Chapter 54: A Living Armor that Eats?

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(Veronica's POV)

[You acquired the [Digestion; Level 1] Skill!]

[The Levels of the [Digestion; Level 1], [Long Distance Control; Level 1], [Body Form Manipulation; Level 1], and [Unarmed Fighting Technique; Level 3] Skills have increased!]

[Experience Points have reached the required level!]

[Individual 'Rank' has increased from level 1 to level 12]

[Furthermore, the Individual's 'Job' has increased from level 1 to level 100!]

It has been around a week since Veronica and her party finally were freed from the dungeon, since they appeared in the 'outside world' they were incredibly disoriented for the most part, until Veronica managed to use the No-Attribute Spell 'Flight' to fly to the sky for a few minutes and see where she was located.

She didn't try to fly through the skies like an airplane because it consumed large amounts of Mana, even after putting her Mana Pool, Mana stored inside her body, Mana gave by Aqua, Charlotte, and Shade, and even her regeneration into account. Unlike other Wind Attribute Spells that let the user fly through the sky, it was quite hard to just use the 'Flight' spell, she would need around ten thousand mana to fly a kilometer with it…

When she finally understood where they truly were, in the middle of a forest that had another four more dungeons, they decided to go to the west, where the nearest village was.

Alongside this, Veronica had an 'itch' that such a village of humans was where her 'little brother' was.

In the meantime, as they adventured, Veronica's party came across several monsters, although none of them surpassed Rank 4, and were usually creatures such as Giant Demon Rats, Blade Horned Rabbits, Demon Boars, or Goblin Groups of up to six.

The group had already come near the village, and in around half a day of walking, they would finally reach it. Veronica was nervous, as she did not know how to properly speak with her split soul which was reincarnated as what she presumed might be a human.

Veronica sat down with her helmet off, which was being worn by Aqua over her ribbon.

They were currently surrounding a small fire and eating skewered Demon Boar meat.

Veronica tasted the grilled and greasy meat, dripping with juice with her Phantom Form mouth. She even had teeth and a tongue in such form, although it was all ethereal, by spending Mana, she could it make physical and by channeling the 'Special Five Senses' Skill, she was capable of degusting the flavors of food once again.

And about digestion? She was able to digest food through her soul, by using the 'Digestion' Skill, she had eaten so much food since then that she had even leveled up the skill.

The 'Digestion' was originally a skill that lets certain monsters without a stomach digest 'edible' thing, it converts anything digested into Mana, without leaving any waste, calories, or grease.

Of course, this does not apply to everything, if she just eats rocks and plants, she will barely get anything, she has to eat fresh or well-prepared dishes for a proper Mana recovery. The more delicious and well prepared are the dishes, the more Mana is recovered.

"Haah! This is real life? Even as an undead! Eating food really brings joy to one's life, isn't it? Especially when it is such a tasty piece of greasy meat from a Demon Boar… Isn't it, Aqua, Charlotte?!" said Veronica, enthusiast by today's lunch.

Aqua was consuming a big chunk of meat by herself and nodded while savoring the flavors with her entire body, which worked as a giant stomach.

Charlotte, who had grown a few dozen centimeters since being tamed also released a small sound of agreement.

"Gishi!" she said.

Since leaving the dungeon, most of the monsters they hunted were finished off by the tiny Charlotte, the Lesser Armored Spider that Veronica tamed back in the Dungeon.

After a week of killing monsters and developing her abilities, she ranked up into a Rank 3 Armored Spider, finally losing the embarrassing 'Lesser' in her race title.

However, even after evolving, her ninth eye remained, though the small, underdeveloped leg grew and became just as healthy as the other seven legs.

It seems that Charlotte's ninth eye was not just a simple mutation that could be fixed by evolving, and it would remain as a special trait of her.

Such trait also showed itself through her 'Cursed Nine Eyes' Unique Skill, which seemed to be a stronger version than her mother's 'Cursed Eight Eyes' Skill.

Shade, who was resting over Veronica's shoulder while bathing in the light of the sun decided to point out something important.

"Veronica, time to change your job," he said.

Veronica was then brought back from the world of delicious grilled board meat by her spirit Shade.

"Ah! You are right… I think I end up getting into a state similar to being 'drunk' when I eat such delicious food…" muttered Veronica.

"Hm… It must be nice to be able to eat…" muttered Shade, mildly annoyed.

"Oh? Are you… perhaps… jealous? I knew you also wanted to eat meat with us…" said Veronica, faking her melancholy.

"I don't want to eat any of that filthy flesh! Who would even eat the corpse of a being and enjoy it? You do not even need to eat, yet you do it to please your desires! Who's the really strange one in here?" asked Shade.

"Because it's yummy and it makes me happy! And who says that it's bad? I recover Mana!" said Veronica.

"Hm… Hmmm…" murmured Shade, without wanting to say any other word.

"Guu?"

"Gishi, gishi!"

Aqua and Charlotte tried to change Shade's mood with their love, and they succeed after a bit.

"Ah, you two… I guess I went a bit overboard?" wondered Shade.

"No, I was also teasing you, sorry… I know it is hard for you to not be able to experience what we do. I will find a way in the future to somehow give you a body," said Veronica, with a gentle smile.

"Me? A body? That is impossible… A-And why would I want a body anyway… I am fine as I am," said Shade.

However, Shade was a strange spirit that desired to share the same feelings and emotions as intelligent beings. And was hoping for Veronica, to somehow succeed in such an impossible mission.

'A body… If I had a physical body… what would I do…?' wondered Shade, as he glanced at Aqua, Charlotte and Veronica… he fixed his sight on Veronica for a long time, and he felt stranger and stranger as he glanced at her phantasmal beauty, feelings that he never had for anyone before began to blossom.

'No… Such strange desires should not wander through a spirit's mind… Never mind,' he thought.

Veronica let Aqua and Charlotte Shade's spherical, eyeball-like body as she decided to change Jobs.

She had previously changed Jobs to 'Apprentice Spirit Caster', which slowly leveled up through gathering Experience Points from small fry and her own practice of Spirit Magic Spells with Shade.

[Jobs Available]

[Apprentice Warrior], [Armored Thrower], [Cursed Armor Brawler], [Apprentice No-Attribute Mage], [Slime User], [Phantasmal Armored Shield User], [Armored Shapeshifter Fighter], [Armored Artillery User], [Soul Breaker], [Metallic Thread User], [Light & Darkness Spirit Caster] (New!), [Armored Tamer Mistress] (New!)

Two new Jobs appeared on Veronica's list, the first one seemed her obvious choice now, but the second new Job also seemed very intriguing…

"Armored Tamer Mistress? What a name for a tamer Job… But it's probably related with me taming Charlotte and Aqua…" muttered Veronica.

"Well, I had already decided on developing my magic some more, so 'Light & Darkness Spirit Caster' seems very tentative… but I also want to level up my No-Attribute Magic, especially if I reach level 3, I will obtain 'Telepathy' a very useful Spell… decisions, decisions…" thought Veronica.

Veronica sat down and ate skewers while deeply thinking about this choice. In the end, she chose 'Apprentice No-Attribute Mage' as it would level up quite fast, being an Apprentice Job, then, she would change to 'Light & Darkness Spirit Caster' afterward if no new Jobs with even greater benefits appear.

[You changed Jobs to [Apprentice No-Attribute Mage]!]

[You Level of the [No-Attribute Magic; Level 2] has increased!]

[You acquired the [Chant Revocation; Level 1] Skill!]

"Oh? It even came with a bonus skill. This one will be especially useful to chant magic mentally without having to use as much Mana," recognized Veronica.

Aside from leveling up Charlotte through this journey, Veronica had been trying fervently to bond with a new spirit, but it seems that no matter how much she tried, no one will hear her pleas.

She seemed to only have an affinity with Light Spirits, and Shade was the only one crazy enough to create a bond with a spectral living armor.

Unless… she were to find a place where the Spirit of Death, Hades, roamed… she had another 'itch' that Hades might be interested in her as she was an undead, a being that was already incredibly closer to the Death Attribute above all others.

'Maybe if I got to a cursed graveyard or something?' she wondered, as she continued eating skewers with her party.

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[Name: Nameless (Veronica)

[Race: Spiritual Arachne Living Armor Knightess.

[Age: 0

[Titles: Monster Tamer

[Type: Undead/Ethereal/Material

[Rank: 5

[Level: 001/100

[Job: Apprentice No-Attribute Mage.

[Job History: Armored Unarmed Fighter, Soul User, Shadow Soul Fighter, Spectral Soul Knight, Apprentice Spirit Caster.

[Level: 001/100

[Health Points: 615/615 > 655/655

[Mana Points: 792/792 > 902/902

[Strength: 560 > 570

[Defense: 683 > 693

[Magic: 465 > 685

[Resistance: 285 > 295

[Agility: 362 > 392

[Passive Skills]

[Memory Retention; Level 4]

[Special Five Senses; Level 6]

[Soul Form; Level 4]

[Phantom Form; level 3]

[Mana Enlargement; Level 5]

[Magic Enlargement; Level 5]

[Abnormal Status Immunity]

[Strengthened Physical Power; Level 3]

[Physical Damage Resistance; Level 3]

[Armor Rearrangement; Level 3]

[Absorption Healing (Mineral, Materials, Armor); Level 3]

[Shadow Manipulation; Level 3]

[Chant Revocation; Level 1]

[Active Skills]

[Hardworking; Level 7]

[Appraisal; Level 6]

[Charge; Level 3]

[Coordination; Level 3]

[Unarmed Fighting Technique; Level 3]

[Shield Technique; Level 3]

[No-Attribute Magic; Level 3]

[Mana Control; Level 3]

[Spirit Magic; Level 3]

[Cursed Wounds; Level 3]

[Soul Materialization; Level 3]

[Phantom Materialization; Level 2]

[Armor Technique; Level 3]

[Tame; Level 2]

[Body Form Manipulation; Level 2]

[Thread Reeling Technique; Level 2]

[Artillery Technique; Level 2]

[Long-Distance Control; Level 2]

[Digestion; Level 2]

[Unique Skills]

[Armory; Level 2]

[Soul Break; Level 1]

[Current Armory Slots: 2]

[Slot 1: [Obsidian Semi-Liquid Crimson Dusk Living Armor] > [Grand Scarlet Spider Queen's Dusk Living Armor] [Armor]

[Slot 2: [Medium-Sized Iron-Silver Crab Soldier Exoskeleton Shield] > [Medium-Sized Flexible Iron-Silver Snake Exoskeleton Shield] [Shield]

[Slot 3: [Silver Metallic Slime Soldier Exoskeleton Living Armor] [Armor]

[Bonded Spirits]

[Shade, Spirit of Shadows and Darkness (Light-Attribute)]

[Tamed Monsters]

[Slot 1: [Rank 5: Deep River Water Slime, Aqua]

[Slot 2: [Rank 3: Armored Spider, Charlotte]