by Noam Oswin
As a reward for attaining the perfect score, you will be evolved into a superior form of your species.
As a reward for overachieving the required score, you may choose your evolutionary path the next time you evolve.
Hungry.
[Evolution in Progress…]
The sensation of hunger tore apart my body and forced me to collapse unto the forest, scrambling on the floor with ants and bacteria. Tissue, veins and muscles latched upon my bony frame like parasitic mold. Climbing, they weaved over bone and draped my skeletal hand mimicking living-latex.
Food. Need food –
My body could not move. Dropping like an abandoned corpse into a shallow grave, my legs were deprived of their ability to resist gravity. I felt heavy. Bloated. Bloated, yet empty. The gnawing at the center of my being was abated when I felt something settle within my jaws for the first time.
Tongue –
I had a tongue. Lips, a mouth, and flesh within my jaw. They were arid. Flaking. The lips were scorched, the tongue was desiccated, a lone aloe plant stirred in the grains of the Sahara. There was a new sensation. It rose from the deep and engulfed me like Jonah’s whale obeying God. Reckless and hasty, it ascended to clasp and exceed the gnawing tightness of hunger. There was only one thing it could have been.
Thirst.
My throat, an anatomical feature I lacked for the longest time, belayed to me the desires of thirst. It screeched out frantic demands to be sated, itching and hissing as if it were a metal from the forge, necessitating a method to be cooled.
Water.
I wanted it. Desperately. Desperately I desired water – that beautiful, crystal clear liquid of life. Two molecules of hydrogen, one molecule of oxygen, H20 – I wanted it.
Skill [Ice Manipulation] has been used.
My entire body shuddered as ice-cold water splashed upon my form. The water jerked me. I was alert. Aware. Capable of recognizing my surroundings once more. My feet painstakingly obeyed my commands and my body followed suit.
Turn –
Turned on my back. The blue hues of dawn were vanishing to the appearance of the sun. I focused, again, on that liquid of life, trying to remember what just happened, what brought the water to me. I thought about it, water, rain, oceans – and I thought about what made water, two molecules of hydrogen and one molecule of oxygen, formula H20 –
Skill [Ice Manipulation] has been used.
The air above me rippled. Water appeared from seemingly nothingness, and I forced my weak jaw open to accept it. It splashed into my mouth, covering what I was now aware of as my nostrils and I choked from the lack of air entering into it. I choked and forced myself to swallow the water that entered my mouth without gravity’s help.
Drink – drink –
There was something wrong. No matter how much I swallowed, no matter how much water I drank, my thirst did not recede. My thirst was still there, slightly, inconsequentially muted. There was the sensation of still being thirsty. No longer parched, but still thirsty. Still truly thirsty.
None of my previous evolutions were this tiring. This weakening. What’s happening to me?
[Evolution Completed.]
Something was wrong.
[You are now a Tier 5 Monster]
Your minimum level requirement for evolution is now Level [1000].
Your estimated Threat Level has risen from [Eldritch] to [Horror].
[Kataramenos’ Gift] has been upgraded to suit your new Tier.
I had a mouth now. A mouth, and a nose, and lips and tongue and skin and flesh. I had all these things but I was still a monster. What type of monster am I?
“S-status,” I rasped.
Status
Name: Janus
Race: [Undead]
Specie(s): [High Ghilan] (Sorcerer Variant)
Monster Rank: Tier 5
Level: 1
HP: 272k/272k
MP: 448k/448k
HP Regen: 30k/Hour
MP Regen: 72k/Hour
Negative Effects: [Blood Parched] [Flesh Famished]
Positive Effects: [N/A]
Epithet Skill(s): Duality
Genocide Points Available: 169,420
Title(s): [Reincarnated] [User] [Gorger] [Larvae Slayer] [Jonah] [Parasite] [David] [Agkistrodon Slayer] [Genocidal] [Retaliator] [Phoenix] [Merciless] [Demiurge] [Sage Slayer]
The words on my Negative Effects did not bode well for me in the slightest. I rushed out to discover more.
Negative Effect: [Blood Parched]
Details: As a member of the [Ghilan] species, you require sustenance in the form of the blood of human and/or demi-human creatures to effectively function. Going an extended number of days without doing so will grant you this negative status. Animal blood cannot be used as a substitute. Nightmare blood may be used as a substitute, only if the Nightmare is of a higher Tier, or the [Demon] or [Undead] race.
Effects: Extreme Weakness, Fatigue, and –50% MP Regen Rate for as long as you remain [Blood Parched].
Negative Effect: [Flesh Famished]
Details: As a member of the [Ghilan] species, you require sustenance in the form of the flesh and meat of human and/or demi-human creatures to effectively function. Going an extended number of days without doing so will grant you this negative status. Animal meat can only be used as a substitute if the animal is [Mythical], [Legendary] or [Unique] in classification. Nightmare meat may be used as a substitute, only if the Nightmare is of a higher Tier.
Effects: –20% Max HP For every day you remain [Flesh Famished].
Note: If [Flesh Famished] remains for seven consecutive days, you will die of starvation.
Ghilan? What was a Ghilan? A monster thrived upon the consumption of flesh and blood? Was this some sort of creature between a ghoul and a vampire? Vampires were undead creatures if I recalled correctly. Was the evolutionary path I was headed one in which pale skin, fangs and garlic aversion awaited me?
I hope at the very least I don’t sparkle.
Attempting to find the humor in my situation was a bad move. Laughing landed me the sensation of a fork being scraped along my lungs. Wheezing from the pain and trying to laugh again landed me the feeling of being stabbed by an eggbeater.
[New Racial Skill Unlocked!]
Skill: [Form Feaster] Lv. Max
Details: A unique skill granted to those of the Ghilan species. Partially eating humans, demi-humans or nightmares will enable you to attain elements of their physical appearance, bits of their knowledge, personality, and abilities. Completely consuming a human, demi-human or a nightmare will enable you to fully take on their physical appearance, and completely gain their memories, knowledge, and abilities.
My lungs burned again when I laughed a second time. I could not help it. What I had on my hands, was a skill that gave an entirely literal meaning to the saying: you are what you eat.
[You defeated a significant number of creatures as a Stalker Skeleton]
[Due to the title {User} you have attained the cumulative skills of these creatures as you evolved.]
[Selected Skills have been automatically installed during Evolution Process.]
[Do you wish to in view the list of skills installed?]
[Yes]
[No]
I laughed again, a glutton for punishment as I felt like needles were breakdancing in my lungs. The skills of every creature I’d killed since my time as a Skeleton. The skills of the Kadulja, the first person with sentience I’d killed. Of Arol, of Wunder, of the Cyclops, of the dozens upon dozens of nameless nightmares that resided in Fort Zyvar.
These were the only skills I would have for the next 1000 levels.
[Displaying installed skills...]
[Skills Installed]
[Spirit Manipulation Lv. 1] attained from Kadulja.
[Beast Taming Lv. 1] attained from Kadulja.
[Barbeast Armor Lv. 1] attained from Barbeast.
[Possession Lv. 1] attained from Poltergeist.
[P
hantasm Lv. 1] attained from Poltergeist.
[Ice Manipulation Lv. 1] attained from Yuki-Onna.
Six skills? That was it? Two from the Kadulja, one from Wunder, two from Arol, and one from Onna. I had anticipated acquiring more than just six skills, but the quality was more important than the quantity at this particular stage.
Skill: [Spirit Manipulation] Lv. 1
Details: A skill unique to those of the Druid race. The user of the skill is capable of seeing and drawing upon the numerous spirits of the world, granting them the Vision of Essences o see the cores of all living beings, and manipulate these for offense, defense, or support. This infuses all of the user’s attacks with [Spirit Damage] that significantly cuts down the enemy’s Magic Defense, Mana and Willpower when struck.
Cost: This skill does not cost MP, but is reliant on the availability and willingness of spirits to help you, or your ability to bend and bind spirits to your will.
Spirits?
My gaze searched the forest. Can’t see any spirits…? Is this skill broken?
Skill: [Beast Taming] Lv. 1
Details: A skill peculiar to those of the Druid race. The user of the skill is capable of taming the wildest of beasts and animals to become their companions, mounts, and allies that aid them in battle. The user may choose how the beast in question is bound to servitude, and at higher levels, the user can tame numerous beasts simultaneously.
Cost: 5000 MP per use.
This was a skill meant for Druids to tame wild animals. There was little doubt in my mind that a nightmare had ever possessed this skill before. It made me wonder, if I could apply this skill to nightmares, in the same manner, that I could apply it to animals.
Skill: [Barbeast Armor] Lv. 1
Details: A skill that significantly multiplies the user’s defensive prowess, making them as sturdy as a full-grown adult Barbeast. Reduces incoming physical attack damage by 95%. Attacking the user with physical attacks while this skill is activated will cause recoil damage to the attacker, and has a 10% chance to inflict a random negative status effect.
Cost: No Mana Cost [Passive Skill].
It was a good thing I never attempted to physically punch Wunder.
Skill: [Possession] Lv. 1
Details: A skill that enables to user to take possession of the physical forms of objects, beasts, nightmares or people. Possessing objects costs 100MP per second, but the user cannot possess certain magical or enchanted objects. Possessing beasts and animals costs 1000MP per second, and the user’s Intelligence must be higher than that of the beast for the possession to succeed. Possessing people and nightmares costs 10,000MP per second, and the user must battle and triumph against the will and consciousness of the person to succeed. Weak-willed and weak-minded individuals are easier to possess, while stronger willed individuals are more difficult, if not impossible, to possess.
My breath – I had breath now – went still. This is Arol’s ability? It was, as I remembered her entering my cloak with relative ease. She can possess people?
No, she couldn’t. The mana cost for possessing people is insane… I doubt she had that much mana available.
My current MP was 448,000. Assuming a cost of 10,000MP per second, I could possess a person for about forty-four point eight seconds before I ran out of MP. There was no way Arol had possessed as much MP as I did, which meant possessing people was out of the realm of possibility for her. Still, I believed I could cheese the skill by merely walking through a door and refilling my MP with the aid of [Gatekeeper], I could potentially increase the amount of time my possession would work.
Skill: [Phantasm] Lv. 1
Details: A [Sustained] Skill. This skill enables to user to enter a wraithlike state. When activated, the user gains the classic abilities of most phantoms such as intangibility, floating, teleporting short distances, invisibility, casting minor illusions, summoning short eerie winds, projecting voices, and reading one’s darkest fears. In exchange, however, the User gains the weakness of specters and phantoms, and cannot use any other skills or abilities while Phantasm is activated, with the exception of Epithet Skills or other specter-related skills such as [Possession].
Cost: 25% of Available Mana.
A skill that turned me into a ghost, but I couldn’t use any of my major offensive skills while it was active, making it somewhat less useful in combat. If nothing else, the skill would be excellent for infiltrations and evasions. Escaping enemies would certainly be far less challenging when one could turn invisible and phase through objects.
Skill: [Ice Manipulation] Lv. 1
Details: A skill that enables the user to freely create, use, and manipulate ice and its other derived states and forms.
Cost: 8000 MP per use.
Other derived states and forms? The other derived states and forms of ice were more than just ice. Why was this skill called Ice Manipulation and not Water Manipulation?
A low, beastly growl interrupted my thoughts. On the floor, as I was, tired and exhausted, I only barely managed to catch a glimpse of the creature in the forest approaching me. My nostrils whiffed, the scent of earthiness and meat entering into them and rolling in wafts into my brain. Meat. Not just any meat. Gamey, tender meat.
I could smell it. Meat. Blended in with an earthy scent, my body shut down all unnecessary thoughts. Action was the only thing on my mind. Action.
With energy I did not know I possessed, I lunged. I tackled the meaty smelling creature. With more strength than I realized, I pinned it to the ground.
It was a chameleon panther. Another one of those green-furred leopards that seemed to populate the Hlahan Forest. Yet, it was not the panther itself that had brought forth that yearning, that overwhelming smell of something delicious. No, it was at the corner of the creature’s mouth, stuck in between its teeth, left in the space between its claws. That was where the meaty smell came from.
I forced pried open the creature’s jaws and examined it. There was no doubt. The scent was further overwhelming now.
Meat. Food. Meat – MEAT!
I wiped away the accumulating drool with the back of my hand with great difficulty. My new species was going to be problematic. As a skeleton, I never felt hunger or thirst. I was never overpowered with primal instincts, coded into genetic behavior. For the most part, I was immune to mental manipulations because I lacked hormones, a heart, and even a brain.
As a High Ghilan, I had regained all of those. There was a heart, beating, pumping blood through my system which I could hear with overwhelming clarity. There were lungs, intaking and exhaling air, doing so at a rate so quickly and so silently, that it only made the pounding of my heart sound faster. There was a stomach, intestines, and an overwhelming sense of hunger that pervaded me, so much so that I would pack a handful of grass and eat it, but only refrained from doing so because I knew that it would not solve anything.
Then, there were instincts. Instincts peculiar to my race. The instincts which told me that the panther beneath me had recently eaten a human. That the flakes of skin stuck in its teeth belonged to a male. That the scent of blood on its claws had belonged to a female.
The instincts of a Ghilan could identify that the blood was fairly recent. The instincts that told me that I could track down the humans the panther had attacked with nothing more than the dried flaked blood on the claws of a panther. The instincts told me what method was best used to ambush and kill the humans. The instincts told me that each passing second was one in which my prey would get further and further away.
The instincts of a Ghilan which could track down the scents like a red wispy trail lay before me. Which could hear noises and sounds miles away, but was particularly attuned to those that sounded unnatural – those that sounded to be of human origin.
The panther squirmed in vain beneath me, trying and failing to bite me, swipe at me, put up a futile struggle against me. I could hear its heart beating within. Track the flow of its blood, how it moved through veins and arteries. I knew, at
a glance, where its major organs were. At a glance, I could tell, the angle I would need to sink my teeth into it to put it out of its misery quickly – or to extend its suffering long enough to enjoy a truly satisfying meal.
“[Beast Taming.]”
The panther’s eyes glossed over. There was a brief struggle wherein the creature attempted to fight the effects but lost. The panther stopped trying to fight. It did not bother attempting to struggle. Rather than a mighty predator, I had before me an overgrown housecat.
Releasing the tamed panther from my grasp, I slumped back to the forest floor, closing my eyes.
The action made me laugh.
I can close my eyes again.
My new evolution brought to me the pleasures of being able to breathe, eat, and close my eyes, but also came with the complications of a specific diet and senses utterly and completely attuned to hunting and finding that specific diet.
“Ah, do I have –”
I sat up immediately, my eyes looking down to my form and my hands going down to confirm if it was there. It was.
“I have a cock.”
Any problems I had with the diet of my new species vanished with the realization that my new girth was massively larger than average.
Chapter 12: A King and His Kingdom
The third time I made my way into Fort Zyvar was entirely different from the first and second. No alarms rang. No forces came charging. My presence was met with silence. Silence and trepidation.
The nightmares of Fort Zyvar fled on sight. Tripping and stumbling over themselves to get away from me. Pushing each other, screaming and running. I’d barely said a word, barely made a sound, and they ran. They ran without looking back.
There was nothing different about me in the slightest, at least, as far as I knew. Sure, I was fully equipped with my Mask of Janus, my magnetite-infused, halite-encrusted Tungsten-Copper Gauntlets, and Tungsten-Copper Brogues, and my Stainless Diamond Armor – but that was not enough for them to be so wary of me.
No, not wariness. My nose – I loved having a nose – could smell it. The air reeked with terror. Terror possessed the same smell as urine-soaked bedsheets and unwashed undergarments. Every one of Erzili’s darlings was on the verge of soiling themselves, and I was not entirely sure why.
