and froze, forcing an awkward staring contest. It finally hopped away after thirty seconds, letting me blink again.
We all shrugged and then continued forward. While doing so, I looked around for any poisonous flora. The poison I had been carrying since we left camp had gone bad by now, not to mention my need to level up [Toxicology].
Unfortunately for me, everything was only slightly poisonous. All of them either made your fingers numb or gave you a tummy ache, maybe a dull ache for a few minutes. Poison always comes in those three distinct flavors, death, paralysis, and pain. Other stories with poison always have neurotoxins, but I haven't seen a lick of those anywhere.
Instead of staying alert like I should have, I began looking through my modification menu. It's become a habit at this point, opening the menu whenever I get bored. The reason I keep bringing it up is because of a revelation I had.
This sub-system is clearly not meant for human use. It was pretty obvious in hindsight, I just love denying my reality. First of all, monsters have this system, we already know that. But I actually confirmed that theory while fighting the hippos, each one of them looking slightly different. Of course, that might just be genetic mutations, if not for the fact that all the ants sported similar deviation.
While that could just mean monsters in this world have a super high genetic mutation rate, I prefer to go with my theory. Why does this matter? Well, I literally can't use half of the available modifications for one big reason. It will change my appearance.
It's the same reason I didn't want to change my race in the white void. I like my own skin, I don't want to look any different, and if i'm not forced to make a change for survival sake, I won't. Is that dumb? Probably. But I'm not backing down on this one.
Essentially, I can't pick most of the integumentary upgrades. Even if they only change my skin tone, I don't want it. Like quartz, which makes my nails sharper, skin harder and overall whiter. I also considered Onyx, which made my skin denser instead of harder, but I also said no to that one. I like having the police on my side.
Others just augmented my skin in different ways. Adding scales, or segmented armor, there was even chitin! Which should technically be skeletal, but whatever. I did see one I liked though; diamond. Unfortunately, it was also stupid expensive at fifty medium souls. While I can afford it, I think I'll wait for a better option. After all, the list just keeps updating.
I have a lot of ideas, things I need to upgrade and modify, but now is not the time. I hear a snap, and I look over to my left instantly. It's that lizard, and it has some friends. From here I can't see them all due to the dense foliage, but it seems to be at least six huge lizards.
I think the small lizards are usually called kobolds, so these must be… war kobolds? I mean their red and eight feet tall, and sculpted to boot. They also wielded crude stone spears, but sported leather armor. Well, not really, just leather shoulder armor with straps running across their chests.
As soon as they appeared I took out my bow and fired three arrows straight at their heads, with the center one empowered with [Power Boost]. Predictably, the middle arrow tore through the head of one, while the left and right arrows felled the other two lizards with less fanfare.
I noticed three were standing almost right behind each other, so I summoned a spectral arrow and activated [Penetrate]. I forgot they were separate skills, and watched subtly surprised as they fused into a long and blunted red dart.
< Skill Combo! [Spectral Arrow] + [Penetrate] = [Banshee]! >
The dart shot forward like a laser. The arrow went through the three war kobolds like air, before dissipating a few feet away from the hole it had just made. Unlike the skill's name, there wasn't a sound.
“Well, that's terrifying.” Quipped Oldren, moments after executing the small one and its guard.
The constant crackling sound I had grown used to stopped, its absence finally letting me recognize it. I turned around right as a loud thud shook the ground, the body of a war kobold well cooked now lying at Lily's feet. She held a rapidly fading yellow magical construct in her hands.
“Damn, that's brutal.” Oldren said.
“I don't want to hear it, after you immediately murdered the small one once it showed its face.” Lily threw back.
“Okay girls, we’re all pretty here.” I drawled. They both looked at me. “I swear there were more of them.”
“Well, yeah.” Oldren stated straight faced. “There were, they just ran away.”
“..And you didn't think to mention that?” I gave him a tired look despite my apparent energy.
“I mentioned it just now.” He flashed a small smile.
“Okay buddy.” I sighed. “Well, come on, let's follow them.” And so we did.
< lv24 War Kobold Slain x6 5160 XP acquired >
Dang, each one of those gave eight hundred xp? Now I'm looking forward to this hunt. Truth be told, I wasn't really expecting much. But once we arrived at the fortress, I figured we might be a bit in over our heads.
I was expecting a small ramshackle village, which is still what we got, but there were like eight different villages laid over each other. The whole construct had layers and towers, houses and balconies. It was super complicated, and all made out of wood and rope.
Yeah, there's definitely some magic involved here, that is way too much weight for such flimsy wood to hold up.
Since the only real way to get in is over the roof, I gesture to Lily to come towards me so I can hoist her up as usual.
“Actually, I have a different idea.” She said, while tapping the air.
< Authorize Skill Lending? >
Ah, I know what she's doing. Authorize.
With a burst of power, she hefted herself into the sky. She landed heavily and clumsily on the roof, but got up there nonetheless. As the skill description says, a borrowed skill can’t be used by two people at once, and the cooldown is shared. For [Spring] though, that just means it has one less charge.
I executed the skill as well, with Oldren following with his own skill. We hopped between roofs and sailed past guard posts and a myriad of shotty structures. We hid among the roof tops and watched the activities of what seemed to be a ramshackle town square. With a surprise in the middle.
“You're kidding.” I whispered. Right smack dab in the middle, tied up by one big rope was a cluster of adventurers. They sported all types of equipment, and many of them were not even human. There were about twenty of them, and quite a diverse bunch.
“How the hell did a whole raid party get captured by these weak sauce lizards?” Oldren asked.
“What makes you think they’re a raid party?” I responded, without turning my head
“Nothing really, just the size of their group.” I let out a small hum in acknowledgment.
“So, what's the plan?” I ask the air. Lily responds after a beat of silence. “We-”
“Now hang on a second.” Oldren interrupted. “Do we really need a plan? Those lizards are pretty weak, what's stopping us from just going in guns blazing?” I open my mouth to speak but Lily gives me a look.
“Because, something is wrong here.” He looked at her impatiently. “Listen, I've checked those guys' levels, and they should be able to take out all of these kobolds pretty easily. So why haven't they?” Oldrens face twisted into thoughtfulness.
“Hmmm, yeah you're right. That rope is pretty terrible, they should be able to break it pretty easily. They're still armed too, it should be easy..”
“Unless something is stopping them.” Lily finished.
“So, it's either some big boss, or a hostage situation.” Lily nodded. “From my appraisal, they don't seem all that smart, so I'm thinking it's some boss monster that they aren't strong enough to defeat. Plus, I can sense a huge soul across from us, in that huge band of buildings.”
“So what do we do then?” I ask.
“Well, we should try and draw it out. I can make a show of power away from here, to at minimum draw the lizards over. Oldren will help me, while you go and free the prisoners.”
“As for xp, me and Oldren will farm the war kobolds. We can always just retreat if we get overwhelmed, then you can capitalize on the boss.”
“Sounds good to me.” Lily nodded and stood. She and Oldren wandered to the back of the roof top and began more in depth discussions, while I inspected the kobolds. Hmm, if I want to do any modifications, now's the time. Is it a bad idea to do that here? Probably. But the process goes by pretty fast. Now lets see…
Total reinforcements- 168 | Total Modifications- 15 | Total Combinations- 3 |
Souls- 292 92 4
Small = Reinforcements, Exchange
Medium = Modifications, Combination
Large = Reconfiguration, Annexation
Body systems-
Ardent Muscular-8 Absorbing Skeletal-8 respiratory-8 reproductive-8 nervous-8 immune-8 Circulatory-8 Integumentary-8 Primal Assimilating Digestive-8
Organs-
Brain-4 Heart-4 Lungs-4 Liver-
Kidney- Stomach-4 Intestines-4
Pharynx- Larynx- Arteries-4 Muscles- 4
Gallbladder- Lymph nodes- Spleen-
Bone marrow-4 Veins-4 Pancreas- Urinary Bladder-
Salivary Glands-
Body Parts-
Head- Hair- Eyes-4 Ears-4
Jaw-4 Nose-4 Mouth-4 Tough Neck-4 Supportive Shoulders-
Forked Tongue-4 Chest- Arms-4 Elbow- Umbilicus-
Stomach-4 Hard Hands-4 Fingers-4 Condor Thumbs-4
Vigorous Legs-4 Knees- Ankles- Soft Feet-4 Toes-
Demolishing Teeth-4
Special parts-
Sky Catalyst-
Okay, so according to the diagrams, the pharynx is what connects your mouth and nose to each other and your esophagus. The larynx is your voice box, containing your vocal cords, and other stuff, probably.
Lymph nodes fight infection and disease, which I haven't had any issues with. Which is strange if you think about it, but that's a common oversight in isekai stories. The liver does all sorts of good stuff, but nothing I can really weaponize right now. Same for the kidneys.
Gallbladder helps with digestion, spleen fights blood infections, and the pancreas also helps with digestion. Damn, now I know why I didn't upgrade any of them. None of them are useful! And were not even gonna talk about the bladder.
Salivary glands have potential though. And, according to the complex dialog box, apparently blood counts as an organ? Oh, yep, it just got added.
Let's see… ill upgrade heart, brain, and lungs to eight. Now lets see what I can do for my salivary glands and blood.
Acidic blood? That won't melt me from the inside right? Poisonous blood, bioluminescent blood.. Why? Smelly… nope. Oh, here's an interesting one, congealing blood. Makes my blood harden immediately upon contact with air, making it so I can't bleed out from small wounds.
I think about taking that one, before a more arcane option catches my eye. Alchemical blood? Can be used as an ingredient in alchemy with varying effects. Interesting for sure, but I don't- And then I see it. The upgrade with huge potential.
Enriched Blood- Increases the potency of liquids when mixed in.
A single thought occurred in my mind. I could strengthen my poisons with this! A somewhat lame thought. But then I began to wonder. What if I could make potions stronger with this? Imagine the killing I could make if that were true? Not to mention the synergy with poisonous blood. Would it already be stronger, or would I have to mix it separately?
More than anything, it was interesting. Lily and Oldren jumped away, so I quickly locked in that option with the others, as well as one for my integmentary system that would make my everything heal faster. The enriched blood cost seven souls, while the healing one cost four.
My thoughts ceased as my brain was overcome with static. My heart drummed painfully and my lungs shredded themselves harmlessly. I guess I forgot that blood ran through my entire body, asd I crashed into sleep mode the second I hit the confirm button.
Pins and needles worked tirelessly across my whole body. The only part that actually hurt was my lungs, though my heart beating so fast made me nervous. Once it subsided and I could move again, I peeked my head over the small wall and looked at the clearing. The last vestige of a kobold could be seen running off to the right.
I can faintly hear rushing water and static electricity, with many loud gunshots in between. I utilize [Conceal] as I flit over to the cluster of adventurers. The lot of them were looking around confused, murmuring amongst themselves nervously before I revealed myself.
“Yo.” I announced to draw their attention to me. I quickly cut the rope binding them with the now worn down short sword. They just stared at me.
“Who are you?” Shouted one of the few women of the group. She was wearing some kind of pirate get up, and she seemed to be in her early thirties. “Does it matter?” I asked dryly.
“What have you done!?!? Now that you started this commotion, that thing is gonna come back!”
One of the men muttered; “We barely survived last time.”
“You mean the big boss over there?” I said, pointing to the looming shadow stomping its way over to the square.
I ignored their wails of despair as I borrowed Lilys [Super Appraisal] and looked at the thing. Honestly? I was expecting more. It's just a colossal yellow scaled lizard with four arms and a crown of horns, labeled as a ‘Gigant Kobold’. Level fifty eight, fifth tier. I guess the tier wouldn't matter anyway, sense dungeon monsters don't have sou-
Wait a second, didn't Lily say she could sense its soul?
A calamitous roar shook the entire complex, the thin wood rattled haphazardly under my feet. “Look, I don't have time for this. Can ya'll just escape already so I can fight the boss?”
“You can't beat that thing! It's hopeless! It took all twenty of us to barely survive!” The girl wasn't even trying to feign her capture anymore. Hilariously, the thick but worthless rope sagged to the floor as she simply stood up. These lizards really just wrapped a rope around all of them like in a cartoon. They didn't even make it tight.
“That sounds like a skill issue to me.” I crossed my arms and let my eyes dance across the whole group.
“What?” She exclaimed, incredulous.
“You haven't even seen me fight before and you're already making assumptions? How narrow minded of you. Just because you guys couldn't defeat it doesn't mean someone else cant. Are you the strongest people in the world?” Silence. “Didn't think so. Just get the hell out of the way so your blood isn't on my hands.” Oof, that last line was kinda cringe.
I gesture behind me. “The door we came in from is that way. If there are alternate entrances, I don't know about them. Just get moving already.” They all stood up begrudgingly after making eye contact with the women, and made their way towards the entrance. The pirate girl stopped as the rest of her party headed up. “Good luck?” She offered hesitantly. I waved her off.
Once they had barely left the glorified arena did the big lizard step in. I sighed, and then popped my neck and knuckles. “Let's get this over with.”