35 Chapter 3: Tell the damn magic to fuck off! I'm doing science!

[Tavish POV]

Multiple sets of protective goggles were strapped to my face, as I finish the last weld.

Pulling off the goggles, I admire my work.

It was a concept for armored plating that I was using to test the effectiveness of tools that I had redesigned.

The welder was probably one of the easier tools to reverse engineer in this backwards world, and put me slightly closer to other mechanical marvels.

Last week, I successfully made the leap to a blunderbuss, and I was fixing to jump forward a significant amount once I could machine certain parts.

Now that I had precision tools, I could possibly make the jump to wild west guns, completely bypassing muskets.

I only had one problem.

Glancing outside, I watched the leaves falling as a crisp wind blew through the area.

Autumn had set in and, winter couldn't be that far off.

Ability discovered!

Cold Blooded

You evolved from a reptile, causing this trait to carry over, making your body partially poikilothermic.

I didn't realize it at first, but as time wore on and it got colder and colder, it got progressively harder to get up in the mornings.

So, I set about finding a solution so I didn't hibernate throughout the winter.

The lesser fire spirit stones, put off a little bit of heat, and I originally thought of lining the floors of the dungeon with them, but I quickly discovered an issue.

It was horribly inefficient.

I didn't have nearly enough stones mined to set in the floor, plus it would be essentially throwing away money and crafting materials if I used them this way.

I spent a significant chuck of time trying to find a solution before it unwittingly fell into my lap.

The area of the dungeon, and the mine was built on top of a massive natural hot spring!

After careful planning and ingenuity, with a healthy dash of geomancy, the dungeon had heated floors, and I had a source of water for during the winter months.

Plus, I had a nice hot spring to just chill in.

I bypass some of my previous welding projects on my way to modernize the spring some more.

Several massive stills sat there as the contents percolated away.

This was my attempts at ethanol, whisky, mead and several other beverages important for "scientific" purposes.

I grew enough of a corn-like plant during the summer, which allowed me to use about a quarter of my crop for this endeavor.

I even managed to start a makeshift hydroponics/ botanical facility in the dungeon!

Now that I had centralized heating throughout the facility, I was able to set up the basis for it by digging out the area and adding light sources.

While I hadn't made the jump to lightbulbs yet, the magical equivalent that currently existed was light crystals.

As far as I've been able to sus out, is that they are crystals enchanted with a spell called "Sunlight" which works just fine for my purposes.

Then I just coaxed the earth and water spirits down here and they started tending to the wellbeing of the flora in here.

I had a lot of element-based spirits hanging around the dungeon. With the introduction of the lightning slimes, even "lesser lightning spirits" were starting to show themselves and hang around the slimes.

As far as I could tell, the spirits were some sort of benevolent force that showed up naturally if went undisturbed. If they liked hanging around certain areas, the residual power they give off results in the formation of spirit stones based off the type of spirit in the area.

A fluffy tail poked up from behind one of the tray's as I mount another light crystal.

This tail was shortly followed by a cat's face poking out from around the side.

"Tavish! I didn't see you come in! Nya~!" The creature meowed, as it carried some herbs to another portion of the area.

This was Regie. Regie happened to be a "Cat Sith" or better known as a cat spirit. He was the presence that I had sensed watching me over the course of the summer.

After my bloody rampage against the knights, the slaves that had been freed had disappeared for a bit before making a reappearance with several of the cat spirits amongst them.

While they weren't warriors of any stretch of the imagination, they were very good craftsmen and handymen.

The fact that they looked almost identical to the Palico's from monster hunter had no bearing on my decision to let them stick around.

It was actually this quality that caused them to be hunted by humans as pets and servants.

Anyway, back to the slaves.

Many had tried to return home only to discover the villages being purged and looted, leaving nothing behind for them to return to.

So, after some negotiation, I allowed the slaves to establish themselves as a part of the ecosystem.

Their was a nice variety of creatures among the slaves that I wasn't even aware existed.

In addition to the beastmen and Cat Spirit's, their were dwarves, leprechauns, dragon newts, and several humans.

This addition to my home lessened many of my day-to-day chores considerably with more hands to help out.

The drawback, was more mouths to feed, but the humans were quick to help supplement that with their knowledge of farming and hunting techniques. They even pointed out several animals in the forest that, if domesticated, would supply other needs as well.

Which led to the capture of several rather interesting creatures.

[Cowmooflage]

A type of bovine found in a variety of places around the world. It possesses the ability to blend into the environment to hide itself from predators.

The beastmen were well versed in the concepts of preservation of meat and fish so most of them were out stocking the larder and preserving food for the winter.

I didn't have a lot in the way of fruit yet, so any that we acquired was harvested from wild bushes and trees.

Once the botanical garden is properly running, we should hopefully be able to expand what we have in the way of fruit.

The dragon newt's proved to be a nuisance at first, wanting to compete for "The Boss" position of this dungeon, resulting in an impromptu spar to teach them a lesson.

Most of them were former adventurers so they quickly fell into the role of guards, hunters, and warriors. This filled a much-needed gap in my defenses. This in turn, allowed me to reduce the number of traps I had to cover those gaps.

The Dwarves took over our blacksmithing and mining, providing us with an export we could actually trade to other villages. The adventuring guild in the nearest village went through a lot of metal to supply adventurers with the needed equipment, and the income we received off of that gave us leverage to get more supplies from other towns.

The Dwarves also proved an excellent sounding board for many of my own ideas and material substitutes for some of my creations.

The leprechauns were the real surprise in all of this though.

Roughly five to six inches tall, these tiny beings looked nothing like common folk lore regarding them.

Their features consisted of two eyes, hands, legs, and a head, leaving them looking slightly more defined than the lesser spirits, but still relatively featureless.

Rather than possessing uncanny amounts of luck, they were really good at leatherworking, and making clothing.

Once upon a time, there were entire villages that traded off of nothing but leprechaun products and they got along fine.

Unfortunately, they got hunted in a similar manner to the Cat Sith, leaving them with dwindling numbers.

The Leprechauns also were the reason that I am actually wearing clothes for the first time in this world.

A big overcoat with extra sleaves to compensate for my arms, hung from my shoulders as I moved throughout the fort making our prep for winter.

I was kinda hoping that when I evolved again that I'd have legs of some sort. This slithering around was becoming a bit of a pain, and I always had to clean off my belly before coming inside.

It was also significantly more difficult to hide my trails through the woods. Anyone with eyes could basically determine that "giant snake wuz here" and plan accordingly.

But thankfully, the new prey I was hunting now cared little for such matters.

I had been stalking this beehive for a few days watching their movements and determine their viability to be domesticated.

[Rock Bee]

A type of bee that builds its hive within various rock faces and caves. While it doesn't possess a stinger, this bee is capable of cutting through rocks with its pincers.

One of the bee's flew out of the boulder I was watching carrying a cocoon, which I decided to follow.

After following him for about a mile, he set the cocoon at the base of the tree and flew off back home.

Picking up the cocoon, I use observe.

[Rock Bee Queen Cocoon]

Occasionally, a new Rock Bee Queen will evolve from a standard Rock Bee. The current queen of the hive will not tolerate other queens in the hive, thus standard Rock Bee's will "get rid" of the new queen, ensuring the proliferation of the species.

Bingo.

I'm hoping that in conjunction of my "Monster Tamer" class, I can tame the bee's and use them in conjunction with the indoor farm to slowly help become self-sufficient from other towns.

Scooping up the cocoon, I start planning on where it will reside.

[Time Skip]

I assemble the pieces on my work table as a little slime hands me each part piece by piece.

Holding the finished product up under the light, I examine the product of many long nights of work.

[Revolver] (Basic)

A standard six-shooter and the first non-magical variant of its kind in the world. Chambered in .44 magnum.

Finally!

It was a pain to even make bullets but I finally advanced far enough to make this work!

Patting the helpful slime on the head, I set it aside and started reading one of the books Velvet left behind.

Winter had fully set in several weeks ago, causing most of our outside activities to come to a standstill, but the inside of the former dungeon was as active as ever.

The residents picked up new projects to help pass the time as winter set in fully. The spirits themselves were excited by the various activities that my summer prep allowed them to participate in.

[Due to consideration to the spirits, a new job has been added!]

[Spirit Farmer] (1/100)

You are able to enlist the help of spirits for various farming-based tasks

After I received that job, the number of lesser spirits fliting around increased, as they seemed to take up permanent residence in the dungeon.

This was something I was fine with because unlike some humans in this world, they weren't racist assholes.

Speaking of the humans, it seems as if the winter put a halt on their plans to wage war on the elves.

A camp of soldiers has established itself outside of the Goblin Slayer's village and seemed to be intending on riding out the winter there.

We've limited our trips to town in order not to draw the attention of the soldiers, but even with that, trading became extremely limited due to the strain on the local economy from hosting the soldiers.

Furs and pelts became a hot commodity as the winter got harsher as time wore on.

While, we were straining slightly from the quick onset of the cold, we were managing alright thanks to our prep beforehand.

I'm hoping that we'll have enough time during the next summer to prep adequately for the future.

The sudden intake of the former slaves right before autumn really threw me off as far as my initial prep for winter.

But thankfully, with everyone chipping in, nobody was starving, and nobody was freezing, which is probably the best scenario one could hope for.

We had enough supplies to get us through the winter, and hopefully, we have the parts and pieces to start growing quickly again in the spring.

It was warm enough to grow stuff in the botanical garden, but most of the space was quickly overtaken with flowers in order to sustain the rock bee population.

This made expanding the botanical area a good time passer as the winter continued.

But in the meantime, learning about the concepts surrounding the magic of this world would be my best bet as a time waster.

They had just about a magic for every category you could possibly think of.

Apparently, every creature capable of using mana had some type of magic that they could just innately use.

My species, or more likely, something I ate gave me something called "Demise" magic.

After following along with the mumbo jumbo that was advised for using your innate magics, I tested out the lowest tier of the so called "Demise magics".

And promptly decided that the entire branch of magic could just fuck right off!

The lowest tier was a super edgy sounding spell called "Spear of the End", and it blew a goddamn hole in the wall.

No rubble, no debris. There was nothing fucking left of that portion of wall.

Probably something I don't particularly want to use on a consistent basis.

I took the time over the winter to catalogue all the abilities I acquired just by eating and absorbing the various being that crossed my path.

At some point I discovered that I could gain even more stuff from consuming artifacts, but I quickly grew bored of such a practice when I realized the totality of weird abilities that I picked up.

I ate something called a blue alchemy jug at one point and now, once a day I can create a specified quantity of a specific drink or food topping.

For instance, one day I created four gallons of beer, while the next day, I created one quart of boiling hot tea.

"Iris, what the ever-loving hell am I going to use to keep track of the abilities attached to this body?" I question.

[So, there is actually a reason for the plethora of abilities.]

[Upon reaching a certain stage, the collected abilities and jobs will be sacrificed.]

[The abilities will be exchanged for hard set abilities specific to your final evolution.]

So, the more creatures I eat the better the end result?

This sounds a lot like Pac-man . . .

[Yup! So eat up so you get big and strong!]

What are my stats right now?

Name: Tavish Byrne

Race: Hydra Lord (Variant)

Evolution Level: 58/100 (Stage 3 of 5 before final evolution)

Str: Hercules's younger cousin

Dex: Fast as a whip

Tou: Bullet proof

Int: Smarter than the average bear

Wis: Built Stupid

Cha: F*cking scary looking

Lck: Luck 'O the Irish

. . .

Iris . . .

[Yes dear Tavish?]

What's wrong with my stats?

[Whatever do you mean?]

[I just gave an accurate assessment based off the system . . .]

. . .

. . .

[Anyway, another option is you could just steal characteristics of what you eat.]

[That might reduce the number of weird skills.]

Can I go eat a Technomancer?

[There is no such thing in this realm.]

God damnit Iris!

Fine then, we'll do it the hard way.

I head back to the cave that serves as my room.

Entering, a passerby would notice how it looked like a weird cross between a dragon's hoard and a mad scientists lab. A massive hammock hung in the corner woven with my web weaving that I picked up by eating demon spiders.

Clearing off a workbench, I start writing up a diagram for a familiar double-barreled shotgun.

[Wait, hold on . . . that requires energies not available in this universe. . .]

But there are substitutes . . . I just need to find the right ones.

[Time Skip]

The snow was melting on the ground outside as another explosion echoed out of my work area.

Regardless of my attempts, it was really freaking hard to create a shotgun infused with energy equivalent to a super shotgun.

I guess I'd have to settle for what I had made so far.

The revolver had already been tested out on some goblins with excellent results. I think then only thing I have left to make is a lever action of some sort and I can go about accelerating my hunting speed.

Speaking of hunting, a wyvern crash landed during the winter injuring itself on one of my few remaining log traps I had left laying around the forest.

[Flashback Start!]

I came upon the clearing where I saw the Wyvern, to see it had landed on one of my old spiked log traps.

The spikes had punctured the membrane of his left wing and the creature was lying motionless in the middle.

Drawing a spear that I had pulled from Velvet's possessions, I slither quietly closer.

Aiming for where I thought the heart was, I moved closer to pierce it when suddenly, teeth filled my vision, and I lost all function of thought.

[3rd Person POV]

The wyvern's neck whipped around, allowing its jaws to close around Tavish's head.

With a quick snap, the wyvern came away leaving Tavish headless.

As the wyvern lifted its own head to munch on its snack, it heard a squelching noise and turn to observe Tavish's head regrowing along with something extra . . .

[Tavish POV]

Skill Activated!

[Hydra Regeneration] (4/100)

Awareness came back as I gingerly rub the base of my neck.

"Fuck! That smarts!" I snarl, the creature glaring at me.

"You're telling me . . ." an identical voice off to my right interjected.

I turn my head, only to nearly drop my spear in shock at the second head that had grown from then injury.

"Ah. Well, I can't say that I didn't expect it." I muse, prompting the other head to turn and observe me.

"Yeah, we should have expected this after losing our hands several times." He commented.

"Well next evolution, let's hope that this doesn't become a thing. No offence, but I'd much prefer legs than these extra head shenanigans." I offer causing him to nod in agreement.

"You said it, at least this will revert in a few days." He mused, before directing his glare at the creature.

"You know what I'm thinking?" He offered.

"Yeah, let's go get our damn head back . . ." I growl and we dart around the injured beast.

Lifting the tip of the spear, I ram it into the creatures flank several times as the wyvern roars in pain.

"Is their anything special about that spear?" The other head called, as I catch the beast's flailing tail to stop it from knocking us over.

"I think the name on it was "Kazikli Bey" or something?" I comment back.

"Think about it, that's Turkish for something . . ." The other head led on.

"I can't, I only have a portion of our mind available after the head removal. Maybe a possible benefit of multiple heads?" I question as the other head nods.

"Extra brain power unlocks, I guess. You've been handling most of the fighting as it is, so maybe I'm like a strategy brain or something?" The other head mused as I let go of the tail and roll out of the way of a blast of fire from the wyvern's mouth.

"Possibly . . . or a rendition of "parallel thought" from the main body. Anyway, hurry up with the explanation, this guy might try to eat another head, or an arm, or something!" I snap, switching full focus to the overgrown lizard.

"Ok first off, rude. Secondly, fair point. "Kazikli Bey" translates to "Vlad the Impaler". So, I imagine that it has abilities based off of that?" I the other head asked.

"From the point I stab, hundreds of spears will stab out in a hundred-foot radius." I quickly explain, stabbing the wyvern again.

"So, it's great for AoE, not so much single targets. Alright then! Standard battle procedure! Let's poison the weapon, stab him a few more times and wait for the bastard to tap out." The head explained enthusiastically, as I quickly follow the instructions and retreat.

"I also have a slight point of note; Why haven't we shot him yet?" the other head questioned, causing me to halt and swear.

Pulling out the revolver, I took several shots at the beast some of them even punching through, but other only cracked some scales on his hide.

"Hmmm, mixed results. I'll just file away for later that we need armor piercing rounds. Really wish we had bolter rounds, but I don't think we can reach that level of tech all by our lonesome in the time we have." The head commented as the wyvern finally collapsed.

"Alright! Let's butcher the critter and bring him back! The folks back home will like-." I started before a beam of energy swiped through the trees removing the heads from my body once more.

[Hydra Regeneration]

My health bar drops again as three heads sprouted, each looking a different direction.

"Fucking goddamn piece of shit! Why do people keep doing that?!" the second head swore.

"If I had to guess, its because that usually kills shit. We just seem to have poor luck in that regard." The new third head commented, scanning the trees.

"Keep an eye out, our health bar is getting dangerously low. We need to eat something to boost it a tad." The first head commented, ducking down and slithering over to the wyverns tail and chopping off a piece and absorbing it.

Thankfully between the three heads, we had three hundred sixty-degree view, so we quickly spotted the perpetrator.

Some frickin' blonde kid came out of the woods wielding a great sword, followed by an entourage of other adventures.

"Forsooth! One mighty smite is not enough to fell this beast, it appears as if we must deal with this ourselves." The kid exclaimed, as his friends readied their weapons.

"That little shit's not talking about us, right?!" the second head commented.

"We are supposed to have our adventuring badge visible at all times to identify us. Maybe he didn't see it?" the third head offered.

"Well, he can certainly see it now, but it doesn't seem like they're hesitating." The first head snarls before slashing a line in the earth a foot in front of the blonde ponce, causing them to halt.

"Now that I have your attention. Do you intend to assault a fellow adventurer? The first head questions while the other two heads await a response.

"Adventurer? All I see is another beast in need of slaying!" the man scoffed before pointedly stepping over the line.

"Well, you know what they say . . ." the first head commented.

"Rip and Tear . . ." the second head supplies.

"Until it is done!" the third head finishes.

I throw my spear, causing the blonde's head to explode from the force.

[Thousand Thorns]

The special ability of Kazikli Bey that releases an AoE attack of hundreds of spears.

Many of the brats' hangers on were shredded by the violent spear and tried to escape.

Drawing my double-barreled shotgun, I resolve to not let such event occur.

"See! That spear is better used on crowds! Just like I said!" the second head chipped in.

A wall of earth rose blocking the adventurer's path of retreat.

"It appears I've been given the ability for mana management, leaving you to the physical work . . ." the third head mused as I unload both barrels into a wizard.

"Heads up!" the second head called, allowing us to dodge a sword.

The chap that swung that blade, quickly followed up with an identical one from his other hand, which scored a scratch on my cheek.

He had several other identical blades hanging from his waist, but I observed the ones he was holding for the moment.

"Those are a bit small for us, aren't they?" The second head questioned.

"But I do like the shape of the blade. Its sufficiently wide. Straight the length of the blade. And the curve on the tip is excellent for slicing into someone's ribs." The third head commented.

"Ew. Dude, the way you talk is too clinical. Just say you like the dope ass swords. The way you said it was creepy." The second head replied, making a face.

"I think it would be cool of we could use four swords at once! Then we could be a swashbuckling pirate!" the first head commented.

"Using four swords would be unnecessary . . ." the third head commented only for the first head to scoff.

"Look, we have four hands. All I'm saying is that it would be a shame to not use our full potential to optimize our combat potential." The first head replied trying to appeal to the third head.

"Plus, using four swords would be so cool! We could stab up to four people at once!" the second head cheered.

"I suppose that is logical, being more versatile in combat is always a good thing. This also could potentially reduce reload times if we decided to use guns of some form." The third head caved after some thought.

"Yay! We're on our way to becoming the four-armed swordsman!" the second head cheered.

"You need to work on your naming conventions." The first head commented dryly, finally managing to shoot the swordsman.

[Flashback End]

It was a hell of a fight but it provided a much-needed surplus of fresh meat through the winter months.

My extra heads took an entire month to revert back to my normal singular head, which increased my resolve not to get my head torn off again.

On a side note, extra heads to bounce ideas off of, with their own dedicated processing power, helped me progress in leaps and bounds as far as my technological prowess.

The third head could apparently tap into my memories with astounding clarity and remember bits and pieces of information that I would normally discard as irrelevant, and extrapolate various ideas and information that I could use here.

It remembered parts and pieces of a documentary regarding penicillin, allowing me to treat bacterial infections.

Normally, diseases of this nature were something that was usually relegated to the local alchemist, which ended as soon as they crammed a "Cure-disease" potion down your throat. But this practice was sometimes expensive depending on the alchemist in question.

For me, it was a matter of creating blue mold, refine, collect, and cultivate gram positive bacteria from it for the antibiotic.

This world didn't particularly need such an invention, it was more for extrapolating and mapping out how the world worked versus just chalking it up to magic.

I'd love to put some DNA from my current body under a microscope so I could properly examine why I was evolving the way that I was, but that would have to wait until I had proper equipment.

Back to the wyvern, I dragged the corpse back to the fort, and the sight of the fresh meat seemed to breathe new life into the semi-listless dungeon.

It was very hard to let the corpse be taken away by the cooks, and it was even harder to sit there and wait while the savory smells floated about.

But the meal made it worth it.

Let the record show that wyvern steaks are fucking delicious and is something I would go out of my way to hunt in the future.

Abilities gained

Wyvern Flight (1/100)

Allows the user to sprout wings enabling them to fly.

Wyvern Gland (1/100)

Grants the user the use of a breath weapon based off their elemental attunement.

Wyvern Legs (1/100)

Wyvern's possess large digitigrade legs that end in massive claws for both picking up prey, or rending them open.

I had to restrain myself till spring before attempting to hunt another wyvern.

But now that spring was here, I could stretch my coils properly.

With The metamorphosis I got from the slime, I finally had some damn legs that I could make work, but it was a bit awkward to move about at first, because I essentially sprouted legs on a snake's body.

But once I figured how to redistribute the mass of my body, I could run quite fast.

Flying was significantly easier, only requiring me to build up the required muscles to maintain extended flight.

Many of my flights resulted in me killing a goblin or two for observational purposes.

The goblins of this world seemed to be extremely bestial in nature, always following baser instinct, and so far, always leaning towards an evil alignment of some sort.

I have yet to meet one that wasn't out to rape, kill, or pillage a nearby settlement of some sort.

Flying around, I discovered several settlements in the forest that fell during the winter solely due to goblin attacks.

The goblins in my area had moved on due to the presence of the larger predator, and instead, moved further west, spending the winter raiding the outskirts of the city.

It also explained where the goblin slayer had gone, as he was following the goblins to their new home.

So, I followed after the goblins as well.

I felt partially responsible for the little monsters so I decided to use them to sort out my martial prowess.

As far as using my fists and claws to punch, kick and rip the little fuckers apart, it was great! I had a whole extra set of arms to brutalize goblins with. But when I added weapons into the mix, I had to really coordinate exactly how to fire a gun or swing a blade.

Made for really good practice, but its probably more practical to carry a variety of weapons versus four full sized swords.

I could get away with short blades or carrying two, but as far as four arms, its far better for multitasking on certain projects.

At least, for now.

Actually, I'm mildly curious on how I would type if I went to a place with computers. Would I have to specially design a keyboard for it? That might prove interesting . . .

I was drawn out of my thoughts when I heard a scream down below as I flew towards the city.

Glancing downward, I see a carriage getting swarmed by a horde of goblins.

Flexing the claws on my legs, I tuck my wings and target a hobgoblin.

Striking the creature like a thunderbolt, I crush him under my weight and lash out with my claws and tail, drawing the attention of the rest of the goblins fairly quickly as blood splattered the ground.

Grabbing another goblin around the throat, my feet dig furrows into the corpse beneath me as I launch myself skyward, goblin in tow.

Tossing the goblin to the side, letting gravity finish him off, I inhale and breath out.

[Wyvern Breath]

A wave of black energy washed over a third of the goblins, vaporizing them from existence as I draw my spear from my subspace.

The spear's ability activates as I stab through yet another goblin, hundreds of spears stabbing out around me causing goblin blood to paint the surroundings red.

My second set of arms drew revolvers and started putting rounds into any goblin outside my range.

Movement on the edge of my vision drew my attention as I looked at the carriage. A group of goblins were trying to tear one of the inhabitants from its confines.

Reloading, I clear the group, inflicting gaping bullet wounds. When the last of the goblins fall, it reveals the terrified humans in the carriage. Several of the females already had shredded clothing from when the goblins tried to drag them out.

Observing them for a moment, I turn to the rest of the goblins that were already running it terror.

What bothered me about this action, was that there was still a sizeable number of goblins left.

It even looked that their was a goblin lord amongst them judging by the size of the creature, but I'm pretty sure I'm not that scary right?

A shadow overhead enlightened me to the reality of the situation.

Looking up, I saw a massive bird diving on me.

[Jade Eagle]

Lvl – 232

Thoughts – you stand between it, and an easy meal.

Oh fuck off you giant feather duster.

Drawing my tetsubo and two hand axes, I crouch down and launch myself skyward.

My clawed feet impacted into his feathered chest, locking us together and throwing off his flying slightly as my claws dug furrows into the bird.

These digitigrade legs were growing on me to be honestly. They are giving me options that I couldn't envision as possible with regular human legs. The current leverage I had to just tear into this bird's belly was amazing.

Swinging out, I slam the tetsubo into the side of the eagle's head as it tried to grab me in its beak.

Driving a hand axe into the base of his wing, I hack at the tendons forcing the bird to screech in pain and redouble its efforts to grab me.

Anchoring one of the axes in his shoulder, I flip myself up onto his back, slamming my clawed feet into my new position and digging in.

Grabbing the tetsubo with two hands I proceed to inflict significant brain damage on the massive bird, his attempts to shake me off getting weakier and weaker until its wings finally give out and pitches towards the ground.

Kicking off, I spread my wings once more as I watch the creature hit the earth.

Landing safely, I break his skull open with a few good whacks from the metal club, before processing the meat.

Thinking back on it, I've had a distinct lack of bird in my diet up to this point and I was very curious as to how the bird in this world would taste.

[Time Skip]

That stupid bird.

I brought it back to base to share with everybody. And it was a very tasty bird that fed the entire camp for a week.

But the hair I had managed to grow since evolving has switched from a smooth texture, to feathery and fluffy.

Thus, making my terrifying visage, significantly less terrifying.

Ah well, I was able to wander around the towns a bit more freely. The wings made it extremely useful to travel between my home and the city of Water Town on a semi consistent basis.

The soldiers in the area of my home hadn't quite made a move against the elves yet, but I figured they were waiting for reinforcements or something, so that restricted me on how far I could go from my home.

I have no doubt that if given the chance, they'd try to recapture the former slaves, or take my shit, so I had to stay somewhat near the base.

On the topic of water town, I'm pretty sure that this was the town the Goblin Slayer's party would visit on request of the sword maiden.

When they would get here, I have no idea.

Either way, I had access to a major trading hub now.

Most of my trades were done with local alchemists and blacksmiths, but occasionally, I'd deviate from this practice.

[Wheel of cheese] (common)

A wheel of cheddar made at a local farm. This one possesses hints of spice from a type of chili.

[Bread loaf] (common)

A loaf of sourdough.

[Roast Beef] (common)

[Jug of Mead] (common)

[Mustard sauce] (rare)

A product refined from mustard seeds.

Occasionally, I'd acquire something that may be considered a luxury here.

Honestly, I was in the mood for a sandwich and I found just about all the food stalls here lacking in such an item so I had to improvise.

I found a nice spot in the park, and spread out a cloth.

Pulling out a knife, I sliced the bread, cheese, and meat before slathering the mustard on the bread.

Placing the final piece on top of the completed sandwich, I lift it up to my mouth and take a huge bite.

"Excuse me sir, can I ask you some questions?" A voice interrupted my enjoyment of the sandwich.

Turning to look, my irritation vanished as I realized that a priest was the one who addressed me.

With a small contingent of other religious people . . . what fun . . .

Goddammit, am I about to be chased out of town by the local religious groupies?

At least the local crusaders and witch hunters haven't appeared yet, which left me slightly hopeful.

Chewing slowly, and swallowing my mouthful, I finally answer; "I suppose, but I'm only going to be here a bit longer. Gotta finish my sandwich before takeoff." I reply, eying over the looks the group was exchanging with each other.

"What manner of creature are you?" The priest asked un-phased by the looks passing back and forth.

"I believe my last evolution evolved me into a "Hydra Lord Variant"." I inform cautiously, my own curiosity getting the better of me.

"So do you possess the blessings of one of the great gods?" The priest continued, his followers watching me intently.

"Hmm, I did acquire the title "Blessing of the Great god of End and Origin" at some point but . . ." I trailed off as the priest gasped and fell to his knees followed by his groupies.

Did I miss something?

[Time Skip]

So I think I forgot a few key details of Re:Monster.

Anyone who possessed a blessing of the great god, was considered a religious icon. Something akin to a god descending to earth to hang out with the mortals.

Those who possessed this blessing would either receive worship from the followers of the church, or they would be sacrificed to the god in question.

I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the evolutionary stage the church found them in, because if I was found as a snake, I would probably have been sacrificed.

Either way, I now found myself sitting in the massive cathedral that took up a portion of the town, right underneath a statue of a massive being. Upon closer inspection, I could see the symbol of the ouroboros resting in the figures outstretched hand.

Apparently, I was waiting for a meeting with some religious figure of some sort.

The clink of scales nearby drew my attention to the blindfolded priestess that came to a stop a few yards away.

Sword Maiden

Lvl – 576

Thoughts – Fascination, awe, curiosity

Her level is over five hundred?!

While I knew the power scaling of this world is kinda whack, I would have to evolve twice and then some to even match her.

Though I should have expected it. She is one of the hero's that killed a demon lord.

"I never thought I would meet yet another being chosen by one of the great gods in my lifetime." She said quietly, walking around and eyeing me carefully.

"Well to be fair, I had no idea about the title itself until that priest interrupted my lunch." I commented, shrugging.

"It was a literal title bestowed by a higher being, and you didn't find it important to find out about it?" She asked, smiling slightly.

"Don't put much stock in "titles". I put stock in what people tend to do if they find you to be different or special. Plus, I was kinda busy fending off empire soldiers, killing whatever tried to eat me, and gaining an understanding of the world." I list off, causing her to nod in understanding.

"Yes, precious few chosen by the great gods ever evolve to a state to consciously converse with the church . . ." the sword maiden commented.

"Even fewer based of their penchant for killing and sacrificing said "god's chosen". I interject causing her to grimace.

"Well, I never claimed the church was perfect." She replied causing me to chuckle.

"Very well, I'll cut to the chase then . . . what does the church want from me? I'm content to be on my happy way, but I have a feeling that some would be rather disappointed." I question, focusing on the priestess intently.

"Very, we'd like to establish a relationship where you return to the church rather frequently. Word of your presence has started to spread, and one of the bishop's has mentioned that your close to evolve once more from your current state." She stated without preamble.

I was actually pretty close to my next evolution, but I wanted to eat more tasty critters before I did.

"I'm a bit curious as to how you know that. I don't usually keep a close track on how close I am to evolving." I muse, a small smirk making its way onto the sword maidens face.

"We have our ways. The church wishes to witness your next evolution. It is somewhat of a "Holy Event" that can be witnessed very seldomly . . ." She stated.

"Y'know, I feel that this wouldn't be as seldom if you stopped sacrificing the "chosen of the great god's"." I innocently comment.

"We would also like it if you participated in several of our various functions." She continued, ignoring my snipy remarks.

"So you want a show pony, great . . . So what on earth are you going to offer me to even consider entertaining this request." I shoot back, stressing the "consider".

She raised her hand and some unseen servants made themselves known carrying a treasure chest.

Opening it, they expose three large gleaming gems that I recognized as monster cores.

[Eldar Tempest Core] (Legendary)

A monster core from an Eldar Tempest. A massive serpent found at the heart of many storms.

[Frost Giant Core] (Epic)

A monster core from one of the frost giants of the north.

[Dragon Turtle Core] (Mythic)

A monster core from a Dragon Turtle.

Each of these beasts were powerful in their own right, but to have the source of their power sitting in front of me, definitely made me pay attention.

The fact that the church was willing to pull out such treasures, made me think their was something else going on.

A monster core, could be used to forge higher tier artifacts, armor, and weapons. For me, it was just a powerup if consumed, but for the church, each and every one of these cores could equip an entire adventuring party.

A very powerful party given the level of cores I was being presented.

I glanced at a bestiary at one point when I was putzing about the adventurer's guild, and these creatures were certainly nothing to sneeze at.

Goddammit, I might have to come back to this world for some experiments with genetics. Mythical creatures were certainly fascinating and I imagine I'll be one of the few people able to study their genetic makeup.

"Well . . . if you didn't have my interest before, you certainly do now. Is the church truly willing to part with such treasures?" I question, examining the sword maiden.

"Only one of these treasures actually belongs to the church. The other two belong to the royal family of the Sternbild Kingdom." The sword maiden stated, a hint of trepidation creeping into her tone.

Wracking my brain, I try to remember anything about that particular kingdom.

I felt like it was fairly prevalent to the main story of Re:Monster.

"Oh? Is the king there a supporter of the church?" I ask trying to buy myself time as I wrack my brains.

"Actually, it's the queen that seems to hold fascination with you . . ." She corrected and it finally clicked.

The queen of the Sternbild Kingdom was over the top religious, often becoming enamored with religious objects and beings affiliated with the church.

"Ah . . . shit." I state blandly, causing the sword maiden to nod in agreement.

"Indeed. She wishes to be here personally for the evolution." The priestess admits sheepishly.

I glance back at the monster cores and hold an internal debate.

"This is the price for witnessing my evolution?" I question causing her to nod.

I don't know if its worth it really. The queen may keep some distance, but during my evolution process was my most vulnerable state.

The priestess leaves me to deliberate as I debate about the merits of a decision, the silence of the church looming as night cast its gloom over the church.

[Omake: An Eternal, a Necron, and Tavish walk into a bar . . .]

Two shrouded figures wrestle with metal tubes at the base of a massive golden throne.

"Alright, the life support is running on the auxiliary support." A mechanical voice whispered as his compatriot wheeled over an equally large wheelchair.

"Honestly it's a fuckin' miracle he's still alive like this." The man whispered back as he started to levitate the corpse like being on the throne into the wheel chair.

"I'm more surprised that he hasn't tried to incinerate us yet." The Necron mumbled, using some of his own anti-grav tech to move the entity.

"Well, that's because he's extremely curious about what we're planning. We are not exactly something you see every day." The man whispered, gently moving the life support system to hang off the back of the wheel chair.

"Very fair. Usually its just demons, custodies, and the occasional assassin trying to break in." The Necron mused, as he helped strap the giant being into the chair.

"The fact that this is literally; kidnapping grandpa from the nursing home, must also be putting a new spin on things." The man commented, fastening the last of the life support to the chair.

"Alright Tavish, we're officially mobile. Now, how do you plan to get him out of here?" the Necron questioned, examining the unconscious custodes still in the room.

"Well, if you wanted to do it quietly Trayzn, we missed our chance the moment we knocked these dipsticks out." Tavish commented, nudging the boot of one of the unconscious custodies.

"We could always portal out." Trayzn suggested as the two friends wheeled the huge wheelchair towards the door.

"We could, but where's the fun in that?" Tavish commented as he stabbed an air hypo into the corpse like being's arm.

"I doubt the rest of the defenders here will be as charitable if they find us taking their Emperor on a joy ride." The Necron commented as he climbed up the side of the chair, amusement prevalent in his tone.

"Just remember the script, and we'll be fine. Besides, we're really doing them a favor." Tavish replied, watching the ancient decrepit flesh ever so slowly repair.

"An essential process for any biological being to properly recover is a little bit of exercise." Trayzn added, prepping his staff.

Tavish, started wheeling the chair forwards as Trayzn blew open the colossal doors with a burst of force.

The custodies outside the door jumped in surprise as the doors flew open as the wheelchair went flying past.

"Greetings gents! Holy Terra Assisted Living staff coming through." Tavish yelled as he charged forward pushing the massive chair.

"Gangway there! The Emperor is late for the holy Bingo tournament! Obstruct him at your peril!" Trayzn yelled from the arm of the chair as they drifted around a corner.

The two custodies stood there in a fugue before glancing in the room that contained the golden throne.

Dust choked the room itself, but they could clearly see, that for the first time in ten thousand years, the golden throne sat vacant.

"Brother Heracal . . . what is the term that the lower class use to describe our current situation?" The first custodies rumbled.

"I believe it is, "We are so fucked." The second custodies rumbled back trying to process the massive breach in security.

Hooting and hollering echoed back towards them as the wheelchair came back down the hall doing a wheelie and zooming down the other hall shortly followed by a large group of their fellow custodies.

The two custodies look at each other before giving chase themselves, hoping to salvage the disastrous situation they found themselves in.