Becoming a Monster

He looked at the skill once more in astonishment. He wasn't astonished that the skill could level up, but it was the fact that it was so close to achieving 100% when it wasn't intentional. It didn't have to be mentioned, but when he saw the skill increase without a known reason, he just had to inspect what changed.

[Chimera trait(lvl 0) progression: 75%

​ Progression- Level up four skills obtained from the skill: 3/4

Can be upgraded with chimera mana core.

Upgrade stone Lvl 1 required for upgrade]

'Is it really that simple?' He thought to himself, but when he thought about how long it would have taken him to level up his other skills if it wasn't for the use of the cores, he knew that it was far from it.

His next goal was to focus on leveling up one more skill which would be simple enough for him, he was only missing an upgrade stone. However now that he thought about it.

"Fenrir come here!" He impatiently called. The restlessness in his voice caused Fenrir to drop everything and sprint to him. Even Arachne paused in her actions. She looked over with worried eyes and curiosity as to why Noah called for Fenrir instead of her.

"I need some of your blood." He explained after finding that Fenrir was also becomingo restless from Noah not immediately saying anything.

Chomp*

Without any hesitation, Fenrir dug into his arm with his teeth, blood spilling out of his wounds while dripping from his mouth. The action flabbergasted Noah and it confused Ailetta even more who was watching.

Fenrir was too anxious to follow Noah's orders that he subconsciously reacted in an exaggerated manner.

But if anything else, Noah was comfortable with the scene of blood. So even though he was shocked by Fenrir's actions he didn't let Fenrir's blood go to waste as he cupped his hands and attempted to hold as much as he could before Fenrir's wounds healed.

This would be the first time Ailetta has witnessed Noah doing something like this as she watched in shock while Noah drank the blood in his palms. Of course she heard how he ate zombie meat and even ate their hearts, but seeing it was different than just hearing about it. And from the way he gulped it down she had a feeling that he took delight in it.

Noah didn't believe that there would be such a big difference in the quality of blood. Fenrir's blood compared to the zombies was like comparing an exquisite wine to flavored water. He couldn't help but reach out one more time for another round. He had almost forgotten his reason for drinking it in the first place.

'Why isn't it working?' He frowned while he waited for anything that would resemble a notification. But nothing was happening, there wasn't any prodding in his head or any kind of sensation in his body. Besides the after taste of the blood that coated his throat and tongue, he couldn't find anything different.

His first thought went towards his taming skill and how he had killed off the vulture when he attempted to tame it. He thought that this situation was similar.

'So my limit for this skill is two as well…' Noah went into his own world while in deep thought. Not realizing the weird stares he was getting from Ailetta. Fenrir and even Arachne.

Ailetta was trying to determine the reason for Noah to drink Fenrir's blood, while Fenrir was just excited that Noah enjoyed his blood to such a degree. But then there was Arachne, a feeling of jealousy was overcoming her. She had emotions even when she was just a spider, but her emotions were more similar to instincts.

But now those emotions were a lot stronger after gaining the emotional and mental capacity as a human. She already felt a bit bitter when Fenrir was called on instead of her. And after seeing Noah drink Fenirs blood with such relish, that bitterness turned into full blown envy.

"Noah!"

Arachne put an end to Noah's thought after she emotionally called out to him.

Noah was only able to grasp that Arachne was standing directly in front of him, that he didn't register the oddness in her voice and expression. That all changed when she suddenly cut her arm with her claw like nails and extended her hand to Noah, similar to how a noble would put out their hand to be kissed.

Noah was confused only for a moment. The moment was brief after already encountering his creatures' rivalry before.

With blood leaking out of his mouth and covering most of the bottom of his face. The smile that she showed could only be seen as creepy. And with that smile he re-enacted the scene with Fenrir's and drank her blood the same way.

He expected for her blood to be just as good as Fenrir's. What he wasn't expecting was while in the middle of drinking he would experience two changes. One of those changes originated from his head, signaling that he had a notification while the other change was occurring with his body.

As he drank her blood, her blood seemed to meld with him on a cellular level. He noticed that his vision seemed to take a sudden change. Due to the change it resulted in him having to shut his eyes.

What also followed was his sense of awareness changing. Even with his eyes closed, as long as he focused on the movement around him, he could almost visualize what the object was.

Noah was about to freak out, he couldn't help but think that something may have gone wrong. It was until he began to also feel the movement in his arms that he finally understood.

The changes that were happening were similar to when he consumed the blood and flesh of the Zombie King!

He couldn't wait anymore, excitedly he wasted no time to check what was happening.

[Detecting genes of a higher strain from the host spider trait! Trait is being upgraded! Regular spider genes have mutated into the genes of the unique spider consumed. The zombie trait has changed to Impure King! Your abilities experience has been increased, previous skills have been mutated due to your traits evolution.]

[Undead Webbing has been changed to Demonic sealing-When making contact with your webs, your webs will have a restricted effect on the target's skills the longer they are contacted with your webs. The effect only takes place when infusing your mana into the skill, consuming 10 mana per web. The higher the level, the higher the restriction.

Spiders Alertness has changed to Kings Perception (Lvl 0): When there's anything that can threaten your hierarchy, your sixth sense will notice. From plotting, to intentions, you will sometimes notice it as long as it is within one of your senses.]

Sensory spines have changed to Tainted Aura-As long as an object is moving within 10 yards of you, you can visualize that object without having to see it.]

This was an unexpected surprise to Noah, and it was more than he could hope for. Just his new webbing skill alone was enough to satisfy him. And that was all! He noticed that even his skills pertaining to a spider have also increased in progression. The increase was meagre, not even reaching 1% but just a handful of blood shouldn't be compared to a core that was the literal embodiment of their mana.

He wasn't the only one who was surprised.

Arachne's gaze had changed the moment Noah began to experience the change in his body.

There was a dangerous glint in her eye, but the gaze wasn't hostile at all and that glint barely surfaced for long after she recovered her mental state.

A Queen longs for a king and with any spider species, they would soon seek a mate, not out of love, but just because of their instincts to proliferate. After Noah's change, the pheromones he gave out were enough to rile up the basic instincts within her, but her human instincts helped her to control it.

Noah turned to Arachne on full alert before his gaze turned to confusion when he noticed the danger that was originating from her was gone. His gaze narrowed as he looked at her suspiciously.

But as stared, he noticed that she seemed to be oblivious to the feeling that he felt from her.

"Wh-what is that?" Noah heard Ailetta from the side. He turned to see her reaching forward before retrieving her hand and reaching out again. The action didn't make sense, yet alone her words. She noticed that he was paying attention to her before explaining.

"When I moved closer, I got this feeling as if I was being watched…Even now….Does this happen just from drinking their blood? What would happen if I drink it?"

"Nonsense!"

Gwwwrr* 'You're not part of the pack!'

Both Arachne and Fenrir immediately shut her down.

But the question was something worth thinking about, Noah wondered if Fenrir's blood would have regenerative properties or if Arachne's blood would contain poison or some other kind of insidious effect.

Noah ignored the three when he noticed that the other group was now approaching them. Almost all of them were in somber moods.

"Are you ready?"

Noah asked in an urging manner, receiving unpleasant gazes in the process.

"What do you mean are we ready you bastard! Our friends just died?"

Noah looked to the source of the voice and saw that it was someone he couldn't recollect talking to before. But the guy's words seemed to trigger some of the others.

Noah's emotions were beginning to become dull to these repetitive situations.

"So…you're not ready?"

"Wha-are you making fun of me!"

"Quiet, why are you trying to make a scene? We need to get out of here before something else appears."

Mark was quick to stop the male, before the conflict rose. He was in a bad mood when he realized how lacking their group was. Only a handful of them were strong enough to compete with one of the current zombies on their own. It made him wonder just how far they could have gotten with Noah and that made him even more frustrated since he wanted to depend on himself.

"Let's just get going. We don't know how long it'll take us to get there so we at least need to get far enough so we can think of a place to stay." Jasmine addressed the rest.

The rest of what they discussed didn't concern Noah as he turned to the small pile of hearts stacked to the side and placed them in his ring. He would have to remove the cores at a later date.

The other group didn't seem to want to take the lead, but this time Noah wasn't planning on letting them. He set out without looking back.

He was already expecting a new world as soon as he left the gates.