laulau20

Chapter 98: Chimera Upgrade

Added 2025-07-17 05:09:42 +0000 UTC

“I have enough money now. System, can you tell me what Chimera Level 3 contains?”

[Information classified.]

“Should’ve known… Hm. I’ll check the village first,” James muttered. He had been eyeing the ten or so wooden houses the orcs had left behind, wondering whether any of them held a treasure chest.

“There’s bound to be at least one treasure chest here, right?” he said to himself.

He began inspecting the village. Three buildings stood side by side, resembling a cramped commercial district where structures were packed tightly together and shared walls. The remaining buildings followed a similar design. Their roofs were crudely made of straw and branches tied together. James only realized there were ten separate houses—and not just three—because each had its own door.

The shop wasn’t interested in buying the orc corpses slain by the knights.

“Ten or so orcs, including their infants. All of them came out when those ten knights attacked, huh.” James opened the doors one by one.

“Always the last one. What’s wrong with my luck?” he grumbled as he finally found a treasure chest in the corner of the last house he checked. He fired an ice arrow at it, and a purple barrier flared up, deflecting the shot. Now that he knew it wasn’t a mimic, he had to figure out how to open it safely.

“I’m going to destroy the house first,” James said, setting the room ablaze and smashing the wooden wall with his fist. The wall and roof gave way instantly, rats scurrying out from the ruins. In the middle of the clearing, the lone treasure chest remained standing.

James approached cautiously and opened the chest from behind—just as he always did. When he peeked inside, he saw a black ooze filling the chest. It didn’t move, but the way the liquid sloshed and shifted made his stomach churn.

“What’s the prize? Is the liquid the prize? No… if it were, it would come in a bottle. This is a trap,” James muttered, eyeing the black liquid warily.

“Should I burn it? But what if I destroy something important inside... System, can treasures be destroyed by fire? Coins, for example?” he asked. He didn’t expect a response, but to his surprise, the system answered.

[Coins are immune to fire magic. However, EXP and skill scrolls are highly flammable and can be easily destroyed. Weapons and armor will take minor damage, which can be repaired at the shop—unless exposed to fire for too long, in which case they will be destroyed. Consumables such as bullets, arrows, and potions will be completely destroyed.]

“That was... clearer than I expected. Thanks,” James said. But now he was stuck in a dilemma. There might be something valuable inside. Should he just take the risk and plunge his arm into the ooze? He had a golem arm, and even if he got infected, he had Firefur and Firebreath.

“Nah, I’m not dipping my hand into that stuff,” James decided. Instead, he dipped his sword into the liquid first. He could sense something was inside, but he couldn’t grab it with the blade. Worse, the black ooze started creeping up the sword. James ignited his blade with a fire breath and burned it off.

After poking around a bit, James accidentally stubbed his foot against the chest—and it shifted.

“Hm? It can be moved?” he said. He didn’t know that treasure chests became movable once opened. An idea sparked.

He shut the lid, then tilted and dumped the contents onto an open field. The black ooze spilled out and spread across the ground, but his flaming foot kept it from touching him. Among the mess, he spotted coins, gems, and a leather bag tied with steel wire.

[You have obtained a 20-meter steel wire, 300 coins, and 5 gems worth 100 coins each.]

“Yes! A rope! Wait… it’s registered to the system too! Wait—why can’t I buy this rope from the shop?”

[A wire is considered a utility item, not a consumable. Once cut, only the longest remaining segment will be registered by the system. You must pay 200 coins to restore it to its original length.]

“Ah. Similar to a leather bag, huh.”

[That is correct.]

James frowned. A bit of a bummer—but a rope was still a rope. Now that he knew there had been a chest in the orc village, he wondered whether he had missed any back in the previous village he’d abandoned. If he could set up another ambush on that group of knights, he might rake in another 4,000 coins. One of them had been wounded, and the mage was practically useless against him thanks to his fire resistance. He might have won if he could take one more knight down.

When James returned to the orc nests, he found them empty. His intuition had been right. Inside one of the huts, he found another treasure chest. after pouring the content and burning of the ooze inside. the chest held a dagger with a sheath. The blade gleamed in the sunlight, but it was coated in a tar-like substance.

[Dark Blade of Pestilence.
This dagger has been suffused with the power of the Pestilence God, the Ooze. Any being slashed by this dagger will become infected.]

“Why would I want something like this? This thing basically powers up the enemy,” James muttered.

The infection numbed the affected area, and if it spread to a limb, that limb would become invulnerable to damage. It could even reattach severed parts.

However, the boost was temporary. Eventually, James would have to burn the infected limb off to stop it from spreading. Still, an idea came to mind. Maybe he could use the dagger on himself... but it was a risky gamble.

Deciding to pursue the knights, James began tracking them. He wasn’t a professional tracker, but their heavy armor had left distinct marks on the ground. That gave him a trail to follow.

Unfortunately, too much time had passed. By the time James caught up, the knights had already reached the city.

James gave up. It would take everything he had to defeat one or two knights—but there was no way he could take on dozens working together.

“Alright. System, how much is Chimera Level 3?”

[To upgrade your Chimera skill to Level 3, you will need 10,000 coins.]

“Let’s do it. Upgrade the Chimera skill,” James said. Thanks to the treasure chest earlier, he now had the leeway to afford it. After selling the gems to the shop, he was left with 800 coins after the upgrade.

He didn’t expect much. The previous upgrade had only granted him two extra Chimera slots. He expected something similar this time.

However, that wasn’t the case.

[Chimera Skill upgraded to Level 3. Extra slots increased by 2. You have unlocked the Body Modding ability. Body Part Research unlocked. Chimera Efficiency skill acquired. New stat gained: Biomass.]

“Body Modding? Biomass?” James scrolled through his new skills. It unlocked far more functions than he had anticipated.

[Body Modding allows Survivor James to move, delete, or rearrange body parts using stored biomass. New body parts may also be created using biomass.]

“Huh? So can I create another Minotaur arm?”

[To create body parts from other species, Survivor James must kill and absorb multiple corpses of the target species. The acquired samples can then be researched through Body Part Research.]

“Shit! I knew it was too easy,” James grumbled, kicking a random stone in frustration. “Ugh. What about Chimera Skill Efficiency?”

[Plundered body parts will no longer be fully lost to Chimera but will contribute 50% of their value as biomass.]

“So, for example, if I take a human arm—can I still gain biomass from the rest of the body?”

[Yes. Chimera values a normal human at 100 biomass. Two arms constitute 20 biomass. If Survivor James plunders both arms, the remaining armless corpse will be worth 80 biomass × 50%. Survivor James will gain 40 biomass.]

“Tch. Stingy,” James muttered. He now had a choice when dealing with unneeded corpses: sell them for coins or convert them into biomass.

“I suppose infected monsters don’t count?”

[Infected monsters provide 0 biomass, regardless of infection rate.]

“Alright. Let’s move on,” James said, turning his gaze toward the distant city. He wondered whether the gate to the next level was located there.

“No... I can’t enter the city. The system shouldn’t give impossible missions. But this is a medium dungeon. Anything’s possible.”

James wandered across the fields, hunting for monsters or treasure chests—just as he always did.

Meanwhile, Kouki and Andrew were fighting for their lives inside an orc nest. This floor was fast-paced; you wouldn’t encounter monsters easily unless you had a quest from the city. Goblins, orcs, and hobgoblins swarmed around them.

“Triple Slash! Hurricane!” Kouki shouted, chaining sword skill after sword skill. Thirty orcs fell before his blade. Most survivors had to pause between skills, but Kouki’s unique ability allowed him to overlap them seamlessly.

As long as his enemies stayed in front of him and within melee range, he was practically invincible.

Hain joined the fray, hacking down orcs one after another. Thanks to Andrew’s skill, he now had a human leg—borrowed from Dehlia. Yes, Andrew’s ability could temporarily transfer limbs between people. The legless Dehlia watched the battle from a safe distance. Andrew had promised she would get her leg back once Hain earned enough coins to buy a proper cyborg replacement.

Earlier animosity with the guards had nearly cost Hain his life—and all of his combat power. His two cyborg arms and enhanced legs had been reduced to scrap. One might wonder why he had fallen behind while James hadn’t. The reason was simple: luck and stats. James had more raw power due to his higher class and levels. His mutated limbs provided even more strength than Hain’s cybernetics.

Luck played a major role in battles against monsters. Even a goblin could seriously injure someone like James if its weapon skill landed in the wrong spot. But James had grown used to raiding dungeons solo, making him far more cautious of ambushes than someone like Hain, who always had teammates watching his back.

“Hmm… the position of the dagger has changed,” Andrew said, frowning. He was at different orc’s nest, hunting orcs and progressing with their own quest. “It was here before.”

“Dagger?”

“Yes. The Dark Blade of Pestilence. If we recover it, we can offer it to the Temple of Mystis. Then we’ll get a pass to the next floor through a teleporter.”

“I see.”

“If we don’t have that dagger, we’ll have to use the Cave of No Return. That place is dangerous. I lost three men there,” Andrew said grimly.

There was still some time before any of them would reunite.

[Name: James]
Age: 35
Sex: Male
Level: 56
Coins: 800
Merit: 10
Biomass: 0

Stats

STR: 172
DEX: 170
MAGIC: 131
MANA: 1180

Skills

Novice Axe Mastery Lv5 — Powerstrike, V-slash, Boomerang
Novice Sword Mastery Lv2 — Hurricane, Vorpal Lunge
Novice Bow Mastery Lv1 — Quickshot, Homing Shot
Beginner Dagger Mastery Lv1

Magic

Mind Flay
Sense Alteration
Mana Sonar

Class

Attacker (Lv37) — +10% bonus when attacking

Bonus: STR +1 / level
Bonus: DEX +1 / level

Shop (Lv2)

Health Potion (100 coins)
Hematonic Potion (50 coins)
High Potion (300 coins)
Antidote (50 coins)
Bullets (10 coins / round)
Grenades / Flashbangs (50 coins / piece)
Arrows (50 coins / dozen)
Metal Pocket Arrows (100 coins / dozen)
Poison Darts (10 coins / round)
Body Modding (Humanoid only) — 100 biomass / part
Sell / Repair Function
Merit Shop (10 merit / skill)

Unique Skill – Chimera Lv3 (3 Extra Slots Open)

Goblin Stomach — Iron Guts (Stomach Slot)
Eyes of Mana — Mana Sense (Right Eye Slot)
Golem Arm of Valhalla — STR +30%, Physical Resistance +30%, Repairable, Mana -200 (Right Arm Slot)
Ratking’s Legs — STR +25% (Leg Slot)
Flaming Tiger’s Fire Lung — Fire Breathing, Mana -100, Magic -10 (Lung Slot)
Golem Core — Poison Resistance, Mana -250, Magic -10, Repairable (Heart Slot)
Orc’s Torso (Torso Slot)
Shadow Snake Fang — Intermediate Life Leeching (Mouth Slot)
Flaming Tiger Lord’s Firefur — Fire Cloak, Fire Resistance, Physical Resistance +15%, Mana -100, Magic -10 (Skin Slot)
Land Shark’s Ear — Echolocation (10m) (Ear Slot)
Mana Core — Water Spells: Ice Spear, Water Manipulation, Magic +60, Mana +1000 (Extra Slot)
Quetzalcoatl Horn — Lightning Shot (20 Mana / Shot) (Extra Slot 3)
Mana Core — Wind Spells: Wind Gust, Wind Wall, Magic +20, Mana +300 (Extra Slot 4)