Becoming a Monster

Chapter 185: Chapter 185: Hidden Within the Corruption

The group that had initially set out as four now returned to the station as a larger group of seven. Before they departed from their original location, two notable events occurred.

The first was the gathering of cores from the fallen corpses around them. Noah had instructed everyone to help in the recovery process, knowing the value these cores held. There was the tempting option of having Ailetta use her ’assimilation’ skill. By doing so, she could create a powerful new vessel for herself to control while replenishing her magic reserves. However, the drawback was clear: Ailetta’s skill would convert all the cores into a single entity. This might potentially result in a core of lesser overall value compared to distributing the individual cores among Fenrir, Arachne, Ailetta, and even Eve. Noah weighed his options and ultimately decided that distributing the cores among his creatures would lead to better growth for the entire group.

As they worked on recovering the cores, Noah also received his loot chest from the recent battle. To his surprise, the chest’s quality didn’t align with the strength of the horde they had just fought. Typically, when defeating a horde of evolved creatures, the chest that appeared would be at least of gold tier. However, what materialized before him was a silver-tier chest, far below his expectations.

Though it seemed as though the system or the force controlling the rewards had a certain play in this factor. Noah didn’t think of such a thing. To him, he equated the chest’s drop to the difficulty of the fight, which would make silver being fair in his opinion.

There were no high expectations when he received the loot’s contents, but somehow, he was still able to be surprised. Out of the loot he quickly cycled through the first non-sequential item, a common cure for the zombie’s infection, one that could be used for an evolved zombie. It would be useful for any person not in his position. But, after realizing the difference between regular evolved zombies and then the unique ones, he began to question if the cure was actually able to cure all infections that were obtained from an evolved zombie.

With the least valuable item out of the way, the next item he obtained was a whip, an object that he was certain was linked to his taming class. Unlike most equipment he obtained, the whip resembled one that was enchanted; the dark leather handle was adorned with small runes that glowed with a soft azure blue. The woven strands were entirely made of a black material, but Noah found that when he infused the whip with his mana, even the strands became covered with a small layer of the same glow.

Holding the whip in his hand, it was almost impossible for Noah to understand its effects, the only information he was able to ascertain was the fact that the whip granted him twenty points into his spirit. The stat increase was lackluster, but he also noticed that while infusing his mana into the ’weapon’, the bonus increased to forty. Despite the increase in his attributes. This piqued his curiosity. There had to be more to this weapon, but without a clear understanding of its abilities, Noah could only guess.

He tried various tests. First, he lashed the whip against the ground, close to his creatures, hoping it might trigger a rally effect or some sort of group buff. When that yielded no results, he turned to Fenrir. The wolf’s toughened hide made a perfect test subject, but even after several strikes, there was no noticeable change.

Without an actual subject to test, it on, Noah shelved the whip away to determine its usage at a later date.

As he sifted through the last of his loot, Noah’s fingers brushed against a tattered, eerie book that stood out among the other items. It resembled a grimoire, made of rough leather that appeared to be stitched together from various monster hides. The surface bore faint, glowing violet runes that pulsated gently, giving it an otherworldly aura. Skeletal hands gripped the corners of the book, adding to its macabre charm.

Despite its ominous appearance, Noah felt drawn to it. However, he quickly discovered that he couldn’t open it; a small, bone-like lock resembling a withered skeletal finger, clasped tightly around it and refused to budge no matter how hard he tried. Frustrated, he examined the book further, hoping for some clue to unlock its secrets.

Then, an option appeared before him: Bind the book to yourself. It was a tempting choice, and with little hesitation, Noah decided to take the leap. As he accepted the binding, he felt a strange sensation, his mana was being drained and funneled into the book. To his astonishment, the once palm-sized tome rapidly expanded to its full size, fitting comfortably in his hand.

Without a second hand available, Ailetta aided him by turning the pages of the book for him. As the two delved into the ancient, yellowed pages, something extraordinary began to happen. The pages started filling in front of his eyes, inscribing themselves with information. He realized that every type of undead he had encountered and killed was being meticulously recorded in the grimoire. It wasn’t merely their appearances that were being documented; brief summaries of detailing their habits, weaknesses, and strengths emerged alongside vivid illustrations.

The unevolved zombies, which he had faced the most, were featured prominently in the grimoire, their sections filled with comprehensive information. It was almost as if the book was cataloging his entire journey, serving as a living record of his experiences with the undead.

The information that he found the most valuable from the book, were the names of the zombies themselves.

All this time, Noah had used the term ”zombie” as just a universal term for them, even though the system listed the creatures as zombies. But now from what he was seeing in the grimoire, they were actually known as Corrupted Revenants. There wasn’t anything in the book to understand exactly what a revenant was, nor a reason why they were specifically listed as corrupted. However, this piece of information was groundbreaking. It made Noah believe that the book wasn’t just as simple as giving him information that he already knew. Like how destroying the brain or removing their core was their weakness, it was the source to his answers to what exactly was the cause for humankind to turn, and also what exactly was the zombie’s endgame.

The book then depicted the Revenants in their rightful categories. The runner and sprinter zombies were both labeled in the same category, being labeled as Ascendant Revenants, the evolved zombies he had come to know them to be were truly known as Awakened Revenants, and then, the zombies he referred to as unique zombies were called Elder Revenants.

The book easily became one of his most prized loot, an item that he felt would become just as important as his dungeon core if it continually gained information to unveil even more of the so-called revenants’ secrets.

It wasn’t just him, there was a certain zombie that couldn’t take her eyes off of the book, as if something from the book was calling out to her. Noah could imagine that it was a similar calling to what he felt, if not more. He could only believe that it was because Eve was a true ’Revenant’ compared to the abomination he could be considered. There was a bit of hesitance to give her the book, but his conflict was resolved when he felt the book also beckoning towards Eve, as if it too wanted to be bonded to a purer source of its origins.

Noah couldn’t unbind himself to the book, it wasn’t until he handed the book into Eve’s eager outstretched hands that he felt the call to unbind himself.

The moment Eve bonded with the book; her whole body trembled. Her eyes were forcibly closed, behind her eyelids, an exaggerated amount of movement was being triggered behind her eyes, showing a response of an overload of information being fed into her. Suddenly, her eyes shot open, and for just a brief moment, Noah felt pressure that he only felt before when facing the entity within his soul. Just as quickly as that presence was felt, her demeanor reverted back to her usual ’innocent’ self, making Noah believe that he hallucinated the earlier scene.

All of that was now in the past now, As that the group was back at the station. With Arachne’s webs firmly securing their territory, they were finally able to move about with a lesser sense of caution than they have been since that moment.

But that didn’t mean they could rest, at least not for Noah. The time of day was well into the evening, the sun having just set minutes prior. With Fenrir and Arachne not being able to come inside the building, Noah brought out one of the benches from the lobby area to sit near the building, out of the sight of any lurking creatures. He was prepared to stay up well into the night to make use of his skill on as many of the cores in his possession as possible, but first, he held an upgrade within the palm of his hand, while two rested in his lap. There were already two abilities that he already had in mind of upgrading, but none of the two was as important as upgrading the skill that will finally allow him to incorporate another set of genes within him.