Becoming a Monster

Chapter 174: Chapter 174: Bosses Hidden in Plain Sight

”Did you already know what kind of skill this was?” Noah asked as he read the skill ”Summon Lesser Imp”, with a bit of skepticism in his tone, a tone that Ailetta was prepared for.

”I did, but....I’m unable to learn it unfortunately.”

”Unable to learn it?” Noah echoed, feeling more incredulous than before.

Ailetta sighed, Noah picked up on her frustration as she explained. ”Yes. I no longer have the Summoner class, and because of that, I no longer have the skill that all summoners are required to have...The skill to form contracts. And since I’ve become...well, what I am now, there’s no way for me to use the skill, let alone learn it.”

Noah frowned. ”So, if you are unable to use it, then I won’t be able to use it either...” He disappointedly shook his head, relooking over the skill one last time before he placed it inside his storage ring.

His gaze returned towards Ailetta, eyeing the vial that she now held in her hand. ”What do you think the potion is for? Another health potion?”

His question elicited a tilt of Ailetta’s head as she brought the vial closer to observe with the rest of her eyes. ”That would be my best assumption, but....we won’t be able to figure out how potent its effects are unless we tried it on something.”

”Oh!” Ailetta gasped, surprising Noah. He noticed that she was getting closer to him. ”Do you think something like this could heal your arm?”

Noah’s heart jolted at the question, his eyes instinctively went towards the stump from his shoulder from where his wound tried to heal. He found himself pondering deeply about the possibility of a potion having the capability to heal flesh and bone, his thoughts making him lean more to the assumption that it couldn’t be accomplished.

”Although I doubt it’ll work, I’m still willing to give it a try.” The slight hope caused his muscles to tense while he instinctively held his breath longer than normal. He didn’t want to continue to just have one arm; overall, he was still considered a powerful being, but having one arm was as degrading as it was handicapping his potential.

Instead of doing it himself, Ailetta brought the vial towards his stumped arm, removing the vial topper. Slowly, she tilted the potion’s contents on the healed room, her actions were very meticulous, only allowing for a single drop to leak down.

As the single drop of the potion made contact with the scarred skin of his stump, a faint glow emitted from the point of contact. Noah’s heart raced with anticipation, his gaze fixed on the area where his arm used to be. He could feel a tingling sensation spread across the stump, almost like a ripple of energy. Within seconds, the badly healed stump began to break down, the hardened tissue and contorted skin began to flatten.

With just one drop, the potion was able to melt away any unneeded factors, dissolving even his scarred tissue, revealing the fresh skin underneath. The two awaited silently for the change to continue, but moments passed with nothing else transpiring.

”Should we use more?” Noah silently pondered Ailetta’s question, noticing the potion was obviously a worthy investment from just feeling the potent energy that traveled through his shoulder. However, it was because Noah saw the value in the potion that he was even more reluctant to potentially waste it.

With a bit of reluctance, Noah shook his head. ”No....Honestly, I don’t see the potion recovering my arm, but I can tell that the potion is better than any healing potion or skill I’ve seen so far....Well..” Noah stopped, bending down to pick up the sword from Ailetta’s loot from the ground. ”Maybe not as good as your new skill.”

Ailetta smiled at the offhanded comment, while Noah tried to get a sense of if the new sword was better than his own. All the while, the moment he had grabbed the sword, he sensed a surge of energy flowing through him; his body felt light, and his mana felt amplified.

Wanting to confirm, he checked his stats to find the sword increased his agility by 40 while his magic increased by 50, which struck him as odd. ’Now why would a ’sword’ increase mana...unless...’ Noah decided to trust his intuition, manifesting his mana into his hand and attempting to channel it into the sword. The moment his mana connected with the blade, he instantly felt a connection to it, almost as if the blade became an extension of himself. If he had to compare it to something, the sword was almost no different than his own spider appendages.

With the connection, he felt that he could manipulate the sword, just like them. Eyeing the sword, he willed it to move, and to his surprise, the sword stretched out, its segmented parts stretching forward and causing the sword to extend itself.

Just that act alone caused Noah to marvel towards the sword as if he found a new toy. He couldn’t help himself from experimenting further, retracting the blade, extending it as far as he could, and even causing the sword to change trajectories in the middle of its course.

”I think you are forgetting something.” Ailetta’s amused tone woke him from his daze. Noah blinked, realizing how engrossed he had become that he had forgotten his rush to come down here.

”Right...” He awkwardly responded, withdrawing the sword into his ring as he made his way towards her. ”It was kinda unexpected, but, where were we?”

Despite his lack of subtlety in trying to play off his error, Ailetta allowed him this respite in exchange for her little emotional display earlier. Her arm began to lift towards him, grabbing his own, while she placed her other hand above his. Before he could question her, the coins she held within her body began to drop into his hand. Reacting quickly, Noah began to put the coins into the system, with the coins disappearing just as fast as Ailetta deposited them.

Time continued to pass, small sounds of coins clinking against Noah’s armored skinned hand. He didn’t bother to count the gold until he heard the very last drop, checking his system to see 6,181.

Granted, it was a large number, but after his recent splurge, Noah felt that the amount was only enough to be considered pocket change. Despite this, he still made his way towards the entity again, reaching out towards it to initiate the exchange. But suddenly, his hand stiffened; he found himself retreating as his instincts blared.

He didn’t think anything of it; he was just curious to know what his nexus eye would see when looking at the mysterious figure. He wasn’t prepared for his vision to be fully shrouded by a thick miasma, its substance not only surrounding the hooded figure but also extended throughout the entire cell. The mist itself was daunting enough as it was, but with his nexus eye, he could finally see a faint outline of what was beneath the hood. But just before he could get a clear visual, a pressure that promised his death touched on every nerve within him, warning him not to delve deeper.

With the sudden phenomenon, Noah needed a few moments to catch his bearings, his behavior quickly being noticed by Ailetta. Her gaze snapped towards the entity with the impression of retaliation to what she thought was a threat. Yet, the figure continued to ominously stand in silence, seemingly oblivious to her threatening aura. She didn’t believe Noah would behave in such a way without cause; something that he saw inspired such actions. The only thing she could think of was that he saw something within the eye of the soul that they shared.

”Don’t!” Noah ordered her, shutting her off from the connection of the eye. Ailetta’s alarm grew even more, but now she could only look to Noah for answers.

”It doesn’t want us to pry...” Noah spoke, though his tone was a bit hesitant. ”Honestly, I don’t want to think what would happen if it actually decided to do something...” He cryptically answered, but that alone was enough for Ailetta to garner enough information about what happened, causing her to perceive the entity in a new dangerous light.

Noah took in a deep breath, closing his eyes, his thoughts spiraling down another deep rabbit hole. By the time he opened his eyes again, his body was fully relaxed. Instead of the apprehension he held towards the entity, he now looked towards it with a goal.

”No matter what....Le, we can’t stop getting stronger. If something like this is acting like a mere shopkeeper, I’m betting everything that there are even stronger beings out there. Stronger than this thing, and maybe even stronger than what’s inside both of us.”

He spoke with conviction, reaffirming to himself that he was on the right path. Although he wanted to freely enjoy what the world had to offer, to enjoy living a life with his ’family’. He had to also never lose sight that there were beings out there that could still destroy him, and even destroy the family that he’s longed for.