"Okay, so a summary of my thoughts after reading, rereading, and contemplating those screens. The isles of origin used to be inhabited by a civilization of extreme advancement in terms of both science and magic, which was likely wiped out by some grand cataclysm or other, going by the tropes. Possibly related to the guardian corp's hubris? The impression I got from that, PR tainted message. Is that the company put on a goofy front, but was also semi-openly sinister. Likely the type to meddle in things beyond their ken. Eventually, the greatest remaining legacy of the entire civilization was the guardian light, which a god or some gods, whatever, coopted for their own purposes. Second important screen makes it seem like you've got a deliberately cutesy virtual intelligence in your skill, somehow. And the last panel feels the same as the one who helped out when you converted the horn and crystalized slime. From what I recall, the other time the phrase 'Guardian light system' came up was in regard to. . . Tsk. I need to start poking around in that lighthouse. Oh, and maybe check out the barrier around the island too. Eh, I'll watch Aradain's challenge quest first, cause I doubt she'll give up on it. Anything to add, miss Ahnya?"

"I have, a lot, to think about. But first, I'm going to write this down word for word." True to her statement, Ahnya brings out a notebook and fountain pen style magic tool.

"Why the hurry? Did you forget that she can just bring up old menus again at any time?" Ahnya groans slightly, but keeps writing. "Heh. Hmm, say. Want to see some of the other fusion tourney results? The rat goblins aren't exactly cute, but certainly better put together than, well that. Thought of calling them 'skaven', but that's a little too specific. I do intend to actually use them though, so you may see them eventually either way. Just have to figure out how I want to include the gauntlet core's rooms."

I look up from the Uni-nav screen that I was reading again. "How did you have a rat and a goblin win a tournament?"

"Well, Sol set that tourney up. But, we're the ones who decide which monsters to spawn in the room before starting the fight, soooo, easy enough to game the system a little. She pitted one goblin against nine rats. I, don't know where she got normal rats for the gauntlet core. Thought that thing only used monsters? Maybe a matter of perspective? She is small enough that a rat may well seem monstrous. Oh well. Point is, one goblin could fairly well beat nine rats on its own, right? And it didn't even have to, just eight of them, really. Also the rats were trying to kill each other. Actually some of the best results have been when two identical monsters won the tourney. Some of the less impressive results too. I mean, what even is a 'Hoblin'? A corruption of hobgoblin? . . Say, how tough is an adamant dragon egg?"

Rather than waiting for a response, he drops a large rock on the egg, which bounces to the side while sending the egg sliding across the smooth floor.

"Oho! Bet most level one monsters wouldn't be able to crack that nut. He he he hee." An odd stone frame forms around the egg, holding up a distinctly wedge shaped piece of metal. When a large boulder drops on the back of the wedge, a mighty crunch rings through the room. Then a half developed form spills out. I grimace and look away. "Right, sorry. Monsters have to die in a gauntlet core touched room to be unlocked for it. Uhh, since you're non-hostile, I should be able to absorb it? There, all gone."

Ahnya snaps the book closed and tosses it back into her bag. "Done. Alright, Lil Blue, you gonna grab the biggest bone you can from that corpse and run the water section? You already had Tir tell the receptionist that you were going through it, after all."

I perk up at the shift to adventure. "Gimme a minute, I want to find one I like, not just the biggest one." I run over and start digging through the remains of the behemoth abomination's corpse. Luckily, with the flesh and viscera already consumed by the half failed use of my skill, what's left isn't particularly gross. The scales aren't attached to each other, or anything else, so it's easy to get them out of the way.

"Well, while she's busy with that, mind if I ask a couple questions about dragons?"

I consider a rib with only a few centimeters missing from Ahnya's strange cutting attack that left the edges of bones as smooth as glass. What could I use this for? Those thin flexible swords? Nah. I toss the rib to the side and move on to the jawbones, which are now distinctly in four pieces due to being cut.

Ahnya chuckles. "Might as well, especially if you're going to be making a lot of them. You know, you're going to have soooo many monster tamers, hussars, and the like beating down the non extant doors of your dungeon if people find out that you have dragon eggs here, right?"

Jaws are useless, the teeth are falling out too easily.

"I can think of ways to make that a positive outcome. Anyway, my main question is, er to put it delicately. Can dragons, hybridize to an excessive degree through natural reproduction? Cause that's an idea that is very common in earth stories. I don't intend to have them actually doing that, I just think that if it is the case, they could be very useful in the fusion tourneys."

What even is this bone? Tiny, kinda pokey looking. Guess I could use it as a very small stabbing knife? Eh, keep looking.

Ahnya groans. "Yes, but don't bring it up if you ever have a conversation with one of the sapient or near sapient dragon species. Some of them get rather indignant about it. Others might think that you're propositioning them. And I honestly don't want to know if a dragon can breed with a dungeon. Half dragons of a very wide range of creatures are fairly common around the lairs of some of the lesser dragon species. I'm fairly sure I once even saw a creature that was half dragon half tree, soooooo. Yeesh. Nope, no. Don't want to think about it. Just assume that because they are as much magical beast as natural life form, they're, compatible with most anything. Though from what I understand, their favorite mates are always members of their own specific species, which is likely the ONLY reason that there are standard dragons of any kind, at all."

Leg bones? Not this one, it's cracked lengthwise, somehow? The next one is hollow, I guess it was more spider leg than behemoth leg. One of the bones of the third leg I look at catches my attention though. It's a bit smaller than the other legs, this bone is a bit under a meter long, and bent oddly two thirds of the way to the shoulder. But it is sturdy looking otherwise, and bone material with metal chiton somehow, woven through it. Most peculiarly of all, the shorter side of the bone catches the attention of one of my skills. Poisonous lore?

"Hey, Dan. Do the iron spiders have venom that makes wounds bleed longer?"

"Adamant dragons for the fusion tourney is a go. Lets see, what else was I going to ask? Wait, what? Venom? Why would two hundred kilos of armored arachnid nightmare monstrosity need venom? Guess it wouldn't be weird. What was the word for anti-coagulant venom again? Don't remember. What caused that question?"

"There's some in this leg bone." I pull the bone free from the other remains, then swing it a couple times. "Not, quite?" I tap the shorter segment of the bone against my left hand, then grab it. My arms tense as I try to bend and more to the point break, the bone. But even with the obvious fault, it is just a little too sturdy for my hands alone. So I brace it against my knee and flood my leg with a bit of ki before pulling again.

First there is a tiny cracking noise, then a shard of metal infused bone springs out with enough force to embed itself into one of the halves of the abomination's skull, finally with a noise like a stack of ceramic plates falling on a cobble road, a small segment of the bone shatters, leaving me with one length of sixty cm and another of about twenty five, both with jagged points at the end. Also several smaller shards scattered before me.

"Ha! There. A short sword, and a long knife! Ahnya, can you carry my guandao? She won't get jealous if another pretty lady holds her while I'm doin stuff with other weapons. Dan, leave the rest of the abomination here, I'll be back to convert it later."

They respond at the same time, somehow both coming across clearly.

"You're uh, referring to your weapon as a girl now, are you?"

"Why don't you just convert it now?"

"I uhh, uhh. Yes? It feels right. She's definitely a girl, I wouldn't want a guy that close. And I don't know why, but it feels better to focus on these first." I wiggle both improvised weapons. "Like, boiling water. You don't heat the pot before you add the water, right?"

"What the fuck even is that analogy? Just? No, fine. Do it your way. Setting that aside, you're going to just, take two random bone pieces and Leroy Jenkins your way through the water section?"

"What's a leroy jenkins? Leeeeeeroy?" Playing with the sound is weirdly amusing.

"No!"

"Jenkiiiins?" Dan's apparent distress only makes it funnier.

"Nononono. NO!"

Wielding the improvised short sword in my right hand and the makeshift knife in the left, I start running towards the passage back to the water section. "Eh ha ha haa! LEEEROOOY JEEENKIIINS!! This is a fun battle cry! Thanks Dan!"

"Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuooh. Bleh. I was joking when I begged forgiveness for giving a cat hands, but I must genuinely repent for this, somehow."

I charge out into the first room at full speed. I almost immediately jump a two meter or so gap over the water. Apparently predicting my rush, Dan sends the monsters in the room out to their platforms, though there is one group I'd have to backtrack to get, which I ignore as I head deeper.

The closest group of enemies is a group of four of those bloated blue rats. I think Dan called them wretches? The first one in line gets a knife spike in the mouth, and disappears instantly, as does the challenge quest window that had still been blinking in the corner of my vision. The second monster I bat away with the side of the 'sword' as if trying to slash it, rather than dying it falls in the water, past a couple sections of the walkable path, and likely quite wounded. The remaining two approach at the same time, one ahead and a bit to the right, the other from the left. I kick the righthand one back just enough that I can stab both through the back at the same time.

The second rat climbs up onto the path, then starts following it instead of going back through the water. It'll take it a while to catch up like that, so I set down my sword to pick up on of the mana crystals, which I throw at the surviving monster hard enough to embed the small crystal in its side, causing it to poof and two stones to fall to the stone floor.

I scoop my weapon back up and run straight to the next group. A path that takes me over the water in two spots where it's easy for me to jump.

This group of monsters is a water elemental, a water wisp, and a golem that looks to be made of coral. I halfheartedly enter stealth with unattributed mana and rush the golem, it throws a punch that's just a little off, so I jump onto its arm and leap for the wisp overhead, smacking it to the floor with my sword hard enough that its mana crystal bounces. Then I thrust both weapons into the golems shoulders before locking my legs around its right arm. I pull both weapons out of its shoulders, then jab the knife into its head before yanking it back and drawing the sword over its neck. To, no actual effect, given the weapon doesn't have an actual edge, nor does the golem really have a throat. But it's the thought that counts. And to prove it, I yank the golems head the rest of the way back until it snaps off and the golem vanishes.

I drop to the floor on my hands and knees hard enough to bruise the later, and hurt my fingers a bit as they're still wrapped around the makeshift weapons. Weapons that have already shifted, slightly. Rather than multiple jagged points, they now each have one distinct tip, and there is a second bony lump forming just over where my hands hold them, somewhat matching the ends of the bone that form the pommels.

The water elemental hadn't been idle all that while, lunging towards and wrapping around me the whole time, but given that I can breathe water, it has no actual way to harm me. In fact, its attempts to drown me have only filled my mouth with the taste of water mana.

I get my feet under myself, then abruptly jump to the side, forcing myself out of the slower elemental. I turn to face it, weapons held up defensively, then pause. I don't, really have a good way to damage it either, do I? Fire or lighting would be too risky to try myself. What other element would work?

Before I can make my mind up a bit of copper flashes into sight, splashing into the elemental that had just pulled itself back into shape, and freezing it instantly.

I glance back to find Ahnya smiling my way. "Well, I was intending to fight alone, but thanks!"

The last group of monsters is five of those blue goblins with the seashell knives, but I can also feel fire mana under the floor in the middle of their close grouping. I zip ahead, stabbing the first goblin through the shoulders, then lifting it up to toss at the floor before jumping back from the monsters.

The steamburst from the trap sears three of the other four monsters fairly badly, and finishes off the first one.

I leap back in towards the one uninjured monster, slashing down with my right hand hard enough to break its bones, but instead a shower of purplish blood splashes to the floor. A quick glance confirms that my weapon has developed an edge, er, two edges actually.

The now very injured monster lunges in with his seashell knife aimed for my face, before my own knife stabs through his eye and he vanishes like the morning fog. Looking at the knife, I find that it has thinned significantly, now having a fine stabbing point. Why it's practically a dagger now.

By the time my attention has shifted back to the fight, Ahnya has already stabbed one of the monsters with my guandao, apparently just, testing her blade? Naturally, that goblin is gone. The other two goblins come at me. I deflect one's knife with my sword before stabbing it with my dagger and shoving it against its friend, knocking them down before I trample both. My feet briefly land on something fleshy, then fall to the stone below. From there I charge ahead to the next room.

I almost run over Tir coming through the doorway as I go. "Woops! Hi. Sorry no time to talk, gotta keep fighting!" Then I notice the pillar room is empty. "You already cleared all of them?! Ugh! Is the boss still in the next room? Dan! If the boss isn't enough to finish, I'll need more monsters!"

Without waiting for responses from either of them, I run ahead and start leaping from pillar to pillar, following what seems to me to be the quickest route. Some of the pillars are wet, but I don't even need to use the art of movement to safely traverse them, because apparently, why would I slip on a wet floor?

In no time at all, I'm already in the final room, I think. There is another passage on the opposite wall though. The room itself seems to be, a submerged labyrinth with space for people to walk on the labyrinth's walls. The walkway is quite wide, but so are the labyrinths passages. The water is also high enough to reach my ankles even on top of the wall. A few seconds after I enter, a challenging roar echoes from the far side of the room. My eyes lock on the figure awaiting me, and my smirk feels downright predatory.

"A shallows behemoth? Good. Ahnya killed the last two behemoths without giving me a chance to react. So I've been left, wanting." I draw a deep breath, and try to roar back. Though it really came out as a yell. "Grraw!" But even that seems to be enough, because the behemoth starts leaping from wall to wall to come after me. Which causes me to realize that the walls are so wide so that the behemoth can stand on them too.

I rush ahead to a stable point, brace myself, and flood my ennui into the surrounding water with the art of movement's subskill, anchor, to take full advantage.

When the behemoth tries to gore me, I use both weapons to force its horns up and over, then when it shifts to just trying to trample me I ram my shoulder into its throat. It simply stops despite its momentum, causing it to make a confused growling noise even though its throat should hurt. Before it can make sense of the situation I wrap my arms around its neck and twist to the side, throwing the bull like beast into the water to the left of myself.

"First exchange is my win, bitch!" I laugh aloud, then run to the largest stable wall space in the room while the behemoth collects itself.

"Okay, I know she's abnormally strong for her size, but did she seriously just throw a five hundred twenty kilogram hulking mass of muscle when she only weighs like, fifty?"

I ignore Dan's commentary as I pick my space to wait for my prey to come to me. A quick glance at my weapons shows the sword having a proper crossguard now. The dagger now has a red hourglass mark on the side of the distinct blade, and has a slightly stylized handle.

The behemoth pulls itself up onto the path, then charges my large platform. When its front paws first touch my territory, I charge towards it in turn. Once we're in range, it winds its head to one side before thrashing the other way. I leap over the crude horn swing to stab my sword deep into its back before running down its spine, dropping to the floor, and grabbing its lizard like tail with my currently empty hand before anchoring myself in place again and yanking hard, unbalancing the giant beast. Then when it tries to turn around to come at me, I unanchor myself and keep hold of its tail, taking the free ride back to the middle of the platform, and even letting go at the right time to get a few meters distance.

I take a deep breath. "Ougi Pandemonium!" I throw half of my mana into the secret art. Mana may not be my strong suit, but with only one target. . .

The behemoth had yet to even begin turning to face me again, but now it is thrashing around wildly.

"Interesting, mana based Pandemonium causes hallucinations of extra combatants only visible to the victim." Ahnya is standing in the doorway, my guandao leaned against her arm while she writes in a journal.

The behemoth snaps at an invisible target, then a moment later a small cut appears on its snout spurting a tiny bit of blood.

"Ohh, dangerous hallucinations." Ahnya chuckles. "Fun as the show is, you should probably attack while it's distracted, dear."

"Ah, right!" I switch the now very distinct stabbing dagger to a reverse grip in my right hand. I use the art of deception, both casting my presence far off to the side, and hiding myself with wind. The shallow water ripples around me, even before I start running at the distracted beast.

When its head thrashes to the left, I lunge in to stab the knife into a gap in the scales in the space between its neck and shoulder, hammering the base of the blade in with my left hand on top of the basic stabbing force of my right. With the blade sunk to the handle in the monster's neck, the sense of poison inside the knife suddenly disappears.

The behemoth jerks my way, moreso headbutting me than striking with the side of its horn, but still launching me far enough that I land completely in the water. Surprised, I hold my breath for a few seconds before remembering that the water is safe and taking a deep breath of water. Then I use the art of deception with water. My presence disappears even from my own senses as I swim through the labyrinth to approach the large platform again.

I rise up on the side of the labyrinth wall, easily watching the behemoth through the shallow water. With both weapons lodged in the monster, approaching could be, tricky. Though that neck wound is certainly bleeding heavily around the dagger. Well, better to go in boldly. I draw a deep lungful of water, then surge up over the surface of the water and onto the platform. It felt as if the water itself lifted me, rather than me needing to go to the effort to climb onto the wall.

I focus my ki into the art of deception and roar while amplifying my bloodlust. This roar is far deeper and far louder than my last attempt, and with a small pond's worth of water wrapped around me I must seem far larger in the moment, because the behemoth's attention snaps to me and it backs down a few steps, before my charge causes the water to fall away, showing it that I'm still far smaller than it is. Emboldening it just enough that it roars back.

Then I finish closing the distance, grabbing the horns with both hands, then yanking its head down as I drive my left knee up into its chin with a crack of breaking bone far easer than when I snapped the abomination's legbone to form my sword and dagger. Then I anchor myself and yank the behemoth to the my right, exposing the handle of the blade lodged in its neck. I reach forward with my right hand, still holding its head up with the left, then yank the dagger down, using the edge to turn the stab wound into a brutally sliced throat.

Despite the mortal wound, the behemoth manages to get its right foreleg up enough to swipe at me. I'm still anchored in place, so it doesn't send me flying, but its claws certainly bite into my side deeply enough that I'm sure I feel them scraping my ribs. Both of my hands snap to its wrist, holding the claws back from digging deeper, then I shift around and shoulder throw the giant beast. It lands on its back hard enough to slam the sword almost entirely into the behemoth's body. It manages one more gurgling roar before going still.

The rush of a level up burns through my body far hotter than the blood spilling from my wounded side. I conjure up the strongest healing potion my skill can make and chug it, pointedly not looking at my injuries. I stare ahead blankly, panting, until I feel a pair of soft fuzzy arms wrap gently around me and a smooth face rub against the right side of my own.

"A monster I could kill with the flick of a tail is still an epic battle for you. Quite the thrill to watch, but how do you feel?"

"Like I could pick a fight with the sun and win!" I laugh at my own ridiculous claim, then lean into her hug. "Phew. Helluva rush!"

"I'm sure. Quite sure. Hmm, perhaps, you'd like to join me in my hotel room tonight~?" The last few words whispered in my ear, send a thrill down my spine. Then Ahnya stands up a bit straighter. "But first. Did that finish your challenge quest?" The question draws my attention to a few blinking screens.

[[Recipes concocted: Behemoth's Lament Xiphos 1 broken behemoth abomination femur, or 100 units behemoth material and 50 units iron spider material. Spider's Vengeance Dirk 1 venom imbued broken behemoth abomination femur, or 100 units iron spider material and 100 units behemoth material]]

Before my attention can move to the other two screens, I can't help but muttering the names of my new weapons to myself. "Lament and Vengeance, eh? Don't worry dears, I'll share your pain yet. Ehe he he hee."

Ahnya frowns slightly, then moves forward to press her cheek against my forehead. "Hmm, not feverish. Just being a violent little gremlin, I guess?" She sighs and pats my head briefly.

"Nmmm, praise me more!" I reach up to grab her hand and pull it back to the top of my head. She mildly humors me. With a slight happy hum I refocus on the screens.

[Extra reward: Function unlocked: Conversion Warehouses. Allows storage of two separate categories, each with a storage amount of 100 units worth of material per user level. Items created by monster conversion can be stored in the Stock Warehouse. Intact monster corpses can be stored in the Butcher Warehouse. Things stored in either Warehouse may be withdrawn at any time. Time is stopped inside Warehouses.]

I stare for a few seconds at the last screen, then tilt my head and look at the behemoth's corpse. "Butcher's warehouse?" The behemoth disappears, leaving Lament to fall to the floor. "Uhhuuuh." Then I share the screens with Ahnya, Dan, and even Tir who I was vaguely aware of nearby. Then I notice a small metal disk in my left hand that somehow distinctly does not feel like a coin. "Kay. Can we go now? I feel like I need a nap or something." I store all three of my weapons before we go.

When we stop back by the abomination's corpse, I feel like there are fewer bones and scales than there were before, but I end up shrugging it off and converting the lot. It gave a bit of behemoth material and a bit of iron spider material, as well as fifty units of 'Chimera' material, no new recipes though. I wordlessly share the screen around.

Ahnya, tilts her head, then eventually speaks. "I guess a chimera is technically a different creature than any of its constituent parts. So it could be, that?"

When we leave the water section, a shout surprises me enough that I hide behind Ahnya. Then someone runs up to close to her. "Ah, lass there you are! Why didn't you tell me that you were the dungeon owner?! I need your help finishing up the contract for buying the argentite!" When I peek out from behind Ahnya, I find the familiar stout figure of Druder the dwarvish smith.

"Oh, uhhh. I didn't say cause that was, still not settled when I could have brought it up? Guess I'm still fine with settling that deal, though I'd think you need to talk to my dad too, cause he's the land owner?" When he pulls a stack of papers out of his bag, my eyes tear up a bit. "Ahhhhnya! C'n you deal with the paperwork? Please?"

Ahnya chuckles at my fearful reaction. "I'll certainly, help. But you should get some experience dealing with that kind of thing."

I groan, hug her arm, then pull her down to whisper in her ear. "I'll try, if you show me exactly what you meant about making me forget my own name in an hour, tonight." I am briefly pleased by the blush on her face, before her broad grin blows my fickle confidence out of the water.

Chaos_Sinner777

Don't recall if I've mentioned if Aradain is right or left handed. So instead, ambidextrous with a preference for her right hand.

Phew, really got into the writing flow there~