Chapter 58 The New Goal

I was fortunate many times over for such events to occur, not only in my lifetime, but in my vicinity, allowing me to take a direct hand in the magnificent triumphs that transpired.

Even so, that isn't what I value most, the thing I gained the greatest joy from - the thing that made me most happiest. The understanding that was granted to me far outweighed any other considerations in terms of the impact it had on my life and the direction I took.

What is the Apparatus? The Voice of God, most would say, certainly in the human kingdoms where the royal families turn our faith away.

However, we know the truth - we know what the Apparatus really is, and why we have been fortunate enough to hold such a device within our minds.

It is Divine intervention! A System! A tool that was granted to the wise, so that they may defend the light of civilization from those vile monsters and temper themselves in battle, that they might prove themselves worthy.

Worthy enough to help bring them back to life!

The Dungeon? A providence - a place of trial, where the gifts of the Apparatus are to be developed to fulfilment, so that the unworthy might be filtered out and given their proper due.

For that realization, I must cast low my mortal hands, only to be raised high by the experience of the divine!

Excerpt from 'The Divine Truths' by Andrew Stolph the Priest.

***

The underground nest was silent. It had always been relatively quiet most of the time - due to Ethoss's lowkey-ish nature, still, the quietness was eerie.

The air was stuffy - clouded with the dust that fell from the ceiling due to the vibrations of the outside. Shouts and screams echoed on the outside surface, sending those sound waves ever so closely to the nest.

In contrast to any of that, the cyan colored lizard slept blissfully. Thanks to the compacted and thick dirt that surrounded Ethoss, he was not burdened with these random bursts of monster cries and chirps. The dirt and soil acted as a noise canceler - halting most sound waves from reaching within.

Of course, there were some that forced its way in - via the opened entrance and exit to the nest.

If anyone were to see Ethoss at this very moment - they would never assume that he was a ruthless monster that hunted indiscriminately, hoping to tear his prey limb from limb. That he would literally rip someone's heart out and eat it scrumptiously like it was a desert on a lovely afternoon day.

Ethoss laid on his bed - his large body coiled up like a stringy. He was curled over, hugging at three crimson colored cores like they were a teddy bear that helped him sleep at night.

His large body seemed small, curled up in such a miniature position - only taking up a quarter of his large bed filled with comfortable leaves and plants.

The modicum amount of mana light that leaked into the underground home through the entrance opening bounced from the dirt a little - allowing Ethoss's visage to be seen slightly with enough focus. The light filtered into the chamber and casted an ethereal glow onto his scales – giving the lizard's metallic like scales its blueish color.

The rest of the glowing light was dimmed by all the debris that piled inside the nest - creating wide spaces of shadows where it was dark.

It had been nearly 4 hours and 30 minutes since Ethoss had fell asleep.

His body's wounds had pretty much healed themselves during this time

You could barely notice any signs of injury or damage. Having eaten a bunch - earning biomass and digesting his food, his body had earned more than enough to initiate his healing factor and close his previous wounds.

Additionally, all the shadow magic that was inflicted within his body had ceased and passed; it had been naturally forced out given such a large amount of time.

.

.

.

.

Another hour flew by seamlessly.

Then finally, movement. The scaly eyelids of the reptile twitched. Then again and again, before lazily opening up.

Ethoss' eyes moved across the chamber, analyzing his surroundings.

His eyes stopped on a empty spot within the chamber. To him, it looked oddly spacious.

'Seems the bones was absorbed into the ground while I was sleep. Good.' He thought.

The large bones of the hyenas were gone - nowhere to be seen.

Ethoss sat up - glancing down at the cores he had been holding onto all this time. His claw rose, reaching over them - before being placed behind them and rolling the cores closer to him.

It was time. Time that he'd finally part with these orbs of beauty. Ethoss knew it wouldn't be long until he would run into another core so he wasn't too upset.

Placing his hand over one of them, the mechanical voice echoed in his mind.

[Compatible monster core detected. Would you like to reinforce your core or reconstitute a monster?]

Hearing these words, Ethoss stared deeply at the core in his claw.

'Reconstitute a monster huh?' He thought.

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The other times he had been offered this option when reinforcing his core he always easily dismissed it - because it seemed inefficient. But now he was growing interested - ever since his knowledge started to expand and become broader he wanted to know everything he could about the world.

This included the status in his mind and the voice itself. His curiosity was practically begging him to see what this option was really about.

Still, Ethoss wasn't fully set on wasting perfectly good materials on something he wasn't sure would give him much benefits. He seriously considered the pros and cons of this.

What benefits would he gain from doing this? He could potentially gain a subordinate that could help him, and even potentially save his life in the future.

However, the monster would be weak in its early stages. Ethoss would have to babysit this pet and grow it into its previous strength himself - slowing down his own growth.

But if he did choose to grow it, it would make his hunting and leveling faster once it grew strong enough to contribute…

Regardless, it would still slow down his own growth. It would need to eat just like him, it would also need to grow stronger alongside him if it was going to be of any use long term - which used up resources that would usually go to him.

Ethoss continued to think, but in the end - he settled on not reconstituting the monster. Ethoss was innately greedy - he didn't want to share any of his things. Splitting food and other resources would just slow him down - it was already getting harder for him to attain biomass since he had evolved.

Imagine when both him and the monster were highly evolved, how much resources would he need for both of them to grow stronger together? That was way too much… The bad outweighed the good points when it came to bringing a monster back to life.

Ethoss flicked his tongue. He decided to just drop this idea completely for the time being. He was not going to be carrying around another mouth to feed.

[Core absorbed, +2 stat points have been added to your MP]

After absorbing the first core, he reached for the second one and third, and did the same.

[Monster core has reached the capacity for your current stage of evolution]

Ethoss acknowledged the words of the voice. Then he stood up and began walking out of his nest. As he moved, he glanced at his status.

Name: Ethoss

Level: 9(Red Core)

Strength: 60

Toughness: 55

Cunning: 50

Will: 27

HP: 54/54

MP: 42/42

Skills[Attack]: Lethal Venomous Bite(II) level 2, Reinforced Tail Whip(II) level 1, Pernicious Claw Swipe(II) level 2

Skills[Support]: Rapid Dash(II) level 3, Deep Night Vision(II) level 3, Discoloration Camouflage(II) level 3, Excavation(II) level 1, Mana Shaping(II) level 2, Mana Recycle level 4, Tunnel Sense level 1, Evasion level 1, Minor Heal level 1

Mutations: Unmasked Jacobson's organ +5, Absorption Legs +5, Mana-sight Eyes +7, Crystal Scales +5, Nocuous Claws +5, Noxious Teeth +5, Flamethrower Fire Gland +5

Species: Draco Aeternus Lacerta(Male)

Biomass: 1

Skill Point: 3

His eyes were locked onto his current level. Ethoss only needed one more level and he would be able to evolved once again.

Thinking this, his tongue flickered - and he attempted to sway his tail but that only resulted in him wiggling his body and rear end. His tail and leg were still missing…

Now, there was a new goal: he had to hunt and gain as much XP as he can so he could evolve!

But before that, Ethoss wanted to maximize as much profits as he could. He had previously learned that upon each evolution, he would lose the ability to gain biomass from the weaker monsters around him.

And with this next evolution, there was a high chance that Ethoss wouldn't be able to gain close to anything since the monsters here were going to be very weak compared to him. So he would do as much as he could now, before he evolved.