Becoming a Monster
Chapter 240: Forging the Path Forward

Chapter 240: Chapter 240: Forging the Path Forward

"Hmm..." Noah was currently standing inches away from the core after Pandora’s message, confirming the injuries that were inflicted on the snake as it now rested inside his domain. From what he was told, the creatures the snake fought were similar to the guard of creatures from before, but much stronger after the two species merged. This piece of information made a strong impact on his mood, leaving him to deeply ponder his next move. He was uncertain how much their strength could continue to grow, and not only that, the creatures and zombies outside of the forest were most likely growing at the same rate, at least that’s what he had determined. The uncertainty gnawed at him. He knew it was far better to prepare for the worse than to be caught off guard when the inevitable moment arrived.

"Why are you thinking so hard? This isn’t like you; wouldn’t it just be easier to kill them all?" Ailetta’s voice came from his side. He merely glanced towards her, sitting on a simple soft material that acted as a futon made from his webs. Her eyes were both looking towards Noah and up to the ceiling, watching as Arachne was tending to two dark grey eggs within her nest of webs, eggs that were tethered to the center of her nest, reaching two feet in height. Each egg softly pulses rhythmically, displaying glowing violet veins and a dark silhouette of unknown object within.

In response to what she said, Noah’s eyes narrowed further. It’s not that he didn’t think of it himself, but he was most concerned about the benefits of going through with it. He had no more room for another creature, and his vassal skill required a zombie to perform the ability on. The biggest benefits he could think of was the chest, and providing experience for himself and his creatures, even then, the payback didn’t seem as enticing as it sounded. If he was going to fight anything, he would rather venture out of the forest to fight more zombies. There, he could not only gain another vassal, but Fenrir could gain a new addition to his pack, and he would allow Eve to slowly retain some of the zombies herself.

His thought process wasn’t groundless, what he was thinking the most of was the future. Why should he entertain the insects of the forest, having a battle where the difficulties of succeeding were going to be more difficult than going against zombies that he had a natural advantage against? Noah wasn’t going to ignore the snake’s earlier warnings about the other "boss" of the forest either. To attack both the ants and the bees would also mean disrupting the hidden beast’s territory, bringing another unknown factor into play.

"That would be the simple solution, but the most common rule of any gamer is to grind before a boss fight. Would you want to take a little trip with me?" Noah’s eyes dangerously flickered at the thought. Ailetta in turn, smiled. Being able to use her abilities to gather more orbs to expand her repertoire of enhanced cores sounded much more pleasing than putting insects in their place.

During their moment of what they would consider a romantic date, a figure suddenly dropped between them. Arachne ignored Ailetta as she stared into Noah’s eyes, her gaze more obsessed than usual.

"You’re going out to kill? I’m going to." She asked, straight to the point before he inserted herself into their plans.

"Wait..." Noah looked back up to where the two eggs were still perched atop her webs before looking back to Arachne, his expression showing that his confusion lay with what he just saw. "What about your eggs? Or do you prefer children?"

"They’re my subordinates, I’m their Queen. I will come back to them later." She quickly responded, her eyes still to yet leave him. Noah couldn’t have known that Arachne wouldn’t claim any of the creatures born from her essence as her children unless those creatures were born from both hers and Noah’s essence. It was a piece of information she was yet emotionally aware of until she happened to curiously ask Ailetta about her obsession of having Noah’s child. And Ailetta being her "usual" self, she was more than eager to explain the process in detail, including the significance of sharing a child with the person you designate as your mate.

Noah was still taken slightly aback with her response, but the confusion was only temporary after a small moment of correcting his earlier thoughts. He compared the female of a spider mentally to that of an average human.

"Well, that’s fine too. That will only make things easier...." He tapped his chin, looking up as he thought. "We might as well bring everyone."

Arachne didn’t like the idea one bit, not because she didn’t like others, but because she believed that he was bringing the others because he believed she wasn’t enough. Her thought process was something that Noah was growing used to, knowing that her low self-esteem could only be re-enforced when she could dominate her opponents, which may only happen when her soldiers are born.

"Arachne," his sudden direct call finally made her glare relent, changing to one of a small child that was listening attentively. "I’m bringing everyone, not because I don’t believe in you all, but because I want to see what you all can do on your own. So, use this chance to grow stronger, and to prove your power to everyone."

It didn’t have to be said, but now Arachne was even more eager to leave more than ever. Ailetta too showed a bit of competitiveness in her demeanor. Hearing Noah, he clearly told them that they could do whatever they wanted. She could already picture it; she was going to create a specimen that was stronger than ever before. And to make sure she succeeded; she was going to cooperate with a little zombie to make it happen.

Because she didn’t know when exactly they were going to be leaving, Ailetta had already taken the initiative to go and have a talk with Eve. However, before she left their home, she stopped, turning towards Noah with a hint of skepticism.

"Then what about you Noah? Are you not going to do anything? Again?" There was a bit of skepticism in her tone, she didn’t believe that Noah just suddenly wanted to go on an outing purely for them. She saw that even during their stay here he was always tinkering away with his golems when he wasn’t working on their home. If anything, she believed that he wanted to put his own experiment to action.

Noah couldn’t help himself, he smirked slightly, knowing that Ailetta caught on to something.

"You’ll see." He said, his mysteriousness only made Ailetta anticipate the outing even more. She already knew that Noah’s experiment was based off of her own, that alone gave her a sense of fulfillment like no other. What she desired more than increasing her own strength, was being able to support Noah to increase his own, and in her mind, her experiments are the answer to her most prized desire.

She recalled how Noah was able to make one of his most simple golems, that should only last for the original time of ten minutes, excluding the extension given because of his spirit, which was able to maintain itself for nearly one hour. And that was only through the use of one of the regular tier one cores from his stash of spider cores that he had consumed throughout the day, striving to get the rest of his level one spider skills to 100% for the next corresponding upgrade.

Despite the significant success of extending the golems "lifespan" the golem still was unable to maintain itself in the end. And the reason both Ailetta and Noah came up with was because the mana within the core used wasn’t enough to maintain it. The fact became more conclusive as the two retrieved the core that was left only to find that the core was completely dull, not a shred of mana inhabited it any longer. This put Noah’s plans to experiment with the core Ailetta made on hold for now. He didn’t want to waste such a core on his golems. He still had other plans in mind.

And now that they were going to travel through the city once again, with their still being a chance of danger lurking around the corner. Noah was no longer hesitating about using the last bit of his resources that was obtained from the chest he gathered from the small gathering of humans he killed and then his latest battle. He now had one level 0 upgrade stone and an additional upgrade stone level 1. For the longest he couldn’t pinpoint skill to focus on, but that all changed when he had received two items, one being an item that he didn’t believe he would have the luck of receiving again.

In his hand, he held an ascension stone. His eyes looked determined as he reflected throughout the day on what to use it on. He could raise any level 0 or 1 skill up a level, and yet his options only antagonized him even more. But it was the second item that finally allowed him to ground his thoughts.