Once Sekh calmed down, I gave her a lovely kiss and talked about what to do next. To be safe, I had the AI scan for anyone with titles related to Bellerophon. My reasoning was this: slimes were on Bellerophon’s list. While it was outrageous to expect them to station an agent or unit in every location where a monster on the list would be found, Aetos Village was different.   

“There are two results, my lord. The data will be displayed,” the AI said as I changed Niva’s bandages and applied more medicine. She was looking far healthier. Even without her HP bar telling me that, the color in her cheeks was coming back, and her scalp was still damaged. She still needed the wig, but she was nothing like how I found her. The scars were still visible, though.   

I looked at the map the AI posted for me. “They’re in the bar,” Tilde said after changing it to satellite mode. A Tigerfolk and Forest Elf sat together at a table drinking a mug of mead. Both had levels in the high 40s, but their skills were more for espionage and spying than straight-up combat. They both knew [Detect Chimerism]. Dressed in clothes procured from the nearby shop, the two had no visual proof that they were anything but Bellerophon. Still, even if they somehow suspected me, [Detect Chimerism] would immediately fail because [Status Cloak] had my back.  

Tilde repeated my sentiments that I didn’t have to worry about them, so our goal turned to the primary reason we came here. We saw a slime and draingi earlier, but how many were there in the village? The forest? In the...mansion?  

“What...? Why are there slimes here?” I questioned the map I stared out. Sekh looked at me and pointed up, so I thought they must’ve been above us. Grabbing Niva’s wheelchair, we all went up to the third floor after bypassing yet another invisible wall we had to break.  

At the top stood a wall with a door and a path to the left. Following the latter brought me to the atrium, and I saw the training from before. Since I was feeling frisky, I grabbed the rail and hopped down, landing with a roll and recovering to my feet.  

Did I really just do that? Three stories, and no damage at all? Incredible... 

Looking up, Sekh smiled and waved, and I used my webs to return to her. Retracing our steps, I checked the map and confirmed the slimes were in the room. Like the other doors, the handle refused to squeak even a bit when the knob was turned. A bit of force pushed it open, and on the inside?  

The room looked like something a bunch of puppies would play around in. There was a playpen in the back with a waist-high gate. Toys made from vines and leaves were strewn about, but there were also cages. Ten of them, to be exact.  

The five on the left held slimes of various shades of forest green. The five on the right contained the plant monsters I’d come to devour.   

“Experiments?” Sekh asked after walking to a nearby table. There was a stack of journals on it. Sekh picked up the top one, turned to the first page, and began to read. “The slimes were too cute. There. I said it. I can’t harm their flabby bodies while trying to create the genesis seed. It’s the same with the draingi I keep across from them. I finally trained them to look at the slimes as friends, not food. Father says I’m a fool since slimes and draingi aren’t endangered, but he doesn’t understand that I’m progressing well in my research. Sister is returning from her diplomatic trip, so I want her to help name them.” Sekh said, reading the page. She closed the journal, took a breath, and laid it down.   

Suddenly, she slammed both hands on the table and pushed the journals to the floor. Drawing her mace, she raised it high and slammed it down, shattering the potentially priceless furniture into a dozen pieces. When the nocturnal flames danced around her fingers, I stepped in.  

“But why?!” she argued. “It deserves to burn. There isn’t a need for any remembrance for someone like her!”  

“Sekh, think about it. Susize was working on something extraordinary, but she couldn’t pull it off. In that regard, she’s a failure—through and through. But what if we finish it? What if we somehow do what the strongest Soul Warrior of her time couldn’t accomplish? And what if the person Susize hated more than anyone else was involved in it? We can’t do that if you burn the books.”  

Sekh bit her lip and huffed a deep sigh before the flames extinguished themselves. I held my hands out and shot web out to the journals because I needed a physical connection to stash something in [Storage]. But honestly, this was a boon. It grew faster the closer it was to capacity, but because the mines were shut down for an extended amount of time, I didn’t have a chance to stock up on iron. So, I had a lot of space open. When the last book abruptly vanished, I was about 11 pounds away from overcapacity. Sekh still looked angry and upset, so I told her to burn the desk she broke if she wanted to destroy something.   

 

“So... These are her...pets?” I asked in the meantime, jumping over the gate. I walked to the slimes and crouched down. They were frightened from the prior loud noises, but upon hearing my voice, turning around, and seeing my face, they bounced around with endless energy. Two of them reached through the bars with their slime to touch my hand, and they became even more hyperactive.  

“They’re like dogs,” Tilde replied. She was hovering near the draingi, which was where I went next. With the smell of smoke and ash filling the air, Sekh joined us while Niva remained outside the playpen in her wheelchair. Her remaining hand brushed the bandage on her cheek while she listened to us speak.   

Like the slimes, the plant monsters reacted favorably when they realized I had Susize’s face and voice. Taking one from its cage, I let it crawl around my arms and legs, then watched with a smile as it zoomed around the playpen. It snatched a vine-like toy and threw it to me, and I threw it back. In every sense of the word, this thing acted like a canine companion.   

When it brought it back to me for the fifth time, I just looked down at it and gave Sekh an order that would change our lives.  

“Grab it. Don’t let go of it.”  

She nodded and approached the fragile monster, but it must’ve sensed her hostility because it ran behind my legs for safety. Its vines held me tight, clinging to me like I was its mother, yet there was no maternal love for me to exude.  

I saw the betrayal plastered on its face as clear as day when I wrapped its narrow body with my webs. Shocked and powerless, it limply struggled against its fate when I threw it to Sekh. She grabbed it, snapped off the vines trying to attack her, and held it out for me to devour while I took off my glove. My dark gray arms looked so familiar and foreign in this mansion that belonged to Sekh’s former enemies, yet seeing it turn into the fearsome head of the Protector of Forest Boars? 

It’d been a few weeks since I’d practiced the art of transfiguration. They said you needed to stick with something for it to become second nature. Taking a break or prolonged leave of absence meant you wouldn’t be ready when you returned. But I felt absolutely fine.   

No—it was more than that.  

Drool, noxious fumes flowed from my boar head hand’s gaping mouth as it closed on the draingi’s ‘head’. With just one vicious chomp, the life was violently stolen away in a mess of green fluids and sickening snaps from where the boar’s teeth easily pierced through the monster’s roots.   

I chewed it. Gnawed it. Tasted its earthly flesh while it pathetically struggled for survival. Eventually, it went limp, and I swallowed without any resistance. 

You’ve assimilated Salty. 

New Skill: [Poison Production] 

New Skill: [Vine Whip] 

New Skill: [Drain] 

New Skill: [Photosynthesis] 

“What the...” Honestly, I was totally and utterly speechless. No, I wasn’t amazed—okay, I was—as my index finger took the shape of a vine, nor did my astonishment come from a separate poison production menu that appeared in my Status Menu. No, it was a little-known thing that all greenery was known to have. “Am I a plant now?” I asked, growing a small vine from my fingertip.  

I looked at my name and noticed a small symbol of a plant with a sun above it. A warm and fuzzy feeling radiated from my stomach, but it wasn’t strong. It was barely noticeable enough that I had to focus on it, so it wouldn’t bother me. When I willed the finger vine away, the symbol vanished. Since the description said I’d gain mana from being in the sun, I tested it out by summoning a pair of fireballs in each hand for a total of four.  

But first, I grew a vine from my forehead to have the proper mana flowing through me to activate that [Photosynthesis].  

After ten minutes of channeling them, I was still in good shape. Maybe a bit winded, but no noticeable problems. Before this, I’d have sweat pouring down my face while finding it hard to focus and breathe.  

At my behest, the AI created a poison production menu and added it to my vision. Perhaps spider venom was different from the poison harboring within the draingi, but it was there. I just knew how the two were available to produce. Testing it out, I could channel the draingi’s poison through [Poison Fang]. Or I could use my vines to pierce someone’s skin and flood them with venom. Everything was highly adaptable, which was a chimera’s primary advantage.   

I looked at Sekh and held my fingers towards her. Her eyes sharply watched as my digits turned to the same vines—same color and texture— she’d torn off Salty, but she allowed them to caress her beautiful face and pat her head. Once they returned to my hand and returned to being fingers, I turned back to the rest of my dinner. 

"Here’s another thing, Sekh. Susize loved these things. Why else would she give them names? But now you can watch as the Transcendent Dark Lord brings an end to them. Take pride that you managed to outlast even them,” I said. The slimes and draingi cried out in pure fright—too scared to even think about squeezing through the bars and running away— but I had no intention of sparing anything. 

With my index finger pointed at the closest slime, I used [Vine Whip] to pierce its blubbery body and activated [Drain]. Almost immediately, I felt a transfer of mana slowly flow from it to me, and along with it came a dreadful cry of unlucky realization. 

It knew it was going to die. In its final moments, nothing but fear cascaded around its mind, if it had one, and I felt nothing but joy. This world was one where the strong ate the weak to survive. Survival of the fittest was the name of the game, and like any other monster, I had to participate. Those weaker than me would die and become my strength, and I would rise to the top of the food chain with the Dark Lord of Tyranny by my side.  

You’ve assimilated Mucy. 

New Skill: [Mitosis] 

New Skill: [Stomach] 

New Skill: [Mimicry] 

[Chimeric Transfiguration] and [Mimicry] have combined. Initializing new skill... 

New Skill: [Shapeshifter (Chimera)] 

New Skill: [Slime Physiology (Chimeric)] 

New Skill: [Mana Regeneration] 

“Holy shit... No wonder slimes are on Bellerophon’s list...” Honestly, I was even more taken aback than learning I was now part plant. If the description I read was to be believed, assimilating the slime now meant I was partially a slime. I no longer needed to sleep or breathe, but I required biomass—the one thing that separated a chimera from every other living thing.   

Thinking of a corpse I’d found in the Mines of Gamor, I hastily took off my armor and clothes because I didn’t want them to tear. Tilde made a snide comment about my exhibitionism, but I flicked her off as an oddly satisfying feeling washed over my body as it began to morph. My eyes turned a lavish emerald, and the honey-blond hair Sekh had come to enjoy rubbing was replaced by a black ponytail. My penis had vanished, with the vulva belonging to that girl taking its place. Finally, the nails on my hands and feet were perfectly polished and manicured, and I faced Sekh.   

She wasn’t staring at Lyudmila Vredi Springfield. No, she was gazing upon the very appearance belonging to Mira—an unfortunate mage that fell victim to an Alpha Araneae.   

“It feels nice to have that limit removed, right?” Tilde asked. “Like you’re finally breaking free of your restraints. Oh! It really makes a fairy want to cry to see her little ‘mera all grown up.”  

“Yeah, it really does,” I replied. “I’ve been stuck with a mismatched skin tone pallet for so long that I forgot what it felt like to have everything uniform. I don’t have to worry about the wind blowing up my skirt or forgetting to tie down my sleeves and exposing my secret. Now I gotta learn how to take Susize’s skin tone and apply it to my whole—wait, didn’t you say something about a base body?” As I asked, I rubbed my hands over this body to remember how a human’s touch felt.  

“I did. You get it from ranking up as a chimera. Honestly, you should be about ready. You’d be a Minor Chimera, by the by.”  

As the slimes and draingi behind me continued to cry out in fear, I decided to end their lives after changing back to my ‘original’ form and putting on my clothes.   

I started with the remaining draingi. 

You’ve assimilated Colwort. 

You’ve assimilated Phrase. 

You’ve assimilated Hedge. 

You’ve assimilated Weed. 

They all had the same skills, so I didn’t acquire anything new. But because I didn’t have a limit anymore, I pumped more biomass into my shapeshifting and made the boar head hand twice as big. I also mastered all the draingi skills from eating those four.  

And... Just because I was curious, I transformed into a forest boar to see how it worked. Being low to the ground on all fours was weird. Not necessarily upsetting, but I couldn’t walk more than a few feet without tripping over my legs. And when I tried to turn, my tusks kept banging against the cages.   

“I just don’t know how useful that’s going to be,” I said, turning back, as four vines from my hands punctured the remaining slimes and drained them completely. 

You’ve assimilated Fission. 

You’ve assimilated Emerald. 

You’ve assimilated Leaper. 

You’ve assimilated Hoppie. 

Good, I mastered those slime skills as well. 

“And it’s done... Sekh, let’s go—” Out of nowhere, I felt weak and crippled. The strength in my limbs gave out, and I slammed into the hard floor. 

“MY LIEGE?!” Sekh immediately flipped me to my back and quickly examined me. It was getting hard to focus on her. Those fluffy ears were as blurry as static. She was trying to say something, but what was it? Why was it getting so hard to listen to her? Why... 

Why isn’t Tilde doing anything? She’s so...calm? Why?  Ah... I’m so tired... It hurts... 

When my vision became filled with blackness, words appeared in the darkness. 

You have satisfied the requirements to evolve from a Lesser Chimera to a Minor Chimera. 

New Title: [Minor Chimera] 

New Skill: [Base Body - Humanoid] 

Use the following menu to create your new base body.  

The words were proven true when something like a character creator flashed in front of me. The various options I had were in the left-most window while the right was a blank model. I was the artist, and it was my canvas. In all honesty, I was happy with the body Sekh made from me. My only complaint was the dark gray arms, ashen-colored penis, and brown legs. Everything needed to be of the same color palette.   

Unfortunately, it seemed my only choice was to take Susize’s skin tone and apply it to my entire body because everyone’s seen my head. It would be weird to meet Aello with ashen-colored skin when she knew I had fair skin.  

But I put that off for a few seconds and played with the character creator-like system. In terms of physical body parts and color, my choices were restricted to what I had assimilated and what Sekh had made for me. I couldn't have a base body that looked like Irisa, but Mira was on the table. And so was the gang of robbers that tried to steal from Sekh and me when we ran away from Irisa’s shop. I doubt this ability to create my base body was a one-and-done thing. A skill this powerful came with a month-long cooldown.  

Since this was marked ‘Humanoid,’ perhaps there was a ‘Monster’ variant. But that was neither here nor there. While I wanted to make the body I had before, I decided to instead create that body using nothing but Susize’s DNA. As in, everything looked the same, only my penis was probably a bit more feminine while still being as it was, but you could put this new body and my old one side-by-side and fail to tell the difference. Another boon was that this new body was 100% High Elf DNA. I didn’t know if DNA tests existed here, but I’d pass one now.  

Upon mentally selecting the confirmation button, the black abyss I was surrounded in started to crack like an egg. Slowly, bits and pieces of Sekh’s pretty face came into view. She was clearly in distress but seeing my face eased her tempered heart enough to shed a few tears. Warm, salty water splashed on my lips. Without realizing it, I lifted my arm—an arm that was the color of my face—and waited for Sekh to gently take it. She pressed my palm to her cheeks. 

The darkness I was encased in didn’t exist. Instead, it was like a mental block that affected my inner consciousness and provided me a place to create my new base body. A metaphorical rebirth, I could say, since it was like I was hatching into a new life.  

“And congratulations, Master. You’re the sole member of a list of Chimeric Soul Warriors that achieved evolution. You’ve done something that has never been accomplished. Take pride in it,” Tilde said. She flew up and down my body and said I looked more ‘girly’ down there. “I dunno if you ever wanted to wear more revealing skirts and shirts, but now you can! Seriously, you’re downright sexy with a phat ass from Beccy, and it was a shame it had to be kept away. But no longer! Free the titties, I say! Free the booty, I say!” The mischievously little horny fairy rubbed her lustful mittens together and cackled, and I couldn’t help but laugh.  

“You’re very beautiful,” Sekh said when she helped me stand. I stretched my hands up and wide, then touched my forehead to hers and kissed her. “I love you, my liege,” she whispered, half panting when I removed my lips.  

“And I love you, Sekh.”  

We shared a hug, and even though I was getting hard, it wasn’t time to fuck. I had a lot of things to test out. But most importantly, I needed to get dressed. I slipped my clothes back on and started on our next task: to find something nice and comfortable to wear. I had four fully furnished wardrobes to go through, so to cut down on time, I enlisted the AI’s help to find and highlight what fit me. 

And I wanted it to be a surprise, so I asked Sekh to wait downstairs with Niva while I rummaged around the Soul Warriors’ closets. She cutely pouted, but a kiss seemed to brighten her mood. Barring Murag, the four women had plentiful options available to me. From green shirts accented by threads of all different colors, including rainbow thread, to royal dresses with an open back and a slit for my hips, the different styles were endless. I was okay with a tunic and a pair of pants. Or maybe a skirt if it was long enough. My focus was to find something that said Lyudmila Vredi Springfield. Tilde was with me as we must’ve gone through two dozen outfits in half an hour. And while I enjoyed what I wore, it didn’t really speak to me. I was just about to go with something boring when I noticed it.  

I was in Beccy’s room when I saw that mannequin. The first word coming to mind was ‘royalty.’ I was never one for such gaudy outfits, but Tilde’s words swirled around my mind. I was the Transcendent Dark Lord, and I had to act like one. What better way to take a step towards becoming her idealized perfection than dressing the part in something powerful and regal?  

It was a black corset top embedded with golden thread to show off the sides of your hips. And while it showed off a healthy amount of cleavage, it was still tasteful. The black boots were long, coming up to my upper thighs, but the top had an elegant design accentuated with golden silk to add more complexity to the intricate piece of art, which seemed to be a running theme.   The shorts it came with were awfully small, though, but they matched the top in every which way. 

The accessories to go with the outfit—hairpins, earrings, and asymmetrical gloves—rested on the nearby dresser, which had a long piece of cloth with two hooks that fit onto the circular hoops on the corset. It appeared to act much like the tail of a man’s suit, or you could wrap it around and turn it into a skirt with variable length.   

It just...spoke to me. I wanted my first outfit in this body to be something. Yes, it was clothing belonging to Sekh’s mortal enemy, but my wearing them was the ultimate revenge. After all, I was a monstrous existence created from their corpses. Sekh specifically used them as ingredients to make my body, and now something she crafted was about to taint these precious heirlooms.   

And so, I began to put them on, but a problem arose. I ran into an issue with the gloves and boots not fitting, but a quick search for similar clothing informed me Reina, Susize, and Yaekira had copies of this outfit in their closets. Somehow, I must’ve overlooked them.   

After a quick trip to get the gloves, I stared at a reflection in Beccy’s massive mirror. It showed me, of course, but did I really look like that? The outfit was on the skimpier side, but oddly enough...  

That didn’t bother me since more skin meant more space to transfigure. But with the power of slime, that restriction didn’t matter much.  

Suddenly, the background of the mirror’s reflection switched from Beccy’s room to a stone, flame-lit hallway with tall pillars. It then cycled to a winter wonderland, an ocean paradise, an oasis deep in the desert, and finally, a flaming volcano on the cusp of exploding. These images weren’t any foreboding future that had a chance of coming true. The mirror was just enchanted to show how Beccy would look in a variety of lighting.   

“Hmm... Can’t have my cock threatening to bounce out. It’s a tight fit,” I said, talking to my reflection. Pulling the shorts to the side, my penis flopped out and dangled. Until I had something better, I decided to take Susize’s vulva for the being and gave my penis a rest. “There... That feels better.” Doing that actually gave me a small surplus of biomass because it took less to have a pussy than it did to have a penis. That was nice.   

After admiring myself once more, I made my way down the stairs. The boots weren’t heeled, so they didn’t make that distinctive noise, but Sekh still heard me coming. She stood from her chair and watched. Her eyes were wide with glee. Her hands went to her chest, and she kneeled.   

Tilde did the same, but her grin was something else. “Now that? Yes, that’s the Transcendent Dark Lord. You got the look, babe. I’m glad you know how to pick out a killer outfit. Fuck yeah, I’m so happy I could cry...” she said. She wiped her face with the back of her hand, then told Niva about what I was wearing. Meanwhile, Sekh rose from her position and approached me.   

“It looks incredible on you, my liege,” Sekh said, wiping her teary eyes.

I guess I’m not the only one getting a little emotional.